(source: SME.sk / Hej,ty)
Good evening. The Tuesday, August 9 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready with the main news of the day in less than five minutes.
SaS takes pensions into its own hands
SaS MP Anna Zemanová, SaS MP Marián Viskupič, SaS chair Richard Sulík, and SaS MP Peter Cmorej announce the submission of the party's constitutional bill on pensions to the parliament at a press conference in Bratislava on August 8, 2022. (source: TASR)
Because the government has not stepped up and submitted a constitutional bill concerning pension reform to the parliament, the SaS party decided to do it on its own.
Members of the party put the bill forward on August 8, hoping to set the new basic rules for the management of the country's pension system, shift thousands of savers from poorly-performing bond funds in the second pillar to other funds, and make public finances more sustainable.
SaS, which has left the coalition and preparing to leave the government in a few weeks, is simultaneously largely critical of Labour Minister Milan Krajniak's set of ordinary bills in the pipeline supposed to reform the pension system.
Krajniak of the Sme Rodina party did not comment on the SaS' bill, only saying that he and Sme Rodina do not want to be dragged into the ongoing coalition conflict between the SaS and OĽaNO parties.
The government promised to submit the constitutional bill in its programme declaration when it took power two years ago.
Related: The Moody's rating agency has expressed scepticism over the Slovak pension reform.
Coalition crisis: The crisis began in May and has continued since. The SaS party pulled out of the coalition deal in early July. Shortly afterwards, Finance Minister Igor Matovič of the OĽaNO party suggested that the SaS wanted to bring the government down, which the party has refuted multiple times.
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FEATURE FOR TUESDAY
In 'Moon over Sasova', an American takes readers back to a 1993 Slovakia
Christopher Shaffer on a hike in 1996 with one of his 1993 students, Martin Vigaš and his wife Monika. (source: Courtesy of Christopher Shaffer)
In 1993, Christopher Shaffer spent several months teaching English in central Slovakia.
Almost 30 years later, Shaffer, who today works as the dean of library services at Troy University in Alabama, has published his debut book about his experience.
Titled "Moon Over Sasova: One American's Experience Teaching in Post-Cold War Slovakia", the American shares his picture of then Slovakia and the stories, including humorous ones, that he lived through with the Slovak people.
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IN OTHER NEWS:
Pope Francis will attend Slovak Cardinal Jozef Tomko's funeral in the Vatican on Thursday, August 11. People in Slovakia can bid farewell to the cardinal on Friday and Saturday in St. Martin's Cathedral in Bratislava. His remains will then be moved to Košice, where people can say goodbye to him on Sunday and Monday. He will be buried on Tuesday, August 16, at St. Elizabeth's Cathedral in Košice. Tomko died on August 8.
Justice Minister Mária Kolíková (SaS) thinks Prosecutor General Maroš Žilinka should make available the entire analysis on the disbanding of the far-right ĽSNS party, based on which he decided to not file a proposal for the dissolution of the party.
The deliveries of Russian oil through the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline through Ukraine to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were stopped last week, on August 4. However, the Bratislava refinery Slovnaft continues its operation and supplying the market with its products.
The Ružín reservoir, located near Margecany, eastern Slovakia, is almost without water. (source: TASR)
The EU's plan to reduce gas consumption across the bloc by 15 percent has entered into force today. It is an attempt to cope with the reduction in its supplies and the crisis in energy prices due to Russia's war in Ukraine.
Work on the construction of the tram line in Bratislava's Petržalka borough in the section from Jungmannová to Janíkov Dvor should soon begin again. Bratislava has signed an amendment to the contract with the consortium that is building the line. The amendment reflects the large-scale increase in the prices of energy and construction materials.
If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.
