TRANSPORT
On sale now
NEWS
Following the money
A new website by NGO Fair-
Play Alliance seeks to reveal
who own the businesses
which benefit the most
from public tenders and
contracts.
pg 2
A question of faith
Slovakia's national census,
to be held in May, will ask
residents to state their re-
ligious affiliation.
Churches and religious
groups, Jedi included, are
encouraging followers to
be counted.
pg 3
OPINION
Lucky numbers
Robert Fico can take heart
from his Smer party's stellar
result in a recent opinion
poll. But if the coalition can
get its act together Smer is
unlikely to match that res-
ult in an actual election.
BUSINESS FOCUS
pg 5
Revamping rail
Slovakia's three state-
owned railway companies
face major changes, includ-
ing the loss of 5,000 staff, as
part of government-ordered
revitalisation plans.
pg 6
E-toll wrinkles persist
The electronic toll system to
charge trucks for using
Slovakia's main roads has
been operating for more
than a year - and truckers
are still complaining about
its faults.
pg 7
CULTURE
Photos as questions
Aidan Sullivan, a jury
member for Slovakia’s 2010
Journalism Award for best
news photos, speaks to The
Slovak Spectator about the
storytelling power of pho-
tographs.
pg 11
SELECT FOREX RATES
€ benchmark as of March 31
CANADA CAD 1.38 HUNGARY
CZECH REP. CZK 24.54 JAPAN
RUSSIA RUB 40.29 POLAND
GREAT BRITAIN GBP 0.88 USA
Vol. 17, No. 13
IIHF President René Fasel (above) recently visited Bratislava to monitor preparations for the 2011 IIHF Ice Hockey
World Championship, which will be held in the capital and in Košice between April 29 and May 15.
Minority languages
debate heats up
A DRAFT amendment to the law on
the use of minority languages has
heated up the air in parliament and
once again gifted nationalist politi-
cians with a stage on which to vent
their spleens. The ruling coalition is
seeking deputies’ support to change
the rules which determine when a
minority language can automatic-
ally be used in official communica-
tion alongside Slovak. The amend-
ment would lower the ‘quorum’ of
minority-language speakers re-
quired for this in any given muni-
cipality from the current 20 percent
to 15 percent of the population.
Better to protest, or negotiate?
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
Spectator staff
UNION members are taking to the
streets after a breakdown in negoti-
ations over reforms to Slovakia’s
Labour Code. The Labour Ministry
HUF 265.72 has called the unions uninformed,
JPY 117.61 while they retort that the decline in
PLN 4.01 the economic and social status of
USD 1.42 employees has left them with no
other choice but to launch protests.
Unionists would like to see the ex-
isting Labour Code, which was
shaped by the Robert Fico govern-
ment, remain unchanged.
Monday, April 4, 2011 - Sunday, April 10, 2011
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ &
MICHAELA TERENZANI
Spectator staff
Most-Híd leader Béla Bugár said
that once approved, the legislation,
which is being proposed by Deputy
Prime Minister for Human Rights
Rudolf Chmel, a nominee of Most-
Híd, will bring Slovakia closer to the
more positive examples in Europe.
“The amendment is not bestow-
ing any extra rights on ethnic Hun-
garians in Slovakia but is improving
However, the current govern-
ment, led by Prime Minister Iveta
Radičová, says that changes are
crucial in order to inject more flex-
ibility and fairness into the code.
While employers have also ex-
pressed objections to the
government’s proposed amend-
ment to the code, they say they are
committed to negotiations. The
unions, by contrast, are now ready
to go further, perhaps as far as a
general strike or even a referen-
dum.
“Being a woman you know
how a woman protects her family
so that she has more time for her
children, to bring them up, in-
stead of having to spend hours at
Photo: ČTK
the life of all citizens of Slovakia,”
Bugár said, as quoted by the SITA
newswire.
Nevertheless, Slovak National
Party (SNS) boss Ján Slota immedi-
ately showered Slovakia’s ethnic
Hungarians and ruling coalition
politicians who have supported the
legislation with a selection of his
now-familiar insults. His former SNS
colleague, who is now an independ-
ent deputy, Anna Belousovová called
the law “not only wrong but even
dangerous”.
