(source: SME.sk / Hej,ty)
Good evening. The Monday, September 12 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready with the main news of the day in less than five minutes.
President interrogates Heger's future ministers
President Zuzana Čaputová. (source: TASR - Martin Baumann)
President Zuzana Čaputová met with three ministerial candidates on Monday.
Karel Hirman will be at the helm of the Economy Ministry, Rastislav Káčer will become the next foreign minister, and Viliam Karas the next justice minister.
PM Eduard Heger (OĽaNO) submitted the names to the head of state the past weekend. He refused to reveal the names, but his party leader and Finance Minister Igor Matovič did so for him on live television last Sunday anyway.
Heger also needs a new education minister after four ministers from the SaS party left the coalition government a week ago. For now, he wants to be the minister.
The president announced in the evening that she will accept the resignation letters of four departing ministers and appoint the new ministers on Tuesday morning, the TASR news agency reported.
Referendum: President Čaputová announced on September 12 that Slovakia will hold its ninth referendum. The referendum, initiated by the opposition, will have at least one question.
For a deeper insight into current affairs, check out our Last Week in Slovakia piece published earlier today. You can sign up for the newsletter here.
More stories from The Slovak Spectator website
UK: Charles III or Karol III.? The question Slovak people want an answer to.
Roma: The Roma population represents the last significant reserve of the Slovak labour force. What should Slovakia do to integrate them into the labour market?
Restaurants: The popular outdoor seating near Eurovea shopping mall are illegal and will be removed.
Energy: People living in flats may pay 140 percent more for heating in 2023 unless Heger's cabinet takes action, heat producers say.
Business in short:
The job search website Profesia.sk reported a new record number of job advertisements in August. Companies posted more than 30,000 job offers in the summer month for the first time in the website's history.
The Financial Administration will have access information on the landlords of flats and cottages through Booking and Airbnb, and about Uber and Bolt drivers. From January 2023, digital platforms will have to automatically provide information about their clients to tax authorities in the EU. (SITA)
The government will not pay a €60 allowance to support children's after-school activities, known as krúžkovné in Slovak, to parents in January 2023, the date its introduction was promised.
Purchasing a share in the Slovenské Elektrárne company, the largest energy producer in Slovakia, is a last resort to tame energy prices, Finance Minister Igor Matovič (OĽaNO) told the Markíza television channel on Sunday. Speaker of Parliament Boris Kollár (Sme Rodina) presented the same idea two weeks ago. Today, Slovakia has a 34-percent share in the company.
Businesses should be free to decide on their opening hours, says a survey conducted by the Business Alliance of Slovakia (PAS), in connection with MPs' proposal to ban Sunday sales.
The final electricity price for 2023, made up from several components, will be announced after the tariff for system services (TSS) is set by the regulator (ÚRSO), said the Slovak Electricity Transmission System (SEPS). SEPS will provide the necessary documents. TSS is affected by the costs of support services related to ensuring a stable supply of electricity and the costs of dispatch management. While SEPS can reduce the latter, the firm buys the former on the market. Today, TSS amounts to €6.30/MWh.
FEATURE STORY FOR MONDAY
A night spent in a haunted house
The Coburg mansion in Jelšava, whose history goes back to the 17th century, will soon become an even bigger tourist attraction than before. (source: Marcela Ballová)
In Jelšava, an old mansion is being turned into a place where people can spend the night with bats, swallows and ghosts. It is completely free.
In other news:
An indictment against prominent lawyer Marek Para, who worked for the convicted businessman Marián Kočner, oligarch Norbert Bödör and ex-police president Tibor Gašpar, has been delivered to the Specialised Criminal Court. Para is charged with running an organised crime group. The police detained Para in April during the Caiaphas police operation. He spent two months in police custody.
Young people in Slovakia do not trust politicians, shows a Focus survey for the Slovak Youth Council carried out in April 2022. Up to 84 of percent strongly believe that politicians do not pay attention to young people. Less than a quarter of respondents think they can influence political decisions in the country. Only one in five respondents trusts political parties to a certain extent, making them the least trusted institutions in the country. Courts are the second least trusted. Conversely, youth initiatives, local governments and the EU are the most trusted. (SITA)
President Zuzana Čaputová and her partner Juraj Rizman will attend Queen Elizabeth II's funeral on September 19.
The Roman Games took place in Bratislava-Rusovce on September 10, 2022. (source: TASR - Jaroslav Novák)
The Justice Ministry decided to leave out the proposed crime of spreading disinformation from the package of changes to the Crimes Act, as a consensus on the formulation of the proposed crime had not been reached.
Pollution of the Danube River with plastic waste is increasing every year. The river washes up to four tons of plastic a day into the Black Sea, the Environment Ministry said.
If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.
