Blogger Tomáš Homola blogs [sk] about a new Mercedes Benz E car recently acquired for 63,096 Euros for Professor Karol Mičieta [sk], the Rector/President of Comenius University in Bratislava. Homola describes Mičieta's connection to politics, and also recalls that the Ministry of Education just a short time ago was forced to cancel renting of an Audi A6 [sk] for about 3,000 Euros per month from a company whose owner is the former Minister of Economy allegedly deeply involved in the Gorilla scandal. The saddest part of the story is the extremely poor condition that the university building is currently in (see images in Homola's post).
Latest posts by Tibor Blazko
16 April 2013
“Wanted Dead or Alive”: Slovak PM Dodges Court Summons
Former Slovak PM Iveta Radičová is suing the current PM Robert Fico, demanding an apology for his offensive statement. Fico, however, has been ignoring the trial for a whole year now, and even the police cannot find the PM's address to serve him court summons. Tibor Blazko reports.
12 March 2013
8 March 2013

Green Patrol Cleans Up Slovakia
The area near the main train station in Bratislava doesn't look too neat [sk]. Nor do other neighborhoods. Some people refuse to accept it passively, however. Next month, the Green Patrol (Zelená hliadka; sk) initiative, led by Matúš Čupka, will celebrate its second anniversary. Through targeted cleaning actions, Green Patrol aims at highlighting the problem of garbage in public areas and motivating citizens to pay more attention to the environment in which they live (see photos). Bratislava's Green Patrol community has already inspired people in other parts of Slovakia (e.g., here and here; sk).
6 March 2013
Slovakia's Roads: “Adopt a Pothole and Watch It Grow”
This year, the situation on Slovakia's roads isn't very good. in Košice county alone, there are over 37,000 square meters of potholes. Tibor Blazko reports.
4 March 2013
Stadiums Vs. Schools: Slovakia's Misplaced Priorities
There is not enough money to provide Slovak teachers with decent salaries, but there is some to build football stadiums all over the country. Tibor Blazko reports on the Slovak government's misplaced funding priorities.
8 February 2013

European Regional Differences
Slovak NGO/think-tank Conservative Institute [en] blogged [sk] about the results of a study of 270 second-level EU regions (NUTS 2). Comparing changes in unemployment, they found that during 1990-2011, despite the growing amount of Euro-funds, the differences between the regions grew by about 4 percentage points. In more than 50 years of European integration, the EU institutions have created 112,140 regulations. Conservative Institute claims [sk] that the actual EU strategy is causing loss of competitiveness, higher debts, taxes and a lower level of employment:
31 January 2013
Slovak PM's Support for 2022 Winter Olympics Bid Draws Criticism
Whereas Norway and Switzerland are planning to hold referenda before submitting their 2022 Winter Olympics bids, the fate of the Slovak-Polish joint bid already seems decided: the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has declared his support for it, without waiting for the government's approval. Tibor Blazko reports.
26 January 2013
Slovak President Butt of Jokes Online Due to Prosecutor General Saga
The post of the Prosecutor General has been vacant for more than a year in Slovakia, largely due to President Ivan Gašparovič's failure to approve the previous Parliament's candidate. Slovak netizens are making fun of their President, calling for a referendum on his removal and trying to sue him. Tibor Blazko reports.
21 January 2013

Slovakia: Social Benefits for Roma
Lucia Kureková, in her blog analysis [sk], shows that in Slovakia the majority of those who receive the Benefit in Material Need (BMN) are not the “typical” Roma families with many children, but are single, of any ethnicity, and childless (62%), often young and unemployed. About two-thirds of the Slovak Roma households receive child support and other family benefits; about half of them receive BMN, but here they make up about one-third of all benefit-receiving families (while officially there are just about 2% of the Roma population in Slovakia).
17 January 2013

Slovak Antimonopoly Office Defends Obligatory Microsoft Use
European Information Society Institute, a Slovak NGO, reports [sk] that the Slovak Antimonopoly Office (AMO) does not see it as a problem that the country's Financial Directorate is forcing taxpayers to use Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer, arguing that there is just about 10 percent of 44,000 subjects who have to use eTax and eDane applications, which are not compatible with Microsoft Windows. Netizen jaaaaaaaaaaj notes [sk] that, using AMO's logic, murder also affects just a negligible number of the population.































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Perchance, immaturity creates distrust.....