SaS: Private Foundations Could Help Family Businesses in Slovakia

Bratislava, 27 August (TASR) - The introduction of private foundations based on the example of other countries could help family businesses in Slovakia, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party vice-chair Marian Viskupic told a briefing on Thursday. "Our goal is not to prepare a single proposal and pretend that we've solved all the problems of family businesses. We want to proceed step by step, addressing specific problems that family businesses may encounter in practice. We have already submitted the first legislative proposal, a bill on illegal work and illegal employment through which we are expanding the possibilities for family labour," he explained. "The state should not create unnecessary obstacles to this kind of natural family assistance simply because a company has more than two family members involved. That simply makes no sense," stressed Viskupic. "We're now taking the next step and we'll submit a bill on private foundations. The reason is simple: the Slovak economy has reached a stage where the first major generation of entrepreneurs who started their businesses after 1989 is ageing and gradually handing their companies over to their children," he said. A private foundation is intended to be one of the instruments that will make this possible, said Viskupic, stressing that it is not a tool for hiding assets, bypassing rules or setting up some anonymous structures, as the proposal contains clear mechanisms for transparency, oversight and identification of beneficial owners, record-keeping and accounting obligations, as well as audits in the case of larger assets. "We want a Slovak solution under Slovak law, with domestic control and clear rules," he explained, adding that many family businesses leave Slovakia to manage their assets under the laws of the Czech Republic, Liechtenstein or Cyprus. jrg