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NEWS
Battle over Cyprus
Sharp differences of opinion
have emerged within the
Slovak cabinet over the fu-
ture of the country’s milit-
ary contribution to the UN
peacekeeping mission in
Cyprus.
pg 2
Slovakia's integrity
The Global Integrity Report
has ranked Slovakia in the
top half of monitored coun-
tries, but its report on the
country is not without cri-
ticism.
pg 3
OPINION
Heavy baggage
Every year in March young-
sters dressed in black uni-
forms gather in squares to
commemorate what is one
of the darkest and most
traumatic anniversaries in
Slovakia’s history.
pg 5
BUSINESS FOCUS
Carmakers upbeat
2010 was a year of chal-
lenges for carmakers oper-
ating in Slovakia, all of
which had to grapple with
the effects of the global
economic crisis. But 2011
is already looking better.
pg 6
E-mobility in Slovakia
As many companies world-
wide plan to – or have
already started – serial pro-
duction of electric cars, a
number of pilot e-mobility
projects have emerged
across Slovakia.
pg 7
CULTURE
The legacy of Bauhaus
Bratislava's Design Factory
is hosting an exhibition of
photographs by Gordon
Watkinson focusing on the
history and enduring philo-
sophies of the Bauhaus
movement.
pg 11
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Vol. 17, No. 11
Slovaks lay flowers in front of the Japanese Embassy in Bratislava to mark the victims of the earthquake which
struck northern Japan on March 11.
Quake poses questions
for nuclear safety
THE INTERNATIONAL community
has responded to the devastating
earthquake that struck Japan on
March 11 with compassion for the
thousands of lives lost and the more
than half a million left homeless.
But the explosions at the Fukushima
I nuclear plant, where radiation
levels have been rising since the
earthquake damaged its cooling sys-
tem, has officials around the world
fielding questions about the safety
risks of nuclear power.
While some nations suggested
the events in Japan would cause
Minister: Reform, even if it hurts
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
Spectator staff
REFORM is necessary even if it is
going to hurt, said Slovakia’s Fin-
ance Minister Ivan Mikloš as he
tried mid March to push his ruling
coalition partners closer to a com-
HUF 273.74
promise over the changes it is con-
JPY 110.42
sidering making to ways of calcu-
PLN 4.08
lating income tax and mandatory
USD 1.40
payroll taxes.
A tug-of-war has been raging
between advocates of higher taxes
on the self-employed and those
working under Slovakia’s system
Monday, March 21, 2011 - Sunday, March 27, 2011
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
Spectator staff
them to take a serious look at their
nuclear energy policies, the Slovak
Economy Ministry reaffirmed its
stance that nuclear power is among
the most stable sources of electri-
city worldwide and that the
country’s nuclear power plants are
subject to strict safety standards.
Slovakia’s nuclear supervision
authority has assured the public
of one-off contracts, and those
who oppose the plan by suggesting
that heavier payroll taxes will
drive many self-employed people
out of business.
“It is easiest to say that we are
not going to do it because it will
also hurt,” Mikloš warned on
March 15, as quoted by the SITA
newswire, adding that the ruling
coalition would soon have to reach
an agreement. “I expect those who
are against to put an alternative
proposal forward.”
Most-Híd, led by Béla Bugár,
has been trying to soften the edges
of the reform plan advocated by the
Slovak Democratic and Christian
Union (SDKÚ) and Freedom and
Photo: Sme - Vladimír Šimíček
that Slovakia’s two nuclear power
plants, at Jaslovské Bohunice and
Mochovce, were designed to with-
stand earthquakes of considerable
intensity. But environmental
watchdog Greenpeace has respon-
ded that the developments in Japan
show what serious risks nuclear
plants pose.
Interior Minister Daniel Lipšic
assured Slovaks that, as of March 16,
there were no safety risks to Slovakia
from the damaged Japanese plant.
See PLANT pg 9
Solidarity (SaS). While the fourth
ruling party, the Christian Demo-
cratic Movement (KDH), has com-
mended the government’s aim of
developing a unified system for col-
lection of income taxes, customs
duties and mandatory payroll taxes
its MPs have urged detailed as-
sessment of the impact the
changes will have on self-em-
ployed people.
The government of Iveta
Radičová has said its ambition is to
simplify the overall system and
ease some of the administrative
burdens on employees as well as
employers.
See LEVY pg 4
FOCUS
of this issue
Slovakia
readies aid
for Japan
€250,000 pledged to
support Japan’s recovery
BY MICHAELA TERENZANI
Spectator staff
SLOVAKIA has prepared an aid package
consisting of funds and rescue workers to
support recovery efforts and humanitarian
projects in Japan in the wake of the
massive earthquake and tsunami that hit
the country in mid-March.
Prime Minister Iveta Radičová sent her
condolences to Japanese counterpart Na-
oto Kano following the disaster. The quake
and subsequent tsunami has left tens of
thousands of people unaccounted for.
“I wish you and the people of Japan
strength to deal with the damage and also
in your efforts to restore the earthquake-
hit infrastructure,” said Radičová, as
quoted by TASR newswire. “I'm convinced
that despite the unpredictability of natural
disasters, Japan will be able to restore
normal life in the affected parts of the
country as soon as possible.”
Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič
has also sent his condolences to Emper-
or Akihito.
The European Council, which con-
vened in an extraordinary session in re-
sponse to the disaster, has agreed to co-
ordinate help for Japan. Slovakia will
contribute €250,000 for humanitarian
assistance, Radičová said, as quoted by
the SITA newswire.
See AID pg 2
Ex-minister
alleges
wire-tapping
But no evidence presented by
MP, who himself faces serious
criminal charges
DOZENS of parliamentary deputies and
journalists are having their phone calls in-
tercepted with the consent of the interior
minister, according to former construction
minister and current Slovak National Party
(SNS) MP Igor Štefanov. While some MPs
said they had heard rumours about such
practices, the Interior Ministry immedi-
ately dismissed the accusations. Štefanov
himself currently faces a proposal to strip
him of his MPs’ immunity from prosecu-
tion, so that police can charge him with
misconduct in a public office over his in-
volvement in the notoriously non-trans-
parent bulletin-board tender case.
See TAP pg 3
2 March 21 – 27, 2011
Slovak aid to Haiti finally released
HUMANITARIAN aid sup-
plies from Slovakia have fi-
nally been released by cus-
toms in Haiti almost a year
after delivery. The Foreign
Ministry confirmed that the
supplies, sent following the
2010 Haiti earthquake, are
now ready for distribution to
Haitians in need, the SITA
newswire reported.
Hundreds of humanit-
arian aid containers are re-
portedly stuck at customs of-
fices in Haiti due to massive
bureaucratic delays.
According to Vladimír
Krčméry, the rector of the St
Life little healthier in settlements
A REPORT by the Pro-
gramme for Health Support
in Disadvantaged Com-
munities shows that some of
the Roma who inhabit
Slovakia’s shantytowns are
taking better care of their
children’s health, but still
tend to neglect the health
and hygiene of adults, the
Sme daily wrote.
The report states that
health issues related to un-
healthy dietary habits,
smoking and alcohol are in-
creasingly present in
shantytowns.
Officials from the re-
gional health offices report
that the Roma living there
are paying more attention to
annual check-ups for their
children, and that going to
Minister stirs tuition fees debate
THE EDUCATION Ministry is
analysing the possibility of
introducing tuition fees for
full-time university studies,
Education Minister Eugen
Jurzyca told the parliament-
ary committee on education.
After his comments attrac-
ted heavy criticism from
students and opposition, he
stressed that tuition fees are
not in the ministry’s plans
for this parliament, nor are
they mentioned in the
government’s programme.
The mention of tuition
fees provoked strong reac-
tions from representatives of
university students.
“We are against this for
as long as the government
does not prove that this step
will improve quality,” said
the head of the Student
Council of Universities,
Juraj Tilesch, as quoted by
the Sme daily.
Opposition Smer MP
Dušan Čaplovič said that
one university degree
should be free regardless of
whether the student is full-
time or part-time. If the
student wants to get anoth-
er degree in another pro-
gramme, he or she should
pay for it.
There is uneven support
Elisabeth University of Health
and Social Sciences, who has
worked in Haiti, NGOs on the
ground there are often blamed
for being slow because “only
those with money for bribes
get anything done quickly”.
The humanitarian aid
from Slovakia will be distrib-
uted by the NGO Magna –
Children in Need, SITA re-
ported. The container, which
was delivered to Haiti on
March 25, 2010, contained 9
tonnes of material worth
over €177,000, including
tents for 100 people and
clothing for 1,000.
the doctor has become more
common among pregnant
women, too.
The vaccination rate has
also increased. Regional of-
ficers attribute this to local
field workers, Sme wrote.
But hygiene standards
in the settlements contin-
ue to decline, according to
the report.
The project was financed
in 2007 and 2008 by the
Health Ministry, but the
second phase, from 2009 to
2015, will be financed by re-
gional health offices.
Over €300,000 has been
spent on the project so far,
Sme reported.
There are only 30 field
workers assisting the Roma
settlements, the daily noted.
for tuition fees among the
coalition partners. While
Freedom and Solidarity (SaS)
said it would welcome fees,
the Christian Democratic
Movement (KDH) rejected
the idea. Prime Minister Iv-
eta Radičová, who along
with Jurzyca is a member of
the Slovak Democratic and
Christian Union (SDKÚ),
stressed that the
government’s programme
statement is binding.
Jurzyca said that if the
analysis showed that it
would be appropriate for tu-
ition fees to be introduced
under specific circumstances
and in some specific form,
the ministry would commu-
nicate this even if the idea
lacked political support, so as
to inform people about what
would help the education
sector. He intends to elabor-
ate further steps only after
the results of the analysis are
available.
Currently, full-time
university students in Slov-
akia pay fees only if they ex-
ceed the standard length of
studies or attend more uni-
versities.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
NEWS
Battle over Cyprus
SHARP differences of opinion counterpart, and that the am-
have emerged within the bassador of Cyprus to Slovakia
Slovak cabinet over the future was waiting to meet him at
of the country’s military con- the ministry.
tribution to the UN peace- Galko, however, later in-
keeping mission in Cyprus. sisted that the withdrawal of
Defence Minister Slovak troops from Cyprus
Ľubomír Galko announced on would not be a mistake. He
March 16 that he would ad- said that he had discussed
vise the government to with- the issue with Dzurinda prior
draw Slovak soldiers from the to announcing it in public,
UNFICYP mission in Cyprus, SITA wrote.
citing a strategic evaluation Slovakia has rotated 1,900
that he said had concluded members of its armed forces
the mission would make through Cyprus since 2001.
little contribution to the de- Dzurinda (left) and Galko disagree about Cyprus. Photo: TASR Andrej Šándor, a security ana-
velopment of the Slovak lyst who was formerly head of
Armed Forces in the future, ded €3.4 million. The ministry ance of the mission for the Czech Republic’s military
the SITA newswire reported. thus spent €5.2 million keep- Slovakia’s foreign policy. intelligence service, explained
Slovakia’s contribution of ing Slovak troops in Cyprus. Foreign Minister Mikuláš that the mission is of symbolic
nearly 200 peacekeepers is dis- According to Galko, as Dzurinda issued a sharp re- importance, offering Slovakia
proportionate in relation to much as 86 percent of the con- buke to Galko after the an- a chance to show that it cares
the country’s size and capabil- tinually shrinking budget of nouncement, describing his about resolving the conflict
ities, Galko said, noting that the ministry is spent on non- fellow minister’s statement between the Greek and Turk-
Slovakia’s neighbours contrib- discretionary items such as as “inappropriate” and ish inhabitants of the island.
ute far fewer soldiers to the UN staff pay, payroll levies, and adding that Galko had He told the Sme daily that it is
mission. The Czech Republic operations. Only 14 percent is spoken in haste. inappropriate for politicians
has ten soldiers there, Poland left for modernisation and “This is very irresponsible, to exchange strong opinions
15 and Hungary 88. foreign operations. very amateurish and very about Cyprus in public.
The expense of the opera- “If funds for the mission harmful to Slovakia,” “These political fights
tion is another reason for end- were found outside the Dzurinda said, as quoted by only harm Slovakia abroad
ing Slovakia’s participation, ministry’s budget, it would be SITA. He said it would be a more than if the actual step [a
Galko explained, as the UN re- possible to discuss allowing fatal mistake to pull Slovak pull-out of troops] was taken,”
imburses only part of the the troops to stay in Cyprus,” troops out of Cyprus. he said.
costs. Expenditure on the he said, as quoted by SITA, The foreign minister also
mission in 2010 was €8.6 mil- adding that the Defence Min- noted that he had received a Compiled by Spectator staff
lion, of which the UN refun- istry is aware of the import- message from his Cypriot from press reports
AID: Special dog service ready to go
Continued from pg 1
“We want to coordinate the whole
process of humanitarian aid with other
countries in order to prevent duplicate ef-
forts and, also, to make sure that they [Ja-
pan] don’t miss out on getting something
they need,” Radičová said on March 14,
adding that the form and scope of the as-
sistance had not yet been settled.
Radičová said the key issue is arran-
ging the transport and distribution of the
humanitarian aid and making sure it
goes where it’s most needed.
“It has turned out in the past that
sending financial resources hasn’t al-
ways been the most effective form of aid,
so we are looking at offering some form of
material, concrete help,” Radičová said.
Apart from the financial support, Two Slovaks flew from Japan on March 16 on a special Czech charter. Photo: ČTK
Slovakia is also preparing to send a team
from the Special Rescue Dog Service, loc- well as food, water, blankets, and shelter, pumps, blankets, underwear and
ated in Nyrovce, Nitra Region, which within four hours of receiving notice. clothes, the Interior Ministry said.
also took part in rescue efforts in the “We are only waiting for the response “Slovakia’s participation in sending
Hungarian village of Kolontár after it was from Japan, so that they confirm what humanitarian help to Japan is condi-
hit by a wave of toxic red sludge in au- they need, how, and when,” she said, as tioned on the cooperation of EU coun-
tumn 2010. quoted by SITA. tries to secure air transport, which might
Alexander Berek, the director of the limit the volume of the humanitarian
rescue service, said that they are ready to Interior Ministry material offered,” the ministry wrote in a
dispatch a 20-member group of interna- offers rescue team too statement. “In case of need we will se-
tional specialists who already have ex- cure ground-based transport of the ac-
perience dealing with the after-effects of The Interior Ministry, in response to cepted amount of material to a desig-
various natural disasters both at home a call by the EU Monitoring and Informa- nated airport for further transport.”
and abroad. tion Centre (MIC), which activated the The Japanese Foreign Ministry in-
“We have Slovak and Hungarian res- European Aid Mechanism, prepared a formed EU bodies that the rescue phase
cuers, dog-handlers, doctors and four team of rescue workers composed of 16 of the operation is nearing its end and
divers in our team,” Berek told the TASR firefighters and personnel specialised in that it will be followed by a phase focus-
newswire. “Another eight Hungarian post-natural disaster search and rescue, ing on meeting the basic needs of surviv-
doctors specialising in rescue work re- eight policemen with dogs trained to ors, for which Japan had received offers
lated to natural disasters are ready to join search for people buried in ruins, eight from 102 countries and regions and 14 in-
our group.” divers, six doctors and a veterinary sur- ternational organisations.
The rescue team contacted the In- geon, all of them available to depart The Embassy of Japan in Slovakia
terior Ministry and the Foreign Ministry within four hours of a call from the MIC. thanked the Slovak government for the
to offer its assistance immediately after Slovakia was also offering, from its help it had offered and expressed “deep-
the earthquake was reported. humanitarian supplies, emergency est gratitude to all the Slovak people who
“We're ready to hit the road immedi- housing material (14 tents each with ca- have expressed their sympathy and con-
ately, if necessary,” said Berek. pacity for eight people, 112 beds and 112 dolences to the bereaved families and
Radičová also confirmed that Slov- sleeping bags), 15 mobile generators for victims” of the earthquake and tsunami,
akia is ready to send 25 rescue workers, as electricity production, 10 portable sludge the embassy’s press release stated.

