(source: SME.sk / Hej,ty)
Good afternoon. Here is a quick summary of the main news of the day in our Friday, June 3, 2022 edition of Today in Slovakia. Get up to date in less than 5 minutes.
New rules to curb visual smog in Bratislava
Visual smog on the Obchodná street in Bratislava. (source: SME - Vladimír Šimíček)
Portrayed in the picture above is what urban planners call visual smog – in this case, blighting Obchodná, one of Bratislava's main shopping streets. Although the photo is several years old, not much has changed since in terms of the sheer volume of advertisements.
Luckily for the city, this situation might be about to improve. The Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava has released a new, clear set of rules on the placement of advertising on buildings, as well as on city lights, billboards, small structures intended for displaying posters, among others.
The idea is to stop the ads and signs degrading the quality of public spaces and causing disruption.
The manual states that architecture has priority over advertisements – meaning, for example, that a business should have only one display with its name, and its placement should match the design of the building as a whole. Find out more here.
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Refugees from Ukraine
1,494 women, 645 men and 353 children crossed the Slovak-Ukrainian border on June 2. The number of refugees who have come to Slovakia since the war started is almost 478,000 and more than 79,000 have asked for temporary protection.
From July 1, new rules should apply to Ukrainians using railways, buses and municipal public transport in the Košice and Prešov self-governing regions. So far, the proposed changes include a 5-day limit on free use of transport after crossing the border. When a refugee is granted temporary protection, they will be able to travel free of charge only to their place of work and back to their place of accommodation. In Košice Region, almost 90,000 Ukrainians used public transport from February 26 to June 1.
Feature story of the day
On Friday, June 3, the Weekend of Open Parks and Gardens starts. It will continue until Sunday, June 5.
As many as 101 green venues all over Slovakia are taking part in the event. In addition to gardens and parks, there will be orchards, arboreta, green squares, historic cemeteries, a pheasant house in Bratislava’s Jarovce, and a community vineyard in Bratislava’s Vajnory. Bratislava boasts 15 venues this year.
Almost all participating parks and gardens have a short summary in English on the event's website. This year the theme is climate change. That's reflected in the programme, which includes a number of climate-change-related lectures and discussions.
Anniversary of the week
Štefan Banič (source: TASR)
On June 3 in 1914, Slovak inventor Štefan Banič presented a parachute of his own design to the public, and to representatives of the US Patent Office and the US Air Force. To demonstrate its utility, he jumped off the roof of a 15-storey building – and landed safely.
Even though he received a patent for inventing the parachute, he did not get rich from it and after returning to his hometown of Smolenice, Trnava Region, he worked as master mason.
Fifteen years later, along with a group of villagers, he discovered the Driny cave. Discover more about Štefan Banič here.
In other news
The City of Bratislava is going to buy a fleet of new 12-metre-long low-floor and hybrid trolleybuses. They will operate a new bus line from the Main Railway Station to Koliba that will be created by combining the existing 41 and 44 bus lines. The new vehicles, worth €5.1 million excluding VAT, should be delivered by the end of 2023. The purchase will be partially financed by Eurofunds. The capital has also ordered a new fleet of modern Otokar buses.
Eight self-governing regions are joining the Association of Towns and Municipalities of Slovakia (ZMOS) on strike alert. Each region will have its own version of a strike, but none will impose any limits on people. Their reason for doing so is the proposal from the Finance Ministry to cut their budgets in connection with its anti-inflation aid for families.
According to OĽaNO MP György Gyimesi, Economy Minister Richard Sulík (SaS) did not take the opportunity to agree on better conditions for Slovakia in regards to the EU embargo on Russian oil imports, and thus damaged Slovakia's interests. He is calling on Sulík to resign. The Sme Rodina party, which is part of the governing coalition along with OĽaNO and SaS, has said it agrees with Gyimesi. The fourth coalition party, Za Ľudí, says that the coalition might require Sulík to take responsibility if he cannot obtain enough gas and oil for Slovakia. Sulík rejects the criticism and has said that the embargo was approved by Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OĽaNO).
Slovakia has 18 months to replace Russian oil, the Economy Ministry says. The embargo on imports of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia will not take effect until eighteen months after the recently agreed EU sanctions have been put in place.
Tax fraudster Ladislav Bašternák has been charged in another criminal case. This time it's about VAT returns in connection with the Bonaparte residential complex, where former prime minister Robert Fico used to live.
By 2030, Slovakia could produce almost 90 percent of its electricity without emissions. Electricity from fossil fuels should then make up just 12 percent of total generated power, which is half of the share in 2020, the Institute of Environmental Policy reports.
Now that the seasonal closure of hiking trails is over, the via ferratas at Martinské Hole and Skalka are open again. Recently, a new via ferrata was opened in Slovenská Ľupča.
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