Doctors are ready to resign

MANY doctors are making

good on their threat to termin-
ate their employment con-
tracts with Slovak hospitals.
On September 29 as many as
2,411 doctors from hospitals
across Slovakia submitted no-
tices to their employers ter-
minating their employment
contracts, and additional no-
tices are expected to come in
subsequent days. It is the doc-
tors way of protesting against
what they call the dismal con-
ditionof Slovakias health-care
systemandof airingtheir frus-
trations withthe prescriptions
offeredbythe HealthMinistry.
MarinKollr, chairmanof the
Medical Trade Unions Associ-
ation (LOZ), warned that if no
agreement is reached with the
ministry, medical treatment
in hospitals could collapse in
December after the two-
month notice period has run
its course.
Dear Minister, dear Prime
Minister, this is not a game any
more, Kollr stated, as quoted
by the SITA newswire. Unless
the ministry and the govern-
ment take a responsible stance
in solving the problems and
the requirements of doctors,
such a large number of notices
will cause a collapse in the
health-care system in Slovakia
withall its consequences.
LOZ has rallied the doctors
around four demands; a halt in
the ministrys plans to trans-
form public hospitals into
joint-stock companies is often
stated as the most urgent. The
other demands are for hospit-
als to follow the Labour Code
with respect to hours of work
and other working conditions,
to increase government fund-
ing for health care, and to
gradually raise the salaries of
health-care employees.
SeeDOCpg4
SELECT FOREX RATES
benchmark as of September 29
CANADA CAD 1.41
CZECHREP. CZK 24.56
RUSSIA RUB43.54
GREAT BRITAIN GBP 0.87
HUNGARY HUF 291.85
JAPAN JPY 104.46
POLAND PLN 4.44
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NEWS
Sorry, Hedviga
The government is set to of-
ficially apologise to Hedviga
Malinov, who was accused
by police and politicians of
lying about analleged as-
sault in2006 but whose case
has never beenconcluded.
pg 2
Ficohails Putin
Slovakia's former prime
minister nowleader of the
opposition Robert Fico
travelled to Moscowto wit-
ness Vladimir Putin's tri-
umphal anointment as fu-
ture Russianpresident.
pg 3
OPINION
Endingthedrama
Political soap operas are
nothing new, but the cur-
rent one over the eurozone
bailout mechanisms is par-
ticularly dangerous be-
cause no one seems to
knowhowit might end.
pg 5
BUSINESSFOCUS
Sharedinterests
Prime Minister Iveta
Radov's recent meeting in
NewYork withPresident
Barack Obama reflected the
two leaders' shared interest
intransparency, says US
Ambassador Theodore
Sedgwick.
pg 6
Strategicneed
AmChamdirector Jake
Slegers talks to The Slovak
Spectator about corporate
advocacy, the need for Slov-
akia to develop a strategy
for education and about
his 17 years inthe country.
pg 7
CULTURE
Thesumof its parts
The manbehind a major
newhistory of European
photography, the first
volume of whichhas been
published inSlovakia, talks
about the project.
pg 12
GermanPresident ChristianWulff made atwo-day official visit toSlovakiainlate September duringwhichhe met
senior officials includingSlovak Prime Mininster IvetaRadiov. Photo: TASR
PM wants earlier bailout vote
A RAY of hope emerged for advocates of the
European bailout schemes after a meeting between
Prime Minister Iveta Radiov and Jozef Kollr,
chairman of the parliamentary caucus of the coali-
tion party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), which has
been a stern opponent of changes to the European
Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) and the establish-
ment of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).
Though SaS was quick to release a statement follow-
ing the September 28 meeting stressing that no
agreement had yet been reached, the partys re-
sponse to Radiovs overture, at least as reported by
local media, was not a definite no this time.
Pressure on the Slovak government has been
mounting: it is expected to secure MPs consent to the
changes by October 17 when the next summit of
European leaders is scheduled to take place in Brussels.
It is out of the question that the Slovak Repub-
lic would block [the other] 16 countries of the
eurozone, Radiov said on September 28 after a
regular cabinet session. It is unacceptable.
The prime minister suggested that there were
several ways to resolve the shortfall in support for
the bailout scheme caused by SaS opposition. Fin-
ance Minister Ivan Miklo said that it was not pos-
sible to change the content of the amendment to the
framework agreement on the bailout mechanisms,
but that internal procedures for approval might still
change, the SITAnewswire reported.
SaS boss Richard Sulk has repeatedly said that
his party will not support changes to the bailout
schemes unless his ruling partners come up with a
solution which would not cost Slovak taxpayers a
single cent. Sulk himself has enjoyed massive me-
dia attention and has been interviewed by several
international media outlets.
The remaining three parties in the ruling coali-
tion Radiovs Slovak Democratic and Christian
Union (SDK), the Christian Democratic Movement
(KDH) and Most-Hd have backed the scheme, but
without the votes of SaS, the government does not
have enough to ratify the changes in parliament
without opposition support. The leader of the
biggest opposition party, Robert Fico of Smer, says
that his party will back the changes only if the rul-
ing parties are themselves united, or if the govern-
ment also agrees to hold early elections.
See EUROpg11
Vol. 17, No. 34 Monday, October 3, 2011 - Sunday, October 9, 2011
On sale now On sale now
FOCUS
of this issue
FOCUS
of this issue
US COMMUNITY
Attempt to
buy law
uncovered
THE LAW on pensions came close to be-
coming a commodity in a corruption
case recently revealed at the Labour Min-
istry. However, a senior official who had
been asked to change the wording of the
law to suit a specific interest group in
return for a stay in a luxury hotel in the
High Tatras and a payment of up to
20,000 refused to comply and instead
alerted the police.
The police have now charged an em-
ployee of the Labour Ministry, another
senior official identified as tefan M. Ac-
cording to Interior Minister Daniel Lipic,
the suspect tried to bribe the female min-
istry official to sneak a provision into an
amendment of the law on pensions then
being drafted so that it would suit a spe-
cific group.
SeeMINpg2
BYMICHAELATERENZANI
Spectator staff
BYJANALIPTKOV
Spectator staff
BYBEATABALOGOV
Spectator staff
hk}ly{pzltlu{
I]ZJH8dbbjc^in
^cHadkV`^V
hZZeV\Zh+"&%
Harabin appeals to Strasbourg
THE PRESIDENT of Slovakias
Supreme Court, tefanHara-
bin, has appealed to the
EuropeanCourt of Human
Rights (ECHR) inStrasbourg
against disciplinary action
takenagainst himby the
Constitutional Court, the
TASRnewswire reported.
Imonly demanding
justice inrelationto political
bullying of whicheventhe
initiators of the [commun-
ist-era] political trials inthe
1950s would be ashamed,
Harabinsaid, as quoted by
TASR. Harabinhas inter-
preted his penalty as pun-
ishment for what he called
his legal opinion, and said
that the penalty infringes
his freedomof speechand
represents scornfor a law-
based state.
The Supreme Court pres-
ident had his pay cut by 70
percent for a period of one
year as of August 30, 2011 by
the Constitutional Court for
repeatedly preventing Fin-
ance Ministry inspectors
fromcarrying out a financial
audit at the Supreme Court.
Harabinsaid that his
case was judged by people
who had already said that
they were biased against
himinother cases. He also
asserted that inthe past the
ECHRhad accepted his ar-
guments and ruled that his
rights to freedomof speech
were violated, the SITA
newswire reported.
Some politicians who
have not read the verdict of
the ECHRare deliberately
remaining silent and are
lying, Harabinsaid, as
quoted by SITA.
Ruling over public ballots postponed
THE SLOVAKpublic will not
learnthe verdict of the Con-
stitutional Court onthe
validity of a parliamentary
rule change to alter formerly
secret votes to publicly re-
corded votes until Wednes-
day, October 5, at the earli-
est. The court has still to de-
cide whether MPs passed the
rule change inaccordance
withconstitution, the SITA
newswire reported.
The amendment to the
parliamentary lawallowing
a publicly recorded vote to
select the general prosec-
utor and other public offi-
cials was passed by deputies
at the beginning of April.
One of the reasons for the
amendment was to prevent
a repetitionof a situation
that occurred last year when
at least six coalitiondepu-
ties voted anonymously for
the oppositioncandidate,
incumbent general prosec-
utor Dobroslav Trnka, who
missed out onreselectionby
only one vote. Trnkas tem-
porary replacement and
former deputy, acting gen-
eral prosecutor Ladislav
Tich, and 35 opposition
MPs addressed a complaint
about the amendment to the
Constitutional Court at the
end of May. Trnkas per-
manent replacement, Jozef
ent, was ultimately se-
lected via a secret ballot, but
President IvanGaparovi
has so far defied the wishes
of parliament and has re-
fused to appoint him.
It was a purpose-driven
amendment whichavoided
constitutional principles,
oppositionSmer MP Rbert
Madej said, as quoted by the
Sme daily, during a Constitu-
tional Court proceeding that
took place onSeptember 28.
He added that the ruling coali-
tionpassed the measure just
to control the vote and get its
owncandidate selected.
JnDrgonec, who defen-
ded parliament, said that the
amendment was passed to
allowthe public to observe
the decisions made by their
representatives, including
votes to select the general
prosecutor.
MP ejected fromChinese celebration
EMPLOYEES fromthe Office
for Protectionof Public Offi-
cials forcibly ejected anMP
fromthe Civic Conservative
Party, Ondrej Dostl, from
the Brik Hotel during a re-
ceptionto mark the 62nd an-
niversary of the establish-
ment of the Peoples Repub-
lic of China. Dostl was re-
moved after he tried to hand
over a letter to the Chinese
Ambassador to Slovakia, Gu
Ziping, calling for the release
of Chinese lawyer Gao
Zhisheng and other political
prisoners held inChina, the
TASRnewswire reported.
Dostl also attempted to
give the Chinese ambassador
a book by Zhisheng entitled
AChina More Just, written
in2007. However, after find-
ing out that the book was
writtenby a personjailed by
the Chinese authorities who
had repeatedly criticised the
Chinese communist regime
for alleged humanrights ab-
uses, Ambassador Ziping re-
fused to accept the gift. Sub-
sequently, Dostl was forced
to leave the hotel.
The Chinese Embassy
later issued a statement de-
scribing Dostls actions as
unfriendly and roughto-
wards China and accusing
himof disturbing the recep-
tion. It said his act had seri-
ously harmed the friendship
betweenChina and Slovakia
and interfered inthe in-
ternal affairs of China, which
the Chinese side definitely
cannot accept.
CompiledbySpectator staff
State agrees to apologise
to Hedviga Malinov
SLOVAKIA will officially apo-
logise toHedviga Malinov, an
ethnic-Hungarian Slovak cit-
izen who five years ago repor-
ted to the police that she had
been assaulted on her way to
an exam at her university in
Nitra. She suggested that the
attack might have happened
because she was heard speak-
ingHungarian.
The case of Malinov, who
has since married and is now
called kov, has become no-
torious and even contributed
to a deterioration in relations
with Slovakias southern
neighbour Hungary.
Ministers agreed on
September 28 to offer an apo-
logy to Malinov, who had
taken her case to the
European Court for Human
Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg,
the Sme daily reported the
same day. Malinov-kov
sued the Slovak Republic for
what she called errors during
the investigation that failed
to guarantee her a fair trial,
Smereported.
The court in Strasbourg,
before starting the formal pro-
cess, addressed the involved
parties about the option of a
settlement, which they even-
tually agreed to. A document
intendedfor the court has now
been signed by Malinovs
lawyer, Roman Kvasnica, and
Justice Minister Lucia
itansk, accordingtoSme.
The state refrained from
commenting on the agree-
ment, which should eventu-
ally result in Malinov, who
turned to the ECHR on
November 22, 2007, withdraw-
ing her case and dropping her
claims for financial compens-
ation, Sme wrote.
This is no sweeping vic-
tory, but certainly an import-
ant step towards it, Kvasnica
told the Hungarian-language
daily j Sz on September 28.
I cansee inthis gesture anef-
fort by those decent people sit-
ting in the cabinet to distance
themselves from the practices
of their predecessors and I
greatlyappreciate this.
Kvasnica also said, as
quoted by Sme, that he would
be satisfied only once the
criminal prosecution against
Malinov had been cancelled
and the General Prosecutors
Office had undergone a
massive clean-up.
The deputy prime minis-
ter for human rights and na-
tional minorities, Rudolf
Chmel, had already apologised
to Malinov last December.
Chmel stated that in the
case of Malinov the right to
a just process had been
breached by politicians
premature intervention in
the investigation, and that
this had negatively affected
her reputation.
The fact that we let her be
literally tortured for over four
years is a big exclamation
mark particularly visible on
HumanRights Day, andthere-
fore Id like to apologise to
Hedviga Malinov-kov for
these grave injuries, Chmel
wrote ina statement issuedon
the occasion of Human Rights
DayonDecember 10.
Thecase
Slovak society has been
divided over what happened
to Malinov-kov in Au-
gust 2006, with the police
claiming that their investiga-
tion into the case involved
over 250 officers and inter-
views with 600 people, and
led them to conclude that an
assault never occurred.
The police findings were
released on September 12,
2006, at a press conference by
then interior minister Robert
Kalik and then prime min-
ister Robert Fico, withKalik
stating it is beyond doubt
that the case didnot happen.
SeeHMpg5
MIN: Official allegedly offered 20,000
Continuedfrompg1
This was in September 2010, when
the amendment was being prepared at
the ministry. The law was recently
passed by parliament during its Septem-
ber 2011 session. The bribe amounted up
to 20,000, Lipic said.
He was trying to manipulate the le-
gislative process in favour of a specific
group, Lipic said.
The official who was offered the bribe
promptly addressed her superiors and
the police anti-corruption office, and co-
operated with the police as their agent to
document the corruptioncase.
BothLipic and Labour Minister Jozef
Mihl paid tribute to the whistle-blow-
ing official for contacting the police des-
pite the lucrative offer she had been
made. Apart from money, she was also
offered a stay in a luxury hotel in the
High Tatras holiday resort, the police
confirmed to the Sme daily.
Buyinglaws
It seems like a certain group had be-
come used to influencing the legislative
process in this way in the past, Mihl
said. And this group, with great arrog-
ance, addressed through a mediator a
highly-positioned official at the Labour
Ministry with an offer to introduce
changes into the lawon pensions and the
second pillar that would suit the busi-
ness interests of this group of people.
According to Mihl, the accused offi-
cial has been working at the ministry for
many years.
Lipic noted that legitimate attempts
by lobbyists to influence the legislative
process are obviously possible, and ac-
ceptable.
But if any such groups want to do
this by way of buying legislation, it will
by no means be accepted, he said.
All the major financial groups active
in Slovakia denied that they had tried to
influence the law on pensions. Penta,
Slvia Capital, and J&T all dismissed the
allegations by saying that they have no
activities in the pension savings sector.
Meanwhile Istrokapitl, whose Potov
Banka subsidiary bought a pension fund
management company from SOB bank
in early 2011, said it had no information
about the case and had not engaged in
the legislative process, Sme reported.
Accusedofficial still employed
at ministry
The senior official who reported the
case and then cooperated with the police
has not made any statements as she is
required to remainsilent about the case.
tefan M., the official accused of at-
tempting to bribe his colleague, is now
being prosecuted, but still works at the
ministry.
The accused officer is still [listed as
an employee] at the Labour Ministry in
the department of social inclusion and
material need aid of the section of social
and family policy, ministry spokesper-
son Slavomra Seleov told The Slovak
Spectator. At the moment, however, he
does not work as a civil servant.
In line with the law, the ministry put
tefan M. outside the active civil service,
particularly due to the fact that his fur-
ther activities would endanger the im-
portant interests of the civil service,
mainly the confidence in lawfulness,
impartiality and objectiveness of actions
and decisions of a public official.
Meanwhile, tefan M. still remains a
ministry employee. Such arrangements
can last up to two years, during which
the employee receives 40 percent of his
or her salary. In the event that there is a
valid ruling which convicts a public of-
ficial of a wilful crime, his or her em-
ployee relationship with the state
automatically expires.
Secondgraft casetohit Labour Ministry
This is the second corruption case af-
fecting the Labour Ministry to have been
revealed within the space of a fewweeks.
Officers from the anti-corruption unit of
the police detained three people in early
September, among them a former ad-
visor to Lucia Nicholsonov, the Labour
Ministry state secretary.
They were accused of soliciting
30-percent kickbacks from recipients of
grants awarded by the Social Imple-
mentation Agency (SIA), a budgetary or-
ganisation of the Labour Ministry that
draws upon EU funds. Overall, grants for
more than 1 million are under investig-
ationand the suspects may have received
kickbacks of as muchas 300,000.
In September 2011 the Labour Min-
istry also reported that it and the police
were investigating three additional cases
of possible corruption within the SIA and
social companies, and added that crim-
inal prosecutions had been initiated for
improper use of EUfunds.
HedvigaMalinov-kov Photo: Tibor Somogyi
2
NEWS
October 3 9, 2011
BYBEATABALOGOV
Spectator staff
Citizenship law returns
to parliament
TWO amendments to
Slovakias already controver-
sial State Citizenship Act
were presented on the same
day one from two members
of parliament and one from
the Interior Ministry, which
later found what it called a
mistake in its text and with-
drew the amendment. But
none of the proposed changes
that will go to parliament in
October soothed political
leaders of the ethnic-Hun-
garian minority living in
Slovakia, who have rejected
anything less than a return to
the status quo that existed
before the citizenship law
was amended by Robert Ficos
government in 2010.