Slovakia's integrity rating
not a reason for joy
Areas still
needing
improvement
include party
financing
BY MICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
THE GLOBAL Integrity Report
(GIR) has ranked Slovakia in
the top half of monitored
countries with an overall
score of 73 out of 100, but its
report on the country is not
without criticism.
While the fight against
corruption, the establishment
of transparent government
procurement processes and
public access to information
are all on the current
government’s agenda, the
latest GIR results show that
Slovakia still has a long way to
go in some of these areas be-
fore it reaches the level of
other advanced democracies.
What is the GlR?
Published annually by the
US-based NGO Global Integ-
rity, the GIR assesses the
strengths and weaknesses of
anti-corruption systems at a
national level.
Every country assessment
included in the GIR is com-
prised of two core elements: a
qualitative Reporter's Note-
book and a quantitative Integ-
rity Indicators scorecard. The
data from the scorecard is ag-
gregated and used to generate
the international Global Integ-
rity Index. The Integrity In-
dicators scorecard assesses the
existence and effectiveness of
key governance and anti-cor-
ruption mechanisms, and the
public’s access to them,
through more than 300 action-
able indicators. It examines
issues such as the transpar-
ency of the public procure-
ment process, the freedom of
the media, asset disclosure re-
quirements, and conflict-of-
interest regulations.
Slovakia – a conundrum
The recently released res-
ults are based on data
gathered during the Robert
Fico government, between
June 2008 and June 2009, one
year before the leadership of
the country changed hands in
June 2010.
“Slovakia poses a be improved, but then we also
conundrum,” the report
reads. “Although the former
communist country is now a
member of the EU and a relat-
ively stable democracy, there
are significant weaknesses in
its overall anti-corruption
and accountability frame-
Financing of political parties remains problematic.
work that threaten to under-
mine Slovakia’s progress to-
ward more open and demo-
cratic governance.”
Slovakia’s highest scores
were in the fields of media in-
dependence, non-govern-
mental organisations, access
to information and the work
of the ombudsman. But, ac-
cording to the report, signific-
ant weaknesses still pose a
hindrance to democracy, in-
cluding issues such as low law
enforceability, insufficient
control over the financing of
political parties and national
budgetary processes.
Details of political party
financing remain murky
Nathaniel Heller, Global
Integrity’s executive director,
said that Slovakia has no ef-
fective laws in place to deal
with conflicts of interest or
the control of political parties’
financing.
“Despite a healthy voting
and election integrity system,
the regulations that govern
political financing continue
to be ineffective,” the report
reads. “An independent audit-
ing body to monitor the fin-
ancing of political parties and
individual candidates does
not exist, and not all political
parties disclose their
donations.”
The GIR gave the effect-
iveness of regulations govern-
ing the financing of political
parties the extremely low
score of 4 out of 100.
“The legislation needs to
need to focus on preventing
political interference in the
work of bodies that are sup-
posed to be independent,”
Zuzana Wienk of the Fair-Play
Alliance watchdog told The
Slovak Spectator.
Wienk said that there is a
NEWS
Photo: Sme
need for an independent body
that would audit the finan-
cing of political parties, that
crimes connected with polit-
ical financing have to be
covered in the Penal Act, and
that the police have to be will-
ing to prosecute these crimes.
Transparency Interna-
tional Slovakia (TIS) also sup-
ports the creation of an inde-
pendent audit body that would
watch over conflict-of-interest
cases and political financing.
“Conflicts of interest will
be dealt with justly and effect-
ively once it’s no longer a case
of politicians keeping an eye
on other politicians,” said
Gabriel Šípoš, director of TIS.
Conflicts of interest
in the judiciary
While Slovakia's om-
budsman and audit agency,
and its business, tax and cus-
toms systems earned healthy
ratings, the accountability
mechanisms that oversee the
judiciary, executive and legis-
lature are weak, the report
states. National-level regula-
tions for conflicts of interest
among judges, for instance,
are poorly enforced.
According to Wienk, the
recent amendments to legis-
lation on the judiciary,
passed by the Iveta Radičová
government, have brought
significant changes but there
is still room for improve-
ment, particularly in the area
of disciplinary proceedings
against judges.
“In my opinion the prob-
lem is that the judiciary is
ruled by power and financial
groups and the state is no
longer able to guarantee law
enforcement,” said Wienk.
The judiciary received a
mediocre-to-poor score in the
2009 GIR, while regulations
governing conflicts of interest
in the judiciary were ranked
only 36 out of 100.
Whistleblowers not protected
Another issue that ranked
very poorly (2 out of 100) was
the lack of legislation protect-
ing state employees who blow
the whistle on their superiors’
misconduct. At the moment
such a law does not exist.
“[Whistleblowers] cannot
be sure that they won’t be
transferred to another posi-
tion or that their wife will not
lose her job,” said Heller, as
quoted by the SITA newswire.
Šípoš, however, believes
that, rather than legislative
changes, what is most needed
at the moment is a change in
politicians’ attitude towards
whistle-blowing.
“Instead of silence or
doubts about bureaucrats who
uncover suspected corruption,
there is a need for moral sup-
port on the part of politicians,”
Šípoš told The Slovak Spectat-
or. He listed past examples,
such as a case in the state
forestry company, and the ab-
use of motor fuels at the de-
partment for the protection of
state officials, where political
support for the whistle-blow-
ing employees was lacking.
Šípoš said that rewarding
whistleblowers with a pay-
ment from the money they
helped the state save, as the
American Fair Claims Act
does, would be a viable solu-
tion to the problem.
Engaging the public?
The GIR said that the ca-
pacity to monitor the national
budgetary process is concen-
trated in the executive branch
in Slovakia and that, while
civil society is robust, the
government has demon-
strated little interest in enga-
ging with civil society organ-
isations and involving them
in the policy-making process.
“Formal tools are at our
disposal, but are not used
well,” said Wienk.
Although she admits the
situation has changed since
the last elections she said
there are still areas that could
use improvement; the public
could be informed more in ad-
vance about proposed meas-
ures, for example, and more
time could be provided for
public review.
However, Šípoš said that
there has been a big change in
the fight against corruption
and that TIS had been invited
to cooperate with ministers in
creating new rules for public
procurement and financing of
political parties.
“Under the last govern-
ment any criticism from our
part resulted in us facing ac-
cusations of being politically
motivated,” said Šípoš.
TAP: Allegations fly
Continued from pg 1
On March 17 Štefanov told
a press conference he had
convened that, according to
“information from well-in-
formed sources”, whom he
refused to identify, 40 MPs
including himself were hav-
ing their phones tapped, as
were some journalists.
Štefanov did not give the
names of the MPs or the
journalists, nor did he spe-
cify which institution was
supposed to be tapping their
phones. According to the In-
terior Ministry, the only in-
stitutions that can legally
practice eavesdropping in
Slovakia are the police and
the Slovak Information Ser-
vice (SIS). Štefanov also al-
leged that Interior Minister
Daniel Lipšic is aware of the
eavesdropping, and called on
him to resign.
“Minister Lipšic is trying
to centralise executive
power in one pair of hands,”
Štefanov said, as quoted by
the TASR newswire.
“Without any scruples he
taps and gathers information
about his political oppon-
ents, as well as about his co-
alition partners and puts
pressure on everyone who
doesn’t agree with him.”
When asked why he did
not report to the police what
he had described as illegal
practices by the ministry,
Štefanov said that “such
things need to be prepared”
and the SNS wants to “avoid
bombastic statements of the
kind Minister Lipšic used”.
He also said the SNS might
file a criminal complaint, but
the respective bodies could
start an investigation as soon
as they received information
via the media.
Immunity links?
Štefanov’s claims about
the Interior Ministry came
shortly after he learnt that he
could lose his parliamentary
immunity and face sub-
sequent prosecution for seri-
ous crimes, including abuse of
the powers of a public official,
connected to the infamous
bulletin-board tender case, as
a result of which the state lost
millions of euros. Parliament
will vote on whether to strip
Štefanov of his immunity
when MPs receive a motion
from the prosecutor.
Interior Minister Daniel
Lipšic announced on March 9
that four people, whom he
did not identify but who are
believed to include Štefanov’s
predecessor as construction
minister, Marián Janušek,
had been charged with tam-
pering with a public pro-
curement. At the same time,
a motion was filed with the
duty prosecutor to request
that parliament strip a fifth
suspect of his immunity
from prosecution. This later
turned out to be Štefanov.
According to Lipšic, the
charges, if proved, could res-
ult in a prison sentence of 10
to 20 years.
March 21 – 27, 2011 3
The Interior Ministry in-
terpreted Štefanov’s accusa-
tions as an attempt by the
MP to deflect attention, say-
ing that his conduct fitted
the Slovak proverb ‘a drown-
ing man snatches even at a
straw’.
“Remarkably enough, Mr
Štefanov revealed a police-
related topic at precisely the
moment when the General
Prosecutor’s Office is decid-
ing on a proposal to strip
him of his immunity,” the
ministry stated, as quoted by
the SITA newswire.
According to the Interior
Ministry, any wire-tapping
conducted by the police is
based on a proper court order
and is constantly controlled.
Štefanov, in turn, ac-
cused the interior minister
of trying to cover up import-
ant topics by making bom-
bastic announcements about
the potential prosecution of
an ex-minister, saying that
Lipšic has learned about
“important topics discussed
within the SNS leadership”.
Other MPs heard rumours
Some MPs, however,
said they had heard that
eavesdropping might be tak-
ing place. While Deputy Par-
liamentary Speaker Milan
Hort of the Slovak Demo-
cratic and Christian Union
(SDKÚ) and Speaker Richard
Sulík of Freedom and Solid-
arity (SaS) said they hadn’t
heard of this before, Most-
Híd deputy chairman Gábor
Gál admitted he had heard
that some MPs might be be-
ing wire-tapped, or might
previously have been mon-
itored during the previous
government’s term.
“If there are proper court
orders for that, then they
probably have a reason to
eavesdrop,” Gál told the
TASR newswire, adding that
it would be a problem if the
court orders were missing.
Lipšic stated on March 17
that all wire-taps being con-
ducted by Slovak state organ-
isations are authorised by a
judge, in accordance with
the law. He added that he
does not know, and does not
want know, the identities of
any individuals currently be-
ing monitored. “My message
to Mr Štefanov is that times
have changed,” Lipšic said,
as quoted by SITA.
Politicians from the op-
position Smer party also said
they had heard of some tap-
ping practices before but did
not have any confirmed in-
formation that they could
publish.
“This is such a serious
thing that despite the fact
that we hear this informa-
tion, and despite the fact that
we know about a source at
the Regional Court in Nitra,
we cannot come up with such
accusations and claims,”
Smer’s leader Robert Fico
said, as quoted by TASR.
By Michaela Terenzani
with press reports
4 March 21 – 27, 2011
Hospitals face cuts in bed capacity
SLOVAK hospitals may lose
10 to 15 percent of their total
35,000 beds, based on a pre-
liminary plan by the Health
Ministry.The exact number
and structure of the affected
wards will be known after
talks between the ministry,
counties, managements of
the affected facilities and in-
surance companies, the SITA
newswire reported.
The reduction is due to a
lack of financial resources
and the expectation that
payments from health insur-
ance companies will not in-
crease in the near future.
“Strictly speaking, this
does not mean hospitals will
be closed; it is just a reduc-
tion of ineffective wards, as
well as support and exten-
sion of outpatient and day-
care so that patients are
provided the major part of
health care in their regions,”
Honeywell to invest in Slovakia
ECONOMY Minister Juraj
Miškov on March 14 con-
firmed plans by US-based
multinational Honeywell In-
ternational to invest over
€38 million in Slovakia. The
investment will create at
least 446 new jobs in Prešov,
producing turbochargers de-
signed for cars and trucks ,
the TASR newswire reported.
The Economy Ministry
intends during an upcom-
ing cabinet session to sub-
mit a proposal on providing
Honeywell with invest-
ment assistance.
“The government will
then act on the investor’s
request by issuing a de-
VOP: Find new investor or close
DEFENCE Minister Ľubomír
Galko is preparing to name a
crisis manager for Vojenský
Opravárenský Podnik (VOP)
Nováky, a state-run joint-
stock military maintenance
company that he says is in
the worst financial condition
of all the companies under
his ministry’s jurisdiction.
“We need to find a stra-
tegic investor, or we haven’t
ruled out that we may have
to liquidate the company,”
Galko said, as quoted by the
SITA newswire. In that case,
approximately 200 people
would lose their jobs.
The company’s fate
should be determined within
six months. Meanwhile,
Galko said, €400,000 has
been reallocated to VOP
Nováky to provide for wages,
and the ministry will trans-
port ammunition to the
company for employees to
work on in the coming
months, SITA wrote.
“However, this is not a
solution that can be re-
peated again and again in
the future,” SITA quoted
Galko as saying. “The De-
the ministry explained, as
quoted by SITA. “Specialised
care that is medically and
financially demanding (and,
most of the time, only neces-
sary in rare cases) will be
centralised because that is
the only way it can be
provided in the highest pos-
sible quality.”
The first changes, start-
ing April 1, will concern
