Slovakia’s economy slows

THE GROWTH of the biggestEuropean economies is decelerating,and appears to be pulling Slovakiadown too. Slovakia’s GDP growthslowed to 3.3 percent in the secondquarter of 2011 in annualised terms,compared to 3.5 percent in the firstquarter, based on a flash estimate re-leased by the Slovak Statistics Officeon August 16. Since Germany,Slovakia’s biggest economic partner,and other eurozone members arealso losing speed, observers say theoutlook is pessimistic.

“The slowdown in the economicgrowth of Germany, i.e. of the mostimportant business partner of Slov-akia, is not the best news for theSlovak economy,” Eva Sadovská, ananalyst with Poštová Banka, told TheSlovak Spectator, adding that com-pared with the first quarter, whenthe German economy grew by 4.6percent year-on-year, the secondquarter brought a slowdown to 2.8percent, which was below marketexpectations.

The second biggest economy inthe eurozone, France, experiencedzero growth during the secondquarter. The Czech Republic, anothersignificant business partner of Slov-akia, also reported slower economicgrowth, at 2.4 percent year-on-year.

The Statistics Office will re-lease the detailed structure of GDPonly in early September, but ana-lysts believe that it was foreigndemand in particular which pro-pelled Slovakia’s economy duringthe second quarter. Domestic de-mand, especially from citizens,again failed to pick up. Slovaksremain cautious in terms ofspending, even though data in-dicates strong growth in em-ployment. When seasonally ad-justed, employment grew by 2.1percent compared to Q2 2010 andby 0.4 percent compared with Q12011, according to the StatisticsOffice.

See GDP pg 4

SSELECT FOREX RATES€ benchmark as of August 18

CANADA CAD 1.42CZECH REP. CZK 24.42RUSSIA RUB 41.87GREAT BRITAIN GBP 0.87

HUNGARY HUF 272.13JAPAN JPY 110.08POLAND PLN 4.15USA USD 1.43

NEWS

Less free info-law?Ministers have agreed anamendment to the Freedomof Information Act whichwould reduce the informa-tion public bodies have topost online.

pg 2

Calls to halt tenderTwo political ethics watch-dogs asked by the govern-ment to review a controver-sial public tender to rent of-fice space in Košice havecalled for it to be scrapped,saying it is unfair.

pg 3

OPINION

Greasing the wheelsAnti-corruption strategiesare all very well, but whenit comes to convicting offi-cials of graft, Slovakia has apatchy record. It's timepoliticians delivered ontheir promises.

pg 5

BUSINESS FOCUS

Strong and growingMore than one hundredBritish companies haveinvested in Slovakia, in-cluding big names likeTesco, and hardly any haveleft despite the marketturbulence of the last fewyears.

pg 6

Links endureThe Slovak and Irish eco-nomies both took a batter-ing during the financialcrisis, but business linkshave held up well and bi-lateral trade is growingagain.

pg 7

CULTURE

Dublin's Slovak centreThe 20,000 Slovaks residentin Ireland now have a placeto call home: the Slovak inIreland House, whichopened its doors as a socialand cultural venue in Dub-lin in June.

pg 9

A corruption scandal (see story right) has halted work on the biathlon centre in Osrblie, central Slovakia, leaving itshosting of the European Biathlon Championship, due to take place in February 2012, in doubt. Photo: Sme - J. Krošlák

Politicians dividedover euro bailout

AS EUROPEAN leaders search forways to calm the edginess of globalfinancial markets and tools to forceirresponsible eurozone countries toobserve stricter fiscal discipline,Slovak Prime Minister IvetaRadičová is seeking the support ofparliamentary parties to backchanges to the European FinancialStabilisation Facility (EFSF) agreedupon by European leaders in July.

Finance Minister Ivan Miklošsays that “the risk of recession isevident”, adding that he believesthe only chance to avert a recessionis the rapid and efficient imple-mentation of the measures agreedupon by European leaders. Yet in-

stead of reaching consensus onhow to address the debt crisis inEurope, Slovakia’s politicians haveso far resorted to rancour and polit-ical manoeuvring.

Slovak President IvanGašparovič says that such an im-portant decision as Slovakia’s “yes”to an increase in the volume of theEFSF requires broad consensusacross the political spectrum.

“Slovakia should remain in theposition of a trustworthy and re-

sponsible member of theEuropean Union,” Gašparovič saidon August 16.

But the co-ruling Freedom andSolidarity (SaS) party has said thatit is unlikely to support anychanges to the EFSF. Party leaderRichard Sulík called the EU’s pro-posals a road to socialism and thecreation of a “debt union”.

Changes in the rules of the EF-SF and an increase in its size mustbe approved by the Slovak parlia-ment, and the government mayhave difficulty finding enoughvotes without SaS.

See EFSF pg 10

Vol. 17, No. 29 Monday, August 22, 2011 - Sunday, September 4, 2011On sale nowOn sale now FOCUS

of this issueFOCUSof this issue

GREAT BRITAIN

IRELAND

Education,transport get

priority

THE ONE piece of legislation that alwayshas the potential to bring the governmentto its knees has now been tabled before thecabinet of Prime Minister Iveta Radičová.Her ministers are now preparing to dobattle in order to get the largest possibleslice of the state budget cake for their de-partments. However, cash-hungry minis-tries and the opposition are not the onlydangers facing the 2012 draft state budget.Given the shifting economic numbers ofSlovakia’s largest trading partners, marketwatchers warn that the assumptions thatthe Finance Ministry used to construct thedraft might have been too optimistic. Theministry in turn says it is ready to makeany modifications that the changing eco-nomic climate might require.

The Finance Ministry is pitching itsdraft state budget as a roadmap for consol-idation, with a budget deficit of €3.172 bil-lion, €637.6 million lower than the deficitapproved for this year.

See 2012 pg 4

BY BEATA BALOGOVÁSpectator staff

Bribe claimsthreaten

major event

MAJOR sporting events in Slovakia thisyear seem to be suffering from some sort ofcurse. After the Winter Deaflympics,scheduled to take place in February 2011,were cancelled at the last moment after itturned out that the now-jailed head of theorganising committee had been divertingmost of the finances into his own pocket, acorruption scandal now surrounds the or-ganisation of the European BiathlonChampionship, due to take place in Febru-ary 2012 in central Slovakia.

Biathlon is, together with a few otherdisciplines, one sport in which Slovakiaexcels: the country’s biathletes enjoyedconsiderable success at the VancouverWinter Olympics in 2010. The decision tohold the 2012 European championships inthe biathlon centre in Osrblie, in BanskáBystrica Region, therefore came as a chal-lenge to the country, and the governmentagreed to grant financial support for thereconstruction of the facilities there.

See CASH pg 2

BY MICHAELA TERENZANISpectator staff

BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁSpectator staff

BY BEATA BALOGOVÁSpectator staff

PM announces suspension ofgrant after bribery alleged

Smer’s popularity dips in pollSUPPORT for Slovakia’slargest political party, Smer,has fallen recently, accord-ing to the results of a pollconducted by the Median SKpolling agency between June20 and July 17, 2011.

Meanwhile, one of theruling coalition parties,Most-Híd, saw a signific-ant increase in its voterpreferences in comparisonwith a poll from early June2011, the TASR newswirereported.

The July poll, carried outon a representative sampleof 1,113 respondents, showedthat although Smer wouldcome first in a putative gen-eral election, with 42.7 per-cent of preferences, it hadexperienced a dip in pop-ularity of 2.5 percentagepoints compared to theearlier poll from June.

The most significant in-crease in support was recor-ded by Most-Híd. In com-parison with the June poll

its preferences nearlydoubled: from 4.9 to 8.6 per-cent of voters who said theywould vote for the party ifelections were held‘tomorrow’.

The ruling Slovak Demo-cratic and Christian Union(SDKÚ) saw its support in-crease from 14 percent inJune to 16.6 percent in July2011, while the ChristianDemocratic Movement(KDH) attracted 9.8 percent,down on the 10.6 percent itreceived previously in June.

Another ruling coalitionparty, the liberal Freedomand Solidarity (SaS), re-gistered a fall of 1.1 percent-age points, attracting8.2-percent support com-pared to the 9.3 percent it re-ceived in June.

The preferences of theother parliamentary party,the opposition nationalistSlovak National Party (SNS),increased from 6.3 percent to6.5 percent.

President criticises ČentéšSLOVAKIA's president IvanGašparovič has criticisedgeneral prosecutor-electJozef Čentéš for shreddingthe testimony of independ-ent MP Igor Matovič and de-leting a copy from his com-puter, the HospodárskeNoviny daily reported onAugust 12.

“There must be a veryserious reason for shreddingsuch a document at theprosecutor’s office,”Gašparovič said, as quotedby the daily. “Like it or not,it leaves a big questionmark.”

The president noted thatthe case might also affect hisdecision about whether ornot to appoint Čentéš to thepost of general prosecutor.

President Gašparovič isinsisting on waiting for a

ruling by the Constitution-al Court on a change madeby MPs to the method usedto select the general pro-secutor before making hisdecision.

However, Čentéš wasselected by MPs using theold method, to whichGašparovič has never objec-ted.

Slovak presidents’ ap-pointment of MPs’ choicesfor the job have always pre-viously been a formality.

Matovič met Čentéš onJuly 29 to report accusa-tions of corruption in thestate administration.

After he received theMP’s testimony, Čentéšsays he unintentionally de-leted the file from his com-puter and also shredded thehard copy.

Tichý appeals to Constitutional Court

ACTING general prosecutorLadislav Tichý has ad-dressed a complaint to theConstitutional Court, ob-jecting to an amendment tothe law on the prosecutionservice prepared by theJustice Ministry and ap-proved by MPs, the SITAnewswire reported.

“We disagree with theparticipation of the justiceminister in variouscommittees,” said GeneralProsecutor’s Office spokes-person Jana Tökölyová, asquoted by SITA.

Tichý had already sent aletter to Justice Minister Lu-cia Žitňanská in which hereminded her that theprosecutor’s office was not astate agency.

Though deputies passedthe amendment to the law

on prosecution on June 28,2011, President IvanGašparovič has refused tosign it into law and returnedit to the parliament.

If the parliament votesagain in favour and over-rides his veto, as of October2011 all applicants for thepost of general prosecutorwill have to attend a hear-ing led by a 6-membercommittee composed ofthree representatives of theprosecutor’s office andthree representatives ofparliament.

Prosecutors’ offices willalso have to publish the res-ults of their meetings on-line, according to theamendment.

Compiled by Spectator staff

from press reports

Ministers agreeinfo-law changes

STATE-owned companies willhave to publish a list of alltheir contracts, while citizenswill be able to request publica-tion of individual documents –requests with which firmswill have to comply withineight days. Municipalities willno longer have to scan andpost all documents such as in-voices and orders, but only listselected basic data in a moretransparent form. However,as of next year state organisa-tions and municipalities willhave to publish informationabout all invoices and orders,irrespective of their size,rather than being able to keepsmaller deals secret. Thesechanges are envisioned by thedraft revision to the Freedomof Information Act (FOIA) that

the government of IvetaRadičová sent to parliamenton August 17.

Watchdogs and advocatesof free access to informationhave been on alert after stateorganisations submitted aseries of comments to theFOIA draft amendment duringthe review process, many ofwhich would have restricted

access to information – oreven punished citizens for re-questing it. Due to the largevolume of comments, JusticeMinister Lucia Žitňanská di-vided the proposed changes tothe law into two steps: thefirst revision, now approvedby cabinet, pertains only topublishing contracts and in-voices online.

“We are not solving anyother issues in this revision,”Žitňanská said, as quoted by theTASR newswire on August 17.

Žitňanská said that theduty to publish completescanned documentation wasthe main objection of muni-cipalities, which had calledfor a simpler technique forpublishing orders and in-voices so that basic data couldbe drawn directly from ac-counting documents and pos-ted on their websites.

The second revision willaddress other proposedchanges to the FOIA, whichhas already been amendedeight times since 2000.

The current government’srequirement to publish publiccontracts online, which tookeffect on January 1, 2011, wasdesigned to improve trans-parency in how public moneyis spent.

See FOI pg 10

BY BEATA BALOGOVÁSpectator staff

CASH: PM's former advisor chargedContinued from pg 1

€1.6 million for a biathlon

The grant to the Slovak Biathlon Asso-ciation (SZB) and the Biathlon Club Os-rblie from the state was intended to con-tribute to the completion of a multifunc-tional building with rooms for referees,coaches, athletes, health-care workersand media crews. The main building thereis currently just a concrete skeleton withwindows attached, and needs to have fit-tings installed and floors finished. Con-struction experts say that the work couldbe finished in three months’ time, accord-ing to the SITA newswire.

The government assigned a total of€1.6 million for the purpose, with €1 mil-lion to come from the Education Ministry,€300,000 from the Finance Ministry andthe other €300,000 from the primeminister’s financial reserve.

“Immediately, some persons ap-peared who started acting as if 10 percentbelonged to them,” Prime Minister IvetaRadičová said when she announced thatthe government had suspended the grantafter €300,000 of it had been paid out. Shereferred to events that occurred on July29, when police detained three people al-leged to have been in the act of passing abribe of €30,000, or 10 percent of thestate’s grant up to that time.

PM’s aide charged

The case garnered considerable publicattention partly due to the fact that an ex-ternal advisor to the prime minister, re-sponsible for the economy portfolio, Mar-tin Novotný, was allegedly involved in it.

Igor Líška, who is accused of indirectcorruption in the case and is currently inpre-trial custody in order to prevent himfrom interfering in the investigation, al-leged that Novotný provided informationfrom within the Government Office aboutthe grant for construction of the biathlonstadium. Furthermore, Líška allegedly re-ceived the €30,000 from the owner of theconstruction firm that was hired for the

project, Peter Kňazík, in Novotný’s Brat-islava office. Líška denies corruption.

Novotný was on holiday in the USAwhen the corruption allegations weremade public, and refused to comment.

“I don’t have information and I’d findit hard to take any stance,” he told theSme daily.

