1.
Coat of arms of Slovakia
–
The coat of arms of Slovakia consists of a red shield, in early Gothic style, charged with a silver double cross standing on the middle peak of a dark blue mountain consisting of three peaks. Extremities of the cross are amplified, and its ends are concaved, the double cross is a symbol of its Christian faith and the hills represent three symbolic mountain ranges, Tatra, Fatra, and Mátra. The two-barred cross in the Slovak coat of arms originated in the Byzantine Empire in the 9th century, unlike the Christian cross, the symbolism and meaning of the double cross is not well understood. One interpretation is that the first horizontal line symbolized the secular power, another that the first cross represents the death and the second cross the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the Byzantine Empire of the 9th century, the cross was a political symbol used by Byzantine clerks. The double cross arrived in the territory of current-day Slovakia probably no later than during the 9th century mission of Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia. Though used frequently in Great Moravia, it was not a symbol at that time. By means of Zwentibold, this symbol got to Lorraine and is called the cross of Lorraine there, the double cross symbol appeared again in rudimentary features on the first coins that Stephen I, the first king of the Kingdom of Hungary, had minted at an unknown place. Before he became king in 1000, he was the Grand Prince of the Principality of Hungary and was living there with his Bavarian wife Gisella, the frequent opinion that the double cross was a cross that the Pope granted to Stephen I. around 1000 is still disputed. The opinion arose only in the 15th century based on a legend from the 12th century, which in addition only says that Stephen received an apostolic cross. The direct predecessor of the current coat of arms of Slovakia can be found in the coat of arms used by Béla, the prince of the Nitrian frontier principality and later King of Hungary. Béla was a member of the house of Árpáds and was named after the Prague bishop Adalbert, who had baptized King Stephen, Béla conducted his own internal and international policy in his Nitrian frontier principality. The Byzantine emperor, involved in a quarrel with the Hungarian king, furthermore, Béla had own coins minted in 1050 in Nitra, the capital of his principality – coins which deliberately differed from those of the Hungarian king and which bore the double cross symbol. The appearance of the cross in coins before Béla III is highly disputed. According to recent view It is a simple misinterpretation of two normal crosses. It was only 100 years later, around 1189, that the cross is known to have been used again – it was used during a crusade of the Hungarian king Béla III as his royal symbol. The three hills seen in the modern Slovak and Hungarian coats of arms were not present in the standard. This time, the symbol was used as a coat of arms
2.
Peter Pellegrini
–
Peter Pellegrini is a Slovak politician. Between 2006 and 2012 he was member of the National Council of Slovakia and he then became State Secretary for Finance, he served in this position until his appointment as Minister for Education, Science, Research and Sport on 3 July 2014. He was Speaker of the National Council between 25 November 2014 and 23 March 2016, since that latter date he is Deputy Prime Minister for Investments. He studied at the Faculty of Economics of Matej Bel University, between 2002 and 2006 he worked as economist and later as advisor to National Council member Ľubomír Vážny. In the 2006 parliamentary elections he was elected to the National Council for Direction – Social Democracy, in the 2010 elections he was reelected, and once again in the 2012 elections. Between 2012 and 3 July 2014 he was State Secretary for Finance, on that latter date he became Minister for Education, Science, Research and Sport. On 25 November 2014 he was elected Speaker of the National Council, on 23 March 2016 Andrej Danko was elected as successor to Pellegrini. Pellegrini was subsequently made Deputy Prime Minister for Investments in the government of Robert Fico. As of 2015 he is the Digital Champion of Slovakia, an EU appointed position to promote the benefits of an inclusive digital society
3.
