Slovakia.

[TsarSamuil]

Lipsic: “Foreigners should respect Slovak values and traditions”

thedaily.sk
2 Sep 2011

The government endorsed its Migration Policy report up to 2020 on Wednesday 31 August and on the occasion interior minister Daniel Lipsic made a few comments about how foreigners in Slovakia should behave.

Lipsic noted how Slovakia did not welcome people here who would live in their own separate communities, saying “we view them as guests, and so they should act accordingly”. He said that the people of Slovakia would not change their customs, values or traditions for foreigners, and so foreigners should respect this.

Lipsic feels that people coming to live here should embrace Slovak culture and learn the language. He said the multiculturalism project had failed and that “a requisite of migration should be complete integration to Slovak society and acceptance of the country’s culture and traditions”.

In terms of economic migration, Lipsic said that Slovakia was committed to attracting qualified experts to the country who could fill positions where there is a lack of Slovaks for the same jobs. He says the actual kinds of job posts that this refers to would be decided on by the Ministry of Labour.

Slovakia already has large local foreign communities from the likes of Vietnam, the Arab states and even South America, and they do tend to stick together, some more than others. This is hardly surprising considering their own shared culture and traditions, and the fact that they can speak their own native language.

The same is true of many Slovaks living abroad, as they also tend to group. In Canada and the US there are large communities, even villages, of Slovaks congregating together, and Slovaks residing in the UK and Ireland sometimes don’t pick up the language because they are in contact mostly with their fellow countrymen.

So as foreigners, we are expected to respect the values and traditions of Slovakia. Unfortunately, many would question what those values are and if Slovaks themselves respect them. Let’s pray that eating the national dish Halusky does not also become compulsory.

[TsarSamuil]

thedaily seems to be a liberal site!

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SNS Gets Xenophobic: No Mosques Here!

thedaily.sk
5 Sep 2011

On Friday deputy head of the nationalist party SNS, Andrej Danko, expressed his party’s xenophobic concern about foreign cultures pervading Slovak society by calling for a ban on the construction of mosques in Slovakia.

The SNS party plans to file a motion in parliament that will prevent Islamic temples from appearing in Slovakia, even though the religion of Islam is not officially registered here and there have been no mosques built to date.

Danko said that it is not for them to disrespect any particular religion or race, or to say that one religion is better than another. Even so, the party wants to amend the Building Act so that the minarets of mosques are prevented in future, as they interfere with the appearances of the region and even pose a danger.

As a comparison, Danko pointed to how a kind of Chinatown has cropped up along Stara Vajnorska street in Bratislava, while blaming this on the coalition parties SDKU-DS and KDH. He noted that nobody knows the exact size of the the Chinese community there, or who brought them here or where they work.

In response to the proposed ban on mosques, the so-called Islamic Foundation in Slovakia, which affiliates around 5,000 Muslims, released a statement on the same day. In it, apart from pointing out how there are no mosques in Slovakia at present, the foundation accused the SNS of jumping on the bandwagon after interior minister Daniel Lipsic made some strong comments about how “multiculturalism” had failed in the country and how foreigners here should behave like guests.

The statement also pointed to how repeated attempts to create a mosque in Bratislava have been consistently rejected by the city council. It also made a parallel that there are many churches with towers and spires in places like Damascus, Beirut, Jakarta and Cairo.

These kinds of proposals and the statements made by the interior minister seem to support the assumption of Norwegian mass killer Breivik, who said that Slovakia is the least multicultural society in Europe. Time will tell just how right he was or not.

[TsarSamuil]

Slota Warns of Greater Hungary Ambitions.

TheDaily.sk
9 Sep 2011

Recent moves by Viktor Orban’s government regarding the right of Hungarians abroad to gain citizenship and vote, issues that have been at the centre of friction between Slovakia and Hungary for the past year, have once again got the hackles up of Jan Slota, head of nationalist party SNS.

Slota called the recent vote by the Hungarian parliament to allow ethnic Hungarian’s living abroad to vote in the parliamentary elections as shameful, especially as the move was opposed throughout Europe. He says it just proves what his party has been claiming all along, that the objective is to annex the south of Slovakia into Greater Hungary.

Slota therefore called on the government to wake up or the country would otherwise see a repeat of the situation in 1938-39. He said the government should stop collaborating with Budapest and even with coalition party Most-Hid.

[TsarSamuil]

Hungary-Slovakia Citizenship Feud Fires Up.

thedaily.sk
24 Nov 2011

The planned case of provocation by ethnic Hungarian actor and businessman Oliver Boldoghy to draw attention to the citizenship issue between Hungary and Slovakia has invoked tension between the two countries once again.

