News digest: Former Bratislava hospital to make room for IT campus

Good evening. Here is the Wednesday, August 9 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes.

Former hospital about to be torn down

The premises of the former military hospital, centre-right, in Bratislava's Patrónka neighbourhood. (source: SME - Jozef Jakubčo)

Demolition work on the former military hospital in Bratislava's Patrónka neighbourhood is about to start. The building will be replaced by an extensive campus backed by Slovak security company Eset which acquired the land in 2017.

Intended to have a flexible, environmental design and with carbon-neutral operations, the campus is supposed to create a quality and inspiring environment for IT and tech companies with a connection to tech-oriented universities.

It should also include a wide range of premises and services for the general public.

The visualisation of new Eset campus in Bratislava.

The visualisation of the new Eset campus in Bratislava.

New Eset campus in Bratislava (5 photos)

Demolition work should last until the end of February 2024 and some traffic restrictions will apply on adjacent roads. Construction work on the campus, which is projected to cost €200 million, is expected to start in 2025.

Politics divorced from regions

In the centre is the National Council building in Bratislava. (source: TASR)

Supposing voters would not circle anyone on a given party candidate list in the September election, a daily Sme analysis shows that the higher a candidate is on the list, the more often they come from the western Slovakia districts.

If the elections were to turn out based on the latest survey by the AKO polling agency, around 30 districts would not have any representatives in parliament. People in poor areas of Slovakia think that politics in Bratislava is divorced from them and certain parties are trying to profit from this sentiment.

EVENTS FOR COMING WEEKS

Festival oriented on foreigners

The [fjúžn] festival on the road. (source: [fjúžn] )

Although the long-running multi-genre [fjúžn] festival centred on foreigners will start in September, organisers are holding select events to introduce other cultures over the next few weeks ahead of its opening. Palestinian-Slovak dancer Nawal Youssifova will perform at the Grape music festival while a live podcast with Olga Zhurba talking about Ukrainian cuisine and culture will be recorded.

Next week, this time as part of the Flaam festival in Nitra, attendees will be able to enjoy Prague club scene star DJ Kewu who takes inspiration from music from Latin America and South Africa. Ukrainian financial advisor Andrii Pylypenko will be the guide in an unusual walk through the town, while Ukrainian DJ shjva will later perform her electronic set.

In other news

Slovakia will send four heavy crawler excavators to help flood-hit Slovenia. The equipment will be dispatched along with five workers of the water management company SVP.
Slovakia is set to receive approximately €46 million from the Swiss Federal Council. The contribution is intended to reduce economic and social disparities within the EU, as well as promote integration, environmental and climate protection, strengthen social systems, and other activities.
The government has approved the provision of resources from the national recovery plan to build a new supercomputer for the Centre for Joint Activities of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.
President Zuzana Čaputová handed over credentials to four new Slovak ambassadors. Igor Slobodník will head the diplomatic mission in Denmark, while Dušan Krištofík will take charge of the embassy for Finland and Estonia, Matúš Bušovský will serve in Georgia, and Tomáš Ferko will represent Slovakia in Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, East Timor, Malaysia, Brunei and Papua New Guinea.
As a part of the Prepositioning 2023 project, 20 Slovak firefighters and their equipment have been stationed in the Greek city of Olympia until August 15 to help ensure the operations at the local fire station and carry out patrols.