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Minarik Anxious to Remove Undue Benefits for Gaming Project

Bratislava, January 7 (TASR) - Independent MP Pavol Minarik said Thursday he had submitted a bill to remove the phrase "casino as part of the recreation complex" from the Games of Chance Act effective as of January 1, as it gives undue benefits for the project favoured by the Finance Ministry that had initiated inclusion of the phrase. The billion-plus euro project featuring… read more

Unions Laud Social Dialogue at Tripartite Level Last Year

Bratislava, January 7 (TASR) - Reviewing the past year on Thursday, Slovakia's Trade Union Confederation (KOZ) said that it's satisfied with the state of social dialogue at tripartite level, which worked in 2009, notwithstanding the global economic crisis complicating negotiations. "As a negative consequence of the crisis we see unemployment, which rose from 9 to 13 percent,"… read more

Head of Police Tibor Mako Steps Down Over Explosives Incident

Bratislava, January 7 (TASR) - Head of the Border and Foreigner Police Tibor Mako resigned from his post because of the explosives scandal in the wake of the botched security test, Interior Minister Robert Kalinak said at a press conference on Thursday. "Tibor Mako asked to be released from his post and I've accepted," said Kalinak. Due to a security test that… read more

UNAS: More Than 400 Lorries to Block Bratislava on Friday

Bratislava, January 7 (TASR) - More than 400 lorries are expected to block Bratislava's roads on Friday in protest against the functioning of the electronic road-toll system that was launched on New Year's Day, TASR was told by Jaroslav Polacek of the Union of Slovak Carriers (UNAS) on Thursday. With the protest, the carriers also want to push through their basic demands,… read more

Kalinak Refuses to Resign Over Scandal Involving Explosives

Bratislava, January 7 (TASR) - Interior Minister Robert Kalinak on Thursday refused to resign over the international scandal that has ensured after the Slovak police put explosives in the luggage of a Slovak citizen boarding a plane last weekend as part of a training exercise. Kalinak said that he hasn't been asked to resign by Prime Minister Robert Fico either. Fico… read more

Figel Surprised at Sulik\'s Problem With Dzurinda\'s Chairmanship

Bratislava, January 7 (TASR) - Chairman of the Christian Democrats (KDH) Jan Figel on Thursday expressed his surprise at the reply given by the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party to SDKU-DS's offer to form a pre-election coalition. "I can't assess it otherwise than with a big question mark," said Figel in reaction to SaS chairman Richard Sulik's statement that a joint… read more

SMK Proposes Opposition Meeting in Response to Scandals

Bratislava, January 7 (TASR) - The ethnic-Hungarian SMK party has proposed a meeting with its opposition partners in the upcoming week to harmonise mutual activities vis-a-vis the grave mistakes of several members of the Slovak Government, TASR learned from SMK's press department on Thursday. According to SMK, the government members concerned are Interior Minister Robert… read more

Lorry Drivers Block Main Road in Bratislava in Protest at Toll System

Bratislava, January 7 (TASR) - Lorry drivers began blocking one of Bratislava's main traffic arteries Roznavska Street early on Thursday morning in protest against the new electronic road-toll system. The drivers blocked both lanes heading into the city. Bratislava traffic police immediately began diverting traffic onto other roads. The protest was not announced in advance… read more

Lajcak: Slovak-Hungarian Issues Will Re-appear Before Elections

Bratislava, January 7 (TASR) - Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak has told TASR that he expects that Slovak-Hungarian issues will again become part of the pre-election agenda of certain political parties, and that this will have a negative influence on bilateral relations. "It's important for us to handle this so that it doesn't exceed a reasonable level… read more

Sulik: We Insist That Dzurinda Can\'t Chair Possible SaS-SDKU Coalition

Bratislava, January 7 (TASR) - Non-parliamentary party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) insists that it's only ready to form a pre-election coalition with SDKU-DS if Mikulas Dzurinda isn't the leader of it, SaS head Richard Sulik told TASR on Thursday. Sulik was speaking in reaction to SDKU vice-chairman Ivan Miklos's claim that such a condition is improper. "It's their right… read more

Analysts: Foreign Trade Awakening, Car Industry Remains Driving Force

Bratislava, January 6 (TASR) - Slovak foreign trade was hit hard at the beginning of 2009 by not only the forced shutdown of several export-oriented industrial companies due to the disruption of natural gas supplies from Russia but also by the precipitous slowdown of industries focusing on export markets in the Eurozone. Economy analysts approached by TASR agreed Wednesday… read more

SkyToll Denies Claims of Repeated Breakdowns of E-toll System

Bratislava, January 6 (TASR) – SkyToll, the operator of Slovakia's road-toll system, rejects claims suggesting that the system has repeatedly broken down on Wednesday, company spokesperson Lenka Lendacka told TASR later in the day. She added that an update to the system lasted only 10 minutes. "Registration wasn't limited, it went on in a smooth manner," she said.… read more

Kalinak Deems Explosive Incident as Police Officer\'s Individual Failure

Bratislava, January 6 (TASR) – The Interior Minister views the incident involving explosive travelling from Poprad airport (Presov region) to Dublin in the bags of an unwitting Slovak following a botched police operation as an individual failure of one police officer, ministry spokesman Erik Tomas told TASR on Wednesday. He added that the officer concerned will face… read more

Fedor: Interior Minister Kalinak Fails to Take Responsibility for Scandal

Bratislava, January 6 (TASR) – The scandal involving explosives that travelled undetected from Poprad airport (Presov region) to Dublin following a failed police operation casts a bad light on Slovakia and constitutes an international incident, Opposition SDKU-DS MP and former defence minister Martin Fedor told TASR on Wednesday. "Interior Minister Robert Kalinak is… read more

Airport Security Test Goes Awry as Man Carries Explosives Unwittingly

Poprad, January 6 (TASR) – The explosives found in the luggage of a Slovak who boarded a plane in Poprad (Presov region) to Ireland on Saturday got into his luggage via a Slovak police security operation that went awry, TASR learnt on Wednesday. Slovak Police hid samples of explosives into the bags of several unwitting passengers in an operation aimed at testing the… read more