See QUORUM pg 3
work just to survive,” the head of
the KOVO trade union, Emil
Machyna, said in an appeal to
Radičová as he launched union
protests on March 28.
The prime minister said that
there was still enough time to find a
compromise since the Labour Code
is due to be adopted only in May.
The Ministry of Labour has re-
ceived hundreds of comments on
the Labour Code from members of
the public as part of a review pro-
cess that ended on March 28. The
ministry is now set to review the
comments and eventually include
some in the draft.
See CODE pg 4
FOCUS
of this issue
Smer surges
ever higher
in March poll
BY MICHAELA TERENZANI
Spectator staff
IF PARLIAMENTARY elections had taken
place in early March 2011, the opposition
Smer party would no longer need to seek a
partner to rule as it would have a simple
majority in parliament and be able to
govern alone, an opinion poll conducted
in March found. Observers said, however,
that Smer’s support might be peaking.
The results of the poll, conducted by
the Focus polling agency, show that
Smer would have attracted the votes of
44.8 percent of those who said they
would turn out for the election if it took
place “this weekend”, up 1.6 percentage
points from the previous month. Such a
result would secure 76 seats for Smer in
the 150-seat Slovak parliament: a major-
ity of 2 seats. It would be the first such
majority for a single party in Slovakia’s
modern history.
The poll suggested that the make-up
of parties in parliament would not
change. The other opposition party, the
Slovak National Party (SNS), would
garner 6.2 percent of the vote and thus 10
seats, one more than it holds now.
See POLL pg 2
Tax day
passes with
less e-stress
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
Spectator staff
THE WEB portal of Slovakia’s Tax Director-
ate is still not fully ready to handle the late-
March rush of those seeking to electronic-
ally file their income tax forms, even
though taxpayers have been encouraged to
use this method.
The Tax Directorate stated, however,
that unlike previous years, this year’s
three-day portal blackout from March 25-27
did not limit taxpayers’ ability to electron-
ically file documents because its eDANE
(eTaxes) application remained available to
those who had installed it on their PCs. In
2010 the web portal, with its €3-million
price tag, was completely unable to handle
attempted uploads and forced even the
most determined computer geeks to sub-
mit their returns by the traditional pen-
and-paper method.
Something else also changed for Slovak
taxpayers this year: for the first time they
could postpone submitting their tax return
by simply notifying the tax office of their
intention to do so.
See FILE pg 9
2 April 4 – 10, 2011 NEWS

Linking public contracts

Slovak ‘bride’ arrested in Leeds
A SLOVAK citizen was arrested
in Leeds, UK, after police
raided a wedding service at the
town hall as part of a crack-
down on sham marriages.
They detained the 23-year-old
Pakistani groom and the
22-year-old Slovak bride on
March 29, the Daily Mail re-
ported on its website.
The ‘newlyweds’ were
among seven members of a
wedding party detained by
the police, including officers
from the UK Border Agency
(UKBA). Both individuals
were detained on suspicion
of conspiracy to assist unlaw-
ful entry into the UK. Three
other Pakistani men and two
other Slovak women were de-
tained for questioning, the
UKBA stated, as reported by
the Daily Mail.
“We suspect that the sole
purpose of this marriage
would have been for the groom
to avoid immigration controls
and stay in the UK,” acting De-
tective Inspector Pete Galla-
gher of the UKBA immigration
crime team said, as quoted by
the Daily Mail.
The UK Border Agency is
cracking down on sham mar-
riages all over the country and
aims to identify the organisers
who profit from these illegal
activities and destroy their
criminal operations, said
Jeremy Oppenheim, the UKBA
regional director in Leeds.
“We work closely with re-
gistrars and vicars to identify
marriages that may not be
genuine and we will not hesit-
ate to take the strongest pos-
sible action against those in-
volved in arranging sham
marriages,” Oppenheim said.
to business owners
AFTER the ruling coalition’s
attempts to make public pro-
curement processes more
transparent, the non-gov-
ernmental sector has also
come up with a tool that
should reveal the links
between the companies that
win state orders and the actu-
al people behind them with
just a few mouse-clicks.
The newly introduced
website www.znasichdani.sk
(‘z našich daní’ is Slovak for
‘from our taxes’) contains a
register of people who are
known to be behind the com-
panies benefiting from state
orders.