Boldoghy decided to apply for Hungarian citizenship in the knowledge that by law this would mean automatic loss of his Slovak citizenship. He even sent a letter to Prime Minister Iveta Radicova about it, while explaining that he did not wish to lose his Slovak citizenship.

The Ministry of Interior duly stripped Boldoghy of his citizenship, though, annulling his documents and even citing the threat of deportation. In response, the Hungarian government expressed its dissatisfaction at the case, extending its support to Boldoghy and calling on the Slovak ambassador to Hungary, Peter Weiss.

Weiss had to provide a stance to the situation at Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday. He explained to the state secretary Zsolt Nemeth that the Citizenship Act in Slovakia was in line with international regulations and European law, with other member states having the same or similar law.

The Slovak Citizenship Act, amended to combat Hungary granting citizenship freely to Slovaks, was adopted last year shortly after Hungary announced its plans to grant citizenship to ethnic Hungarians abroad. The law in force in Slovakia clearly states that anyone accepting the citizenship of another country will be stripped of their Slovak citizenship.

Nemeth told Weiss that the Hungarian government feels that the procedure of taking away citizenship, like that of Boldoghy, is against the basic values of the European Union, while stating that the government renounced the intimidation of ‘Hungarians’ living in Slovakia.

Slovak foreign minister Mikulas Dzurinda pointed out how it was Hungary that had been inactive in dealing with the situation and unwilling to look for an amicable agreement, which was proposed by Slovakia back in February. He said cases like Boldoghy’s could therefore easily have been avoided and that he hopes Hungary will now realise the mutual benefit of striking an agreement.

[TsarSamuil]

Foreign workers account for 0.9 pct labor market in Slovakia.

BRATISLAVA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The number of foreign workers has reached 21,031 in Slovakia, accounting for nearly 0.9 percent in the country's labor market, official statistics showed on Thursday.

Employed workforce totals about 2.4 million in the country, according to the latest statistics released by the Labor, Social Affairs and the Family Center (UPSVaR).

Only one fifth of the foreign employees (4,354) are women, the statistics showed.

Romania is the largest source of foreign workforce registered in Slovakia.

Most Asian workers come from Korea. The number of Vietnamese and Chinese employees totals around 600.

[TsarSamuil]

Around 300 Lunik IX Residents Attack Police.

thedaily.sk
8 Dec 2011

Nothing short of a riot broke out yesterday afternoon at the renowned Roma housing scheme Lunik IX in Kosice when people from electricity company VSE tried to disconnect non-payers and connect up those who had paid.

The employees went into the scheme accompanied by two police patrol cars, but that didn’t stop the angry residents of the scheme from launching their verbal and physical attacks on them.

The scheme is home to several thousand people, and around 300 of them allegedly started launching bricks at the electricians and the police officers, who then called for reinforcements.

This led to the incident being attended by 16 officers, who became the target of the stone throwing, which damaged some of the patrol cars and injured one officer in the face. Kosice mayor Richard Rasi (Smer-SD) said the residents of Lunik IX either start adapting to the law of the Slovak Republic or they will not have electricity.

The action was taken as part of a new system launched in December where the housing association is collecting EUR 6 a day from consumers in the housing scheme and those that don’t pay get cut off on a daily basis. The monthly difference between consumption and payments in October alone was EUR 10,000, for instance, but since payments started to be collected this month by employees of Kosice housing association BPMK, the balance of payments has improved substantially.

[TsarSamuil]

Slovakia Holds Early General Elections.

Novinite.com
World | March 10, 2012, Saturday| 172 views

Slovaks vote in an early general election Saturday, which is expected to bring victory to the left-wing party of ex-Prime Minister Robert Fico following a corruption scandal that shook the right-wing rivals.

Surveys cited by local news agencies show that voters are determined to punish their leaders from the scandal-hit Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU).

Opinion polls show Fico's SMER Social Democracy is likely to win about 39% of the vote and take 75 seats, just one short of a majority in the 150-member parliament, the BBC reports.

Prime Minister Iveta Radicova's center-right SDKU, on the other hand, is expected to win the support of slightly over 5%, the threshold to enter Parliament.

Analysts predict a low turnout as a result of the political scandal.

The affair broke out in December, after secret service wiretaps of alleged meetings between top politicians and leaders of a local financial group in the period 2005-2006 leaked on the Internet in December.

The so-called Gorilla scandal unveiled a widespread corruption network with the serious involvement of politicians from the current government.

All 26 parties competing in Saturday's election, among them formations implicated in the "Gorilla" affair, have pledged to combat corruption.

