BRATISLAVA, July 22, (WEBNOVINY) — The state will pay out one-off Christmas contributions to pensioners according to new, more fair rules, for the first time in December of this year. President Ivan Gasparovic on Friday signed into law an amendment on Christmas bonuses. The new legislation introduces a formula for calculating the bonus individually for every beneficiary. The Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family says that the amended law will eliminate cases when the pension of a pensioner exceeded the limit by a few cents set for varying sums of the benefit and the pensioner lost eligibility to a higher contribution, losing 4-9 euros in this way.
The new system sets only the maximum sum of the contribution, which is set at EUR 66.39 euros. The pensioners whose pension or the sum of pensions reaches maximally the subsistence level per adult, which currently represents 189.83 euros will be eligible to the maximum contribution. In case of all other pensioners the Christmas benefit will be calculated by deducing one-tenth of the difference between the pension and the subsistence level from the sum amounting to 66.39 euros. Pensioners whose pensions do not exceed 60 percent of the average wage remain eligible to the Christmas contribution.
The president also signed a bill on carbon (dioxide) capture and storage in geological structures, approved by the Parliament on July 12. The legislation was forged to transpose the EU directive on the geological storage of CO2 (so-called „CCS Directive“), otherwise the EU’s executive could impose a 750,000-euro fine on Slovakia.
The law authored by the Environment Ministry provides a framework for the common steps of EU states to minimize the climate change impact on the environment. It regulates rights and duties of private individuals and legal entities, liability for duty violations, competence of state administration authorities and measures and procedures related to carbon dioxide capture and storage in geological structures.
The legislation defines areas where carbon dioxide can be stored, i.e., depleted oil and gas wells or salt and coal beds and other natural rock structures, as well as those where such conduct is prohibited, for instance, repositories of radioactive and other waste and geological structures suitable for utilization of geothermal energy. Also, the norm sets conditions for issuance of a permit for carbon storage.
The law responds to an EU directive which member states have to transpose in their legislation by the end of June. Had Slovakia failed to do so, it could have faced a fine from the European Commission of EUR 750,000. The draft will take effect as of the day of its publication in the Collection of Laws.
SITA