The search engine works
with the names of people,
and after searching for a par-
ticular person, it lists the
companies the name is con-
nected to and the state orders
they have won, plus the
amount they have received
from public funds.
The website is a result of
an initiative by the Fair-Play
Alliance, a political transpar-
ency watchdog, in coopera-
tion with the Visual Business
Register, an online tool that
allows users to see relation-
ships and details from
Slovakia’s Business Register in
context. The Visual Business
Register provided technology
to link people who own com-
panies and cooperated in de-
veloping the project concept.
“We believe this service
will help journalists and NGOs
to control power, and thanks
to its simplicity it may also
raise interest among the
wider public,” Zuzana Wienk
of the Fair-Play Alliance said.
“There are specific people and
their business culture behind
every company. We often
hear speculation about their
above-standard relations with
politicians. This service turns
speculation and fairytales in-
to hard facts.”
Fair-Play Alliance cited
the example of businessman
Juraj Široký, two of whose
companies, Chemolak and
Váhostav, received €170 mil-
lion in state orders between
2005 and 2011, according to
data on Znasichdani.sk.
The data used for the ser-
vice are drawn from
Datanest.sk, a web project by
Fair-Play Alliance which
gathers information about the
flow of public finances, for in-
stance from the Bulletin of
Public Procurement. Then
Znasichdani.sk combines
these data with the database
of the Business Register.
For the moment only data
for the years 2005-2011 are
available. The website does
not include information about
goods and services that were
procured by state institutions
if the orders did not go
through the Bulletin of Public
Procurement. These, accord-
ing to the Fair-Play Alliance,
constituted about one quarter
of all procurement activity in
2009, and were worth around
€2.25 billion.
Compiled by Spectator staff

Parliament passes new gun law

AN AMENDMENT to the
Firearms and Ammunition
Act was passed by Slovakia’s
parliament on March 29, fol-
lowing a heated debate that
lasted for several months.
The approved amendment is
a compromise version that
softened the original propos-
al submitted by Interior Min-
ister Daniel Lipšic. But it will
still introduce more strin-
gent rules as of May 1, 2011,
the TASR newswire reported.
The amended law will re-
quire people who own fire-
arms to undertake an exam-
ination by a clinical psycho-
logist. Psychological tests
once every 10 years will then
be required for anyone who
wants to carry a firearm, in-
cluding sports shooters, se-
curity staff and police of-
ficers who have civilian gun
permits. In autumn this year
all members of the armed
forces who must carry a gun
professionally will be added.
One of the most signific-
ant changes from Lipšic's
NGOs criticise school segregation
TEACHERS’ day in Slovakia
was marked on March 28 by
the presentation of a new
publication entitled
Odpovede na otázky
(de)segregácie rómskych
žiakov vo vzdelávacom
systéme na Slovensku (An-
swers to the Questions of
(De)Segregation of Roma Pu-
pils in the Education System
in Slovakia).
The publication is the
joint work of 15 authors from
nine NGOs and was published
by the Slovak branch of the
Open Society Foundation
(OSF) which pulled together
the informal initiative.
“Segregation in Slovak
schools has grown into an
institutional rule grown
from a habit,” the OSF wrote
in a press release.
original proposal is that po-
lice will not be permitted to
enter citizen’s homes to in-
spect weapons. The com-
promise legislation will also
allow Slovak retailers to sell
airsoft and paintball guns via
the internet.
The amendment came in
response to the August 2010
shooting spree in Bratislava's
Devínska Nová Ves district in
which resident Ľubomír
Harman killed seven people
and injured 15 others before
fatally shooting himself.
Lipšic said he would have
liked to see a more stringent
law but considers the passed
version acceptable, stating
that he is confident that the
amendment will reduce the
number of mentally unstable
persons who can acquire and
carry guns. Former interior
minister Robert Kaliňák
(Smer) told TASR that he is
drafting another amend-
ment to the law that he will
submit to a forthcoming par-
liamentary session.
The report charges that
neither the Education Min-
istry nor any other state in-
stitution is doing anything
to prevent segregation of
Roma children in schools
and that no one is monitor-
ing its occurrence.
