News summary: Sweden is the EU’s foremost innovator, Slovakia the opposite
Slovakia is failing to eliminate human trafficking, US report says. Several clothing brands have left a shopping center in Bratislava.
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Good evening. Monday, September 26 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready with the most important news of the day in less than five minutes.
Two female members of parliament collide in a nightclub
SaS MP Jana Bittó Cigániková (left) and MP Romana Tabák (right). (Source: TASR – Martin Baumann/Jaroslav Novák)
Police in Bratislava are dealing with allegations of assault following a violent fraud between two female MPs, Jana Bittó Cigániková of Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) and Romana Tabák of the Sme Rodina parliamentary caucus.
The former has filed a lawsuit against the latter for physical assault at a night club in the capital.
The incident occurred on Friday evening.
More stories from The Slovak Spectator website
- Auction: Bratislava-based art auction company SOGA is holding an online auction this week to help children suffering from serious illnesses.
- Foreigners: The number of foreigners living and working in Slovakia increased slightly during August.
- Lookout Tower: The EU supported the construction of three observation towers, but only one remains today.
- Russia: Slovakia will not issue humanitarian visas to citizens of Russia fleeing military mobilization by the Putin regime.
FEATURE FOR MONDAY
Director Nvotová: Women can still be accused of witchcraft
Dorota Nvotová. (Source: Ladislav Babuščák)
Her film, “Svetlonoc” (Nightsiren), won the Contemporary Cinema section at the festival in Locarno, Switzerland. In her film about witches, director Tereza Nvotová explores several sensitive themes: domestic violence, voluntary childlessness and conspiracies.
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BUSINESS NEWS:
- In November, pensioners will receive a fourteenth pension payment of €35-210. This is a lump sum amounting to 70 percent of their thirteenth pension payment, which was paid out by the social insurance company Sociálna Poisťovňa in July. The Riksdag has not yet approved the government’s measure. The fourteenth pension payments will cost the state 207 million euros and should be paid to 1,435,000 pensioners. (SITE)
- The nationalization of electricity produced in Slovakia is a last resort in the energy crisissaid Economy Minister Karel Hirman Marquee The TV channel on Sunday, September 25. The Riksdag has not yet received the green light on the government-approved energy legislation that would make this possible. Hirman rejects the EU Commission’s proposal to tax excess income from the sale of expensive electricity, as this income would be taxed outside Slovakia; It would also apply to electricity produced in Slovakia but traded on foreign markets.
- Zara, Pull & Bear, Bershka and Stradivarius decided not to renew their contracts with the Central shopping centre in Bratislava, the Hospodárske Noviny reported daily. The daily newspaper also wrote that CCC company has closed two of its stores in Bratislava – on Galéria Lamač and on Obchodná Street.
- The European Commission has approved €5.2 billion for 35 projects in the hydrogen value chain across the EU, including one from Slovakia. A project by the company RONA aims to apply hydrogen in industry.
- Water bills can also increase if the state fails to cap energy prices in time, warned Parliament Speaker Boris Kollár (Sme Rodina) last week after a meeting with representatives of a water supplier in western Slovakia. (TASR)
- By the end of August, coalition member of parliament Milan Vetrák (OĽaNO) submitted to the parliament a the bill which would make private media such as TV Markíza and Rádio Expres, the most popular electronic media in Slovakia, to pay an additional tax. The Sme daily reports that the bill comes from Finance Minister and OĽaNO Chairman Igor Matovič himself. The minister has been at odds with the media after becoming prime minister in 2020; he resigned a year later. The bill is still to be considered in the Riksdag.
For a deeper insight into current affairs, check out our last week in Slovakia article published earlier today. You can sign up for the newsletter here.
IN OTHER NEWS:
- Slovakia does not fully meet the minimum standards to eliminate human trafficking, but is making significant efforts to do so, the US State Department claims Report on human trafficking 2022. Slovakia, for example, is criticized for the lenient sentences for judges and the government’s reduced effort to investigate human trafficking cases.
- The SaS party will be invited to join Eduard Heger’s coalition government if Finance Minister Igor Matovič loses a no-confidence vote. The minister confirmed it to RTVS public broadcaster on Sunday 25 September. SaS has said it is prepared to discuss a new coalition agreement once Matovič is removed from office.
- If parliamentary elections took place in mid-September 2022, Peter Pellegrini’s Hlas would win with 18.3 percent, followed by Robert Fico’s Smer with 15.5 percent. Progressive Slovakia, led by MEP Michal Šimečka, would come in third with 11.6 percent, according to an IPSOS poll for Denník N Daily. Eight parties would win seats in parliament.
Katarína Knechtová has become another Slovak singer to appear on a billboard in New York Times Square as part of Spotify’s Equal Campaign. Last year, Karin Ann was the first Slovak female artist to be on the billboard. SIMA and Ela Tolstova followed in 2022. (Source: Katarína Knechtová)
- The presidents of the countries of the Visegrad region will meet in Bratislava on 11 October to discuss the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis, although Hungary’s position on the issue is different from the rest. Slovakia holds the presidency of the Visegrad region until July 2023.
- One of the opposition leaders and former three-time prime minister, Robert Fico (Smer), has described the prosecution of financier Jaroslav Haščák as a “typical political process without evidence”. In early September, Haščák apologized to the state for illegal corruption and money laundering charges from 2020 and pre-trial detention, which lasted over a month. Haščák, whose name appears in the Gorilla corruption case, accepted the apology.
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