cases requiring a change in
the form of healthcare
provided, such as changing
a one-day treatment to a
hospital treatment, and
those where transfers of
beds or centralisation of
wards is not necessary.
Marián Petko, president
of the Association of Slovak
Hospitals, said that there are
redundant beds. “Some re-
structuring would partially
help the system,” he said, as
quoted by SITA.
cision on the proposal for
investment assistance,” the
ministry stated, as quoted
by TASR.
The ministry said that
Honeywell ha d fulfilled all
criteria required under Slov-
ak and EU law. The invest-
ment aid would take the
form of direct financial help
through subsidies when pro-
curing material and non-ma-
terial investment property,
through contributions for
creating new jobs, and
through indirect help, in-
cluding an income tax allow-
ance on condition that max-
imum-intensity aid for east-
ern Slovakia is fulfilled.
fence Ministry has ammuni-
tion which could be dis-
mantled, but we have no
funds for granting these
contracts to VOP Nováky.”
At this point, VOP
Nováky is fully dependent on
the ministry's contracts, he
said. “We are currently able
to sell the ammunition,”
Galko said. “We are able to
get rid of it without this cost-
ing us any money.”
Citing comments by em-
ployees, Galko said that some
funds already provided to the
company had been used for
purposes other than lifting it
out of debt, such as buying
new windows, but added
that it is too late now to do
anything about that.
Galko agrees with the
unions, which have stated
that strategic investors
could aid the ailing com-
pany, and said it doesn’t
matter whether it’s a do-
mestic or a foreign investor,
but that the state should re-
tain majority ownership.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
BUSINESS
Investors ponder
quake effects
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
Spectator staff
MARKET watchers world-
wide are fixing their sights
on earthquake-stricken Ja-
pan and trying to estimate
the impact the catastrophe
might have on the world’s
third largest economy, and
its subsequent worldwide ef-
fects. Observers noted that
the earthquake instantly af-
fected global financial mar-
kets and said that even mar-
kets in central and eastern
Europe felt some heat from
risk-averse global investors. The post-quake tsunami destroyed whole towns.
There are no accurate cal-
culations or estimates for the istic suggest a loss of about 0.1
damage that Japan has percent in GDP growth.
suffered and market watchers Japan is the third largest
say it is too early to say how economy in the world and
much the earthquake and its the fourth most important
aftermath will affect Japan- trading partner of the United
ese growth. The more optim- States. These two relation-
LEVY: Payroll tax burden is debated
Continued from pg 1
The proposal, which is now being de-
bated by the ruling coalition parties, mar-
ket watchers and representatives of the
self-employed, assumes the introduction
of a so-called super-gross wage from
which one social insurance and one
health-care contribution would be paid.
The proposed healthcare levy is set at 9
percent for all groups.
The Ministry of Finance has proposed
setting social contributions at 19 percent
for employees, while the self-employed
would pay 16 percent and so-called one-off
contract workers would pay 13 percent.
The self-employed would also be offered a
tax bonus.
Mikloš has denied that the changes
would increase the overall payroll tax
burden on Slovaks.
The minister noted that 1.65 million
employees and 67,500 self-employed
would be better off if the reform is given
the go-ahead. He conceded that another
228,000 self-employed people may indeed
take a hit, but this would only constitute
doing away with distortions in the sys-
tem, the TASR newswire wrote.
Fundamentals of the reform
While experts agree that so-called ar-
tificial self-employment needs to be ad-
dressed, they differ on the best approach.
“I consider the shift from employ-
ment to artificial self-employment,
which is motivated only by a lower
payroll tax burden, to be a problem since
this leaves less money for health care or
financing current pensions, for example,”
the director of the INEKO think tank,
Peter Goliáš, told The Slovak Spectator.
Goliáš considers the basic intention
of the reform, which along with simpli-
fying the payroll-tax system would also
lower the motivation to switch to artifi-
cial self-employment, as correct.
“The question is to what degree the
high payroll taxes on employees will be
reduced and by how much the burden
on self-employed and contract workers
will increase,” Goliáš said.
Meanwhile, rating
agency Standard & Poor’s
said on March 16, as quoted
by Reuters, that Asian eco-
nomies will record another
year of solid growth in 2011
after 2010 proved that Asia
is emerging from the eco-
nomic downturn in a strong
position even as the eco-
nomic picture for Japan
after the earthquake re-
mains less clear.
The earthquake imme-
diately affected financial
markets: in its first three
trading sessions after the
disaster the Japanese
Nikkei 225 share index
Photo: TASR plunged by over 20 percent
to its lowest levels since last
ships are the most important April, said Vaňo. He added
when assessing the impact that at first the Pacific re-
of events in Japan on the re- gion, but later stock mar-
covery of the global eco- kets in the USA and Europe,
nomy, according to Volks- also felt the pain.
bank Slovensko chief eco-
nomist Vladimír Vaňo. See GDP pg 9
The self-employed may soon pay a lot more in taxes and levies. Photo: Sme - Pavol Funtál
“One of the solutions could be to “We think that the government
make payments for sick-leave insur- should be reducing the payroll tax bur-
ance and employment insurance vol- den of employees and not increasing it
untary, while in the event of illness or flatly for other groups,” said Ďurana.
job loss limited drawing of funds from
the second [old-age pension savings] Are the self-employed endangered?
pillar would be allowed.”
For the sake of reducing the payroll Meanwhile Stanislav Čižmárik, the
tax burden on low-income people and president of the Slovenský
thus helping employment, INEKO also Živnostenský Zväz (SŽZ), which repres-
proposes having a deductible item for ents self-employed trade and craft
payroll taxes, similar to those for workers, said that in January 2011 alone
taxes, Goliáš concluded. more than 6,000 self-employed people
However, another think tank sug- announced the termination of their
gested that the problem is not the low businesses. Additional closures would
payroll taxes of the self-employed but probably follow if the government were
the high payroll taxes of employees. to adopt the measures it has planned,
Radovan Ďurana of the INESS eco- he said, as quoted by TASR.
nomic think tank gave a negative as- While the government argues that
sessment of the plan to pay for a re- the current lower levies for the self-
duction in the burden on low-income employed are unfair on regular em-
employees by placing a heavier load ployees, Čižmárik pointed to the dif-
on the self-employed and contract ferences between the two groups,
workers. Ďurana told The Slovak Spec- stressing that the self-employed bear
tator in an earlier comment that he full responsibility for their entrepren-
expected such a change would de- eurial activities, guaranteeing them
crease flexibility in the labour market with their own property, while paying
and have a negative impact on em- deductions regardless of whether they
ployment growth. are making money or not.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
BY LUKÁŠ FILA
Special to the Spectator
THERE are three reasons why
after the tragedy in Japan one
would expect “jadro” (nucleus)
to be Slovakia’s word of the
week – firstly, Chernobyl is
right next door, in neighbour-
ing Ukraine. Secondly,
Slovakia’s other neighbour is
Austria, where the anti-nucle-
ar lobby is especially strong.
And thirdly, the country gets
more than half of its electricity
from nuclear power plants.
France, with 75 percent, is the
only EU country more depend-
ent on nuclear energy.
Yet there is complete si-
lence. When asked whether
developments in Japan fright-
Nuclear energy is not an issue for most Slovaks.
€ €
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€ €
€ Mail Distribution: ABOPRESS. EV 544/08. © 2010 The Rock, s.r.o. All rights reserved. Any reproduction
OPINION
“We want to avoid any bombastic statements and
shouts like those of [Interior] Minister Lipšic.”
SNS MP Igor Štefanov, who claims that 40 Slovak MPs are being
wire-tapped – but has presented no evidence to back his assertion.
Jadro
care at all. It doesn’t even occur
SLOVAK WORD to anyone that something like
this could happen here.”
OF THE WEEK
A poll on the Sme.sk news
website showed that 76 percent
of people aren’t concerned that
the problems of the Japanese
nuclear reactors could in any
way threaten Slovakia.
And all political parties
without exception continue to
support the use of nuclear
power. Sure, there are some
activists who try to start a de-
bate on the potential threats,
but with little luck.
How can this be? It’s be-
cause in Slovakia there is one
kind of power that has a longer
en locals, Miroslav Remenár, tradition, broader support, and
mayor of one of the villages in that often leads to more im-
the immediate proximity of pressive results than the
the Jaslovské Bohunice power power of the nucleus: the
plant, replied: “People don’t power of apathy.
Photo: Sme - Pavol Funtál
€ € € D ÁŠA R EH ÁKOVÁ - Circulation Manager
€ € €
€ € € Subscriptions: Inquiries should be made to The Slovak Spectator’s business office at (+421-2) 59 233 300.
Heavy historical baggage
MASSED marchers, neo-Nazi
groupings that offer frus-
trated youngsters licence to
kick anyone labelled “the
enemy”, sub-cultures de-
voted to collecting trashy
Nazi relics and reading
speeches by shady figures
from the past that continue
to haunt present generations
who lack the necessary his-
torical self-reflection, and
extremist politicians: none of
these make good historians.
Unfortunately, however,
it is precisely such people who
frequently and shamelessly
trumpet their dubious inter-
pretations of history whenev-
er it suits them, guaranteeing
them attention among those
in society who are angry and
ready to lash out.
Every year, one day before
the Ides of March, youngsters
dressed in uniforms resem-
bling those of Slovakia’s war-
time Nazi militia, along with
a handful of pensioners cling-
ing bitterly to memories of
the early 1940s – or, more of-
ten these days, the filtered
memories of their parents –
gather in squares to com-
memorate what is one of the
darkest and most traumatic
anniversaries in Slovakia’s
history: the establishment
in 1939 of the Slovak State, a
puppet of Nazi Germany led
by Jozef Tiso, a Roman
Catholic priest.
It is almost the same
story every year: supporters
of the Nazi puppet state meet
on March 14 at one of
Bratislava’s squares and then
march to the grave of Tiso
while shouting the same
predictable slogans every
year: ‘We won’t give away
Slovakia’, ‘Slovakia for Slov-
aks’ or ‘Vivat Tiso’.
They are typically cit-
izens vulnerable to manipu-
lation by extremist leaders,
who, by attacking a wide
range of minorities, get the
moment of fame and atten-
tion they hunger for.
Local media reported that
in Bratislava this year, ac-
cording to the SITA news-
wire, an estimated 200
March 21 – 27, 2011 5
people attended the celebra- make it more ‘acceptable’ for
tions of the 72nd anniversary a democratic country.
of the Slovak State. The Yet the streets will always
founder of the banned have their self-made histori-
Slovenská Pospolitosť ex-
tremist movement, Marián
Kotleba, described them as a
ans and there will always be
sub-cultures who decades ago
retreated into the dark caves
“handful of the brave against with what they believed was
the whole system”. the truth, and who have nev-
er really emerged since. In-
stead, they continue to polish
EDITORIAL their rings and plates adorned
with Nazi swastikas, and
search internet sites to ex-
tend their collections, caring
very little about the victims of
the regimes which produced
their cherished mementoes.
March 14 is still wrapped
up in many myths that con-
tinue to be abused by extrem-
ists. Historians and political
scientists repeatedly remind
us that the Slovak State had
many of the attributes of a to-
talitarian state, and oppressed
the rights of the majority of its
own citizens. But this awk-
ward fact, of course, hardly
enters into the type of rally
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ talk in which the extremists
Spectator staff are involved every year.
Perhaps especially
around the Ides of March
Kotleba called on Interior there should be some more
Minister Daniel Lipšic to de- substantial debate: the
lete the paragraph of the broadcast media could skip
Criminal Code which penal- one of the episodes of its ap-
ises incitement of hatred parently interminable soap
based on race, nationality or opera series and host a debate
ethnicity, describing it as an of historians over the issue;
obstacle to freedom of opinion though the hopeful premise
and what he called “scientific for such an initiative is that
exploration”, SITA wrote. the wider public cares, which
Of course, the March 14 might well be a forlorn hope.
performance of those The hope that one day
youngsters, few of whom these people will eventually
would probably be able to melt away, like the dirty
cite even basic facts about snow under the rays of the
the wartime state or the March sun, is wrong: they
activities of its leaders, could will not just disappear.
hardly be characterised as History is sometimes
“scientific exploration”. heavy, rusty and difficult to
Nevertheless, there are handle, and sometimes it is
still historians trying to re- very fragile. This is why it
package the rotten core of should never be treated like a
Tiso’s state, disregarding the football, kicked by those who
fact that, obedient to Hitler, do not understand the im-
it sent some 70,000 Slovak portance of historical inter-
Jews to Nazi death camps pretation. Without care, fu-
while actually reimbursing ture generations will be able
the Reich for the costs of de- neither to carry their unre-
portation. No re-interpreta- solved historical baggage nor
tion can soften this fact or put it where it belongs.
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
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ZUZANA VIL IKOVS K Á - News Researcher
LAYOUT, WEB & IT
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6 March 21 – 27, 2011