The Government Office, however, didnot hesitate and Novotný was immedi-ately fired from his post “due to the loss oftrust”; the news about his dismissal wasaccompanied by assurances from thehead of the prime minister’s board of ad-visors, Marián Balász, that external aideshave neither decision-making nor anyother competencies and as such they haveno impact on decisions about grants.

The opposition, however, cried foul.Smer leader Robert Fico accused Radičováof corruption, saying that graft had nevergot so close to the prime minster as it hadin this case.

In the most recent development, onAugust 17, Novotný returned from theUSA and was subsequently officially ac-cused in the case, Interior MinisterDaniel Lipšic told a press conference,adding that more people might facecharges in the near future, the TASRnewswire reported.

Former ambassador held by police

Meanwhile, Líška, a former Slovakambassador to Kenya who worked at theForeign Ministry until February thisyear, is the only suspect so far to haveended up in pre-trial custody.

He was accused of having facilitatedthe passing of a bribe, along with twoother persons, one of them Peter Kňazík,the owner of construction companyKňazík Slovakia.

Líška first admitted to the investigat-or that he had passed information aboutthe grant that he had said he receivedfrom Novotný to Kňazík, who allegedlypromised 10 percent of the sum to the fa-cilitators of the grant, the Sme daily re-ported. Later, in court, Líška denied hav-ing committed any corrupt acts.

Kňazík, who according to Sme hasadmitted corruption in the case, was in2010 found guilty of machination in pub-lic procurement and avoiding taxes, theGovernment Office stated, adding thatboth misdemeanours were connected topublic procurement related to construc-tion of the Osrblie facilities.

Another businessman, PeterPrečuch from Lučenec, has also beenaccused of corruption over the case. Hewas recently found guilty of bribery bythe Specialised Criminal Court, but des-pite that was not taken into custody.The Sme daily reported on August 17that Prečuch pledged to the court thathe would not hinder the investigation,after which he was freed.

Championship endangered?

“In the event that the state grant isnot provided, the European champion-ship is seriously endangered,” the headof Biathlon Club Osrblie, Jozef Molčan,said, as quoted by the SITA newswire. “Ifthis championship doesn’t take place, itwill probably mean the end of interna-tional competitions in Osrblie.”

According to Molčan, the construc-tion work has not progressed for twomonths now; it had been due to resumeonly after further state subsidies weregranted.

Radičová quickly responded to suchconcerns in a statement on August 12which said that the money is still avail-able “thanks to the fast and uncomprom-ising approach of the prime minister, theinterior minister and the investigators”.

“The prime minister is ready to signa contract with the Slovak Biathlon As-sociation again, provided that the SZBselects a new provider of constructionworks and all questions surrounding theunjustified use of financial resources arecleared up,” the statement read.

The SZB is also being investigated bythe police special anti-corruption unit.Representatives of the association,however, have denied responsibility forany corruption in the case.

The Central Register of Contracts Photo: Sme - T. Benedikovič

2 NEWSAugust 22 – September 4, 2011

'Summer has yet tocome for the Church'

WHEN Róbert Bezák waschosen to become the arch-bishop of Trnava in 2009, tothe surprise of many peopleincluding himself, he sooncame to be seen as a symbol ofa generational change inSlovakia’s Roman CatholicChurch. Two years later, heprefers not to comment onany peccadilloes of his prede-cessors and dismisses it aspart of the past while focusingon his mission and his questto make Catholicism a livingpart of society. In an inter-view with The Slovak Spectat-or, Bezák spoke about his mis-sion, his views on the di-versity of the contemporaryworld, and the role of RomanCatholicism, the religion ofsome 70 percent of Slovaks, inthe world of the 21st century.

The Slovak Spectator (TSS):When you were appointed asarchbishop of the TrnavaArchdiocese you were per-ceived as a symbol of achange. What is new aboutyour approach?

Róbert Bezák (RB): Myambition is to link the presentto the past glory of the arch-diocese because Trnava hasalways been an importantcentre of Christianity in Slov-akia; but I also would like tomove it further into the widerEuropean space. At the start Iwas thinking how to enablethe Roman Catholic Church,and mainly our diocese, to beperceived as part of the centralEuropean space. And that iswhere my idea to open up ourchurches is rooted, so thatthey are not strictly onlyplaces of religion, but alsoplaces of art, music and cul-ture. I was pleased to find thatin the surrounding countrieschurches have alreadylaunched this dimension, sowe got in touch with Vienna,Brno, Olomouc, HradecKrálové, and also with placesin Germany and the Nether-lands where they have alsoopened their churches for oneday for other than religiouspurposes. I’m glad that we toohave already had our firstSlovak Night of Churches [inMay 2011]. For me it was adream-come-true becausethere were times when onecouldn’t think of invitingpeople to church; during thecommunist regime the churchwas treated strictly as a privateplace and if one went there onehad to reckon with risks.

TSS: What is the differencebetween the Roman Cathol-ic Church in Slovakia andabroad?

RB: Sometimes they saywe are too conservative, afraidof what’s new. It’s true. Slov-aks are more comfortable withemotiveness and familiarity,while rationality is still to bediscovered. But elsewhere it’sthe emotions that are miss-ing, also in religion. There is alack of joy from closeness,from the encounter. Andthen, the historical develop-ment was different. Thechurches around us have hadto deal with other religions,and with Protestantism,which has caused shifts with-in the Roman Catholic Churchtoo. In Slovakia that was lesssignificant. It was a ruralcountry where life followed anatural rhythm – work inspring and in summer, har-vest in autumn, and rest inwinter. And the religion ac-companied this naturalrhythm of life. There were fewcities to serve as intellectualcentres. Our development wassimply different and we needtime. Many people who stud-ied abroad are coming back toSlovakia nowadays. Theyspeak foreign languages andbring along new ideas. So I be-lieve the summer has yet tocome for the Slovak RomanCatholic Church.

TSS: The Roman CatholicChurch was criticised forpromoting formalism whenit ran motivational cam-paigns before the census en-couraging people to marktheir religion in the censusforms. Does it make sensefor the church to have these‘formal members’ even ifthey do not live with the re-ligion in any way?

RB: As long as someone isstill willing to say he or she isa Catholic, it showssomething. Even if the reli-gion has no practical dimen-sion in the life of that personthere is still the inner identi-fication with Christianity.And that’s a good sign too. Thequestion is whether weshould perceive it in this verysimple sense, or whether

Catholicism should also be aforce present in society. Thatis where statistics are notenough. I’d be glad if it wasn’tonly about statistical data; I’dlike Catholicism to be morevisible practically. But the factis that we live in a society thatconsiders numbers. Demo-cratic society counts votes.And the Roman CatholicChurch is also considered ac-cording to how many votes ithas got. This dimension ofdemocracy is thus also im-portant for us. The morevotes, the happier we are; butwe are aware that it is not themost important expression ofChristianity in Slovakia.

TSS: What does the RomanCatholic Church offer to itsbelievers today as they facenew dilemmas? It does notalways seem to be able to re-spond to current issues.

RB: The Roman CatholicChurch is not an abstract in-stitution; it’s composed ofpeople. And together we arelooking for answers. I don’thave them ready either; thisworld often surprises me withits opinions, its dynamics. Igrew up not knowing what acomputer or a cell phone isand today I can hardly dowithout them. Questionscome faster than the answers.The life and morality of peoplemoves at a tremendous speedand sometimes the only an-swers we’ve got are thosefrom the past and they don’talways fit the present. TheRoman Catholic Church mustlook for its own way to mod-ernise itself. In Slovakia welived for 40 years [duringcommunism] only in ourprivate lives, closed in thechurches, and it was only veryrecently that we opened themup. But we also need to pre-serve our own identity ratherthan trying to please people atany price. The search is acommon effort.

TSS: One of the current chal-lenges is diversity in allareas of life. For instance,

non-heterosexual people aredemanding their rights andwant to be accepted and re-spected by society and thatis not always in line withthe teachings of the RomanCatholic Church.

RB: Various differencesare an issue within our Chris-tian families too. For in-stance, the rising number ofdivorces does not concernonly the worldly space, butalso the Christian one. Newphenomena within humanrelations appear. On the onehand they say that lovedoesn’t need a document –which is a problem for theRoman Catholic Church be-cause it wants people wholove each other to say it aloudand sign their commitment –on the other hand there arepeople who so very muchwant the document for homo-sexual couples. And the truthis that the Roman CatholicChurch looks at some humanrelationships and expressionsof love and sexuality with its“thousand-year-old” view. It’snot a dynamic organisationthat lives only for the presentmoment. When I as a bishoptalk to people about marriage,it is based on the traditionthat has been here for 2,000years and even before. I'm notmoving in a space where Icould say whatever crossesmy mind. There are some di-vorced people among my rel-atives as well and I accept it. Ifeel sorry for that, but I toler-ate it; but sometimes I askmyself where the borderlineis. Does tolerance mean thateveryone can do whateverthey want?

And then the question ishow much we can accepteach other. So that it’s notthat “you must accept me butI don’t like the fact that youare a Catholic and that youhave your principles, becausethen your opinion about con-traception and abortion iswrong”. Sometimes it seemsthat Christianity should moreand more open itself to theworld and accept its opinionsbut it is expected not topresent its opinions and ad-just. But many of our opin-ions are Biblical, such as thecreation of a man and a wo-man, Adam and Eve. On someissues the Bible really offersclear borders. I feel we mightapproach a point that will behard to pass through. Thereare many questions thatmight be easy to talk aboutbut in the end it may not bethat simple. I’d be glad if theRoman Catholic Churchstayed responsible, even atthe expense that it won’t beimmediate in its statementsabout these issues.

For the full version of thisinterview please go towww.spectator.sk.

BY MICHAELATERENZANISpectator staff

R. Bezák Photo: Courtesy of the Office of the Trnava Archbishop

Watchdogs call forhalt to tender

TWO out of two transpar-ency and political fairnesswatchdogs are recommend-ing that a public tenderthrough which the Košicetax office is seeking to renta new building for its offices– a process which itself fol-lowed an earlier propertydeal which collapsed amidallegations of non-trans-parency and political fa-vouritism – be cancelled.The Tax Directorate has notsaid what steps, if any, itwill now take.

Transparency Interna-tional Slovensko (TIS) andFair-Play Alliance, the twowatchdog NGOs who – in anunprecedented move by thegovernment – were asked toevaluate the tender fromthe viewpoint of transpar-ency, both concluded theirinquiries by saying that itshould be cancelled due toserious concerns that sev-eral of the criteria statedwithin it were discriminat-ory and unclear.

Looking to rent

The situation in Košice,which has caused signific-ant tension within the rul-ing coalition, was firstbrought to the media’s at-tention on April 11, 2011,when opposition leaderRobert Fico termed a leasecontract for office spacesigned by the tax authoritya clear “case of partycronyism”.

Fico alleged that some ofthe money from the€6.6-million rental con-tract, sealed by the Tax Dir-ectorate with Nitra Invest, acompany owned by SlovakDemocratic and ChristianUnion (SDKÚ) member On-drej Ščurka at the beginningof the year, would end up inthe coffers of the SDKÚ,though he offered no evid-ence to support his claim.

On April 15, Nitra Investannounced it was with-drawing from the leaseagreement, stating that itdid not want further suspi-cions to be connected withits name.

Prime Minister IvetaRadičová, also from theSDKÚ, called on the head ofthe Tax Directorate,Miroslav Mikulčík, to takepolitical responsibility forthe controversy and resign,which he eventually didafter resisting her call forfive days.

Subsequently, the TaxDirectorate and the FinanceMinistry under IvanMikloš, another SDKÚ min-ister, opened a tender tolease a building, but can-celled it before taking anydecisions, saying it was un-able to evaluate which oftwo bids – made by NitraInvest and another com-pany, CTR – was more ad-vantageous.

A new tender was an-nounced, in which Ščurkawas the only bidder, offeringa 5-year lease agreement for€6.3 million.

Fair-Play Alliance: cancel

the tender

However when Fair-PlayAlliance, a political fairnesswatchdog, presented itsopinion on the tender onAugust 11, it recommendedthat the Tax Directorate notsign a rental contract withNitra Invest and cancel thetender altogether.

“The competition gavean advantage to NitraInvest,” the alliance stated.“The competition wasn’tannounced with criteriathat other bidders would beable to fulfil. Therefore webelieve it wasn’t fair anddidn’t provide the sameconditions for all potentialbidders.”

The alliance listed sev-eral problematic aspects tothe tender, such as discrim-inatory criteria, non-trans-parent conditions, and thelow credibility of analysesbased on which the Tax Dir-ectorate decided that rent-ing one building for all itsoffices in Košice would bethe best solution.

The alliance criticisedthe fact that the Tax Direct-orate listed very specific cri-teria in the tender. These, itsaid, required large-scale re-construction which the bid-ders would have to make be-fore knowing if they wouldwin the tender.

“Some entrepreneurswere thus disadvantaged,because they [had to] investin their buildings beforethey had an assurance thatthe tax authorities wouldsign a contract with them,”Peter Kunder of Fair-Play Al-liance said.

Both Fair-Play Allianceand TIS pointed out that thetender required the build-ing to have been construc-ted no earlier than January2008.

The Tax Directorate ar-gued that this was import-ant because the law on en-ergy efficiency came intoeffect on January 1, 2008.By setting this limit, theTax Directorate said it wasseeking to make sure thatthe building would possessa valid energy-efficiencycertificate.

See TAX pg 5

3August 22 – September 4, 2011NEWS

BY MICHAELATERENZANISpectator staff

Tax authority’sdecision

expected soon

Euroval 2

EUROVAL, the European “de-fence bulwark” devised to savethe common currency, was thisnewspaper’s word of the weekjust over a year ago. Why both-er reading about it again? Thereare two main reasons – firstly,it is likely the most importanttopic of this period. Andsecondly, it provides a fun wayof discovering the double per-sonalities of local politicians.

Parliamentary speakerRichard Sulík claims that bybuilding the euroval the EU isbecoming like the Soviet Unionand that he will do his best tostop the project. On the otherhand, he is reluctant to say thathe will leave the coalition if theother parties join forces withopposition party Smer, al-though the coalition agree-ment explicitly states thatwhen it comes to key issues,such unions are forbidden.Where are the principles?Where is the determination tostop European Bolsheviks? Andhow can he stay in governmentwith someone who is preparingto betray national interestsanyway, at least the way hesees it?

