Košice newsfilter: The mayor was caught in a fiction, he explained it with the magic of live performances – Denník N

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you are reading a selection of the ten most important news of the week from Košice and its surroundings. Send us tips on news, criticism or Facebook status of the week to [email protected].

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1. They felt like hostages without electricity

Instead of a “Merry Christmas”, about 170 companies from Spišská Nová Ves and the surrounding area learned from their supplier two days before the holidays that they would be without a contract or without electricity from the new year.

This was followed by the shock that the companies made known to the media, and the day after Christmas, Východoslovenská energetika (VSE) turned around. It was no longer the case that there was a shortage of electricity on the market. It told its customers that they do not have to worry, everyone will receive a draft of a new contract for 2022.

That’s what happened, but the price was around 314 euros per megawatt-hour, which is about six times the price they paid for electricity last year. At the same time, a few months ago, when prices were halved, their trader VSE agreed that they were inflated and the contract had to wait.

Many companies – long-standing and reliable customers – were disappointed with the VSE process. They perceived it as being purposefully maneuvered into the hostage position.

“The way VSE communicated reminded me more of the practice of the non-bank BMG Invest than the company in which the state has a majority stake,” he said Norbert Jenčuš, director of RBS Tatry.

Why do companies talk about hostages? It is said that VSE could have blackmailed the state by reopening the issue of compensation for millions in losses it bears for customers after the bankrupt alternative electricity supplier Slovakia Energy.

As a supplier of last resort (like SSE and ZSE), it supplies them with electricity at regulated prices, but it is now many times more expensive on the market. And the state represented by the economy in the autumn refused to compensate for this difference.

Both the VSE and the Ministry of Economy responded that no compensation was the subject of their Christmas negotiations on electricity supply for companies that were left without contracts.

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2. The hospital did not reward all health professionals

At the end of the year, Košice University Hospital surprised its employees. They didn’t even remember the last time they received Christmas rewards. In addition, the promised rewards were generous, about 80 percent of the salary.

“Especially during a pandemic, I consider this to be the right and very motivating decision.” said for Dennik N neurologist Peter Zimmermann, who is president of the Medical Union (LOZ) at UNLP. But in addition to praise, he addressed a reservation to the hospital management.

Not everyone got the reward. She did not escape those who missed work (outside holidays) for more than 30 days last year. Until now, the covert’s incapacity for work (PN) or the treatment of a family member (OČR) were also counted. Meanwhile, during lockdowns, when schools were closed, many parents had no choice but to stay home with their children.

UNLP has more than 3,500 employees. The hospital management did not comment on this, but according to our information, about a fifth of the employees, ie around 700 people, did not meet the end-of-year award criteria.

“The Christmas rewards were for the dedication of the staff during the pandemic year 2021,” the hospital says, but she kept the details of the criteria to herself.

Mária Javornícka, chairwoman of the Basic Trade Union of Nurses and Midwives, also considers them discriminatory: After all, she worked for the remaining almost eleven months, and we all know the conditions when waves of covid patients rolled into the hospitals. “

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3. He wants to donate a house to the city, but there must be a museum

Ten years after the death of her husband, the important Slovak sculptor Ján Mathý, Eva Mathéová addressed the Košice City Hall in December. She suggested that she donate to the city the house in which her husband lived and worked and in which the 90-year-old medical professor still lives.

The condition is that the house becomes the Mathé Museum, which the local government would establish and operate. In addition to an architecturally valuable building, Košice can also acquire works that are located in its studio. Another 17 works by Ján Mathý are in public space in the city.

The villa, which some residents of the city for a resemblance to Brno original also called the Tugendhat Villa in Košice, located in Čermel, near the Lokomotiva Stadium. It has been a national cultural monument since 2019.

“Unfortunately, Janek and I had no children. Plus, my family is scattered around the world. Almost no one lives in Košice anymore, so no one would be able to take care of it and it would only sell out, which would be a huge pity, “said Eva Mathéová for the daily Korzár. However, there must be a condition in the donation contract that everything is preserved as a whole, ie real estate, equipment and works.

The council addressed this issue at its December meeting. The deputies took note of the property owner’s offer by voting and instructed the mayor to further negotiate the conditions for donating the property.

Jozef Psotka, a climber, the first Slovak on Mount Evereste, celebrated his fifties in a villa with a studio, but he died during the descent in 1984. He was Mrs. Mathé’s brother: “Our whole family came together then. We all got along nicely here. “

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4. Mayor Polaček talked about the winning company before the end of the competition