The OSF also said there is
no clear definition of segreg-
ation in the law, which is
why its publication proposes
a way to legally define se-
gregation.
The authors describe as-
pects of the current educa-
tion system which represent
segregation and ask that the
state begin monitoring and
evaluating such practices in
a comprehensive manner.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
POLL: Alarm bells ring for the KDH
Continued from pg 1
The parties of the ruling coalition
would more or less keep their standing,
with the exception of the Christian
Democratic Movement (KDH), which
saw its preferences drop by almost four
percentage points to a mere 6.3 percent
in March. The Slovak Democratic and
Christian Union (SDKÚ) would get the
votes of 16.5 percent of those polled in
March, slightly up in comparison with
the February results. Support for Most-
Híd also rose, from 6.0 percent in Febru-
ary to 7.9 percent in March. The remain-
ing coalition party, Freedom and Solidar-
ity (SaS) saw a drop of two percentage
points to 7.1 percent in the poll.
Smer harvests fruits
of coalition setback
Voter preferences for Smer, led by
former prime minister Robert Fico, have
been rising since the June 2010 general
election which saw it swept from power.
In March Smer reached a level that
would theoretically secure the party a
term in government without the need for
political partners. However, sociologist
Martin Slosiarik of the Focus polling
agency does not expect increases in
Smer's preferences to continue.
“Smer’s preferences are almost satur-
ated now,” Slosiarik said, adding that the
party is likely soon to reach a point where
no further growth will be possible.
However, he admitted that the trend
could continue for short period, up to
about 45-46 percent, since Smer might
win some more support among the unde-
cided, or those who normally do not vote.
“Part of Smer’s potential among
voters is constituted not by diehard
voters but rather by people who are not
sure they will actually turn out at elec-
tions if they were really to take place,”
Slosiarik told The Slovak Spectator,
adding that these might only be sym-
pathisers of Smer or simply opponents of
the ruling coalition, and their positive
response to Smer in the poll is a form of
resistance against the measures the rul-
ing coalition is implementing. “So it is
not certain that Smer would be able to de-
fend this strong position [indicated by
the recent poll] in the actual election.”
Smer leader Robert Fico
Generally speaking, the results of the
poll are indicative of a setback for the rul-
ing coalition rather than of success of
Smer. Slosiarik said that Smer is doing
well by using the complicated situation
that the ruling coalition finds itself in,
partly due to the unpopular measures it
needs to take which will result in in-
creased living expenses for voters. An-
other point used by Smer that seems to
be working with voters, is the rising
prices of food products and motor fuels,
for which Robert Fico and his Smer col-
leagues blame the ruling coalition.
Poll rings alarm bells for KDH
The only parliamentary party that
might have been left sorely disappointed
by the results of the recent Focus poll
were the Christian Democratic Move-
ment, whose preferences dropped
sharply after a rather stable period dur-
ing which they hovered around 10 per-
cent, to a mere 6.3 percent in March 2011.
Slosiarik noted that this is a very sig-
nificant drop, but it should not be used to
make fast judgements about the party’s
position on the Slovak political scene,
since for the moment it is an outlier that
needs to be confirmed or corrected by fu-
ture polls. According to Slosiarik, if the
margin of error (generally accepted to be
2 percentage points) had an effect on the
KDH result, the situation for the party
might not be that alarming.
At the same time, however, the
party has been going through a difficult
Photo: SITA
period which might have had an impact
on its public image: party leader Ján
Figeľ has been struggling with reports
about his personal affairs and the KDH
recently lost a prominent member,
former Bratislava mayor Andrej
Ďurkovský, over suspicions of miscon-
duct in public procurement and other
cases.
KDH deputy chairman Pavol Abrhan
admitted that the drop in KDH prefer-
ences in the March 2011 poll goes bey-
ond statistical discrepancy.
“We need to look at the past period,
to see what caused the drop,” Abrhan
told the Sme daily. “We have probably
failed to communicate some issues.”
Slosiarik suggested that the KDH
might have scored worst among the co-
alition parties because it is in a consid-
erably harder situation due to the fact
that it has the highest proportion of
voters who are no longer economically
active and who are therefore very sens-
itive to increases in prices and living
expenses in general.
