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Vol. 17, No. 8 Monday, February 28, 2011 - Sunday, March 6, 2011 of this issue

NEWS
Press Code to change
Speaking in
Slovakia's controversial
Fico-era Press Code looks
set to be amended by the
minority
summer, limiting public of-
ficials' opportunity to sue
newspapers and
tongues
magazines.
pg 2 BY MICHAELA TERENZANI
Spectator staff
Deaflympics arrest
Jaromír Ruda, the man be-
hind Slovakia's cancelled “WEAK knowledge and strong emotions”
Winter Deaflympics, was accompany the law on the use of minority
detained by police on Feb- languages now en route to parliament, ac-
ruary 20. With €10 million cording to its author, Deputy Prime Minis-
unaccounted for, he now ter for Minorities and Human Rights
faces charges of fraud. Rudolf Chmel. But while the law will affect
pg 3 the life of minorities other than Hungari-
ans, Chmel, a nominee of the Most-Híd
party, admits that it is the unresolved rela-
OPINION tionship between Slovakia and Hungary
that might make the law’s way through the
Fame and shame parliament tougher.
The events leading to the Slovakia, with its 13 national minorities
cancellation of the Winter and nine officially approved minority lan-
Deaflympics delivered a Culture Minister Daniel Krajcer (second from left) met religious leaders on February 24 to launch a debate about guages, is a multi-ethnic country, and
sharp blow to Slovakia's im- state financing of religion. Pictured are Stanislav Zvolenský, Catholic archbishop of Bratislava (left), Miloš Klátik, Chmel says that his law aims to create op-
age. The Ice Hockey World head of the Evangelical Church in Slovakia (second from right), and Pavel Traubner, the honorary chairman of the timal conditions for all minorities to “feel
Championship offers a Association of Jewish Religious Communities (right). Photo: SITA at home”.
chance to reverse the dam- The amendment to the law on the use
age – or suffer more. of minority languages has been referred for

BUSINESS FOCUS
pg 5

Government's plan for interdepartmental review until February

Multiple tax rises
Taxes and other levies in
Slovakia were increased in
2011. But experts say it is too
soon to predict what the
overall impact will be on
the state budget deficit.
pg 6
Tackling tax evasion
The Finance Ministry be-
lieves Slovakia can collect
more in taxes, saying that
evasion and fraud could be
costing the country hun-
dreds of millions of euros.
pg 7
CULTURE
inflation: free pasta
GLOBAL rises in prices for food, raw
materials and energy in recent
months have been making gov-
ernments edgy and populations
worried. Now the Slovak adminis-
tration led by Iveta Radičová says it
has a plan to temper these price
rises and soften their impacts on
the most vulnerable people in soci-
ety. The government says that,
among other things, it will distrib-
ute flour and pasta to those on state
assistance and move to trim elec-
tricity bills. But its plan provoked
instant derision from the largest
opposition party, Smer, which
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
Spectator staff
likened it to “ration coupons” for
the poor.
The government will shortly
adopt legislation which should at
least partially reduce food prices,
Agriculture Minister Zsolt Simon
said after a February 22 meeting
with Prime Minister Radičová and
Economy Minister Juraj Miškov.
Simon is also charged with pro-
posing a system to secure basic food
products for low-income families.
Radičová said that a cut in value
added tax on food products is being
considered, although she admitted
that a similar policy had not worked
well in neighbouring countries.
“We have considered this option
but experience from the neighbour-
ing countries confirmed that it does
not bring the desired effect, which is a
drop in food prices,” Radičová said, as
quoted by the SITA newswire. “This is
why we sought other solutions.”
See FREE pg 9
28 as a coalition proposal. It has been
slightly altered from the version originally
proposed by Chmel’s office, which would
have lowered the ‘quorum’ of native-
speakers – at which point use of a minority
language can be required – from the current
20 percent to 10 percent of the local popula-
tion. The coalition partners did not approve
that version, despite the fact that Chmel
says it is in line with international recom-
mendations, and the current version of the
amendment states that a minority lan-
guage can be required – in addition to Slov-
ak – in official communication if 15 percent
of citizens in any given municipality be-
long to the national minority in question.
According to the law, however, any of
Slovakia’s nine officially approved
minority languages can be used in offi-
cial oral communication anywhere in
Slovakia as long as the respective official
and all persons concerned in the official
procedure agree.
See NATION pg 2

Slovak films hit Berlin hk}ly{pzltlu{

Two new Slovak films got a
warm reception at this
year's Berlin International
Film Festival. With several
more films in the pipeline,
2011 looks set to be a bump-
er year for local cinema.
pg 11
SELECT FOREX RATES
€ benchmark as of February 24
CANADA CAD 1.36
CZECH REP. CZK 24.53
HUNGARY
JAPAN
RUSSIA RUB 40.01 POLAND
GREAT BRITAIN GBP 0.85 USA
January jobless figures spike
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
Spectator staff
SLOVAKIA’S unemployment
statistics for January came
as something of a cold
shower after the upbeat
numbers that the country’s
economic growth had posted
HUF 273.40
JPY 112.69
for 2010.
While the labour market is
PLN 3.99 no longer on its knees, and the
USD 1.38 almost complete hiring freeze
observed during the economic
crisis has thawed, market
watchers say that it will take
several years to trim the un-
employment rate to pre-crisis
levels.
Slovakia’s unemployment
rate stood at 12.98 percent in
January, up 0.52 percentage
points month-on-month
from December’s 12.46 per-
cent. Slovak joblessness
thereby hit one of its highest
levels since the onset of the
crisis. A total of 391,637 job-
seekers were registered at job
centres in January, with
349,196 immediately avail-
able to take up jobs, the La-
bour, Social Affairs and Fam-
ily Office said.
In January, 35,589 new
jobseekers registered with la-
IgZcYh^ci]ZHadkV`aVWdjgbVg`Zi
bour offices, 9,943 more than VcY]jbVcgZhdjgXZh
in December 2010. However,
the number was 127 fewer
than in January 2010. Accord-
ing to the labour office, 25,161
people left the unemployment
register in January 2011.
DG9:G
However, labour market
analysts were quick to at-
tribute the gloomy numbers
CDL
to normal seasonal influ-
ences and to the recent lay-
offs of employees in the pub-
Eg^XZ/í+
lic sector, adding that they
see it unlikely that the coun-
try is now facing a new wave
of higher unemployment.
;dgbdgZ^c[dgbVi^dck^h^illl#heZXiVidg#h`$egdYjXih
See JOBS pg 4 dglg^iZidX^gXjaVi^dc5heZXiVidg#h`
2 February 28 – March 6, 2011
Police chief sets specific goals
REDUCING the number of
road accidents is the main
goal of the Slovak police force
in 2011, said Police Corps
president Jaroslav Spišiak,
who offered to resign if his
officers did not meet this
year’s goals.
Spišiak added that some
of the specific indicators do
not need to be fully achieved
but the overall result must be
met, meaning that other
goals would need to be ex-
ceeded. He stated the police
force should primarily pro-
tect lives, secondarily
health, and only then prop-
erty, the SITA newswire
wrote.
“I have an ambition to
gain people’s support by in-
forming them in advance
about the goals that I’ve set,”
Spišiak said, as quoted by the
TASR newswire. He said the
most importance would be
placed on his traffic goals,
Slovaks flee violence in Libya
SLOVAKS started leaving
Libya after protests and viol-
ence spread across many
Libyan cities in mid Febru-
ary. The first two Slovaks, a
mother and her daughter,
left the country on February
24 onboard a Ukrainian
plane, the Slovak Foreign
Ministry stated. The two
were picked up in Kiev by
representatives of the Slovak
embassy, the SITA newswire
reported.
According to Slovakia’s
Foreign Ministry, there were
at least 50 more Slovaks in
Libya and 16 of them had
asked for assistance in leav-
ing the country. The min-
istry was attempting to ar-
range passage on the planes
and ferries of other countries
but the ministry’s spokes-
person, Ľuboš Schwarzbach-
er, said there was no clear
plan or schedule for depar-
tures because “the situation
is non-transparent and there
is a big probability that
scheduled flights might be
cancelled at any moment”.
Slovaks in Libya who
Cigarette racket busted in Pezinok
CUSTOMS officers in Slov-
akia discovered the country’s
largest facility for producing
untaxed cigarettes in recent
years when they found three
illegal machines for making
cigarettes, a huge amount of
tobacco and already manu-
factured cigarettes in a build-
ing in the town of Pezinok in
western Slovakia on Febru-
ary 20, the SITA newswire
reported.
The customs police de-
tained the Bulgarian owner
of the company and land
where the machines, tobacco
and cigarettes were found.
The customs service’s
followed by crimes affecting
people’s health and lives.
Spišiak said he wants the
number of road accidents to
be 5,000 less than in 2010,
when 16,595 were reported.
Road safety in Slovakia
improved in the first two
months of 2011 compared to
the same months last year.
“The number of traffic
accidents in 2010 […] was a
new record low, almost ex-
traordinary. Our results [this
year] are even better than
this record,” Spišiak stated.
He said there were 89
murders in Slovakia last
year. “We may patrol the
streets as best we can, but
there will probably be some
murders anyway,” Spišiak
opined.
He stated that another
specific objective for the po-
lice force is to increase by 10
percent the number of
murders that are solved.
wish to leave the country
should contact the Slovak
embassy in Tripoli or the
Foreign Ministry’s centre for
assistance to citizens,
Schwarzbacher said.
Hundreds of people died
during violent intervention
against anti-government
protestors in Libya, much of
which was reported to be free
of government control.
The European Union
agreed on February 23 to pre-
pare sanctions against Libya
in response to leader
Muammar Gaddafi's violent
crackdown, the Reuters
newswire reported. EU ex-
perts will prepare a list of
proposed measures, which
could include visa bans, asset
freezes, an arms embargo
and other restrictions, and
EU governments will then
agree whether to impose
them.
Slovak Foreign Minister
Mikuláš Dzurinda said that
Slovakia will support all
measures to stop the viol-
ence in Libya, the Sme daily
reported.
Criminal Office had been
seeking the source of the il-
legally-produced cigarettes
since last December.
The customs service re-
ported that it estimated that
nearly 8,754,000 cigarettes,
or 43,770 cartons, had been
produced at the facility be-
fore the bust and that excise
taxes of €1.2 million could
have been evaded.
If convicted, those in-
volved in the cigarette racket
could face prison sentences
of three to eight years.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
NEWS
Press law to be defanged
BY MICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
SLOVAK journalists might
find their work that little bit
easier from this summer. The
country’s Press Code, much
criticised by local journalists
as well as international press
freedom watchdogs after it
was amended in 2008 by the
Robert Fico-led government,
is soon to shed its most con-
troversial provisions.
The amendment to the
Press Code proposed by the
Culture Ministry under Daniel
Krajcer has passed interde-
partmental review and the
government is expected to Culture Minister Daniel Krajcer
submit it to parliament in
early spring so that it can be- Right to reply remains,
come effective from July 1. but is curtailed
The draft amendment to
the Press Code aims to trim If the change is passed,
the scope of public officials to public officials will no longer
use the right of reply as it is be able to insist on a printed
currently defined by the law reply to stories published
enacted in 2008. about them, providing the
NATION: KDH still not happy with bill
Continued from pg 1
The minority languages used in Slov-
akia are: Hungarian, Czech, Romani,
Ruthenian, Ukrainian, German, Polish,
Croatian, Yiddish and Bulgarian.
Another highlight of the law is that it
introduces fines for those official bodies
that fail to observe it, so that it mirrors
the conditions which are valid for using
Slovak in official communication accord-
ing to the State Language Act.
Christian Democrats disagree
Despite Chmel’s proposal, the
coalition’s Most-Híd and Christian
Democratic Movement (KDH) both hin-
ted that the 15-percent quorum might
not be the final outcome.
“We understand the concern that
after the forthcoming census the num-
bers of minority citizens might fall and
the present status quo might change,”
KDH spokesperson Matej Kováč told The
Slovak Spectator, adding that the KDH
suggests that instead of lowering the
quorum the party proposes another solu-
tion: to consider figures from the two
most recent censuses.
“For the moment, however, there
hasn’t been agreement within the
coalition,” Kováč said.
Chmel stressed that proponents of
the language law are negotiating with
the parliamentary caucuses, including
the KDH caucus.
“We want to persuade them that it is
only about improving the comfort of na-
tional minorities, and in no way is it
about the Hungarian minority,” Chmel
said.
More Roma and Ruthenian villages
Chmel admitted that 15 percent is a
compromise and for many Most-Híd
politicians, who are mostly of Hungarian
ethnicity, the 15-percent quorum solves
nothing. The Hungarian minority is ac-
cording to Chmel the least affected, as
only two villages will be added to the
over 500 that are already officially bilin-
incomplete or truth-distorting
claims harm the honour, dig-
nity or privacy of a private
person.
The amendment also
drops the provision from the
law according to which a per-
son who asks for a reply is en-
titled to financial compensa-
tion of between €1,660 and
€4,890 if a media organisation
fails to publish the reply in
line with the law.
The new law would allow
publishers to print a correc-
tion or a reply in a designated
space set aside for that pur-
pose, rather than in the same
place that the original story
appeared, as is currently re-
quired.
Culture Minister Krajcer
met a delegation from the In-
Photo: Sme - Tomáš Benedikovič ternational Press Institute
(IPI) on February 18 in Bratis-
stories pertain to the perform- lava and assured them that the
ance of their public function. proposed legislation would af-
However, public officials ford the right to reply only
will still enjoy a right of reply where a report was inaccurate,
as private individuals, in line incomplete or distorted the
with the constitution. The truth.
right to reply will be applied
only in cases when inaccurate, See LIBEL pg 5
gual. If the quorum were lowered to 10 to his own party, Most-Híd, which he
percent, it is estimated that 30 more vil- said Hungary’s governing politicians
lages would become officially Hungari- simply do not accept. He put this down to
an-speaking. the fact that Most-Híd has Slovak-Hun-
“But since we don’t want to be utilit- garian reconciliation as part of its pro-
arian and pragmatic, we will pursue [the gramme, and is thus not regarded as
present] solution as it is advantageous ‘ethnically pure’ south of the Danube.
for smaller minorities,” Chmel said. Chmel added that nationalist popu-
The 15-percent quorum is expected to lism is present on both sides of the
introduce bilingualism into more than 70 Danube, which makes it harder for
additional municipalities, with Roma minority-friendly laws to be passed.
and Ruthenian minorities being the
most affected. The costs that will accom- The human rights aspect
pany the changes are, according to
Chmel, negligible from the budgetary Among the questions that have been
point of view. raised concerning the use of minority
The number of Roma-speaking vil- languages include the practical applica-
lages will grow from 57 to 86, while there tion of languages such as Roma, which is
are expected to be 113 Ruthenian-speak- not codified, in places like post offices or
ing municipalities instead of the current health-care facilities where staff might
68. While currently one village in central not speak the minority language. Chmel
Slovakia, Krahule, is German-speaking, admitted that a whole new infrastruc-
under the new rules there should be one ture for using the Roma language needs
more, Kunešov. Two municipalities to be established, which could require
within Bratislava, Jarovce and Čunovo, the practical implementation of the law
would be designated Croatian-speaking. to be postponed.
Macov, a village in southern Slov- According to Kálmán Petőcz, the dir-
akia, which already is bilingual Slovak- ector of the human rights section of
Hungarian, is a rather curious example, Chmel’s office, there is however a hu-
as the new quorum should make it trilin- man-rights aspect to the use of minority
gual, with Czech becoming an official languages, which is also guaranteed by
language too. the Slovak Constitution, regardless of
any quorum.
Nationalist card “Spreading and receiving informa-
tion in one’s mother tongue, and the use
Despite that, the present state of of the mother tongue of a member of a
Slovak-Hungarian relations, which national minority in official communica-
Chmel characterised as “we don’t attack tion is a constitutional right and an in-
each other, but mutual mistrust is rather ternational obligation of the Slovak
big”, according to him affects the passing Republic,” Petőcz said, adding that the
of minority laws in Slovakia, something question is whether there are legal guar-
particularly highlighted by the discord antees for such usage. According to
over the dual citizenship legislation pur- Petőcz, there have not been conditions
sued by Hungary. for use of minority languages, and the
“It is expected that Hungarians bey- aim of the proposed law is to create those
ond Hungary’s borders will get the right conditions.
to vote [in Hungary], which obstructs the For instance, the task of health-care
way to agreement in advance,” Chmel facilities is to do their utmost for pa-
told a press conference on February 23. tients, regardless of the language they
Chmel commented that it sometimes speak. As such, health-care workers are
seems as if Hungary does not welcome obliged to make sure a patient knows
Hungarians elsewhere having independ- what they are going to do to him or her,
ent political representation. He pointed Petőcz said.