Smer leader Robert Fico,who could provide the coali-tion with enough votes, de-fends an equally awkwardposition. He keeps repeatingthat his Smer party is all forthe financial mechanisms.But he will not vote for themunless the coalition as awhole does so as well.

Prime Minister IvetaRadičová would surely like toappeal to Fico’s statesman-ship and sense of responsib-ility towards Europe. But shecan’t. In 2008 Radičová andthe entire right refused tovote for the Lisbon treaty,against which they had no

substantial objections. Themove was a protest againstFico’s restrictive Press Code,which did give reason forconcern, but never seemedquite as important as thenew European treaty. Noteven to journalists. In theend, Fico found the neces-sary 90 votes only thanks to adeal with the HungarianSMK party.

Radičová says that the fu-ture of the euro and the Slov-ak economy depend oneuroval 1 and 2. But she re-fuses to tell Sulík and his SaSparty that a failed vote willmean an end to her govern-ment, a threat she used twiceduring her first year in officewhen it came to matters thatcertainly won’t go down ashistorically significant – theelection of the general pro-secutor and a cronyism scan-dal in her own SDKÚ party.

In 2010 this newspaperwrote that when it comes tosolving the euro crisis, thenew coalition needs to build abulwark to shield itself frompopulism, indecisiveness andirresponsibility. Since then,all three seem to havedeepened. If that doesn’tchange, euroval may not bejust the first big issue thisgovernment has had to dealwith. It may also be the last.

TAX: NGOs welcome state'sdecision to involve them

Continued from pg 3

But the watchdogs pointed out that havinga valid energy-efficiency certificate wasalready among the requirements; “obtaining itdid not depend on the [date of construction] ofthe building, but on fulfilling the functionalconditions of efficiency”, TIS wrote.

TIS: cancel the tender

“Transparency International Slovakia re-commends cancelling the current round of thesearch for a building to rent, and announce anew competition,” was the conclusion of theanalysis published by TIS on August 5. TISreasoned that the criteria for participation andevaluation were unnecessarily strict, and saidthey had changed during the two rounds of thecompetition. TIS added that they also appearedto be unclear.

The impact study of the rental deal camelate and contained errors, and the changes inthe competition materials that were made inthe course of the tender were not explainedsufficiently, TIS wrote. And although the callsfor applications that were published and theimpact study that was carried out show thatthe objectiveness and transparency of the se-lection process had improved, there was stillno guarantee that this was the best selectionprocess possible, it concluded.

Both watchdogs recommended that a newmethodology be designed for tenders an-nounced by public institutions looking fornon-residential spaces for rent or purchase,which would guarantee a fair and non-dis-criminatory approach to all bidders.

TIS, among other things, recommended re-writing the impact study of the alternatives inthe case of the Košice tax offices, and relaxingthe requirements imposed on bidders.

Fair-Play Alliance focused on the impactstoo, saying that renting one big building for alloffices should be compared with other feasiblesolutions in a correctly-written analysis.

Tax authority’s decision awaited

“The sad fact is that a competition withsuch mistakes was, despite them, the mosttransparent selection of a new building for taxoffices in Košice to date,” TIS concluded.

Despite all their criticism, Fair-Play Alli-ance head Zuzana Wienk noted that this wasthe first time ever in Slovakia that non-gov-ernmental organisations had been asked toevaluate a tender before a contract was signed.

“We do appreciate this new culture,”Wienk said. “We expect that those responsiblewill deal with the facts described in the evalu-ation and then take an independent, publiclyargued decision that will support the fairnessof the processes and will be advantageous forthe state.”

“The Tax Directorate has received a reportfrom Fair-Play Alliance,” the Tax Directoratesaid, as quoted by the SITA newswire. “At themoment, we are analysing it. After assessingboth reports from non-governmental organ-isations, we will take a stance.”

No further information was available asThe Slovak Spectator went to print onThursday, August 18. The final decision onwhether or not to cancel the tender was expec-ted by Friday, August 19.

Will certain wheelsalways need to be greased?

THERE is still a whole gener-ation of people in Slovakiawho will pass on to theirchildren the ‘folk wisdom’that certain wheels alwaysneed to be greased in one oranother way in order to getthings moving.

They will say that par-ental duties include diallingthe right numbers to gettheir kids into the rightschools.

They would never callslipping the right-sized en-velope into the right pocketin order to get a state orderfor their firm corruption, butwould instead reach for oneof the numerous euphem-isms generated over theyears by society.

Bribes can take multipleforms, from innocent-look-ing free tickets, bottles andbaskets of eggs, throughsmall favours, waived pay-ments and perks, up to fatenvelopes and shamelesssweetheart deals.

Twenty-one years afterthe fall of communism, it isbecoming clear that achange in regime or the ar-rival of a new generation inpolitics is not enough toweed out this phenomenonfrom the daily lives of peoplein Slovakia – or anywhereelse for that matter.

One in four householdsin Slovakia that sought helpfrom the Slovak health ser-vice over the past year paid abribe, according to lastyear’s Global Corruption Ba-rometer survey published byTransparency International(TI) in partnership with theUnited Nations Develop-ment Programme (UNDP).

The health service aside,the Slovak public most fre-quently came across briberyat land registry offices and incourts, while businesspeopleand officials in state and pub-lic administration are, ac-cording to the survey, con-sidered the most corrupt in-dividuals.

Despite the perceivedhigh level of bribery, only 8percent of Slovaks have evermade an official complaint.

Yet any government withthe ambition to reduce thewidespread societal toleranceof petty forms of corruptionshould first of all apply zero-tolerance to corruption with-in its own ranks.

It should also encouragewider public control over theflow of taxpayers’ money andshed more light on howspending decisions are made.

When the government ofIveta Radičová took officeafter Robert Fico and hispolitically objectionable co-alition partners, Ján Slotaand Vladimír Mečiar, corrup-tion and cronyism werepromptly defined as the newenemies.

True, the Radičová gov-ernment has been wor–king on anti-corruptionstrategies, but the most im-

portant messages aretransmitted when govern-ments, prosecutors andcourts deal with concretecorruption cases. This is

why the media are closelywatching developmentsaround the most recent cor-ruption case, relating to theconstruction of a sports sta-dium in the village of Os-rblie, which is supposed tohost a European biathlonchampionship.

The state was expected tocontribute €1.6 million to theproject, of which €300,000has already been paid out.The police allege that 10 per-cent of the latter sum waspaid as a bribe and the gov-ernment has now stoppedthe rest of the subsidy.Among those charged withbribery are former Slovakambassador to Kenya IgorLíška, a representative of thefirm Kňazík Slovakia andMartin Novotný, who hasalready been sacked as aneconomic advisor to theprime minister.

Slovakia does not have agood record when it comes tosending corrupt officials tojail, this despite various sur-veys – and past experience –demonstrating that the pub-lic sector contains more thanits fair share of crooks.

For example in one of themost keenly observed casesinvolving suspected corrup-tion of a public official, thecase of a former mayor ofRača, six years after an al-leged crime was first repor-ted by a businessman to thepolice the main defendantsin the case were in 2010cleared on appeal by thesenate of the SpecialisedCriminal Court, with thecourt concluding that it hadnot been proved that the actfor which the two were ori-ginally convicted had actu-ally happened.

Back in 2009, the BanskáBystrica district court ruledthat former Movement for aDemocratic Slovakia (HZDS)deputy Gabriel Karlin, whoallegedly accepted a €16,600bribe in 2006, was in fact in-nocent.

The court also dismissedcorruption charges againstMilan Mráz, Karlin’s partycolleague and former head ofthe Banská Bystrica Region-al Office. The court said theprosecution’s evidence wasnot convincing.

The head of the board ofadvisors to the prime minis-ter has already pledged thatthe Osrblie case will be thor-oughly investigated and themain figures punished re-gardless of their names, in-fluence and position. Thatgood old phrase is definitelyapt here: we will see.

Tough action againstthose who still think that allwhat they are doing is tak-ing what they are entitled towould be far more effectivethan a series of prettilypackaged anti-corruptionpolicies.

5August 22 – September 4, 2011OPINION / NEWS

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:“Mr Slota shouldn’t fly so high; the thin air is apparentlynot doing him any good and he’s talking nonsense.”

The Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party responds to Slovak National Party leader Ján Slota’s allega-tions that SaS might have traded its support for the European Stability Mechanism in a political deal.

SLOVAK WORDOF THE WEEK EDITORIAL

BY BEATA BALOGOVÁSpectator staff

BY LUKÁŠ FILASpecial to the Spectator

The Slovak Spectator is an independent newspaper published every Monday by The Rock, s.r.o.SSubscriptions: Inquiries should be made to The Slovak Spectator’s business office at (+421-2) 59 233 300. Printing: Petit Press a.s. Distribution: Interpress Slovakia s.r.o., Mediaprint-kapa s.r.o., Slovenská po‰ta a.s. Mail Distribution: ABOPRESS. EV 544/08. © 2010 The Rock, s.r.o. All rights reserved. Any reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited by law. The authors of articles published in this issue, represented by the publisher, reserve the right to give their approval for reproducing and public transmission of articles marked ©The Slovak Spectator, as well as for the public circulation of reproductions of these articles,in compliance with the 33rd article and 1st paragraph of the Copyright Law. Media monitoring is provided by Newton, IT, SMA and Slovakia Online with the approval of the publisher. Advertising material contained herein is the responsibility of the advertiser and is not a written or implied sponsorship, endorsement or investigation of suchcommercial enterprises or ventures by The Slovak Spectator or The Rock s.r.o. ISSN 1335-9843.Address: The Rock, s.r.o., Lazaretská 12, 811 08 Bratislava. IâO: 313 86 237.

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Six companies interested in NCHZ

BANKRUPT chemical factoryNovácke Chemické Závody(NCHZ) has attracted six po-tential buyers, theHospodárske Noviny dailyhas reported.

Two Slovak and four for-eign companies are re-portedly interested in pur-chasing the company. One ofthe Slovak applicants is M-Energo, owned by MiroslavRemeta, who participated in

a first bidding round whichwas stopped by the NationalProperty Fund (FNM) for al-leged non-transparency.

The official list of bidderswill be published as soon ascompanies send the bank-ruptcy administrator a draftof the contract and an ad-vance payment of €1 million.

Compiled by Spectator staff

from press reports

Mobile operators’ licences extended

SLOVAKIA’S two biggest mo-bile operators are to havetheir licences to use their ex-isting operating frequenciesextended for another 10years, the Telecommunica-tion Office (TÚ) has decided –but it will come at a cost, theSme daily reported.

Though the Finance Min-istry originally expected thatboth mobile providers wouldpay €10 million, the licenceextensions will cost thecompanies rather more: Or-ange Slovensko must pay €41million, while SlovakTelekom, which operatesmobile services under the T-Mobile brand, will pay €48million.

The TÚ used ARPU (aver-age revenue per user) indic-ators to calculate the fees.The former head of the tele-communications regulator,Branislav Máčaj, said thatcalculating licence fees byusing ARPU effectively pen-alises the more successfuloperator.

“At question are identic-

al licences and the operatorwho is able to earn more peruser will now pay more,”Máčaj said, as quoted bySme.

The operators can stillchallenge the decision. Or-ange Slovensko indicated be-fore the TÚ announced theextension fees that if its one-off charge were higher than€5 million, it would considerarbitration against Slovakia,Sme wrote. In 2006Telefónica Slovakia, the thirdmobile operator, paid €5 mil-lion for its 20-year GSM and3G licences.

Slovak Telecom may beable to sue Slovakia over alaw change, since the Slov-ak Parliament changed therelevant act after the com-pany had filed its originalapplication to extend its li-cence. The company sent itsfirst application to the TÚon January 28 this year,while parliament passed arevision allowing extensionfees to be levied only onApril 5.

Banks accused of operating a cartelTHE ANTIMONOPOLY Officehas launched an investiga-tion of Slovak banks whichallegedly set up a cartelagreement covering bankcharges and mortgage in-terest rates, the Sme dailyreported. Representatives ofthe office would neithercomment on the investiga-tion nor specify when theybelieve the agreement wasstruck.

The first person to sug-gest that a possible cartel

agreement existed was Fin-ance Minister Ivan Mikloš.He asked the banks toprovide documents to hisministry containing inform-ation about their activities.

Banks have been criti-cised for high charges andinappropriate income foryears. During the first sixmonths of 2011 the net profitof the banking sectorreached €431 million, whileprofit from charges and pro-visions grew to €227 million.

Social insurer turns debt collector

THE STATE-RUN social in-surer Sociálna Poisťovňa hasimproved its collection of in-surance fees. The head of theinsurer, Ľuboš Lopatka, saidthat since January 2011 theamount of money owed byprivate individuals andcompanies has dropped byone third, the Sme daily re-ported.

“Over the first sevenmonths [of 2011] 79,395 caseswere submitted toexecutors,” Lopatka an-nounced, as quoted by Sme,

adding that this representeda 151-percent increase.

The social insurer says itis currently achieving a106-percent collection of feesand debts. After being inact-ive in this area for years, thesocial insurer now publishesthe names of debtors onlineand has increased bonusesfor staff who successfully col-lect the amounts due.Thanks to the increase in thenumber of solved cases thestate could reportedly saveup to €100 million.

GDP: Banks rethink growth estimatesContinued from pg 1

“While industrial produc-tion and foreign trade un-doubtedly grew, despite theslowdown in June, retail saleshave not increased in anymonth so far this year in year-on-year terms,” Sadovská toldThe Slovak Spectator.

Retail sales decreased by 1.2percent during the secondquarter compared with the firstthree months and when sea-sonal effects were stripped out.Chief economist of UniCreditBank Slovakia Vladimír Zlackýattributes this decrease to a fallin household consumption anddecreasing expenditure by theSlovak government as part of itsongoing austerity programme.