AUTOMOTIVE
Slovakia's electric avenue BUSINESS FOCUS Next issue:
Thieves avoid pink cars
Slovak fuel prices soar ENERGY

Big three prepare to Automotive industry organisations

in Slovakia
Automotive Industry Association of the Slovak
Republic (ZAP SR), www.zapsr.sk

ramp up production Chairman: Jozef Uhrík

Automobilový klaster – západné Slovensko

Output stabilised
in 2010, but
Slovak car plants
all have
expansion plans
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Slovak Spectator
2010 was a year of challenges
for carmakers operating in
Slovakia, all of which had to
grapple with the effects of the
global economic crisis. Num-
bers revealed so far indicate
that the sector stabilised last
year, and the outlook for 2011
looks promising. All three car-
makers in Slovakia are already
expanding or plan to expand
their production here, mean-
ing more car models will be
produced, and more people
employed in the local automot-
ive industry.
“2010 had all the signs of
stabilisation and, I would even
say, indications of a return to
the growth dynamics seen be-
fore 2008,” Jozef Uhrík, presid-
ent of the Automotive Industry
Association of the Slovak Re-
public (ZAP SR), told The Slovak
Spectator in an assessment of
the development of the auto-
motive industry in Slovakia
over the last year. “Production,
which accounted for about
557,000 cars, represented an
Production is forecast to grow.
increase of almost 20 percent
compared with 2009.”
Of the three carmakers in
Slovakia, only Volkswagen has
revealed official production
figures for 2010 so far.
“Volkswagen Slovakia pro-
duced 144,510 cars in 2010, an
annual increase of over 36
percent,” Andreas Tostmann,
CEO of Volkswagen Slovakia,
said on March 14. He specified
that production had thrived
during the second half of the
year in particular. During the
first half of 2010 the company
was still feeling the impact of
the economic crisis, but later
demand in all markets revived
significantly. The turnover of
the company grew by 37 per-
cent to €4.04 billion and its
taxed profits went up by 31.6
percent to €75 million.
Volkswagen Slovakia, be-
cause of its focus on produc-
tion of high-end sport utility
vehicles (SUVs), was hit hard
Photo: Courtesy of VW Slovakia
by the global economic crisis.
In 2009 it produced fewer
than 106,000 vehicles, down
from 188,000 in 2008. In 2010,
SUVs made up 93 percent of
total car production at its
Bratislava plant.
“2010 was for us a year full
of challenges; from the start of
production of the new genera-
tion of Volkswagen Touareg
and Porsche Cayenne models,
through to the start of serial
production of the first hybrid
model, the Volkswagen Tou-
areg Hybrid, within the VW
concern,” said Tostmann. “For
the whole year we were also in-
tensively preparing for produc-
tion of the New Small Family
[range of cars].”
Almost all the cars pro-
duced in 2010 by VW Slovakia –
99.3 percent – were exported. It
is the only plant in the VW
group that produces the Volk-
swagen Touareg and Audi Q7
models. Most of the production
– 36 percent – went to Germany
last year. But the most dynam-
ically developing market for
VW Slovakia’s cars is China,
where 18.9 percent of produc-
tion was exported. Compared
with the previous year this
represented an increase of 5.7
percentage points. The USA
and Russia followed, with 9.4
percent and 5.4 percent re-
spectively. Only 0.7 percent of
VW Slovakia’s car production
remained in Slovakia.
For Kia Motors Slovakia,
the youngest carmaker in Slov-
akia, 2010 was a groundbreak-
ing year, even though it has not
yet revealed its official car pro-
duction figures.
“We registered record res-
ults in production,” Dušan
Dvořák, spokesperson of Kia
Motors Slovakia told The Slovak
Spectator. “This was thanks to
the launch of production of two
new SUV models, the Kia Sport-
age and Hyundai ix35, while re-
gistering an increasing number
of orders during the whole year.
Simultaneously, we started
production of the new 1.7-litre
diesel engine, which we mount
into SUV models.”
Kia Motors Slovakia also
launched a significant invest-
ment exceeding €100 million
last year, when it started con-
struction of a second plant for
production of engines, which
will have an annual capacity of
150,000 units.
See PLANS pg 8
(Automotive Cluster – Western Slovakia), a cluster of
producers of car components, universities, schools and
local government bodies. Its vision is to build a highly
prestigious and modern base for the automotive industry
in western Slovakia by 2012.
www.autoklaster.sk
Car producers in Slovakia
Volkswagen Slovakia
Volkswagen Slovakia is the oldest carmaker in Slovakia.
www.volkswagen.sk
PSA Peugeot Citroën Slovakia
The PSA Peugeot Citroën Slovakia car plant near Trnava is
the most technologically advanced in the entire PSA
Peugeot Citroën group.
www.psa-slovakia.sk
Kia Motors Slovakia
Kia Motors Slovakia is the most recent carmaker to arrive
in Slovakia and its plant near Žilina is the South Korean
manufacturer’s only one in Europe.
www.kia.sk
Car sales
Sales of new passenger cars and small utility vehicles up
to 3.5 tonnes:
2006 – 78,568 vehicles
2007 – 83,255 vehicles
2008 – 96, 897 vehicles
2009 – 90,426 vehicles
2010 – 70,951 vehicles
Source: ZAP SR
Best-selling cars brands in Slovakia
In total, 70,951 cars were sold in Slovakia in 2010, 21.54
percent fewer than in 2009, when car sales were
propelled by the car-scrapping bonus scheme. Sales
figures for new passenger cars and small utility vehicles
in 2010 by manufacturer were as follows:

Car sales deliver positive surprise
Prospects for the sector
are improving after
a difficult 2010
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Slovak Spectator
THE FINAL figures for car sales in Slovakia
in 2010 have returned a positive surprise:
even though they lagged well behind the
record set in 2008, not to mention sales
last year, they exceeded market expecta-
tions. Sales of new cars rose strongly dur-
ing the final months of 2010, indicating
that the car market is recovering from the
crisis and that the appetite of Slovak
drivers for new cars is growing.
“The almost 71,000 cars and small util-
ity vehicles sold in 2010 was for me a small
positive surprise because we did not ex-
pect such a number,” Jozef Uhrík, presid-
ent of the Automotive Industry Associ-
ation of the Slovak Republic (ZAP SR), told
The Slovak Spectator. “I expect car sales
will follow an upward trend in 2011. “
The registration of new passenger cars
and small utility vehicles weighing up to
3.5 tonnes totalled 70,951 units in 2010,
down from the 2008 record level of 96,897
units. The car-scrapping bonus scheme
helped maintain car sales in 2009, when a
total of 90,426 new cars were registered in
Slovakia. However, the scheme may have
affected car sales in 2010, when sales fell
by 21.54 percent compared with 2009.
According to Uhrík, sales in 2010 were
propelled in particular by companies.
After halting the renewal of their car
fleets during the crisis, they started to re-
place old vehicles last year.
Škoda was again the most popular car
brand in Slovakia in 2010, with almost one
fifth (19.21 percent) of all new passenger
cars and small commercial vehicles sold
in Slovakia carrying a Škoda badge. No
other carmaker achieved a double-digit
market share. Renault was second, with
7.03 percent of the market and Volkswa-
gen had 6.94 percent. Peugeot was fourth
with 6.68 percent, followed by Kia (6.16
percent), Citroën (6.10 percent), Hyundai
(4.75 percent), Fiat (4.30 percent),
Toyota/Lexus (4.27 percent), Ford (4.11
percent), Suzuki (4.06 percent) and Opel
(3.76 percent).
New or old?
With regards to the ratio between
new and used vehicles sold in Slovakia
last year, Uhrík does not think that Slov-
akia differs significantly when compared
with other European countries, even
though the situation in each of them is
not identical.
“The record from 2008, when the re-
gistration of used passenger cars and
small utility vehicles stood at 100,597
units and thus exceeded the registration
of new cars, was not repeated in 2010,”
Uhrík said. The registration of used cars
decreased in 2009 as well as in 2010, down
to 78,834 and 66,248 units respectively.
The decline between 2010 and 2009 was
more than 16 percent.
See UP pg 8
1. Škoda – 13,631 units: 19.21 percent of market
2. Renault – 4,988 units: 7.03 percent
3. Volkswagen – 4,926 units: 6.94 percent
4. Peugeot – 4,742 units: 6.68 percent
5. Kia – 4,373 units: 6.16 percent
6. Citroën – 4,329 units: 6.10 percent
7. Hyundai – 3,370 units: 4.75 percent
8. Fiat – 3,053 units: 4.30 percent
9. Toyota/Lexus – 3,029 units: 4.27 percent
10. Ford – 2,913 units: 4.11 percent
Source: ZAP SR
Motor shows in Slovakia
There are two main motor shows in Slovakia:
The 21st International Show of Motor Vehicles,
Accessories and Garage and Servicing Equipment -
Autosalon / Motor Show Bratislava 2011 will take place
on April 12 to 17 at Incheba Expo Bratislava
www.incheba.sk
The 18th Car Show Nitra, the only Slovak automobile fair
listed in the prestigious calendar of the OICA
(Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs
d'Automobiles) takes place on September 29 to October
3 at Agrokomplex in Nitra.
www.agrokomplex.sk
Compiled by Spectator staff
 BUSINESS FOCUS March 21 – 27, 2011 7