Saturday's vote takes place two years into the government of Radicova, the country's first female Prime Minister.

The election follows a failed no confidence vote in October 2011 over the Cabinet's support for the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF).

Radicova plans to quit politics once a new government is formed.

The vote on March 10 is the eighth democratic election for members of parliament in Slovakia since the fall of communism in 1989.

[TsarSamuil]

Smer-SD landslide winner of Slovak general election: primary result.

BRATISLAVA, March 11 (Xinhua) -- The electoral results from more than 90 percent of polling stations in Slovakia early Sunday showed that Smer-SD has become the landslide winner of the early general election held on Saturday.

With 92 percent of the votes counted, it is evident that Smer-SD garnered a record-breaking 45 percent. It would therefore gain as many as 84 seats in the 150-member Parliament, which is only six mandates short of constitutional majority.

If the results hold, the Christian Democrats (KDH) will come on second with 8.8 percent of votes, followed by ORDINARY PEOPLE and Independent Personalities (OLaNO), 8.44 percent, Most-Hid, 6.96 percent, SDKU-DS, 5.7 percent and SaS, 5.46 percent.

The turnout reached 58.78 percent in this general election.

[TsarSamuil]

Slovak president asks leftist leader to form new gov't.

BRATISLAVA, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic on Thursday commissioned the country's leftist leader Robert Fico to form a new government, said a statement from the president's office.

Fico, a former prime minister and leader of the Smer-SD party, won a landslide majority in the parliamentary election last Saturday, securing 83 seats out of 150.

"I'm convinced that the results of the general election provide the perfect conditions for me to meet this commission," said Fico, adding that he'll submit the names of his ministers to Gasparovic by April 4, when the constituent parliamentary session is scheduled to open.

Local media reported that Smer-SD has invited five rival political parties for talks on Thursday, including four parties in the previous coalition government.

Gasparovic had said he was hoping for a stable new government and called on the next government to engage in cooperation with Slovak opposition parties for the sake of the country's economic growth and social programs.

[TsarSamuil]

Slovak president appoints new PM.

Beta
World | April 4, 2012 | 17:03

BRATISLAVA -- Slovakia’s President Ivan Gašparovič has appointed Social Democratic Party SMER leader Robert Fico as the country's new prime minister.

Fico's government will consist of social democrats and several non-party experts.

The mandate of the old government, which consisted of four center and right parties, was terminated the moment the president appointed Fico as the new PM.

The former ruling parties, led by ex-Prime Minister Iveta Radičova, have now become the opposition.

At the early parliamentary elections held on March 10 a single party won the overwhelming majority for the first time since the fall of the communist regime in 1989. Fico's SMER won 83 out of 150 seats in the Slovak parliament, enabling it to form the government without any coalition partner.

“It is true that I have some experience from the previous government in the period from 2006 until 2010. But the upcoming period is diametrically different,“ Fico, who used to be the PM,“ said after he was appointed.

The Slovak president stressed that Fico was an experienced politician and promised he would support the government to work for the Slovak citizens but that Slovakia should be a trustworthy partner in the international field as well.

Aside from the prime minister, the Slovak government has another 14 members. Along side several ministers from the previous Fico’s government, such as Interior Minister Robert Kalinak and Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčak, the new government will have some new ministers as well.

The opposition has praised Fico’s choice of foreign and justice ministers. The new justice minister is considered to be the biggest surprise, bearing in mind that Fico appointed prominent lawyer, who is not a member of any political party, and former Slovak Bar Association head Tomaš Borec.

Immediately after the elections Fico showed friendliness toward the opposition that was not present during his first government in an attempt to dispel fears that a so-called Hungarian scenario could happen in Slovakia, namely that the ruling party could change some of the crucial laws without consulting the opposition.

The new prime minister also repeated that his government will be pro-European “because Slovakia has gotten much more from the EU than it has given and it is only fair to show solidarity when Europe is in crisis”.


Robert Fico and Ivan Gašparovič (Tanjug)

[TsarSamuil]

Jobbik Party Hopes to Rally Hungarian Slovaks.

CTK
4 Apr 2013

The Hungarian far-right Jobbik party (The Movement for a Better Hungary) is looking for partners among ethnic Hungarians in southern Slovakia, Czech daily Pravo writes today, referring to information from the ATV television station.

The partners may be the Via Nova youth organisation of the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK), a former government member now outside parliament, and the student self-rule body at Selye University in Komarno, south Slovakia. Jobbik’s strategy abroad was drafted by its deputy Istvan Szavay, Pravo writes.

