Good evening. Here is theMonday, February 19edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes.
First tractors block roads, more to come
The "We're Not Public Servants. We're Farmers" poster is carried by a tractor in Bratislava on February 19, 2024. (source: TASR)
More than 300 farmers grouped in the Land Owners and Agricultural Entrepreneurs Association (ZVPAS) and Young Farmers’ Association (ASYF) took to the roads in more than 20 Slovak towns on Monday.
“The goal of the protest is to point out the critical situation of farmers in Slovakia,” said Land Owners and Agricultural Entrepreneurs Association chair, Ján Jelen. “They haven’t received the direct payments to which they are entitled.”
The associations see the biggest problem in the Agricultural Paying Agency (PPA), which is responsible for giving out these payments. It falls under the Agriculture Ministry. They also criticised the ministry for refusing to communicate about their demands because “it only meets with one chamber [Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber - SPPK]”.
In addition to direct payments to be paid out immediately, farmers asked for the relief of social levies for all farmers, the administrative burden to be reduced, and discrimination to be eliminated when renting land from the Slovak Land Fund, the TASR news agency wrote. They also demanded the setting up of a register of land use relationships and the preparation of financial instruments to support farmers through more favourable loans. On Monday, they also fought for green diesel for all farmers, as well as a ban on the duty-free import of agricultural commodities from countries outside the European Union.
Other protests will take place on Thursday. These will be organised by the SPPK. Minister Richard Takáč (Smer), who criticised the Monday protests and referred to the young farmers’ arguments ‘pseudo-arguments’, should also back the farmers on this day.
Related: ZVPAS and ASYF will not support the Thursday protests because the SPPK will protest against the EU and its agricultural policy. The other two organisations are blaming the PPA. The Thursday protests should be larger.
Quote: “We know from the past that SPPK campaigned for Smer. We do not want to involve farmers in the political campaign very likely to be witnessed at the protest.” (ASYF chair Marián Glovaťák)
More stories from The Slovak Spectator website
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Regions: A man in Košice drives a luxury car with a controversial number plate.
Opinion: Ruling coalition lobs another grenade at the president, but she still has a lot of work to do with the first grenade.
Travel: A Slovak climber has reportedly died in Argentina.
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FEATURE STORY FOR MONDAY
A Greek food island in the middle of Bratislava
The Greek bistro Suvlaki on Krížna Street in Bratislava. (source: Peter Dlhopolec - The Slovak Spectator)
A small bistro in central Bratislava, a stone’s throw from Comenius University’s medical faculty, is named after a classic Greek dish. Yiannis Fanourakis opened the city’s only Greek restaurant almost a decade ago. That wasn’t his original plan at all, at least not at first.
EVENT FOR WEDNESDAY
32 cities
An anti-government protest after the Kuciak murder in 2018. (source: TASR)
On Wednesday, February 21, six years will pass since the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová. On this occasion, public gatherings in 32 cities, of which 23 are in Slovakia and nine abroad, will take place.
“The murder changed Slovakia, we stood together in the squares to fight for decency and justice. Today we feel as if nothing has changed in Slovakia after the murder of Ján and Martina. The old days are back,” the For a Decent Slovakia initiative has said.
Bratislava: 17:00 on Námestie Slobody (square)
Other Slovak towns: Košice, B. Bystrica, Lučenec, Prievidza, R. Sobota, Dolný Kubín, Bardejov, Námestovo, Rožňava, Banská Štiavnica, L. Mikuláš, Prešov, N. Zámky, Ružomberok, Trstená, Zvolen, Michalovce, Vranov n. Topľou, Piešťany, Pezinok, Komárno, Spišská Nová Ves.
Abroad: Luxembourg, Brno, Zlín, Prague, Paris, Oslo, Vancouver, the Hague, Copenhagen.
In other news
The Agricultural Paying Agency has accelerated the disbursement of direct
payments. Farmers and young farmers will receive over €118 million in the coming days, the agency announced on the day when farmers protested across Slovakia. (TASR)Progresívne Slovensko has prepared a motion to the Constitutional Court
for a review of the adopted amendment to the Penal Code, in which the party will demand the suspension of its effectiveness. The president has already sent her motion to the Court. (SITA)The Slovak Foreign Ministry has warned passengers about a strike by the ground staff of German airline Lufthansa due to take place on Tuesday (February 20) and Wednesday (February 21). The strike will concern airports in Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Cologne and Stuttgart.
The trial with businessman Norbert Bödör began on Monday at the Specialised Criminal Court in Pezinok. Bödör faces charges of paying a bribe of €50,000. The court summoned four witnesses. Bödör, who is also involved in the Cattle-Breeder case, is accused of bribery. However, he refutes the charges. The €50,000-bribe was allegedly related to assistance in a specific criminal matter for the benefit of another person. (TASR)
Róbert Švec, from the extremist party Slovenské Hnutie Obrody,can run for president in the 2024 election, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled on Monday. There will be 11 presidential candidates in total. (Sme)
The Constitutional Court objected to the statements of Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer) on Monday. Fico suggests that the court and the president were in contact, so that the head of state could influence the ruling after she submitted the criticised amendment to the Penal Code for review with the constitution. The president refuted the claims made by Fico last weekend. (TASR)
A prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor’s Office has scrapped the resolution on bringing charges in the Gorilla political corruption case (2011), returning the matter to an investigator of the National Crime Agency for new proceedings and decision. Charges were pressed against five people, including financier Jaroslav Haščák, in 2022. (TASR)
A tree of gratitude, symbolising mutual fellowship between Ukrainians and Slovaks, was planted by Kuchajda lake in Bratislava on February 17, with Ukrainian Ambassador to Slovakia Myroslav Kastran and Bratislava's New Town mayor Matúš Čupka in attendance. (source: TASR)
WEATHER FOR TUESDAY: Tuesday will be cloudy. It will rain in some parts of the country, in particular the north. Daytime temperatures will range from 4°C to 13°C. (SHMÚ)
FEBRUARY 20 NAME'S DAY IN SLOVAKIA: Lívia.
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