Results of polygraph are
viewed as vindication
BY MICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
THE RESULTS of polygraph
tests indicate that Milan
Andrášik and Miloš Kocúr were
not involved in the death of
Ľudmila Cervanová, a young
medical student who was
killed in 1976 – a case that has
generated controversy for
more than three decades. The
two men took the tests in Brat-
islava on February 16, stating
that they had nothing to do
with the crime and that their
previous admissions had been
coerced during the original po-
lice investigation in 1981. The
results of polygraph tests,
however, are not admissible as
evidence in Slovak courts.
“They passed with a result
according to which if they
claim they had nothing to do
with the case, they were
telling the truth,” said Andrej
Bán, a reporter for the Týždeň
weekly, which helped to ar-
range the polygraph tests for
the two men this year and had
arranged similar tests for four
other men convicted of the
crime in 2007.
On February 16, 2011 Robert
E. Lee, a US expert on poly-
graphs (psychophysiological
detection of deception – PDD),
tested Andrášik and Kocúr and
then sent the results for review
by other examiners in the US
who knew nothing about the
questions that were admin-
istered during the test. These
additional examiners con-
firmed Lee’s conclusions.
“If there was any participa-
tion in the murder of Ľudmila,
it would have been proved,”
Lee told a press conference held
on February 18, as quoted by
the SITA newswire.
He said the screening
technique he used would have
detected the two men’s parti-
cipation in the murder and ad-
ded that the results could not
have been influenced by the
long period of time which has
passed since Cervanová’s
death in 1976.
The background
Ľudmila Cervanová disap-
peared from Bratislava’s
Mlynská Dolina, a university
dormitory area, in July 1976
and a body reported to be hers
was later found in a brook near
Kráľová pri Senci. Seven young
men from Nitra – Juraj Lach-
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All you need to know about Slovakia... updated daily
Milan Andrášik and Miloš Kocúr took polygraph tests on February 16. Each said they had nothing
to do with the death of Ľudmila Cervanová in 1976.
man, František Čerman, Stan-
islav Dúbravický, Pavol Beďač,
Roman Brázda, Miloš Kocúr
and Milan Andrášik – were de-
tained by the police in 1981.
The prosecution charged
that they had kidnapped
Cervanová from a Bratislava
disco, raped her about 10 times
and then murdered her.
All seven suspects were
found guilty by the Bratislava
Regional Court in 1982 and sen-
tenced to between four and 24
years in prison. Originally the
prosecution had requested
death sentences for four of the
accused despite their repeated
claims of innocence.
In 1990, after the fall of the
communist regime, the Su-
preme Court of Czechoslovakia
overruled the original sen-
tences and returned the case to
the lower court while ordering
the release of the men who
were still in prison.
Critics who have followed
this case for many years say
that even after the fall of com-
munism the courts ignored
newly-revealed testimonies as
well as a new expert medical
report by forensic medicine ex-
pert Peter Fiala and again found
the men guilty on the basis of
the communist-era admissions
which the men said they signed
under severe psychological
pressure – being given the
choice between signing the
admissions of guilt or being
sentenced to death by hanging.
The 2011 polygraph tests
Even though Slovak courts
do not recognise PDD results as
NEWS
Photo by Andrej Bán, courtesy of.týždeň
admissible evidence, Kocúr
and Andrášik stated that they
view the results as a kind of
vindication. The two men
wanted to undertake poly-
graph tests four years ago in
2007, when four of the other
individuals did so, but they
were not given permission to
leave prison to be tested.
Patrick T. Coffey, another
US expert on PDD testing,
learned about the convictions
of the men in the Cervanová
case and offered to administer
the tests in 2007 to determine
whether they were involved.
Coffey reported that the four
men he tested had told the truth
when they stated they had
nothing to do with the crime.
Bán, the Týždeň reporter,
said the results of the February
16 polygraph tests indicate
that Kocúr told the truth when
he said he was not involved in
the Cervanová case and that
the result of Andrášik’s test
was “inconclusive”. Andrášik
recorded between 1 and 2 on a
scale on which 3 is classified
as “truth” and -3 is classified
as “deception”. Lee’s stated
conclusion was that neither
of the two men was involved
in the crime for which they
were convicted.
Andrášik requested testing
“The case fell apart
already when four of them
passed the test,” Bán said in a
video published by Týždeň.
“The purpose here was to ful-
fil the wish of Mr Andrášik
who repeatedly requested it
[polygraph testing]. Nothing
good could come out of it for
him, as he was convicted in
Slovakia, the case was closed
and he has served his sen-
tence, so he could only harm
himself. But he asked for it
and passed with this result.”
The prosecution of the sev-
en men from Nitra has become
one of the most well-known
and controversial cases in the
history of the Czechoslovak
and Slovak judiciary.
The case was closed in
2006 when Slovakia’s Su-
preme Court confirmed the
verdict that the regional court
delivered in 2004.
Critics charge that the
Slovak lower court ignored all
the imperfections in the
communist-era investigation
and prosecution that had been
noted by the Czechoslovak
Supreme Court in 1990 and
ordered even longer prison
terms for three of the defend-
ants, forcing two of them to
return to prison to serve addi-
tional years.
Andrášik was the last of the
sentenced men to be released
from custody when he left
Leopoldov prison on parole on
October 14, 2009. His release,
however, was not based on any
progress in resolving the ques-
tions that had been raised
about the legitimacy of his ori-
ginal conviction.
Andrášik’s lawyer, Allan
Böhm, told journalists that he
will present additional facts to
prove the innocence of his cli-
ent and suggested this will be
done before the European
Court of Human Rights in
Strasbourg.
February 28 – March 6, 2011
Deaflympics
organiser charged
FEBRUARY was supposed to
have been Slovakia’s first
chance to host the world’s
biggest event for deaf
sportspeople. But instead of
live broadcasts from the
Winter Deaflympics, the
Slovak media was full of re-
ports about alleged fraud
and the arrest of Jaromír
Ruda, the head of the Slovak
organising committee, fol-
lowing the games’ last-
minute cancellation.
Ruda is now behind bars
after being detained on Feb-
ruary 19 at the Slovak-Hun-
garian border crossing in
Rusovce, near Bratislava.
Police from the Anti-Corrup-
tion Office say he was arres-
ted while attempting to flee
the country and have
charged him with fraud. If
found guilty, he faces 10 to
15 years in prison. A pre-trial
hearing following his arrest
resulted in Ruda being re-
manded in custody over
concerns that he might try
to flee and pursue further il-
legal activities.
According to the police,
Ruda fraudulently borrowed
€10 million from at least
four companies to finance
the 17th Winter
Deaflympics, which were to
be held in Slovakia. He
neither returned the money
nor proved how it was used.
The International Com-
mittee of Sports for the Deaf
(ICSD) confirmed on the
evening of February 11 that
the 17th Winter
Deaflympics, scheduled to
begin on February 18 in
Slovakia’s High Tatras, had
been officially cancelled.
Despite repeated earlier as-
surances that the games
were on course, the Slovak
organisers, led by Ruda, fi-
nally admitted they had
failed to secure the money
necessary to organise the
event on time. By that time
dozens of athletes had
already arrived in Slovakia to
prepare for the games to
open a week later, and
dozens more were en route
to the venue.
“Ruda has deceived at
least four private companies
since March 2010, with
whom he signed contracts of
cooperation,” Andrea
Dobiášová, spokesperson for
the Police Corps, wrote in a
press release. The coopera-
tion was meant to include
reconstruction of ice stadi-
ums in Kežmarok and
Jaromír Ruda
3
Poprad, two towns nearby
the High Tatra mountains.
The companies lent at
least €10 million to Ruda,
who declared that he would
invest the money in recon-
struction and guaranteed the
loans with a €500,000 bank
guarantee from the Bank of
Columbia. The police say that
the bank guarantee was false,
with no real coverage from
the bank, which is based in
the United States.
According to the police,
Ruda also extracted at least
€1 million from representat-
ives of national deaf sports
federations which he failed
to use for the purposes de-
clared. Ruda reportedly told
the representatives of the
federations that if they sent
their payments for accom-
modation, catering and other
costs to the account of the
Slovak Deaflympic Commit-
tee they would pay less than
if they sent the money dir-
ectly to hotels.
It seems that none of the
money was used for the pur-
pose that Ruda promised. The
police are now investigating
where the money went.
Meanwhile, the ICSD
confirmed they have filed a
criminal complaint against
the Slovak Deaflympics Or-
ganising Committee and
Ruda, as its president.
“The criminal complaint
demands reimbursement of
the funds that were trans-
ferred to the Slovak
Deaflympics Organising
Committee from national
deaf sports federations to
cover hotel accommodations
and other Deaflympics-re-
lated expenses,” the press
statement of the ICSD reads.
The criminal complaint also
addresses further expenses
incurred as a direct result of
the failure to hold the Winter
Deaflympics.
The ICSD also reported
that the Slovak Deaflympic
Committee and the Slovak
Association of Deaf Sports-
men Unions have been im-
mediately suspended on a
provisional basis, pending
the final approval of the ICSD
Congress, preparations for
which are underway.
But observers have noted
that the ICSD also bears some
responsibility, arguing that
its representatives should
have monitored preparation
for the games more closely.
By Michaela Terenzani
Photo: Sme - Ján Krošlák
4 February 28 – March 6, 2011
Overcrowded housing is a problem
ALMOST 40 percent of the in-
habitants of Slovakia live in
overcrowded dwellings, ac-
cording to a Eurostat survey
of housing conditions across
the EU conducted in 2009.
The average proportion
of people living in over-
crowded dwellings across
the EU was 18 percent. Over-
crowding is judged accord-
ing to the relationship
between the number of per-
sons in a household and the
number of rooms in each
dwelling. In 2009, the share
of persons living in an over-
crowded dwelling ranged
widely between member
states, from 1 percent in
Cyprus and 2 percent in the
Netherlands, to 58 percent in
Latvia and 55 percent in Ro-
mania and Hungary.
Mikloš rejects EU tax harmonisation
SLOVAKIA’S finance minis-
ter says the Competitiveness
Pact, which the biggest euro-
zone economies have drafted
to help deal with the instabil-
ity of the single European
currency, is a good idea but
insists it cannot be accepted
whole. According to Ivan
Mikloš, the major problem
