January 19, 2024 FRIDAY #7207
POLITICS fer from a lack of contracts this year. He is
Corruption President Zuzana Čaputová gave
a speech in Parliament on Thursday in which
she warned of the consequences of the
planned abolition of the Special Prosecutor's
Office, the reduction of penalties for corrup-
tion and economic crimes, and the weakening
of the protection of whistleblowers. These
changes, she said, could cause unintended so-
cietal damage and irreversible harm to the
rights of victims. She also pointed to the EU's
objections and the threat of frozen EU funds.
She appreciated the stance of Speaker of Par-
liament, Peter Pellegrini, who said the coali-
tion was willing to change its proposals.
(pravda.sk)
Opposition parties praised the President's
speech, while the coalition parties criticized
her. (pravda.sk)
Protest Anti-government protests are get-
ting stronger. They took place in 24 cities yes-
terday and over 25,000 people have turned up
in Bratislava. (pravda.sk)
Election In the first round of a presidential
election, Peter Pellegrini would get 40.6% and
Ivan Korčok 37.7% of the vote, a poll by the
Ako agency showed. Korčok improved by sev-
en points compared to December. (noviny.sk)
Despite the mass protests, Smer is still the
strongest party (22.1%), an Ako agency poll
shows. PS (19.9%), Hlas (14.3%), KDH (8.7%),
Slovensko (7%), SaS (6%), SNS (5.4%) and Re-
publika (5.3%) follow. (noviny.sk)
LEGISLATION
Real Estate The government approved legis-
lation moving the management of public sec-
tor buildings within the Recovery Facility from
the cabinet office ÚV to the Interior Ministry.
The Ministry is an experienced facility manag-
er. The Facility allocates €403m for the
"green" modernization of buildings. (teraz.sk)
ECONOMY
Jobs Labor Minister Erik Tomáš wants a de-
bate on the 4-day work week issue raised by
PM Robert Fico. He proposes two alterna-
tives―shortening the work week to four days
and keeping the total working time at 40
hours, or working only four days of eight
hours for the same pay. He can imagine the
new regime in office work, but not in the
manufacturing sector. (openiazoch.sk)
After a few months, VÚB bank stopped a
trial of a 4-day work week due to low interest
from employees. The test kept the total work-
ing hours and wages unchanged. The bank will
continue to offer flexible working hours.
(tvnoviny.sk)
Building Transport Minister Jozef Ráž de-
fended new legislation that is to significantly
simplify the permitting processes for large
projects, e.g. highways. He explained that the
previous governments left no shovel-ready
projects and the construction sector is to suf-
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company into two parts: development and
ready to discuss the proposed changes with
activists, who strongly oppose them. They say
they fundamentally restrict the public's right
to participate in the permitting process.
(sita.sk)
Healthcare Health Minister Zuzana Dolinková
wants to present a solution to the case of as-
set forfeiture of the state hospital in Prešov
next week. The next cabinet meeting will be in
Prešov, where she will discuss the issue with
the ministers of justice and finance. She ad-
mits hospitals are in dire financial straits, with
the largest hospitals in Bratislava, Košice, and
Prešov being in the worst condition.
(dennikN.sk)
Farmers ZVPA, the local union of landowners
and farmers, declared a strike alert due to de-
lays in the payment of farming subsidies. After
an excellent year in 2022, agri-commodity
prices fell last year, and farmers are badly af-
fected by the delay in payments. The subsidy
agency PPA, they complain, is not only late
with payments but is also increasing the ad-
ministrative burden on farmers. (polnoinfo.sk)
Land The government approved a list of 120
territories where it wants to start land owner-
ship consolidation at a cost of €58.2m. It ex-
pects the process to take an average of five
years. (teraz.sk)
Energy The government cut the maximum
price of gas for households and wants to save
€66m in price subsidies. This year's state
budget allocated €1.3bn for the subsidies. It
argues that market gas prices have already
fallen. (teraz.sk)
Energy Last year, 21,300 new renewable en-
ergy sources, mainly photovoltaic panels, with
a total capacity of 267 MW were connected in
Slovakia, regional energy distributors report-
ed. This was an annual increase of 200 MW.
Most PV plants were installed in western Slo-
vakia, 11,200 with a capacity of 108 MW.
These were mostly small sources with a capac-
ity of up to 11 kW. Distribution companies ex-
pect similar or even higher numbers this year.
(zive.sk)
CORPORATE NEWS
Real Estate Ivan Chrenko is terminating the
activities of his developer HB Reavis in Poland
and wants to build new projects only in Ger-
many and the UK. In Warsaw, it has built the
large Varso Place complex, with Varso Tower,
the EU’s tallest building. It worked on a Port
Praski project there, together with Polsat Plus.
However, it sold its part to a partner for €21m.
In Berlin, it is planning the Central Tower pro-
ject, a 115-metre tower with offices and
apartments. In London, its One Waterloo pro-
ject’s future value is expected to be in the bil-
lions.
Last year, Chrenko moved to Prague, and HB
Reavis left the Slovak market. He also split the
businessnews@symsite.sk © All rights reserved
management. (forbes.sk)
Real Estate Developer J&T Real Estate, fol-
lowing the completion of the Appleby Blue
and Triptych Bankside projects in London, is
planning a 220 Blackfriars Road project with
20,000 sqm of offices and a home for the el-
derly. The third project will increase the value
of JTRE's London portfolio to almost £1bn.
(hnonline.sk)
Machinery Považská Bystrica-based machin-
ery firm thyssenkrupp rothe erde increased
its loss sixfold to €8.3m and its sales fell 19%
to €79.8m in the financial year ending in Sep-
tember 2023. It faces strong competition from
China in the production of components for
wind power plants, especially small and medi-
um-sized bearings.
Nové Zámky-based thyssenKrupp Materials
posted even worse results; its 2022 net profit
of €7m turned to a €0.3m loss and its sales fell
by 23% to €108.5m. (trend.sk)
Retail Polish discount food retailer Biedronka
plans to open its first stores in Slovakia at the
end of this year. Sources tell HN it is negotiat-
ing through Cushman&Wakefield to lease
space for its Slovak HQ in an office building
that is part of the Vivo shopping center on
Vajnorská Street in Bratislava. (hnonline.sk)
Fast Food McDonald’s has stopped offering
plastic caps for hot and cold drinks consumed
in Slovak and Czech restaurants. It also plans
to replace all plastic packaging with renewa-
ble, recycled, or certified materials by 2025.
(tvnoviny.sk)
Ads Across (Július Strapek) acquired a stake
in I&F Holding, an umbrella for advertising
and media agencies in eight markets in the
Balkans. This is its first investment in the me-
dia segment. Besides Slovakia, the group has
long been active in the hotel, real estate, and
fashion sectors in Croatia and the fashion sec-
tor in Slovenia. Its assets amount to €325m.
(teraz.sk)
MISCELLANEOUS
Hoax The government appointed SNS MP Pe-
ter Kotlár as its plenipotentiary to review the
pandemic management. He will set up a
commission to examine the anti-pandemic
measures taken by the governments of Igor
Matovič and Eduard Heger. Kotlár, an anti-
vaxxer and hoax-spreader, wants to investi-
gate "political murders," considering Covid-19
to be a biological weapon developed by "sa-
tanic bases." (dennikN.sk)
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