Slovak Press Today

BRATISLAVA, November 7, (SITA) —

ENVIRONMENT: The Paris Agreement on Climate Change marks a turning point in the global policy on the fight against climate change. Slovak EU Commissioner and Vice President of the European Commission (EC) for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said this on the occasion of the Agreement’s entry into force. Sefcovic highlighted the role of the Slovak Presidency of the EU Council, which has done everything necessary for the ratification of the agreement. PRAVDA-8 (5.11.) PLUS-4 (5.11.)

SLOVAKIA – CHINA: China canceled a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Fico that should have taken place in Riga, informed the Government Office, however, not specifying the reason. The capital of Latvia is hosting a summit of Central and Eastern European countries, and China. Sixteen countries and China signed a memorandum at the meeting, which should strengthen relations with China. China’s leaders recently criticized the meeting between the Dalai Lama and President Andrej Kiska. HN-11 N-8 PRAVDA-1,2,3 (7.11.) NC-4,5 (7.11.)

PARLIAMENT: The leader of the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO-NOVA) movement Igor Matovic reported on Friday that last week he learned about a „silent conspiracy“ masterminded by the Speaker of Parliament Andrej Danko (SNS) and MPs for the ruling coalition and also some opposition lawmakers. According to him, they allegedly agreed to not open this year the topic of freezing the salaries of MPs. According to the ruling coalition, lawmakers will not be given any pay hike from next year. „The coalition parties have agreed that the matter in question will not be solved by the government, but directly by MPs for the three coalition parties. Mr. Matovic knows very well that there are several legislative instruments to prevent a salary increase even if the government does not submit such a proposal,“ reads the ruling coalition’s statement. PRAVDA-3 (5.11.) PLUS-4 (5.11.) HN-3

DIPLOMACY: The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Miroslav Lajcak, appreciates the support of constitutional officials for his candidacy for the post of UN Secretary General and the specific activities that they developed in favor of his candidacy. „I highly appreciate the attitude of Prime Minister Robert Fico, who created the necessary preconditions for me and also the backing for an active campaign and developed personal efforts in contacts with partners from member countries of the UN Security Council. In the case of President Andrej Kiska, I also want to appreciate in particular that my candidacy dominated his agenda during this year’s UN General Assembly in New York,“ the statement reads. PRAVDA-3 (5.11.) PLUS-5 (5.11.)

EDUCATION: Chairman of the Slovak Trade Union of Workers in Education and Science Pavel Ondek is supposed to continue fighting the demands of school unions in collective bargaining. Its Council has agreed on this in a resolution adopted on November 3. According to the Council, Ondek is not to sign a higher level collective agreement if this does not contain provisions related to the valorization of salary tariffs for teachers and professional staffers and university teachers from January 1, 2017. The Council also approved quitting the Trade Union Confederation (KOZ) in the case that the higher level collective agreement for 2017 does not include these provisions on the valorization of wage tariffs. PRAVDA-3 (5.11.)

HEALTH CARE: The Parliamentary Health Committee did not discuss the situation in health care, in particular the expected loss of 283 million euros of the state-controlled health insurer VsZP. The committee was not quorate due to the absence of coalition deputies, who excused themselves from Friday’s meeting. The record loss in VsZP may have a penal ending for specific former managers, Health Minister Tomas Drucker did not rule out on Sunday on TA3 TV. “I do not want to boast about this, nor am I happy about it, but if such facts arise, I have no other choice,” said Drucker in the program titled In Politics. HN-3 PRAVDA-2,3 (7.11.)

GAS PIPELINE: The natural gas pipeline project Eastring of the Slovak company Eustream has achieved another important milestone. Slovakia has agreed with Bulgaria on close cooperation in the preparation of two natural gas projects. Bulgarian company Bulgartransgaz and Eustream signed a memorandum of understanding concerning the project of the Balkan Gas Hub that would be coordinated with the aforementioned Eastring project. PRAVDA-9 (5.11.)

BANKS: Sberbank Slovensko will be merged with Prima Banka Slovensko. The web portal voFinanciach.sk informed about the merger citing a report of the CEO of both banks owned by Penta, Jan Rollo, for employees of Sberbank Slovensko. According to it, the Board of the bank has approved the plan of merging Sberbank Slovensko and Prima Banka Slovensko based on the request of the majority stockholder and decided to launch preparations for this step. The estimated date of the merger, after which the Sberbank brand should disappear from the Slovak market, is the 2nd half of next year. SME-6 (5.11.) PRAVDA-9 (5.11.) HN-1,11

COMPANIES: F. H. Consulting SLK earned last year 155 million euros and ended in the seventh position in the ranking of the most profitable companies in Slovakia. In profitability it thus overtook Volkswagen or banks such as VUB Banka or Tatra Banka. The company began to be extremely successful only recently. Compared to 2014 its profits grew more than fivefold while the company employs only two employees, according to the latest financial statements. HN-1,2

CIVIL AVIATION: From November 4, Bratislava has a new direct air link to the airport Leeds-Bradford. PRAVDA-9 (5.11.)

BANKS: According to individual financial statements, Slovenska Sporitelna reports for nine months of this year taxed profit 170.5 million euros. Based on disclosed data, in an annual comparison this is an increase of 12.1 percent. PRAVDA-9 (5.11.)

RAIL: Martin Erdossy became the new Director General of the Slovak railway infrastructure operator ZSR. PRAVDA-9 (5.11.)

TRANSPORT: The public transportation company of the city of Presov, Dopravny Podnik mesta Presov, is to get 15 new trolley buses. The city has acquired €8.3 million from EU funds for the purchase of the 15 vehicles. PLUS-9 (5.11.)

am