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Gasparovic: Coalition Suffers Serious Problems With Integrity

Bratislava, July 28 (TASR) - The new Coalition is clearly experiencing problems with integrity and the upcoming Parliamentary sessions will soon reveal how the Government will fare, Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic told TASR on Wednesday. Gasparovic spoke in reaction to the current situation, wherein four Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MPs are contemplating leaving the… read more

Government Passes Its Manifesto (UPDATE)

Bratislava, July 28 (TASR) - The Cabinet led by Premier Iveta Radicova at its session on Wednesday passed the Government Manifesto. The document is now awaiting approval from Parliament in early August. The vote in Parliament will at the same time be viewed as a vote of confidence for the new executive. The Government views the introduction of new political culture and… read more

NBS to Join Eurozone Survey of Households

Bratislava, July 28 (TASR) - Slovakia's central bank (NBS) said on Wednesday that it would join a joint Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) organised by certain central banks in the eurozone in order to help provide the European Central Bank (ECB) and themselves with data comparable with that in other eurozone countries. "The HFCS in Slovakia is aimed at… read more

Slota Won\'t Run for Re-election as SNS Chairman

Bratislava, July 28 (TASR) - Long-standing Slovak National Party (SNS) chairman and lawmaker Jan Slota has decided not to run for re-election at the party congress of September 12, separate sources close to Slota confirmed for TASR on Wednesday. Slota offered to resign his post following the general election on June 12 in which his party only narrowly made it into parliament.… read more

Trust in Slovak Industry in July at Highest Level Since 2007

Bratislava, July 28 (TASR) - Trust in the Slovak economy grew in July 2010, with the Index of Economic Sentiment (IES) rising by 1.3 percentage points month-on-month and by 22.4 percentage points year-on-year to 92.5 points. It is still 5.9 points below the long-term average, however, the Statistics Office (SU) reported on Wednesday. According to SU, the increase was… read more

Ordinary People: Sulik\'s Party Has Betrayed Us

Bratislava, July 27 (TASR) - Practically nothing from the programme of the 'Ordinary People' faction within Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party has been included in the draft Government manifesto, the faction's head Igor Matovic told TASR on Tuesday. He also said that the four-member faction is now considering leaving the SaS parliamentary caucus. "It's strange… read more

Razsochy Hospital Won\'t Be Completed in The End

Bratislava, July 27 (TASR) - Completion of the partially built Razsochy Hospital in Bratislava was in the end dropped from the Government Manifesto, two independent sources told TASR on Tuesday. The draft of the Manifesto that leaked to the media from Premier Iveta Radicova's (SDKU-DS) office last week counted on the completion. In addition, Health Minister Ivan Uhliarik… read more

Zitnanska Wants Changes in Judicial Council Architecture

Bratislava, July 27 (TASR) - Sessions of the Judicial Council should be made public, and the decisions it makes should be reasoned. Also, chairmen and vice-chairmen of courts shouldn't be allowed to become members of the council according to a new bill on Judicial Council drafted by Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska. "Our aim is to clear an open space for independent justice.… read more

Zitnanska: High Salary Bonuses for Former Ministry Officials Immoral

Bratislava, July 27 (TASR) - Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska said at a briefing on Tuesday that high bonuses for some of the former officials working at the Justice Ministry were okayed immorally. According to her, a group of the privileged emerged at the ministry over the past years. "We're looking into it, and changes need to be made in this for the future. The new… read more

Radicova Submits Amendment to Competences Act for Public Comment

Bratislava, July 27 (TASR) - Premier Iveta Radicova has invited comments from government ministries and the public for her bill to amend the Competences Act, which she posted online on Tuesday. In the bill, proposed to take effect as of November 1, Radicova wants to address issues affecting ethnic minorities by investing the relevant deputy premier with more powers,… read more

Transport Ministry to Get New Powers as of November

Bratislava, July 27 (TASR) - The Transport Ministry is to gain extended powers within a few months, particularly in the fields of regional development, tourism and co-ordination of the use of European funds. In line with these changes, the ministry will be re-named the Transport, Regional Development and Tourism Ministry as of November 1, 2010. "This step is substantiated… read more

Economy Minister Miskov to Rework His Section of Government Manifesto

Bratislava, July 27 (TASR) - Prime Minister (SDKU-DS) Iveta Radicova asked Economy and Construction Minister Juraj Miskov (Freedom and Solidarity/SaS) late on Monday to be more specific in his goals for the economy sector as stated in the Government Manifesto. Miskov was told to include in his Manifesto section among other things a pledge not to privatise strategic companies,… read more

Miskov Sets Mind to Improving Business Environment

Bratislava, July 27 (TASR) - Economy and Construction Minister Juraj Miskov on Tuesday announced plans to bring about a dramatic improvement in Slovakia's business environment. "It would be great if we could turn the country into the Singapore of Central and Eastern Europe. I wish that entrepreneurs had at least half as favourable conditions for doing business as in Singapore,… read more

Coalition Partners Agree on Government Manifesto

Bratislava, July 27 (TASR) - After almost eight hours, the leaders of the coalition parties (SDKU-DS, Freedom and Solidarity/SaS, the Christian Democratic Movement/KDH and Most-Hid) ended their talks on the Government Manifesto proposal on Tuesday morning. According to Prime Minister Iveta Radicova, the partners reached agreement on all areas of the Manifesto. She pointed… read more

Parliamentary Parties Alone Spent More than €10 million on Campaigns

Bratislava, July 26 (TASR) - The six parties that entered Parliament after the June 12 general election spent a total of €10,206,300, according to a final report on election campaign spending posted by the Finance Ministry on its website Monday. Of that, the then strongest opposition party SDKU-DS invested in €3,120,000, ahead of SNS having spent €2,736,500; and… read more