“This might be causing a certain
hesitation in their behaviour,” Slosiarik
said, adding that they might temporar-
ily lean away from the KDH, but not ne-
cessarily move their support to another
political party.
“I think that the KDH might have
suppressed the social dimension of its
politics and this is how their voters
show the party that it needs to be more
intensively engaged with social issues,”
Slosiarik said.

A question of faith
Representatives
of religions
prepare for the
national census
BY MICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
“DO YOU believe in God?” This
question is seen as a private,
intimate matter in many coun-
tries. In Slovakia, a variation of
it is one of the questions on
this year’s national census.
And although the answer to it
does not have a direct impact
on the state’s support for the
religious communities active
in Slovakia, their representat-
ives say information about the
number of adherents has an in-
formative and moral signific-
ance for them.
The Population and Hous-
ing Census, whose actual point
of measurement is midnight
between May 20 and May 21,
2011, will take place at the end
of May. It is the country’s most
extensive statistical inquiry
and is expected to provide new
data about the number of
people living in Slovakia, as
well as information regarding
the population’s demograph-
ic, educational, social and
economic structure. This year
censuses are taking place all
around the European Union,
making the union-wide data
that emerge from them more
suitable for international
comparisons.
Religious affiliation, un-
like in some other countries of
the EU, is among the 52 ques-
tions the inhabitants of Slov-
akia will be asked to report in
the census. There are 19 op-
tions listed on the census
form, including 18 officially
registered religions plus ‘no re-
ligion’. There is then a final op-
tion: ‘other’, where respond-
ents can state their religion if
it is not among those listed.
To be officially registered,
a religious group must have
at least 20,000 adherents. Is-
lam, for instance, with fewer
than 20,000 adherents in
Slovakia, is not currently of-
ficially registered.
No direct impact
on financing
The number of believers,
however, does not have a
direct impact on the rela-
tionship between the state
and religious groups, and
therefore only has an in-
formative character, noted
Michaela Moravčíková, the
head of the Institute of State-
Church Relations, a research
body established by the Cul-
ture Ministry.
“Relations between the
state and the churches [i.e.
religious groups] do not
change according to falls or
rises in the number of believ-
ers in individual churches,”
NEWS
Your religion will be a census question. Photo: Sme - Peter Žákovič
Moravčíková told The Slovak Catholic bishops, also said,
Spectator, adding, however, adding that the number re-
that a model which would ported differs from the num-
use the census data for the ber that the church itself
purposes of financing reli- monitors, for instance
gious communities has been through active participation
considered in the past. in the liturgy.
The model that the state “It is the duty of clerics to
uses to provide financial lead believers towards show-
support to religious groups ing their faith in Christ and
active in Slovakia right now showing their belonging to
is based on the numbers of the church, and therefore
clerics, which Moravčíková they will be asked by the
says is not unique in the church to confess their faith
European context. in the census,” said Ladislav
Of the 18 officially re- Bilý, the chancellor of the Of-
gistered religious groups, 13 fice of the Metropolitan Coun-
receive financial support from cil of the Orthodox Church in
the state. In 2010, the Culture Slovakia, adding that the
Ministry distributed almost church is not supposed to
€37.5 million for this purpose, campaign, but rather educate
almost one third of which clerics as well as laypersons
went to the Roman Catholic and see how that influence
Church, which currently translates into their life.
counts more than two thirds According to Bilý, data
of the population. about the number of
Slovakia’s inhabitants who
Moral dimension admit belonging to the Ortho-
dox Church has an informat-
Despite that, the census ive rather than a decisive sig-
and its results remain relev- nificance for the church.
ant for religious groups in “The decisive issue is al-
Slovakia. ways the education of believ-
“It allows them to com- ers towards faith in God and
pare their own data against the church,” Bilý told The
the data from the census,” Slovak Spectator. According to
Moravčíková said, adding that him, the census also helps the
this is especially true for those Orthodox Church, which is
religious groups that do not one of the smaller churches in
keep their own records. An- Slovakia, to see the structure
other point is the moral as- of their believers on the map,
pect of the confession ques- so that they can then better
tion in the census: when a be- direct their activities and ad-
liever publicly avows his or just them to local conditions –
her religion, the community particularly in western and
sees it as an important signal. central Slovakia, where the
“Admitting [belonging] to Orthodox Church has the
the church in different ways, character of a diaspora.
including the census, is a “From the spiritual view-
certain signal, expression, point we see that the official
and self-identification,” Ed- census does not monitor the
ita Škodová, the press officer exact number of believers
of the General Bishopric Of- since, mainly in the cities, the
fice of the Evangelical number of believers [physic-
Church of the Augsburg Con- ally present] in the churches
fession, Slovakia’s second is much smaller than the stat-
biggest religion, told The istics show,” Bilý said.