MPs Pavol Hruovsk of
the Christian Democratic
Movement (KDH) and Jozef
Miku of the Slovak Demo-
cratic and Christian Union
(SDK) proposed an amend-
ment that would eliminate
the obligation that all Slovak
citizens who receive citizen-
ship in another country are
automatically stripped of
their Slovak citizenship. The
MPs amendment would al-
low Slovaks who can prove
that they had some form of
official residency in another
country in which they sub-
sequently acquired citizen-
ship to also be able to retain
their Slovak citizenship. The
amendment proposes an ef-
fective date of January 1, 2012
and parliament is expected to
debate the measure during its
October session.
While Hruovsk and
Miku stated there is political
accord within the governing
coalition on their amend-
ment, the Most-Hd party, a
member of the coalition that
speaks for the ethnic-Hun-
garian minority, maintains
that it is not willing to back
any kind of a law that strips
Slovaks of citizenship against
their will.
The solution is to return
to the status quo that existed
before the currently valid
amendment was passed,
Nora Czuczorov, Most-Hds
spokesperson, told The Slovak
Spectator.
Reviewbythe
Constitutional Court
Most-Hd is now awaiting
a ruling by the Constitutional
Court, with Czuczorov stat-
ing that the court is the only
competent body to decide on
the constitutionality of the
State Citizenship Act.
Most-Hd initiated a com-
plaint with the Constitutional
Court in early September that
was signed by 44 MPs, ar-
guing that the law is uncon-
stitutional because it strips
people of citizenship against
their will.
The complaint states
that the act is at odds with
the constitution and inter-
national conventions, said
Most-Hd MP Gbor Gl, as
quoted by the TASR news-
wire.
In addition to all the
members of parliament from
Most-Hd, 12 MPs from the
SDK, independent MP An-
drej urkovsk, and all the
MPs from Freedom and Solid-
arity (SaS) signed the com-
plaint that was submitted to
the Constitutional Court.
Citizenshiprules
bringcontroversy
The controversy over cit-
izenship rules began in 2010
when Prime Minister Viktor
Orbn of Hungary, in almost
his first action after entering
office, successfully amended
Hungarys citizenship law to
allow ethnic Hungarians liv-
ing in other countries, includ-
ing Slovakia, to relatively eas-
ily acquire Hungarian citizen-
ship. Around 10 percent of
Slovakias residents speak
Hungarian as their mother
tongue.
The Slovak government,
then headed by Robert Fico,
reacted to the Hungarian law
by passing an amendment to
its State Citizenship Act spe-
cifying that any Slovak cit-
izen who sought to obtain cit-
izenship in another country
would be required to report
that fact to Slovak authorities
who would then automatic-
ally strip that person of their
Slovak citizenship. Slovak cit-
izens who could show what
was termed a real link to
another country, such as
permanent residence or close
family relations, were later
excluded from losing their
Slovak citizenship if they ac-
quired the citizenship of an-
other country.
Hruovsk and Miku
said their amendment is in-
tended to remedy some of the
negative consequences that
the Fico-initiated amend-
ment, passed by Slovakias
parliament in June 2010, has
had on Slovak citizens, not-
ing that more than 100 Slov-
aks have lost their citizenship
since the law became effect-
ive on July 17, 2010. Of these,
11 lost their Slovak citizen-
ship after receiving Hungari-
an citizenship.
Several Slovaks who chose
to acquire Hungarian citizen-
ship based on that countrys
law have been challenging
the Slovak citizenship law.
One such person is Oliver
Boldoghy, an actor at the
Slovak National Theatre, who
took the Hungarian citizen-
ship oath in mid-September.
As required by the current law
he reported this to Slovak au-
thorities in order to avoid be-
ing fined, but Hospodrske
Noviny daily wrote that Bol-
doghy does not intend to vol-
untarily give up his Slovak
passport and IDcard.
Im sticking with the
constitution, according to
which my citizenship cannot
be taken away from me, he
told the daily, adding that he
believes the Constitutional
Court will be supportive of his
position.
Interior Ministrys proposals
The Interior Ministry also
came with an unexpected
amendment to the State Cit-
izenship Act but withdrew it
from parliament almost im-
mediately on September 23.
The ministrys amend-
ment featured an exception
for Slovak citizens who ac-
quire or had acquired Czech
citizenship. This part was in-
cluded in the amendment due
to a mistake made by employ-
ees of the ministrys Section
of Public Administration,
ubomra Mikloviov of the
ministrys press department
told The Slovak Spectator.
Its unacceptable to grant
another state citizenship
without any formof residence
in the other state, said In-
terior Minister Daniel Lipic,
as quoted by TASR, adding
that the ministrys draft
amendment would violate
this principle.
According to Mikloviov,
Lipic has always followed
this principle, for instance
when dealing with requests
for Slovak citizenship from
those with a Slovak heritage
living in other countries.
The Interior Ministry is
planning to propose another
amendment to the State Cit-
izenship Act, as the govern-
ment pledged to do in its 2010
programme statement, to re-
solve some practical problems
that some individuals have
encountered.
For instance, children
born outside Czechoslovakia
between 1949 and 1969 to a
parent with Czechoslovak cit-
izenship did not receive
Czechoslovak citizenship. It
was only after 1969 that chil-
dren born under these cir-
cumstances were automatic-
ally granted Czechoslovak cit-
izenship and the amendment
under development by the
ministry should make it easi-
er for those children born be-
fore 1969 to now acquire Slov-
ak citizenship.
Another situation is when
a Slovak parent received cit-
izenship in another country
by marriage to a foreign na-
tional. Mikloviov said that
although that person was able
to retain his or her Slovak cit-
izenship a child born in such
a marriage would lose his or
her Slovak citizenship if cit-
izenship in another county
was granted.
BYMICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
This maninKomrnowas amongseveral thousandpeople tosignapetitioninSeptember
objectingtothe current citizenshiplegislation. Photo: TASR
Fico hails Putin
in Moscow
WHENRussianPrime Minis-
ter Vladimir Putinan-
nounced that he was going
to runfor his countrys pres-
idency, the leader of the
Slovak opposition, Robert
Fico, was there to hear the
declarationinperson. Ficos
presence at the event inMo-
scowprovoked some strong
reactions not only inSlov-
akia, but also among his fel-
lowEuropeansocialists.
Fico, the leader of the
oppositionSmer party and a
former prime minister, par-
ticipated inthe United Rus-
sia congress, held inMoscow
onSeptember 24, along with
politicians fromUkraine,
Kazakhstan, and China. But
he was the only European
politicianfromthe Progress-
ive Alliance of Socialists and
Democrats, a left-wing
grouping inthe European
Parliament.
I amnot happy about Mr
Ficos participation, said the
groups vice-chair, Hannes
Swoboda, as quoted by the
Sme daily. He added that the
EuropeanSocialists do not
cooperate withUnited Rus-
sia, and criticised the party
for undemocratic practices.
He did not say whether Ficos
participationat the event
could prove problematic for
himinthe future.
Fico did not comment
onhis travel to Moscow, but
he did give a speechat the
congress.
He spoke mainly about
the possibilities of improv-
ing Slovak-Russianrela-
tions inthe commercial
sphere, inorder not to limit
themto imports of rawma-
terials only, Smer spokes-
personErik Tom told
Sme. He regards construct-
ive cooperationbetween
the EuropeanUnionand
Russia as necessary.
Political reasons were
most likely behind Ficos
participationat the con-
gress, according to Smer
MEP Monika Flakov-
Beov, who is a vice-chair
of the EuropeanSocialists
fractioninthe European
Parliament. Neither she
nor her fellowSmer MEP,
Boris Zala, were aware of
Ficos travel inadvance,
Sme wrote.
Putinis one of the
strongest political personal-
ities inRussia and [Fico]
probably wants Smer to
have good relations with
one of the strongest parties
inRussia, Flakov-
Beov told Sme.
The United Russia con-
gress marked anend to the
months of speculationover
who would take the presid-
ential chair the most
powerful positioninRussia
after the 2012 presidential
elections. Medvedev is cur-
rently serving his first term
as president and could, in
theory, have runfor a
second. Now, it seems, he
and Putinwill swap roles.
Putin, who previously
served as Russias president
from2000 to 2008, said he
accepted a proposal from
Medvedev to runfor the
presidential post inMarch
2012, and announced that
Medvedev could succeed
himas prime minister, de-
pending onthe results of
parliamentary elections due
to be held inDecember.
Putin, who remains Russias
most popular politician, is
virtually assured of being
re-elected president, the
Reuters newswire wrote.
Medvedev, who like
Putinis not actually a
member of United Russia,
will lead the partys candid-
ate list inthe December par-
liamentary elections.
Russias presidential
term, currently four years,
will be extended to six years
from2012. The limit of two
consecutive terms means
Putincould serve until 2024,
Reuters noted.
ByMichaela Terenzani
withpress reports
It's time tochange seats. Photo: AP/ TASR
3 October 3 9, 2011
NEWS
Smer leader
witnesses United
Russia congress
anoint Putin as
its presidential
candidate
FNMwill sell Slovak Telekomstocks
THE SLOVAKProperty Fund
(FNM) will announce a public
competitionto appoint an
adviser onthe sale of the
states 49-percent share in
Slovak Telekom(ST). The
package will not be sold to
STs majority shareholder,
Deutsche Telekom, the SITA
newswire reported.
At the moment, the
FNMis preparing details for
the competitionto choose an
adviser onselling the minor-
ity stocks throughanIPO[a
public offer of shares onthe
stock market], the FNMs
Miloslav Homola said, as
quoted by SITA. FNMan-
nounced its decisionto ac-
celerate the sale of the states
shares inST onSeptember
26, after Deutsche Telekom
refused to pay a dividend,
valued at 258 million, to
Slovakia for the third time.
This situationonly con-
firmed the correctness of our
initiative to persuade the
Slovak government that it is
not good to remaina share-
holder inSlovak Telekom, but
that it is more advantageous
to sell its minority share as
soonas possible, said Ho-
mola, as quoted by SITA.
EC probes SPP over cartel claims
THE MAINsupplier of natur-
al gas inSlovakia, Slovensk
Plynrensk Priemysel (SPP)
was subject to anunan-
nounced inspectionby
EuropeanCommission-ap-
pointed investigators on
September 27. They were
looking for documents per-
taining to gas supplies to
Slovakia, the Hospodrske
Noviny daily reported.
Except for Slovakia, the
investigators checked docu-
ments at gas-supply com-
panies in10 other EUmem-
ber states.
This control is focused
onthe supplies of natural gas
incentral and eastern
Europe and is attended by
local offices, explained the
commission, as quoted by
Hospodrske Noviny.
According to the Sme
daily, the real reasonfor the
inspectionwas to find doc-
uments that confirmed a
suspected cartel agreement
signed betweenSPP and
Russias Gazprom, which
was intended to limit com-
petitionfromother compan-
ies onthe gas market, or to
prevent the reverse flowof
gas whichhad helped Slov-
akia during the last gas
crisis, in2009.
Carmakers hiring thousands
THOUGHpredictions for
economic growthineuro-
zone countries are not very
optimistic, automotive com-
panies seemto be having no
problems offering jobs to
newemployees, the Sme
daily reported.
At the end of September
ilina-based Kia Motors Slov-
akia started hiring 1,000 new
employees who will contrib-
ute to productionof its new
Kia Venga model.
Newjobs will be created
inproductionespecially, and
will be suitable for candidates
witha technical education
and work experience, said
Kia spokespersonDuan
Dvok, as quoted by the TASR
newswire. He added that the
recruitment process would
last until the end of 2011. Kia
also plans to launchproduc-
tionof another newmodel,
thanks to whichit will be able
to start three shifts per day
fromthe first quarter of 2012.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen
inBratislava announced that
it will hire 1,500 newpeople to
work onproductionof its New
Small Family range of cars.
However, analyst for
UniCredit Bank Dvid
Derenk warned that the eco-
nomists foresee a worsening
of the wider economic situ-
ationand said it is possible
that the automotive industry
will face several problems.
Businessmen praise euro
FOURout of five businessmen
inSlovakia believe that the
move to the euro was a good
step. This was the result of a
survey of 130 businessmenby
the Business Alliance of Slov-
akia, the head of the alliance,
Rbert Kiina, announced.
Slovakia marked 1000 days
withthe euro onSeptember 28.
Businessmenregard the
process of transferring to the
euro to have beensmoothand
effective, said Kiina, adding
that concerns that the
changeover would be abused to
increase prices excessively
were not borne out, because
inflationincreased by 1.6 per-
cent in2009 and by only 1 per-
cent in2010.
Up to 81 percent of re-
spondents considered the
single currency positive since
it brought greater currency
stability, lower transaction
expenses, and easier cross-
border trade. Only 10 percent
of respondents said that they
disagreed withthe euro as
Slovakias currency, withmost
of themciting the current un-
certainsituationinthe wider
eurozone.
CompiledbySpectator staff
frompress reports
NBS cuts GDP forecast
SLOVAKIA is not an isolated
island. So when the econom-
ies of its most important trad-
ing partners slow, it can have
a significant impact on the
countrys own economic con-
dition. In response to the pos-
sibility that a new recession
could spread across the world,
the National Bank of Slovakia
has lowered its prognoses for
the countrys economic
growth. But even after this
downward revision the cent-
ral bank remains among the
most optimistic forecasters:
its 3.4-percent figure for GDP
growth in 2011 compares to
most bank analysts' predic-
tions of around 2.9 percent.
But economists concede that
making prognoses while the
future of the eurozone re-
mains so uncertain is much
like telling fortunes by using a
crystal ball.
The prediction [of eco-
nomic growth] was decreased
due to a drop in foreign de-
mand and household
consumption, Jozef Makch,
the governor of the National
Bank of Slovakia (NBS), said on
September 27, as quoted by the
Trendeconomic weekly.
The economy of Slovakia is
quite dependent on exports
and uncertainty in financial
markets and worsening eco-
nomic performance among
Slovakias biggest trading
partners can significantly im-
pact growth here. Domestic
demand has been dampened
by cutbacks in government
spending to reduce the budget
deficit, by higher taxes and by
risingenergyprices.
After jacking up its pro-
gnoses earlier in the year, the
NBS has now lowered its es-
timate of GDP growth for 2011
from 3.6 percent to 3.4 per-
cent, as well as dramatically
slashing its estimate for
growth in 2012 from 4.7 per-
cent to 3.8 percent, based on
its perceptionof the likelihood
of a global economic slow-
down, the SITA newswire
wrote.
By reducing its predic-
tions the central bank joined
other government institu-
tions as well as bank analysts
who had already cut their
growth estimates. In late Au-
gust the Finance Ministry re-
duced its growth estimate to
3.3 percent for 2011 and to 3.4
percent for 2012.
Most banks are now es-
timating economic growth at
2.9 percent for 2011 in contrast
to their estimates of 3.6 per-
cent in July. SITA wrote that
the banks estimates for 2012
have beencut from4.3 percent
to 2.9 percent.
The negative develop-
ments in financial markets
and the drop in [economic]
sentiment inEurope as well as
inSlovakia over the last weeks
led us to revise our predictions
down, Mria Valachyov,
senior analyst at Slovensk
Sporitea, told The Slovak
Spectator. We expect that re-
vival and growth in the euro-
zone, especiallyGermany, will
continue, but at a pace slower
than we expected at the be-
ginningof the summer.
Slovensk Sporitea ex-
pects growth in the Slovak
economy of about 2 percent
next year and believes the
condition of the German eco-
nomy will have the biggest in-
fluence.
See ESI pg11
Slovakia's central bank cut its GDP-growthforecast. Photo: Sme
DOC: Ministers deny privatisation plan
Continuedfrompg1
Health Minister Ivan Uhliarik re-
sponded by accusing the medical trade
unions of taking patients as hostages
while nonetheless assuring patients that
they need not worry about being left
without proper healthcare.
This is their [the doctors] right but I
do not agree with this, Uhliarik stated,
as quoted by the TASRnewswire.
Ministrys spokesperson Katarna
Zollerov told TASR that the ministry re-
spects the legitimate demands of doctors
for more funds for the health-care sector,
but stressed that the ministry must first
make order from the current situation
and look for ways to use the available fin-
ances more effectively, and that only
after that is done can the question of
more money be discussed.
Uhliarik is scheduled to meet repres-
entatives of the medical trade unions on
October 5, and will hold earlier discus-
sions with the directors of hospitals on
October 4.
I believe that we will find common
ground so that patients do not need to be
put in danger, Uhliarik said, adding that
the demands of the doctors can be
summed up into one more funds going
into hospitals and into salaries.
But Uhliarik views the demand to
halt the transformation of hospitals into
joint-stock companies as impossible to
agree with because the law requiring it
has already beenadopted by parliament.
While the minister said that a plan
has been prepared to cope with a mass
exodus of doctors from their hospitals in
December he did not share any details
about it onSeptember 29.