Slovakia’s electric FOCUS shorts

avenue
New electric cars
are taking to the
local roads
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Slovak Spectator
THE FIRST vehicles powered
entirely by electricity were
manufactured as early as in
the 1900s, but after more than
one hundred years electric
cars remain a curiosity, at
least in Slovakia. Neverthe-
less, the situation is now set
to change. As many compan-
ies worldwide plan to – or
have already started – serial
production of electric cars, a
number of pilot e-mobility
projects have emerged across
Slovakia. Most of them are be-
ing run by electricity distribu-
tion companies since infra-
structure, specifically char-
ging stations, remains a crit-
ical issue, even though most
electric cars can in theory be
recharged from domestic
power points.
“Car producers are pre-
pared for the production of
electric cars,” Jozef Uhrík,
president of the Automotive
Industry Association of the
Slovak Republic (ZAP SR), told
The Slovak Spectator. “The
start of production of expens-
ive electric cars depends only
on how his excellency the
customer, who has become
used to the comfort of classic-
al, i.e. internal combustion,
engines, will respond. When
the advantages of electric cars
are sufficiently appealing that
they overcome this familiar-
ity, then I see the idea of e-
mobility as feasible. However,
this is a question which will
be not solved in one or two
years, even though this is a
global theme on which a large
number of world organisa-
tions are working.”
According to Uhrík, great-
er usage of electric cars will
also depend on building re-
lated infrastructure, includ-
ing charging stations.
“The client will respond
when he or she is sure that he
or she can use an electric car
permanently,” said Uhrík.
First swallow
from the east
The first swallow of e-
mobility arrived in the east of
Slovakia. In November 2010
the regional power distribut-
or Východoslovenská Ener-
getika (VSE) launched the
first public charging station,
and stated its ambition to be-
come the leader in e-mobility
in Slovakia.
“The launch of the sale of
electric cars is planned for
this year [i.e. 2011] and thus
an increase in interest in
A battery is at the heart of an electric car.
charging stations is expec-
ted in general in Europe at
the end of 2011 or in 2012,”
VSE spokesperson Andrea
Danihelová told The Slovak
Spectator.
To support the develop-
ment of e-mobility in Slovakia
VSE is offering drivers of elec-
tric cars free charging until
the middle of 2011. VSE plans
to continue building charging
stations in order to allow the
drivers of electric cars to
make it from Košice to Bratis-
lava: on average an electric
car can travel only around 150
kilometres on a single charge.
VSE plans to open its next
charging station in Bratislava.
According to Danihelová,
the selection of towns where
charging stations will be built
on the Bratislava-Košice route
will depend on several factors,
but in particular on prospects
for their usage and support
from local municipal or
private bodies. In general,
however, VSE plans to direct
construction of charging sta-
tions towards bigger towns
because the e-mobility
concept is designed especially
for use in urban areas.
In early March VSE took
another step and added the
first electric car to its com-
pany car fleet. Its ambition is
to drive 20,000 kilometres in
the car, a Peugeot iOn, in city
traffic to test this new
concept of urban mobility in
real-time conditions. It will
also provide the same vehicle
to its partner organisations
for them to try.
The next regional power
distributor to announce the
start of e-mobility operations
was Stredoslovenská Ener-
getika (SSE).
“During the second half
of 2011 SSE will extend its
Photo: ČTK
car fleet by five electric
cars,” Jana Bolibruchová of
SSE told The Slovak Spectat-
or. The vehicles will thus
make up approximately 3
percent of the company’s
passenger-car fleet. “We're
cooperating in this field
with carmaker Peugeot,
which is the world leader in
the number of electric cars
sold. It will launch its elec-
tric car model, the Peugeot
iOn, in Slovakia this year.”
SSE is not limiting its sup-
port for the development of e-
mobility to the purchase of
electric cars. It is also plan-
ning to build medium-capa-
city charging stations. Such
stations are able to recharge
an electric car’s battery from 0
to 100 percent of its capacity
in 3 hours without any negat-
ive effect on the battery, ac-
cording to Bolibruchová.
The regional power dis-
tributor in western Slovakia,
Západoslovenská Energetika
(ZSE), announced its e-mobil-
ity project, Vibrate, in early
March this year. This project
is being run in cooperation
with Vienna and should be
the first cross-border e-mobil-
ity project in Europe. It is
planned to link Bratislava and
Vienna by a so-called green
highway, i.e. a network of
charging stations.
As Ján Orlovský, spokes-
person of ZSE, the Slovak
leader of the cross-border
project, told The Slovak Spec-
tator, a decision about the fi-
nal number of charging sta-
tions has not been made yet.
But since only 12 kilometres
of the total route are in Slov-
akia, Orlovský says it would
be sensible to build just one or
two charging stations on the
Slovak side. Primarily, the
stations will be built at exist-
ing parking lots and petrol
stations, i.e. places where car
drivers are used to stopping.
ZSE will not limit build-
ing of charging stations to
this project: it plans to open
its first pilot recharging
point inside ZSE premises in
the summer and another
next winter.
“For the time being the
number of electric cars in
Bratislava is minimal and
thus massive construction of
recharging stations, except
those intended to demon-
strate how something like
this looks, does not make any
sense for now,” Orlovský told
The Slovak Spectator.
With regards to making
electric cars more popular and
used by the general popula-
tion, Orlovský sees this as a
matter of the supply of
vehicles that are affordable
and attractive from the view-
point of usage.
“As with any new and ex-
pensive technology, this one
too has a greater chance for
success only with state
support,” said Orlovský.
“Otherwise its implementa-
tion will take longer. More
than €30,000 for a small-me-
dium sized car is too much for
most people.”
Apart from Peugeot, it sis-
ter carmaker Citroën is also
offering an all-electric model,
the Citroën C-zero. The
Peugeot iOn is now on sale at
€35,460 including VAT, and
the Citroën C-zero is available
for the same price, according
to the websites of Peugeot and
Citroën dealers in Slovakia.
The high price of electric
cars is regarded as the main
barrier to wider usage of the
technology in Slovakia, rais-
ing the question of whether
the government will provide
support.
“Each new technology is
taken up more quickly when
the state stimulates demand
for it,” Marcel Lauko, director
of the Energy Centre Bratis-
lava, a partner in ZSE’s Vibrate
project, told The Slovak Spec-
tator. “In the case of e-mobil-
ity at question is not only fin-
ancial support, but other
areas such as parking, which
in the case of cars is a crucial
issue. Thus other forms [of
support] are possible.”
Lauko stressed that e-mo-
bility can be also understood
as a system for storing elec-
trical energy, which once the
concept spreads widely will
become part of the so-called
smart grid, as one of its more
important components. Hav-
ing large numbers of car bat-
teries connected to the elec-
tricity grid would make it pos-
sible to regulate storage and
recharging according to the
needs of the grid, thus balan-
cing the grid’s stability.
See E-CAR pg 8
Carmakers propel Slovakia’s economy
THE MANUFACTURING in-
dustry is growing in Slovakia.
In January local production
grew by 17.1 percent year-on-
year. According to the Slovak
Statistics Office, it was car-
makers and mechanical en-
gineering companies in par-
ticular that drove the growth
in production. Analysts ex-
pect Slovak industry to con-
tinue to thrive in the coming
months, the Hospodárske
Noviny daily wrote.
“The trend in assessing
industrial production was
upward, which is a precondi-
tion for further strong
growth,” said Andrej Arady,
analyst with VÚB Banka.
The automotive sector
should be the main driving
force of Slovak industry this
year. During the first months
of 2011 car production has
already risen by as much as
50.9 percent y/y, and analysts
expect carmakers to make the
biggest contribution to the
revival in Slovakia’s economy.
“The concentration on
the car industry is playing to
Slovakia’s benefit for the time
Kia Slovakia has new president
ON JANUARY 1, Myung-Chul
Chung was appointed pres-
ident and CEO of Kia Motors
Slovakia, which produces
cars at its plant in Teplička
nad Váhom, near Žilina. He
replaced In-Kyu Bae, the first
president of Kia Motors Slov-
akia, who has left Slovakia
after more than six years to
continue his professional ca-
reer within Hyundai Kia
Automotive Group in the Re-
public of Korea, Kia Motors
Slovakia announced.
Chung has been working
at Kia Motors Slovakia since
2005, when he was appointed
the head of the purchasing
and procurement group at the
plant. Together with his col-
Students build their own car
STUDENTS of the Faculty of
Mechanical Engineering at
the Technical University of
Košice have built their own
full-size car. Except for the
basic platform and the en-
gine, the attractive ICAR
2010 cabriolet is the
achievement of a team of
students, the Pravda daily
wrote in late December.
The assignment was not
an easy one. The students
were assigned to design and
manufacture a car in a way
which simulated the produc-
tion processes of carmakers.
Moreover, the car was to be
attractive in terms of its ori-
ginality, aggressive design,
speed, modern innovative
elements and sporty look.
“The platform from
Škoda’s Fabia served as the
basis and we used a 1.9-litre
being,” said Boris Fojtík, an
analyst with Tatra Banka. Ac-
cording to him, the start of
new production lines at Volk-
swagen, along with the start-
up of new investments in the
electro-technical industry,
will be an important factor.
Volkswagen increased
production in January.
“While in January 2010
we operated in two shifts for
five days per week, this year
we manufactured cars in four
shifts seven days per week,”
Vladimír Machalík, spokes-
person of Volkswagen told
the daily.
Kia Motors Slovakia near
Žilina reports an increased in-
terest in its cars from Slovaks.
“We have registered a
more significant growth
compared with the previous
year and we believe that
these numbers can grow
even further,” said company
spokesperson Dušan Dvořák.
The company registered an
increased demand especially
after it launched its new Hy-
undai ix35 and Kia Sportage
models.
leagues he participated in the
establishment of the first Kia
production facility in Europe.
“I have been with Kia
Motors Slovakia since its be-
ginning, so I know the com-
pany very well,” he said. “I
will continue the traditions
and promote the strengths of
our company to its further
development.”
Kia Motors Slovakia is
the first assembly plant of
Kia Motors Corporation in
Europe. The plant was built
between 2004 and 2006, and
production of vehicles as
well as engines for passenger
cars started in December
2006. Kia employs over 2,900
people in Slovakia.
TDi engine with an output of
120 horsepower,” Miloš Liba
from the Faculty of Mechan-
ical Engineering at the Tech-
nical University of Košice ex-
plained, as quoted by Pravda.
The car has a top speed of
over 200 kilometres per hour.
Designing the car took
one year, while the team
worked for another year
‘materialising’ their ideas.
The result is an elegant
two-seater roadster with
wing doors.
But it seems that the
ICAR is not the Košice stu-
dents’ final word.
“Already work on anoth-
er project, which will differ
from this one, has started,”
Liba said. “It will be an elec-
tric car.”
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
8 March 21 – 27, 2011 BUSINESS FOCUS

PLANS: New models now in sight E-CAR: New models

Continued from pg 6
PSA Peugeot Citroën
Slovakia’s production plant
near Trnava has not revealed
its official results for 2010
either, but as spokesperson
Peter Švec told the SITA
newswire in mid December,
the figure was below 200,000
cars, down from the 203,732
which rolled off its production
lines in 2009.
Positive prospects
In terms of the plans of
carmakers in Slovakia,
Uhrík expects further
growth in 2011.
“I expect car production to
break the record from 2008,
when carmakers in Slovakia
manufactured 575,000 cars,”
Uhrík said, estimating that
production in 2011 will be at
least 600,000 to 620,000 cars.
This would mean an annual
adding that the automotive
industry could also contribute
to stronger GDP growth this
year, and that apart from Kia
Motors Slovakia other car pro-
ducers are forecasting growth
in production. “Many subcon-
tracting companies in Slov-
akia, which produce car com-
ponents, raw materials or ser-
vices for final producers, will
feel the positive impact of the
growth in car production. "We
export cars produced in our
company to the whole of
Europe and demand for them
will depend especially on the
situation on the market.”
Kia Motors Slovakia plans
to continue its development
activities in 2011.
“During the first quarter
we should complete construc-
tion of the new plant for pro-
duction of engines,” specified
Dvořák. “Serial production
should be launched during the
second half of 2011. In this way
duction of cars of the New
Small Family range we will
become the only plant with
five brands under one roof in
the world. Simultaneously,
we will extend our portfolio
with a new segment of cars.”
Volkswagen plans to in-
vest €1 billion in Slovakia over
the next five years. VW’s in-
vestments in the country up
to 2010 totalled €1.9 billion.
Investment leading up to
the production launch of cars
within the New Small Family
range should be €308 million;
production is due to start later
this year. The project will re-
quire 1,500 extra workers, ex-
panding Volkswagen Slovakia’s
current labour force to 8,500.
Tostmann did not specify
exactly when production of
New Small Family city cars
will be launched.
Volkswagen did not exhib-
it the highly anticipated city
car known as Up! at the
company is responding to
calls for greener technology
by offering its ISG stop&go
driving system as an option in
its cars. It says this helps to
save fuel in city traffic by
10-15 percent. The ISG system
was fitted to about 15 percent
of cars produced at the Žilina
plant last year.
For the time being Kia Mo-
tors Slovakia produces three
versions of its Kia cee’d model
and in 2010 it launched pro-
duction of two SUV models –
the Kia Sportage and the Hy-
undai ix35. Apart from the Kia
Venga, preparations for the
production of which are tak-
ing place this year, the com-
pany is also planning to pre-
pare production of a brand
new model in 2012.
According to plans an-
nounced in mid December,
PSA Peugeot Citroën Slovakia
will expand production at its
Trnava plant. It was the
Continued from pg 7
Electric vehicles
There are basically two
types of electric cars: those
fully propelled by electrical
energy and so-called hy-
brids, which combine a con-
ventional internal combus-
tion engine propulsion sys-
tem with an electric propul-
sion system.
Both types recharge
themselves during driving
(from energy captured dur-
ing braking, for instance)
and can be recharged at
charging stations.
Most electric cars can be
recharged from a domestic
power point, but this can
take up to eight hours. As a
result special charging sta-
tions are constructed, which
use higher voltages and cur-
rents, thus reducing the
time necessary for charging
to as little as a few minutes.
Manufacturers list the
main advantages of electric
cars as being their zero-CO2
emissions and zero noisi-
ness, and focus especially on
corporate clients, given the
vehicles’ currently high
purchase prices.
On the other hand, op-
erating costs are lower
than in the case of cars
powered by fossil fuels:
Citroën wrote in its press
release that total costs for
driving 100 kilometres are
about €1.50 in the case of
its Citroën C-zero.
The maximum range of
electric cars is limited to
about 150 kilometres by the
capacity of the battery.
This makes electric cars
most suitable for daily city
trips and other short-haul
journeys.

increase of almost 13 percent.
He added that new production
capacities, construction of
which started roughly one-
and-a-half years ago, will
gradually be completed dur-
ing 2011 and contribute to the
upward trend in Slovakia’s
automotive sector.
Dvořák of Kia Motors
Slovakia, whose total invest-
ments in Slovakia have
already exceeded €1 billion, is
also optimistic.
“The car industry grew
during 2010, which was very
positive for the whole Slovak
economy,” Dvořák said,
the annual capacity of our
plant should increase from
300,000 to 450,000 engines.
Apart from this, we plan to
prepare our production lines
for production of the Kia
Venga model. In 2011 we plan
to produce approximately
240,000 cars.”
VW Slovakia’s plans for
2011 and the following years
are ambitious.
“This year is a milestone
for Volkswagen,” said Tost-
mann. “Our company will this
year mark 20 years of opera-
tion by Volkswagen in Slov-
akia. With the launch of pro-
Geneva Motor Show in March.
“It is still not the right
time to show it,” Volkswagen
representatives explained, as
quoted by the Hospodárske
Noviny daily.
Volkswagen Slovakia
could also be where the first E-
Up! battery-electric version of
its New Small Family car is
produced. Tostmann expects a
final decision on the produc-
tion location to be made dur-
ing the second half of 2011.
Kia Motors Slovakia does
not plan to enter the market
for hybrid or electric cars this
year. According to Dvořák, the
automaker’s director general,
Luciano Biondo, who in an in-
terview with Prime Minister
Iveta Radičová said that ex-
pansion would bring approx-
imately 1,000 more jobs – up
from the current 3,000 – but he
did not elaborate. According to
information revealed by the
automaker’s former CEO, Jean
Mouro, the expansion may be
to allow production of a hybrid
version of the Peugeot 207
model. Currently the Trnava
plant manufactures Peugeot
207 and Citroën C3 Picasso
models. The latter is produced
exclusively in Slovakia.
FOCUS shorts
Thieves avoid pink cars
THE NUMBER of cars stolen in
Slovakia increased during the
first 11 months of 2010, when
2,082 cars illegally ‘changed
hands’. The figure is 134 more
than during the same period
of 2009. As many as six cars a
day on average are stolen in
Slovakia, the Sme daily wrote
in late December.
Of all the cars stolen in
In terms of brands,
Škoda was the most popu-
lar vehicle brand with
thieves (855 stolen). They
focused especially on
Octavia saloons (380), Fabi-
as (180) and Octavia estates
(120). Other popular
marques included Volk-
swagen (241), BMW (189)
and Audi (130). The least