Official residence
–
An official residence is the residence at which a nations head of state, head of government, governor or other senior figure officially resides. It may or may not be the location where the individual conducts work-related functions or lives. This has occurred in the 21st century in Detroit and New York City, in the case of Denver, no mayor has ever lived in the official residence, the city instead makes it available to certain non-profit groups for special functions. The President uses own private residence, - Its address is 1 Cheongwadae-ro, Jongro-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea. It is located next to Gyeongbokgung, the palace during the Joseon Dynasty. Cheong Nam Dae - Cheong Nam Dae used to be one of the two residences for the President of Republic of Korea. It was returned to public in 2003, - It is located in Cheongwon-gun, North Chungcheong Province. Cheong Hae Dae - Cheong Hae Dae used to be one of the two residences for the President of Republic of Korea. Although the president no longer uses this facility this compound is still under the administration of the Republic of Korea Navy, - It is located on one of the islands of Geoje-shi, South Gyeongsang Province. Chongri Gonggwan - This is the residence for the Prime Minister of Republic of Korea. The Prime Minister, however, does not work here, - Its address is 111-2 Samcheongdong-gil, Jongro-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea. It is located close to Cheong Wa Dae, gukhoeuijang Gonggwan - This is the official residence for the Speaker of the National Assembly of Republic of Korea. The Speaker, also, does not work here, - It is located in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, where many foreign missions to Korea are located. Daebeobwonjang Gonggwan - This is the residence for the Chief Justice of Republic of Korea. The Chief Justice, also, does not work here, - It is also located in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Most ministers of state and heads of administrative regions also have official residences, although they are not listed here. S
4.
Episcopal Summer Palace, Bratislava
–
The Episcopal Summer Palace is the former residence of the archbishop of Bratislava. The palace was originally in the 17th century a Renaissance summer seat for the archbishops of Esztergom, the baroque sculptor Georg Rafael Donner had a studio in the palace garden for almost 10 years. The palace now houses the government of Slovakia, when the Turks occupied Asia minor and started invading Europe, Hungarian nobility started fleeing north, into present-day Slovakia. Bratislava became the city of Hungary. After the city of Esztergom was captured, the seat of the Esztergom archbishop had to be moved, at first, he lived in the building of his predecessors at the place of todays Primates Palace in the city center. The old gothic residence, however, despite its many reconstructions failed to provide the comfort the archbishop was accustomed to, in spite of Hungary being decimated by the Turks, the nobility started to emulate the foreign custom of building summer palaces in the countryside. The land for the Summer Archbishops Palace, just behind the ring of city defences, was at that time considered to be countryside. It was acquired at the beginning of the 17th century by archbishop Ferenc Forgách, the archbishops summer residence was built probably in 1614. The gardens masterpiece was a garden pavillon with walls encased in mosaic, neither the garden or the pavillon survived this period of time. Lippay also had a new residence built sometime during his tenure as archbishop, archbishop Imre Esterházy had the garden reconfigured in a baroque style. It was under archbishop Ferenc Barkóczy that the current version of the palace was built, between 1761 and 1765, Barkóczy had Austrian architect F. A. Hillebrandt convert the old Lippay building into a large baroque palace. Also, Rococo style decorations, a Rococo fence and a yard of honour were added, in the 19th century, the seat of Esztergom archbishops was moved back to Esztergom and the Hungarian capital was moved to Buda. After the Napoleonic wars a strong garrison of king-emperors army remained in the city, Summer Archbishops Palace was converted into a military hospital and its garden was used as a military exercising ground. Statues from the garden were sold and a staircase leading from the garden directly to a hall on the first floor was demolished. The hall was split into two full of beds for wounded soldiers. The palace remained a hospital until the 1930s. After the breakup of Czechoslovakia the newly created Slovak State was in need of administrative and office buildings in the city to house the government. Summer Archbishops Palace was chosen to house the Ministry of foreign affairs and a government district was supposed to be constructed in the vicinity
5.
President of Slovakia
–
The President of the Slovak Republic is the head of state of Slovakia and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The president is elected by the people for five years. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office, but the president does exercise certain limited powers with absolute discretion, the presidents official residence is the Grassalkovich Palace in Bratislava. The office was established by the constitution of Slovakia on 1 January 1993 when Slovakia permanently split from Czechoslovakia, the office was vacant until 2 March 1993 when the first president Michal Kováč was elected by the National Council of Slovak Republic. However, in 1998, the National Council was unable to elect a successor to Kováč, the result was that for half a year after Kováčs term ended in March 1998, the position was vacant. The duties and powers of the office were devolved upon the prime minister and speaker of the National Council. In order to come to a solution, the constitution was changed to transfer election of the president to the people, presidential elections have been held in 1999,2004,2009 and 2014. The current president is Andrej Kiska, who took office on 15 June 2014, the President of Slovakia has a limited role in policy-making, as the office is largely ceremonial. According to the constitution, the president is the representative of the state both in Slovakia and abroad. Among his constitutional powers are nominating and appointing the Prime Minister, the president can also veto any bill from the National Council. His veto can be if the National Council passes the same bill again with majority of all members of the Council. The president also acts as the commander-in-chief of the Slovak armed forces, the president can grant a parole on the recommendation of the minister of justice. Parties HZDS SOP HZD Independent There are two living former Slovak Presidents, List of Presidents of Czechoslovakia List of Prime Ministers of Slovakia List of leaders of Slovak parliaments
6.