We are prepared for the alternative
to secure health care without 2,411 doc-
tors, which is 13 percent of all doctors in
Slovakia and about one-third of all hos-
pital doctors, Uhliarik stated. Media
have reported that one possibility is
combining medical departments or us-
ing other hospitals, and that the min-
istry will be analysing the specialisations
of the doctors who have submitted em-
ployment terminationnotices.
LOZs campaign
LOZ, apparently inspired by Czech
doctors who earlier this year threatened
mass resignations in their country,
began to solicit commitments from doc-
tors on August 25 that they would sign
terminationnotices of their employment
contracts; 3,827 doctors from 51 hospitals
declared their willingness to do so from
among the 6,000 doctors who work in
Slovak hospitals.
The Slovak Medical Chamber and the
Slovak Trade Union of Healthcare and So-
cial Services are supporting LOZs cam-
paign.
Doctors clustered under LOZ ap-
peared to remain resolute in delivering
their notices even after Slovakias cabin-
et adopted documents on September 27
outlining what the cabinet called effect-
ive and prudent operation of hospitals
that are to be transformed into joint-
stock companies. LOZ has stated that it
opposes the ministrys transformation
steps and views it as a route towards
privatisationof the hospitals.
On September 27 the cabinet ap-
proved revised documents for the trans-
formation, including a founding docu-
ment and a sample statute for a joint-
stock company. Prime Minister Iveta
Radiov stated after the cabinet meet-
ing that changing the legal status of the
hospitals has nothing in common with
privatisation.
The transformation does not create,
anticipate or enable privatisation,
Radiov stated, as quoted by the SITA
newswire, emphasising that the sample
statute clearly provides that a joint-stock
hospital will have 100-percent state
ownership.
The original draft statute governing
medical facilities operating as joint-stock
companies specified that state owner-
ship must not fall below 51 percent but
the final document adopted by the cabin-
et specifies that the 100-percent state
ownership of the joint-stock hospital can
be changed only through an increase of
its share capital and only with the expli-
cit agreement of the cabinet.
According to Radiov and Uhliarik,
transforming the hospitals into joint-
stock companies will stop waste and in-
effective use of public funds.
Endless indebtedness is the road to
perdition and this is also the case with
hospitals, Uhliarik stated, as quoted by
SITA. The condition of some state hos-
pitals is bad. This is because of debt and
ineffective financial management. And
we want to change this.
The response of doctors to the
changes adopted by the cabinet was less
than positive, with Kollr saying the
changes were not enough. We are wait-
ing not for cosmetic adjustments but for
a halt in the transformation of the
hospitals, Kollr told the public-service
televisionbroadcaster STV.
Richard Rai, the previous health
minister and now mayor of Koice, told
the broadcaster that the changes ap-
proved by the cabinet would not prevent
a private [financial] group from obtain-
ing complete control over a hospital.
4
BUSINESS / NEWS
October 3 9, 2011
BYJANALIPTKOV
Spectator staff
Central bank joins
other analysts in
slashing
estimates
ierny Peter
THE RULES of the game are
simple: The dealer deals
thirty-three cards sixteen
pairs and one with no match
to two or more players. The
players discard any pairs
they have, and take turns of-
fering their hand to the per-
son next to them. The neigh-
bour selects one card and if it
forms a pair with one of his
original cards, he discards
the pair. The game goes on
until all players have no
cards, apart from one who is
left with the unmatchable
card the Black Peter.
ierny Peter is not only
one of the most popular tra-
ditional childrens games, ri-
valled perhaps only by Ludo,
it is also one of the most
widely used metaphors
there are innumerable situ-
ations when you dont want
to be the last one holding
the Black Peter.
And currently, the coun-
try seems to be playing two
simultaneous games, both
with enormous stakes. The
first is international the
Slovak government decided to
wait before making any de-
cision on the euro-buffer until
all other countries of the
eurozone had decided. Its ini-
tial hopes that someone else
would sink the plan before we
do are vanishing, so the di-
vided coalition will have to
reach some sort of a conclu-
sion. It is certain that we will
make the last move. The ques-
tion now is when exactly (the
ruling right hasnt been able
to agree even on that), and
whether the day will be re-
membered by global markets
and European historians as
being dark, dark black.
The other game is being
played in the local political
arena. SaS boss Richard Sulk
has gained international
fame for opposing the
European rescue mechanisms
and has not yet indicated any
inclination to support the
buffer. Can he still change his
mind? Yes. And some mem-
bers of his party are starting
to indicate compromise is
possible. But Sulks opposi-
tion has so far been so fierce
that finding a decent exit
strategy could prove almost
impossible. Besides, he seems
to hold a real, deep conviction
that he is right and everyone
else is wrong.
The opposition Smer party
supports the project, but has
vowed not to vote in favour if
the coalition doesnt give its
unanimous support. In the
end, maybe they will back the
proposal regardless of what
SaS does, but imagining the
chaos the coalition would find
itself in after a failed vote
must be a huge temptation.
Radiov and the SDK
have a dilemma of their own
tying the buffer to a vote of
confidence could convince
SaS, but it could also bring
downthe government.
In any case, someone will
either have to change a prin-
cipled stance, or bear respons-
ibility for a possible complete
meltdownof the current polit-
ical order.
These are the possible res-
ults of this particular game of
ierny Peter. A game the
world also knows as Old
Maid, or Donkey.
Ending the drama
THERE are relatively non-dis-
ruptive political soap operas
that progress according to
well-worn scripts and have a
specific target audience. The
good guys can be easily dis-
tinguished from the bad guys
and even if there is a cliff-
hanger ending, it is resolved
in such a way that the target
voters reconfirm their sup-
port for the party which direc-
ted the drama. There are times
when several soap operas are
broadcast simultaneously on
the political screen and where
the overall outcome can be
muchless predictable.
Then there is the danger-
ous soap opera, where even
the script writers do not know
how it will end but still
know very well what emotive
responses they want to gen-
erate among the audience.
Whenever they detect an up-
tick in the approval rating,
they twist the plot some
more, even if this leads to a
deadlock in which the
storyline risks turning into an
endless series of cliffhangers.
Some observers have ad-
vanced the idea that the
leaders of Freedom and Solid-
arity (SaS) are treating the
bailout issue as a campaign
tactic that might permit
their still-new party to at-
tract voters who have
hitherto backed other
parties, and who would be
completely inaccessible via
other issues.
The debate, as offered to
the public, has long since de-
parted from the merits of its
economic arguments. Elabor-
ate arguments rarely work
well in political beauty pa-
geants.
Slovaks who now believe
that all SaS is doing is guard-
ing their purses so that not a
single cent rolls into the insa-
tiable stomachs of foreign
neer-do-wells do not care
much about the actual ending
for Slovakia. But the authors
and actors of the bailout saga
should know.
There is one person who
has been conspicuous by his
absence from the losing side
of this game: Smer boss Robert
Fico, who has been trying to
use the deadlock for his bene-
fit fromthe very beginning.
He refused to line up his
Smer deputies in support of
the proposed changes to the
European Financial Stability
Fund, even though the
European colleagues with
whom he claims to have an
ideological connection have
been right behind the
scheme. To be exact, Fico
made his support for the
scheme conditional on the
unity of the ruling coalition
led by Prime Minister Iveta
Radiov (which would
thereby make his own sup-
port irrelevant) or the ap-
proval of a law permitting
early elections.
Fico has been confident
that this attitude would not
harm the 40-plus-percent
approval rating that he has
enjoyed since last year. So
confident, in fact, that he
had no qualms about making
a detour from the bailout dis-
course to show up at a con-
gress of Russias ruling party
in Moscow on September 24,
along with politicians from
Ukraine, Kazakhstan and
China an indication, per-
haps, of Ficos view of
Slovakias place inthe world.
In fact, SaS parliament-
ary caucus leader Jozef Kollr
said on September 25 that if
the three ruling coalition
parties meaning the SDK,
KDH and Most-Hd and
Smer consider the bailout
schemes such a crucial issue
they should approve them
together, suggesting that
nobody will consider it a vi-
olation of the ruling coalition
agreement. Yet the state-
ment comes at a time when
any mention of uniting with
Smer hits a raw nerve in the
ruling coalition.
On September 22 Richard
Sulk wrote on his blog that
even without the votes of the
SNS, SaS, and the OKS and Or-
dinary People factions, par-
liament could still secure 115
votes in favour of the bailout
mechanism, a comfortable
constitutional majority, and
that a responsible politician
like Ivan Miklo, the finance
minister, should start doing
his best to secure it. But
Miklo is not doing that, Sulk
wrote, and instead he has
proposed linking the bailout
vote to a confidence vote, in
which case the EFSF and ESM
are sure not to be passed.
That is why I am asking
Ivan Miklo whether he is
not after something other
than the bailout schemes,
Sulk wrote.
Miklo and his SDK
party last year took responsib-
ility for managing the coun-
try along with Sulk and his
party, and not with Smer,
which gave voters a pretty
good indication of their prin-
ciples and their preferences
for political partners. So it
now seems rather strange for
SaS to suggest that its ruling
partners should rely on Fico
and company.
Meanwhile, this particu-
lar soap opera has attracted a
considerable international
audience. Lets hope, for the
sake of Slovakias reputation,
that all those involved in the
production have at least a
vague idea of how it ends
with the good of the country
and its international stand-
ing, rather than the popular-
ity of a single party, inmind.
5 October 3 9, 2011
OPINION/ NEWS
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
In Slovakia we've got freedomof speech and
foreign diplomats should be aware of that too.
Interior Minister Daniel Lipic comments on an incident in which a Slovak MP who
raised human rights issues was ejected froma reception held by the Chinese Embassy
SLOVAK WORD
OF THE WEEK
EDITORIAL
BYBEATABALOGOV
Spectator staff
BYLUK FILA
Special to the Spectator
HM: Four years and no charges laid
Continuedfrompg2
He presented several pieces of al-
leged evidence, including DNA samples,
to support his assertion.
Malinov was then charged in May
2007 with perjury and making false
claims. However, the charges have never
been laid before a court and after more
than four years the case remains pending
with the General Prosecutors Office.
Kvasnica said on August 24, 2011, that
he thought that nobody would ever prop-
erly investigate who attacked his client.
The state of the affair clearly shows
that since 2006, when the attack on Hed-
viga Malinov happened, the Slovak
state bodies have absolutely failed, he
said, as quoted by the TASRnewswire.
Kvasnica recently filed an action
against several prosecutors, including
former general prosecutor Dobroslav
Trnka and his subordinates, claiming
that they have been biased in their hand-
ling of the Malinov case. He stated that
there are close ties among the prosec-
utors that jeopardise the prosecution of
those responsible. He further claimed
that Trnka is not independent of political
influence, the Sme daily reported.
Interior Minister Daniel Lipic also
recently conceded that it is unlikely that
the public will learn the truth about
what happened to Malinov.
The problem is that from the begin-
ning it was politicised and then it gets
hard to look for the truth, especially after
some time has passed, Lipic said, as
quoted by TASR, adding that it is up to the
Office of the General Prosecutor to now
close the case, as it has promised to do
several times.
j Szo reported that Interior Minister
Daniel Lipic was the only cabinet minis-
ter not to vote for the settlement. Lipic
did not deny the report, but expressed
some irritation that cabinet proceedings
had beenleaked.
I find it absurd that five minutes
after a closed cabinet sessionwhere there
are 15 cabinet members present every-
body knows what the material is about
and how [the ministers] voted, Lipic
said, as quoted by the SITAnewswire.
He stressed that he believed the
Malinov case should be closed immedi-
ately, so that the mistakes made by the
state could be put right at least partially.
Whether someone is a suspect or a
victim of a crime, whether they are
telling the truth or lies, everybody has
the right to see their case closed in a
reasonable time and not to be made the
subject of political or other games, the
minister noted, as quoted by SITA. He
added that it is unacceptable that the
General Prosecutors Office has been
dealing with the case for five years and
said that the former leadership of the of-
fice is to blame.
Michaela Terenzani contributed
to this report
SaS MPs lineduptoexpress their unitedoppositiontothe eurozone bailout schemes. Photo: TASR
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IvetaRadiovis picturedwithUS President Barack Obama,
his wife Michelle, andSlovak UNAmbassador Milo Koterec.
Photo: TASR/Official WhiteHousePhotobyLawrenceJackson
PMRadiov in NewYork City
PRIME Minister Iveta Radiov travelled to the United
States inmid September for a week of official activities,
including personal meetings withUS President Barack
Obama and UNSecretary-General BanKi-moon,
participationinthe OpenGovernment Forum, anaddress
to the UNGeneral Assembly and a lecture at NewYork
University.
Radiov and Obama met onSeptember 20, prior to the
forumheld by the global OpenGovernment Partnership,
and agreed that transparency must be a key principle of
governments.
Inher address to the 66thGeneral Assembly of the UNon
September 24 Radiov stated: We, the leaders inthe
United Nations, are expected to offer guidance and find
solutions to the mounting challenges facing the
international community today. She also referred to
comments made by BrazilianPresident Dilma Rousseff
who, inher opening speech, said that courage and
sincerity are the mainattributes that political leaders
must demonstrate inthe coming years.
CompiledbySpectator staff
US companies or companies with US
investors in Slovakia
AT&TGlobal NetworkServices Slovakia,
www.corp.att.com/emea
Dell, www.dell.sk
Hewlett-PackardSlovakia, www.hp.sk
Honeywell Turbo Technologies, www.honeywell.sk
IBMSlovensko, www.ibm.com/sk/sk
JohnsonControls, TrennTechnology Center,
www.johnsoncontrols.sk
Microsoft Slovakia, www.microsoft.com/sk/sk
U. S. Steel Koice, www.usske.sk
White &Case, www.whitecase.com/bratislava/
Source: TheSlovakSpectator databases
US institutions in Slovakia
US Embassyto Slovakia
Ambassador: Theodore Sedgwick
slovakia.usembassy.gov
AmericanChamber of Commerce (AmCham)
Executive Director: Jake Slegers
www.amcham.sk
USA: General facts
Political system: federal republic
Capital: Washington, DC
Total area: 9,826,675 square kilometres
Population: 313 million
Official languages: English(Hawaiianis also anofficial
language inthe state of Hawaii)
Currency: US dollar
Source: CIAFactbook, www.cia.gov/library,
USEmbassytoSlovakia
'Obama and Radiov
have a shared interest'
SMART and successful Slovak
entrepreneurs would serve
much better as positive role
models for Slovaks than
someone like Bill Gates: so be-
lieves Theodore Sedgwick, the
ambassador of theUnitedStates
of America to Slovakia, adding
that young people need inspira-
tion to be innovative and per-
haps start small businesses,
whichare oftenina better posi-
tion to provide jobs than large
corporations. Ambassador
Sedgwick also thinks it might
be a good idea for government
institutions tohave anoffice for
ethics, and appreciates efforts
to open up the government to
greater publiccontrol.
The Slovak Spectator spoke
to Sedgwick about the recent
meeting between Prime Minis-
ter Iveta Radiov and US Pres-
ident Barack Obama; how 9/11
has changed the lives of Amer-
icans; the situation in the euro-
zone; and also young Slovaks
interest inhiscountry.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS): US
President Barack Obama in-
vited Slovak Prime Minister
Iveta Radiov to attend the
forum of the Open Govern-
ment Partnership. What is
the significance of suchanin-
vitationforSlovakia?
Theodore Sedgwick (TS):
The prime minister visited New
Yorkfirst for theUnitedNations
General Assembly, but she was
very interested in participating
and having Slovakia as a mem-
ber of the Open Government
Partnership. The United States,
under President Obamas lead-
ership, and Brazil are reaching
out to the entire world to en-
courage membership in this or-
ganisation for open govern-
ment and transparency. Iveta
Radiov, since she has had
many initiatives in this area,
was interested in participating.
She has made the commitment
to include civil society in gov-
ernment decisions through the
plenipotentiary for civil society
here. President Obama and
Prime Minister Radiov have a
shared interest in opening up
government processes to civil
society and using the advant-
ages of modern technology to
bring more transparencyto this
process. So definitely, its never
just a picture that leaders get
during such meetings. Presid-
ent Obama was already familiar
with Prime Minister Radiovs
commitment to open govern-
ment before actually meeting
her. There werent many coun-
tries involved; maybe 40 to 46.
At the same time as this official
meeting was happening there
was a separate meeting at
Googles New York headquar-
ters where civil society organ-
isations and members of vari-
ous ministries from all the par-
ticipating countries got togeth-
er and shared best practices in
opengovernment. It wasnt just
a meeting where people said:
open government is great, lets
celebrate it. It was a meeting of
people who made a commit-
ment and they, including Slov-
akia, need to submit an action
plan by March for how their
governments are going to im-
plement the agreements. So its
very significant and very good
for all thosewhoparticipate.
TSS: During the meeting,
President Obama said he ap-
preciated the steps taken by
Radiovs cabinet in bring-
ing greater transparency to
government. Which of these
steps was most appreciated
and where do you see room
for improvement in the area
of transparency?
TS: The government has
made very positive steps in this
direction, first of all in making
contracts and tenders public
onlinesothat thewholeprocess
of government procurement
becomes more transparent. At
the same time, there have been
many concerns about the judi-
ciaryandthe fact that it has had
a very odd process of decisions,
for example. Its a big step for-
ward that now, pursuant to
some legislation, verdicts for
examplearetobemadepublic.
