After the accession of several Central and Eastern European countries to the European Union in 2004, new challenges arose for their highest judicial institutions to define and shape the relationship between the national and European legal order. This paper assesses the first decade of the effort of the Slovak Constitutional Court (SCC) in interpreting the relationship between domestic and EU law via applying the concept of constitutional pluralism which presumes a specific relationship between the legal orders characterized by their heterarchical structure, mutual interaction and cooperation rather than of a hierarchical, monistic structure, governed by clash over dominance. Answering the research question how the SCC has positioned itself vis-à-vis the constitutional monism v. pluralism dilemma can offer an insight on the general relationship between domestic and EU law in Slovakia. By analysing statutory law, selected judgments and reviewing secondary literature, the paper argues that the SCC seems to have chosen the monistic, hierarchical approach to the relationship, having rejected constitutional pluralism. At the same time, this position is not articulated clearly enough due to the veil of secrecy that to some extent still prevails over the SCC’s doctrinal attitudes to EU law. The findings of the paper, which combines conceptual analysis of constitutional pluralism with review of relevant legal provisions and case law, demonstrate the need for a more active and straightforward approach of the SCC when dealing with the challenges of EU law., Max Steuer., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
Experimentally produced interspecific hybrids between four Central European species of Rorippa (Brassicaceae), which are wide-spread in the Czech and Slovak Republics (allogamic R. amphibia, R. austriaca, R. sylvestris and autogamic R. palustris), were studied. The hybrid between the allogamic tetraploid species R. amphibia and R. sylvestris can produce hybrid swarms when they occur sympatrically with the parental species. The most plausible mode of formation of the tetraploid hybrid swarms introgressed by diploid R. austrica in nature was confirmed: The chromosome numbers of the offspring resulted from the controlled pollination of the triploid experimental hybrid R. austriaca × R. sylvestris mostly tended to the tetraploid level. Even healthy tetraploid plants, with high quality pollen, developed in the second generation after open pollination of the experimental triploid R. amphibia × R. austriaca. Plants with nearly tetraploid or tetraploid chromosome numbers and sufficiently fertile pollen gave rise to fully fertile tetraploid hybrid swarms, even without the presence of tetraploid R. austriaca. Failure of most experimental crosses of the autogamous tetraploid R. palustris with allogamous species (totally sterile F1 acquired only in combination R. austriaca × R. palustris) indicated that this species is unlikely to have participated in the formation of hybrid swarms in nature.
The procedure for identification of the long-term trends in the individual water quality determinands in surface water is described in the study. The methodology is based on requirements of the Directive 2000/60/EC and the existing water quality data in the database of the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute. The methodology gives guidance for estimation of following issues: - influence of the length of the series on trends of development; - methods for calculation of the statistical characteristics; - methods for identification of the increasing and decreasing trends, as well as of the trend reversal point; - selection of the decision criteria for assessment of the trend significance. The methodology was applied for the trend analysis of the selected pollutants in the middle part of Hron River at Salkova near Banska Bystrica city. The results show that the rapid increase of pollution in 1970`s is followed by gradual improvement of the surface water quality in next period. and V predloženej štúdii je opísaný postup pri identifikácii dlhodobých trendov jednotlivých ukazovateľov kvality vody v povrchových tokoch. Pri vypracovaní metodiky sa vychádzalo z požiadaviek smernice 2000/60/EC a z existujúcich údajov o kvalite vody v databáze Slovenského hydrometeorologického ústavu. Vypracovaná metodika navrhuje konkrétne postupy na určovanie, napr. - vplyvu dĺžky obdobia na vývojové trendy; - spôsobov výpočtu štatistických ukazovateľov; - spôsobov identifikácie trendov rastu a poklesu, ako i bodov obratu trendu; - kritérií na rozhodovanie o významnosti jednotlivých trendov. Navrhnutá metodika bola aplikovaná pri analýze vybraných ukazovateľov kvality vody v mieste odberu Hron-Šalková , situovanom pri Banskej Bystrici. Z výsledkov vyplýva, že po prudkom náraste znečistenia stredného Hrona v sedemdesiatych rokoch dvadsiateho storočia dochádza k postupnému zlepšovaniu kvality povrchových vôd v tomto úseku.
This is the first complete inventory of alien vascular plant taxa for the Slovak Republic. The presented database contains information on family affiliation, residence status, invasion status, time of introduction, mode of introduction, planting purpose, abundance and distribution within phytogeographic regions, types of invaded habitats and syntaxa, and life forms and geographical origin of the alien taxa. In total, 21.5% of the total flora is made of up of alien taxa, comprised of 282 archaeophytes that make up 6.6% and 634 neophytes 14.9% of the total number of taxa, respectively. The majority of the alien taxa are casuals (57.6%), 39.1% are naturalized and 3.3% invasive. Most of them come from Europe (32.8%) and Asia (32.8%), followed by Africa (12.2%) and North America (10.8%). The database contains members of 98 families of which the Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Poaceae, Amaranthaceae and Rosaceae are the most represented. Almost 50% of the alien taxa are therophytes. Hemicryptophytes (26.3%) and phanerophytes (15.6%) are also abundant. More of the alien taxa were introduced deliberately (49.0%) than unintentionally (43.9%), and the majority were introduced as ornamental plants (55.9%). Of the total number of alien taxa, 45.2% are recorded from less than five localities. Most of them prefer human-made habitats; they are found in 137 phytosociological alliances, with those richest in alien taxa categorized as synanthropic vegetation.
Mathevolepis alpina sp. n. is described from an alpine shrew, Sorex alpinus, from the Carpathian Region of the Slovak Republic. The new species differs from other species of the genus by the morphology of the male copulatory apparatus, especially the cirrus, which is characterised by asymmetrical parabasal swelling. The new species represents the first record of cestodes of the genus Mathevolepis Spassky, 1948 in Europe, i.e. the western part of the Palaearctic Region. The geographical distribution of species of Mathevolepis is reviewed.
The study deals with the historical determinants, concepts and practical implementation of the foreign policy of the Slovak Republic in the first decade of its existence (from its establishment in 1993 to Slovakia's accession to the NATO and EU in 2004). Author examines the external and internal factors shaping the Slovak foreign policy, i.e. in particular the dynamics, which on the one hand resulted from the attractiveness of NATO and the EU (and of the Western orientation in general) but on the other hand was based on the anti-liberal and nationalist political traditions and tendencies that were very significant in Slovakia in the respective period. and Článek zahrnuje poznámkový aparát pod čarou