Stories about Slovak

European Regional Differences

  8 February 2013

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...

Slovakia: Social Benefits for Roma

  21 January 2013

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...

Slovak Antimonopoly Office Defends Obligatory Microsoft Use

  17 January 2013

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...

Slovak “Decent Life” Protesters Burn EU Flag

  15 November 2012

About 100 people took part in a follow-up “Together for a Decent and Safe Life” protest [sk, images, videos], co-organized by Oskar Dobrovodský, in Bratislava on Nov. 10 (more about Dobrovodský's case and the previous, Oct. 13, rally is here). After the protesters burned the EU flag, police detained two...

Slovakia: Music Copyright Agency Vs. School Drama Club

  17 October 2012

The Slovak Performing and Mechanical Rights Society imposes a €975 fine on a high school drama club for a fundraiser ball, which included a raffle and featured songs authored and performed by the club members - but had not been properly registered with the music copyright agency. Tibor Blazko reports.

Slovakia: Rally for Rights of “Decent People”

  2 October 2012

Last month, in response to “the worsening situation in coexistence of citizens of towns and villages with the undisciplined and antisocial fellow citizens,” residents of the town of Partizanske came up with a “Petition for increased protection of the rights of decent people” [sk]. This past weekend, over 3,000 mostly...

Slovakia: SOZA Strikes Again

One year after having been defeated by public opinion, the Slovak Performing and Mechanical Rights Society (SOZA), which was asking fees for embedded videos on web pages, strikes again. Now SOZA wants fees for St. Nicholaus and Mother's Day performances, during which children recite nursery rhymes and sing folk songs...

Slovakia: “God Can Cure You”

On May 26, approximately 50-60 opponents of the upcoming Gay Pride gathered [sk] in Bratislava for a rally organized by the Association for Protection of Family, together with the Citizens’ Association for Christian Values and Traditions. The main organizer, Jozef Dupkala, offering a helping hand to homosexuals, said: “Your current...