Slovak Press Today (SITA)

Súčasťou správy SITA zo dňa 14.1.2016 sa stalo vyjadrenie Martina Vlachynského k téme konečných cien elektrickej energie na Slovensku. 

BUSINESS: Problematic areas of the Slovak business environment are ineffective public administration, high levels of corruption, and restrictive labor market. The problems are defined in a report on the state of the business environment in the Slovak Republic that was on the agenda of the Cabinet on Wednesday. The report is based on a comparison of the results of assessing the quality of the business environment in countries worldwide in two charts - Doing Business 2016 and The Global Competitiveness Report WEF 2015. In the Doing Business ranking Slovakia placed 29th among 189 monitored countries and in the competitiveness chart it occupied the 67th spot out of 144 countries, which is an improvement in this case by eight spots compared to 2014. PRAVDA-11

SURVEY: If parliamentary elections in Slovakia were held at the turn of last and this year, the ruling party SMER-SD would become a clear winner with 34.5 percent of the vote winning 61 parliamentary seats. According to a survey that the pollster MVK conducted between December 28, 2015 and January 8, 2016 on a sample of 1,089 respondents, 45 percent of those polled would definitely go to polling stations in March. The party #SIET placed second harvesting 14.7 percent. This result entitles it to 26 MPs. #SIET is followed by SNS with 10.1 percent (18 seats), KDH with 8.6 percent (15 seats), MOST-HID (6.5 percent and 12 seats), SMK (5.1 percent and 9 seats) and OLaNO-NOVA (5 percent and 9 MPs). HN-4 SME-2 PRAVDA-4 PLUS-4

PM: By his statements regarding the Muslim community Prime Minister Robert Fico did not commit a crime, believes Interior Minister Robert Kalinak. He reacted to a criminal motion e-mailed to the Prosecutor General's Office on January 10 over the prime minister's statements on preventing the creation of a "coherent Muslim community in Slovakia". "I think this is an absolutely absurd motion," said Kalinak and added that then it is necessary to file a criminal complaint also against him. "We defend the interests of the Slovak Republic, and hence a criminal motion has been filed against us, it is really funny," he said. SME-2 N-2 PLUS-4 NC-2,3

MIGRATION: Slovakia will send 25 police officers to FYR Macedonia on the first day of February in order to help it cope with the migration crisis. They will serve on the border with Greece. On February 1, Slovak police officers will leave not only to FYR Macedonia, but also to Slovenia. We have approved also the continuation of the mission in Slovenia, 20 police officers, which means that on February 1 we are sending 45 police officers to individual parts, Interior Minister Robert Kalinak explained after the Cabinet's session. SME-2 PRAVDA-3 PLUS-4

EDUCATION: The OLaNO movement is trying to abuse teachers in the pre-election fight, says Speaker of Parliament Peter Pellegrini. According to Pellegrini, OLaNO leader Igor Matovic confessed at Tuesday's press conference that he was a co-organizer and co-supporter of the teachers' strike and also confessed to the fact that it was convenient for him, if teachers were on strike. The Parliament Speaker claims that Matovic thus made use of this dissatisfaction of teachers in his pre-election campaign. N-3

TAXES: The Robert Fico Cabinet imposed a special levy on business in regulated sector back in 2012. The Bratislava Regional Court ruled at the end of last year that the legislation “seems to be in contradiction with the principle of equality and the discrimination ban," the economic weekly TREND reported. Gas shipping company Eustream, whose co-owner is the financial group J&T, turned to that court. The firm was supposed to pay nearly 75 million euros in the special levy for 2013. The dispute is now heading to the Supreme Court. HN-4 SME-5 N-8

ENERGY SUPPLIES: The end prices of electricity in Slovakia are among the highest in Central and Eastern Europe. The energy costs thus reduce Slovakia's chances for foreign investment in this competitive environment, analyst with the Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS) Martin Vlachynsky points out. HN-4

PENSIONS: The average monthly amount of life annuities from the second pillar paid by life insurance companies last year was 25.96 euros, informed spokesman for the social security provider Socialna Poistovna Peter Visvader. Insurers paid the monthly non-indexed pension in an average amount of 26.08 euros and it was earned by 238 clients in 2015. SME-2

WAGE: The average nominal monthly wage in November of last year went up 16.9 percent in sale and repair of motor vehicles year-on-year and reached 1,023 euros. PRAVDA-1,10,11

CARS: At its session on Wednesday the Cabinet agreed with the proposal to issue a certificate of a significant investment for the company Jaguar Land Rover Slovakia to implement its project entitled "Building a new car manufacturing plant in Nitra." The certificate declares that this is a significant investment and its implementation is in the public interest.
Car maker Jaguar Land Rover is expected to commence the construction of its factory in Nitra in the first half of 2016. Preparatory works and an archaeological survey are underway on the plots and the railway track on the Drazovce - Luzianky section is being canceled. Construction works will be conducted by company Strabag. SME-5 N-8 PRAVDA-11 PLUS-11

TRADE: At the turn of February and March Lidl will open its new logistics center in Sered. With a built-up area of almost 52,000 square meters, this is one of the largest distribution centers of this company in Europe. The center will provide work to about two hundred people in the warehouse and in administration. PRAVDA-11

CARS: The highest number of new passenger cars was registered in Slovakia last year in the entire history of monitoring since 1993. The Automotive Industry Association informed that a total of almost 78,000 cars were registered last year, representing an increase of nearly 8 percent. PRAVDA-12

SITA, 14.1.2016