Good evening. Here is theWednesday, November 29 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes.
Interior Minister remains in post
Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok. (source: TASR)
Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok (Hlas) remained in his post on Wednesday after surviving a no-confidence vote in parliament.
Of the 136 MPs present, only 61 voted for his removal. A total of 76 votes were needed for his to be forced out of his post.
The opposition had demanded his removal following purges in the police force, and for violating the law by placing several top investigators who had a protected status as whistle-blowers off duty. One of them is Ján Čurilla.
The reasons for the minister's dismissal remain valid, the opposition claims.
"We will be watching very carefully what the minister does. Revenge, which he carries out on the orders by PM Robert Fico, is obvious from his actions," opposition leader Michal Šimečka (PS) said, as quoted by TASR.
Parliament had started discussing the no-confidence motion last Thursday.
Šutaj Eštok, a former Smer party member, insisted that he had acted in accordance with law, and called the proposal for his dismissal unfounded and dubbed opposition arguments against him a farce. Šutaj Eštok had attacked Čurilla and his colleagues long before he became the minister.
Related: Suspended and charged police officer Ján Čurilla filed a criminal complaint against Deputy General Prosecutor Jozef Kandera, writes the Sme daily. Čurilla accused Kandera of preventing his colleagues and he from investigating the police team led by Diana Santusová. This team allegedly tried to sabotage the investigation of corruption cases (linked to previous Smer governments) by Čurilla and his colleagues. Kandera cancelled the prosecution of Santusová's team in August 2021. He used Section 363, which the Constitutional Court criticised. The investigation was at the very beginning and no one was even charged in the case. Kandera dropped the charges against Robert Fico (Smer), Robert Kaliňák (Smer) and the central bank's banker Peter Kažimír in the past, too.
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FEATURE STORY FOR WEDNESDAY
Ukrainian children play rugby in Bratislava
Ukrainian Kids Rugby Club was founded in March 2022 in Bratislava. (source: Facebook)
Ukraine's former national rugby team playerDmytro Levichev set up a rugby club for children in the Slovak capital after Russia invaded Ukraine.
EVENT FOR TOMORROW
Ibero-American Film Days
This Bratislava event presents five films in Spanish that were not distributed in Slovakia. The event is organised by the Spanish embassy and the Cervantes Institute. Films will be screened in Spanish with English subtitles.
The film screenings will take place at the Kino Mladosť cinema, starting from November 30. The event will end on December 14.
The first showing, On the Fringe (above), is free. For other films, cinema goers will have to pay €3.
In other news
The foreign affairs ministers of the NATO member states discussed the situation in Ukraine. Slovak MFA Juraj Blanár (Smer) said that Slovakia will continue to support Ukraine. Logistics and repair centres were established in the east of Slovakia, he added. "We are also looking for ways to continue training Ukrainian soldiers," added Blanár. He reminded that Slovakia supports Ukrainian sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová (SNS nom.), who is also a presenter of the disinformation online television Slovan, is said to block a grant scheme to support media education and the fight against disinformation, writes Sme. If the ministry does not publish the results of the call within a few days, it will be practically impossible to make the supported projects happen. They must all be implemented by the end of this year.
Charged men in the Rozuzlenie case (the case concerns the discrediting of police corruption investigators by other security forces), including the former head of the secret service Vladimír Pčolinský and the head of the National Security Office, Roman Konečný, asked General Prosecutor Maroš Žilinka to cancel their charges through Section 363. The charged had withdrawn their complaints against the charges, making the charges legal, writes Sme. Subsequently, the charged could turn to Žilinka, who has been criticised for overusing Section 363 in notorious cases.
Štefan Kuffa, ex-deputy culture minister, became the new deputy environment minister. Štefan Kuffa's son - Filip Kuffa - holds the same post at the ministry. The Kuffas and Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba are nominees of the Slovak National Party and ultraconservative politicians.
A ski alpinist in the Vrátna-Malá Fatra ski resort on November 27, 2023. (source: TASR)
Dejong, a business unit within Rheem Global Water, will build a factory in Prešov. The company should employ 500 people. Construction of the factory will begin in 2024. Based in the Netherlands, the company produces hot water tanks for heat pumps, boilers and solar systems.
The Jasná ski centre in the Low Tatras, central Slovakia, will kick off the ski season on Saturday, December 2. On the first day of skiing, 20 kilometres of slopes will be at skiers' disposal.
Gas prices for households in 2024 should increase significantly, approximately twice as much, the ÚRSO regulator said. But Economy Minister Denisa Saková (Hlas) says that gas prices for households will not increase next year.
WEATHER FOR THURSDAY: Partly clear skies. During the night it will gradually become cloudy with snow in many places. Local fog and cold weather, with temperatures ranging from -3°C to 2°C.
Snowfall, snowdrift and black ice weather warnings have been issued for the whole country, except for Ilava and Prievidza districts. (SHMÚ)
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