UP: Used-car sales are also growing the January-November

Continued from pg 6
“Thus I do not see any significant mat-
ters in terms of this,” Uhrík said, adding
that instead there is an expectation that
sales of new and used cars will hover
around the ratio of 1:1. He added that the
main players in the car sector in Slovakia
would welcome it if the market for used
cars were to consist mainly of cars used in
Slovakia, i.e. from the renewal of local car
fleets, and not of foreign imports.
AAA AUTO, one of the biggest sellers of
used cars in Slovakia, sold a total of 10,512
cars last year. Compared with the previous
year this represented an annual increase of
13 percent, with sales rising by almost 45
percent year-on-year during the final
quarter of 2010.
“2010 was atypical from the viewpoint
of seasonal influences,” Karolína Topolová,
vice-president of AAA AUTO, told The Slov-
ak Spectator. “At the beginning of the year
consumers postponed their decisions over
car purchases in expectation of the further
development of the economic crisis. From
the beginning of May our company started
to register increases in sales, which ex-
ceeded 2009 levels in every month.”
At AAA AUTO the most-sold used car
last year was the Škoda Fabia (with metal-
lic silver the most popular colour), fol-
lowed by the VW Passat, Peugeot 206,
Renault Thalia and Fiat Punto.
“The category of SUVs became the
jumper of the year, with sales ballooning
by as much as 29 percent over the year,”
Topolová said. “Compared with 2009, the
interest in diesel engines increased by
over one third as a consequence of lower
diesel prices.”
Demand for new cars is rising. Photo: TASR
Car sales up so far in 2011
The beginning of 2011 saw a continu-
ation of the upward trend in car sales
which had begun in the last few months
of 2010. The number of new registrations
of passenger cars and small utility
vehicles of up to 3.5 tonnes grew by over
20 percent during the first two months of
2011. In January car sales in this category
rose 21.8 percent y/y to 4,772 cars, and in
February by 21.61 percent y/y to 5,243. In
spite of this robust growth, sales are still
well short of the records set in the last few
years: as recently as February 2008
monthly new car sales stood at 7,375 units.
Nevertheless, ZAP sees the beginning of
this year as promising compared to the
first months of previous years, which
were marked by stagnation, or decrease.
The January-February sales, in
spite of annual growth of 21.7 percent
to 10,015, lagged behind the 2008 num-
bers, when a total of 14,237 new
vehicles were registered.
With regards to the February chart
of the most popular cars in Slovakia,
Škoda managed to keep its traditional
first place, with a market share of 19.71
percent.
Lucia Busquet, spokesperson for
Škoda-Auto Slovakia, confirmed for
private broadcaster TV Markíza that in-
terest in buying cars was rising.
“Compared with the same period of
2010, in January we sold 118 percent
more passenger cars,” Busquet said. “We
believe that this positive trend will con-
tinue for the whole of 2011.”
With regard to prospects for 2011
AAA AUTO is cautious, but as sales in the
first two months have exceeded all ex-
pectations the company hopes that the
trend will continue for the whole year.
“Assuming no unexpected change in
the market, we expect that our sales
could increase by 12 percent in
Slovakia,” said Topolová.
With regards to the current interest
of Slovak used-car buyers, they are
searching for cars with up to 80,000
kilometres on the clock, with a full ser-
vice book and a traceable history. This
is why AAA Auto has increased the
share of such cars it offers to approx-
imately 30 percent. It says interest is
rising in all types of Škoda cars, but
also in SUV models, multi-purpose
vehicles and estate cars. Sellers of used
cars are also reporting increased inter-
esting in luxury cars.
period passenger cars ac-
counted for the biggest por-
tion, over 1,900. The police
managed to find 103 stolen
cars, up from 93 in January-
November 2009.
Silver cars were most
popular among thieves, with
395 stolen during the mon-
itored period, followed by
black car (384 stolen).
Thieves tended to steer clear
of less traditional colours like
purple (7 stolen), beige (5),
pink (2) and blue-green (1).
Fuel prices soar in Slovakia
AVERAGE motor fuel prices
have continued to grow in
Slovakia, recently hitting
record levels. The average
price of the best-selling 95
Natural petrol is currently
around €1.44 per litre and
the average price of diesel
is around €1.35 per litre,
the natankuj.sk fuel-price
monitoring website wrote
on March 14.
Petrol prices rose twice
between late February and
mid March, while diesel
prices were hiked three
times. But the develop-
ment of oil prices and oil
products on stock ex-
changes as of Monday,
March 14, suggested a halt
in the upward trend.
After the latest price
hikes, 95 Natural petrol rose
popular brands were
Smart, Aprilia and Scania,
of which only one each was
stolen.
Most thefts took place
in Bratislava Region, from
where over one half of all
stolen cars, or 1,083, disap-
peared. From this point of
view Žilina Region was the
safest, with only 32
vehicles stolen there. The
capital topped the chart of
towns with the highest
number of stolen cars, with
752 vehicles.
to an average of €1.445 per
litre, significantly above the
historical record from sum-
mer 2005, when it hit €1.410
per litre, partly as a result of
the effects of Hurricane Kat-
rina in the USA. Summer
2008 also witnessed high
petrol prices, of up to €1.370
per litre. Over the last few
years Slovaks paid least for
petrol in early 2009, when 95
Natural petrol sold for
€0.980 per litre.
Diesel prices have not
broken their previous record
yet. In summer 2008 drivers
in Slovakia had to pay €1.480
per litre for diesel. On March
13 the average diesel price
was €1.344 per litre.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports

PLANT: Design accounts for quakes
Continued from pg 1
“Of course, we need to be
prepared and cautious,” Lipšic
said, as quoted by TASR news-
wire. He added that the Slovak
authorities would not conceal
information on any potential
increase in radioactivity, as
happened during the 1986
Chernobyl disaster in the
former Soviet Union.
According to estimates, the
radioactive cloud from the
Fukushima plant will approach
either North America or
Kamchatka on March 17, Envir-
onment Minister József Nagy
said. He stated that the cloud,
currently 8,000 kilometres
away from Slovakia, is being
carefully monitored by 26 Slov-
ak meteorological stations and
a number of international in-
stitutions, TASR wrote.
No change to energy policy
Economy Minister Juraj
Miškov said that Slovakia isn’t
considering changes to its en-
ergy policy. Nuclear energy
currently makes up a major
part of the country’s total elec-
tricity production.
Slovakia’s total electricity
production in 2009 reached
26,074 GWh, of which 54 per-
cent was generated by nuclear
power plants. In 2010, produc-
tion reached 27,720 GWh, of
which 52 percent was gener-
ated in nuclear power facilit-
ies, Dagmar Hlavatá of the
Ministry of Economy told The
Slovak Spectator.
In 2009, nuclear power
made up 22 percent of the
country’s power capacity, and
that amount remained stable
in 2010. Hlavatá said that the
ministry would refrain from
predicting the share of nuclear
energy after the 3rd and 4th
blocks of Mochovce are com-
pleted in 2013, since that de-
pends not only on the blocks
being completed, but on all the
investment in nuclear energy
for which licences have been
issued in line with Slovakia’s
energy policy. Analysis will be
available in the second half of
2011 during creation of
Slovakia’s new energy policy,
Hlavatá added.
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Bratislava International Church
Sundays, 9:30 at historic Small Lutheran Church
(Maly evanjelicky kostol) in central Bratislava
(near Hodzovo namestie); on Lycejna at
intersection with Panenska 26/28.
Children's Sunday School provided.
Everyone Welcome.
Information at 02-5443-3263
Web Site: www.bratislavainternationalchurch.org
The nuclear power plant in Jaslovské Bohunice.
On March 15, Fulvio Conti,
chief executive officer and
general manager of Enel, the
majority shareholder of
Slovenské Elektrárne, the
country's dominant power
producer and operator of both
of Slovakia's nuclear power
plants, told a press conference
that the current situation in
Japan should not affect com-
pletion of the nuclear power
plant in Mochovce.
“In Slovakia we’re com-
pleting two reactors, which
are set to be launched in 2012
and 2013. We don't see any
reason for changing the en-
gineering procedures,” said
Conti, as quoted by TASR
newswire, adding that the
project is well prepared,
with safety as the upper-
most priority.
Slovakia’s nuclear plants
Slovakia’s active nuclear
plants, Jaslovské Bohunice
and Mochovce, are both loc-
ated beyond active seismic
zones, Robert Merva of the
Ministry of Economy’s com-
munications department
wrote in a release.
The construction of each
part of the power plant is de-
signed to withstand quakes
several times stronger than
those recorded near in the vi-
cinity over the past 100 years,
Merva wrote.
“Upon taking office, Min-
ister Miškov personally en-
quired about the safety of
Slovakia’s nuclear plants and
made sure that the country
currently meets all the strict-
est safety standards during
production,” Merva said.
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NEWS / BUSINESS
Photo: TASR
Miroslava Pirožeková of
the Slovak Nuclear Regulatory
Authority (ÚJD) said that both
of the power plants were de-
signed using projections
based on a so-called calculated
earthquake, which account
for an intensity that is prob-
able once in about 10,000
years. Subsequently, the com-
ponents, systems and con-
struction of the given nuclear
power plant are designed in
such a way that if the calcu-
lated earthquake occurs, the
power plant can be shut down
and the system allowed to
cool, Pirožeková told The Slov-
ak Spectator.
Jaslovské Bohunice was
built to withstand earthquakes
up to a magnitude of 8 on the
MSK-64 seismic intensity scale,
which is the level at which a
calculated earthquake was pro-
jected for that location,
Pirožeková said. The Mochovce
plant was built to withstand a
7.4-magnitude quake.
According to Pirožeková,
the “safety of nuclear facilities
in Slovakia in terms of seismic
resistance is continuously
monitored and the results are
regularly re-evaluated in the
context of the latest results of
science and research. In addi-
tion, measures are continu-
ously taken to improve safety”.
According to the Eco-
nomy Ministry, both power
plants have security systems
that automatically shut the
plant down if seismic activ-
ity reaches even 50 percent of
the intensity for which it was
designed.
The reactor is cooled by
several mutually independent
systems. Compared to the Ja-
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C 3674
panese boiling water reactor
in Fukushima, the pressur-
ised-water reactors used in
Slovakia have a more elaborate
double cooling system, the
ministry stated in its release.
Environmental watchdog
cries foul
Meanwhile, environ-
mental watchdog Greenpeace
warned that accidents cannot
be ruled out at any nuclear re-
actor in the future.
“The unfortunate events
in Japan show yet another of
the many situations in which
nuclear energy is dangerous,”
Andrea Zlatňanská,
Greenpeace’s energy cam-
paign co-ordinator, wrote in a
press release.
Greenpeace also vehe-
mently objected to a state-
ment by Economy Minister
Miškov, who told the Sme
daily that safety standards at
Slovakia’s nuclear facilities
are above-standard.
Zlatňanská said the power
plants are of a Russian design
from the 1970s, and that an
environmental impact as-
sessment (EIA) of Mochovce 3
and 4 turned up concerns
about the safety and sufficient
supplies of cooling water in
crisis situations that have still
not been addressed.
“The minister’s statement
that the nuclear plant could,
for example, withstand a plane
colliding into it, is
misleading,” Zlatňanská said.
Pirožeková responded
that the Nuclear Supervision
Office continuously monitors
nuclear safety and that Slovak
legislation is fully in line with
international standards and
EU legislation.
The Nuclear Regulatory
Authority is ready to particip-
ate in international assistance
concerning developments at
the Fukushima nuclear power
plant, and will implement any
recommendations on
strengthening nuclear safety
that result from it, Pirožeková
told The Slovak Spectator.
Michaela Terenzani and
Jana Liptáková contributed
to this report.
1. Prices of classified ads
(according to no. of words)
● Up to 20 words - € 10
● Up to 50 words - € 20
● Up to 70 words - € 30
● Up to 100 words - € 40
● Up to 150 words - € 60
Additiona l options
● Logo or picture insertion
● Bold or capital bold letters+ € 0.3/word
● Box
●
Box with shading
2. Prices for business
classified ads (according to size):
1/48 page (43 x 44 mm) € 25
1/24 page (43 x 92 mm) € 50
or (91 x 43 mm) € 50
1/12 page (91 x 92 mm) € 100
Frequency di scounts:
● 3x - 10x
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● 20x and more
NOTE:
Prices do not include value added
tax (VAT 19%)!
GDP: Rebuilding
could aid growth
Continued from pg 4
According to the ana-
lyst, even markets in cent-
ral and eastern Europe felt
the heat from the aftermath
of the Japanese earthquake.
With global equity markets
under pressure, the risk
aversion of global investors
shot up dramatically to the
highest levels since last
summer, following the
Greek debt crisis, as meas-
ured by the VIX index of
volatility. As a result, re-
gional currencies came un-
der depreciation pressure.
As far as Slovakia is con-
cerned, direct trade links re-
flect its geographic distance
from Japan: last year a nom-
inal 0.1 percent of total
Slovak exports were direc-
ted to Japan.
“Though direct trade
links might be considered
negligible, Japan holds a
significantly more import-
ant foothold in Slovakia as a
source of foreign direct in-
vestment: Japanese com-
panies have invested over
€60 million in Slovakia,
though that is also less than
one percent of total FDI
stock invested in the
country,” Vaňo said.
“However, Slovak facilities
of Japanese multinational
corporations are producing
for the 330-million-plus
eurozone market and the
500-million-strong market
of the EU, hence their fate
and the outlook for Slovak
employment in these facilit-
ies is more directly linked
with the strength of recov-
ery in [Europe].”
According to Vaňo,
thanks to its membership of
the eurozone, Slovakia
avoided the direct impact
that was felt in the region
through the depreciation of
local currencies.
“The most direct impact
of events in Japan on Slov-
akia is a potential weakening
of the hawkish determina-
tion of the European Central
Bank, which only a fortnight
ago signalled its readiness to
+ €7
+ €3
+ €7
5%
7,5%
15%
March 21 – 27, 2011 9
start normalising rate hikes
of its key interest rate from
its all-time lows. Should Ja-
panese events undermine
global recovery, this is the
major direct impact that this
situation might have on
Slovakia,” Vaňo said.
The earthquake and en-
suing tsunami directly af-
fected an area of Japan ac-
counting for an estimated 8
percent of the whole
country’s GDP. Suspension of
production at factories, the
negative impact on domestic
consumers, and interrup-
tions to electricity supplies,
including rolling blackouts,
will exert a negative drag on
the Japanese economy, ac-
cording to Vaňo.
On the other hand, in
line with the “broken win-
dow fallacy”, one can expect
significant reconstruction
outlays, which will show up
positively as investment
growth in Japan’s GDP stat-
istics, he added.
Will Slovakia feel any be-
nefit from Japan’s recon-
struction efforts?
“As far as the direct in-
volvement in reconstruc-
tion work is involved, that is
a question for Slovak con-
struction companies,” Vaňo
responded.
The shutdown of almost
a third of Japan’s oil-refin-
ing capacity, the anticipated
increase in demand from oil-
fired power plants, but also
higher consumption of fuel
for reconstruction as well as
imports of raw materials
might, however, exert up-
ward pressure on the price
of oil, he added.
“Necessary imports of
raw materials for recon-
struction would also rep-
resent further demand
pressure for other industri-
al commodities,” Vaňo told
The Slovak Spectator.
“With respect to commod-
ity markets, though, much
will depend on if, and to
what extent, recovery in
global growth is delayed by
the earth-shattering events
in Japan.”
2
10 March 21 – 27, 2011 CULTURE
Western SLOVAKIA