In the judicial process in
particular, the more transpar-
ency there is, the more confid-
ence society has in the system.
Yet it is one thing to enact these
pieces of legislation and anoth-
er important thing to make
sure that the implementation
of legislation is carried out
properly; to see how judges are
chosen, while making sure that
all these verdicts are available
online. Even technically, its a
verydifficult process.
I was struck recently when
we had an interesting visit by
the head of the [US] Govern-
ment Office of Ethics: we have
such an office in the White
House and we have a similar of-
fice at each of our ministries in
the US. I am not arguing that
our system is the best in the
world, but we make an effort in
that area. When the represent-
ative came there was no coun-
terpart in the Slovak govern-
ment. And when people ask
what else could be done, maybe
there might be a Slovak office
for ethics at government insti-
tutions that would make sure
that these kinds of measures
are carriedout.
TSS: Ten years have passed
since 9/11, the worst attack
on the US since the end of
WWII. How has the US
changedover the past decade
in terms of awareness of the
terrorist threat?
TS: It was a tremendous
psychological blowto the coun-
try. We had not been attacked
as a country since Pearl Harbor
in 1941. We Americans are so
used to our freedom and we
dont like any restrictions on
that. Now we have to balance
our desire for freedom against
our desire for security. Our way
of life has really changed, prob-
ably permanently, so that now
we have to incorporate into our
daily lives precautions about
security. Of course, sometimes
people become more concerned
about security, and sometimes
they simply say Were now
paying a bigger price for our se-
curity by restricting our civil
rights. Then it shifts back in
the other direction. So there is a
debate in our country about go-
ing back and forth. Some people
want more restrictions and
some think there are too many
restrictions. But I think that
most of our citizens now, after
this attack, agree with most of
the changes that have
happened and I think the US
and Slovakia will both together
address many of these chal-
lenges.
This has been quite a posit-
ive week for US-Slovak rela-
tions, and yesterday [Septem-
ber 26] we had four US govern-
ment agencies meeting with
ten Slovak government agen-
cies to address the issue of nuc-
lear smuggling, which is a ter-
rorist activity. The American
officials said they have worked
around the region with 22 dif-
ferent countries, and that their
work with the Slovaks was
among the most successful re-
lationships interms of the level
of expertise and cooperation.
All this will hopefully result in
an agreement between our gov-
ernments to address this issue.
Another example of the con-
nection in this area is Major-
General Martin Umbarger from
the Indiana National Guard,
who has been made an honor-
ary citizenof Bratislava, while I
would also like to list the very
successful mission by Slovaks
in Afghanistan, which is also
directedagainst terrorism.
TSS: Human trafficking re-
mains a serious issue, since
over 10millionpeople fall vic-
tim to this phenomenon an-
nually worldwide. According
to reports, Slovakia has
achieved progress in combat-
ing human trafficking, ad-
vancing from the second
grade to the top grade in the
USAs three-grade scale. What
factors have helped Slovakia
to progress and what areas
remainproblematic?
TS: Slovakia should be very
proud of its progress made in
combating people trafficking.
Our governments State De-
partment issues a report every
year. There are only three coun-
tries inthe world that rose from
tier two to tier one and Slovakia
was one of them. Of the factors,
I think training of judges and
prosecutors, as well as coopera-
tion between police, judges,
prosecutors and all law-en-
forcement agencies have im-
proved. In addition to that,
Slovakia does an extremely
good job in taking care of the
victims of trafficking.
SeeTSpg8
BYBEATABALOGOV
Spectator staff
US Ambassador Theodore Sedgwick Photo: Courtesyof USEmbassy
6 October 3 9, 2011
ENERGY
Next issue:
BUSINESS FOCUS
US COMMUNITY
Honeywell starts factory
construction in Preov
US cultural effort focuses
on less popular art forms
Johns Manville expands in Trnava
JOHNS Manville, a US-based
manufacturer of glass fibre
products, announced plans in
mid July to expand fibre pro-
ductioncapacities at its facil-
ity inTrnava inwesternSlov-
akia. Johns Manville (JM) first
invested inEurope in2004
and its announcement of the
productionexpansionplanin
Slovakia shows its commit-
ment to the Europeancom-
posites business, the com-
pany wrote onits website.
We feel confident that
this major investment will
continue to support our cus-
tomers' plans for growthand
underscores JMs commit-
ment to growing the compos-
ites industry, stated Enno
Henze, vice president and
general manager for Engin-
eered Products Europe/Asia.
Additionally, it highlights
our drive to enhance custom-
er relationships, product in-
novationand service
excellence.
The company added that
it believes that trends inus-
ing lightweight materials to
improve fuel efficiency will
further support growthin
the composites field and re-
quire investments inboth
thermoplastic and ther-
mosetting materials.
Expansionof the furnace
at the Trnava facility, sched-
uled to start up inthe fourth
quarter of 2012, will add pro-
ductionflexibility to the
companys product lines and
expand productioncapabil-
ity for certainproducts by as
muchas 40 percent.
Johns Manville, owned
by Berkshire Hathaway since
2001, manufactures products
suchas building and mech-
anical insulation, roofing
materials and insulation,
and other speciality materi-
als for commercial, industri-
al and residential uses.
CompiledbySpectator staff
Honeywell starts factory construction
HONEYWELL, a US-based
company, has choseneast-
ernSlovakia for a newfact-
ory . It started construction
work onthe facility inearly
August. The plant will man-
ufacture turbochargers for
passenger cars and trucks on
a five-hectare plot inthe IPZ
Preov-Zborsk industrial
park. Honeywell will invest
38.3 millionand employ
nearly 450 people inthe
plants first phase, the SITA
newswire wrote.
Honeywell chose east-
ernSlovakia for several
reasons, according to SITA,
including several kinds of
investment stimuli. The
Slovak government
provided investment in-
centives totalling 19.155
million, brokendowninto
11.5 millionfor purchase of
long-termtangible and in-
tangible assets, 7 million
towards creationof new
work positions and a tax
holiday of almost 600,000.
A400-metre-long road giv-
ing access to the plant will
also be built.
Preov Mayor Pavol Hag-
yari said the productionhall
should be finished by the end
of 2011 and productioncould
be launched inthe spring of
2012. The long-termprospect
is to employ 600 people with
anaverage wage between
700 and 800, above the re-
gional average.
This will be production
by the first larger investor in
our industrial park, Hagyari
stated inearly August. We
are glad that the Slovak gov-
ernment supported it with
investment incentives.
Hagyari hopes that the
IPZ Preov-Zborsk industri-
al park will be fully occupied
withintwo years and provide
jobs to between1,200 and
1,500 people inthe region.
Honeywell is a technolo-
gical and industrial con-
glomerate based inNewJer-
sey. It supplies products and
services related to aviation,
control technologies for
buildings, houses and indus-
tries, automotive parts, tur-
bochargers and speciality in-
dustrial materials.
Needed: a long-term
strategy for education
THE DEVELOPMENT of a long-
term strategy for enhancing
Slovakias competitiveness and
a strategy for educational re-
form are areas where Jake
Slegers, executive director of
the American Chamber of
Commerce inthe SlovakRepub-
lic, or AmCham, sees a major
role for his organisation.
Slegers, an American who has
lived in Slovakia for most of the
last 17 years, notesthat thereisa
dangerous disconnect whereby
the Slovak education system
produces well-educated gradu-
ates, but not of the type that in-
dustry is seeking. The Slovak
Spectator spoke to Slegers about
the quality of the business en-
vironment, reform of labour le-
gislation, and the pathtakenby
AmChamover thepast decade.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS):
According to the Global Com-
petitiveness Report 2011-2012
published by the World Eco-
nomic Forum, Slovakia has
fallenninerungs downthein-
ternational competitiveness
ladder, to stand at 69th out of
142 countries the worst res-
ult among the Visegrad Four
countries. What do you think
are the most important steps
that the government could
take to improve the countrys
standing?
JakeSlegers(JS): Slovakias
competitiveness is something
that we at AmCham have been
focusing on for quite some
time. One of the things we see
as extremely important in im-
proving Slovakias ranking is a
comprehensive strategy. Sucha
strategy is needed in many
areas, for example education or
attracting foreign direct in-
vestment (FDI). In this respect
we have formed an FDI com-
mittee whose main aim is to
form a strategy for attracting
FDI and therefore affecting
Slovakias competitiveness in
the verylong term. We are look-
ing forward to presenting it to
the Slovak government as a rel-
atively independent organisa-
tion so that it will be adopted
and there will be continuity
through the various govern-
ments that will come to power
in the next 15 to 20 years. The
same might apply to education-
al reform and to long-term em-
ployment issues. Slovakias
educational competitiveness
must be developed and thus
there has to be a considerable
reform within educational in-
stitutions. What we have now
is what we call this dangerous
disconnect where universities
and, basically, the Slovak edu-
cation system are producing
well-educated graduates, but
not the types that industry is
looking for. This is going to get
evenworseover timeif wedont
dosomethingabout it.
TSS: Do US investors make
their decisions based on
rankings?
JS: I think rankings are im-
portant. People look at themfor
a quick study, for very quick in-
formation. We deal with many
potential foreign investors and
some of them have very little
knowledge of Slovakia. They do
consult competitiveness re-
ports [to see] how Slovakia
ranks. The Global Competitive-
ness Report, when it was re-
leased a year ago, caused quite
an earthquake in Slovakia. I
remember we had a public dis-
cussion on how sharply Slov-
akia had fallen. This year the
ranking was evenworse, which
is veryunfortunate.
TSS: What, in your opinion,
are the positive aspects of
the Slovak business envir-
onment that US investors
still appreciate?
JS: Accordingtoasurveywe
conducted among our foreign
direct investors, there was a
very strong feeling among
them that the adoption of the
euro was a very important de-
velopment for the business en-
vironment. This is a positive
point for Slovakia, i.e. that for-
eign investors do not have to
deal with Polish zlotys, Czech
crowns, Bulgarian leva, Hun-
garian forints or Romanian lei.
They knowwhat they are going
into in connection with the
euro when investing here. Ad-
ditionally, there is a feeling of
political stability in recent
times. I remember some time
ago, when looking at the polit-
ical and economic situation in
Hungary, the Czech Republic
and Poland, they were all in
complete turmoil. The Czech
Republic did not even have a
government, while Hungary
was in complete disarray; and
although Slovakia at that time
was not perfect, there was a cer-
tain stability, which is very im-
portant for investors.
SeeJSpg9
BYBEATABALOGOV
Spectator staff
Jake Slegers Photo: JanaLiptkov
7
FOCUS shorts
October 3 9, 2011
BUSINESS FOCUS
Investments estimated at 3.3 billion
THE DAVID-and-Goliath size ratio of Slov-
akia and the USA, two countries which are
also divided by an ocean, does not lower
their appetite for business cooperation.
Earlier this year Slovak Economy Minister
Juraj Mikov went to the United States to
remind businesspeople there of the in-
vestment opportunities in Slovakia, a
countrywhichhasalreadybecomehometo
several successful USinvestment projects.
Economic cooperation between our
countries has a particular importance for
Slovakia, Dagmar Hlavat, the head of
the communications department at the
Economy Ministry, told The Slovak Spec-
tator. The presence of Slovak companies
in the US market is not very big, but in
spite of this there are several companies
which are successful [there], for example
theITcompanyEset.
NickParikh, aneconomicofficer at the
US Embassy in Bratislava, also gave a pos-
itive evaluation of the cooperation
betweenthetwocountries.
TheUSandSlovakiahaveenjoyedbroad
and beneficial cooperation in the economic
sphere from areas as varied as the business
environment, trade, and investment,
Parikh told The Slovak Spectator. Some of
the largest andmost advancedcompanies in
Slovakia are US investments. We envision
continuedstrongcooperationinall areas.
There are many US companies operat-
ing in Slovakia. The sectors with the
greatest US participationare steelmaking,
automotive, IT, telecoms and insurance.
There are over 120US companies operating
in Slovakia. Approximately one quarter of
themare large investors. Among the most
successful projects by American investors
in Slovakia are U.S. Steel, IBM, Microsoft,
Dell, Emerson, HP, Accenture, Johnson
Controls, AT&T, Crown Bevcan and ICU
Medical, saidHlavat.
Based on data from the National Bank
of Slovakia, aggregate US investments in
Slovakia exceeded 623 million at the end
of 2009, with no further significant in-
vestment arrivinginthecourseof 2010.
Estimates by the US Embassy with re-
gards to cumulative US investments in
Slovakiaaremuchhigher.
An informal survey by the US Em-
bassy showed US investments in Slovakia
at about 3.3 billion for current and future
commitments, making the US the third
largest source of foreigndirect investment
in Slovakia, Parikh said, explaining that
oftentheseinvestments aremadethrough
subsidiaries based in Europe, so they ap-
pear in official statistics as investments
fromthirdcountries.
According to Parikh, US investors
most frequently mention three positive
factors: first, Slovakias adoption of the
euro as its currency, facilitating trade
through lower transaction costs, higher
pricing transparency, reduced risk of in-
vestment depreciation and greater mon-
etary stability; second, the flat tax of 19
percent for corporate and personal in-
come tax; and third, the motivation and
abilities of Slovakias younger workers. US
companies often praise them for having
good foreign-language and computer
skills. Slovaks also have a reputation for
being technically skilled, particularly in
heavyindustry.
On the other hand, a recently released
World Economic Forum report indicated
that Slovakias competitiveness has
dropped to a historically low 69th posi-
tion, below all the other Visegrad Group
countries, Poland, the CzechRepublic and
Hungary, Parikhpointedout.
We believe this is due to a legacy of
corruptionandlackof transparency, said
Parikh. American companies doing
business inSlovakiahavealsocomplained
about the transparency of regulatory pro-
cesses inseveral industries, anda number
of regulatorybodies are still consideredby
the business community to be less than
fullyindependent.
SeeUSpg9
BYJANALIPTKOV
Spectator staff
Honeywell's factory inPreov may openin2012. Photo: TASR
hk}ly{pzltlu{
SP90636/1
TS: 'Risk is a cultural phenomenon' that can be nurtured
Continuedfrompg6
TSS: A survey conducted by the
German Marshall Fund suggests
that the popularity of President
Obama in Slovakia is fading. While
last year about 76 percent of Slov-
aks supported him as the leader of
the US, this year he would be sup-
ported by 58 percent of respond-
ents here. What, in your opinion,
arethereasons behindthis drop?
TS: I was surprised to see a drop
like this because in my conversations
with people around Slovakia Presid-
ent Obama is very popular. Although
there was a drop, the figure, 58 per-
cent, is still very positive. Not so long
ago, the figure was 18-19 percent and
to go from18 to 58 percent is still very
positive. Its higher than what we
have inthe US itself. I think generally
in Europe, President Obama remains
very popular. Well have to wait till
next year to see if this was just a blip
or it is a trend. Its possible, since this
poll was taken in June, that maybe
the Libyan campaign was unpopular.
Also, maybe the expectations of Pres-
ident Obama were very highand they
thought that Obama would solve all
problems immediately. Obviously,
thats not possible for anybody. Cer-
tainly, his popularity has diminished
here as in the US, maybe because
people looked to the US for economic
leadership and the economic results
have beendisappointing.
But Slovaks generally like Presid-
ent Obama and the reason for his
popularity is that he believes in a
multilateral approach and he be-
lieves it is important to consult with
allies, while he is a very good listener.
In the US, he has tackled some very
sensitive issues, for example the
health-care bill, and so its not sur-
prising that his popularity in respect
of domestic policy would be lower
than his popularity overseas, where
people see that he is really trying to
listento themandworkwiththem.
TSS: US Treasury Secretary Timothy
Geithner has been urging eurozone
leaders to find a lasting solution to
their debt troubles and the bailout
mechanisms. What is your view of
the current situation? What are the
USs concerns inthis area?
TS: The United States on the one
hand firmly believes that this is a
European matter and that Slovaks
and Europeans need to figure out the
solution to it. We do feel that this
problemneeds to be addressed and to
be addressedvery quicklybecause the
biggest economic partnership in the
world is obviously the trade between
the United States and Europe. If
Europe suffers then the United States
suffers as well. We do not want to see
a deterioration of the economic situ-
ation. Secretary Geithner has said
that the crisis in Europe is the most
serious risk confronting the world
economy. He wants to make sure that
the contagion is limited. How this is
done is obviously up to the Europeans
to decide, but he is very concerned
about bank solvency and other issues
that could drag down the European
economy and therefore adversely af-
fect the UnitedStates.
TSS: Slovakia has dropped on the
global competitiveness chart, ac-
cording to the latest Global Com-
petitiveness Index. How do US in-
vestors view the countrys busi-
ness environment and which
areas, in your opinion, are in need
of themost urgent improvement?
TS: Slovakia continues to be very
attractive for US and foreign in-
vestment. We have seen a small
pickup since the global crisis and we
have seen more American compan-
ies taking an interest in Slovakia.
Now we have Honeywell, which has
provided many jobs in eastern Slov-
akia. They have two operations in
Slovakia. Last year we hadthe arrival
of Amazon and Google in Bratislava.
It is amazing to me to see all the big
names inITinthe United States here
inSlovakia: IBM, HP, Dell, Cisco, Mi-
crosoft andAmazon.
