(source: SME.sk / Hej,ty)
Good evening. The Wednesday, July 13 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready with the main news of the day in less than five minutes.
End to talks on teachers' higher salaries
Monika Uhlerová, head of the Slovak Trade Union Confederation (KOZ), during a press conference on July 13, 2022. (source: TASR)
Teachers and other employees working in schools will earn more from next year, and they will also receive a one-off payment of €500 this September.
In response to the government’s latest decision, the education trade union has said they are going to cancel strike alert. There will be no strikes until August 2024, the trade union also said.
In June, thousands of teachers and other employees took to the streets in Bratislava to fight for higher salaries.
"I appreciate that our demands have finally been heard," Education Minister Branislav Gröhling of the SaS party said on July 13.
The dispute between the SaS party and Finance Minister Igor Matovič (OĽaNO) over higher salaries in the education sector has been one of the reasons that contributed to the ongoing coalition crisis.
More stories from The Slovak Spectator website
BUSINESS: Households and firms in Slovakia will pay higher gas prices next year despite the fact that Slovakia has enough gas to survive the next heating season.
COURT: The Dobroslav Trnka trial ended abruptly on July 13. Judge Marek Filo pointed to the lack of evidence and stopped criminal prosecution of ex-prosecutor general Trnka.
HYDROPOWER PLANT: The Čierny Váh plant will receive a new inclined elevator from Sweden. The original one has been in permanent use since 1980.
REFUGEES: Most refugees want to return back to Ukraine when it is possible, a UN Refugee Agency survey has found.
Events to go and look forward to:
Author's Reading Month, the biggest literary festival in central Europe, will welcome Iceland's Canadian First Lady and writer Eliza Reid to the Zichy Palace in Bratislava on July 15. Reid's first book, "Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland's Extraordinary Women and How They Are Chaning the World", has been published this year.
Listen to NPR's interview with Reid from February 2022, when her book was published in the US and Canada.
Bratislava Coronation Days will take place on July 29 to 31. Apart from a coronation parade, tourists can enjoy walking tours in Slovak, English, German, Hungarian and Ukrainian to learn more about the coronation of Hungarian kings in Bratislava.
FEATURE STORY FOR WEDNESDAY
Top 10 Trenčín Region swings
Children on a swing in the Trenčín Region. (source: TASR)
Trenčín Region is betting on its swings with unique views for the summer season. They launched a summer challenge in which tourists should visit all ten most popular swings in the region.
If you like what we are doing and want to support good journalism, buy our online subscription. Thank you.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Epidemiologist Alexandra Bražinová, who became widely known during the coronavirus pandemic, has received the Woman of Courage Award from the U.S. Embassy in Slovakia. Former public defender of rights Mária Patakyová, the non-governmental organisation Mareena, and anti-corruption fighter Vladimír Špánik have become other U.S. Embassy Human Rights Awards recipients for their contribution to the fields of human rights, transparency and humanitarian aid.
PM Eduard Heger (OĽaNO) will meet his Economy Minister Richard Sulík, who chairs Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), a coalition party, on Saturday evening, July 16, to discuss the coalition crisis. On July 12, Sulík announced his party is no longer part of the coalition. He had claimed otherwise before. However, the SaS has said they will not leave the government before August 30.
The European Commission has published its 2022 Rule of Law Report, assessing also the situation in Slovakia. The Commission lists six recommendations for the country, including the need for the regulation of lobbying and strengthening laws on the conflict of interest and asset declarations as well as the reform of defamation law.
Slovakia will purchase up to 35,000 packages of the medicine Lagevrio containing the antiviral drug molnupiravir for the treatment of Covid-19. Simultaneously, the country will cancel the purchase of Paxlovid.
An elongated stationary cloud known as altocumulus lenticularis was seen in eastern Slovakia on July 13, 2022. (source: Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute)
The government has approved the zoning of Muránska Planina National Park, which will contribute to a better protection of the capercaillie. The EU court ruled a few weeks ago that Slovakia failed to protect the bird.
The Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art in Medzilaborce will probably not receive €7.1 million for its renovation. The government wants to cancel its previous decision. The costs in regard to the project have increased by 80 percent, the Finance Ministry said.
Via Iuris and Let's Stop Corruption, non-governmental organisations, have launched a petition that calls on the government and the parliament to change the disputed Paragraph 363. The organisations believe the paragraph has been overused. They describe the legal tool as the "pop-culture phenomenon" popularised by Prosecutor General Maroš Žilinka. He used the paragraph on several occasions, notably in the case of ex-secret service chief Vladimír Pčolinský, to cancel decisions made by prosecutors and investigators in the preliminary proceedings.
Slovakia reported 873 Covid-19 cases out of 2,122 carried out tests on July 12. See the map of newly reported cases.
If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.