would be harmonisation of
the tax base for corporate
profits.
“We basically agree with
these measures and support
this activity although we
have some reservations,”
Mikloš said, as quoted by the
SITA newswire.
Mikloš does not see a
Figeľ and Putin discuss rail links
SLOVAKIA’S Deputy Prime
Minister and Transport Min-
ister Ján Figeľ met Russian
Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin during a visit to Russia
on February 23. High on the
agenda of their talks was
transport. Figeľ said restora-
tion of flights between Brat-
islava and Moscow was a
very realistic goal, the SITA
newswire reported.
During the discussion
on a proposed plan to build
a broad-gauge railway line
across Slovakia, Figeľ
stated that a four-party
analysis of its extension is
underway, with Ukraine,
Austria, Russia and Slov-
akia participating.
“The figures confirmed
the technical and legal feas-
ibility of the project, but it is
very difficult in terms of its
economic and financial
aspects,” he said, as quoted
by SITA.
Figeľ explained the Slov-
ak government’s reserva-
tions about the project by re-
ferring to a lack of money for
such extensive investments.
He said it was necessary
to consider the rate of re-
A person is considered to
be living in an overcrowded
dwelling if the household
does not have at its disposal a
minimum number of rooms
equal to: one room for the
household; one room per
couple in the household; one
room for each single person
aged 18 or older; one room per
pair of single people of the
same gender between 12 and
17 years of age; one room for
each single person between 12
and 17 years of age and not in-
cluded in the previous cat-
egory; one room per pair of
children under 12 years of age.
According to the survey,
half of Slovaks live in flats,
while 48.5 percent live in de-
tached houses and only 1.4
percent live in semi-de-
tached houses.
problem with measures in-
cluding unified wage index-
ing, mutual acknowledge-
ment of qualifications, link-
ing the pension system to
demographic development,
creation of national crisis
mechanisms for banks, or
incorporation of a debt-brake
system in the constitutions
of member states.
“Our fundamental prob-
lem is with the harmonisa-
tion of corporate income
tax,” SITA quoted Mikloš as
saying. “We fear that it is not
realistic to reach an agree-
ment on the tax base that
would not worsen the Slovak
tax system.”
turn and a business plan for
the project, which, provid-
ing it were rational, banks
and the private sector would
support.
“If the project is irra-
tional, there is no point in
us pouring money into it,”
Figeľ said.
The minister also con-
firmed Slovakia's interest in
the modernisation of exist-
ing broad-gauge railway
tracks, which link Ukraine to
eastern Slovakia including
Košice, and trans-shipment
points in Slovakia.
Figeľ and Putin also dis-
cussed energy-sector issues.
Figeľ reported that Russia
was ready to draw up a new
10-year contract on crude-oil
supplies to Slovakia.
Russia is also interested
in further investments in the
area of nuclear power via
projects that are currently
underway in Slovakia. Russia
is ready not only to continue
supplying oil, gas and nucle-
ar fuel but also to improve
supplies, SITA wrote.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
BUSINESS
State drafts new rules
to boost investment
higher added value in the initial phase, which already those with higher added value
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ country’s industrial sectors as reduces the tax burden. This in less developed regions.
Spectator staff well as transfer of the latest effectively means there are For example, in districts
know-how into practice. only three years of tax where the unemployment
Observers welcomed the holidays.” rate is lower than Slovakia’s
LONGER tax holidays, more planned changes, but pointed According to Halt, if the tax average unemployment rate
transparent rules, a level play- out that in order to attract in- holidays are now prolonged to for investments falling within
ing field for foreign and do- vestors to certain regions, the ten years, approximately eight the category of industrial pro-
mestic investors, and a friend- state will have to ensure a fa- years of effective tax holidays duction the state will not
lier approach to small and vourable business environ- is something investors could provide investment stimuli in
medium-sized businesses ment overall. The state will really benefit from. the form of subsidies for pro-
could all soon be employed to never really be able to give The Ministry of Finance curing long-term material or
lure new investors to less-de- high enough subsidies to has meanwhile confirmed non-material property, or a
veloped, high-unemployment stimulate investments in less that it considers tax benefits subsidy per created job, ac-
regions of Slovakia. Proposed developed regions unless con- the least burdensome form of cording to the ministry.
changes to the legislation on ditions for doing business investment assistance in Halt said that regional dis-
investment stimuli also aim there are favourable, Markus terms of the effect on the pub- tribution of assistance based
to make state assistance Halt, spokesman for the Ger- lic finances. However, the on the recorded unemploy-
available to a wider group of man-Slovak Chamber of In- ministry will provide a defin- ment rate is not flexible
investors. dustry and Commerce, told ite stance only after a full re- enough.
A transparent and under- The Slovak Spectator. view, the Sme daily wrote. “If an investor settles in a
standable system for provid- Nevertheless, Halt finds In terms of the rules for district with average unem-
ing investment assistance the idea of extending tax holi- providing investment assist- ployment but next to a district
will contribute to shaping a days a reasonable move. ance, the draft differentiates with high unemployment the
credible investment envir- “The current practice of based on the sector to which investment aid is measured
onment for domestic and for- granting tax holidays for a the investment is destined according to the lower rate al-
eign investors, said the Slovak duration of five years is not and the unemployment rate of though the investment also
Economy Ministry in its draft. very attractive to foreign in- the region in which it will provides employment oppor-
The ministry, led by Juraj vestors in comparison with take place, while preserving tunities to the neighbouring
Miškov, a nominee of the direct subsidies,” Halt said. the principle of higher assist- district,” Halt said.
Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) “Generally, an investment is ance for more sophisticated
party, also aspires to increase connected with losses in the investment initiatives and See GROWTH pg 9
JOBS: Employment lags GDP growth
Continued from pg 1
“It is very probable that this is a one-
time growth in unemployment and not
the beginning of a new negative trend,”
said Eduard Hagara, senior research ana-
lyst with ING Bank.
According to Hagara, the winter sea-
son offers the least seasonal work and, at
the same time, layoffs in the public sec-
tor have also negatively affected the
numbers.
UniCredit Bank analyst Dávid Dereník
also pointed to seasonal influences be-
hind the rate change from December’s
12.46 percent to 12.98 percent in January.
However, the method used to calcu-
late the economically active population
and thus the basis from which the jobless The unemployment rate hit almost 13 percent in January. Photo: Sme - Pavol Funtál
rate is calculated has also changed. The
number of economically active people But Dereník warned that seasonal Slovakia moved to during the crisis,
dropped by 0.7 percent: from 2,667,708 influences will also apply in February, leaving behind high unemployment,
people in January, compared to last year’s which could prolong the spike in job- especially in eastern Slovakia.
2,687,048. This change alone contributed lessness. Nevertheless, increasing em- Dereník noted that during the crisis,
to a 0.1-percentage-point worsening of ployment in industry could absorb some unemployment in Slovakia grew twice
the jobless statistics. of the seasonal rise, he added. as fast as the OECD average.
“The rest of the increase in the jobless “We believe that the optimistic res- “Without significant investments
rate is due to regular seasonal influences ults for industrial production will be re- we would not reach the pre-crisis level
in the construction sector and agriculture, flected in the labour market and that sooner than in five to six years,” Dereník
and after considering the listed effects un- there will be further hiring in the upcom- concluded.
employment stagnated,” Dereník said. ing months,” Dereník said. “On the other Michal Páleník of the Employment
“This is indicated by the fact that in Janu- hand the eventual drop in the unem- Institute think tank already sees visible
ary approximately the same number of ployment rate will be very slow and we signs of the end of the crisis, though he
people were hired as were laid off in the might reach the pre-crisis level of 7.4 per- stresses “these are often very fragile”.
public and private sectors.” cent only at the turn of 2016 and 2017.” “Even though production grows,
Dereník stressed that if layoffs in the According to Dereník, if the eco- employment is not growing in the way
public sector and seasonal influences were nomy grows as it did before the crisis it could,” Páleník told The Slovak Spec-
discounted, the unemployment rate fell and the market is propelled by new in- tator, adding that it will probably lag
slightly. vestments, the return to pre-crisis un- behind the growth in production by six
As for future prospects, Hagara said employment levels could happen as months or even a year. He added that
that during the year the positive effects of soon as 2014. the development of employment in
economic revival should prevail. “The situation is, however, differ- countries where Slovak citizens work
“In the private sector moderate growth ent: competition from cheaper coun- abroad, such as the Czech Republic, Ire-
from the economic revival should contin- tries like Serbia and Romania has land and the United Kingdom, is also
ue, thanks to which unemployment in the increased,” said Dereník, adding that it questionable.
second half of the year could slip under the was precisely Serbia and Romania Jana Liptáková
12-percent level,” Hagara added. where most of the production lines from contributed to this report
 OPINION / NEWS February 28 – March 6, 2011 5
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
“Do we live somewhere in the jungle, where we need humanitarian
vehicles driving around distributing flour and pasta?” Fame and shame
Opposition leader Robert Fico pours scorn on the JAROMÍR Ruda has deeply what the father of this shame There is a chance for Slov-
government’s plan to give free pasta to the poor engraved his name into was thinking – perhaps that akia to redeem itself: the Ice
minds of deaf athletes and somehow it would all work Hockey World Championship.
their families. They are likely out, or that it could be ex- It is an opportunity to over-

