OtherOther Economy

Trust in Economy Went Continued to Rise in April in Most Areas

Bratislava, April 29 (TASR) - Confidence in the Slovak economy, which began to rise in June 2009, continued its upwards trend in April 2010, with the Index of Economic Sentiment (IES) increasing by 1.3 percentage points month-on-month to reach 90.3 points, the Slovak Statistics Office announced on Thursday. The developments were mainly influenced by a rise in confidence… read more

AZEN Party Kicks off Petition Drive Against Loan to Greece

Bratislava, April 28 (TASR) - The Alliance for a Europe of Nations (AZEN) party is launching a petition drive against a loan for debt-ridden Greece, with the party's initiative aimed at showing insufficient guarantees that Greece would ever pay it off, AZEN head Milan Urbani told TASR on Wednesday. "There's a risk that this loan would get lost in the black hole of Greece's… read more

Pociatek: Slovakia Might Need to Borrow Money to Cover Greek Debt

Prague, April 28 (TASR) - Slovakia will contribute 1.02 percent, or some €300 million, to the total financial aid package for Greece, Slovak Finance Minister Jan Pociatek told the Czech daily Lidove Noviny in an interview published on Wednesday. When asked where the Slovak Government will get the money from, Pociatek replied that the Government has some available resources… read more

Bratislava to Host Int\'l Conference on Post-Communist Transformation

Bratislava, April 28 (TASR) - An international conference devoted to the presentation of views concerning the transformation processes that have been afoot in Central and Eastern Europe over the past 20 years will be held in Bratislava on Thursday and Friday, the office of Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Dusan Caplovic told TASR on Wednesday. The two-day event entitled 'Two… read more

Slovaks to Co-Operate With ESA on Research into Peaceful Use of Space

Bratislava, April 28 (TASR) - Slovakia will co-operate with the European Space Agency (ESA) in research into the peaceful use of space based on an Agreement on Mutual Co-operation signed between the Slovak Government and ESA in Bratislava on Wednesday. "Membership develops in three phases, we are currently entering the first five-year stage with the status of an observer. All… read more

Poll: Smer-SD Well Ahead, with SDKU, SaS and KDH Nearly Neck and Neck

Bratislava, April 28 (TASR) - Leading governing Smer-SD party would have won a general election on 35.1 percent of votes had the vote taken place in the latter half of April, with leading Opposition SDKU-DS party coming in second on 11.7 percent of votes, results of a poll out by MVK agency on Wednesday show. The survey, carried out between April 16-23 on a sample of… read more

Fico: If Prisoners Do Nothing, They Can Cause Problems

Bratislava, April 28 (TASR) - Prime Minister Robert Fico, who on Wednesday visited one of Slovakia's main prisons in Leopoldov (Trnava region), was interested mainly in the work that prisoners carry out. "The entire country is under pressure from the economic crisis, and we must look for ways to save," Fico told TASR, adding that while in Leopoldov he asked how to reduce… read more

Vazny: EBRD to Provide €250-million Loan for Motorway Construction

Bratislava, April 28 (TASR) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is to take part in funding the first package of PPP projects for building motorways in Slovakia with a loan reaching €250 million, Transport Minister Lubomir Vazny told the media on Wednesday. The bank made the decision to provide the loan for construction of the D1 motorway on… read more

Highest Unemployment Benefits in Bratislava, Lowest in East

Bratislava, April 28 (TASR) - The East and West of Slovakia don't differ only in economic progress but also in the level of unemployment benefit, with the highest benefit in 2009 being paid in Bratislava - €438.80 per month on average, and the lowest in Svidnik (Presov region) - €197.90, TASR learnt on Wednesday. According to state-run social-insurer Socialna Poistovna,… read more

Slota: Smer Playing Games with Coalition Partner over Symbols Act

Bratislava, April 27 (TASR) - The SNS nationalist party said on Tuesday it had chosen the lesser of two evils when voting to pass a bill tabled by its coalition partner Smer-SD in compensation for the SNS-sponsored that was rejected measure earlier in the day. Commenting on SNS's Patriot's Act being voted down in parliament earlier on Tuesday, SNS chairman Jan Slota… read more

Parliament Overrides President\'s Veto on Universities Act Amendment

Bratislava, April 27 (TASR) - University professor guarantors will be able to 'guarantee' a particular field of study until the age of 70 rather than 65 as is currently the case, as Parliament on Tuesday okayed an amendment to the Universities Act for a second time and overrode President Ivan Gasparovic's veto, TASR learnt on the same day. The initiative was backed by… read more

Gov\'t Office: TIS Report Tailor-made for Campaigns of Right-wing Parties

Bratislava, April 27 (TASR) - The current report drawn up by Transparency International Slovensko (TIS) assessing the attempts of parliamentary parties and individual MPs to fight corruption is tailor-made for the campaigns of SDKU-DS and other right-wing opposition parties in the run-up to the general election June 12. This is according to a statement provided to TASR… read more

Employers: Development Strategy to 2030 Out of Touch with Reality

Bratislava, April 27 (TASR) – Associations of employers in Slovakia are criticising the Strategy for the Development of the Slovak Nation to 2030 recently presented by the science and research group from SAV (Slovak Academy of Sciences), indicating that the document fails to interlink theory and practice. "The content of the document (which took four years to prepare)… read more

Lajcak Outlines Slovak Foreign Policy, Highlighting Russian Relations

Bratislava, April 27 (TASR) - Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak, addressing the 11th annual foreign-policy review conference at hotel Devin on Tuesday, stressed the importance of co-operation between Slovakia and Russia. The reasons for Slovakia's pragmatic co-operation with Russia are legion, as the European Union and NATO of which Slovakia is a member are also… read more

House Okays State Symbols Act Amendment

Bratislava, April 27 (TASR) - Parliament gave the green light to an amendment to the State Symbols Act on Tuesday, with 80 legislators eventually voting in favour of the initiative that was discussed in fast-tracked proceedings – a process that took only a few hours, TASR learnt on the same day. The bill, which was forwarded by Prime Minister and Smer-SD party head… read more