Boris Kollár (left) and Igor Matovič. (source: Sme - Marko Erd)
This is your overview of news from Slovakia from Wednesday, June 24, 2020. To help us continue providing Slovak news you can trust, buy our online subscription. Thank you.
Matovič will not insist on Kollár's resignation
Several ruling coalition politicians and some ministers opine that leader of the ruling coalition Sme Rodina party and Parliament's Speaker Boris Kollár should step down after he admitted to having copied part of his master thesis from textbooks and the internet.
Prime Minister Igor Matovič, whose reaction was most awaited during the day, on the other hand, said he will not demand Kollár's resignation.
Matovič says his priority is for his government, whose ambition is to purge Slovakia from "the mafia that ruled here", to keep going strong.
Return of compulsory quarantine not out of the question
The government is pondering using mobile phone data to gain information about people coming from unsafe countries, which include, among other countries in Europe, Italy, Spain and the UK.
Health Minister Marek Krajčí suggested on Wednesday that this solution is being considered. He also admitted this kind of control would require changes to the laws.
On June 17, PM Igor Matovič said re-introducing compulsory state quarantine is the topic of the day following the higher number of new cases recorded by then.
Measures for business environment go to parliament
The business environment in Slovakia will undergo major changes. The cabinet has greenlighted, with comments, the changes proposed by Economy Minister Richard Sulík, who called Wednesday "the most beautiful day for Slovakia since the introduction of the tax reform".
The long-awaited draft bill, which the parliament is to debate in a fast-tracked legislative procedure next week, amends several laws. It contains 114 measures, the TASR newswire reported.
Read more about the proposed measures and the reactions of businesses.
In other news:
President Zuzana Čaputová has not met with her Austrian counterpart, Alexander van der Bellen, who was supposed to visit her in Pezinok on Wednesday. The presidentcancelled her programme and went into voluntary home isolation after she had been in contact with a person who was in contact with a COVID-19 positive person. Čaputová tested negative.
Tuesday's testing has returned 18 new COVID-19 positive cases, several of them in the Čadca and Revúca districts. One case has also been confirmed in the settlement in Žehra, eastern Slovakia, which had been quarantined one month ago. The person who tested positive does not have travel history as a reason for the infection. (Spiš Korzár)
Officers of the Interior Ministry's inspectorate detained a former senior official of the Police Corps, Pavol Vorobjov, in connection with the illegal screening of journalists. The investigator also accused him of the crime of abuse of power of a public official. (SITA)
The Constitutional Court will check on the constitutionality of the amendment to the law on social insurance that introduced the 13th pension in Slovakia. The court has ruled to accept the motion filed by President Zuzana Čaputová in March.
The state-run railway carrier ZSSK will restore more train lines to Poland and Czechia as of Friday, June 26.
FlixBus will gradually renew more of its international bus lines from Slovakia, including those to Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Budapest, Warsaw and Split.
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