Employers: Slovakia’s legislation chaos is the worst since 1993 

02.12.2019 Media Monitoring

Businesses have sent 20 recommendations to politicians.

To ensure Slovakia’s competitiveness in these times of global economic cool-down, a group of 13 business organisations and chambers of commerce put together 20 commandments.

One half concerns a fair and stable business environment, the other half puts a spotlight on how to make Slovakia a country of talents.

Employers feel that Slovakia has started lagging behind neighbouring countries, whether it is in innovation or R&D. They also say that legislation has become completely unpredictable.

"The state we are in is unprecedented since 1993," said Rastislav Machunka of the Federation of Employers’ Associations of the Slovak Republic (AZZZ SR), as quoted by the Denník N daily on November 26.

The organisations sent their recommendations to politicians in mid-November.

Negative impact on businesses((piano))

Firms require, in particular, stability of the legislative environment, independence of regulatory bodies, but also changes in the education system and greater flexibility in labour relations.

Related articleQuality instead of quantity. MPs should think about the laws they submit, businesses say ČítajteÂ

"Employers are calling on political actors to commit themselves, if they participate in a future government, to concrete measures to improve law enforcement, reformation of the education system and more modern employment rules," firms said in their joint statement, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

Businesses do not like the fact that laws affecting firms are being changed so often. They would also like to introduce compulsory comments on, and assessment of, the impact of MPs’ proposals. In addition, they want to see the second and third reading of laws during a single parliamentary session banned.

Less politics in state administration

Entrepreneurs would also like the government to restrict political nominations to the state administration, relieve the courts by supporting arbitration, and also shorten the length of court proceedings.

It is important to increase the independence of regulatory institutions, businesses also said. As far as tenders are concerned, employers would like to make it mandatory to publish calls for low-value contracts.

Talent needs to stay

In the "country of talent" document, associations demand that education should match the needs of the labour market. One of the solutions is to reduce the number and quality of teaching facilities and to introduce complex and functional lifelong learning.

Firms also recommend changing the Labour Code to make the labour market more flexible. One of the demands put forward by business associations is the predictability of the minimum wage, TASR wrote.

They also said the OECD countries are being threatened by robotisation just like Slovakia, but the country is not prepared.

"We need to invest in the quality of top teachers," employers said, as quoted by Denník N.

They also consider it important to keep the most talented students in Slovakia.

[spectator.sme.sk; 28/11/2019; Slovak Spectator / Business; Compiled by Spectator staff]