Extra €45 million to be injected into Judiciary

The Slovak judiciary is to benefit from an additional €45 million this and next year following an agreement to this effect between Justice Minister Tomáš Borec and Finance Minister Peter Kažimír on Wednesday. Kažimír said that the extra funds will be spent on meeting 'rightful demands' of the sector's administrative employees, securing proper operation of the judiciary and boosting its standing as such. However, the extra money is not intended to settle the claims for higher salaries made recently by court workers, he added. Court personnel - excluding judges - went on a one-day warning strike in February, and they've threatened that a full-blown walkout will follow if their demands aren't met by 10 April. Justice Minister Borec claims he is happy with the outcome of the talks, noting that this year's budget will receive an injection of €21 million while the remainder will serve to increase next year's budget. He added that he's unable to say whether he'll be able to satisfy the demands of court workers by the end of this week.