Then, if you look at the actual in-
dicators, it did not appear that the
drop [inthe ranking] was a result of a
worse economic environment here
but it is more the result of other
countries surpassing Slovakia in
some categories. Corruption contin-
ues to be a problematic factor and I
think this goes back to the judiciary;
when I talk to businesses it is a ma-
jor concern. No business wants to
come into a country where they do
not feel they are guaranteed to get a
fair trial. Slovakia has been improv-
ing in government bureaucracy, but
obviously more progress could have
been made. Interestingly, Slovakia
rated quite well in institutions, in-
frastructure and basic requirements
such as health, the macro-economic
environment including the flat tax
and flexible Labour Code, and for its
ample labour pool.
I was surprisedthat inthe area of
innovation Slovakia has a very low
score and I think this is more of a
cultural phenomenon. Slovakia
could benefit more from pro-
grammes encouraging entrepren-
eurial spirit and more risk taking. I
think successful economies around
the world are the ones which are
more risk taking and often the jobs
are created by smaller businesses
which start from nothing and grow.
Since my arrival in Slovakia I have
met quite a few very successful en-
trepreneurs and Slovak businesses.
The government often says lets go
and have a trip to Silicon Valley and
that is very worthwhile, since the
place has a lot of business models
that can be applied. But I think it is
also important to recognise these
successful entrepreneurs in Slovakia
and hold them up, showing them as
role models toSlovakcitizens.
It is very important to look up to
successful Slovaks and not to Bill
Gates. Showing that this canbe done
inthis country, that it has beendone
in this country and that there have
been quite a few very smart, very
successful entrepreneurs who built
very successful companies: this
would be beneficial. These people
need to be given more visibility and
encouraged to put themselves in
front of young people, to inspire
them. Young people are often averse
to risk. Anybody would be in their
twenties: its much easier to get a
safe job than to risk everything.
Thats understandable. It needs to
change over time. In successful eco-
nomies around the world risk is a big
factor, and risk is a cultural phe-
nomenon. Weve lost on that edge in
the US too, and we need to recapture
the entrepreneurial spirit that we
had. We need to invest more into
science, technology, and entrepren-
eurship.
TSS: Which areas of Slovakias
economy are interesting for US
investors? Where do you see the
greatest, yet least explored po-
tential?
TS: We are very active in the
steel industry in this country. Then
comes the automotive industry,
since much of the GDP here is cre-
ated by the automotive sector. There
are opportunities for people who
would service that industry. Insur-
ance is an opportunity along with
the health-care sector, as privatisa-
tion is taking place. Telecoms, re-
newable energy and franchising are
possibilities too. Tourism has much
more potential here as well.
TSS: Every year, young Slovaks
take part in the Work and Travel
programme. After the Velvet Re-
volution there was immense in-
terest among young people in
travelling to the United States.
Are young people still interested
ingoingthere?
TS: Our job here at the embassy is
to promote the relationship between
Slovakia and the US and the image of
the US. What I have observed is that
there is nothing more valuable than
sending Slovaks to the US. It doesnt
matter what they do, whether they
wash dishes in a resort. If they get to
go to the US and experience it, there
is no substitute for that. I can talk to
people here as much as I want about
what its like in Montana or how
wonderful the US is, but if we can get
people to go there and experience it,
thats the best benefit. Then they
come back and help to promote the
relationship. I thinkthere is still a big
interest among Slovaks. When I talk
to Slovaks who have been to the US,
they had a very good experience.
Were also very lucky to have Ful-
bright here, which indeed is a great
exchange programme.
TSS: All the US ambassadors to
Slovakia have been very enthusi-
astic travellers. What is your per-
ception of the difference between
Bratislavaandtherest of Slovakia?
TS: Because of the nature of my
work I need to spend substantial time
here in Bratislava. But I think its im-
portant to remember that I am the
ambassador to Slovakia, not Bratis-
lava. I really enjoy the opportunity to
get out. I keep struggling for more of
that, because I dont want to go to
some town and come back in two
hours. I want to get the feeling of
what its like.
Its a small country but I am sure
that even after all the travels I will
have done duringmytermhere, I will
have just scratched the surface. Be-
cause every time I go to some regionI
discover something new and inter-
estingthat Ive never seenbefore.
US Ambassador Theodore Sedgwick Photo: Courtesyof USEmbassy
8
BUSINESS FOCUS
October 3 9, 2011
Steel packaging as a green solution
PACKAGINGmade from
steel is always recyclable
and is easier to transport,
store and manipulate than
other kinds of packaging
materials. So said David J.
Rintoul, president of U.S.
Steel Koice at a conference
called Steel Packaging
GreenSolutions for Central
Europe held inKoice inlate
September. He added that
the production, use and re-
cycling of steel packaging
offers great potential for the
whole Koice regioninbusi-
ness as well as for protection
of the environment.
The aimof the event
was to highlight the use-
fulness of steel packaging
fromthe viewpoint of sus-
tainability and environ-
mental protection.
This was the first confer-
ence of its type incentral
Europe and representatives
of steel producers and cus-
tomers as well as state and
regional governments from
13 EUcountries took part,
JnBaa, spokesmanof U.S.
Steel Koice, told The Slovak
Spectator.
Philip Buisseret, man-
aging director of APEAL, the
Associationof EuropeanPro-
ducers of Steel for Packaging,
said that steel recycling
makes animportant contri-
butionto savings innatural
rawmaterials and reduces
the dependence of European
producers onforeignraw
materials.
The conference message
No canto landfill was
meant not only for the gen-
eral public but also for state
officials who canprepare the
legal and organisational
bases for increasing the per-
centage of steel packaging
that is recycled, said the
company spokesman.
The conference was co-
organised by APEAL and U. S.
Steel Koice. The companies
belonging to APEAL cur-
rently employ more than
200,000 people inEurope and
produce 95 percent of
Europeansteel. Steel is used
primarily for making bever-
age cans and food tins but
canalso be used as recyclable
packaging for the grocery,
pharmaceutical and chemic-
al industries.
CompiledbySpectator staff
frompress reports
US: Slovak roadshow toured four cities
Continuedfrompg7
According to the EC, soph-
isticated EU-level anti-corrup-
tion law is in place, but imple-
mentation and enforcement is
uneven and remains unsatis-
factory, reflecting a lack of
political commitment on the
part of leaders and decision
makers to combat corruption
inall forms.
Parikh added that their
hope is that the Slovak gov-
ernment will continue to in-
crease transparency and good
governance through its reform
programme.
We are pleased to see the
Slovak Republic participating
in international initiatives
such as the Open Government
Partnership, which was offi-
cially launched on September
20inNewYork, saidParikh.
Parikh sees value-added
CIT (computers, information
and telecommunication) ser-
vices, renewable energy, tour-
ism and franchising as the
areas with the best prospects
for cooperation, while Hlavat
sees as-yet unexploited oppor-
tunities for cooperation
between universities and re-
search institutions, especially
in the field of research and de-
velopment, and potential for
the application of knowledge
gained in industry. With re-
spect to the US market, which
is difficult to enter, she per-
ceives the IT sector as having
the best potential for the devel-
opment of mutual cooperation
fromtheviewpoint of Slovakia.
The global economic crisis
slowed American-Slovak trade
and business relations in gen-
eral, even though 2010 brought
somethingof arevival intrade.
In 2009 trade between
Slovakia and the USA de-
creased by almost 40
percent, Hlavat said. US
investments into Slovakia de-
creased significantly too and
the number of US tourists de-
creasedbyalmost 30percent.
Hlavat ascribed these de-
creases to the economic crisis
but also to the weak presenta-
tion of Slovakia in the Amer-
ican market over recent
years, and the insufficient
pitch to investors, tourists
and so on compared to
Slovakiascompetitors.
To change this, Minister
Mikov and Rbert imoni,
the head of the Slovak Invest-
ment and Trade Development
Agency (SARIO), went to the
USA in March. During their
ten-day roadshow they visited
Washington DC, New York,
SanFranciscoandChicago.
The Ministry of Economy
regards the investment road-
show as particularly success-
ful, both with respect to the
long-term outlook which Slov-
akia has inthe US, and withre-
spect to the immediate results
which are being materialised
in the creation of over 2,500
jobs in Slovakia, Mikov said
after his return on March 14, as
quotedbytheTASRnewswire.
The new jobs should be
created by established in-
vestors such as IBM, AT&T, HP
and Johnson Controls, as well
as by those who are now plan-
ningtoarriveinSlovakia.
Mikov stressed that these
announced investments
should come to Slovakia
without any financial support
fromthegovernment.
During his trip to the US,
Mikov and Saeed Amidi, the
president and chief executive
of the company Plug and Play
Tech Center, signed a memor-
andum of understanding ac-
cording to which Slovakia will
get its first business incubator
inSiliconValleyintheUSA.
The ministry suggested
that the creation of this incub-
ator intheUSwill giveachance
to small and medium-sized en-
terprises to succeed in this
segment of business. Coopera-
tion between Slovakia and the
United States in creating the
first Slovak space, or pavilion,
in the centre might come to
fruition in the course of 2011,
saidthedepartment.
The memorandum is a
start-up mechanism for co-
operation in the establish-
ment of the first Slovak pavil-
ion in the Plug and Play Tech-
nical Center in San Francisco,
saidMikov.
Economy Minister Juraj Mikov (right) met potential investors in
the US withthe headof SARIO, Rbert imoni. Photo: TASR
JS: Comprehensive strategy better than short-termism
Continuedfrompg7
Stability is a magnet for foreign
investment. What investors really
dislike is dramatic change: they
come in and there is agreement,
then the situation changes dramat-
ically and it messes up all their
plans. The location of Slovakia is an-
other positive, which is a great
selling point for Slovakia.
TSS: German investors have
already sent out some strong sig-
nals regarding the lack of qualified
labour and suggest that they are
having difficulty finding ad-
equately trained employees. Is
this concern also shared by the US
business community? What are
the most urgent steps that, in
your opinion, the government
shouldtake?
JS: Yes, there are concerns among
US investors and we can hear them.
There are also many facets to this is-
sue: there is qualified labour in Slov-
akia but a lot of it is leaving for oppor-
tunities abroad. Another issue that
should be discussed much more in
public, and where we would like to
contribute with the expertise and ex-
periences of our member companies,
is economic migration, which will
have some pending impact on
Slovakias competitiveness and that
is a really big issue. We plan to make
recommendations to the Slovak gov-
ernment on how Slovakia might deal
withthis issue.
TSS: The current government has
modified the countrys Labour
Code. Changes to this particular le-
gislation were on the wish list of
the business community. What has
been the response to these changes
so far? In what areas could the gov-
ernment of Iveta Radiov have
gone evenfurther?
JS: First of all, labour legislation
has been one of the most consistent
and important topics that we have
dealt with during the existence of the
Chamber of Commerce. From the be-
ginning of my time here, I can re-
member it being one of the first is-
sues we were dealing with. Of course,
we have sometimes been on different
sides, supporting proposed legisla-
tion or opposing proposed legislation
quite dramatically. It is anarea where
weve seen this pendulum swing; ba-
sically it was from right to left, then
back from left to right. I think that
one of the plus points for investment
is a liberal labour policy and certain
stability in this area. [But] if there is a
liberal Labour Code in effect and it
changes dramatically two years later,
that is not a very strong incentive for
foreigninvestors either.
We have an employment and
social affairs committee here at
AmCham that has been very much
involved right from the beginning
in the public discussion and com-
menting of this new Labour Code.
Our members view the new Labour
Code as a mostly positive develop-
ment. There are issues where they
feel the government may have gone
a little bit further, and that still
might be re-opened, but the general
feeling is positive.
TSS: Prime Minister Iveta Radiov
and Economy Minister Juraj
Mikov have set out, within the
Singapore programme, 100 meas-
ures that in five years should, they
say, result in a 25-percent drop in
Slovakias administrative burden.
Howdo youviewthis initiative?
JS: It is always good to develop
some kind of comprehensive strategy
instead of short-term decisions. Our
members have supported the concept
of the Singapore project. We were
asked for our opinion and feedback
on this initiative. And, as men-
tioned, we are supportive of many of
the measures.
As for the problem of red tape,
the results of our SME survey indic-
ated that almost 68 percent of re-
spondents felt that the amount of
money spent on regulations and re-
porting requirements wasnt reas-
onable and that the costs, in terms of
time spent, were too high. In terms
of acquiring building permits, 93
percent of the respondents said this
took far too long. All in all, as indic-
ated by our survey, our members feel
that the administrative burden is far
too high as well, so we would ap-
plaud the efforts of the Slovak gov-
ernment to reduce it.
TSS: Are there any other positive
changes that occurred over the
past year or so that your members
appreciate?
JS: We have very much appreci-
ated the approach of the minister of
justice as well as the chance to be in-
volved in a working group to assist
with drafting the legislation and the
proposed changes to public procure-
ment. We have appreciated her ap-
proach regarding the Act on Bank-
ruptcy as well. We have also appreci-
ated the approach of the minister of
labour and we feel a particular open-
ness and seriousness in the approach
of the Ministry of Finance and the
Ministry of Economy.
TSS: You have been executive dir-
ector of AmCham for the past ten
years. Could you describe for our
readers how the organisation
looked when you joined it and
where it stands today?
JS: I was fortunate to become
director at a time when things were
just starting to really happen. We
experienced a period of significant
growth from 2000 to 2006, even to
2008, largely because of Slovakias
expanding economy, and thus it
really was a good time to enter the
environment but a big challenge as
well. In the late 1990s, AmChamwas
more a social networking organisa-
tion, in that it was strong in social
areas. Over the years, we have trans-
formed it into an advocacy-related
organisation where we try to be a
very strong advocate for our member
companies. While we still work on
the social aspect, almost everything
we do is in some way connected to
our policy andadvocacy agenda.
In terms of policy and advocacy
issues, we have made significant
contributions to various forms of le-
gislation in the past, especially the
Labour Code reform and education
legislation. The opening of our office
in Koice in 2003 was also a kind of
milestone in our development. It
took a lot of work behind the scenes
but I feel that we are really serving
our members in eastern Slovakia
throughthat.
I think the transformation of the
chamber from basically a hundred
members, three employees and lots
of social activities, into a major
voice for business has been a signi-
ficant development, because it also
reflects the development of Slovakia
as a country.
TSS: What is your main vision for
AmChaminthe upcoming years?
JS: What I would like to see in the
future is the development of a long-
term strategy for enhancing
Slovakias competitiveness and a
strategy for educational reform as
well. We are developing those
strategies along with the Slovak gov-
ernment and making suggestions
and recommendations to them in
those areas. I would like to see
AmCham focus on these areas even
more in the future, while continuing
the very open and constructive dia-
logue with various players on the
Slovak political scene, be they party
chairmen, ministers, or the prime
minister. I think we have a lot to offer
inthat way as well.
TSS: Meanwhile, you have been
granted Slovak citizenship. Do you
still retain your outlook as a for-
eigner in Slovakia or, after living
here for almost two decades, do
you see the country through the
eyes of a local?
JS: I travel to the US on a regular
basis, including with our roadshows,
and I meet American businesses. I
certainly think I have retained the
American outlook, but have de-
veloped a deep understanding of the
Slovak business environment. I do
not think I will ever become com-
pletely Slovak, and I will always feel
a bit of an outsider. I got Slovak cit-
izenship partly because of respect for
the country where Ive lived for the
past 17 years. I felt this as certain
sense of duty at a personal level.
Sure, there are a few other advant-
ages, but this country has given me
many opportunities and I want to re-
cognise that as well.
9
BUSINESS FOCUS
October 3 9, 2011
FOCUS short
Cleveland art arrives in its sister city
A PRACTICAL example of
cultural exchange between
the US and Slovakia is an ex-
hibition in the residence of
US Ambassador to Slovakia
Theodore Sedgwick that was
opened on September 27. The
exhibition was born out of
cooperation with three
reputable Cleveland cultural
institutions and the US State
Departments ART in Em-
bassies scheme.
Sedgwick stressed at the
ceremonial opening of the
exhibition, as quoted by the
TASR newswire, the special
importance Cleveland has
had in the history of Slovak-
American ties, since Slovaks
and Czechs started writing
the joint history of independ-
ent Czechoslovakia there in
1915. He also pointed out that,
along with Pittsburgh and
Chicago, the city has one of
the biggest Slovak communit-
ies inthe United States.
Sedgwick added that he
had a personal link to the ex-
hibition, which includes
landscapes as well as por-
traits, as he himself grew up
in Cleveland. The exhibited
works include a portrait of
Jeptha H. Wade I, who was
the ambassadors direct an-
cestor on his mothers side
and an important personal-
ity. It is no coincidence that
Bratislava and Cleveland are
currently partner cities.
CompiledbySpectator staff
US Major General gets citizenship
SLOVAKIAappreciates its
cooperationwiththe USA
inmilitary matters as well
as cooperationbased on
values suchas freedomand
democracy, said Bratislava
Mayor MilanFtnik when
granting honorary citizen-
ship to Major General R.
MartinUmbarger, Com-
mander of the US National
Guard inIndiana on
September 26, the TASR
newswire reported.
Umbarger and the Na-
tional Guard inIndiana have
beencooperating withthe
Slovak Armed Forces since
1994 as part of the United
States Partnership Program.
This cooperationcontrib-
uted significantly to
Slovakia's accessionto NATO
in2004 and to the profes-
sionalisationand modern-
isationof its armed forces.