The latest economic indic-ators, not only from Slovakiabut also its biggest economicpartners, suggest that there isa risk that economic growthcould be slower than was ori-ginally forecast. Several banksnow say they may cut theirGDP growth estimates – andsome already have.

“We assume that the Slov-ak economy’s growth will slowin a more significant way in theforthcoming period,” Zlackýwrote in a memo. “Already the

June data on industrial produc-tion and foreign trade have in-dicated a drop in economicgrowth dynamics.”

According to Zlacký, Q2data about the German eco-nomy, which grew by only 0.1percent when compared tothe first quarter and cleansedof seasonal influences,demonstrate the deceleratingeconomic growth ofSlovakia’s main businesspartner. UniCredit Group’sanalysts have reduced theirestimate of German growthfrom 3.5 to 3.0 percent for 2011and from 2.0 percent to 1.3percent for 2012. Slovakia ex-ports one fifth of its produc-tion, especially cars and elec-

trical appliances, to Germany,according to the HospodárskeNoviny daily.

“Recent turbulent devel-opments on financial marketsmay accentuate even more thisslowdown of the real economyin eurozone countries, whichwill be reflected in demand forSlovakia’s exports after a cer-tain time lapse,” said Zlacký.“For now we are keeping our es-timate for economic growth at3.1 percent for 2011, bearing inmind the start of production ofa large electro-technical produ-cer and a carmaker during thesecond half of 2011, but westress that the risk remainsthat the estimate could still bedeflected downwards.”

UniCredit Bank Slovakia,referring to the expected glob-al slowdown, has adjusted itseconomic growth estimate forSlovakia for 2012 downwardsby 0.6 percentage points, to 3.3percent.

VÚB Banka is even morepessimistic.

“For the rest of the year[2011] we have halved our pre-vious estimates,” AndrejArady, macroeconomist atVÚB Banka, wrote in a memo.”For 2012 we estimate annualeconomic growth at a levelclose to 2 percent.”

It will be necessary to waitand see what damage the cur-rent drop in stock marketscauses to future growth estim-ates over the next few months,according to Arady. But he per-ceives the current situation asbeing similar to the initial phaseof the last economic crisis.

“The scenario recalls verymuch the developments thatoccurred two years ago,” Aradytold Hospodárske Noviny.

Since the state budget ofSlovakia for next year assumeseconomic growth of 4.4 per-cent, a revision of macroeco-nomic prognoses by the Fin-ance Ministry is now con-sidered highly probable.

Economic growth forecasts are being adjusted. Photo: TASR

2012: Some ministries to feel the pinchContinued from pg 1

The public finance deficit in 2012should thus fall to 3.8 percent of grossdomestic product, with the target beingto reduce it further in 2013, to beneaththe 3-percent eurozone limit set by theMaastricht Treaty. This year, the publicfinance deficit is expected to reach 4.9percent of GDP.

In fact, at a cabinet meeting on Au-gust 17, ministers toyed with the idea ofan even more radical consolidation of thepublic finances than the governmenthad originally planned, with FinanceMinister Ivan Mikloš confirming that hiscolleagues had demonstrated that theyunderstood the need to cut the deficit.

“I have a good feeling from today’sdiscussion because no one doubted thispriority; on the contrary, there werevoices asking whether we are able to seekeven faster reduction of the public fin-ance deficit,” Mikloš said, as quoted bythe SITA newswire.

Yet Mikloš said that despite this un-derstanding, ministers have collectivelylodged requests for money which far out-strip the possibilities of the budget. Theeducation and infrastructure sectors willbe treated as priorities, he said.

The 2012 draft state budget forecaststotal revenues of €15.27 billion, repres-enting an increase of more than 16 per-cent over this year’s estimated receipts.Expenditure, by contrast is expected togrow more moderately, rising by 8.8 per-cent compared to this year’s budget toreach €18.443 billion, SITA reported.

“I consider the plan to cut the budgetdeficit up to 2013 to be ambitious enough,”VÚB Banka economist Andrej Arady toldThe Slovak Spectator. “However, the basicmacro-economic prognoses that the cab-inet has built the state budget on nowseems optimistic. It will take severalmonths until the smoke clears and we seethe real damage caused to the economy.”

Arady said that estimates for realeconomic growth seem inflated and a

scenario of slow growth at 2 percent fornext year seems more realistic to him.However, he said he is sure that thegovernment is following developmentsand will re-evaluate the draft budget ifnecessary.

“The necessity to cut the budget defi-cit to 3.8 percent is very acute and thegovernment in fact does not have roomfor hesitation,” Tatra Banka analystJuraj Valachy told The Slovak Spectator.

If the economic situation allows iteven a little, then the reduction in thebudget deficit could be even more ambi-tious, Valachy said. He agreed that theestimates that serve as the basis for thebudget calculations may be too rosy.

“The macro-economic assumptionson which the state budget is built are op-timistic when seen through today’sprism,” said Valachy. “It would be desir-able to update the assumptions and ad-just the spending side to lower revenueseven before the key vote in parliament.”

As for the potential risks hangingover next year’s plan, Valachy identifiedpotentially worse development in theeconomy than the government expects.He warned that if this occurs, additionalmodifications on the spending side andthe revenue side – by increasing sometaxes – will be necessary to ensure thatthe country retains the confidence of thefinancial markets.

“This would be reflected in highercosts of financing for the state and sub-sequently also companies andinhabitants,” said Valachy.

The Finance Ministry has said that ifthe global economic situation calls forchanges, the ministry will reflect actualdevelopments in the draft budget fornext year.

“The analytical team at the ministryvery carefully monitors the situation,but after four days of volatility on themarket it is premature to say what willhappen,” ministry spokesman MartinJaroš said on August 10. “If correctionsbecome necessary, they will be made.”

The Finance Ministry has said that thedraft put before cabinet includes the basicpriorities of education and infrastructure,while other political priorities will be sub-ject to further coalition talks over the nextfew weeks.

Valachy said that these budget priorit-ies are right. However, he added that thejudicial system should also be a priority,since the courts have long evoked concernamong not just investors but also citizens.

“I consider tuning the priorities of thebudget to infrastructure and education theright step towards a long-term increase inSlovakia’s competitiveness,” Arady said.“It is a good investment which will delivera return to Slovakia’s economy, withinterest.”

The numbers

The Defence Ministry will again get asmaller portion of spending, at least ac-cording to the draft. Total defence spend-ing is set at 1.03 percent of GDP for 2012,compared to 1.11 percent of GDP this year,SITA reported. The department will see itsbudget cut by 0.72 percent, to €754.3 mil-lion. Defence Minister Ľubomír Galko saidhe would not resign over the proposedbudget, but would try to fight for morecash for Slovakia’s armed forces.

The Ministry of Transport, Construc-tion and Regional Development can expectto get €2.126 billion, a 12.9 percent increaseon 2011. Of this sum, €1.911 billion is ear-marked for the development of road andrail infrastructure. The Economy Ministrywill see its budget shrink dramatically in2012: it will get €209 million, as opposed tothe €334 million it is receiving this year.The Finance Ministry proposes to achievethis reduction by a cut in investmentstimuli and support for businesses.

The Labour Ministry will get 2.37 per-cent less than this year, receiving €1.96billion. The most generous package willgo to the Education Ministry, which willhave €2.434 billion to spend in 2012, a4.8-percent increase compared to 2011.

4 BUSINESS / NEWSAugust 22 – September 4, 2011

Some companies withBritish capital in Slovakia

AquaCity Poprad, www.aquacity.skBoxperfect, www.boxperfect.comBPP Professional Education, www.bpp.com/slovakiaENL SK, www.enl.skHSBC Bank, www.hsbc.comKinstellar, www.kinstellar.comSlovak Health Spa Pieštany, www.spapiestany.skSpiller Farmer, www.spillerfarmer.skTesco Stores SR, www.itesco.sk

Source: British Chamber of Commerce in the Slovak Republic,

databases of The Slovak Spectator

UK institutions in Slovakia

British EmbassyAmbassador: Susanna Montgomery has beenappointed and is due to take up her post inBratislava on September 2www.ukinslovakia.fco.gov.uk/

British CouncilDirector: Alena Rebrováwww.britishcouncil.sk

British Chamber of Commerce in the Slovak RepublicChairman: John Barterwww.britcham.sk

United Kingdom: General facts

Political system: constitutional monarchyCapital: LondonTotal area: 242,500 square kilometresPopulation: nearly 61 millionMain language: EnglishCurrency: pound sterling

Restoring order in the UK

IT HAS been difficult to turnon the television or pick up anewspaper without hearingabout this month’s horrific ri-oting in Britain. Watchingfrom afar, whilst representingBritish interests in Slovakia,my heart goes out to the famil-ies and small business ownerswho have been harmed bythese events. First and fore-most, the behaviour of thepersons involved in the riot-ing has been utterly appalling.Regardless of context, this iscriminality, pure and simple,and the looting, vandalism,and gang behaviour cannotand will not be tolerated. Theviolence and depraved actionsof these individuals arewholly unacceptable.

Prime Minister DavidCameron has stressed thatBritain will use all means ne-cessary to restore law and or-der. Fortunately the country iswell on its way to achievingthis goal. When it becameclear that more police wererequired on our streets andmore robust police action wasnecessary, all annual leavewithin the Metropolitan Po-lice was cancelled and 16,000police were deployed to the

streets of London, which hadthe desired effect across thecapital. Copycat crimes beganpopping up in other Britishcities, including Birmingham,Manchester and Nottingham.Hundreds of arrests have beenmade in these cities and policeare working tirelessly to quellfurther incidents.

British government andlaw enforcement agencies areensuring that the violencestops and that the police areequipped with whatever re-sources they need to restore

order. To date [Ed. note: Au-gust 15] over 2,800 peoplehave been arrested nation-ally, more than 1,100 have ap-peared in courts, and 808 ofthese have been charged. Brit-ish courts remained in ses-sion around the clock and willcontinue to ensure that pro-cedures and processes are ac-celerated and justice isserved. I am heartened by theswiftness of this response,and bolstered even more bythe efforts my fellow Britshave taken upon themselves

to contribute to the restora-tion of order.

In many ways, theseevents have showcased theworst of Britain, but I also be-lieve we’ve seen some of thebest of Britain. Over a millionpeople have signed up onFacebook to support the po-lice in cleanup efforts, andentire communities are pitch-ing in to help to restore asense of normality and calm.Complacency has never beenand will never be an option.

I hope that these awfulevents will not distract theworld from the fact that thecoming year is a big one forBritain: 2012 will mark thecelebration of the Olympicand Paralympic Games inLondon, and the Queen willcelebrate her Diamond Ju-bilee. In terms of theOlympics, the focus of thegovernment and everyone in-volved is to deliver a safe andsecure Olympic and Para-lympic Games that London,the UK and the world can en-joy. The police and emer-gency services have substan-tial experience in terms ofpreparation for these majorevents, and also have majorexperience dealing withprotests, both of the peacefuland law-abiding variety, andalso the violent.

See MK pg 11

BY MARTIN KAYSpecial to the Spectator

Martin Kay, chargé d’affaires at the British EmbassyPhoto: Courtesy of the British Embassy

British investors' interest is strong and growing

ECONOMIC and trade relationsbetween Great Britain and Slovakiaare strong and thriving. There are anumber of British investors alreadywell established in Slovakia and oth-ers are eying opportunities here: ex-perts evaluate mutual economic co-operation as sound, with prospectsfor further growth.

“Trade relations between Slovakiaand Britain are very good,” Peter Rep-ka, head of the trade and investmentdepartment at the British Embassy inBratislava, told The Slovak Spectator.“According to British statistics, bilat-eral trade in goods exceeded GBP2 bil-lion in 2010 – an impressive achieve-ment from both ends, considering theimpacts of the global crisis.”

According to Repka, British ex-ports to Slovakia grew by 22 percentcompared to 2009. He specified thatadvanced engineering and automot-ive, electronic machinery and appli-ances, telecommunication equip-ment and metallurgical products arethe goods most traded between thetwo countries.

Slovakia continues to export ap-proximately twice as much to the UK asthe UK exports to Slovakia, accordingto the British Chamber of Commerce inSlovakia. However, the 2010 figures aresignificantly lower than the €2.3 bil-lion of exports to the UK achieved an-nually during 2007 and 2008.

“One factor has to be the decreasein the value of sterling; we know ofcases where manufacturing compan-ies had taken fixed price contracts insterling and it was cheaper to pay thepenalties for non-delivery ratherthan manufacture the product,” JohnBarter, chairman of the BritishChamber of Commerce in Slovakia,told The Slovak Spectator. “Luckily, inmost cases the Slovak companieswere able to re-negotiate their con-tracts so that they could deliver, butwhat has become clear is that becauseof the devaluation of sterling it ismore difficult for Slovak companiesto be competitive in the UK market.”

According to Barter, the chamberknows of Slovak companies that havetaken advantage of the economiccrisis to re-organise in order to signi-ficantly increase their productivityand competitiveness. These compan-ies are now stronger, more efficientand able to compete worldwide.

“Regarding our expectations ofthe future, one can predict that if theSlovak economy continues to growthen the UK will see many opportun-ities as the service sector develops,but we all have to be vigilant and re-cognise that the eurozone faces manychallenges over the next threeyears,” said Barter.

Repka would like to see furthergrowth in this and coming years but,according to him, the current debtsituation in the USA is very likely tohave an impact on European trade re-lations as well.

British investments in Slovakia

“The interest of British investorsand entrepreneurs in Slovakia is rel-atively high with regards to thenumber of inquiries our agencyrecords,” said Richard Dírer, spokes-person for the Slovak Investmentand Trade Development Agency(SARIO), adding that British com-

panies regularly enquire about Slov-akia and opportunities to make in-vestments here.

So far SARIO has completed 16projects with British investors. Thesehave brought in aggregate invest-ments of €63 million and createdbetween 805 and 1,286 jobs. SARIO iscurrently working on two projectswith British investors, according toDírer.

With regards to the activitiesSARIO carries out to attract Britishinvestments to Slovakia, Dírer spe-cified that the agency regularlypresents its activities and the oppor-tunities to invest in Slovakia via itsown investment seminars.

