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Simon: Agriculture Ministry Plans for Tender Are Waste of Money

Bratislava, May 26 (TASR) - The Agriculture Ministry's plans to invite tenders for identifying plants in forested areas that are officially listed in the Land Register as non-forested is a waste of money because the ministry already has this data, opposition political party Most-Hid vice-chairman Zsolt Simon said on Wednesday. The former agriculture minister further… read more

Government Passes State Citizenship Amendment

Bratislava, May 26 (TASR) - As of July 17, Slovak citizens will lose their citizenship in two cases - if they willingly decide to give it up or if they apply for the citizenship of another country, according to an amendment to the State Citizenship Act proposed by Prime Minister Robert Fico and approved at the Government session on Wednesday. The amendment proposal comes… read more

Vollebaek: Consultation Needed Before Passing Law on Dual Citizenship

The Hague, May 25 (TASR) - Granting citizenship to a person on any other criterion than one's residency is grounds for political tension between countries, OSCE High Commissioner for Minorities Knut Vollebaek said following his meeting with Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak in The Hague on Tuesday. "I warned countries about granting citizenship on ethnic,… read more

NBS: Economy Did Better than Expected in 1Q10 but Not Job Growth

Bratislava, May 25 (TASR) - Developments in Slovak economy in the first quarter of 2010 were slightly more favourable than the country's central bank NBS expected but, in turn, a year-on-year drop in the employment rate was greater than NBS had foreseen, according to NBS's latest monthly report on the Slovak economy released on Tuesday. The Slovak Statistics Office said… read more

Fico: Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant Will Be Among World\'s Safest

Bratislava, May 25 (TASR) - Nuclear energy is gaining in importance, therefore Slovakia adopted several measures to increase the output of the existing nuclear blocks in Slovakia and to support construction of additional resources of nuclear energy, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said at the fifth European Nuclear Energy Forum in Bratislava on Tuesday. "In nuclear… read more

Hanzel Files Criminal Complaint Concerning Threatening Email

Bratislava, May 25 (TASR) - Businessman and former Smer-SD MP Bohumil Hanzel, who recently went public with allegations of shady financing practices in the past of now-strongest Smer-SD party, on Tuesday filed a criminal complaint to the Prosecutor's Office vis-a-vis an email he received in which someone threatened him with death. Hanzel said he was confident that the… read more

Bank Analysts: Slovak Economy Should Grow by 2.9 percent in 2010

Bratislava, May 25 (TASR) - Commercial bank analysts predict that the Slovak economy will grow by 2.9 percent in 2010, which means that they are more optimistic than they were in April, when they went for 2.7 percent. According to commercial banks' current macroeconomic predictions, which are published by Slovakia's central bank (NBS) on a monthly basis, expectations… read more

Parliament Denounces Hungarian Act, Waiting for Vote in Budapest

Bratislava, May 25 (TASR) - After a four-hour debate on Tuesday, Parliament approved – with 113 votes out of a possible 150 – a resolution expressing concerns about Hungary's proposed dual citizenship legislation. All political parties except for the purely ethnic-Hungarian SMK concurred on the resolution. At the same time, Parliament commissioned its Chairman Pavol… read more

Government Approves Plan Concerning International Development Aid

Bratislava, May 25 (TASR) - The Government on Tuesday approved Slovakia's plan for development aid in 2010-12 as drafted by the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Under the Official Development Assistance (ODA) National Programme for 2010, Slovakia has agreed to provide €6.865 million in development aid to Afghanistan, Kenya and Serbia, and finance development projects in Ethiopia,… read more

Government Suspends Discussion on Dual Citizenship

Bratislava, May 25 (TASR) - The extraordinary Government session dealing with an amendment to the State Citizenship Act was interrupted on Tuesday morning because some of the members of the Government wanted to leave in order to attend an extraordinary parliamentary session. The Government will continue its discussion of the amendment and the related fast-tracked legislative… read more

Slovak Households Fairly Optimistic About Future Finances

Bratislava, May 25 (TASR) - Around 37 percent of Slovak households assessed their current financial situation as worse than it was last year, according to a survey that was carried out by the GfK agency for MasterCard and published on Tuesday. In general, more optimistic expectations prevail, however, as 72 percent of households think that their financial situation will… read more

Radicova: SDKU-DS Welcomes KDH Saying No to Coalition with Smer-SD

Bratislava, May 24 (TASR) - SDKU-DS welcomes Monday's decision from the Christian Democratic Movement's (KDH) camp to not co-operate with Smer-SD after the June 12 parliamentary election, SDKU-DS election leader Iveta Radicova told TASR on the same day. "We're glad to receive a positive reaction (from KDH) to our appeal (made over the weekend at the SDKU-DS Central Committee's… read more

Figel: KDH Won\'t Form Government with Smer-SD After Election

Bratislava, May 24 (TASR) - Dubious financial dealings of Smer-SD party and its reluctance to provide an explanation led the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) to decide that Smer-SD has been ruled out of any possible post-election co-operation, KDH Chairman Jan Figel said after the session of the party leadership held on Monday. He described the decision as being for… read more

Meciar: Someone Is Planning Conflict in Central Europe

Bratislava, May 24 (TASR) - The latest steps taken by political representation in Hungary vis-a-vis the planned adoption of dual-citizenship legislation indicate that someone has made plans to change the political situation in central Europe, and is plotting a conflict, co-ruling LS-HZDS leader Vladimir Meciar said on Monday. "We want a fixed peace. The clash that can… read more

Minister Lajcak to Meet OSCE Commissioner Over Hungarian Law

Bratislava, May 24 (TASR) - Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak will meet with OSCE High Commissioner for Minorities Knut Vollebaek to discuss the amendment to the Hungarian Law on Dual Citizenship, TASR learned from the ministry spokesman Peter Stano on Monday. At the meeting, set for Tuesday (May 25) in the Hague, Lajcak will communicate the concerns of… read more