Cestoviny to associate Slovakia with

ing state coffers, as the pre-
words like fraud, shame and
bitterness for the rest of their
lives. Ruda and his story of
plained in some way, or per-
haps it could be gotten away
with and then be blamed on
come some of the stereotypes
that foreigners nourish about
the country but there is also
someone else. But it is even the risk that Slovaks might re-

BY LUKÁŠ FILA SLOVAK WORD vious administration did, shame instantly pumps up
the blood pressure of those
inforce a few of those negative
perceptions. These will at

Special to the Spectator
IF YOU thought the spaghetti
western was a dead genre,
think again – the Slovak
government’s idea to hand
out bread (chlieb) and pasta
(cestoviny) to the poor to
save them from rising food
prices promises enough ac-
tion, drama, and comedy to
entertain not only the entire
country, but the entire con-
tinent. And the good, the bad
and the ugly are all joining
the performance.
First, Prime Minister Iv-
eta Radičová called a special
meeting with the agriculture
and economy ministers, at
the end of which she declared
that “the significant increase
in [food] prices is caused
mainly by developments on
the global markets”, but that
the government nonetheless
“has certain means to react
to these developments”.
What she meant was re-
vealed by Agriculture Minis-
ter Zsolt Simon, who is or-
ganising a tender to find
someone to turn 45,000 tons
of grain into flour and pasta,
which will be distributed free
to those in need.
“What are we, a country
in central Africa? Instead of
admitting their failure the
cabinet is coming up with
nonsense which embarrasses
the entire country,” said
Slovak for Foreigners examination dates announced
The E-KU Institute of Language and Intercultural Communication in Nitra has announced
the test dates for the first International Exam, ECL, Slovak for Foreigners:
- 14. 4. 2011: A2
- 15. 4. 2011: B1, C1
- 16. 4. 2011: B2
Deadline for registration: 17. 3. 2011, more information: www.eku.sk
Contact: E–KU Inštitút JaIK, Piaristická 2, 949 01 Nitra, Tel.: 037 6542 456, Fax: 037 / 6542 452
e-mail: dojcanova@eku.sk
OF THE WEEK
former prime minister Robert
Fico. “Handing out flour and
pasta isn’t a solution, but an
insult to human dignity,” the
unions chimed in.
Now, having a 35-five-
hour working week, as the
unions are seeking in their
most recent petition, or loot-
Pasta for the masses.
probably doesn’t help the
economy either. But for once,
one is tempted to agree with
the left that humanitarian
workers handing out food
supplies isn’t really what the
moment requires. Or, if the
situation is indeed so dire,
then why did the Radičová
government take the week
off to enjoy spring holidays
with their kids? Shouldn’t
they be thinking of ways to
prevent the looming human-
itarian crisis instead?
Based on this week’s
events an outsider might
think that Slovakia is on the
brink of famine, is run by a
completely wacky govern-
ment, and has a credible
and rational opposition.
None of that is true. But for
the sake of the country let’s
hope this spaghetti incident
ends very soon.
Photo: Jana Liptáková
working in tourism in
Slovakia’s High Tatras. The
man, who allegedly em-
bezzled money earmarked for
the Winter Deaflympic
games, has put one of the
worst possible black marks
on one of this country’s
premier tourist destinations.
The 17th Winter
Deaflympics were cancelled
at nearly the last minute,
quickly followed by despair
among deaf athletes who had
already travelled to Slovakia
or those who were still plan-
ning to come to compete in a
global sporting event and
show that the faith and sup-
port of their families, teams
and coaches had been well-
invested. But instead of a
great sporting experience, a
very different kind of lesson
about human nature crashed
down on them.
According to statements
from the police, Ruda, as
head of the Slovak organising
committee, fraudulently bor-
rowed €10 million from at
least four companies to fin-
ance the Winter Deaflympics
in Slovakia. He has neither
returned the money to the
lenders nor shown how the
money was used. Ruda has
denied the accusations of
fraud and said he would take
legal action against his ac-
cusers. Nevertheless, Slovak
media have reported that
Ruda will face additional
charges of having embezzled
as much as €1.7 million that
was earmarked to finance the
winter competition.
News has a cruel ana-
tomy: scandals always travel
faster than reports about a
significant academic or sci-
entific achievement or a
grand performance by a cul-
tural group. It is hard to say
EDITORIAL
least be partially decided in
the microcosm of each
visitor’s reception in Slovakia:
the single waiter who cannot
manage any words in a foreign
language and who greets vis-
itors with that disdainful look
that can repel even the thirsti-
est and hungriest Slovak.
Even if there will be no
mega-fraudsters to defraud
the whole event, let’s hope
Slovaks remember that in the
microcosms of all these for-
eign visitors a single taxi
driver who charges twice the
fair rate only because he hears
a foreign language might
leave just as bad a taste.
Of course, such unpleas-
ant experiences can affect a
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ visitor anywhere in the world
Spectator staff but our citizens should now be
fully aware that the country’s
image is at stake when the in-
ternational community has
harder to believe that all been invited en masse. It
along the way of organising takes much more than just
these games there was no one designing a nice logo and un-
who could detect the bur- furling the national flag to be
geoning problems and re- a good host.
verse the course of events. Slovakia no longer wants
Organising an interna- to be viewed and evaluated
tional sporting event is in a solely through the lens of be-
different league to bringing ing a post-communist coun-
together a couple of family try. Slovakia wants to be seen
members and neighbours as part of the premier league,
and faking a conference or at least this is what state-
workshop for a target group ments by its leaders suggest.
that has the attention of If that is the case then it
European bodies and then must now be crystal clear that
finagling funds from the past techniques such as “if
European pocket. We can something goes wrong we will
proclaim that the explain and they will
Deaflympics debacle is a de- understand” will simply not
viation and not really the rule work. There are important
in Slovakia. But for the ath- perceptions that are not de-
letes and their families as cided by skilled arguments or
well as the wider interna- twisted interpretations but
tional community that will rather by authentic, positive
not be an acceptable explana- experiences or by simply en-
tion and it will take much countering internationally
more to change how many accepted standards and rules
now view Slovakia. of behaviour.

LIBEL: Onus will be on complainants

Continued from pg 2
He said the law would
place the burden of proof on
the party seeking to invoke
the right. Public officials
could not invoke the right un-
less the report was unrelated
to the performance of their
official duties, he said, and
the right would only allow for
a response or a correction,
rather than both, as allowed
under the current law.
The IPI’s Press Freedom
Adviser Steven Ellis wrote on
February 21 that the group is
encouraged by the Slovak au-
thorities’ progress in honour-
ing its commitment to revise
the country’s controversial
press law.
“We welcome the attitude
of the minister of culture in
speaking with and listening
to media representatives, and
in making his decision based
on their input,” said IPI vice
chairman and Slovak board
member Pavol Múdry, who
was part of the delegation
that met Krajcer and took
part in discussions that led to
the proposed legislation.
The sins
of the Code
Press freedom became an
issue in Slovakia after the
present Press Code was
passed in 2008 under then-
culture minister Marek
Maďarič.
It was criticised for the
right of correction and right
of reply that it granted to
anyone who felt their honour
and dignity had been harmed
by a published article, irre-
spective of whether the re-
port was factually correct.
Complainants currently
need only request that their
reply be printed within 30
days of the publication date;
publishers of daily newspa-
pers must then print a reply
within three days of receiv-
ing the demand, or in the
next issue in the case of other
periodicals.
As well as providing a
right of reply and correction
even when the published in-
formation is entirely correct,
the Press Code also provides
the same rights even if the
published information is not
libellous. Fines for non-com-
pliance can be as high as
€4,980.
The major Slovak dailies
listed their objections to the
Press Code in a document en-
titled “Seven Sins of the
Press Code” which ran on the
otherwise blank front pages
of their publications on
March 27, 2008, prior to the
code being passed by parlia-
ment.
The publishers objected,
among other things, to the
Press Code granting a right
of reply even in cases where
the information printed is
correct, and the right to a
correction even if the pub-
lished information has not
maligned anyone.
They also argued that the
draft allowed for double
sanctions, namely being ob-
liged to print both a correc-
tion and a reply.
J ÁN PAL LO - Publisher
EDITORIAL
B E ATA B AL O G OVÁ - Editor - In - Chief
J AM E S THO M S O N - Assistant Editor
D O NAL D S PATZ - Assistant Editor
J ANA L IP TÁKOVÁ - Staff Writer
M IC H AE LA TER ENZANI - Staff Writer
ZUZANA V IL IKOVS K Á - Staff Writer
D O M INIK A UH R ÍKOVÁ - Staff Writer
LAYOUT, WEB & IT
TATIANA ŠTR AUC HOVÁ - Graphic Designer
R O M AN K R Á Ľ - IT
TO M Á Š PAL L O - Online Publishing
SALES - FINANCES
B EATA F OJ TÍKOVÁ - Sales Executive
M AR TINA Š M ATL ÁKOVÁ - PR and Marketing Manager
M AR TA F UK AS OVÁ - Advertising Assistant
D ÁŠA R EH ÁKOVÁ - Circulation Manager
The Slovak Spectator is an independent newspaper published every Monday by The Rock, s.r.o.
Subscriptions: Inquiries should be made to The Slovak Spectator’s business office at (+421-2) 59 233 300.
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6 February 28 – March 6, 2011

TAX AND AUDIT

Tackling tax evasion BUSINESS FOCUS Next issue:
2010 tax revenues reported
INTERNET &
Attack on tax chief 'solved’ ONLINE SERVICES

Many taxes go up in 2011 Institutions in the tax and audit

field in Slovakia

Analysts say it is
too early to
assess impact on
state budget
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
LAST year the government of
Iveta Radičová pushed an aus-
terity package through par-
liament designed to save the
state €1.7 billion through a
combination of tax increases
and expenditure cuts. While
preliminary state budget fig-
ures have now been released
for January, analysts say it is
too early to determine wheth-
er the adopted measures are
achieving the desired results.
Budget deficit in January
Slovakia’s state budget
closed January 2011 with a de-
ficit of €17.74 million. The
Finance Ministry said this
was in line with its expecta-
tions even though the state
had a budget surplus of €22.81
million in January 2010.
“This is no shock,” said
Finance Ministry spokesper-
son Martin Jaroš, as quoted by
the TASR newswire. “This can
Value added tax (DPH in Slovak) is now 20 percent.
be pragmatically explained on
the side of revenues as well as
expenditures.”
In January 2011 the state’s
revenue grew by 3.75 percent
in comparison to January
2010, to €830.4 million, while
expenditures were more than
9 percent higher than the pre-
vious year and amounted to
€848.1 million, the SITA
newswire reported.
“The expenditures were
higher because the old-age
pension reform is now fully
subsidised from the state
budget,” Jaroš said. “Last year
it was financed from privat-
Photo: SITA
isation proceeds that had
been put aside.”
On the revenue side, col-
lection of value added taxes
(VAT) and excise taxes was
lower in January than the
previous year. Revenue from
VAT shrank by 6.3 percent to
€477.6 million and excise
taxes were lower by 7.1 per-
cent, at €168.9 million.
Jaroš ascribed the decline
in VAT revenue to a higher
level of refunds to businesses
caused by a revival in
Slovakia’s economy and a
winding down of the eco-
nomic crisis.
“Imports are growing and
thus also the tax refunds
which business entities are
requesting are growing too,”
Jaroš stated, as cited by TASR,
adding that the one percent
increase in VAT to 20 percent
that became effective on
January 1 will be seen in tax
revenues only in February.
The Finance Ministry
stated that the drop in reven-
ue from excise taxes was at-
tributable to previous stock-
ing of inventories and that
this was a one-off effect.
“All these are effects
which were already taken into
consideration and develop-
ment so far is completely all
right,” said Jaroš.
Analysts said that it is too
early to assess whether the
government’s austerity pack-
age and the changes in taxes
are having the desired effects.
“Apart from the fact that it
is still too brief a period for as-
sessment of firm trends, the
cash-basis balance need not
always reflect all the specifics
of this year’s budget, such as
the higher level of funds that
is being used to compensate
shortfalls in the social secur-
ity system,” Vladimír Vaňo,
chief analyst with Volksbank,
told The Slovak Spectator.
See TAX pg 8
Finance Ministry
Minister of Finance: Ivan Mikloš
www.finance.gov.sk
Tax Directorate of the Slovak Republic, www.drsr.sk
Slovak Chamber of Auditors, www.skau.sk
Office for Oversight of the Performance of Audit,
www.udva.sk
Slovak Chamber of Tax Advisors, www.skdp.sk
Paying income taxes
ALL private individuals whose taxable income for 2010
exceeded €2,012.85 are obliged to submit a tax return and
pay any income taxes due by March 31. The non-taxable
income of private individuals is €4,025.70 providing their
tax base is equal or below €15,387.12. Private as well as
legal entities can postpone submitting their tax return,
as well as paying any income tax due, by up to three
months. They need only announce such a postponement
to their respective tax office. The income tax for both
private individuals and corporate entities is 19 percent.
Value added tax
AS OF January 1, 2011, the basic rate of value added tax
was increased from 19 percent to 20 percent.
A reduced VAT rate of 10 percent on books and medicines
was preserved.
A reduced rate of 6 percent on certain foodstuffs sold
from farms via so-called 'courtyard sales' was eliminated.
Problems with e-tax may re-occur

LAST year Slovakia’s online system for submitting

Auditing profession faces changes
EC’s Green Paper has
generated extensive
discussion
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
THE FINANCIAL crisis has raised a mul-
titude of questions about the roles and
responsibilities of professional auditors.
In autumn last year the European
Commission published a Green Paper on
Audit which has initiated extensive dis-
cussion about the responsibilities of
auditors, their governance structures
and potential changes that may be war-
ranted in this important profession. The
EC received about 700 responses with
about 10,000 pages of suggestions in re-
action to its document.
The Green Paper was also a main
topic at the Financial Reporting and
Auditing conference organised by the
EC in Brussels on February 9 and 10. In
his opening speech the EU’s Internal
Market Commissioner, Michel Barnier,
told the conference participants that
changes must be made in how auditors
do their work so that there is more
competition in the auditing business
and auditors are more independent. He
also presented a plan to prepare new le-
gislation by November to curb what he
called increased concentration in an
audit market that is dominated by a
small handful of major firms, the so-
called Big Four.
The Slovak Spectator spoke with On-
drej Baláž, the president of the Slovak
Chamber of Auditors, about the Green
Paper, his opinions about concentration
in the auditing business, Barnier’s ideas
for legislative solutions and how the
financial crisis had impacted the audit-
ing profession.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS): How do
you perceive the statement of Michel
Barnier that the auditing business is
too concentrated and largely domin-
ated by the Big Four (KPMG, PwC,
Ernst & Young and Deloitte)? What is
the situation in the Slovak market?
Ondrej Baláž (OB): Concerns about
growing concentration in the audit
market is only one partial problem
raised in the Green Paper. The percep-
tion that the major part of the market
for statutory auditing of public-interest
entities is controlled by four worldwide
networks is not so unambiguous. The
majority of voices perceive this problem
as a systemic risk. But not all people
think so, as at the conference there were
also some voices, coming from in-
vestors, who do not see this as a risk.
The situation in the Slovak market is
similar to that abroad even though the
[market] share of the Big Four is a little
bit smaller here than in other EU coun-
tries. This is because of the smaller size
of Slovakia’s economy and because
smaller entities here are also subject to
statutory audit. In Slovakia an audit is
also obligatory for municipalities,
foundations and similar smaller entities
which are not important because of
their size but for their importance to so-
ciety. Most of these entities are not in-
teresting for the Big Four companies or
they are not globally interconnected and
it is not necessary to have an audit of a
consolidated financial statement. If we
consider only public-interest entities on
the basis of European criteria, i.e. banks,
insurance companies, large companies
and so forth, the concentration of audits
done by the Big Four companies would
be almost 100 percent.
TSS: How do you view the plan to curb
increased concentration via new le-
gislation?
OB: The high concentration is an in-
disputable fact. But this situation has
not grown from artificial intervention.
It is a consequence of a certain devel-
opment and globalisation and is not a
phenomenon occurring only in audit-
ing. The question is what can be done
about this or whether it is necessary to
do something about it.
See AUDIT pg 8
income tax returns collapsed after a large number of
taxpayers opted to use the system instead of going to a
tax office to file their return in person. The Tax
Directorate admits that problems including system
slowdowns or complete failure may be repeated this year.
It has prepared an alternative offline solution, the SITA
newswire wrote in mid February.
The tax administration has carried out several measures
to avoid problems with the operation of its internet
portal. But Martin Lejtrich, the deputy director of the Tax
Directorate, said he does not completely rule out a
re-occurrence of ‘blackouts’ as the measures employed
are only temporary.
Miroslav Mikulčík, head of the Tax Directorate, admitted
that the Slovak tax administration is lagging behind in
its digitalisation processes and in its pro-client approach
to taxpayers. Lejtrich believes that the current condition
of the system is a consequence of a halt in strategic
development of the portal between 2006 and 2010. The
current management of the Tax Directorate is preparing
a conceptual solution for electronic communication by
the tax administration within the UNITAS project of
harmonisation of collection of taxes, customs duties and
insurance contributions (to be effective as of the
beginning of 2014).
Last year the tax administration registered an almost
30-percent increase in the number of online users of the
system and the daily visit rate to the portal exceeded
11,000. This upward trend is also continuing this year.
In 2010, less than 1 percent of all income tax returns were
successfully submitted electronically. Legal entities
submitted only 730 out of a total of 163,208 submitted tax
returns electronically, accounting for less than 0.45
percent. In the category of non-business private
individuals, only one taxpayer successfully submitted an
income tax return electronically, the TASR newswire
wrote.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
 BUSINESS FOCUS February 28 – March 6, 2011 7
hk}ly{pzltlu{

