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Pravda Daily on Thursday, November 19
Thursday 19 November 2009 Zoom in | Print page
The Cabinet is pondering allocating a €10.4-million subsidy towards the construction of a water park in the village of Bobrovnik (Zilina region). The project, in turn, might provide a boost to a company that is co-owned by Finance Minister Jan Pociatek and is planning to construct hotels in the vicinity of the water park, Pravda daily reports on pages 1 and 2 on Thursday.
According to Pociatek, even if the Government approved the subsidy, his company - LM Development - wouldn't construct the hotels. "The project hasn't been carried out, LM Development will go into liquidation towards the end of the year," said ministry spokesman Miroslav Smal.
However, according to Bobrovnik mayor Ivan Ivanovsky, the hotels will be built in the end, as he claims that Pociatek's company is set to transfer the project on to a new company. "A mere month ago, an executive of LM Development rushed me to make sure that construction permits will be issued as soon as possible," added Ivanovsky.
A subsidy for the water park is one of four projects in the area of tourism that vie for state aid. According to experts, however, given the proximity of existing water parks, competition on the market would be impeded if the Cabinet gave a green light to the subsidy.
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Smokers who buy the cheapest cigarettes will possibly have to spend more on their bad habit as of next year, due to the attempts of the Slovak National Party (SNS) to introduce the lowest possible price of cigarettes, the daily reports on page 8.
The bottom line of the price would be calculated from the half-year average of sold cigarettes on the market. If smokers were buying more expensive brands, they would push the prices up.
Rafael Rafaj (SNS), who is submitting the proposal, doesn't think, however, that the price of the cheapest cigarettes may rise because of his proposal. He backs his idea by claiming that it would prevent from fluctuations in tax incomes that relate from stocking up, which always takes place before the excise tax is raised.
The Finance Ministry doesn't agree with Rafaj's proposal, however, claiming that Slovakia would be under the threat of being sued by the European Commission if it adopted such a law. Rafaj thinks that the country would be able to cope with it, as other countries were able as well.
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