One such seminar took place inCardiff in October 2010. It was organ-ised by the trade counsellor of theSlovak Republic in Great Britain,Vladimír Kumičák, in cooperationwith Slovakia’s honorary consul inWales, Nigel Payne. The seminar wasattended by 60 companies fromWales who showed great interest inSlovakia, according to SARIO. Itspresentation focused on introducingSlovakia as a country that has a great-er interest than in the past in directforeign investment in high-tech in-dustries with a higher added value,and in research and development.

Barter and Repka confirmed thatSlovakia remains attractive to UK in-vestors and visitors.

“Everyone I have hosted in Slov-akia enjoys Bratislava and falls inlove with the country,” said Barter.“The central location serviced byBratislava and Vienna airports givesSlovakia significant advantages overits neighbours. The current motor-way-building programme is alreadyhaving an impact and the railway in-frastructure modernisation will be ofequal importance.”

However, Repka admitted thatthe economic downturn has affectedtrade and investment relationsbetween the two countries.

“British investors are a bit cau-tious about expanding their busi-nesses, not only in Slovakia but inEurope as such. We would love tosee more manufacturing investorscoming in,” said Repka. “On theother hand, a report compiled by theBritish government agency fortrade and investment in August2010 shows that some 24 percent ofUK companies consider the centraland eastern European region ingeneral as a favoured market for ex-porting in the future.”

See UK pg 8

BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁSpectator staff

6

GERMANY

Next issue:BUSINESS FOCUS

GREAT BRITAIN August 22 – September 4, 2011

UK investors areactive in retail, spa

treatment, educationand many other

sectors

British Council prefers long-term links to 'short affairs'

British box-maker investsin eastern Slovakia

Some Irish companies in Slovakia

Ballymore, www.ballymore.co.ukCPL Jobs, www.cpljobs.skGrafton Recruitment, www.grafton.skOdenberg Engineering, www.odenberg.comPPI Adhesive Products, www.ppiadhesiveproducts.comSilcotec Europe, www.silcoteceurope.com

Source: Irish Chamber of Commerce

Irish institutions in Slovakia

Embassy of IrelandAmbassador: Kathryn Collwww.embassyofireland.sk

Irish Chamber of Commerce in SlovakiaChairperson: Glen Farrellwww.irishchamber.sk

Ireland: General facts

Political system: parliamentary democracyCapital: DublinTotal area: 70,282 square kilometresPopulation: over 4 millionOfficial languages: Irish and EnglishCurrency: euro

Ryanair dominates Bratislava AirportIRISH low-cost airline Ry-anair remains the most im-portant airline flying fromM.R. Štefánik Airport inBratislava, with 498,430 pas-sengers during the first halfof 2011. Flights to and fromLondon have been the mostin demand since the begin-ning of the year, with156,930 clients, the SITAnewswire wrote in late July.

Ryanair operates 17flights to six countries fromBratislava, serving Brussels,Dublin, Barcelona, Rome,and Paris, among other des-

tinations. In mid FebruaryBratislava got a directscheduled air connection tothe Canary Islands.

In 2010 Ryanair in-creased its passenger num-bers flying through Bratis-lava by 40.3 percent to 1.1million. This accounted for66 percent of all passengersserved by Bratislava Airport.Ryanair began operating outof the airport in October2005.

Compiled by Spectator staff

from press reports

Eurovea attracts tenants

DEVELOPERS as well as realestate agents are reportingsigns of recovery in the mar-ket for office space, sayingcompanies in Slovakia aremore confident and showingmore interest in new officespace.

“Companies are showingstronger interest in larger-sized office accommodationcompared to the previoustwo years,” AndreaŠevčíková, office leasingmanager for BallymoreGroup, stated in press releasein early August.

Ballymore Group ownsand leases Class A office

premises in the three centralbuildings at the Eurovea de-velopment on Bratislava’sDanube embankment.

“We are reasonablypleased with the leasing res-ults so far,” Mike de Mug, re-tail director for Ballymore,said in the press release.“Both Central 1 and 2 are sub-stantially leased and the re-maining areas are in negoti-ations. Central 3 is close toreaching 50 percent occu-pancy, which would leave uswith two floors of 2,500square metres for which weare keen to attract a largeroccupier.”

'A more rounded picture'

IN THE few months beforemy arrival to take up this pos-ition in September 2008, theonset of recession in tandemwith our initial rejection ofthe Lisbon Treaty began tocloud the bright image Ire-land had enjoyed in Slovakiaand in the EU generally.Worse was to come for Ire-land as an unprecedentedbanking and economic crisistook hold and bank debtmorphed into sovereign debt.

Slovakia’s negativegrowth of 2009 was rapidlyreversed as internationaltrade rebounded. Ireland’sdifficulties – both home-grown and global in theirmaking – continue to chal-lenge us. Budget adjustmentsequivalent to over 13 percentof GDP have been implemen-ted since 2008 and, after threeyears of contraction, the eco-nomy has returned to growth.Ireland is meeting all of thetargets agreed with our fund-ing partners in the EU andIMF and the new governmentis determined to use its un-precedented mandate to bringthe deficit down below 3 per-cent of GDP by 2015. In July,the eurozone leaders put inplace more favourable finan-cing terms for countries such

as Ireland in order to facilit-ate our return to the marketsat the end of our funding pro-gramme. We are confidentthat these new financingterms will underpin Ireland’sdebt sustainability, investorconfidence and the recoveryof the economy.

To promote Ireland’s in-terests and burnish its repu-tation in Slovakia in thesecircumstances, the embassyhas had to show the Slovakauthorities, particularly thoseinputting to debate in Brus-sels, that Ireland has thepolitical will and the capa-city, with appropriate sup-port, to turn its problemsaround. In communicatingthe scale of our problems and

the series of tough correc-tions made by our govern-ment since 2008, I have triedalso to convey a more roun-ded picture. In Bratislava aselsewhere, a key Irish mes-sage has been that our eco-nomy has over several dec-ades built strengths we aredetermined to preserve anddeploy: attractiveness to FDIin high value-added sectors, abroad-based and diversifiedexport sector, entrepreneurialflair, collaboration betweenindustry, academia and gov-ernment, a developing repu-tation for innovation and sci-ence: Dublin will be theEuropean City of Science nextyear. As our economy recov-ers competitiveness, these

strengths are showing moreclearly. Export performancelast year was both strong andbroad-based: Irish exportsgrew by over 9 percent. Wesecured 126 foreign direct in-vestments in 2010, includinga 20-percent rise in the num-ber of companies investing inIreland for the first time. TheWorld Bank ranks Irelandamong the top 10 countries inthe world for ease of doingbusiness.

At annual business eventsorganised by Enterprise Ire-land, the same message waspassed to Irish companiesalready doing business inSlovakia or looking to enterthe Slovak market and to theirSlovak partners, actual andpotential. It was passed tonewspaper editors and eco-nomic analysts, to universitystudents, to the Irish Cham-ber of Commerce and thewider Irish community inSlovakia; even the Interna-tional Women’s Club of Brat-islava was not spared. So sali-ent is the economic messagein the embassy’s prioritiesthat our cultural contacts alsobecome seized of it.

In the past three years, anumber of happy accidentswere turned into opportunit-ies to project Irish film andliterature in Slovakia and toaccess networks we wouldnot otherwise encounter.

See KC pg 9

BY KATHRYN COLLSpecial to the Spectator

Irish Ambassador Kathryn Coll Photo: Jana Liptáková

Slovak-Irish business links endure

EVEN though the global financial and eco-nomic crisis did affect business relationsbetween Ireland and Slovakia, bilateraltrade so far this year has been showingsignificant growth at both ends. And Irishentrepreneurs are aware of the advantagesSlovakia, as a eurozone member in thecentre of Europe, enjoys – and the poten-tial this means for doing business. Allthese factors mean Slovakia remains aninteresting target for Irish investors.

“The financial crisis certainly had anegative impact on trade between Slov-akia and Ireland,” Ladislav Müller, the dir-ector of the Enterprise Ireland office forBulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary,Romania and Slovakia, told The SlovakSpectator. “However, this year seems to bevery different. Exports from Ireland havegrown by nearly 20 percent in the first five

months of 2011 and reached €66.5 million.Slovak exports have increased even moresignificantly, by 70 percent to €31.5million.”

Enterprise Ireland regards Slovakia asa developed, stable and enterprising eco-nomy with many advantages.

“Slovakia has a very favourable busi-ness environment and its eurozone mem-bership provides quite a distinctadvantage,” said Müller. “Exchange ratestability is an enormous bonus point and asingle currency simplifies and promotestrade within the eurozone bloc. Slovakiahas a strategic location, well-educatedworkforce and is the only member of theeurozone in central Europe. Irish compan-ies are very aware of the potential for do-ing business in Slovakia.”

On the other hand, Ireland also con-tinues to attract young Slovaks as they cangain valuable experience in Irish compan-ies, which value their contribution highly.

Attractive location for

Irish investments

According to Müller, Ireland hastraditionally traded and invested verystrongly with established partnerssuch as the United Kingdom and theUnited States of America. In today’s

globalised world however, companiescannot afford to focus their attentionsnarrowly.

“Part of Enterprise Ireland’s strategicfocus is to help Irish business to diversifyits trading base and find new customers innew markets,” said Müller. “We have had aparticular drive on securing the opportun-ities which are available in Europe, includ-ing the central European region whereSlovakia represents a strategic startingpoint and base for expansion to Poland, theCzech Republic, Austria and Hungary. Un-less we experience another external eco-nomic shock, my expectations of futurebusiness developments are very positive.”

The Slovak Investment and Trade De-velopment Agency (SARIO) registers in-terest from Irish investors and entrepren-eurs in Slovakia. It is currently workingon one Irish project, spokespersonRichard Dírer told The Slovak Spectator.

So far SARIO has completed threeprojects with Irish investors. These havebrought in aggregate investments of €2.2million and created between 100 and 155jobs. According to data from the NationalBank of Slovakia, the inflow of foreign dir-ect investment from Ireland totalled €4.87million up to the end of 2009.

See EIRE pg 9

BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁSpectator staff

GERMANY

Next issue:BUSINESS FOCUS

IRELAND

Irish companies areaware of the potentialfor doing business in

Slovakia

FOCUS shorts

New centre for Slovaksopens in Dublin

Ryanair dominatesBratislava Airport

7August 22 – September 4, 2011

Council prefers long-termlinks to 'short affairs'

THE BRITISH Council is cer-tainly one institution that cangive a helping hand toSlovakia’s education system asit faces a very ambitious tar-get: to extend compulsory Eng-lish tuition throughout thesystem and, in the process, ad-dress the challenge of a lack ofEnglish-language teachers.However, the outgoing head ofthe British Council in Slovakia,Andrew Spells, and his suc-cessor Alena Rebrová say thatthis is only one aspect of thecouncil’s activities here. TheSlovak Spectator spoke toSpells and Rebrová about themission and activities of thecouncil.

The Slovak Spectator (TSS):What is the British Council’smain mission here and whatactivities do you offer to thepublic?

Andrew Spells (AS): TheBritish Council in this countryhas three main areas of opera-tion: one is teaching English;the second is providing accessto British exams throughoutSlovakia – general English-lan-guage exams but also profes-sional exams, and exams thatBritish universities mightsend forth to students in Slov-akia; the third area is what wegenerally refer to as “projects”,and at the moment we have anumber of projects, primarilyin arts, education and society,and in English.

We have been discussingwhere we think we canachieve the most impact – forSlovakia and of course for the

UK, too. We are really not in-terested in putting on a music-al cycle for the sake of it: wealways try to go deeper thanthat; to provide some lastingvalue. Through looking atwhat we’ve done in the past,and learning from that experi-ence, we’ve now arrived at apoint where we’ve got a morefocused and hopefully morerelevant range of projects run-ning here.

TSS: There have been a lot ofchanges in Slovakia withinthe education sector. How isthe British Council involvedin educational projects?

AS: We are always trying towork closely with partner or-ganisations, be they minis-tries, non-governmental or-ganisations, or some local in-stitutions. One of the twomain areas at the moment is

support for teachers of Eng-lish. Recognising that theSlovak [education] ministry isseeking to extend compulsoryteaching of English downthrough the system, and thatthere is a shortage of English-language teachers, we are re-sponding to the situation: withthe support of the ministry,we ran a conference in June forteachers of English acrossSlovakia, and the response wasbetter than we expected. A fu-ture conference is being con-sidered.

Another area where we aretrying to support teachers ofEnglish in Slovak schools is byproviding access to a range ofmaterials that the BritishCouncil has corporately de-veloped and made availablearound the world.

See BC pg 11

British retail giant expands

RETAIL chain Tesco contin-ues to extend its network ofoutlets in Slovakia. In lateJune Tesco Stores SR, theSlovak arm of the British re-tailer, opened its 100th outletin Slovakia, in Poltár. Theopening took place onlyshortly after the retail chainhad celebrated the 15th an-niversary of its arrival in theSlovak market, OľgaHrnčiarová, corporate affairsmanager of Tesco Stores SRwrote in a press release.

The store in Poltár stocks4,700 products and is openseven days a week. It em-ploys 23 people.

During 2010 Tesco opened16 new outlets and the planfor 2011 is to open 25 newstores throughout Slovakia,the SITA newswire wrote inApril. Last year investmentswere directed in particularinto making Tesco Stores SRindependent from its Czechcounterpart, as well as increating an independentmanagement structure.

Tesco entered the Slovakmarket in 1996. Its more than8,800 employees make it oneof the biggest private em-ployers in Slovakia.

Compiled by Spectator staff

from press reports

UK: New investments are comingContinued from pg 6

In terms of Slovakia’s advantages,British investors first list the tax system,the country’s location and its relativelyflexible Labour Code, according to Barter.Repka also listed the country’s return toeconomic growth, its 19-percent incometax and the improving transport infra-structure.

With regards to the advantageswhich investors see in Slovakia, Bartersaid he believes that many of the per-ceived barriers are being removed andBritish businessmen have the advant-ages of being EU citizens.

