OtherOther Economy

Number and Amount of Transcations Carried out by Payment Cards Growing

Bratislava, February 17 (TASR) - A total of 5,080,145 payment cards were in circulation in Slovakia in 2009, which represents a reduction of 175,000 when compared to 2008. Although the number of cards fell, the number and value of transactions carried out via payment cards rose year-on-year, with more than 178 million transactions worth a total of €13 billion. … read more

State Health-insurer VsZP Could Be Fined up to €330,000 Over Data Leak

Bratislava, February 17 (TASR) - The Personal Data Protection Office has launched an inspection of the information system of state-run health-insurer Vseobecna Zdravotna Poistovna (VsZP) after VsZP published the personal identification numbers of some of its clients on the company's website. "If the inspection proves that the Act on Personal Data Protection has been… read more

Fico Praises Pace of Motorway Construction

Bratislava, February 16 (TASR) - The current Cabinet is building motorways and fast roads three or four times more quickly than was the case under the previous Government led by Mikulas Dzurinda, Prime Minister Robert Fico said after carrying out an inspection at the Transport, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry on Tuesday. By the end of this Government's term in June… read more

Devinsky, Prokopovic and Pataky Don\'t Feature on SDKU Election Slate

Bratislava, February 16 (TASR) - Current SDKU-DS MPs Ferdinand Devinsky, Jan Pataky and Pavol Prokopovic do not feature on the party slate for the parliamentary elections set for June 12, TASR learnt on Tuesday. Conversely, some new faces appear on the list, such as former director of the INEKO economic institute Eugen Jurzyca, sociologist Miroslav Beblavy from the Slovak… read more

Fico: We\'re Losing €13 million Every Year Due to Postal Service Rules

Bratislava, February 16 (TASR) - Slovakia annually loses more than €13 million in the management of universal postal services mainly due to state-owned Slovak Post's obligations regarding deliveries up to 50 grams, said Prime Minister Robert Fico after a screening visit at the Transport, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry on Tuesday. The fact that the Slovak Post… read more

Documentary on Slovak-German Co-existence to Be Screened in Berlin

Berlin, February 16 (TASR) - Vladimir Stric's Slovak documentary Hostia-Hauerland, which focuses on 800 years of co-existence between Slovaks and Germans in an area of modern-day Slovakia, will be screened at the Slovak Institute in Berlin on Tuesday, the Foreign Affairs Ministry press department told TASR on the same day. The screening will be held under the auspices… read more

OTS: Abbott Completes Acquisition of Solvay Pharmaceuticals

Abbott Completes Acquisition of Solvay Pharmaceuticals ABBOTT PARK, Illinois, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Abbott (NYSE: ABT) today announced that it has completed its EUR 4.5 billion ($6.2 billion) acquisition of Belgium-based Solvay Pharmaceuticals, providing Abbott with a large and complementary portfolio of pharmaceutical products and expanding Abbott's presence… read more

Fico: No Plans to Introduce Toll for Private Cars

Bratislava, February 16 (TASR) - The Government isn't considering to introduce the road toll for private cars, Prime Minister Robert Fico said after the inspection at the Transport, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry on Tuesday. The premier also announced that the prices of highway stickers for vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes won't rise either. "It wouldn't be right to ask… read more

TASR: Apology for Outage in News Service

Bratislava, February 16 (TASR) - We apologise to our clients for an outage in the news service that was caused by technical problems. read more

Greenpeace Suing Environment Ministry Over Mochovce Plant Practices

Bratislava, February 16 (TASR) - International environmental organisation Greenpeace said on Tuesday that it is taking Slovakia's Environment Ministry to court over conflicts of interest and bias linked to the completion of the Mochovce nuclear power plant (Nitra region). Greenpeace stated that a company called DECOM, which was chosen by the ministry to give its opinion… read more

Slota: Losing Korba Is No Big Deal for SNS

Bratislava, February 16 (TASR) - Slovak National Party (SNS) chairman Jan Slota said on Tuesday that the departure of MP Anton Korba from the SNS parliamentary caucus is "no big loss" for the party. Slota doesn't believe that Korba walked out of SNS as claimed in protest at problems regarding the accreditation of St. Elizabeth's University for Healthcare and Social Work… read more

Poll: Smer Still Far Ahead of Others, SaS Does Well Again

Bratislava, February 16 (TASR) - The governing-coalition Smer-SD party still has a considerable lead over all other political parties, with the latest poll showing that it would have received 38.6-percent support in February, TASR learnt on Tuesday. The survey, carried out between February 3-9 by the Focus agency on a sample of 1,031 respondents, also showed that voter… read more

Fico Pledges Long-term Support for Miners in Central Slovakia

Bratislava, February 15 (TASR) - Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Monday that his government has addressed all problems besetting the country's mining sector and thanks to its decisions mining, by and large, has stabilised. Premier Fico, speaking after his inspection at the Ministry of Economy, said that in and around Upper Nitra there are many people tied to mining… read more

Economy Ministry and SAV Sign Memo on Co-operation in Energy

Bratislava, February 15 (TASR) - Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek and Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) chairman Jaromir Pastorek on Monday signed a memorandum on co-operation in energy and issues pertaining to heat and gas supplies, SAV press department head Sona Kozelova said on the same day. "The co-operation will focus on current needs in dealing with individual problems… read more

Labour Ministry Dismisses Charges Over Social Enterprises

Bratislava, February 15 (TASR) - The Smer-led Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family dismissed Opposition and ruling Coalition partners for criticising the Government's long-term projects aka social enterprises instead of discussing their objections directly with the ministry. Critics charge that social, job-creation businesses are highly inefficient and wasteful… read more