Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Dec 20

...   Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Austria's Chancellor 
Alfred Gusenbauer will cut a border gate to celebrate expansion 
of the European Union's borderless area. 
     
    PRESIDENT'S NEWS CONFERENCE 
    Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic will hold a news conference 
with Defence Minister Frantisek Kasicky, 1220 GMT. 
     
    PRESS DIGEST 
    ------------ 
    FICO MOST POPULAR 
    Prime Minister Robert Fico kept lead in a December opinion 
poll with support of 35.9 percent of people, the Statistics 
Office said. The leader of far-right SNS party, Jan Slota, came 
second with 14.5 percent. 
    Sme, page 2 
     
    HIGHWAYS CONSTRUCTION 
    The government approved a plan to start and construct 165 
kilometers of highways and 60 kilometers of first-class roads by 
2010. 
    Sme, page 6 
     
    FLAT HIGHWAY TOLLS 
    Prime Minister Robert Fico reiterated his government will 
not increase highway tolls in 2008 and 2009. 
    Pravda, page 4 
     
    STATE AID 
    The government cleared a state aid package worth 2.15 
billion crowns ($92.04 million) for 12 investment projects worth 
8.5 billion crowns and expected to create 4,000 new jobs. 
    Pravda, page 22 
     
    For news on upcoming events in the United States and other 
Group  of Seven countries, see . For a diary of 
forthcoming Slovak events, double click [SK/DIARY], and a 
calendar of east European economic indicators, see [CONV/DIARY]. 
     
    News editor of the day: Martin Dokoupil on +421 2 5341 8402; 
fax: +421 2 5341 8403 
    E-mail: editorial@reuters.sk 
    Reuters Messaging: martin.dokoupil.reuters.com@reuters.net 
     
    For real-time index quotes, double click in brackets: 
    Warsaw WIG20   Budapest BUX   Prague PX50 
 
 Other related news: 
 Slovak equities      [SK-E]  E.Europe equities           [.CEE] 
 Slovak money         [SK-M]  Czech debt                  [CZ-D] 
 Slovak Indicators  [SK-ECI]  Emerging forex          [EMRG/FRX] 
 Eastern European     [EEU]   All emerging markets        [EMRG] 
 Hot stocks           [HOT]   Stock markets                [STX] 
 Market debt news     [DBT]   Forex news                   [FRX] 
 TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets                         [TOP/EMRG] 
 TOP NEWS -- Convergence watch                        [TOP/EAST] 
  
 ($1=23.36 Slovak Crown) 
  

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]