Tackling tax evasion w•’‰ˆ––Œ’‘„–

Finance Ministry
proposes Œ‘ê—„›ê„‘‡ê„˜‡Œ—
new measures

BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff

TAXES are the main source of h{êw„•—‘ˆ•–±êŽ­–­ —ˆ®êФ¢¡ê¢ê¥¢©¦ê¦©¥¥

revenue for the state as well
as for Slovakia’s municipalit-
ies. Personal and corporate
income taxes and other forms
of taxation totalled €7.96 bil-
lion in revenue in 2010. Of
this sum, value added tax
(VAT) accounted for €4.43 bil-
lion. The government be-
lieves it can collect more in
taxes that are legally due,
saying that tax evasion and
fraud could amount to hun-
dreds of millions of euros.
The four-year programme
statement adopted by the gov-
ernment of Prime Minister Iv-
eta Radičová promised to in-
tensify efforts to target indi-
viduals and firms that are
evading taxes and to make col-
lection of taxes more effective.
The Finance Ministry has pre-
pared several concept docu-
ments to combat tax evasion
and fraud for each of the main
types of tax. The ministry
stated that its proposed meas-
ures will eliminate or at least
curb tax evasion and fraudu-
lent behaviour, saying that
Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš
tax evasion and tax fraud by
using more effective analyt-
ical methods, innovative
software tools and more ef-
fective search activities. It
has also been negotiating
with suppliers to introduce a
new information manage-
ment system.
Finance Ministry proposals
The goal of the Finance
Ministry is to gradually con-
strict the possible space for
evasion of excise taxes and
weak points in the current
system that must be ad-
dressed: currently the tax
administration does not have
a database of business entities
that have committed a tax of-
fence; tax offices select busi-
ness entities for audit based
only on their hunches rather
than hard data; there is a lack
of quality software to analyse
tax evasion risks; and there
has been a failure in develop-
ing a concept for cooperation
with the police. Moreover,
the ministry stated that tax
SP90505/1
Photo: SITA
made in commercial relation-
ships to €3,000 to prevent
taxable entities from
‘producing’ fictitious in-
voices, a process which is
characteristic of so-called ca-
rousel frauds. Under carousel
SP90515/1
schemes a network of inter-
connected companies is cre-
ated which ‘trade’ with each
other, mostly with fictitious
goods, until the deals become
opaque to the tax administra-
tion.
The Entrepreneurs Asso-
ciation of Slovakia has already
w„5•ŒŽ’™„ê¡£ ‰„›®êФ¢¡ê¢ê¥¢©¦ê¦©¥¦
¨¡¡êª¤êi•„—Œ–„™„ ˆ¾„Œ®ê’‰‰Œ†ˆÍ„—“„•—‘ˆ•–­–Žê
ššš­„—“„•—‘ˆ•–­–Ž
Tax●Accounting●Payroll
h‡‡•ˆ––®êu5ˆ“Ž’™„ꤧ
êêêêêêêêêêêêꪥ£ê¡¡êzŒW„‘œ
ššš­ˆŽ’‘„˜‡Œ—­–Ž
„˜‡Œ—ê●ꗄ›ê„‡™Œ–’•œ
“„œ•’ê●ꄆ†’˜‘—Œ‘Š
—ˆ­®ê Ф¢¡ê¥£ê¤¡§ê¤¤ê¡¢
‰„›®ê Ф¢¡ê¥£ê¤¡§ê¤¤ê¢¢
’…®êФ¢¡ê©ª¥ê¨ª¥ê¡§ª
ˆŽ’‘„˜‡Œ—͈Ž’‘„˜‡Œ—­–Žê
*+&% 
*+(+! $&% 
*+!& % 
*+)#! Ladislav POMPURA
*+&%! $ managing partner
++
+""#$$
,+
these often happen on an or- value added tax as well as in- audits and analyses indicate voiced its disagreement with 
++ $-+)$%#
ganised basis. The ministry has come taxes and compulsory that Slovakia’s tax adminis- this proposed level, seeing it !
++ ++
already submitted drafts of
+++
+ +
three concept papers for inter-
+++
+ +
+"!"&#
! #($
departmental review that
present ways to deal with
fraudulent activities regarding
VAT, excise taxes and payroll
and income taxes.
Tax audits raised an extra
€556 million in 2010
Through tax audits
Slovakia’s tax administration
levied additional tax liabilities
on taxpayers amounting to
€556 million in 2010, an in-
crease of 28 percent compared
with 2009 and 46 percent more
than in 2008, Gabriela Dianová,
the spokesperson of the Tax
Directorate told The Slovak
Spectator. Last year 18,400 tax
audits were conducted and
9,869 of them ended with
‘findings’.
“Last year tax inspections
uncovered the biggest tax
evasion in value added tax,”
Dianová said. “Of the whole
amount of uncovered tax
evasion, VAT accounted for
€424 million or 76 percent of
the total.”
Currently, Slovakia’s Tax
Administration employs ap-
proximately 1,600 tax auditors.
“We consider this number
to be insufficient,” Dianová
said, adding that tax evasion
has been becoming more soph-
isticated and often goes beyond
Slovak borders and that tax
audits are now more time-con-
suming.
Dianová said Slovakia’s
tax administration is battling
social insurance contribu-
tions (payroll taxes). The min-
istry has thus far prepared
three draft concept docu-
ments that are undergoing
inter-departmental review
and it hopes to have its pro-
posed measures adopted by
the end of this year.
The Finance Ministry in-
troduced its first concept pa-
per with measures to combat
VAT evasion and frauds in
early January.
“The development in VAT
budgetary revenue is condi-
tioned especially by the tax
discipline of payers of this
tax,” the Finance Ministry
wrote in its concept paper,
which after completing in-
terdepartmental review, will
move forward to legislative
action. “Free movement of
goods, services, persons and
capital within the internal EU
market results in EU member
states facing an increasing
volume of tax evasion. The
biggest frauds are being car-
ried out within VAT because
of the [collection] mechanism
of this tax as well as cancella-
tion of border checks within
the EU.”
Tax evasion and tax fraud,
in addition to reducing state
revenue, also harm fair and
healthy competition and of-
ten the profit from these il-
legal activities is further in-
vested into other forms of
criminal activities, the min-
istry wrote.
The Finance Ministry
stated that there are several
tration has been able to un-
cover only a small portion of
tax evasion, much of which,
it said, stems from organised
tax fraud schemes.
The Finance Ministry has
suggested legislative as well
as non-legislative measures.
“In this context a change
[is needed] in the way of
thinking based on a change of
established processes and in
the general attitude of in-
volved state bodies,” the min-
istry wrote.
The Finance Ministry has
proposed that information
required on an entity’s ap-
plication for VAT registration
should be broadened to in-
clude data that the ministry
said might indicate the risk of
applicants: for instance, age,
ethnic affiliation, informa-
tion on the number of em-
ployees, or the intention to
carry out intra-EU transac-
tions.
The ministry also sugges-
ted that a registry of persons
should be prepared who have
been informed by the Tax
Administration that they
have been identified as indi-
viduals participating in sus-
picious commercial activities.
Moreover, a VAT security de-
posit might be introduced for
entities from which it may be
more difficult to collect due
VAT payments or entities
from which recovery may be
less successful.
The ministry has also
proposed capping the amount
of a cash payment that can be
as much too low. %
“Situations still often oc- (

cur when there is no real al- '''! #($
ternative to a cash payment,”
the association said, as SP90511/1
quoted by the SITA newswire.
“A limit of €30,000 seems to
us to be reasonable and zholzhꖭ•­’­
acceptable.”
The Finance Ministry has w•ˆO’™–Ž5ꦡ
¨¢¡êª¢êi•„—Œ–„™„
stated that the goal of its pro-
z’™„ŽŒ„ê
posed measures is on one
hand to effectively eliminate
possibilities for fraudulent ê
activities and hamper their
further escalation and on the ìêh˜‡Œ—Œ‘Š {ˆ®êÐꤢ¡ê¢ê¤¤¦ê¤¤ê¡¨¨
other hand to do so in a form ìêh††’˜‘—Œ‘Šê–ˆ•™Œ†ˆ–ê„‘‡êŠ˜Œ‡„‘†ˆ m„›®êÐꤢ¡ê¢ê¤¤¦ê¤¤ê¡¨©
ìêl†’‘’Œ†ê„‘‡ê‰Œ‘„‘†Œ„ê†’‘–˜—Œ‘Š l¾„Œ®ê–„‹ˆ–„Í–„‹ˆ–„­–Ž
that will not represent an
ìêj’‘–˜—Œ‘ŠêŒ‘ꈆ’‘’Œ†ê†’“ˆ—Œ—Œ’‘ ššš­–„‹ˆ–„­–Žê
administrative burden on the
development of legal business SP90516/1
activities. The ministry also
identified failure to effect-
ively collect VAT as another
significant problem, stating
that the Tax Directorate is
{vwêh|kp{
due €1.54 billion in VAT that sˆ™’:–Ž5ê¡
had not been collected up to ¨¥¡êª¡êi•„—Œ–„™„
2009.
“VAT frauds which have
the character of organised {ˆ®êªª¤¢¡ê¢ê¥ª¡ªê©ª¡ª
crime cause the biggest losses ªª¤¢¡ê¢ê¥ª¡ªê©ª¡¡
to the state budget,” the min- m„›®êªª¤¢¡ê¢ê¥ª¡ªê©ª¡¢
istry declared in its docu- ˆ¾„Œ®ê—’“Í—’“„˜‡Œ—­–Žê
ment. “Thus, it is unthinkable ~ˆêš„—†‹êœ’˜•ê‘˜…ˆ•–ê ššš­—’“„˜‡Œ—­–Ž
that uncovering, document-
SP90509/1
ing, claiming and punishing
should be undertaken in an
unorganised way. The meas- t’•ˆê†’‘—„†—–ꉒ•ê
ures to combat tax frauds
proposed in this document —„›ê„‘‡ê„˜‡Œ—ê
stand on solid legislative rules
and their success assumes †’“„‘Œˆ–ꆄ‘ꅈꉒ˜‘‡ê
centralised access to settling
these matters and efforts for
Œ‘ê—‹ˆê’‘Œ‘ˆê…˜–Œ‘ˆ––ꇌ•ˆ†—’•œ
coordinated pursuit by com-
petent units of the state.”
8 February 28 – March 6, 2011 BUSINESS FOCUS