“After the recent change in its leadership, Via Nova has acquired a fully Jobbik character. In the long run, it must be fully detached from the ageing and largely incompetent SMK leadership and establish a new, nationally radical party,” Szavay is quoted as saying. “Besides, we have close and friendly relations with the students’ leadership at the Selye University in Komarno through which we have been able to clearly shape the youths’ views,” he added. When speaking with the server bumm.hu, Szavay did not deny the authenticity of the document, but declined to comment on it, arguing that this is the party’s internal affair.

SMK leader Jozsef Berenyi has dismissed any connection between Via Nova and Jobbik. “This is another attempt at pushing us into an extremist and nationalist position,” Berenyi said. Some political scientists have called Jobbik neo-Nazi, anti-Romany and anti-Semitic. According to the census taken in 2011, there are some 458,000 ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia with a population of about 5.4 million.

[TsarSamuil]

Fico vs Kiska in Weekend’s Presidential Elections.

10 Mar 2014
thedaily.sk

The latest poll conducted by the Focus agency for daily Hospodarske Noviny shows Andrej Kiska edging ever closer towards Prime Minister Robert Fico in this weekend’s presidential elections (15 March).

Although Robert Fico enjoys an impressive 35% of the vote, according to the poll, Kiska now stands on 23.8%, meaning he would enter into the second round two weeks later. Kiska is followed by the young Radoslav Prochazka, who the poll attributes 9.9%. Other contenders are Milan Knazko and Pavol Hrusovsky, but the gap behind the two leaders may be too large to close.

Knazko, a well-known actor, is starting to gain, though, thanks to the televised debates broadcast recently, as he is no stranger to the screen and knows how to play on the people. He and Prochazka both dismiss the polls as not reflecting reality and so both still have high hopes in the elections this weekend.

Andrej Kiska has come under attack recently, with an anti-campaign smearing his name (he filed a criminal complaint) and attacks on his businesses, but so far he has withstood the heat. Kiska is expected to soak up the votes of the other candidates should he make it to the second round, and so could pose a real threat to PM Fico’s plan to occupy the presidential post.

[TsarSamuil]

Czech president extends support to Fico as Slovak presidential candidate.

English.news.cn 2014-03-19 22:34:53

PRAGUE, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Czech President Milos Zeman on Wednesday said he supported Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-Social Democracy) as the presidential candidate ahead of the second round of Slovak direct presidential elections.

"I'd like to express my solidarity and support to Robert Fico as a candidate in the presidential election in Slovakia. I emphasize that I'm not interfering in Slovakia's internal affairs," said Zeman.

Zeman was Czech socialist prime minister in 1998-2002. He said that as a Czech leftist politician he should back a leftist politician in Slovakia, insisting he was not attacking Fico's rival candidate, businessman Andrej Kiska.

Zeman congratulated Fico on his close victory in the first round of presidential elections on Monday. Zeman said he respected Fico for having united the Slovak left-wing parties.

After the first round of Slovak presidential election on March 15, Fico and Kiska won 28 and 24 percent of the vote respectively.

[TsarSamuil]

Kiska wins Slovak presidential runoff, rival concedes defeat.

English.news.cn 2014-03-30 11:02:17

BRATISLAVA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Andrej Kiska won Slovak presidential runoff Sunday and his rival, sitting Prime Minister Robert Fico, has conceded defeat.

Kiska, 51, garnered 59.38 percent of the votes and Fico got 40.61 percent, said the country's Statistics Office early Sunday based on counting 100 percent of the ballots.

The official results will be announced on Sunday after being confirmed by the Central Election Commission.

In a victory speech at his campaign headquarters in the capital Bratislava, Kiska, a former businessman and philanthropist, said "I want to reestablish the people's trust into the presidential office."

Fico has conceded defeat and congratulated Kiska. The turnout in the runoff was 50.48 percent, higher than the 43.4 percent in the first round on March 15.

Kiska will take office on June 15 as the tenure of incumbent President Ivan Gasparovic expires.

It was the fourth direct presidential election in Slovakia's history.

[TsarSamuil]

Slovakia to vote on same-sex marriage ban.

AFP news agency
Feb 5, 2015



Slovakia will hold a referendum on Saturday on whether to maintain a ban on same-sex marriage in the largely Roman Catholic country.

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Slovakia: Citizens head to polls in anti-gay marriage referendum.

RuptlyTV
Feb 7, 2015



Slovakian citizens filled a polling station in Bratislava on Saturday, to vote in a national referendum to block marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples. With the Catholic Church backing the vote against increasing rights to same-sex couples, Slovakia may become one of the first European Union members to take a conservative turn towards gay rights legislation.

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