“Certainly, there are frustrationsover the time it can take for state institu-tions to approve paperwork, and we areconfident that this will improve," hesaid.

Repka further stressed that Bratis-lava is a centre for many internationalcompanies, and a high number of expat-riate citizens live here. He added, citingEurostat data, that although the coun-tries of central and eastern Europe are yetto reach the economic level (GDP per cap-ita) of western European members, thegreatest shift in the past 10 years was re-ported by Slovakia, which jumped from50 percent of the EU average in 2000 to 74percent in 2010.

With regards to disadvantages, Repkapointed out that despite Slovakia’s relat-ively high unemployment, the availabil-ity (in some regions) and skills of the la-bour force have started to become a prob-lem, and that some investors are con-cerned about the public procurementsystem and tenders.

“There has been a lot of improvementrecently but there is still some way togo,” Repka said.

Dírer listed the sectors that are mostinteresting for British investors as beingthe automotive and electro-technical in-dustries, but also mentioned shared ser-vices. Repka said the security sector (i.e.companies like G4S), education, as well asclimate change and low-carbon recoveryall have potential for further cooperation.

“The security sector is gaining mo-mentum, because of the increasing in-terest and demand from Slovak organisa-

tions and companies and the existing ex-cellence, expertise and know-how at theBritish end,” Repka said. “The educationsector is also very interesting as, after thetemporary decline of demand after thecrisis, there is a renewed interest in Slov-akia for various management trainingand other education services.”

Examples of successful

British investments

Tesco Stores Slovakia, with its 100stores across the country, is the largestBritish investor here, according to Repka.It is Slovakia’s largest retailer and ranksin the top five private employers, withover 8,800 staff.

“But few people recognise that SlovakHealth Spa in Piešťany and in Smrdáky isultimately a British investment,” Repkasaid, pointing out that Piešťany Spa em-ploys over 1,200 people. “The securityprovider G4S is another major investor.”

There are also many companies thathave not invested in manufacturing butare key players in the market via trading,franchising or provision of services.These include companies in the defence,

pharmaceuticals, nuclear-environment-al, oil and gas, ICT, and advanced engin-eering sectors, according to Repka.

But it is not possible to say preciselyhow many British companies are in Slov-akia.

“Not every British company in Slov-akia registers with us,” said Repka. “Weare aware of over one hundred businesseswith some kind of British ownership butthere surely are many more.”

Repka sees one problem in identify-ing these as being the multinationalcharacter of many firms, while anotherissue is the lack of a reliable resource list-ing all foreign-owned entities.

“But we can say that we have seenvery few, if any, British investors leavingthe country and many more coming in orexpanding their businesses,” he said.

Repka added that a new British in-vestor, Freeport, is due to open an outletcentre in spring 2012 near Bratislava. Thecompleted project will cover an area of200,000 square metres, with over 100 re-tail and restaurant units. The develop-ment will comprise three separatephases, with phase one creating over 60retail outlets.

AquaCity expects increase in visitors

THE POPRAD-based AquaCityresort is forecasting a 15-per-cent increase in visitors thisyear. It recorded nearly800,000 visitors in 2010, butsays numbers so far this yearare on course to be even high-er.

“2011 is developing signi-ficantly better than lastyear,” AquaCity directorRichard Pichonský said inearly July, as quoted by theSITA newswire. He addedthat in June alone 38,000 pu-pils and students visited thewater park at the end of theschool year.

Slovaks make up thelargest portion of visitors toAquaCity. They are followedby Poles, Czechs, Britons and,during the summer months,Germans. While the HighTatras region has registered aconsistent outflow of Polishtourists over recent years,this has not been the case forAquaCity.

“It is true that in 2009there was a significant out-

flow of Polish clients, butthey returned in 2010,”Pichonský said.

This year AquaCity hasnot added any new water at-tractions as the company’smanagement has focused ona new target group – sportstays. This is closely linkedwith the Continental HockeyLeague in Poprad and aplanned football trainingcentre. Further investment inwater attractions depends onthe completion of technicalinfrastructure in the localitythat is required for theplanned construction of thesecond phase of AquaCity.

The AquaCity project, byBritish investor of Czech ori-gin Jan Telensky and the cityof Poprad, uses geothermalwater and solar energy toheat and power the resort. Itconsists of outdoor and in-door pools, water attractions,a wellness and spa centre,two hotels on the AquaCityresort premises and anotherin the High Tatras.

British box-maker invests in Kojšov

BOXPERFECT, a companyfrom Essex in the UK, haspicked the village of Kojšovin Gelnica District for a newplant to manufacture giftand presentation boxes forthe retail trade. Productionbegan in June. During thefirst phase 30 jobs were cre-ated; more employees shouldbe hired next year. Boxper-fect plans to export 85 per-cent of its production.

“Growth in demand, es-pecially in the Europeanmarket, and higher interestfrom customers led us to de-cide to open a new plant,”the Hospodárske Novinydaily quoted Mark Bottger,director-general of Boxper-fect, as saying in May.

Apart from the level ofproduction costs the soundreputation of the Slovak la-bour force also contributed tothe company’s decision tochoose Slovakia.

“A lot of Slovaks have

worked in our plant inEngland,” he said, addingthat the company had foundthem to be skilled and dutifulworkers.

According to the daily, theBritish investment has ar-rived in Kojšov partly thanksto the global increase in fuelcosts; China used to be a sig-nificant supplier of gift boxesto Europe but now the pricedifference between Boxper-fect and China has narrowedsignificantly, it wrote.

Boxperfect also plans touse Slovak suppliers of inputmaterials.

The arrival of the Britishinvestor in the small and rel-atively remote village bringssome hope of a reduction inthe high local jobless rate.Almost 27 percent of Kojšovcitizens are registered un-employed, while joblessnessin Gelnica District is almost20 percent, the TASR news-wire wrote.

Tesco is the largest British investor in Slovakia. Photo: Sme - Vladimír Šimíček

8 BUSINESS FOCUSAugust 22 – September 4, 2011

FOCUS shorts

BY ZUZANA VILIKOVSKÁSpectator staff

KC: Links forged viafilms, books, drama

Continued from pg 7

I think gratefully of con-tacts made in connectionwith the screening of Irishand Czech-Slovak-Irish filmsat the 2009 Inakosť and Brat-islava Film Festivals, respect-ively; of parlaying modestparticipation in the 2010Bibiana Festival of Anima-tion Films into what will, Ihope, be a larger Irish in-volvement in the October2012 Festival; of howglimpses into the worlds ofpublishing, literary transla-tion and literary studies – inconnection with the publica-tion in Slovak of works byprizewinning Irish novelistsSebastian Barry (2010) andJohn Boyne (2011) – containthe germ of future collabora-tions; of the satisfaction ofpositively acknowledging atiny Slovak theatre companywhich for years has producedplays by Irish dramatists.

In supporting and enga-ging enthusiastically withthe Slovak initiators of suchprojects, the embassy en-larges their reach, facilitateslinks with Irish counterpartsand nurtures appreciation ofkey aspects of Ireland’s im-pressive (non-commercial)cultural achievement. OurSlovak cultural contacts

know that the arts have con-tinued to thrive in Irelandand that they contributepowerfully to national prideand resilience.

One incalculable assetthe embassy has in promot-ing Ireland in Slovakia is thenumber of Slovaks who,since 2004, live, work andimprove their English in ourcountry before, in somecases, putting the gains towork back home.

On a much smaller scale,young Irish people test thewaters in Slovakia; some goon to make their lives here.A respectful mutual aware-ness is developing and thereis some potential for collab-oration. A display of scenesfrom Ireland as envisionedby Slovak amateur photo-graphers was one element ofthe Irish Chamber ofCommerce’s St Patrick’s DayFestival at Eurovea this year.I would like to think thatdramatic scenes of sea andsky will have prompted Slov-aks who have still to visittheir family members tomake that trip. Queen Eliza-beth and President Obamagave every appearance of en-joying Irish fare and the Ir-ish welcome. And there hasnever been a better time tovisit Ireland.

When the Irishcelebrate in Slovakia

THE CHANCES of spotting aman in green clothes, a biggreen hat and a red bearddrinking Guinness in a Brat-islava pub are higher thanone might think. ThoughSlovaks do not celebrate thenational holiday of Ireland,named after the patron saintof the Emerald Isle, StPatrick, many Irish peopleliving in Slovakia come toBratislava every year onMarch 17 to meet their com-patriots and take part in cel-ebrations.

While more than 20,000Slovaks have decided tosettle in Ireland, the latestfigures provided by the IrishChamber of Commerce statethat only 204 Irish peoplecurrently reside in Slovakia.Though they do not have anycultural centre, the chamber

does organise some eventsfor Irish people in Slovakia tohelp to turn this corner ofcentral Europe intosomething that more closelyresembles their homeland.

“The chamber recentlyorganised a Family SportsDay in Čunovo [about 19kilometres far from Bratis-lava] where Irish games, in-cluding Gaelic football andhurling, were played,” TomRedmond from the Irish Em-bassy in Slovakia told TheSlovak Spectator, adding thatthe sports day was also at-tended by teams from theCzech Republic and Austria.

The event, held in midJuly, was also an opportunityto taste Irish food and drink,and listen to Irish music.

By Radka Minarechová

New centre for Slovaksopens in Dublin

IRELAND has been an attract-ive destination for Slovak mi-grants in recent years andthere are currently more than20,000 Slovaks living there.Despite the severe effect thatthe global financial crisis hashad on the Irish economy,Slovaks continue to arrive –and bring with them some oftheir customs and traditions.

Apart from their own folk-lore ensemble, Ostrohy(Spurs), the Education Centrefor Slovak Children, and amagazine, Slovak in Ireland(SII), Slovaks now also have aplace to meet: a recentlyopened community centre.

The Slovak in IrelandHouse opened its doors onJune 16, 2011, in Dublin, at thepresence of the head of the Of-fice of Slovaks Living AbroadMilan Vetrák and Slovak Am-

bassador to Ireland RomanBužek. The centre was namedafter the magazine, whose ed-itorial staff are the principaltenants of the building.

“The idea of establishingthe Slovak in Ireland Houseoccurred gradually,” themagazine's editor-in-chief,Eva Kapičáková, told TheSlovak Spectator, adding thatthe magazine needed a place

where its editors would beable to prepare issues.

“We were preparing thepaper in my kitchen, record-ing the videos in otherpeople’s houses and doing in-terviews in pubs orrestaurants,” she said. “Oneevening we were drinkingwhiskey with an Irishmanwho offered us the buildingfor a very good rent.”

Except for the magazine,the centre houses a librarythat offers readers access toup to 600 Slovak books. It alsoserves as a gallery for mem-bers of a Czech-Slovak club ofphotographers to exhibittheir pictures, and as a venuefor various lectures and activ-ities for children.

“Everybody who has anyhobby which might be inter-esting for the community cancome,” Kapičáková says. “Weare open for all Slovaknationals.”

Though it will start fulloperations only in September,Kapičáková says that theyhave already had some suc-cessful projects. Togetherwith Ambassador Bužek, andthe Slovak Film Institute theyhave opened the SlovakCinema Club, thanks towhich members of com-munity can watch Slovakfilms made in the 1960s and70s. In cooperation with Ra-dio Slovakia USA they alsoplan to start broadcasting toSlovak nationals.

Milan Vetrák (third left) and Ambassador Roman Bužek (secondright) attended the opening ceremony. Photo: Courtesy of SII

9BUSINESS FOCUS / CULTURE August 22 – September 4, 2011

BY RADKAMINARECHOVÁ

Spectator staff

EIRE: FDI flags, but sales offices spreadContinued from pg 7

However, there were nosubstantial direct invest-ments from Ireland into Slov-akia during 2009 and this hasnot changed significantlysince then.

“Investment flows are al-ways lagging behind tradeand this is the case in 2010 and2011,” Müller explained. “Irishindigenous companies werelargely focused on regainingcompetitiveness lost duringthe boom years and alsosearching for new markets.”

Müller cited the EuropeanCommission’s Report on Eco-nomic Adjustment Pro-gramme for Ireland, accord-ing to which prices fell by 1.5percent, unit labour costs fellby 5.5 percent, while labourproductivity grew by 4 per-cent in 2010.

“One of the pleasing as-pects of the current businessenvironment is that Enter-prise Ireland client compan-ies are continuing to invest inR&D,” Müller said. “In 2009 Ir-ish-owned businesses spentover half a billion euros – €563million – on R&D. Irish-owned businesses are expec-ted to have spent almost €600million – an increase of 6 per-cent – on R&D in 2010, despitethe impact of the recession.”

Enterprise Ireland hasimplemented a range of initi-atives to help companies withtheir competitiveness. ‘Lean’business practices are a well-recognised set of principleswhich can be implemented ina business to reduce waste,minimise costs, and generally

improve the operations side ofa company’s business.

“We have had some signi-ficant success with this pro-gramme, with companies re-ducing their cost of sales bybetween 15 and 20 percent,”said Müller. “As a con-sequence, many Irish com-panies have been focusing oninvestments in their currentplace of business and havepostponed decisions andplans for overseas expansion.”

Another factor is compan-ies’ access to bank credit,something which remains achallenge.

“However we are cur-rently witnessing a growingnumber of companies settingup regional sales offices inSlovakia and concluding part-nerships with Slovakenterprises,” said Müller.

The best-known compan-ies with Irish capital or rootsthat are active in Slovakia in-clude Ballymore, which is

behind the Eurovea devel-opment in Bratislava, andRyanair. In the productionsector are Odenberg Engin-eering and Silcotec Europe,and in HR CPL Jobs andGrafton Recruitment have astrong presence.

According to Müller, interms of sectors Irish com-panies are very strong in in-formation technology, lifesciences, medical devices andconstruction services. At thesame time Irish companiesare usually smaller in size andare interested in marketswhere the presence of largemultinationals provides sup-ply opportunities. Theirproducts and services arevaluable parts of the supplychain, rather than end-users.

“Irish companies like towork in partnerships withdomestic, home-grown com-panies to tap into opportunit-ies in their region,” saidMüller. “This often represents

a challenge because Slovakiahas so far focused mainly onattracting large multination-als rather than on fostering itsown cohort of internationallycompetitive SMEs.”