AUDIT: 'No real solution proposed' FOCUS shorts

Continued from pg 6
As a consequence of the
infamous Enron case the
then-biggest auditing net-
work, Arthur Andersen, dis-
appeared. This has led to even
more concentration in the
audit market.
I personally perceive as the
problem the fact that nobody
has so far proposed a real solu-
tion. Moreover, in my opinion,
some hoped for changes flow-
ing from the EC Green Paper
initiative will have the oppos-
ite effect. These will lead to
even higher concentration.
TSS: At the conference
Commissioner Barnier in-
troduced several ways that
the auditing market could be
made more open, for ex-
ample by limiting market
shares for larger companies,
through the concept of audit
partners, or by creation of
the ‘European passport’.
Which of these measures do
you see as feasible and bene-
ficial to the Slovak market?
OB: I would not like to cre-
ate the impression that the
auditing profession in Slov-
akia rejects changes. It is clear
to us that changes are inevit-
able. And they are also truly
happening. As of 2008 there is
a new law on auditors which
has implemented require-
ments of the Eighth EC Direct-
ive on Statutory Audit. Condi-
tions for performance of an
audit have become stricter,
the International Standards
on Auditing (ISA) have become
national standards in Slov-
akia, and the Office for Over-
sight of the Performance of
Audit has been launched, and
so on. These changes have
gradually borne fruit.
But it is too early to assess
all their effects. The Slovak
Chamber of Auditors believes
that even the Green Paper has
not been based on an assess-
ment of the impacts of these
changes in European legisla-
tion. Thus, introduction of ad-
ditional administrative meas-
ures, without any in-depth as-
sessment, can bring an effect
opposite to that which is ori-
ginally expected.
Some proposed measures,
for example joint audit, may
bring more opportunities for
smaller audit companies.
Maybe this is a way to reduce
the concentration in the
audit market. But it is ques-
tionable whether users of
audits will be willing to ac-
cept the consequences that
this would bring. Other pro-
posed changes seem too ad-
ministrative to me. We can
limit the market share of
large auditing companies by a
law. But who will fill in the
gap that will occur in the
market? The market will
likely be able to handle this.
But there remains a question
whether this will lead to
higher quality in auditing.
I am even more sceptical
with regards to the ‘European
passport’. For its introduc-
tion to make sense and bring
tangible effects, rules for
auditing for the entire EU
should first be harmonised.
This raises a question of how
the differences in legislation
of individual countries would
be resolved. Moreover, there
is a question of language.
Will a foreign auditor under-
stand documents in Slovak,
for example?
With regards to this issue,
especially for small econom-
ies, I see one more problem
here. The specific feature of
the Slovak market is that it is
small. Because of this, the cri-
teria under which companies
and entities are obliged to un-
dergo an audit have been set
lower than in larger countries.
A large company in Slovakia is
only a small company when
assessed according to
European conditions but that
company is important for
Slovak society.
Moreover, municipalities,
foundations and others are
also obliged to undergo audit-
ing in Slovakia. After setting
the conditions for compulsory
auditing according to the EC
directive’s threshold, the pro-
fession of auditor would be
endangered in Slovakia. Then
those companies subject to
auditing could be simply
audited by auditors with the
‘European passport’ from out-
side Slovakia.
TSS: How did the economic
crisis change the auditing
market and the role of audit
firms? Did the Slovak exper-
ience differ from other
countries?
OB: The situation in Slov-
akia has been similar to that of
other countries, especially
within the new EU member
countries. The crisis brought
higher demands on auditors
and on the quality of auditing.
On the other hand, fees for
audits are decreasing. A situ-
ation in which more work is
required for less money does
not contribute to an increase
in the quality of auditing. And
the situation when an auditor
is pressed by circumstances to
accept orders for a price that
does not enable allocation of
enough funds for their proper
performance endangers the
independence of the auditor.
The Slovak Spectator also
spoke with Alica Pavúková, a
partner of PwC in Slovakia; Peter
Potoček, manager of the audit de-
partment of Ernst & Young in
Slovakia, and Mickaël Com-
pagnon, managing partner of
Mazars in Slovakia, about the
EU’s Green Paper and related top-
ics. To read their responses, please
visit www.spectator.sk.
2010 tax revenues reported
PRELIMINARY figures show
that tax revenue flowing to
the state in 2010 amounted to
€7.962 billion, according to a
document published by the
Finance Ministry’s Financial
Policy Institute in mid Janu-
ary. That revenue lagged €37
million behind the budget
that was revised by the gov-
ernment during 2010 and
was much less than the ori-
ginal budget which projected
revenue of €8.62 billion.
The incoming govern-
ment of Iveta Radičová re-
vised the original 2010
budget to correspond with
the economic developments
that were actually taking
place in Slovakia in 2010.
2009 attack on tax chief 'solved’
THE POLICE say they have
solved a brutal attack on
senior tax official Ján
Dobrovič, which took place
almost a year and a half ago.
At the time he was deputy
director of the Tax Director-
ate. The police say it was a
‘commissioned’ attack and
that the culprits were paid
€2,000 in total, the Plus
Jeden Deň daily wrote.
“At least five persons are
believed to have particip-
Slovakia’s value added
tax traditionally brings in
the largest portion of gov-
ernment revenue and stood
at €4.432 billion for 2010,
€20.9 million better than the
revised budget plan. On the
other hand, corporate in-
come taxes brought only
€1.258 billion in revenue,
less than the €1.320 billion
projected in the revised
budget and more than €500
million less than the €1.786
billion contained in the ori-
ginal 2010 budget. The Fin-
ancial Policy Institute stated
that this gap is attributable
to reduced profitability in
the corporate sector due to
the economic downturn.
ated in this offence – four ci-
vilians and one professional
soldier,” said Peter
Šufliarsky of the Office of
the General Prosecutor.
Two masked men armed
with iron rods attacked
Dobrovič on November 7,
2009, near his house in
Veľký Šariš, near Prešov.
The motive is believed to
have been linked to
Dobrovič’s post.
Compiled by Spectator staff

ADVERTISEMENT

TAX: New revenue plus cuts

Continued from pg 6 public finance deficit falls be- Ďurana also told The Slov-

MORE
“Therefore, the brief over-
view that has been presented
with an international auditor & needs to be taken with a grain
of salt and is most useful as a
low 3 percent of GDP. It has
been estimated that the high-
er VAT rate will bring an addi-
tional €185.5 million in rev-
enues to the state in 2011.
ak Spectator that the in-
creased VAT rate should be re-
assessed after only one year
rather than when the deficit
falls below 3 percent of GDP.

INSIGHT warning tool for potential

risks that might be gradually
breeding within the budget.”
advisor at your side Radovan Ďurana of the
INESS economic think tank
also viewed one month as too
short a time to assess the im-
pact of tax changes, stating
that three months is the min-
imum period needed to collect
“Dare to invest in a knowledge partner, enough data to discern trends.
The Iveta Radičová
so that you can enjoy your passion for business” government’s austerity pack-
Bart Waterloos, partner VGD age adopted last year projects
overall savings of €1.7 billion
in the state budget, with cit-
Since 15 years VGD has a strong presence in Central izens and businesses contrib-
Europe. Originating from a Belgian accountant, our uting €770 million through
Slovak practice has grown into a team of 25 experts. higher taxes and other fees.
Going through such an international expansion ourselves,
The government said it will
we can act as a sounding board for entrepreneurs small
or large who are active in the region as well. By investing
save an additional €985 mil-
in professional services you increase the chances of lion through cuts in ex-
success for your business. Make time for a meeting face penditure, the Pravda daily
to face and experience how we can provide you with more wrote last December when
insight in your Slovak business. parliament adopted the last
legislative initiative in the
package of austerity propos-
als. The specific tax changes
 
Additionally, purchases of
coal and natural gas by cent-
ral heating companies, which
are used to generate heat for
households, are no longer ex-
empt from excise taxes and
the preferential tax treatment
that applied to natural gas
(CNG) used as a motor fuel
was eliminated in 2011.
The excise tax on tobacco
products is being increased in
two phases, the first effective
on February 1, 2011, and the
next on March 1, 2013.
A number of changes were
made in the calculation of
personal income taxes.
Ďurana told The Slovak
Spectator that INESS in gen-
eral does not accept the high
deficit as an adequate reason
to increase citizens’ and busi-
nesses’ tax burden, adding
that his think tank believes
that the cancellation of tax
exceptions and the estab-
lishment of tax calculation
During a recent presenta-
tion to the Conservative In-
stitute, Vaňo compared the
government’s 2011 budget to
a cup of cappuccino, with
both bitter tax hikes coupled
with more palatable steamed
milk for voters in the form of
expenditure cuts.
“I labelled the saucer be-
low this cup of cappuccino as
“competitiveness”,
something that fiscal consol-
idation needs to keep in mind
both on the side of raising
revenue as well as cutting
expenditures,” Vaňo said.
“The reason is that it is not
the bitter part of tax revenue
increases that is the major
risk for this year’s budget:
the major risk stems from
potential hesitation and
delays in implementing the
planned expenditure cuts.
The 2010 expenditure consol-
idation is just the beginning
of the inevitable multi-year


 www.vgd.eu.
adopted by parliament in-
clude modifications to value
added tax, excise taxes and
tax > audit > accountancy > payroll > tax > audit > accountancy > payroll > tax > audit income taxes.
Slovakia > Czech republic > Belgium > Germany > Poland > Luxemburg > Hungary > Bulgaria The most significant tax
change was the increase in
the VAT rate from 19 percent
to 20 percent on January 1,
which the government says
will stay in effect until the
SP90507/1
bases on a flat level should
have been accompanied with
a reduction in tax rates. He
also said INESS believes that
the VAT rate need not have
been increased in 2011 if the
reduced VAT rates or exemp-
tions for medicines and books
had been cancelled and other
measures had been adopted.
consolidation plan.”
Vaňo reiterated that the
major source of revenue for
the Slovak state budget
comes from indirect taxes,
VAT and excise taxes, and
that collection of these
taxes depends to a large ex-
tent on the trajectory of
domestic demand.

FREE: Pasta and flour
for welfare claimants
Continued from pg 1
According to the prime
minister, if the regulatory
policies of the state are adjus-
ted properly a drop in food
prices could be achieved.
Prices in Slovakia in
January were 3 percent high-
er than January last year, and
up by 1.9 percentage points
compared to December 2010.
In an analysis, the Ministry
of Finance said it believes a
6.1-percent year-on-year rise
in food prices recorded in
January was caused by devel-
opments in global markets
related to last year’s very poor
harvest for certain grains and
legumes.
Smer leader Robert Fico
immediately attacked the
government’s proposal to
distribute flour, allocated
from state reserves, and
pasta to the needy.
“Are we somewhere in
the jungle where it is neces-
sary to help the people in
such a way that cars drive
around and people throw
flour and pasta, and this will
be the solution to the unpro-
fessional conduct and inabil-
ity of the Slovak government
to react to problems?” Fico
asked, as quoted by public
broadcaster Slovak Radio.
Fico said that “humanit-
arian workers” get on the
stage when there is a huge
catastrophe in the country.
He insisted that the situation
is not caused by the weather
or global markets but by what
he called the seven-month
rule of a “mash-up” right-
wing government.
Most market watchers,
however, did point to the
weather, geopolitical influ-
ences, looser monetary
CLASSIFIEDS
C 3634
Exactly how people will receive their free pasta is still being determined.
policies by central banks, in-
creasing demand in China
and India, as well as the pro-
duction of bio-fuels as being
behind the price rises, ac-
cording to the Sme daily.
A public tender has now
been announced to process
45,000 tonnes of grain into
flour and pasta for distribu-
tion to people eligible for
state assistance, of whom
there are around 180,000. The
deadline for submitting bids
is March 15.
Sme reported on
Thursday February 24 that
food tycoon Andrej Babiš is
interested in participating in
the tender. It quoted Jaroslav
Kurčík, a director of Agrofert,
confirming that the firm,
which is owned by Babiš, is
considering a bid.
Meanwhile, the Trade
Unions Confederation (KOZ)
said that the idea of giving
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C 3655
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(near Hodzovo namestie); on Lycejna at
intersection with Panenska 26/28.
Children's Sunday School provided.
Everyone Welcome.
Information at 02-5443-3263
Web Site: www.bratislavainternationalchurch.org
Take your
chance
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classified advertisement.
NEWS / BUSINESS
away flour and pasta is an in-
sult to human dignity rather
than a solution.
Energy bills
Miškov, the economy min-
ister, said that there is room
for a reduction in energy
prices.
“We believe that there is
space for cuts in energy
prices,” Miškov said, as quoted
by SITA. “We will appeal to the
Regulatory Office for Network
Industries (ÚRSO) to set regu-
latory policy so as to prevent
monopolies from making in-
appropriate profits.”
Miškov also reiterated
comments by the prime min-
ister who said that the gov-
ernment would put great em-
phasis on good regulatory
policy by the state.
“I am not disclosing any
secret when I say that Slovakia
REAL ESTATE
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Photo: Jana Liptáková
has the highest energy prices
among the V4 countries,”
Miškov said, adding that his
ministry would not consent to
regulatory policy that facilit-
ated such high energy prices.
However, the head of
ÚRSO, Jozef Holjenčík, said it
is not true that Slovakia has
higher energy prices. He said
that in the supply of electricity
and gas to households Slovakia
has lower prices than the
European average.
“Distribution fees are also
below the European Union
average,” Holjenčík said, as
quoted by SITA. “The prices
are higher only for the trans-
mission of electricity and this
is only as a consequence of in-
tegrating the 110kV system
during the privatisation pro-
cess into the distribution
networks and not the trans-
mission networks,
happened in other states.”
ADVERTISEMENT
February 28 – March 6, 2011
GROWTH: Chamber
welcomes rule changes
Continued from pg 4
“The law on investment
support should take this
factor more into
consideration,” he added.
The Economy Ministry
also plans to extend stimuli
for small and medium-sized
businesses in particular, by
halving the minimum in-
vestment required to attract
state stimuli.
“This initiative is to be
appreciated as the current
system disadvantages small
and medium-sized
companies,” Halt said. “In
particular, medium-sized
producers can be respons-
ible for thousands of em-
ployees by giving business
to suppliers but may be too
small themselves to qualify
for investment aid. If the
scheme of investment sup-
port also aids these entre-
preneurs it may effectively
enlarge their willingness to
invest further.”
The ministry also sug-
gests that direct subsidies
are likely to be paid in the
case of investments of stra-
tegic importance.
As for the type of invest-
ment that investors appreci-
ate the most, Halt says that
they prefer direct subsidies.
“An investment gener-
ates high costs at the begin-
ning but tax holidays come
into effect only when it has
already begun to be viable,”
as
More investments could help cut unemployment. Photo: Sme
9
Halt said. “Put simply: cash
now is better than lower
taxes in the future.”
As for state aid, Halt also
pointed out that the current
draft of the law on invest-
ment support gives applic-
ants more information
about the terms for obtain-
ing support and thus im-
proves the transparency of
the whole process.
“This was one of the
main disadvantages of the
old scheme,” Halt said.
Nevertheless, Halt also
said that the poor state of in-
frastructure in eastern Slov-
akia has consistently un-
dermined the region’s in-
vestment potential.
“Its development
should be a top priority,”
Halt said.
Furthermore, investors
need skilled labour to carry
out their plans, which is of-
ten hard to find, said Halt.
The Slovak educational
system is not noted for meet-
ing investors’ needs and
filling the gap, he added.
“A lack of enforcement
of the law and corruption
are other known barriers to
investment,” Halt told The
Slovak Spectator. “Good
economic policy can prove
an effective tool for attract-
ing investors.”
If passed by parliament
on schedule, the proposed
law will come into force as
of June 1.
SP90508/2
10 February 28 – March 6, 2011 CULTURE

