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Volkswagen Bratislava Launching Three Shifts as of Monday

Bratislava, March 28 (TASR) - Volkswagen Slovakia's car-manufacturing assembly plant is launching three shifts on five days a week as of Monday. The company's spokesman Vladimir Machalik told TASR that the new shift system should apply for the assembly of SUV vehicles and the production of chassis for the Volkswagen Tuareg and the Audi Q7. According to Machalik,… read more

Bulik: Slovak Army Now Modern and Operational Under NATO

Bratislava, March 28 (TASR) - Slovakia's six years as a member of NATO have brought some significant changes in terms of the military and the way it operates, Chief-of-General-Staff of the Slovak Armed Forces Lubomir Bulik told TASR on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of Slovakia's entry into the Alliance (March 29). "Perhaps the most important move can be seen in… read more

SDKU-DS Has Approved Its Election Programme

Bratislava, March 27 (TASR) - The strongest opposition party SDKU-DS has "dispatched a train", hoping to persuade as many voters as possible to want to board it, according to the party's election leader Iveta Radicova, speaking to journalists on Saturday, following SDKU's central committee confirming the party's election programme. Radicova said her party wants to make… read more

Slovak Togetherness Commemorates NATO-led Bombing in Serbia

Bratislava, March 27 (TASR) - Supporters of far-right organisation Slovenska Pospolitost (Slovak Togetherness) gathered in Bratislava on Saturday in order to commemorate the 11th anniversary of NATO-led bombing Serbia. Bombing Belgrade began on March 24, 1999, when the NATO took action against Serbia's unwillingness to make concessions to Kosovo and requirements of Albanian… read more

Fico: If There\'s Any Fraud in Social Enterprises,Tomanova to Be Held Accountable

(Slovak Radio, March 27, 'Sobotne dialogy') Commenting on findings of the European Commission's inspectors in running of the so-called social enterprises, Prime Minister Robert Fico said in an interview on the Slovak Radio on Saturday that if Brussels confirms that no eurofunding will take place in these eight pilot projects because of any fraud or serious violation of… read more

Fico: Goals Set in Europe 2020 Okay, But We Don\'t Like Figures

Brussels, March 26 (TASR) - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who represented Slovak stances towards European Union issues at the just-closed EU summit, considers it to be correct that only three out of five points of the new Strategy for Growth and Employment (Europe 2020) will contain "exact figures" after Friday's conclusion of the summit. "I'm talking about financing… read more

General Bulik Proud of Slovak-Hungarian Cooperation Within Cyprus Mission

Bratislava, March 26 (TASR) - Chief of the Slovak Armed Forces General Staff Lubomir Bulik appreciates Slovak-Hungarian military co-operation, referring to the both countries' soldiers jointly taking part in within UN's UNFICYP mission in Cyprus. Bulik attended their joint muster in Hungary on Friday. Slovakia currently has military staff of 196, including eight women,… read more

Meciar: Slovakia Has No Hope of Improving Employment in Next Years

Bratislava, March 26 (TASR) - There's currently little hope for improving the jobs situation in Slovakia, LS-HZDS Chairman Vladimir Meciar said on Friday. According to Meciar, Slovakia will struggle with the employment issue throughout the whole year. "We need to be true to people. The situation won't improve much in the next two years, but probably in the two years after… read more

NDS: Spoofing GPS and GSM Signals on Roads Is Illegal and Won\'t Work

Bratislava, March 26 (TASR) - Lorry drivers using Slovak tariffed roads won't avoid paying toll even if they install and use GPS/GSM signal jammers (spoofers) in their vehicles because the electronic toll-collection system is 'smart' enough to detect it if they do, TASR was informed by National Highway Company (NDS) spokesman Marcel Janosik on Friday. "Using spoofers… read more

Median Sk. Poll: Smer Would Have Won Recent Election on 43.9 Percent

Bratislava, March 26 (TASR) - If a general election had been held in February, the winner would have been the main coalition party Smer-SD on 43.9 percent of the vote, according to a poll carried out by Median SK from throughout the month of February on 1,206 respondents of voting age. Main opposition party SDKU-DS would have come second on 12.7 percent, with the Christian… read more

New Presentation House of V4 Countries Opens in Cape Town

Cape Town, March 26 (TASR) - The Common Presentation House of Visegrad Four (V4) Countries has been ceremoniously opened in Cape Town, South African on Thursday, TASR learned from the Foreign Affairs Ministry press department on Friday. Within the joint presentation of the Visegrad region, Slovakia will focus its presentation on the fields of tourism, investment, culture… read more

SDKU-DS Says Its Election Programme Aimed at Improving Life Quality

Bratislava, March 26 (TASR) - Opposition SDKU-DS is set to approve its programme for the June 12 parliamentary election at its programme conference on Saturday, election leader and deputy chairwoman Iveta Radicova told reporters when unveiling the document Friday in Bratislava. "It is grounded in three pillars concerning the economy and employment growth; support for… read more

Rafaj: HZDS Has Low Voter Support and Therefore Clutches at Straws

Bratislava, March 26 (TASR) - If LS-HZDS chairman Vladimir Meciar has any information on any 'scoopers' of kickbacks from state subsidies running criss-cross the country, he should act, Rafael Rafaj from the Slovak National Party (SNS), which is HZDS's coalition partner, told TASR on Friday. Earlier in the day, Meciar insinuated that it is SNS that is involved in corruption.… read more

SMK: Government Not Doing Enough to Stop Growth of National Debt

Bratislava, March 26 (TASR) - The Government on Friday came under fire from opposition SMK, which indicated that the Government continues to hold back on reining in public spending. "Government is using the economic crisis as a crutch to splurge ... everyone was saving except for the Government and state sector," SMK Deputy Chairman and Republic Council Chairman Ivan… read more

Fico: Europe 2020 Wearing Rose-coloured Glasses as Predecessor Did

Brussels, March 26 (TASR) - Prime Minister Robert Fico at a press conference early Friday criticised the new Strategy for Growth and Employment (Europe 2020) as being too ambitious – just like its predecessor the Lisbon Strategy, which in 2000 set out to make Europe the world's most-competitive economy by 2010 but, according to conventional wisdom, failed. The new document… read more