Umbarger was part of this bi-
lateral cooperationfor over
sevenyears.
Umbarger, referred to by
Ftnik as a manof great vis-
ion, big plans and persist-
ence, said inhis acceptance
speechthat he had received
many awards throughout
his career but that he values
his honorary Bratislava cit-
izenship the most.
The major general is the
first foreigner fromoutside
the EUto receive this honor-
ary citizenship fromBratis-
lava. The last recipient was
MaximilianPammer, the
former Austrianambassador
to Slovakia, in2009.
America offers jazz
and more in Slovakia
NO-ONE could seriously doubt
the extent and influence of US
culture and lifestyle on Slov-
aks and Slovakia: even if one
were to try hard to avoid it, it
would be almost impossible.
The Slovak Spectator therefore
posed several questions to the
US cultural attach in Slov-
akia, Chris Scharf, the first be-
ing: what is the role of
Americas ambassador of cul-
ture inthissituation?
Since I arrived here two
years ago, I have been im-
pressed by the amount of ex-
posure Slovaks have to Amer-
ican culture and media,
Scharf said. I and my team
have tried to identify aspects
of US culture and art not so
widely popular and commer-
cially successful; so we do not
have to do a lot with popular
music or Hollywood films. So
where could our involvement
be useful? I know Slovaks love
classical music, so we try to
bring some classical musi-
cians, and also jazz musicians,
art and photography; we
would also like to encourage
more translations and, later,
stagings of plays by Americ-
an authors. In films, it will
perhaps be off-beat works or
those with a narrower focus.
So that is our philosophy or in-
tention: we direct attention to
areas that do not have massive
audiences, but areimportant,
heexplained.
The embassyworks closely
together with Slovak institu-
tions and organisations as
partners; and also individuals
who are experts in their field.
As for the export of Slovak cul-
ture to the United States,
Scharf said that this is primar-
ily the responsibility of the
Slovak Embassy in Washing-
ton; but he added that the
team from the embassy in
Bratislava can lend a helping
hand by giving tips and mak-
ingcontacts.
Minorities infocus
One of the trademarks of
US policy that is also exported
abroad is the promotion of
minorities and their inclusion
in wider society. In this con-
text, Scharf described one
high-profile project that is
currently under way. Famous
Hollywood composer Hans
Zimmer who won an Oscar
for his soundtrack to The Lion
King, Golden Globes for The
Lion King and Gladiator, and
Grammies for Crimson Tide
and Dark Knight has pro-
duced the music for A Game of
Shadows, a sequel to the latest
SherlockHolmes filmthat will
be coming out at the end of
this year. For the film music,
he engaged Roma musicians
from the Sendrei family from
Kokava nad Rimavicou, in
central Slovakia. Zimmer
came to Slovakia and visited
Roma communities to under-
standhowtheylive andalso to
hear the local musicians. His
daughter is a photographer
and she took photographs
documenting the life in the
Roma communities; this
might appear in connection
with the movies release as a
photo essay. We hope to have
a European premiere of the
movie here, in Bratislava, in-
volving the Roma musicians,
Scharf revealed.
He added that another ini-
tiative, called Teaching Toler-
ance through English, is a
summer camp in Hungary
that brought together Roma
children from Kremnica aged
around 12 with young stu-
dents from a number of other
countries like Romania and
Slovenia. In helping to pro-
mote the English language
and also to understand US val-
ues, history and lifestyle the
embassy works together with
the Fulbright Commission,
and also with the Slovak Edu-
cationMinistry. Embassystaff
help local teachers of English
in several ways, but also go
directly to schools and talk to
the students about, for in-
stance, American holidays
(including, for instance, why
Halloween is not devil wor-
ship), but also foreign policy,
society, etc.
UStraditions promo
To bring typical US tradi-
tions to a wider audience the
embassy is considering send-
ing one of its staff to appear on
one of Slovakias popular tele-
vised cooking shows, perhaps
in connection with Thanks-
giving, a major American fest-
ival involving food, to explain
the national affection for tur-
key and apple pie on that spe-
cificoccasion, Scharf said.
There seems to be a film
festival every month here in
Slovakia, he continued, and
we are trying to participate in
them in one way or another:
we bring climbers and adven-
turers to the Hory a Mesto
(Mountains and City) festival,
we help spread the word about
the Ekotopfilm environment-
al filmfestival and the Inakos
/ Slovak Queer Film Festival,
and help bring movies or per-
sonalities, as with the One
World or International Film
Festival Bratislava.
Classics andjazz exported
Music is a great bridge
between cultures that needs
no translation, and no lan-
guage knowledge. Many clas-
sical music performers come
to Slovakia, taking part in
major festivals like the
Bratislavsk Hudobn
Slvnosti / Bratislava Music
Festival. This years event
will welcome a prominent US
violinist, Joshua Bell, playing
with a Norwegian orchestra.
One of Bells most notable
gigs which travelled around
the world as a video was an
experiment initiated by
Washington Post columnist
Gene Weingarten, in which
the violinist donned a base-
ball cap and played as an in-
cognito street busker at
L'Enfant Plaza subway sta-
tion in Washington, DC, on
January 12, 2007. The exper-
iment was recorded on a
hidden camera; among the
1,097 people who passed by,
only seven stopped to listen
to him, and only one recog-
nised him. For his nearly
45-minute performance,
Bell collected $32.17 from 27
passersby (excluding $20
from the passerby who re-
cognisedhim).
The Melos Etos festival,
which is dedicated to more
contemporary and avant-
garde music, will offer Leon
Botstein, an American or-
chestraconductor whois also
president of Bard College,
coming to perform a wider
programme, including a
piece byfamous US composer
JohnAdams.
The US Embassy suppor-
ted a 9/11 memorial concert
by the Slovak State Philhar-
monic in Koice that took
place in early September,
Scharf said. The Koice Phil-
harmonic will also perform
the Age of AnxietybyLeonard
Bernstein, together with
works by Joseph Haydn and
the world premiere of Slovak
Dances by US-based Slovak
musician/composer Peter
Breiner. The renowned tenor
Lawrence Brownlee will per-
form in spring 2012 in Bratis-
lavaandKoice.
We truly enjoy support-
ing jazz music, Scharf went
on. When you look at the
programme list of the
Bratislavsk Jazzov Dni /
Bratislava Jazz Days, you
might think its rather the
American Jazz Days. Really,
there are a host of US musi-
cians: Chucho Valdes; Nic-
olas Payton; Earth, Wind and
Fire; Randy Brecker, etc. We
also support the Slovak tour
of Vienna-based US saxo-
phonist Andy Middleton
with Slovak musicians led by
tefan Bartu we really like
this kind of cross-national
musical merging.
... andmorearts
The embassy does not
stop there: it also helps boost
the visual arts (for instance,
via the annual Young Visual
Artists Awards, beginning in
October); photography (Slov-
ak photographer Filip Kuliev
will have an exhibition as
part of the Month of Photo-
graphy, showing his trip
through Alaskan landscapes);
poetry (bringing Catherine
Bowman to the Ars Poetica
poetry festival); theatre (in-
cluding The Theatre in the
Passage / Divadlo z Pase a
theatre for mentally disabled
people that toured the US in
2009); and supported a sum-
mer hip-hop festival in
Bansk Bystrica.
I will always admire the
fruitful; professional ties and
connections that have been
established by both talented
Slovak and American enthu-
siasts, the cultural exchange
coming from below, and we
try to support and nurture
them, Scharf said. But of
course, it is also a question of
budget, especially in these
tense times. We, at the em-
bassy, have this year been
able to support and help or-
ganise a host of events, often
in cooperation with the Slov-
ak side or US friends at home.
As we already have ambitious
plans, I canonly hope we will
also be able to continue to do
as much in the future,
Scharf concluded.
BYZUZANAVILIKOVSK
Spectator staff
JoshuaBell will play at the BHS. Photo: Courtesyof Bell's website
US cultural effort
focuses on less
popular art forms
10
BUSINESS FOCUS
October 3 9, 2011
Mayor MilanFtnik grants honorary citizenshiptoMajor
General R. MartinUmbarger. Photo: TASR
JepthaH. Wade II, by A. G. Powers.
Photo: Courtesyof theUSEmbassy
EURO: German calls
fall on deaf SaS ears
Continuedfrompg1
Pressurefor an
earlier vote
Though Sulk, who is also
speaker of parliament, had pre-
viously said that the vote was
expected to take place on Octo-
ber 25, voices calling for an
earlier debate on the bailout
schemes intensified: Most-Hd
wants a vote to take place
between October 13 and 16 at
the latest, while Miklo said
there was no reason why
changes to the EFSF should not
be passed at the beginning of
the parliamentary session be-
ginningonOctober 11.
My proposal, submitted to
the recent Eurogroup session,
was tohave Slovakiavote onthe
EFSF on October 11, which
would make us the last euro-
zone country to hold a vote,
Miklo said, as quoted by the
TASRnewswire.
According to KDH leader
Jn Fige, Slovakia would be
cast in a bad light if it were the
only country at the October 17
EU summit not to have a final
positiononthe issue, especially
given that the other 16 euro-
zone countries had handled EF-
SF matters with a great degree
of urgency.
SaS meanwhile indicated
its willingness to discuss the
possibilityof anearlier vote, on
two conditions: that the Slovak
Parliament must vote as the
last country among the euro-
zone members, and that the
relevant Slovak parliamentary
committees would have to
have submitted their stances
on the legislation by the time
of the vote.
Thecompromises
Exactly what compromise
had been offered by Radiov to
SaS had not been confirmed by
the time The Slovak Spectator
went toprint onSeptember 29.
However, SaS caucus chair
Kollr told TV Markza on
September 28 that SaS wanted
to achieve a solutionwhichmet
two objectives: that Slovakia
wouldnot blockother countries
fromsetting up a bailout mech-
anism, and that the solution
would not cost Slovak taxpay-
ers anything. When asked by
the reporter whether the latest
discussion with the prime min-
ister looked like it would end in
an agreement, his response
was: yes.
The SDK had earlier
offered its own compromise: an
addendum to the ruling coali-
tion agreement under which
the ruling parties would com-
mit themselves to vote for the
bailout schemes as well as a
draft law on specific state ob-
ligations. The law would spe-
cify that the cabinet and the
parliamentary committee for
finance, budget and currency
would decide on any sub-
sequent financial obligation of
Slovakia stemming from the
bailout scheme.
We are offering to give up
some of the significant powers
of the finance minister, who is
an SDK nominee, through the
coalition agreement, said
SDK leader Mikul Dzurinda,
as quotedbySme.
Dzurinda stressed that at
cabinet meetings decisions are
made through compromise
and consensus, while a party
that disagrees with a proposal
has the option to summon a
Coalition Council meeting. If
any of the parties insists on
having the right of veto in-
cluded inthe agreement thenit
canraise the issue.
SaS, however, rejected the
SDKproposal.
The proposed guarantees
provided by Slovakia withinthe
EFSF bailout mechanism
should be increased from4.371
billion to 7.727 billion, accord-
ing to a proposal approved by
the cabinet onSeptember 28.
TheGermanangle
Discussions with German
President Christian Wulff,
who visited Slovakia on
September 27, apparently did
little to bring Sulk any closer
to agreeing a compromise. The
bailout mechanisms were the
main focus of President
Wulffs visit to Slovakia and
the German president stated
that every problem has a solu-
tion if everyone thinks not
only about themselves.
Wulff, who met his Slovak
counterpart Ivan Gaparovi,
said that the discussion over
support for indebted eurozone
member countries is very diffi-
cult because Slovakia pro-
ceeded in an exemplary way
when it came to keeping its
banking sector healthy and
meeting its euro-adoption cri-
teria. Wulff said that the debate
might be more difficult than
anywhere else, but said he be-
lieved the countrys top politi-
cians would make the right de-
cisions, SITAreported.
Two-in-onevote?
Observers have suggested
that linking the vote on the
bailout schemes to a vote of
confidence in the government
would be one way for the ruling
coalition to put pressure on
Sulk and his party. However,
Radiov said on September 27
that the time was not right for
this option.
It is premature to use such
anextreme tool that might lead
to political destabilisation or
even completely prevent us
from completing the ongoing
changes, Radiov stressed
prior to a meeting involving
leaders of her SDK party to
discuss their options.
The meeting ended without
any definitive answers. SaS is
strongly against linking the
votes, with Sulk suggesting
during a political talkshow
broadcast by TV Markza earli-
er this month that people who
are pushing Radiov to link
the votes have other goals in
mind than the bailout mech-
anisms. SDK spokesman
Michal Luk called the specu-
lationnonsense.
Bla Bugr of Most-Hd
has suggested that SaS seem-
ingly firm position on the
EFSF/ESM is due to the fact
that voter preferences for SaS
have decreased since the 2010
election and the party is using
the issue to stir voters in-
terest andsupport.
RichardSulk Photo: SITA
ESI: Economic
sentiment sags
Continuedfrompg4
At the moment growth
inSlovakia is drivenprimar-
ily by foreigndemand and
this will continue also dur-
ing the next quarters, said
Valachyov. Eventhough
the income situationof
households improved during
the first half of 2011 and their
disposable income grew
solidly, households are cau-
tious and are saving. For that
reasonwe do not count ona
growthimpulse evenfrom
the side of household con-
sumptionnext year."
UniCredit Bank Slovakia
weighed inwitha predic-
tionof 2.9-percent growthin
GDP for 2011 and estimated
growthin2012 of 2.8 per-
cent, while Tatra Banka
pegged next years growthat
only 1 percent.
We expect that
Slovakias economic growth
may slowdownmore signi-
ficantly over the upcoming
quarters, ubomr Kork,
analyst at UniCredit Bank
Slovakia, told The Slovak
Spectator, adding that
growthinthe countrys
economy may start to accel-
erate only during the second
half of 2012.
Boris Fojtk of Tatra
Banka said his bank believes
economic growthwill hit its
bottomat the beginning of
2012 and will recover only
slowly because nearly all
eurozone countries are ad-
opting government auster-
ity measures whose first ef-
fect is to reduce the growth
dynamics of GDP.
The central bank expects
that overall household con-
sumptionwill decrease this
year due to the persistently
negative mood among con-
sumers, evendespite the
gradual growthinemploy-
ment that has beenre-
gistered.
The most recent prognos-
is by the central bank is
based ona fundamental
scenario that foresees a
gradual stabilisationof the
rickety financial markets.
But the central bank admits
that there is uncertainty in
this scenario.
Inour current predic-
tionfor gross domestic
product, risks inthe down-
ward directionprevail over
the whole horizon, Makch
stated. Continuationof the
decline of the current eco-
nomic sentiment, affected
by the situationinfinancial
markets inthe eurozone and
the subsequent slowdownof
global economic growth, is
the biggest risk.
Nevertheless, Makchis
not predicting a recessionin
the eurozone, something
that would cause a signific-
ant decline inforeignde-
mand for Slovakias econom-
ic output.
We are speaking about
risks inthe downward direc-
tion, not about a recession,
Makchemphasised. My
personal opinionis that the
threat of a W-shaped reces-
sionis lower thanit is some-
times said to be.
Valachyov commented
that the probability of a W-
shaped recessionhas in-
creased but noted that
Slovensk Sporitea still ex-
pects the most likely scen-
ario to be continuing eco-
nomic growth, albeit at a
significantly slower rate
thanthis year.
Slovakias GDP growth
slowed to 3.3 percent inthe
second quarter of 2011 inan-
nualised terms, compared to
3.5 percent inthe first
quarter, based ona flashes-
timate released by the Slovak
Statistics Office onAugust 16.
Economic sentiment at
a16-monthlow
The economic sentiment
indicator (ESI), reported by
Slovakias Statistics Office on
September 27, dropped by 1.3
points inSeptember from90.5
points inAugust, and hit its
lowest point inthe last 16
months. The economic sen-
timent indicator had begunto
fall againinJuly.
The Statistics Office
stated that it attributes the
falling economic sentiment
to a lower level of confidence
among businesses inthe in-
dustrial and service sectors,
as well as among consumers.
The only survey respondents
who were more optimistic in
September thaninAugust
were businesses inthe con-
structionsector. Overall, the
economic sentiment indic-
ator was 2.2 points less than
September 2010 and now
stands at 7.4 points belowits
long-termaverage.
Kork of UniCredit
sees growing uncertainty
about the development of the
mainEuropeaneconomies as
being behind the falling ESI
inSlovakia.
The indicator has not
reached the extremely low
levels it recorded during the
crisis period at the turnof
2008-2009 but it does con-
firmour expectations of a
significant slowdownin
economic growthat the end
of this year, Kork stated,
adding that the development
of the financial markets will
depend upona successful
solutionto the sovereign
debt crisis inseveral euro-
zone countries.
Fojtk of Tatra Banka also
believes the drop inthe in-
dicator inSlovakia shows
nervousness about the de-
velopments inGreece and
other countries withsover-
eigndebt problems, but
thinks this is not the only
source of concern.
Fromour point of view
the repeated decline incon-
sumer sentiment also leads
to concerns over worsening
prospects for domestic
consumption, Fojtk added.
CLASSIFIEDS
REAL ESTATE
APARTMENTS + HOUSES for rent:
studio Mestsk ul., Kazansk ul.