Müller does not see anysignificant barriers to doingbusiness in Slovakia but hepointed out that the infra-structure may be a challengein some parts of Slovakia, aswell as the smaller pool of po-tential indigenous joint-ven-ture partners.

The Irish Chamber

of Commerce

Back in March 2009 the Ir-ish Chamber of Commerce inSlovakia was established withthe aim of promoting thegrowing links between theSlovak and Irish businesscommunities. It offers sup-port mainly by providingnetworking opportunitiesand events.

“The Irish Chamber ofCommerce in Slovakia has be-come increasingly dynamicand forward-looking; themain benefit that attractsmore and more members isour focus on providing innov-ative social networkingopportunities,” Eszter Red-mond, the executive directorof the Irish Chamber of Com-merce in Slovakia, told TheSlovak Spectator. “Throughour various social and culturalactivities we ensure thatthere is also a fun factor, withan emphasis on creating closenetworks among the Irish andlocal community working andliving in Slovakia.”

Eurovea opened in spring 2010. Photo: Sme

Irish stew was served at the sports day. Photo: Courtesy of SII

EFSF: Will Radičová hammer out a deal?Continued from pg 1

Peter Zajac, the head of theCivic Conservative Party (OKS),which sits in parliament aspart of the Most-Híd caucus,said that solving the debt prob-lems of European publicbudgets by increasing them isdangerous, and that his partyregards balanced budgets byeurozone member countriesand cuts to public spending asthe only realistic ways to pre-vent further economic crisisand recession.

The approach of Smer, thelargest opposition party hasbeen ambiguous. While itsleader Robert Fico, has on sev-eral occasions declared that hesupports the changes agreedupon in Brussels, as of August18 he had not confirmedwhether his 60-plus block ofMPs – who rarely, if ever, defyhis orders – would back thechanges to the EFSF in a vote inparliament.

After a meeting withRadičová on August 16, Ficosaid that the ruling coalitionmust first be unanimous in itssupport for the changes.

“Do not be counting votesall the time; where do we wantto have Slovakia – this is howthe question needs to beposed,” Fico said, as quoted bythe SITA newswire, addingthat there is nothing to discusswith the prime minister be-cause she herself does notknow what kind of support shecan expect from her ruling co-alition partners. “IvetaRadičová is unable to secureanything,” he stated.

Fico then suggested that hehimself would initiate talkswith the ruling coalitionparties. Yet none of the fourparties had agreed to meet Ficoas of August 18. The leader ofthe Christian DemocraticMovement (KDH) parliament-ary caucus, Pavol Hrušovský,said that it is the primeminister’s role, not Fico’s, tosummon round tables.

The economic aspect

Chief analyst with Volks-bank Slovensko Vladimír Vaňosuggested that the inability to

hammer out an agreement onsuch a crucial issue – onewhich the prime minister hasalready signed up to at an EUsummit – could imply signific-ant difficulties in pushingthrough inevitable fiscal con-solidation measures over thenext few years.

“That could harm[Slovakia’s] credit rating, in-crease interest rates for publicas well as interconnectedprivate borrowing, and un-dermine the confidence of for-eign investors with all the con-sequences for the strength ofthe economy and labour mar-ket conditions,” Vaňo told TheSlovak Spectator.

Referring to the possibleconsequences if Slovakia ulti-mately refused to supportchanges to the EFSF, JurajKarpiš, an analyst with the In-stitute of Economic and SocialStudies (INESS), said that rep-resentatives of the eurozonewould have to return to thenegotiating table and find anew solution which would notinclude the use of Slovak pub-lic finances.

According to Vaňo, the un-animous nature of the agree-ment reached at the EU sum-mit in July speaks volumesabout the crucial importance ofthese measures for the futureof European monetary union.

“Given the extent of theagreement across all of the par-ticipating governments, thereis no room to think that thereis any comparable, viable al-ternative that would gain un-animous support,” Vaňo said.“Most importantly, one shouldkeep in mind that eurozoneleaders are responding to

threats from the financialmarkets in an environmentwhere time is money. Evenmore importantly, the abilityto act in a timely and decisivemanner is crucial to maintain-ing credibility.”

Vaňo said that given themore than fragile nature of theeconomic recovery, hesitancyin adopting necessary and in-evitable measures could fur-ther undermine business andinvestor confidence in theEuropean economy and wouldsubsequently result in biggerpain both in the real economyas well as the labour market.He also said that there is nosuch thing as ‘Slovak’ opposi-tion to the conclusions of theEU summit, which werejointly agreed and duly signedup to by the prime minister ofthe Slovak Republic.

“Of all the relevant politicalforces on the Slovak politicalscene, stubborn threats toblock this agreement are com-ing only from a junior coalitionparty that was created justshortly before the last electionand played a populist anti-Greek card in its pre-electioncampaign,” Vaňo said. “Threatsto block the conclusions of theEU summit are hence chieflymotivated by the effort to re-tain populist-driven publicsupport in the face of erodingsupport in opinion polls.”

Karpiš said it is difficult tospeculate about the con-sequences that a rejection ofthe changes to the EFSF wouldhave for Slovakia.

“It would probably notplease other countries,” Karpištold The Slovak Spectator. “Itwould be a fundamental signal

that could motivate othercountries to withdraw fromsuch an approach to ‘solving’the European debt crisis,which over the past year hasnot worked very effectively”.

According to Vaňo, theworst-case scenario associ-ated with letting the situationevolve unchecked wouldbring with it the risk of a morepronounced recession and theweakening of the credibilityof euro.

“Deeper recession wouldinflict not only untold painthrough an increase in unem-ployment, it would also un-dermine budget revenues andpush expenditure and, moreimportantly, deficits higher,”Vaňo said. “In the currentsituation, this would signific-antly exacerbate the sover-eign debt crisis in the euro-zone, and would put bothcredit ratings as well as in-terest rate expenses under un-favourable pressure.”

As for other solutions,Karpiš suggested that repres-entatives of the eurozoneshould implement a plan ofradical restructuring of unsus-tainable debt, with subsequentliquidation and in some casesnationalisation of insolventfinancial institutions.

“The existing EFSF and theEuropean Central Bank couldbe used to support the bankingsystem in the eurozone duringthe critical transition period,without financing or even fur-ther inflating the already un-sustainable debts in peripheralcountries,” Karpiš said.

According to Karpiš, Slov-akia has the right to refuse toparticipate in what he called“this mistaken approach to thedebt crisis within theeurozone”. The potential costsfor Slovak taxpayers are im-mense, he added.

“This is why the countryshould use this right, espe-cially if there are alternativeswhich have better potentialto solve the debt crisis,”Karpiš said.

Karpiš suggested thattransferring the debts of prob-lem countries to Slovakia andother members of the eurozonerepresents “an unjust transferof wealth, which moreoverworsens fiscal discipline in theeurozone and thus only deep-ens the existing problems”.

“Nobody claims that theconclusions of the EU sum-mit are a panacea for the dif-ficult situation,” Vaňo toldThe Slovak Spectator. “Theyprevent the worst-case scen-ario and provide at least theminimum necessary stabilityand predictability for futuredevelopment that is neededby the private sector in orderto avoid undermining eco-nomic activity.”

For Vaňo the most import-ant fact is that the conclusionsof the EU summit, unanim-ously agreed by the participat-ing leaders of member states,are of paramount importanceto avoid the situation beingfurther aggravated, or evengetting out of control.

Iveta Radičová's government looks for support. Photo: Sme

FOI: Ministriespropose limits

Continued from pg 2

It has been presented as ashow-case initiative by thegovernment, one that hashelped the media report somequestionable spending atSlovak ministries and state-run companies.

According to Žitňanská,the current draft also spe-cifies the range of contractsthat those falling under thelegislation have to publish,since there have been prob-lems interpreting the cur-rent rules, SITA reported.

“It was not obvious fromthe text of the law whethertrading companies with stateco-ownership or co-owned bymunicipalities were obligedto publish all the documentsor not,” said Žitňanská.

Based on the draft, com-mercial companies that are100-percent owned by thestate or municipalities mustpublish details of all con-tracts online. However, com-panies will be no longer ob-liged to publish full-text con-tracts if they have been con-cluded in the form of “regularcommercial contracts” thatform part of the business ofthe companies, according toŽitňanská, as reported bySITA. Such contracts will stillbe indicated in the centralregister of contracts andthus, according to the minis-ter, “it means that we willknow about all thecontracts”. Citizens will beable to request full copies ofcontracts which are not sub-ject to commercial secrecyand are not classified.

The cabinet on August 17changed its original draft,which would have made itpossible for companies toconceal the bulk of their con-tracts except for those in-volving significant invest-ments. State-owned com-panies argue that the re-quirement to publish con-tracts has put them at acompetitive disadvantage.

But lawyers workingwith the non-governmentalorganisation Via Iuris, asquoted by Sme daily, posedthe question: “who willguarantee that firms do notrefuse to publish informa-tion when requested, on thegrounds that it is a commer-cial secret?”

Žitňanská said thatstate-owned companies arealready obliged by the FOIA,or info-law as it is com-monly called, to publish therequested information andthat the draft only addressesthe unclear situation regard-ing publication of contracts.

The review process

Via Iuris earlier this yearwarned that if some of thecomments submitted on thedraft revision to the FOIAwere adopted then it wouldmean a huge step back and asignificant weakening of the

rights of journalists and cit-izens to access information.

For example, ministriesand state offices are propos-ing that a penalty of up to€1,650 (in some cases) be im-posed on citizens for request-ing information, and havesuggested that existing sanc-tions against bureaucrats forfailing to comply with theinfo-law be removed, accord-ing to Via Iuris.

They are also proposingthat joint-stock companiesin which the state holds amajority share be relieved ofthe obligation to provide in-formation about their eco-nomic performance. The In-terior Ministry also proposesto make information on thedecision-making activities ofoffices classified, whichwould mean that citizenscould, for example, no longerobtain information on theongoing process of issuing li-cences for constructionprojects which might affecttheir health or the environ-ment, according to Via Iuris.

The Finance Ministryalso proposes including somevague provisions suggestingthat every “document thepublication of which couldendanger the activities andjustified interests” of theperson obliged to provide theinformation should be classi-fied, along with informationthe publication of whichwould contravene contrac-tual obligations.

Via Iuris warns that thisprovision provides broadscope for abuse: “it would beenough for an office to claimthat the published informa-tion might threaten itsactivities”, or to agree, forexample, with a business-man to classify any contractas ‘confidential’ and there-fore conceal it.

The Ministry of Economyproposes that citizens whohave been provided informa-tion on the wages and bo-nuses of managers shouldnot be allowed to dissemin-ate that information. A cit-izen would thus not be al-lowed to publish the inform-ation on the internet or for-ward it to other people, ac-cording to Via Iuris. As forthe duty to provide informa-tion on the wages of man-agers, Dagmar Hlavatá of theEconomy Ministry’s pressdepartment told Sme thatthe ministry considers thisto be “discriminationagainst state employees,”and that there is a differencebetween “publishing” and“giving access to thisinformation”.

The Slovak InformationService (SIS), Slovakia’s mainintelligence agency, pro-poses that it be completelyexempted from the law,which would mean that itwould no longer be requiredto provide any information,even about its handling ofpublic funds.

10 NEWS / BUSINESSAugust 22 – September 4, 2011

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MK: Taking adviceContinued from pg 6

Lessons learned from thisexperience will invariably betaken into account with se-curity preparations before andduring the games. Tourismremains largely unaffected,and while many small busi-ness owners have been dev-astated by the events, Britainremains open for business andfully operational.

The British prime minis-ter has expressed interest incalling upon other major cit-ies with experience in com-bating gang violence, particu-larly in the US. He is consult-ing Bill Bratton, former NewYork City and Los Angeles po-lice commissioner. This cre-

ates room for an internationaldialogue on how best to fightcrime and preserve safety inour towns and cities, and I ambolstered by the moral sup-port the international com-munity has shown Britain inits time of need. There aretimes when Britain not onlygives out advice and coopera-tion but is very grateful to alsoreceive it. There are many les-sons to be learned from thismonth’s shocking events. It ismy sincere hope that in thefuture, these will not only bestopped, but prevented fromhappening in the first place.

Martin Kay is chargéd’affaires at the British Embassyin Bratislava

The pull of UK artTHERE IS something to it (butI don’t know what it is). Thename of an exhibition byHelen Brown installed in theNitra Gallery in winter2010/2011 could in a way ex-press the mysterious attrac-tion that Slovakia seems tohave for some British artists.As well as Brown, a youngBritish artist who brought herinstallation to this city inwestern Slovakia, a host ofBritish artists and performershave come to Slovakia in thepast year, some of them morethan once.

One such outstandingartist is the British clarinettistMerlin Shepherd, who re-turned to Bratislava for asecond time to play with thelocal Pressburger KlezmerBand recently. Klezmer is thetypical eastern and centralEuropean Jewish music thatwas once very popular in Slov-akia and its neighbours. Aftera gig in the Klub za Zrkadlomin March, Shepherd madeBratislava's Main Squaredance, clap and vibrate during

a performance on August 5that was part of the BratislavaCultural Summer series.

British movie directorMichelle Coomber screenedher documentary about a no-torious Roma ghetto on theoutskirts of Košice at the city’sDOCsk festival of document-aries. Another movie festival,the low-key Motorbikers'Movie Festival inRužomberok, was attended byNick Sanders from the UK,who holds several world re-cords for long-distance mo-torbike riding and who, trueto form, rode all the way fromBritain to Slovakia.

The Dunaj cultural centrein Bratislava invited Britishcomedian Craig Murray to joinits monthly series Stand-UpComedy on July 20. Murraylast year received the BestComedy Performance awardat the Edinburgh FestivalFringe. On August 24, Dunajwill host UK comics Mark Fel-gate and Mark Restuccia.

By Zuzana Vilikovská

11August 22 – September 4, 2011FOCUS / CULTURE

BC: Supporting creative industriesContinued from pg 8

Some of them are avail-able online, some of themthrough face-to-face training.Many of them are freely avail-able, and we’ve been workingwith the ministry to promotethose and make them avail-able to teachers.

