MPs Greenlight October 30 as One-off State Holiday

MPs Greenlight October 30 as One-off State Holiday
Bratislava, September 12 (TASR) – This year’s October 30 will be a one-off state holiday to mark the centenary of the Declaration of the Slovak Nation on October 30, 1918 in Turciansky Sv. Martin (now Martin, Zilina region) as MPs approved an amendment to the Public Holidays Act with 96 votes on Wednesday.

The 1918 document effectively declared Slovakia’s independence from the Kingdom of Hungary and paved the way for Slovakia to unite with the Czech lands to create Czechoslovakia.
The Slovak National Party (SNS) in an earlier official statement disagreed with adopting a one-off state holiday, calling it a non-systemic measure, an attitude that was supported by figures from Slovak business. “We don’t see any reason why such extraordinary holidays should be introduced in the future,” said the party in its then statement. The SNS eventually voted for the act.