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family and town houses Polus
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www.madison.sk, 0905 - 659156,
madison@nextra.sk
C 3655
RELIGIOUS SERVICES
ENGLISH LANGUAGE WORSHIP
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Sundays, 9:30 at historic
Small Lutheran Church
(Mal evanjelick kostol) in central Bratislava
(near Hodzovo namestie);
on Lycejna at intersection
with Panenska 26/28.
Children's Sunday School provided.
Everyone Welcome.
Information at 02-5443-3263
Web Site:
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11
BUSINESS / NEWS
October 3 9, 2011
Writing a history of photography
that embraces every part of Europe
FIVE kilos. That is how much
the two books that make up
the first volume of a compre-
hensive encyclopaedia of
European photography
weigh. Vclav Macek, the dir-
ector of the Central European
House of Photography (SEDF)
and the man behind the
project to publish a three-
volume series spanning the
history of photography in
20th-century Europe, knows
their weight quite well. His
organisation has been selling
and then shipping the books
literallyaroundtheglobe.
The Slovak Spectator
spoke with Macek about the
genesis of the project, how
this encyclopaedia differs
from ones already published,
the steps required to prepare
andpublishthefirst volumeof
the History of European Pho-
tography covering the years
1900-1938, and the obstacles
he and his team overcame
whenpullingit all together.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS):
How did the project start?
Who had the very first idea
to publish such a compre-
hensiveencyclopaedia?
VclavMacek (VM): Actu-
ally, the very first meeting
was in 2006 but I see this
project as alogical progression
of work that beganinthe mid-
1990s. At that time we started
to promote photographers
from central and eastern
Europe and began publishing
the Imago photographic
magazine to fill what we per-
ceived as a gap in the market
because existing magazines
perceived European photo-
graphy only as German, Aus-
trianor Frenchandnot as pho-
tography embracing Slovak or
Czech photography or works
from other countries. We also
had a feeling that photo-
graphers from this part of
Europe were not sufficiently
presented at exhibitions and
that important museums did
not offer their works. There
was an option that we would
first spreadinformationabout
photographers from this part
of Europe so that museums in
New York, Paris and London
would begin to exhibit them.
This was the first step in
changingtheviewabout what
is important and interesting
inEuropeanphotography. We
realisedthat weshouldnot cry
too much that our photo-
graphers are not represented
inlargemuseumsandthat it is
more important to build a
good reputation. But in this
respect, we focused on devel-
oping quality photography
rather than just persuading
others that photographers
from this part of Europe are
worthbeingexhibited.
This naturally led to the
encyclopaedia, reflecting our
dissatisfaction with mu-
seums not exhibiting photo-
graphers from this part of
Europe as well as our dissatis-
factionwiththe way inwhich
European photography was
writtenabout. Their historyof
photographyisnot our history
of photography. We wanted
history in which we are also
present. This was the princip-
al logic behind the encyclo-
paedia project. At that meet-
ing in June 2006 there was a
Swede, a Croatian, an Italian,
aSlovakandaBriton, anarrow
group of people, many of
whom represented small cul-
tures. There we agreed that it
was necessary to broaden the
view of the history of
European photography by in-
cluding what was happening
in the so-called periphery,
where excellent photography
was produced as well. We
drew this vision into the
project and after four years of
work we published the first
volumeearlier thisyear.
TSS: Youchoseaninteresting
concept the overall project
is divided into three time
periods and each chapter is
about an individual country.
How did you develop this
concept?
VM: The format stemmed
from the basic idea that we
wanted each country to be
represented. But this was an
impossible assignment for
one author. This concept re-
quired more authors because
onlyapersonlivinginaspecif-
ic country cando this go into
archives and then write a
comprehensive piece in less
than 20 pages about what was
most important, for example
in Portuguese photography
over 40 years. This meant we
needed to find and address
photography experts in indi-
vidual countries. Because
photography is very closely
connected with society, this
approach brought another
challenge: howto make fluent
text fromall of that. Thus, our
authors did not write only
about photography but also
about the political, social and
cultural developments in
each country. So there is an
important history about Por-
tuguese photography in the
book but also a timetable cov-
ering important events in the
country in 1905 or 1915 that
there was a revolution im-
pactingthe entire country, its
society, its culture, and so
forth. But it was also im-
possible to have an enormous
amount of text and in the end
we have 35 chapters covering
35 countries. Then of course
we wanted to avoid the situ-
ation that each chapter was
written in a different style so
we gave guidelines to the au-
thors to follow, while respect-
ing that because photography
exists in a particular envir-
onment and these environ-
ments are very different it is
impossible to have a com-
pletelyunifiedbook.
TSS: How did you choose the
years of 1938 and 1970 to sep-
arate individual volumes of
theencyclopaedia?
VM: It was clear cut for
1938 because of the start of
WorldWar II. In1939 a newera
began. This is a historical-
political dividing line and has
nothingparticularlytodowith
photography itself. The key to
our decision to use 1970 as an
ending period was the occupa-
tion of Czechoslovakia in 1968,
rebellions in Paris in 1968 and
1969, as well as changes in so-
ciety and culture leading to
morecultural conservatism.
TSS: Who selected the au-
thors?
VM: After agreement with
others we, in Bratislava, made
the final choice. But some-
times it was difficult; for ex-
ample in the case of Belarus
nobody had written about
something like this so we had
to find a person who would be
willing andable to go deepinto
archives and write a short his-
tory of Belarus photography
for the first time. It was also a
responsibility in terms of se-
lecting the experts to make
sure they had the required
knowledge and ability to write
a well-formulated and com-
prehensive text and that we
could be assured that the au-
thor was not misleading read-
ers. Theseauthorsalsoselected
the photographs that are pub-
lishedintheencyclopaedia.
TSS: What was the
assignment the authors re-
ceived?
VM: One important aspect
was that they should not write
an encyclopaedic document
but rather astorycomprehens-
ible to the reader. I did not
want tohave a deluge of names
of photographers and institu-
tions in individual chapters,
but instead a story about pho-
tography and what kinds of
problems it was overcoming.
In Greece, for example, there
were Germans who wanted to
make great photographyabout
Greek culture. But the Greeks
perceived this as forcing them
to be seen in a certain way and
in response a group of Greek
photographers emerged say-
ing that we do not look like
this; they wanted a different
photography. And they started
todoit. This is onestory.
Each author also had to ex-
plain the social, political and
cultural conditions of the
country and put photography
in that context; to show, for
example, that the Irish used
photography as a tool in their
fight for independence.
Without this context the read-
er would not completely com-
prehend the story of Irish pho-
tography.
TSS: Did your work on this
volumebringyouanynewor
surprisingknowledge?
VM: For me what is of key
importance is the knowledge
of how much good photo-
graphy existed all across
Europe. This was really sur-
prisingbecausewearesoused
to only certain important
names and suddenly my hori-
zon widened in an incredible
way. I realised that excellent
photographers existed in
each country even though
they were not as numerous in
some smaller countries. For
me this is surprising in quo-
tation marks because this is
the reason why we developed
the book to prove that this
was the case and we actually
proved it. For me the biggest
revelation is that we cannot
pooh-pooh photography that
is being done in Ukraine or in
Denmark just because we do
not knowit. Becausewhenwe
looked closer we found out
that there were excellent
photographers and excellent
photographs.
TSS: What styles and move-
ments are covered in the
first volume?
VM: Its storyline starts
with photographic studios
that worked mainly as por-
trait studios at the end of the
19th century and the begin-
ning of the 20th. Of course,
architecture also was being
photographed. But at that
time photography was un-
derstood as a kind of craft.
This was followed by efforts
to show that photography is
an art, resulting in Pictorial-
ism, a style in which a photo-
grapher imitated painting.
This was also linked with the
creation of new techniques
and equipment. This was a
tendency in the 1910s but in
some countries this arrived
by the end of the 19th cen-
tury. In response to Pictorial-
ism some photographers said
that photography was just
imitating another art and
that photography should be
seen as its own specific and
distinctiveart.
At that time Modernism
and New Objectivity came to
photography. Photographers
started to do sharply focused
photographs of a machine or
a still-life with a document-
ary approach that were genu-
ine records of reality. This
was followedbySurrealismin
which photographers began
to enter or interfere with the
photographic process, mak-
ing collages and creating a
fictitiousworld.
TSS: Were cameras and other
equipment available to or-
dinary people or was photo-
graphy something exclus-
ive?
VM: At the beginning it
was exclusive. This is also
whytherewas noPictorialism
in Slovakia. We had photo-
graphic ateliers whose own-
ers made a living in this way
and they made portraits of
local people. But Pictorialism
required more investment in
equipment and time and this
is whyonlythearistocracydid
this type of photography as
amateurs. But in the period of
Modernism, after cameras
and the necessary outfit be-
came more affordable, ama-
teurs also started to do art
photography.
TSS: What were the differ-
ences in individual coun-
tries?
VM: Actually the devel-
opment of photography was
similar, going in waves of
course as photographers
wanderedfromone countryto
another. For example, they
started something in Ger-
many, then the same photo-
graphers did something in
Bulgaria, then they left and
went to Finland. When writ-
ing this volume we some-
times had a problem describ-
ing nationalities. For ex-
ample, we included Czech
photographer Jaroslav Funke
inthe history of Slovak photo-
graphy because he taught at a
school in Bratislava for four
years and was an important
personality in Slovak photo-
graphy. But actually, the
wanderings of these photo-
graphers as well as the ways
in which they influenced the
national photography of indi-
vidual countries are so inter-
mixed that it is not possible to
say that a particular photo is
an imitation of what French
or Germanphotographers had
comewith.
TSS: How is the second
volumecomingalong?
VM: We are intensively
working on the second
volume. We believe that the
encyclopaedias place is espe-
cially in libraries of schools
teaching photography or art
and their histories, and for
experts as a reference docu-
ment. The encyclopaedia is
written in English and that
makes it an extensive source
of information for readers
aroundtheglobe.
There are a lot of books,
for instance, about Henri
Cartier-Bresson or August
Sander. But this encyclopae-
dia shows, for example, that a
photographer with qualities
similar to those of Sander
lived in Latvia in the 1920s.
This is the changedviewpoint
about European photography
that our project brings.
BYJANALIPTKOV
Spectator staff
Self-portrait (1915) by Estonianphotographer Johannes Psuke. Photo: Courtesyof SEDF
12
CULTURE
October 3 9, 2011
Bratislavas
Central European
House of
Photography
releases its first
encyclopaedic
volume
Chamber music remains
the soul of local festival
MIXING and joining. That is
what Slovakias Convergences
festival has been doing for
over a decade and its 2011 edi-
tion proved again that having
the courage and enthusiasm
to merge different musical
styles and various artists
who may seem worlds apart
pays dividends when ap-
proached with an open mind
and a good musical ear.
Jozef Luptk, the founder
of the festival, has both at-
tributes in spades and for
that reason Convergences has
grown over the past 12 years
from a couple of days of per-
formances by chamber or-
chestras into a week-long
event that goes far beyond
that genre even though
Luptk has said that chamber
music remains the founda-
tion of the festival.
Since I am interested in
other styles, other viewpoints
and new connections, the
festival started naturally ex-
panding but I would be glad
for it to stay as chamber in
expression, he stated. Obvi-
ously, we are not shying
away from bigger projects,
but at the same time I want
to preserve the chamber feel-
ing because that is when the
communicativeness between
art and humanity is the
strongest.
Cellos andchorals
The festival opened with a
performance by Cello Colos-
seum, a grouping of eight cel-
lists, and Gregoriana, a Koice
group singing Gregorian
chorals in St Martins Cathed-
ral, which Luptk called a
magnificent space for such a
concert.
I like that space very
much and I like it because it
is kind of a central space of
Bratislava, Luptk said. And
the connection between this
reconstructed factory, the
Design Factory [the tradition-
al venue of the Convergences
festival], and the sacral space
of the cathedral, a central
space in Bratislava, is sym-
bolic for me.
Luptk added that the sites
for Convergences have always
moved between modern build-
ings and sacral spaces but the
cathedral was first used for
the festival in 2010.
I immediately liked it, es-
pecially because a mutual
symbiosis emerged between
the people who administer the
cathedral and the festival and
they asked us to return,
Luptk said, adding that he
would definitely like to use the
cathedral for future festivals.
The connection between
the present and history in the
sacral space seems very sym-
bolic and beautiful to us,
Luptk stated.
Luptk said that in organ-
ising the Cello Colloseum
project he focused on younger
cellists from outside and from
within Slovakia and invited
them to work together.
The Cello Colloseum
project acquired a youthful
freshness, Luptk added, not-
ing that they played both dra-
matic and meditative music.
JanaKirschner and
afterPhurikane
I am very grateful that we
have been invited to play at
this festival since there are not
many festival podiums where
one can present this kind of
music, said Jana Kirschner, a
Slovak singer whose perform-
ance at this years Conver-
gences was her only recent
concert in Bratislava.
Kirschners newest album,
Krajina rovina, has been on
sale for about two years now.
Although she has repeatedly
stressed that it is different
from her previous works as
she started her career as a
more or less mainstream mu-
sician the album has been re-
ceived with great enthusiasm,
as was her Convergences con-
cert on March 24 where
Kirschner presented her
sound laboratory, making
each of her songs a special ex-
perience for the audience.
Kirschner shared the
stage on Saturday with the af-
terPhurikane project, an ex-
periment which emerged in
2007 as a way to bring togeth-
er Roma and non-Roma mu-
sicians. This years Conver-
gences offered the following
constellation: Jozef Luptk on
cello, accordionist Boris Len-
ko, percussionist Thierry
Ebam, and five amateur
Roma singers Marcela and
Jozef Drevek, Martina
uov, Irena Pokutov and
Bla Pokuta. Their array of
gypsy music, mingled with
melodies of composers such
as Astor Piazzolla, brought
the audience alive.
The connection between
afterPhurikane and Jana
Kirschner falls very well un-
der the philosophy of the
festival, said Luptk. Such
convergence, which may
have seemed unimaginable in
the past, is exactly what the
festival is aiming for.
TheSoldiers Tale
Seven musicians, one nar-
rator, and single male and fe-
male dancers performed The
Soldiers Tale, a composition
by Igor Stravinsky with lyrics
written by Charles Ferdinand
Ramuz. It wrapped up the
festival in grand style with
prominent Slovak actor Robert
Roth in the leading role.
Even though this Faust-
like story of a soldier who ex-
changes his violin with the
Devil in return for a book that
will show him how to acquire
all he desires is almost one
hundred years old, its mes-
sage is timeless and artists
and audiences return to it
again and again.
In the version offered at
this years festival, director
Silvester Lavrk intertwined
the original text, narrated by
Roth, with Slovak poems by
Vojtech Mihlik, Milan Rfus,
Miroslav Vlek and Jn
Ondru about topics such as
returning home, scepticism
about civilisation and finding
a new chance for mankind
after two world wars.
The audiences reaction to
The Soldiers Tale proved that
the choice was right festival
organisers had to invite the
public to the final rehearsal
as tickets for the closing per-
formance of the festival were
sold out almost immediately
after they were put on sale.
This was not the first the-
atrical performance offered
by the festival as Roth had
performed at Convergences in
the past, but those were not
dramas, only recitations.
This is practically our
premiere of such depth,
Luptk said. A work of art
like this is quite unusual for
us because its got music, an
actor, dance, scenery Its a
kind of chamber opera, but
not completely.
Luptk added that he
would like to continue in this
direction.
Particularly from the
20th century weve got sever-
al scenic works that dont get
presented at all, even though
they are very significant,
Luptk said, adding that they
are missing from the pro-
grammes of both theatres and
concert halls. He said these
included authors from the Vi-
ennese, Russian and German
schools, but also Czech-born
composer Bohuslav Martin.
They wrote unusual
chamber works that went
beyond classical music,
Luptk said. We would like
to bring something of this
kind in the future.
In addition to what have
become traditional sessions
of Luptk with his friends,
such as the From Songs to
Tango performance of the
works of Felix Mendelssohn
Bartholdy and Astor Piazzolla,
this years Convergences pro-
gramme welcomed perform-
ances by the Doric String
Quartet from the UK, jazz
artists AsGuests, and Sola-
mente Naturali presenting
17th and 18th century music.
Zuzana Vilikovsk and
Jana Liptkov contributed
to this article
BYMICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
Jozef Luptk andhis historic reconstructedcelloat the openingconcert. Photo: JarmilaUhlkov
ulks Cign competes for an Oscar
THE HIGHLYacclaimed
and popular filmCign
(Gipsy) directed by Slovak
Martinulk will represent
Slovakia inthe competition
for the Best ForeignMovie
award at next years Oscars.
The Slovak Filmand
TelevisionAcademy made
the decisionto submit Cign
to its counterpart, the US
Academy of MotionPicture
Arts and Sciences, on
September 19, after choosing
it fromamong sevendomest-
ic movies that premiered in
the last 12 months, the SITA
newswire wrote.
Cignreceived 53 per-
cent of the votes and beat
the runners-up, Dom
(House) by Zuzana Liov and
Marhuov ostrov (Apricot
Island) by Peter Bebjak, by a
large margin.
Cignis the sixthwork
by ulk to compete for the
Slovak nominationto the
Oscars. The movie, about life
ina Roma settlement inthe
east of the Slovakia, wonfour
awards and attracted crowds
at the International Film
Festival inKarlovy Vary in
the CzechRepublic two
months ago.