We’ve also been workingwith the ministry on accredit-ation of some of the modulesfor face-to-face training. Theyare generally short courses onspecific areas like use of tech-nology in the classroom, orcourses aimed particularly atteachers of primary-school-aged children. The courses arequite focused, and that makesthem more accessible.

TSS: What projects and ser-vices do you provide to thosewanting to learn English?

AS: There is an extensiveBritish Council website calledLearnEnglish which is full ofresources that anybody can ac-cess. We are also running aproject called ConnectingClassrooms, which connectsclassrooms from schools inSlovakia with schools in the UKand in other countries aroundEurope. There are already anumber of straightforwardlinks between schools; we’retrying to enrich that by bring-ing in other countries, e.g.schools in Germany and Serbia.

I think what is really goodabout this project is that we en-courage students themselves totake the lead. The project is notteacher-led, although teachersare obviously involved.

Alena Rebrová (AR): Mostparticipants are secondarygrammar schools, but there arealso vocational schools. A smal-ler part is formed by the lastyears of primary schools. Theage of participants is 14-plus.

TSS: In the area of projects,and more specifically in thearea of creative industries,

what is the main focus ofyour organisation?

AS: Moving on to the arts,as I said before, we’re not reallyinterested in one-off perform-ances or events; we rather tryto find ways to support and en-courage growth of the arts inSlovakia and links to the UK.The creative industries is thearea we are focusing on mainlynow since these cover thingslike film and television, fash-ion, crafts, architecture, com-puter games; quite a widerange of areas.

We were aware that theSlovak Culture Ministry wasthinking about supportingcreative industries, as we havealready worked with themvery successfully on a projectto set up a portal providing in-formation about arts and cul-ture and heritage in Slovakiacalled Slovakia Cultural Pro-file. It’s in English and in Slov-ak and about a million people ayear look at the website.

A couple of months ago webrought here the former min-

ister of culture in the UK, LordChris Smith, who was respons-ible for all this initial work inthe UK, to raise the profile ofcreative industries and pro-mote them. We agreed that wewould help and work with theministry to start off by map-ping the creative industries inSlovakia, because you need toknow what exists now, beforeyou start developing.

We would also like to findopportunities to bring out UKexperts. Mark Sands, who isdirector of audiences and me-dia at the Tate Gallery, is com-ing here in October to coincidewith the Bratislava Art Festiv-al and he will be talking aboutthe Tate Gallery’s experiencewith different ways of attract-ing audiences – and talkingabout support for small galler-ies as well.

AR: We are bringing aSheffield Theatre group to Ni-tra and Košice: to Nitra to theDivadelná Nitra theatre fest-ival in September. This com-ics-like, scary and funny

drama is staged in an innovat-ive way which our experts inEdinburgh identified assomething interesting – andso far the group has neverbeen to Slovakia.

AS: In the creative eco-nomy another way in whichwe are trying to stimulate in-terest is through a competi-tion for young, creative entre-preneurs which we’ve run forthree years.

This year’s leitmotif isdesign and fashion: it is calledthe International Young Cre-ative Design and Fashion En-trepreneur Award and it’s agreat way of promoting creat-ive industries. We inviteentries, we establish a localpanel with our partners tojudge entries, and then even-tually a winner for Slovakia isidentified. Then there is a fi-nal in the UK where the win-ner of each of the countriesinvolved presents their work,and eventually there is anoverall global winner.

But it’s not just about whowins and who doesn’t; it’s away of promoting interest increative industries andproviding a chance to meetprofessionals.

AR: The idea of the com-petition is not to find the bestdesigner, but rather the bestentrepreneur among design-ers, and to make the bestbusiness plan and succeedwith it.

TSS: Do your projects workin both ways. i.e. for the UKtoo?

AS: There is already, Iguess, quite a strong relation-ship between Slovakia and theUK; but within the projects wetry to make sure that thepeople involved are in contactwith people in the UK whowork in the same field andhave the same interests.

To read the full interview,please go to www.spectator.sk

The British Council's Andrew Spells Photo: Courtesy of BC Slovakia

30555

Rafting on the Váh

ONLY a few centuries ago,travelling across the territoryof present-day Slovakia wasno easy matter. There wereno regular roads,only randomtracks with nofoundations.Swampy ormuddy sectionswere usuallystrewn with tree trunks.

Thus rivers presented amuch simpler means oftransport. The Váh River wasnormally navigated bywooden rafts. Over time, raft-ing became a livelihood formany people, as goods weretransported by raft from thenorthern parts of what wasthen the Kingdom of Hun-gary to the south.

Those in power also used

river transport. HungarianPalatine FrantišekWesselényi was one of thefirst to use a raft in 1656.

In 1802, Arch-Duke Jozefused rafts during his visit toSpiš and the High Tatras, andthe nobles of Likava-Hrádokhad 16 vessels built for thepurpose. In 1880 an exclus-ively male party departedfrom Oravský Podzámok (thevillage beneath Orava Castle)to Kraľovany, at the conflu-ence of the Rivers Orava andVáh, and from there sailed ona specially summoned raft

down the Váh in order to en-joy the beautiful countrysideof the Považie region.

River transport was usedbecause of its easeand accessibility, butalso because it wassafer. But securitywas far from guaran-teed. Several am-bushes on boats were

recorded at the beginning ofthe 18th century. They wereall ascribed to the most fam-ous of Slovak bandits – JurajJánošík. He reportedly at-tacked and robbed travellerson the river several times.

In this rare postcard fromthe beginning of the 20thcentury, we see a pltisko, orraft harbour, near Kraľovany.

By Branislav Chovan

HISTORY TALKS

Western SLOVAKIA

Bratislaval JAZZ MUSIC: Septeto San-tiaguero – The Jazz pod vežou /Jazz under the Tower cyclebrings this Cuban band, com-prising F. Dewar on tres(Cuban guitar), I. Borges onmaracas, I. Heredia on vocals,A. Aquilera on contrabass, A.Castellanos on percussion andE. Lobaina on trumpet.

Starts: August 24, 20:00; StJohn of Nepomuk Courtyardof the Primatial Palace. Ad-mission: €7. Tel: 02/5293-3321;www.ticketportal.sk.

Bratislaval CLASSICAL / GYPSY MUSIC:Cigánski diabli a JaroslavSvěcený na Hrade – The band,famous for its classical andRoma music, joins renownedCzech violin soloist JaroslavSvěcený to perform at a spe-cial venue.

Starts: August 25, 20:00;Bratislava Castle Courtyard.Admission: €22-€28. Tel: 02/5293-3321; www. ticketportal.sk.

Bratislaval LIVE MUSIC: PressburgerKlezmer Band – Within thecycle Hudba na Dunaji / Musicon the Danube this band,which focuses on eastern-European Jewish klezmermusic, plays on board a boaton the river.

Starts: August 22, 19:00-21:00; Riverboat ‘Martin’,pontoon No. 52. Admission:€7. Tel: 02/5293-3321; www.ticketportal.sk.

Bratislaval EXHIBITION: Cesta okolosveta / Trip Around the World– This collection by youngcontemporary artist Sarah I.Avni invites visitors into aworld of amazing places, exot-ic flowers and animals; shemakes her paintings in acombined technique withgold, gems, sand, and more.

Open: weekdays 12:00-17:00 until September 3; SPPgallery, Mlynské Nivy 44/c.Admission: free. Tel: 02/6262-4203; www.spp.sk.

Bratislaval EXHIBITION: KatarínaPoliačiková - Teleidoskop –With her guest, Czech artistJiří Thýn, Poliačiková tries totransgress the limits impost bythe post-modern times. In the

After series that forms the coreof this exhibition, she de-con-structs post-modernism only toarticulate new methods in art.

Open: weekdays 13:00-18:00 until August 30; OpenGallery, Baštová 5. Admission:free. Tel: 02/5441-3316; www.ncsu.sk.

Piešťanyl COUNTRY MUSIC: Lodenica2011 – The creme de la cremeof Czech and Slovak countrymusic meet at this renownedfestival. Musicians like theNedvěd brothers, LenkaFilipová, Richard Müller,Čechomor, Plavci, Fleret,Poutníci, and Hrdza will play;there is also a country ball andaccompanying events.

Starts: August 26-27; am-phitheatre at the Lodenicacamp. Admission: €12 (oneday) - €30 (VIP ticket for bothdays). Tel: 02/5293-3321; www.ticketportal.sk; www.lodenica.sk.

Central SLOVAKIA

Kremnical FESTIVAL OF HUMOUR:Kremnické gagy / KremnicaGags – This European festivalof humour and satire makes a

perfect conclusion to summer.This, its 31st year, includescompetitions of cartoons, andperformed and improvisedhumour by domestic and in-ternational participants.

Starts: August 26-28; vari-ous sites in Kremnica. Admis-sion: from free to €12. Tel:045/6742-856; www.gagy.sk.

Sliačl AIR SHOW: Medzinárodnéletecké dni / Slovak Interna-tional Air Fest (SIAF) 2011 – Am-ateur pilots Očovskí Bačovia, aswell as the RetroSkyTeam fromKošice, will show their skills atthis major air show, while theBieli Albatrosi (White Al-batrosses) army acrobats willgive autographs.

Starts: August 27-298:00-17:30; Sliač Airport. Ad-mission: €4-€8. Tel: 02/5293-3321; www.ticketportal.sk,www.siaf.sk.

Eastern SLOVAKIA

Starý Smokovecl JAZZ MUSIC: Gero JazzQuartet – Four musicians fromLevice put on a concert ofmodern jazz.

Starts: August 27, 16:00;terrace of the Grand Hotel.Admission: free. More info:www.tatryportal.sk, www.dimdom.net.

Popradl EXHIBITION: Medzi mýtoma realitou: Stretnutie sRómami / Between Myth andReality: Meeting with Romashows the work of four youngphotographers from Vienna.M. Dorninger, S. Freynchlag,A. Rogenhofer and F. Weissmapped life in Roma settle-ments in the Czech Republic,Romania and Slovakia.

Open: Tuesdays to Sat-urdays 10:00-17:00, Sundays13:00 -17:00 until September7; Tatra Gallery, Hviezdosla-vova 12. Admission:€0.50-€1.50. Tel: 052/7721-968;www. tatragaleria.sk.

By Zuzana Vilikovská

EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE

THE REGGAE festival Uprising, which has become an estab-lished tradition in Bratislava, this year hosts headliners likeGentleman, Burro Banton, Foreign Beggars, General Levy, Lo-optroop Rockers and Congo Natty aka Rebel MC (pictured), alegend of ragga-jungle music. On August 26 and 27, the ZlatéPiesky complex in Bratislava will see these performers – andmore – take part in this unique event. Tickets cost €29 (or €35 onthe door) for the whole festival or €23 for one day and can bepurchased via the Ticketportal website. For more information,please visit www.uprising.sk. Photo: Courtesy of Uprising Fest

KAREL Gott, the famous Czech singer, gives a concert in the Icehockey stadium in Humenné, in the east of Slovakia. Gott hasbeen known for his unique voice since communist times and hispopularity has endured. On August 27 he will be supported by hiscompatriots Leona Machálková and Big Band Felixa Slováčka.Tickets cost €15 -€40 and can be bought throughwww.ticketportal.sk. More information about the concert canalso be found on www. humenne.sk. Photo: TASR

12 CULTURE

Weather updates and forecasts from across Slovakiacan be found at www.spectator.sk/weather.

A Slovak’s 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 Všetko najlepšie k meninám (Happy name day)

N A M E D A Y A U G U S T 2 0 1 1

Monday

Tichomír

August 22

Tuesday

Filip

August 23

Wednesday

Bartolomej

August 24

Thursday

ªudovít

August 25

Friday

Samuel

August 26

Saturday

Silvia

August 27

Sunday

Augustín

August 28

Art from maps, plus WarholMAPS have been around sinceancient times and will con-tinue, no matter how timeschange. Most of the time weuse them without giving thema second thought. However, asSlovak National Gallery (SNG)curator Lucia Gregorovápoints out, maps can show notonly the space people live in,but also the space where theywould like to live. Whenturned into artistic concepts,they can become symbols ofthe crossing of borders whichcannot be crossed in reality.Mapy / Maps (Art Cartographyin the Centre of Europe1960-2011), a joint project bythe Bratislava City Gallery(GMB) and the SNG, exploresthe unmapped land of carto-graphy and maps used in art.

In the GMB the exhibitionis called Maps Known andUnknown and represents themore factual – and often polit-ical – side of maps, DanielaČarná, the GMB’s curator, saidat a press conference. Theworks of authors fromVisegrad Group (V4) countries(Slovakia, the Czech Republic,Poland and Hungary) takemaps as the starting point fortheir adventurous creativework, sometimes using themas ready-mades, sometimes as

symbols of mental freedomthat cannot be limited by realmaps and borders, sometimesas reflections of the trips onfoot they have made, andsometimes as a launch intospaceflight. Until August 28,the artworks of more than 50authors of all generationsfrom the V4 countries (includ-ing Rudolf Sikora, OtisLaubert, David Černý, BarbaraKozlowska, Tamás St. Ruby,and Gyorgy Galantai) showthe development of theconcept of maps through thedecades, and the different ap-proach of individual artists.

Another exhibition, cur-rently installed on the groundfloor of the GMB, is entitledsimply Andy Warhol. On show

until September 4, it brings tothe Slovak capital a collectionof Warhol’s serigraphies thatare unique in being complete,all-different-colour versionsof one work. Visitors can com-pare various Goethes, TedKennedys, Queen NtombiTwalas of Swaziland, Colognecathedrals, or different ver-sions of his remakes of medi-eval and Renaissance art-works, like St Apollonia orUccello’s St George and theDragon. The last works are thefamous Hammer and Sickleand Camouflages. The exhibi-tion comes from a private col-lector and was curated byMichal Bycko.

By Zuzana Vilikovská

August 22 – September 4, 2011

Warhol re-interprets Uccello. Photo: Courtesy of GMB