Term of office
–
A term of office is the length of time a person serves in a particular elected office. In many jurisdictions there is a limit on how long terms of office may be before the officeholder must be subject to re-election. Some jurisdictions exercise term limits, setting a number of terms an individual may hold in a particular office. Being the origin of the Westminster system, aspects of the United Kingdoms system of government are replicated in other countries. The monarch serves as head of state until his or her death or abdication, in the United Kingdom Members of Parliament in the House of Commons are elected for the duration of the parliament. Following dissolution of the Parliament, an election is held which consists of simultaneous elections for all seats. For most MPs this means that their terms of office are identical to the duration of the Parliament, an MP elected in a by-election mid-way through a Parliament, regardless of how long they have occupied the seat, is not exempt from facing re-election at the next general election. The Septennial Act 1715 provided that a Parliament expired seven years after it had been summoned, prior to the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 parliaments had no minimum duration. Parliaments could be dissolved early by the monarch at the Prime Ministers request, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 mandated that Parliaments should last their full five years. Early dissolution is possible, but under much more limited circumstances. Hereditary peers and life peers retain membership of the House of Lords for life, Lords Spiritual hold membership of the House of Lords until the end of their time as bishops, though a senior bishop may be made a life peer upon the end of their bishopric. The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are variations on the system of government used at Westminster, the office of the leader of the devolved administrations has no numeric term limit imposed upon it. However, in the case of the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government there are fixed terms for which the legislatures can sit and this is imposed at four years. Elections may be held before this time but only if no administration can be formed, offices of local government other regional elected officials follow similar rules to the national offices discussed above, with persons elected to fixed terms of a few years. Federal judges have different terms in office, however, the majority of the federal judiciary, Article III judges, such as those of the Supreme Court, courts of appeal, and federal district courts, serve for life. The terms of office for officials in state governments according to the provisions of state constitutions. The term for state governors is four years in all states but Vermont and New Hampshire, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported in January 2007 that among state legislatures,44 states had terms of office for the lower house of the state legislature at two years. Five had terms of office at four years,37 states had terms of office for the upper house of the state legislature at four years
7.
National Council (Slovakia)
–
The National Council, abbreviated to NR SR, is the national parliament of Slovakia. It is unicameral, and consists of 150 members, who are elected by universal suffrage under proportional representation with seats distributed via Hagenbach-Bischoff quota every four years, Slovakias parliament has been called the National Council since 1 October 1992. From 1969 to 1992, its predecessor, the parliament of the Slovak part of Czechoslovakia, was called the Slovak National Council, the National Council approves domestic legislation, constitutional laws, and the annual budget. Its consent is required to ratify treaties, and is responsible for approving military operations. It also elects individuals to positions in the executive and judiciary as specified by law. The parliament building is situated on the hill, next to Bratislava Castle in Alexander Dubček Square. The 150-seat unicameral National Council of the Slovak Republic is Slovakias sole constitutional and it considers and approves the Constitution, constitutional statutes and other legal acts. It also approves the state budget and it elects some officials specified by law as well as the candidates for the position of a Justice of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic and the Prosecutor General. Prior to their ratification, the parliament should approve all important international treaties, moreover, it gives consent for dispatching of military forces outside of Slovakias territory and for the presence of foreign military forces on the territory of the Slovak Republic. The parliament may vote if a majority of all its members are present. To pass a decision the approval of a majority of all MPs present is required. Almost all legal acts can be adopted by this relative majority, an absolute majority is required to pass a vote of no-confidence in the Cabinet or its members, or to elect and recall the Speaker or the Deputy Speakers. A qualified majority of 3/5 of all deputies is required for the adoption of a constitution or a constitutional statute, for the speakers see, List of speakers of Slovak parliaments The current speaker of the Slovak National Council is Andrej Danko. The length of the bars underneath represents each partys electoral performance, the difference in the total width of the bars is due to the election threshold of 5%, this threshold prevents a varying number of small parties from entering the National Council. Members of the parliament are elected directly for a 4-year term, although the suffrage is universal, only a citizen who has the right to vote, has attained 21 years of age and has permanent residency in the Slovak Republic is eligible to be elected. Similarly to the Netherlands and Israel, the country forms one multi-member constituency. Voters may indicate their preferences within the semi-open list, parliamentary elections were last held in 2016. The building is large to accommodate all officials and representatives
8.