Recently, it had its North
Americanpremiere in
Toronto. BothCignand
Domwill also be screened at
the 55thLondonFilmFestiv-
al to be held betweenOcto-
ber 12 and 27, the TASR
newswire wrote.
Spending a day discovering Korea
TASTINGtraditional Korean
food, attending a Korean
wedding or watching singers
and dancers perform these
are just a fewparts of the
programme prepared by the
KoreanEmbassy inSlovakia
to commemorate the 18th
anniversary of the estab-
lishment of diplomatic rela-
tions betweenSlovakia and
SouthKorea.
The event, called Korean
National Day, took place on
September 22 inthe court-
yard of Bratislava Castle,
starting witha 10:00 contest
inpreparing Koreanfood
witheight participating
teams. Visitors also had a
chance to viewa traditional
Koreanwedding.
Later inthe afternoon
visitors could watcha talent
showinwhichbothSlovak
and Koreandancers and
singers presented traditional
Koreanculture, enjoyed
demonstrations of Taek-
wondo martial arts and care-
fully examined Hanbok, the
traditional Koreandress for
women.
CompiledbySpectator staff
13 October 3 9, 2011
CULTURE
But the 2011
Convergences
offered a broad
palette
Martinulk at the premiere of his filmCign, inRichnava, eastern
Slovakia. Photo: Sme- Gabriel Kuchta
Traditional dresses were vividly displayedonKoreanNational
Day. Photo: Courtesyof EmbassytheRepublic of Korea
Modras golden forests
THEPRIMARYsource of revenue for the town
of Modra in the Small Carpathians has been
winemaking and forestry. Therefore, choos-
ing the right person to hold the position of
forest manager has always been of utmost
importance. The town made an excellent
choice in1868byengagingAlexander Filpek,
then only 22 years old. This extraordinarily
capable forester remained in his office until
1923for55years.
Immediately after taking office, Filpek
took a step that foreshadowed many of his
later achievements: he rejected comfortable
housing within the town and lived in the on-
siteofficelocatedinmiddleof theforest.
Filpek focused on foresting the Modra
area with conifers. His success in managing
the forests around Modra led to these forests
being assessed as the best inthe entire Bratis-
lavaregion.
Filpek also sought to build a forest envir-
onment that would attract people and he was
one of the initiators of construction of the
Harmnia summer resort, with its villas, res-
taurants anddancehalls. One of the builders of
villas on Uhorsk vrch (Great Hungarian Hill)
constructed an observation tower that was
thennamedafterAlexanderFilpek.
This rare postcard showing the observa-
tiontower dates backto1912.
ByBranislavChovan
HISTORY TALKS
WesternSLOVAKIA
Bratislava
l LIVE MUSIC: Ana Popovic
Band As part of the Rock in
Museum series, top blues gui-
tarist and singer Ana Popovic,
from Serbia, arrives with her
international band to present
her recent album Uncondi-
tional, as well as older pieces.
Starts: October 5, 19:30;
Mzeum Obchodu, Linzbo-
thova 16, Podunajsk Biskupi-
ce. Admission: 26. Tel: 02/
4524-3167; www.
rockvmuzeu.sk.
Bratislava
l CONTEMPORARY BALLET:
Made in Slovakia This piece,
which premiered only re-
cently in the Slovak National
Theatre, brings four contem-
porary ballet choreographies
by four authors, offering an
overview of current ballet
trends inSlovakia.
Starts: October 3, 19:00;
SND historical building,
Hviezdoslavovo Square 4. Ad-
mission: 5-11. Tel: 02/
2047-2299, www.snd.sk.
Bratislava
l ART FESTIVAL: BLAF The
Bratislava Art Festival returns
for asecondyear followinglast
years success and brings with
it all types of visual andother
arts. Organised by the Na-
tional Gallery and the Clock-
wise company, it takes place
at several sites simultan-
eously and covers everything
from longer exhibitions,
workshops, discussions, per-
formances and happenings, to
combinations of dance and
visual art, music, fashion, and
more.
Starts: September 30 - Oc-
tober 6; various sites. Admis-
sion: varies. Tel: 02/5441-3316,
0908/127-041; www.blaf.sk.
Bratislava
l EXHIBITION: Ion Bar-
ladeanu - 10 Years of the Nota
Bene magazine The maga-
zine/project Nota Bene, which
helps homeless people earn
money, celebrates its 10th an-
niversary with an exhibition
by the Romanian homeless
artist Ion Barladeanu, who is
famous for his collages.
Open: 24/7 until October
19; Hviezdoslavovo Square
(western end). Admission:
free. More info: www.
notabene.sk.
Bratislava
l EXHIBITION: What is
Wrong with Oskar Dawicki?
The first Slovak exhibition by
this young Polish artist brings
his videos, photos, installa-
tion and sound performances,
which are connected through
funnyideas andwit.
Open: Tue-Sat 14:00-18:00
until October 22; Galria Faica,
Frantiknske Square 7. Ad-
mission: free. Tel: 0948/228-
282; www.artdispecing.sk.
Nitra
l LIVEMUSIC: Cignski Diabli
and Giovanni Ribichesu The
masters of Gipsy/Roma music,
as well as classical andfolklore
music, give a concert with a
world-renowned Italian ten-
or.
Starts: October 4, 18:00;
Big Hall of Andrej Bagar Thea-
tre, Svtoplukovo Square 14.
Admission: 15. Tel: 037/
7721-577; www.dab.sk.
Central SLOVAKIA
ModrKame
l CHESTNUT FESTIVAL: Ga-
tanov slvnosti / Chestnut
Festivities This unique fest-
ival celebrates a commodity
that dates backtothe Ottoman
occupation of this region in
the 16th century. Even today
this is the biggest chestnut
orchard in Slovakia. The feast
includes a mass, a seminar on
growing chestnuts, a tasting
of chestnut cakes, competi-
tions, exhibitions, and sale of
chestnut seedlings and roas-
tedandrawchestnuts.
Starts: October 8, 9:30;
Modr Kame Castle. Admis-
sion: free. More info: www.
modrykamen.sk.
BanskBystrica
l CAT SHOW: 5. a 6. Medzi-
nrodn vstava maiek / 5th
and 6th International Cat
Show Exhibitors from many
European countries come to
showcats of various types and
breeds, from Russian Blue
through Abyssinian to Maine
Coon.
Starts: October 8 and 9,
10:00-18:00; Sports Hall Duk-
la, tiavniky. Admission: 1-
2. Tel: 0905/891-009; www.
zozvolen.sk.
EasternSLOVAKIA
Levoa
l CLASSICAL MUSIC: Vieden-
sk klavrne trio / Vienna Pi-
ano Trio Matthias Gredler
(cello), Stefan Mendl (piano),
and Wolfgang Redik (violin)
will play, along with the Slov-
ak Sinfonietta and British pi-
anist Jonathan Powell, works
by Voek, Liszt, and Beeth-
oven as part of the Levoa In-
dianSummer festival.
Starts: October 4, 19:00;
Congress Hall, Majstra Pavla
Square 54. Admission: 3. Tel:
053/4512-522; msks.levoca.sk.
Humenn
l LIVE MUSIC: Vetko
najlepie Topfest Tour / All
the Best Topfest Tour This
celebration tour marks 20
years of the Slovak rock band
Gladiator, which will join
forces with the Serbian
Boban i Marko Markovi
Orkestar (playing Balkan
brass music).
Starts: October 9, 19:00;
Sports Hall Ultras Humenn,
Admission: 5. Tel: 02/5293-
3321; www.ticketportal.sk.
ByZuzanaVilikovsk
EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE
THE FAMOUS Czech musician, multi-instrumentalist and com-
poser Ji Stivn, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in
London and the Music Academy in Prague, performs his Sm se
svm stnem / Alone with my Shadow concert, combining jazz,
classical music, folk songs and his own compositions with im-
provisation that breaks all the borders of musical genres. Tick-
ets for the concert, on October 6 at 20:00 in the Klub za Zrkad-
lom, Rovniankova 3, in Bratislava cost 13 to 15 and can be
bought either through www.ticketportal.sk or at the door. For
more information, visit www.kzp.sk. Photo: Courtesyof KZP
THE FAMOUS classic fairy tale Cinderella / Popoluka takes on
an Oriental feel in the Alexander Duchnovi Theatre, Jarkov 77
in Preov, on October 8. At 19:00, nine Oriental female dancers
(including Czech guests) and one male dancer will represent
Cinderella, the Prince, the Stepmother, and other parts. The ac-
companying programme begins at 16:30 and includes an Ori-
ental fashion show, an open stage with belly dancers from all
over Slovakia, and more. Further information can be found at:
www.brusnytanec.sk. Photo: Courtesyof Miya
14
CULTURE
Weather updates and forecasts from across Slovakia
can be found at www.spectator.sk/weather.
A Slovaks name day (meniny) is as important as his or her birthday. It is traditional to present friends or co-workers with a small gift,
such as chocolates or flowers, and to wish them Vetko najlepie k meninm (Happy name day)
N A M E D A Y O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1
Monday
Stela
October 3
Tuesday
Frantiek
October 4
Wednesday
Viera
October 5
Thursday
Natlia
October 6
Friday
Elika
October 7
Saturday
Brigita
October 8
Sunday
Dionz
October 9
A strange film world in Koice
A RATHER unconventional
exhibition was installed in a
former greenhouse complex
owned by the Veterinary
University in Koice during
September, created by two
young artists from Spain and
Britain, Esther Manas and
Arash Moori. At first sight,
the work resembled just a
thick layer of fog through
which cages, boards or ran-
domly littered old items
could be seen. It emerged
gradually during the pairs
one-month stay in Septem-
ber 2011 and was called,
aptly, September in the
Ozone Hotel.
Manas and Moori created
it after being inspired by an
old Czechoslovak movie "The
End of August in the Ozone
Hotel" which was banned
from cinemas during com-
munism. The film shows a
vision of the world after a
nuclear disaster, a vision
picked up by the young
artists who stayed in this
easternSlovak metropolis.
When creating, they
used locally-specific art.
Their works are somewhere
on the border between art
and science and always in-
clude architectonic elements
of the locality, Juliana
Sokolov of the Art Faculty of
the Technical University of
Koice (TUKE) told the TASR
newswire.
The works of Manas and
Moori typically contain
cinematic references. The au-
thors said that as their works
are always closely connected
with the space where they
are, September in the Ozone
Hotel reflected their stay in
Koice in many direct and
indirect ways, from its use of
materials and things which
they had found in the citys
streets to the issues it ad-
dressed.
The two artists have been
collaborating for several
years. The artwork-installa-
tion continued into a sunlit
room, with a screen made of
old, yellowish blinds. The
room contained a circular
construction with the street
treasures the artists had
found. The older generation
could be reminded of its own
youth by an antiquated suit-
case, globe or board. The
room was full of sounds and
buzzes, and lit by blue neon
light.
The exhibition opened on
September 16 and lasted only
until October 2. It was part of
Koice AIR (Artists in Resid-
ence), which is itself part of
the wider Koice 2013
European Capital of Culture
project.
ByZuzana Vilikovsk
October 3 9, 2011
Part of anexhibition inKoice createdby twoyoungartists fromSpainandBritain. Photo: TASR
Gemer celebrates
its mining history
THE USU-
ALLY relaxed
mining town
of Roava in
Koice Region
was quite
busy at the end of August as
host of the 4th year of a
gathering of miners from
towns and villages from
across central Europe, and
the local residents were
pleased to offer their guests
a sampling of traditional
Upper Gemer hospitality.
Miners marching in
their uniforms spread across
the streets of Roava on
August 27, representing
mining towns and miners
associations from Slovakia,
Hungary, the Czech Repub-
lic and Poland who all took
part inthe parade.
About one thousand
people took part in the fest-
ive morning parade, Ondrej
Bolaek, one of the organ-
isers, told the TASR news-
wire. We registered more
than 36 representatives of
mining towns, villages and
guilds, he added, saying
there were 40 symbolic rib-
bons for flags from the indi-
vidual municipalities.
The festival included
shows of uniforms, visits to
museums, theatre perform-
ances and similar activities.
Representatives of mining
towns could also take part in
optional trips over the
weekend of August 27-28 to
experience the mining his-
tory of the Gemer region and
the general public took in
sites like the Museum of
Mining in Roava or the
nearby castles in Betliar and
Krsna Hrka.
The get-together for the
miners and mining enthusi-
asts was organised by the
town of Roava and the
Gemer Mining Association
Brotherhood.
Each visitor was greeted
with the traditional miners
greeting Zdar Boh. Because
of its mineral wealth much
of the territory of Slovakia
was destined to be involved
in mining and many towns
have mining symbols in
their coats of arms.
Miners congregatedunder Roava's belltower. Photo: SITA
Saker falcons suchas these youngoffspringare aprotectedspecies inSlovakia. Photo: SITA
Tagged Saker falcon found
electrocuted in Moravia
VARIOUS birds of prey, espe-
cially those protected by en-
vironmental laws in Slovakia
such as the Saker falcon
(Falco cherrug), are being
monitored through satellite
transmitters as part of an in-
ternational project that fol-
lows their migratory patterns
and locations. Data recorded
into maps enable scientists to
determine the actual loca-
tions of the monitored birds,
the TASR newswire wrote.
Four young Saker falcons
born in Slovakia this year
were fitted with transmit-
ters. After they left the nest
this monitoring technology
established that one of the
falcons flew as far as Russia
and is nesting about 160
kilometres northeast of Mo-
scow while a second falcon
settled in central Germany.
The third falcon found the
Romanian seashore to its lik-
ing and the fourth falcon
made its home in the Czech
Republic, south of the city of
Olomouc in Moravia.
In mid August, however,
the transmitter of the falcon
living near Olomouc stopped
operating and when ornitho-
logists checked the area they
found the dead falcon under a
22-kilovolt electrical line. The
scientists said it is likely that
the Saker falcon was electro-
cuted when it descended too
close to the wires. A closer
inspection of the site re-
vealed the remains of a dead
Forest buzzard (Buteo tri-
zonatus) and a Carrion crow
(Corvus corone).
This is the deadliest and
most dangerous type of
corner pylon, as the high-
voltage wires hang low, close
to consoles on which birds
tend to sit, Jozef Chavko of
Raptor Protection Slovakia
(Ochrana davcov na Slov-
ensku) told TASR.
Chavko added that this
hazardous condition has been
addressed in Slovakia and the
consoles here are fitted with
so-called eco-protectors that
are designed to prevent acci-
dental electrocution of birds.
Steam engines belch again in Zvolen
DUE TO their overwhelm-
ingpopularityandsuccess,
certainevents are repeated
every year in Slovakia and
the annual international
competition for steam en-
gines is surely among these well-received
attractions. The 13th edition of the Grand
Prix Slovensko was held on September 11
at thecargorailwaystationinZvolen.
Historical steam engines from Slov-
akia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hun-
gary and Austria competed in the after-
noon, the SITA newswire wrote. Before
that competition visitors could also
watch a competition between historical
M131.1 diesel trains. Accompanying
events included viewing of the Polish
state railways Totus, the train that be-
longed to Pope John Paul II, the tefnik
combat train used by partisans in the
Slovak National Uprising during World
War II, and other historical and contem-
porary railway vehicles displayed at the
locomotivedepot.
Special historical trains alsotranspor-
ted passengers between Zvolen and
Bansk Bystrica, Kremnica, Bansk
tiavnica and Hlink nad Hronom. Mu-
sical groups, the Novobananka folklore
ensemble, performances by majorettes
and fencing by the Ricasso troupe com-
pletedtheprogramme.
The Grand Prix Slovensko is organ-
ised by the Historical Technology Club
(Klub historickej techniky) of the
Zvolen Locomotive Depot along with
various partners. Each year the pro-
gramme reliably attracts 5,000 to 6,000
visitors.
Synagogue
renovated
SLOVAKIA
had many
synagogues
in the past.
But after
most Jews
fled the country or were
transportedtoHitlers death
camps, most synagogues
were no longer used for
their original purpose; some
were demolished and others
deteriorated. But a few syn-
agogues have been renov-
ated since 1989 to house cul-
ture and art centres and this
is what is happening nowto
the synagogue in Levice in
westernSlovakia.
The Levice synagogue
had fallen into near-total
disrepair but since 2010 it
has been undergoing recon-
struction with the help of
funds from the European
Union. The total cost of the
renovation project is just
over 1.5 million and the
town is contributing only 5
percent of that amount.
Levices mayor, tefan
Mik, told the SITA news-
wire that reconstruction
might be completed by the
beginning of 2012 and the
building will then host con-
certs, exhibitions and
theatre performances as
well as displaying a per-
manent collection of Slovak
art inits gallery.
If we had not received
the financial contribution
[from the EU], then the syn-
agogue would not exist at all
as in two or three years it
would have totally
collapsed, Miksaid.
The synagogue in Levice
was built in the 1850s and
became a warehouse after
WorldWar II.
1
2
3
AROUND SLOVAKIA
compiled by Zuzana Vilikovsk from press reports
15 October 3 9, 2011
FEATURE
Loadingasteamengine's firebox at the GrandPrix Slovensko. Photo: Sme- JnKrolk
16
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October 3 9, 2011
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