Pharma cries foul over new bills SIGNIFIC ANTsavingsof upto €200 mi ll io n a re be in g s ou g ht by Slovakia’s Health Ministry, and it is now rolli ng out legi slati on to achi eve them. Prices for medi ca- ments will be set at the second lowest price in the European Uni- on, generic drugs will be wide ly presc ribed , sign ificant anti-cor- rupt ion measures will be intro - duced, and a loyalty system will be set up in pharmac ies: these are among the most important meas- ur es that t he changes should brin g,the mini strysays. The pharmaceutical indu stry has expressed serious concern not only over some of the changes but als o about the pro ces s tha t the government of Iveta Radičová has usedto devel opthem. The ministry claims that the dra ft law on medi caments and health care aids and the draft lawon extent and conditions of pay- ments for medicaments, health aids and dietetic foodstuffs based on public health insuran ce will have a positive impact not only on patien ts but on the financial conditi on of hea lth insurer s as well. SeeMEDIpg4 SELECT FOREX RATES € benchmark as ofJune 16 CANADA CAD 139 CZECH REP CZK 24.29 RUB GREAT BRITAIN GBP 0.88 HUNGARY HUF 269.20 JAPAN JPY 113.63 PLN USA USD 141 NEWS Oneyearon On June12, 2010,voters eject edSmer andits allie s frompowerand opene d the wayfor thecurrentcoali- tion . Howhasthe gov ern - mentperforme d since ? pg 2 Breakin g away Socially-excludedRoma commu nitiesthat arehome to pover ty andrecurrent so- cialproblemscouldmore easil y be separ atedinto in- depen dentvillages under a contr overs ialnew Inter ior Ministry proposal. pg 3 OPINION The jud gesdance on Jud gesandandthe toppro- secut or applau dinga frie nd ashe mimicsa re cent mas s mur der : thi s isnot a sce ne fro m a Kus tur icafilm, buta snapsh ot of today 's Slova k justic e syste m. pg 5 BUSINESSFOCUS Valuing heritage FrenchAmbassad or to Slovak ia Jean-MarieBruno tellsThe Slova k Spect ator heis imp res sedby thein- tere stshownby Slovak studen ts in the French language. pg 6 Shari ng bestpractices Repre senta tivesof Frenc h multinationalswith subsi- diari es in Slova kiasay ide ascan flow inbothdir- ectio ns,benfitin g thelocal branc h andthe whol e group. pg 7CULTURE Theforces of ficti on Oneof Slovak ia’smost renownedliterary scholars, Zuzana Malinovská- Šalamo novátalks to The SlovakSpectat orabout her newbookandherviewson therole of liter ature. pg11 Ata summitof V4leadersin Brat islav a onJune 16,Slovakiapassedthe Viseg radGroup'srotatin g presid encyto the Czech Repub lic.Attendin g thesummitwere(l-r) Czech Fore ignMinisterKarelSchwarz enber g,HungarianPrime Minis terViktorOrbán,SlovakPrimeMinisterIvetaRadičo váand Polis h Prime Minis terDonaldTusk. Photo:Reuters Court ruling leaves a top state job in limbo THE CONST ITUT IONAL Court has added another twist to the increas- ingly complicated saga of the selec- tion of Slovakia’s next general pro- secutor.It hasagain block ed therul- ing coalition’s attempt to allow MPs to choose the prosecutor by means ofa pub licvotein par liament. The court on June 15 issued a provis ional ruling that halts the validity of a decision by MPs to re- vise the parli ament ary discu ssion order, thereby changing the origin- al, secret method of selecting the general prosecutor to a public vote by MPs. The cou rt said the rule chang e mustbe suspe ndeduntil the court reaches a verdict over its con- stitutionality. However, the ruling did not reinstate the validity of the previ ous legi slatio n, whic h regu - lated secret ballots, meaning that there is now no valid process for fill ing one of the count ry’s most senio r jobs. The ruling coalition has gone to considerable lengths over the past six months to cha nge the secret methodof votingpreviou slyused by MPs to selectthe gene ralprosecutor int o a pub licvote. Howev er, the legis latio n, pro- duce d by thefour-par ty coali tionled by Iveta Radičová and approved by parliament, was challenged at the Constitutional Court by acting gen- era l pro sec uto r Ladisl av Tic hý. Tichý got his job by default when the term of the previous gene ral prosecutor, Dobro slav Trnk a, ex- piredin Febru ary. SeeVOTEpg2 Vol. 17, No. 24 Monday, June 20, 2011 - Sunday, June 26, 2011 On sale now On sale now FOCUS of this issue FOCUS f this issue FRANCE Life dearer for Slovaks AFTER a low level of inflation last year, when the economic crisis curbed Slovaks’ appetite for buying, the rise in prices is now accelerating. Prices grew by 4.0 per- cen t overthe last yea r tothe endofMay,an infla tion rate that was last recorde d in Slovak ia in 2008.Soaringpricesfor foodare partic ular lybeing pinpoi ntedfor blame . The inflation rate in May and the jump in foodpricespromptedformerprimemin- ister and current opposition leader Robert Fico to describe the rate of 4 percent as breaking through a psychological barrier and called for a special parliamentary de- ba teandfor ‘ac tion’to betaken. SeeFOODpg9 B Y J ANA LIPTÁKOVÁ Spect atorstaffWarning sounded for judiciaryA CONTRO VER SIAL dec ision end ing a 15-year old lawsuit involving former Slov- ak president Michal Kováč, the release of a suspe ct charged with murder who had been on the lam for several years, and a get-together involving judges and the act- ing general prosecut or wher e a retir ed lawyer mimicked the actions of the mass murd ererin Devínska NováVes haveagain raisedthesil houett e ofwhat many call the murk y stateof Slovak ia’sjudiciar y. “[While] respecting the independence ofjudicial power as one of the cornerstones ofdemocracy, the members of the Slovak cab- inet express deep concerns over the state ofthe Slovak judiciary,” the cabinet wrote in a statementreleasedon June15. The cabinet’s statement focuses on two recent cas es: the release from custody of Karol Mello, who is charged with having ordered an assassination that ended in a double murder; and a court decision ordering former Slovak president Michal Kováč to apologise to Ivan Lexa, the former head of Slovakia’s secret ser- vi ce who had bee n accuse d of abd uct ing Kováč’s son. The cabinet termed both court decis ionsas “sla ps to justi ce”. SeeJUSTpg5 B Y BEATA B ALOGOVÁ Spect atorstaffB Y BEATA B ALOGOVÁ Spect atorstaffsee pages 6-8, 10-11 Te French communityin Slovakia B Y MICHAELA TERENZANI Specta tor staff
