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Parliament: Unsettled Restituents May Now Get Money Instead of Lands

Bratislava, March 3 (TASR) - Slovak Land Fund (SPF) will be allowed to offer money as a substitute to those restituents who don't accept alternative lands offered by SPF. This is according to an amendment to the Act on Land Ownership Rights passed in Parliament on Wednesday. According to the new rules, restituents will have the right to suggest which alternative land… read more

Lajcak Meets Peres and Netanyahu to Discuss Iran and Bilateral Ties

Jerusalem/Bratislava, March 3 (TASR) - Iran must not get hold of nuclear weapons, Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak concurred with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meetings in Jerusalem on Wednesday, spokesman for the Slovak ministry Peter Stano told TASR later in the day. Both Israeli officials appreciated… read more

Mikolaj: No Sanctions for Schools If Violating Patriot Act

Bratislava, March 3 (TASR) - The Education Ministry won't provide any funding to schools around the country in relation to the application of the newly-adopted Patriot Act, said Education Minister Jan Mikolaj (nationalist SNS nominee) on Wednesday, adding that schools are to face no sanctions for not obeying the law. According to Mikolaj, no high costs are expected within… read more

Drop in Credit to Businesses Seen as Disconcerting for Hopes of Revival

Bratislava, March 3 (TASR) - The month-on-month drop in the volume of new loans provided to entrepreneurs in January is a disconcerting signal vis-a-vis the expected revival of the Slovak economy, Finance Ministry State Secretary Peter Kazimir said following a Government session on Wednesday. "We believe that developments in the area of credit are satisfactory at the… read more

Financial Conclusion of PPP Projects Postponed to April

Bratislava, March 3 (TASR) - The deadline for concluding the financial aspects of the first round of PPP (public-private-partnership) projects aimed at building sections of the D1 motorway will be put back to the end of April 2010, the Government decided on Wednesday. The Government has given its consent to the introduction of a third addendum to a concession contract… read more

Government Approves Fines of up to €2 million for Sales of Tainted Food

Bratislava, March 3 (TASR) - Bodies of the State Food Inspectorate will have the right to impose penalties of up to €2 million for repeated violations of the Food Act, according to an amendment to the act that was approved by the Government on Wednesday. Until now, inspectors were able to impose fines amounting to no more than €1.66 million. Misdemeanours committed… read more

Fico: Environment Ministry Is Cursed

Bratislava, March 3 (TASR) - The Environment Ministry must be cursed, said Prime Minister Robert Fico on Wednesday after carrying out an inspection there and commenting on the fact that he sacked three Slovak National Party (SNS) nominees from their ministerial posts and took the ministry away from the party altogether last August. Fico insists on his stance that SNS… read more

Slovakia to Contribute €150,000 to Memorial Projects at Sobibor

Bratislava, March 3 (TASR) - Slovakia will contribute €150,000 towards various projects aimed at commemorating the victims of the former Nazi death camp at Sobibor in Poland, with the Government allocating the financial resources from a reserve fund on Wednesday. Slovakia's contribution is the highest this year from all participating countries. Slovakia, Poland,… read more

Environment Ministry Recommends Defining Strategic Resources

Bratislava, March 3 (TASR) - The Environment Ministry has recommended that the Government should define so-called strategic mineral resources, i.e. non-renewable resources of extraordinary value that should be preserved for future generations. The Cabinet, which adopted the document at its session on Wednesday, also ordered the ministers of environment (Jozef Medved)… read more

Medved: Contract With Interblue Group Now Terminated

Bratislava, March 3 (TASR) - The Environment Ministry regards the contract with American company the Interblue Group for the sale of the country's surplus emission quotas as terminated, Environment Minister Jozef Medved said at a press conference on Wednesday. Medved explained that the company in question went out of business in December 2009, and that the ministry has… read more

Angyal Will Remain Chairman of Public Procurement Office

Bratislava, March 2 (TASR) - Public Procurement Office (UVO) chairman Bela Angyal will remain on his post even after his five-year term of office expires, as the Slovak Parliament passed an amendment to the Act on Public Procurement on Tuesday. The legislation in question, containing an amending proposal drawn up by MP Peter Pelegrini (Smer-SD), doesn't specify the exact… read more

Patriotism Act Okayed By Parliament

Bratislava, March 2 (TASR) - The Slovak Parliament passed the Patriotism Act on Tuesday, with the legislation set to come into effect as of April 2010. A total of 77 MPs out of 122 voted in favour of the proposal. If signed by Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic, the Slovak national anthem will be played mandatorily at the beginning of every session of the Government, Parliament… read more

Soldiers and Mountain Rescuers Receive Slovak-Hungarian Award

Budapest, March 2 (TASR) - Members of the Slovak-Hungarian contingent within UN's UNFICYP mission in Cyprus as well as members of the Mountain Rescue Service (HZS) in the High Tatras were presented with a joint Slovak-Hungarian award called "Good Neighbourhood and Understanding" by Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak and his Hungarian counterpart Peter Balazs in… read more

Most-Hid Disillusioned at Fico\'s Idea of Protecting Consumers

Bratislava, March 2 (TASR) - The non-parliamentary Most-Hid party is disenchanted at the Government's hasty endeavours to protect consumers when it comes to food safety and quality, the party's spokesperson Nora Czuczorova told TASR on Tuesday. She was speaking following an inspection that Prime Minister Robert Fico conducted at the Agriculture Ministry earlier in the… read more

Hlina Brings Sheep to Parliament to Protest at MPs\' Behaviour

Bratislava, March 2 (TASR) - Reacting to a protest held in front of the Parliament building by civil activist Alojz Hlina, Slovak National Party (SNS) parliamentary caucus chairman Rafael Rafaj said on Tuesday that he won't provide publicity for mud, clay or any other sculpture from another material. [an allusion to Hlina's name, which means 'clay' in the Slovak language - ed.… read more