The rebirth of Smolenice Western SLOVAKIA

Castle in the Carpathians

Bratislava
l FLAMENCO: Bajani Fla-
menca – Flamenco Guitar - An
evening full of flamenco and
EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE
Spanish flair, with Morenito
de Triana, aka Stanislav
Kohútek, finalist of an inter-
national flamenco guitar
competition.
Starts: March 2, 19:00; Di-
vadlo na lodi, Tyršovo em-
bankment. Admission: €6.
Tel: 0917/505-055; www.
adylod.sk.
Bratislava
l MUSICAL: Báthoryčka – The
famous life story of the
noblewoman who became a
torturer – or the victim of
scheming noblemen, depend-
SMOLENICE Castle had the and rebels from among the Kreuzenstein castle near Vi- ing on who you believe – has SEVEN Films of Akira Kurosawa – This film festival, marking the
been turned into an original 100th anniversary of the birth of the great Japanese director,
role – like other Small Great Hungarian nobles. The enna. The rebuilding was a big Slovak musical; by Henrich
Carpathian castles – of guard- rebels, led by Count Károlyi event and many local people brings a range of his films to the Mladosť cinema in Hviezdosla-
Leško, with libretto by Jana vovo Square in Bratislava. Between February 28 and March 2
ing the wider region. In had jobs working there for Kákošová.
medieval Hungary, the many years, as did a movies such as Stray Dog (Nora inu), Heaven and Hell (Tengoku
Starts: March 5, 19:00; No-
Small Carpathians were
a border range as the re-
HISTORY TALKS whole colony of special
craftsmen from Italy,
vá scéna theatre, Živno-
stenská 1. Admission: €11-€16.
to jigoku) and Kurosawa’s masterpiece Rashomon will be
screened. Admission is free; for more info (in Slovak) please visit
gion west of the moun- some permanently set- Tel: 02/2048-8500; www.nova- www.kamdomesta.sk, or call 02/5443-5003 (Kino Mladosť) or
tains was sparsely in- tling in the area. During scena.sk. 02/5980-0101 (Japanese Embassy). Photo: Courtesy of Toho Co
habited flatland with only a and Count Berscényi, quite World War II the castle tower
Bratislava sal vessel: a ‘Gofer’, or Girl for low Chateau, Múzejná 2. Ad-
few military garrisons pre- easily defeated the Habsburgs’ was demolished after German l BEAUTY CONTEST:Miss Everything. Each came up mission: €0.50-€1. Tel: 031/
pared to defend the kingdom. imperial general Rotschan. soldiers made a machine-gun Universe SR Finals 2011 – The with a different response: P. 5522-402; www.muzeum.sk.
Smolenice Castle is con- At the beginning of the nest in it. contest to find the most beau- Ďuriš, K. Korbeličová, D. Popol-
nected with one interesting 20th century the castle was a In this postcard from 1925 tiful woman in Slovakia cli- itova (Estonia), J. Gabriš, L. Central SLOVAKIA
event. On May 28, 1704, a ruin. Its owner, Count Pálffy we can see the castle in its re- maxes on March 5: from 13 fi- Regasková, M. Borkowska (Po-
battle took place nearby set his mind on rebuilding it built, most romantic form. nalists, Miss Universe Slov- land), F. Plačko, and Š. Strapko Lučenec
between the Habsburg army and was inspired by the By Branislav Chovan akia will be chosen. made all kinds of items, from a l LIVE MUSIC: Desmod - Mega
Starts: March 5, 20:00; Si- girl’s body to a classical urine Show – With Rocksanna sup-
ADVERTISEMENT bamac Aréna, NTC, Príkopova vessel. porting, the popular Slovak
6. Admission: €9. Tel: 02/ Open: Tue-Sun 13:00- group Desmod stop in Lučenec
5293-3321; www.ntc.sk, www. 18:00; Galéria Nova, Baštová 2. to perform their famous hits.
ticketportal.sk. Admission: free. Tel: 02/5443 Starts: March 5, 18:00;
-3039; www.galeria-nova.sk. Sports Hall Fair-ground, Jirás-
Bratislava kova 12. Admission: €12-€15.
l EXHIBITION: Denamit Nitra Tel: 02/5293-3321; www.ticket-
Design Days – The founding l LIVE MUSIC: Dan Bárta – portal.sk.
members of the Denamit civic Together with the Robert
association – L. Bartková, M. Balzar Trio, this respected Banská Bystrica
Bednárová, S. Janišová, L. singer and songwriter offers a l DJ PARTY: Paul van Dyk –
Sršňová, L. Viková and their select choice of his own work, The world-famous DJ and mu-
guests K. Czikorová, M. as well as re-mastered pieces sic producer gives his first
Slováková and J. Gulyás – by various performers. Slovak club concert, with Mi-

Anna Erwin
present their ambitious Starts: March 2, 19:00; The chael Burian and residents DJ
designs and the stories of their Old Theatre of Karol Spišák. Dave and DJ Pico supporting.
creation. Admission: €12. Tel: 02/5293 Starts: March 5, 21:00; Mi-

Netrebko Schrott
Open: Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00 -3321; www.ticketportal.sk. nistry of Fun. Admission: €47
until March 6; Galéria - €97. Tel: 02/5293 -3321; www.
Médium, VŠVU, Hviezdosla- Dunajská Streda ticketportal.sk.
vovo Square 18. Admission: l EXHIBITION/MUSEUM: Ry-
free. Tel: 02/5942-8570; www.v bolov starého Žitného ostrova Eastern SLOVAKIA
svu.sk/galeria_medium. / Fishing on Old Žitný Island –
www.snd.sk

This exhibition presents the Košice

Bratislava traditions of this region on the l GUIDED TOURS: Tajomstvá
l EXHIBITION: Dievča pre Danubian Plain. bočných uličiek / Secrets of
všetko / The Girl for Everything Open: Tue-Fri 10:00-17:00, the Alleyways – Roaming
– A group of art students were Sat 9:00-16:00 until March 12; through the streets of Košice,
tasked with making a univer- Žitnoostrovné múzeum, Yel- you will be shown things you
G r a n di o s e h ig h lig ht would never expect, like
freemasons’ halls, cubism,
of the ball season subterranean cellars, etc.
in S lovakia! 2011, 7pm Starts: March 5, 17:00 (in
March 5th, English); in front of the Sci-
lding of SND
The new bui entific Library, Hlavná 10.
Admission: €1.50 (at the MiC
in OD Dargov), or €1.99 on the
day. Tel: 055/161-86; www.
mickosice.sk.
Košice
P r e s t i g i o u s c u l t u r a l e v e n t w i t h t h e w o r l d s t a r s o f o p e r a! l BOTANICAL GARDEN:
Most popular and glamorous diva, operatic soprano Záhadný svet mušlí / The Mys-
A n n a N e t r e b ko terious World of Shells – This
Tickets available at: Great operatic bass-baritone
exhibition presents more
SND Box offices and www.ticketportal.sk
THE CARNIVAL / Shrove Procession and workshops – called than 1,000 sea and land snails,
HOTLINE: +421 2 204 72 297 Erwin Schrott Organizers: Slovak National Theatre corals, starfish, etc.
in cooperation with the organizer Hainal – in Svätý Anton offer many events, from a balloon flight,
A prominent operatic tenor of Crystal Wing Open: 9:00-17:00 until
General partner: Main partners:
José Cura tasting of pig-sticking products, fried cakes, Art Kruh and Mauro March 6; Mánesova 23. Admis-
Crystal
Wing Arabia performances, various workshops and a folk ballroom- sion: €1-€2. Tel: 055/2341-676;
dance with regional music. They take place between March 3 www.upjs.sk/pracoviska/bota
Partners: Media partners:
and 5, from 10:00 at various sites. Some events are free, work- nicka-zahrada.
shops cost €10-€15. For more information, please call 0903/441
-114; or visit www.svatyanton.sk. Photo: Sme-Ján Krošlák By Zuzana Vilikovská
SP 90250/6

N A M E D A Y F E B R U A R Y - M A R C H 2 0 1 1
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Weather updates and forecasts from across Slovakia Zlatica Albín AneÏka Bohumil Kazimír Fridrich Radoslav
Bohumila Kevin Radoslava
can now be found at www.spectator.sk.
February 28 March 1 March 2 March 3 March 4 March 5 March 6

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,
In cooperation with the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute such as chocolates or flowers, and to wish them Všetko najlepšie k meninám (Happy name day)