The bastion of Helena Zrínska Bratislava

EASTERN Slovakia’s Zborov
Castle, pictured here in a
postcard from the 1920s, used
to have two names. Apart
from Zborov, it was also
during battles between the
Russian and Austro-Hungari-
an armies, it was completely
destroyed.
Habsburg revolt in Hungary.
Helena, too, took an active
part in the battles. First she
defended Zborov and, when it
fell, led the defence of
l FILM FESTIVAL + MUSIC:
EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE
The 4th Indonesian Film Ex-
hibition brings movies like
Cin(T)a, Ruma Maida
(Maida’s House) and Euphor-
ia, all with English subtitles
and simultaneous translation
into Slovak. The opening ce-
remony will include a per-
formance of Balinese tradi-
tional music.
Starts: March 22-24, scree-
nings at 17:30; Mladosť cine-
ma, Hviezdoslavovo Square
14. Admission: free. Tel: 02/
5443-5003; www.indonesia.sk.
Bratislava
l LIVE DANCE: Dancing
Puzzle – For the first time THIS YEAR, the One Day Jazz Fest will bring a taste of the Orient:
this year, different dance apart from the Martin Valihora Trio (Slovakia) and Gypsy Clas-
styles and studios meet un- sic (Hungary) the March 22 event, which takes place in the Slov-
der one roof. The J.M. Bella
ak Radio building at Mýtna 1, will also feature the Abhijit Baner-
Conservatory from Banská
jee Trio from India, thus comprising a unique cross-over concert

known as Makovica, or
Poppyhead. It was hit
by one disaster after
another. In reality
Makovica, as a guard
castle, could not have expec-
ted anything else.
During the Ottoman in-
vasion the castle was rebuilt
to a truly vast defensive com-
plex. But this did not stop it
from being demolished to a
large extent in 1684 by imper-
ial army. The coup-de-grace
was delivered in 1914 when,
Ambassador visits Roma
ON MARCH 11 and 12, Norwe-
gian Ambassador Trine Sky-
moen met people working for
the pilot project Divé Maky –
šanca pre rómske talenty z
celého Slovenska / Wild Pop-
pies – A chance for Roma tal-
ents from all Slovakia which
has been run since 2009 by
the civic association Pro
Donum in the biggest Roma
settlement in Slovakia,
Jarovnice. She watched a per-
formance by children in-
volved in the project, met
Jarovnice mayor Florián Giňa
and also witnessed everyday
life in a Roma settlement.
Skymoen said, as reported
by Pro Donum, that she did
not have any expectations,
but that the reality struck her.
She added that she liked the
idea of giving Roma children
a chance to show and develop
their talents and skills.
In November 2009, an ex-
ADVERTISEMENT
HISTORY TALKS
One of the castle’s well-
known residents was Helena
Zrínska, the last member of a
famous Croatian noble fam-
ily. She was probably im-
pressed by stubborn men, as
she chose František I Rákóczi
for her husband, and after his
death married Imrich Tököly.
Both were leaders of an anti-
Trine Skymoen in Jarovnice.
pert jury picked 100 children
from the settlement: they had
to show their talent, and their
willingness to study and de-
velop it; they also qualified for
help if their families lacked
the money to pay for their
studies.
For one year, tutors,
teachers and professional
artists worked with the selec-
another castle,
Mukačevo. When it
was conquered after
three years by the im-
perial army in 1688,
Mukačevo Castle was torn
down and she was im-
prisoned in a Vienna monas-
tery. Later, Tököly managed
to exchange her for a cap-
tured imperial lieutenant-
colonel. Then the couple left
for exile in Turkey, where
they both died.
By Branislav Chovan
Photo: Courtesy of Divé Maky
ted children and this visit, in-
cluding the performance, was
the climax of the project,
which will be assessed by the
end of March 2011. It was sup-
ported by the EEA Financial
Mechanism, the Norwegian
Financial Mechanism and
Slovakia’s state budget.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská
SP90474/1
Bystrica, the Andalucia en-
semble, the Tangere Dance
Studio, Laban’s Atelier from
Bratislava and the host
dance company, elledanse,
are all represented. The
event includes also an Im-
pro-Jam with live impro-
visations.
Starts: March 23, 20:00
and 21:30 (Impro-Jam); T & D,
Miletičova 17/B. Admission:
€4-€6. Tel: 02/5541-0716;
www. elledanse.dus.sk.
Bratislava
l EXHIBITION: Viedeň patrí
ženám alebo Páni, sme v
obraze! / Vienna belongs to
women – The international
association of female artists
INTAKT has organised a year-
round project on the 100th
anniversary of International
Women’s Day. The core of
this exhibition is a selection
of biographies of famous
women.
Open: weekdays 9:00-
16:00 until April 1, Austrian
Cultural Forum, Zelená 7. Ad-
mission: free. Tel: 02/5464
-1337; www.rakusko.eu.
Bratislava
l EXHIBITION: Putovanie do
krajiny zázračno / A Journey
to the Wonderland – A travel-
ling exhibition with the sub-
title Slovak Theatres to Chil-
dren maps children's theatre,
particularly puppet theatre.
Open: Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00
until March 27; International
House of Art for Children
Bibiana, Panská 41. Admis-
sion: €0.35-€0.70. Tel: 02/5443
-1308; www.bibiana.sk.
THE FAMOUS Cigánski Diabli (Gypsy Devils) band will play
gypsy folk music as well as classical and modern pieces at the
Town Sports Hall in Michalovce as part of a concert with rock
veteran Robo Grigorov that takes place on March 26 from 19:30.
Their recent tour has resulted in a fascinating combination of
the artists’ different musical styles.
of modern Slovak jazz and classical Indian music. The ODJF is
jointly organised by M. Valihora and the Shiraz agency. Tickets
for the concert, which begins at 19:00, cost €15 and can be
bought through www.ticketportal.sk or at the venue.
Photo: B. J. Chowdhury, Courtesy of Shiraz
Bratislava
l EXHIBITION: 5 rokov
reštaurovania fotografie na
VŠVU / Five years of the res-
toration of old photographs at
the Academy of Fine Arts in
Bratislava – This exhibition
explains the process and his-
tory of restoring old photo-
graphs, as taught at the local
Academy of Fine Arts.
Open: Tue-Sun 13:00-18:00
until April 3; Central Euro
pean House of Photography,
Prepoštská 4. Admission: €1.
Tel: 02/5441-8214; www. sedf.sk.
Trnava
l EXHIBITION: Miro Trubač:
Bipolárna súvzťažnosť / Bipolar
Correlation – An exhibition by
a Trnava native which shows
the coexistence of a man and a
woman in a common space, in
their household, in life.
Open: Tue-Fri 10:00-17:00,
Sat-Sun 13:00-18:00 until April
1; klUb 3, Koppel Villa of Ján
Koniarek Gallery, Zelený krí-
ček 3. Admission: €0.60-€1.30.
Tel: 033/5511-659; www.gjk.sk.
Central SLOVAKIA
Žilina
l DANCE: Slovak Dancer
Award – This open competi-
tion, seeking to pick the best
hip-hop dancer in Slovakia,
is hosted by Osťo, a member
Photo: TASR
of the Breakfans dance
group.
Starts: March 26, 14:00;
Aupark Shopping Centre. Ad-
mission: free. More informa-
tion: www.kamdomesta.sk.
Brezno
l INSECTS: Exotické potvorky
/ Exotic Small Beasts – This
exhibition of tropical insects
from the private collection of
Michal Zachar from Prievidza
showcases diurnal and noc-
turnal butterflies, attractive
species of swallowtail, pea-
cock butterflies, and hawk-
moths, mostly from Africa,
Asia and South America.
Open: Mon-Fri 8:00-17:00,
Sat 9:00-17:00; Horehronie
Museum, Gen. M. R. Štefánik
Square 13. Admission: €0.20
-€0.50. Tel: 048/6112-453;
www.horehronskemuzeum.sk.
Eastern SLOVAKIA
Humenné
l LIVE MUSIC: Collegium Mu-
sicum: Speak, Memory Tour –
The latest leg of a tour by this
legendary Slovak rock band,
who recently returned to per-
forming. M. Varga, F. Frešo, F.
Griglák are the original mem-
bers, with only M. Valihora on
drums as a new addition.
Their music represents a
stunning combination of
rock, jazz and classical music.
Starts: March 25, 19:00;
theatre hall of the House of
Culture. Admission: €12.
Tel: 057/7755-548; www.
humenne.sk.
Prešov
l EXHIBITION: Portréty / Por-
traits – This exhibition of the
works of Bolesław Barbacki
(1891-1941), an influential Pol-
ish painter, was organised in
collaboration with a museum
in Nowy Sącz, Prešov’s sister
city in Poland.
Open: Tue- Fri 9:00-17:00,
Sun 14:30-18:30 until April 3;
Šariš Gallery, Hlavná 51. Ad-
mission: €0.50-€1. Tel: 051/
7725-423; www.sgpresov.sk.
By Zuzana Vilikovská

N A M E D A Y M A R C H 2 0 1 1
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Weather updates and forecasts from across Slovakia Blahoslav BeÀadik Adrián Gabriel Marián Emanuel Alena

can now be found at www.spectator.sk.

