The Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, Germany has confirmed the verdict of the international arbitration court on Slovakia's obligation to pay compensation of €22 million to Dutch company Achmea, which owns Slovak health insurer Union, websites of Hospodarske Noviny and SME dailies reported on Tuesday.
The compensation is related to economic damage caused to Union by a law introduced by Robert Fico's first government (2006-10) that prohibited health insurers to retain their profits. Slovakia had appealed the original ruling of the arbitration court made in December 2012. Apart from the €22-million compensation, Slovakia must also pay Achmea's expenses related to legal services and other cost totalling €3 million. Plus Slovakia will have a hefty legal bill to pay, as a private law firm was assigned to the case.