A billboard advertising Slovak films at this year's Berlinale.
Slovak cinema once
again holds promise
BY DOMINIKA
UHRÍKOVÁ
Spectator staff
AFTER A slight downtick last
year, the future of Slovakia’s
cinema production again
looks promising. The first ma-
jor film event of 2011, the re-
cent Berlinale, brought into
the spotlight several young
talents who might become the
leaders of what the Berliner
Zeitung called “a small Czech-
Slovak New Wave”.
“It is not commonplace for
us to have as many as two new
movies with Slovak participa-
tion at the Berlinale,” said Al-
exandra Strelková from the
Slovak Film Institute, refer-
ring to Slovak director Zuzana
Liová’s feature The House
(Dom) and Czech director
Erika Hníková’s documentary
Matchmaking Mayor (Nesvat-
bov), both co-produced by
Slovakia and the Czech Repub-
lic. “Our Central European
Cinema stand at the European
Film Market, which we tradi-
tionally share with our col-
leagues from the Czech Re-
public and Slovenia, was this
year really swarming with
film professionals who in-
quired both about the two
movies screened and about
the current state of Slovak
cinema,” she told The Slovak
Spectator. However, the buzz
and excitement soon spread
outside the market, too.
Matchmaking Mayor, a
story about a mayor’s idea to
hold a matchmaking dance
for his village’s singles, was
praised by Variety for its
“forthright, amusing ap-
proach to topical subject
matter” and it even received
Der Tagesspiegel Readers’
Jury Award. Marek Urban,
the Slovak co-producer of
the movie, explained that
the early idea behind
Hníková’s third document-
A scene from The House.
ary was very different from
its final version.
“Originally, the movie was
called “Weddings According
to the Mayor” and it was sup-
posed to be a film about a
mayor who has the recipe for
the present-day phenomenon
of singles,” he stated. “But as
usually happens with docu-
mentaries, reality is the best
screenwriter and our “Wed-
ding Village” became “No
Wedding Village” [in Czech]
despite all the mayor’s
efforts.” As Hníková explained
in a press release, what makes
the film unique is exactly this
mayor who governs the east-
ern Slovak village of
Zemplínske Hámre. She added
that people who have not star-
ted a family by the age of 35
can, of course, be found else-
where in Europe, but Match-
making Mayor is also about
different kinds of solitude,
about the village milieu where
traditional values no longer
apply, and about the mayor’s
Sisyphean struggle.
The House was equally
successful at attracting the
attention of the visitors to the
Berlinale. According to the
Sme daily, the premiere of the
movie was followed by en-
thusiastic applause and
cheers as well as by a long
discussion with director Zuz-
ana Liová and actors Miroslav
Krobot, Táňa Medřická and
Judit Bartos.
CULTURE
Photos: Courtesy of Fog'n'Desire Films
“I had only finished the
movie two weeks before so I
was very tired and did not
have any distance from my
work,” Liová told The Slovak
Spectator. “But when I saw
the reaction of the audience,
very positive and emotional,
energy came back to me all at
once. The journey from the
script to a finished film had
been a tough one, but seeing
some people with tears in
their eyes after the screening
made me feel it was worth it.”
The House tells the story
of a teenage girl who wants to
escape her remote, sleepy
hometown to work as a
babysitter in London.
However, her father has other
plans and is building her a
house next door. He is all the
more obstinate as he had pre-
viously started constructing,
but failed to complete, anoth-
er house for his elder daughter
who had managed to flee the
family nest.
Variety called the movie
“perfectly proportioned”, re-
garding Liová as the equal of
her regional contemporaries,
while The Hollywood Report-
er recommended The House
“for lovers of Ken Loach-style
realistic dramas built on nat-
uralistic performances, sans
the politics”.
Liová, who has received
many international awards for
her previous works said she
chiefly draws inspiration from
people around her. “Through
my film I attempted to show
the difficulty of understand-
ing each other and asking for
what we actually want, be it a
mere hug,” she remarked.
“The two half-finished houses,
unwished-for yet sincerely
offered, symbolise my charac-
ters’ inability to open them-
selves before one another.”
Michal Kollár, The House’s
Slovak co-producer, said that
the film, which was shot over
a period of two years, was very
dear to him in many respects.
“The House is unusually genu-
ine and simple,” he said. “It
evokes the deepest emotions
and forces us to reconsider our
values. Within 90 minutes,
Zuzana achieves what a soap
opera does not achieve within
a hundred episodes.”
And it seems the Berlinale
is only the first swallow in the
possible upturn of Slovak
cinema: at least 15 feature and
documentary movies pro-
duced and co-produced in
Slovakia are expected to be re-
leased in 2011. These include,
for example, Apricot Island by
Peter Bebjak, Cherry Boy
(Čerešňový chlapec) by Stan-
islav Párnický, and Gypsy by
Martin Šulík. However, com-
pared to the neighbouring
countries, the situation is not
yet satisfactory, filmmakers
agree. Kollár said that for
Slovak movies to become
more numerous the distribu-
tion system of state film sub-
sidies should be improved,
which in turn cannot be
achieved without more public
support. “Nobody questions
the amount of money re-
ceived by tennis or ice hockey
players for their individual
training, yet these sums of-
ten exceed the yearly budget
allocated to the overall do-
mestic film production,” he
told The Slovak Spectator. “I
believe the public should be
informed about the neces-
sity of increasing this kind
of support.”
February 28 – March 6, 2011
Mossad agent donates to Danubiana
A FORMER agent of the Is-
raeli secret service Mossad,
Rafi Eitan, has donated one
of his own creations to the
Danubiana Museum of Mod-
ern Art near Bratislava. Eit-
an, a politician and a past
cabinet minister, decided to
donate his bronze sculpture
of a hand called “Holding on
to Life” to Danubiana be-
cause he grew to like the mu-
seum during his visits to
Slovakia, Zuzana Kizáková of
the Israeli Embassy told the
SITA newswire.
The Dutch patron and co-
founder of Danubiana, Ger-
ard H. Meulensteen, and the
gallery’s owner, Vincent
Polakovič, were given the
sculpture by Alexander Ben-
Zvi, the Israeli Ambassador
to Slovakia. The sculpture
will become part of the in-
ternational collection at the
Danubiana.
Eitan, who is 84, rose to
fame as a Mossad agent and
in 1960 he was the com-
Holding on to Life, by Rafi Eitan.
Nitra – a hotbed of regional theatre
THEATRE professionals and
amateurs – actors, directors,
critics, and students – from
throughout the countries of
the Visegrad Group (V4) have
been regularly meeting in
Nitra as two festivals suppor-
ted by the Visegrad Fund are
held each year in this central
Slovak town. At the spring
festival, actors from Slov-
akia, the Czech Republic,
Hungary and Poland meet in
the Old Karol Spišiak Theatre
and present theatre reflect-
ing the culture of the central
European region. Autumn is
dedicated to the Divadelná
Nitra Festival which ranks
among the top theatre fest-
ivals held within the V4
countries.
The first year of the
theatre festival was held in
1999 at Nitra’s Old Theatre, at
the initiative of the long-
time head of the theatre, the
late Karol Spišiak. Since 2003,
the festival has provided the
opportunity to develop in-
ternational connections
between regional theatres as
well as to inspire profession-
al theatres and art schools.
Veronika Gabčíková, the Ni-
tra theatre’s dramatic ad-
viser, told the TASR news-
wire that the goal of the non-
11
mander of the operation that
captured Nazi leader Adolf
Eichmann in Argentina, one
of the greatest triumphs of
the Israeli secret service.
Kizáková told SITA that
Eitan had always admired
the art of sculpting but that
in the environment of the
kibbutz where he grew up
and in the secret service
where he worked, he never
had a chance to get closer to
the art form. In the 1960s
when he was deployed as a
secret agent in Paris he got to
know modern art better and
learned to love it.
“When I was in Paris, I
started to create sculptures
and statues myself. En-
chanted by Picasso, Arp and
Giacometti, I followed
them,” he said about his
works which include dozens
of bronze and iron works de-
picting long, slim figures,
sitting cats and Venuses, and
industrial statuettes made of
screws or chains.
Photo: SITA
competitive presentations is
for people to get to know
each other and to examine
common features and specif-
ic differences within their
national cultures.
This autumn’s Divadelná
Nitra festival will be celeb-
rating its 20th anniversary.
Darina Kárová, the head of
the autumn festival, said
that Divadelná Nitra cooper-
ates with many festivals and
institutions in all four
Visegrad countries and that
the festival’s Council for For-
eign Theatre systematically
and intensively follows cur-
rent offerings in the Czech
Republic, Poland and Hun-
gary, making the festival
well-known for presenting
both renowned directors and
young talents hailing from
all V4 countries.
Last year, the Divadelná
Nitra association prepared
several special offerings dur-
ing the fall festival such as
Stretnime sa! (Let Us Meet!)
and Spoločnosť a zmysel
umenia (Society and the
Meaning of Art), an informal
meeting that commemor-
ated Slovakia assuming the
presidency of the V4.
Compiled by Spectator staff
12 February 28 – March 6, 2011
Pustý hrad in
Zvolen tops poll
THE TOP at-
1
traction in a
poll that de-
cided upon
the Seven
Wonders of
Banská Bystrica Region is
Pustý hrad (the Deserted
Castle) in Zvolen. Vladimír
Maňka, president of the re-
gion, announced the win-
ners on January 24 based on a
popularity poll that lasted for
eight months.
The other wonders of the
region are the Kláštor (Mon-
astery) in Hronský Beňadik,
the entire town of Banská
Štiavnica, the Čierny Hron
forest railway, Špania Do-
lina mining village, the
Part of the ruins of Pustý hrad in Zvolen.
Young skier saved
from drowning Slovakia’s €2 coin wins award in Berlin
AN ACCI-
2
DENT nearly
ended in
tragedy at the
Ždiar-Stred-
nica ski resort
on January 27 when a young
boy participating in an or-
ganised trip from Poland
skied outside the designated
boundaries and fell into a
1.5-metre-deep pond used to
make artificial snow. The
boy, aged 11, was pulled from
the freezing water by other
skiers and ski-lift operators.
A patrol from the Tatra
Mountain Rescue Service
brought him to their rescue
station but because he was in
the cold water for only a
short period of time he
AROUND SLOVAKIA compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
mint in Kremnica and the
articular wooden Protestant
church in Hronsek.
Maňka invited repres-
entatives from all the win-
ning sites to his office to re-
ceive his congratulations
and their official certific-
ates. He also drew three
names from among the 2,700
people who had voted in the
competition.
“These three winners
will be invited by the presid-
ent of the region and by our
MEP [member of the
European Parliament] to vis-
it Brussels or Strasbourg in
September,” the region’s
spokesman, Peter Hajnala,
told the TASR newswire.
Photo: Sme-Ján Krošlák
showed no signs of hypo-
thermia or other injury.
After drying his clothes
for about two hours the boy
departed for home with his
parents, Jaroslav Švorc, the
head of the Tatra Mountain
Rescue Service, told the SITA
newswire, adding that al-
though the boy was totally
submerged for a while, he
had been pulled from the
water quite quickly and no
long-term negative con-
sequences are expected.
“In my 30 years of ser-
vice, we have had burn injur-
ies and a skier run down by a
car; but having a skier al-
most drown is something
unheard of,” Švorc told the
TASR newswire.
FEATURE
One man's Carnival costume is another man's uniform.
Carnival traditions in Slovakia
THE PERIOD of Carnival be-
gins one day after Epiphany
on January 7 and ends on Ash
Wednesday (Caput jejunii) on
March 9 and this period was
known in the central
European region, especially in
Slovakia, even in the pre-
Christian era when there were
community processions going
from house to house to wel-
come spring and bid farewell
to winter. Eastern Slavonians
knew this period, too, and
they celebrated it as
“maslenice”, a period rich in
butter and fat as they wanted
to get satiated before the time
for fasting during Lent. Tradi-
tional meals included various
types of doughnuts, fried
cakes, strudels and slaughter-
house delicacies.
After Christianity was
widely accepted the atmo-
sphere and tone of Carnival
changed fundamentally, the
TASR newswire wrote. What
remained from older times
was the processions of masked
people that involved rituals
with deep meaning – unlike
modern times, when these
parades are just fun. The car-
nival masks of the past usually
SLOVAKIA’S €2 coin, depict-
ing a double cross standing on
three hills, designed by
sculptor Ivan Řehák, has be-
come one of the most sought
after coins in global circula-
tion and recently won a com-
petition held in Berlin for the
“best circulating coin”.
“At the beginning of 2011,
the prettiest coins minted in
2009 were announced, as
chosen by a jury of 60 experts
on numismatics,” Petra
Pauerová, spokesperson for
the National Bank of Slovak,
the country's central bank,
told the media.
The competition this year
was held in Berlin and was
organised as in the past by
Krause Publications, a lava Castle.
looked like animals and they
were meant to be threatening
as their role was to chase away
ghosts, evil spirits and
demons. Those usually in-
cluded in a procession in-
cluded Turoň, a huge beast-
like creature with horns, as
well as bears and wolves.
Today, Carnival masks which
swap the gender of their
wearer are popular and many
of them tend to mock the ap-
pearance, character or bad
habits of the opposite gender.
The Slovak word “fašiang”
comes from the German
“vast-schane” meaning
something similar to “the last
drink”. It symbolised the last
occasion to revel before the 40
days of Lent, the Christian
fasting period that ends with
Easter. This is why during the
last fašiang days, called
“ostatky” – the “last remain-
ing items” – were dedicated to
wild fun and mad excesses.
From the Great Moravian
times, the expression
“mjasopust” (meaning meat-
lending day) has remained.
The prevailing occupa-
tion of people in Slovakia was
farming and before spring ar-
renowned publisher of nu-
mismatic literature based in
the US.
The category “best circu-
lating coin” assesses the ap-
pearance of a coin as well as
its handling characteristics
and its use in the general
payment system.
Other categories in the
competition included the
most important historical
coin, the best gold or silver
coin and the most inspiring
coin.
Last year the €2 coin from
Cyprus won for its motif of a
statue in the form of a cross.
Slovakia's other euro coin
designs depict Kriváň, a dis-
tinctive mountain and Bratis-
Photo: Sme-Ján Krošlák
rived there was less work so
apart from evening “spin-
ning parties” during the Car-
nival time many weddings
were arranged which tended
to be longer than today, in-
volving many more people,
often the couple’s entire vil-
lage. The fašiang procession
through a village stopped at
every house with a ritual
meaning – to bring blessings,
fortune and good luck to each
household and good health to
the residents.
Each municipality had its
own version of rhymed
wishes and some have pre-
served them to this day.
Those wearing masks re-
ceived some gifts, usually
food, and were offered alco-
hol. Carnival culminated on
the Tuesday before Ash Wed-
nesday with a community-
wide dance with a local band
providing lots of music and
lots of food to end the carouse.
At midnight, the contrabass –
which was believed to have
given rhythm to the band and
the music – was ritually
“drowned” to avoid the
temptation of any further
dancing and merrymaking.
Slovakia's €2 coin has won plaudits from numismatists for its
design and ease of handling.
Bratislava
is getting
older
THE POPU-
3
LATION of
Bratislava is
getting older
according to
a report on
the Health Status of Resid-
ents of the Capital. The re-
port, based on data from
2009, was provided to the
city council on January 27
by Mayor Milan Ftáčnik.
The average age of Brat-
islavans in 2000 was 38.4
years but it increased to
40.82 by 2009. The report
predicted that the average
age of residents in the cap-
ital city will continue to
increase.
Nevertheless, the may-
or told the council that res-
idents of Bratislava have
better health than other
Slovaks, adding that the
city should focus mainly
on preventive health care
for children so that they
avoid serious health prob-
lems as adults, the SITA
newswire wrote.
Anna Dyttertová, a
member of the city council,
suggested that the city
should reactivate the city’s
Health Office that used to
organise lectures for Bratis-
lavans on how to have
healthy lifestyles.
A senior in action. Photo: Sme
Photo: Sme-Pavol Funtál