March 21 March 22 March 23 March 24 March 25 March 26 March 27

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 detail from the Bauhaus Building (left) and the Federal Environmental Agency, both in Dessau, Germany. Photo: Gordon Watkinson
The legacy of Bauhaus
Design Factory
hosts an
exhibition of the
architectural
history and
enduring
philosophies of
Bauhaus
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
BAUHAUS was not only an ar-
chitectural style; it was also a
social solution to the prob-
lems of the 1920s and 1930s
whose concepts remain relev-
ant today.
“The future of architecture
lies in the application of
Bauhaus ideas to today’s prob-
lems – including affordable
housing, which remains the
main architectural issue of
the 21st century. The focus of
Bauhaus architecture has al-
ways been on finding solu-
tions to the fundamental
problems of humans in their
respective times,” said Mi-
chael Siebenbrodt, director of
the Bauhaus Museum in
Weimar, Germany, in conver-
sation with the American
photographer Gordon
Watkinson.
Enchanted by the concept
of Bauhaus, Watkinson pho-
tographed 12 iconic buildings
typical of the Bauhaus style
and 12 contemporary build-
ings inspired by or reflecting
the ideas of Bauhaus. The pho-
tos are on show until March 27
at the Design Factory in Brat-
islava as part of the exhibition
Bauhaus Twenty-21: An Ongo-
ing Legacy. The images not
only convey the architectural
history of Bauhaus, but go
much deeper, uncovering its
enduring philosophies and
the importance of its legacy
for contemporary architects.
From furniture
to architecture
Watkinson, a commercial
photographer for a broad
range of clients from advert-
ising, architecture, design,
Gordon Watkinson
and fashion, came to Bauhaus
through furniture.
“When I first came to Des-
sau [the German town in
which the Bauhaus school is
located] I was looking for par-
ticular pieces of furniture and
didn’t realise they had all
been moved to Berlin,”
Watkinson said during a
'guided tour' of his exhibit for
journalists in Bratislava. “So I
had to look at the architecture
instead, and I learned a lot
while I was there.”
He learned that Bauhaus
was not only a style, but also a
solution to the social problems
of those times that remains
relevant today.
“Although the name
Bauhaus is well known inter-
nationally, few people are
truly aware both of the com-
plexity of its history and the
diversity of its architectural
legacy,” Watkinson wrote on
his website.
Bauhaus, which means
‘house for building’ in Ger-
man, was a school combining
crafts and fine arts founded by
Walter Gropius in 1919. Here
Gropius and other architects
introduced principles that
shaped the foundation of
modern architecture.
As Watkinson explained,
one of the basic tasks of archi-
tects in the 1920s and 1930s,
when large industrial manu-
facturing needed an inflow of
workers, was to design mod-
ern and affordable housing for
the middle and working
classes. How the architects
dealt with this task is the sub-
ject of Watkinson’s images of
CULTURE
Photo: Jana Liptáková
Törten, the estate in Dessau
designed by Gropius.
When Gropius was as-
signed to design housing for
the middle and working
classes in Dessau, he didn’t
look to other architects for
solutions, but found inspira-
tion in car producer Henry
Ford and in standardised in-
dustrial modules. At Törten,
Gropius used on-site prefab-
rication and was able to com-
plete six houses in a week.
Törten is one of the 12 icon-
ic buildings selected for the
project, which also includes
what is probably the most
famous Bauhaus building, the
building of the school itself,
designed by Gropius in 1925.
“All ideas for the education
of architects are embodied
here,” explained Watkinson.
“One of Gropius’ basic ideas
was the idea of building
blocks. He believed that modu-
lar building would make ar-
chitecture and housing more
affordable for the middle and
working classes.”
This building also contains
a glass wall, embodying the
modernist idea of breaking the
barrier between nature and ar-
chitecture and letting the light
in, according to Watkinson.
Choosing the works
Watkinson worked with
two advisors to choose
projects to photograph. With
Michael Siebenbrodt, he selec-
ted 12 historical projects de-
signed between 1923 and 1933.
Besides the Bauhaus building
and the Törten estate, there is
also the steel house by Georg
Muche and Richard Paulick in
Dessau, the so-called masters’
houses by Gropius in Dessau,
House Am Horn by Georg
Muche in Weimar, the Trade
Union School by Hannes Mey-
er in Bernau, Germany, and
the German Pavilion in Bar-
celona and Tugendhat Villa in
Brno, Czech Republic, both by
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe,
and others.
Falk Jaeger, who is an ar-
chitecture critic in Berlin,
helped Watkinson select his
contemporary subjects.
Amongst them are the Federal
Environmental Agency de-
signed by Sauerbruch Hutton
in 2003; House R128 by Wern-
er Sobek in Stuttgart, Ger-
many; the Solar Estate in
Freiburg, Germany by Rolf
Disch; and Skywood House in
Denham, Great Britain, de-
signed by Graham Phillips.
Many of these address the
challenge of the day – energy
efficiency. For example, the
Federal Environmental
Agency and the Solar Estate
are energy self-sufficient,
harnessing geothermal and
solar energy using the most
modern technologies.
All the images are in black-
and-white. Watkinson ex-
plained that the photos are not
in colour because “the colour
of historical buildings imme-
diately dates them, and I
wanted to demonstrate that
these forms are timeless”.
The exhibit includes fur-
niture, which visitors are in-
vited to use.
“The furniture and archi-
tecture of Bauhaus were de-
signed to be together,” said
Watkinson, explaining that
when designing furniture, ar-
chitects stuck to the basic
ideas of Bauhaus – to produce
durable furniture the middle
class could afford. “They were
looking for materials that
would be cheap and sturdy,
and the cheapest suitable ma-
terial they could find was
metal bicycle tubing. All of
these were originally made
from bicycle tubing.”
What: Bauhaus Twenty-21: An
Ongoing Legacy - Photographs by
Gordon Watkinson
Where: Design Factory, Bottova 2
www.designfactory.sk
Bratislava,
a new home
Immigrants to
Bratislava share
their experiences
and opinions of
the city
BY MICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
“THOSE OF you who are less
than 25 years old are less
Bratislavan than I am,” said
Sawkat Choudhury, a physi-
cian who came to Bratislava
as a medical student in 1985
and stayed, during a debate
in Bratislava’s Artforum
bookshop which gathered
five expats from far-off as
well as not-so-distant places
who currently reside in the
Slovak capital.
The debate, entitled
“Prepačté, nevjem dobre po
slovensku!”[sic] (Excuse me,
I don’t speak Slovak that
well), was an event organ-
ised on March 11 in coopera-
tion with the Milan Šimečka
Foundation. It was part of
the fourth Bratislava in Art-
forum Festival, which takes
place annually in the Artfor-
um bookshop, a location
which has over the years be-
come something of a cult
venue in the city. The debate
saw Dutch photographer Il-
lah van Oijen, Canadian cafe-
owner Ben Pascoe, Macedo-
nian researcher Živka Del-
eva, American translator
and third-sector consultant
Janet Livingstone, and
Choudhury talking in Slovak
about their experiences, im-
pressions and opinions of
life in Bratislava in front of a
crowded audience.
“Bratislava, on the one
hand, has the qualities of
Slovakia’s other, smaller cit-
ies that people bring with
them, but on the other hand
there is the pressure of
something ‘Pressburger’,
diverse, that has always
been here – Jewish, Slovak,
or German alike,”
Choudhury said. “You can
see that from people’s beha-
viour, and I grew to like it
much more than the 15-mil-
Bratislava Photo: J. Liptáková
March 21 – 27, 2011 11
lion-strong [city of] Dhaka
where I grew up.”
The expats, who admit
their manifold identities and
who have made Bratislava
their home, are returning to
the city some of its almost-
lost diversity. They spoke
about how Bratislava has
changed during the time
they have lived here, how
they dealt with the chal-
lenges of living in a foreign
city and speaking a foreign
language, and how they
grew to like it.
“I carry on, and I do my
best to make Bratislava my
home; I feel good here,” Del-
eva, who has been living in
Bratislava for four years, said
of her experiences.
Illah van Oijen, whose
book of photography about
Bratislava was published re-
cently, said that upon her ar-
rival in Bratislava in 2007 she
felt the responsibility of a
photographer to document
the changes that she saw
happening in the city, and
that she regarded as huge.
“Bratislava is a topic in
my life, I keep dealing with
it, I keep taking pictures of
it, people keep asking me
about it,” van Oijen said,
adding that the problem of
Bratislava is that its people
remain steeped in nostalgia
about what Bratislava has
lost throughout history. But
she believes one needs to be
critical and look forward to
what can be improved and
built in the city.
“I’m home here, now,
really, for better or worse,”
said Janet Livingstone, who
has been in Slovakia since
the early 1990s, adding that
for her, life in Bratislava is
full of contrasts.
Ben Pascoe admitted
that thanks to leaving
Canada and starting a new
life in Bratislava he has had
a chance to meet interesting
people that he would never
get to meet in his home
country.
“Every day I miss less
and less things from
Canada,” he said.
The Bratislava in Artfor-
um Festival lasted from
March 10 to March 18 and
featured a live debate every
night. On March 14, the an-
niversary of the emergence
in 1939 of the wartime Nazi-
allied Slovak State – a date
which frequently brings
supporters of far-right
movements onto the streets
– the debate was focused on
nationalism and patriotism.
It was organised as a part of
the Enough of Silence protest
against fascism and similar
tendencies in society. The
protest events comprised an
exhibition about the perse-
cution of homosexuals in
Nazi Germany, a concert and
a documentary screening, a
film marathon, and debates
in the Open Gallery, as well
as a debate accompanied by a
tasting of traditional Jewish
dishes at Artforum.
12 March 21 – 27, 2011
Birds get three
new shelters
THE ENVIRONMENT Min-
istry has designated three
new, mountainous regions –
the Malá Fatra, Slovenský Raj
and the Tatra Mountains – as
Protected Bird Areas (CHVÚ),
ministry spokesperson Be-
atrice Hudáková told the
SITA newswire.
“This brings Slovakia
closer to fulfilling a direct-
ive of the European Parlia-
ment and Council on the
conservation of wild birds,”
she said. “As of January 15,
we have designated 37 of the
required 41 areas.”
Each of the new areas
coincides with other protec-
ted land in the region, and
with national parks,
Hudáková said.
She noted that the new
Malá Fatra and Slovenský Raj
The Malá Fatra: now a protected areas for birds.
AROUND SLOVAKIA compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
areas are both important
habitats for the peregrine
falcon, and that golden
eagles nest in the new areas
in the Malá Fatra and the
Tatra Mountains. Other birds
that will be protected in the
new areas include white-
backed woodpeckers,
collared flycatchers, the
rufous-tailed rock thrush,
the western capercaillie, the
hazel grouse and the Eurasi-
an pygmy owl.
Slovakia remains in legal
hot water concerning its
non-compliance with the
directive.
Conservationists say a
plan for designating all the
required bird protection
areas should have been pro-
posed before Slovakia joined
the EU in May 2004.
Photo: Sme
FEATURE
The document discovered in a church tower in Raslavice during its reconstruction.
Church reconstruction
reveals 1920s mementoes
WORKERS
1
renovating the
Church of St
Trinity
Raslavice,
municipality
in eastern Slovakia’s Bardejov
district, recently made a sur-
prising discovery. While re-
placing the church’s roof,
they found a metal tube that
contained a letter written in
1926 and 15 antique coins.
“The letter was written
while the church’s tower was
under reconstruction,” said
Peter Paľa, a local official, the
TASR newswire reported. “It
states such things as who led
World-record holder
visits Biker Film Festival
THE SECOND
2
annual Biker
Film Festival in
Ružomberok
welcomed a
special guest
this year, Marian Illéš, the
festival’s organiser, told the
SITA newswire.
Nick Sanders, a British
biker who holds several world
records for long-distance
rides, arrived with his wife
and three children.
The festival screened 22
films from 10 countries, Illéš
said. The accompanying pro-
gramme included a discus-
sion with some young men
from Banská Bystrica who
had filmed their trip to Kaza-
khstan on small-capacity
motorbikes. Sanders showed
some of his movies and
signed autographs. There
was also an exhibition and
lecture by a doctor who
works for the Helicopter
the church’s congregation at
the time, who was mayor and
who took part in the
in reconstruction.”
a Paľa also said that the let-
ter recorded reconstruction
on the church’s roof in 1926 as
having cost 8,000 Slovak
crowns. He compared that to
the €8,000 cost of similar re-
construction being done on
the church today.
Most of the coins also
dated back to the 1920s, Paľa
said, but some had been min-
ted in the 19th century. A few
had Empress Maria Theresa
on them, meaning they had
been produced in the late 18th
Nick Sanders from the UK gave out autographs to fans.
Emergency Medical Service
and an exhibition on Japan-
ese and German motorbikes.
The festival’s winning
movies were Cuban Harlistas
Photo: TASR
century. “Once the construc-
tion is complete, we plan to
put the message back in the
tube and leave it for future
generations,” Paľa said.
Historians say a church
has been located on the same
spot in Raslavice since the
second half of the 13th cen-
tury. Originally a Catholic
church, it became Protestant
once Evangelicals began at-
tending in the 16th and 17th
centuries. It reverted to being
a Catholic church in the first
half of the 18th century, and
remained so until a new
Catholic church was built in
the 1990s.
by Vieri Nissim (Italy); Paral-
lel World 3 by Nick Sanders;
The Tough One by Jeff
Pakosta (US); Beyond the
Border: Riding Solo in Mexico
Finding
their own
feet in BA
THE HOUSE
3
of MOST-
BRIDGE, a
non-profit
organisa-
tion that as-
sists the mentally ill, is cel-
ebrating a milestone, its
director, Andrea
Beňušková, told the SITA
newswire on February 3.
The organisation recently
arranged its first flat in
Bratislava for two mentally
ill men, who will stay there
to learn to live independ-
ently. The flat is in the Dlhé
Diely section of the city,
and has enough space to
house another two people.
Daniela Adamková, who
runs the organisation’s
apartment project, said the
men are going to spend
between six months and
two years in the flat work-
ing with caretakers who
will help them achieve
goals such as learning to
cook. The fact that the men
will have to contribute €100
of the flat’s €800 monthly
cost, as well as continue to
take medication and attend
therapy sessions during
their stay, will help them
become more self-reliant,
she said.
The organisation has
already opened flats for the
mentally ill in Lozorno, a
village near Bratislava, and
Rimavská Sobota, a town in
southern Slovakia.
Photo: Courtesy of Filmfest.sk
by Sterling Noren (US); and
Veľká cesta malých strojov
(The Big Trip on Small Ma-
chines) by the young riders
from Banská Bystrica.