Slovakia
–
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Slovakias territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks, the capital and largest city is Bratislava. The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries, in the 7th century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samos Empire and in the 9th century established the Principality of Nitra. In the 10th century, the territory was integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary, which became part of the Habsburg Empire. After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a separate Slovak Republic existed in World War II as a client state of Nazi Germany. In 1945, Czechoslovakia was reëstablished under Communist rule as a Soviet satellite, in 1989 the Velvet Revolution ended authoritarian Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The country maintains a combination of economy with universal health care. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009, Slovakia is also a member of the Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the OECD, the WTO, CERN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group. The Slovak economy is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and its legal tender, the Euro, is the worlds 2nd most traded currency. Although regional income inequality is high, 90% of citizens own their homes, in 2016, Slovak citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 165 countries and territories, ranking the Slovak passport 11th in the world. Slovakia is the world’s biggest per-capita car producer with a total of 1,040,000 cars manufactured in the country in 2016 alone, the car industry represents 43 percent of Slovakia’s industrial output, and a quarter of its exports. Radiocarbon datingputs the oldest surviving archaeological artefacts from Slovakia – found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom – at 270,000 BC and these ancient tools, made by the Clactonian technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia. Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era come from the Prévôt cave near Bojnice, the most important discovery from that era is a Neanderthal cranium, discovered near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of mammoth-bone, the statue was found in the 1940s in Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina and these findings provide the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between the Mediterranean and Central Europe. The Bronze Age in the territory of modern-day Slovakia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800 BC
9.
Politics of Slovakia
–
Politics of Slovakia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, with a multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in the parliament and it can be exercised in some also by the government or directly by citizens. Executive power is exercised by the government led by the Prime Minister, the Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The President is the head of the state, before the 1989 revolution, Czechoslovakia was a socialist dictatorship ruled by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, technically together with the coalition of the so-called National Front. Before the free elections could take place after the revolution. 1989 President of Czechoslovakia Gustáv Husák sworn in the Government of National Understanding headed by Marián Čalfa and it consisted of 10 communists and 9 non-communists and its main goal was to prepare for democratic elections, to establish market economy in the country and to start preparing a new constitution. On 8–9 June 1990, the Czechoslovakian parliamentary election of 1990 took place, Čalfas second government was disbanded on 27 June 1990, when it was replaced by the Government of National Sacrifice, also headed by Marián Čalfa. On 5–6 June 1992, the last elections in Czechoslovakia, the Czechoslovakian parliamentary election of 1992 took place, Čalfas third government was disbanded on 2 July 1992, when it was replaced by the Caretaker Government of Jan Stráský, headed by Jan Stráský. The caretaker government was disbanded on 31 December 1992 together with the dissolution of the Czech, due to federalism, immediately after the 1989 revolution, two national governments were created as well under the federal Czechoslovak government. In Slovakia it was headed by Milan Čič and it was established on 12 December 1989, on 8–9 June 1990, the Slovak parliamentary election of 1990 took place together with the federal Czechoslovak elections. Čičs government was followed by the First Government of Vladimír Mečiar, Government of Ján Čarnogurský, on 5–6 June the Slovak parliamentary election of 1992 took place. The Constitution of the Slovak Republic was ratified 1 September 1992 and it was amended in September 1998 to allow direct election of the president and again in February 2001 due to EU admission requirements. The civil law system is based on Austro-Hungarian codes, the legal code was modified to comply with the obligations of Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe and to expunge the Marxist–Leninist legal theory. Slovakia accepts the compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction with reservations, the president is the head of state and the formal head of the executive, though with very limited powers. The president is elected by direct, popular vote, under the two round system, for a five-year term, following National Council elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the president. Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the minister has to receive the majority in the parliament. From July 2006 till July 2010 the coalition consisted of Smer, SNS, after the 2010 elections a coalition was formed by the former opposition parties SDKÚ, KDH and Most–Híd and newcomer SaS. Slovakias sole constitutional and legislative body is the 150-seat unicameral National Council of the Slovak Republic, delegates are elected for 4-year terms on the basis of proportional representation
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