Slovak Spectator.
“In this specific census we Campaigning for believers
are looking at the number of
people who admit they belong The Orthodox Church,
to the church, who feel part of which according to the 2001
it,” Jozef Kováčik, the spokes- census is the fourth biggest
person of the Conference of church in Slovakia in terms
Bishops of Slovakia (KBS), of adherents, does not expect
which represents Slovakia’s its number of believers to
change significantly com-
pared to the more than 50,000
that came out of the 2001
census.
Roman Catholicism is the
most widespread religion in
Slovakia, with over 3.7 mil-
lion adherents, according to
the official number from the
2001 census. Kováčik admits
that the number of believers
might not remain the same
as the result in the previous
census in 2001 (when it in-
creased by over half million
from the 3.18 million in 1991).
“The overall composition
and picture of society has
changed essentially in the
past 10 years,” Kováčik told
The Slovak Spectator. “We
ourselves are curious how it
will show in the numbers of
members of churches.”
The Roman Catholic
Church has already launched
an information campaign
through various media, in-
cluding flyers inserted in the
Catholic press, billboards,
and the internet sites of
Catholic organisations. As in
the 2001 census campaign,
Catholic bishops agreed to
write a pastoral letter, which
is to be read on Sunday, April
24 in all Roman Catholic and
Greek Catholic churches in-
stead of the sermon.
“It’s important that
people, if they are really to
decide freely, also receive re-
sponsible information, and
not only that filtered by the
commercial media,” Kováčik
said.
The Evangelical – i.e.
Protestant Christian
Church, Slovakia’s second
biggest religious group, with
over 370,000 believers (ac-
cording to the 2001 census),
is also making efforts to in-
form believers about the
census question via its com-
munity magazine and the of-
ficial website of the church.
There was mention of the
topic in the Christmas pas-
toral letter and it will also be
mentioned in the pastoral
letter prepared for Easter, but
the Evangelical Church is not
preparing a special pastoral
letter about the census, ac-
cording to Škodová.
“By no means, however,
do we regard these activities
as a campaign,” she said.
“Simply, the church also
needs to give statements
about what is happening in
society.”
Apart from the religious
groups traditionally present
in Slovakia, there are several
other communities trying to
win people’s hearts in the
census: for instance the Jedi
(a community which arose
out of the Star Wars movies)
are running a campaign on
Facebook after the success of
this ‘religion’ in the UK and
New Zealand censuses. In the
2001 UK census more than
390,000 people stated that
their religion as ‘Jedi’ or ‘Jedi
Knight’, making them the
fourth largest religious
community in Britain.
QUORUM: Slota
hurls usual insults
Continued from pg 1
Bugár said he was aware
that submitting a draft per-
taining to minorities always
invites “incredible
speculation”, noting ironic-
ally that there are many
people in Slovakia who think
that they understand foot-
ball and the problems of na-
tional minorities.
On March 31, as The
Slovak Spectator went to
print, there were still 10
deputies waiting to speak in
the parliamentary debate on
the amendment. However,
the ruling coalition was de-
termined to push the law
change through parliament.
The draft amendment
was altered from its original
form before it reached par-
liament. Originally, Chmel
had proposed to lower the
‘quorum’ to 10 percent of the
local population, but the rul-
ing coalition compromised
on 15 percent.
A 15-percent threshold is
expected to introduce bilin-
gualism into more than 70
additional municipalities,
with the Roma and Rutheni-
an minorities affected more
than the Hungarian.
The number of Roma-
speaking villages will grow
from 57 to 86, while there are
expected to be 113 Rutheni-
an-speaking municipalities
instead of the current 68.
While currently one village
in central Slovakia, Krahule,
is German-speaking, under
– the new rules there would be
one more, Kunešov. Two
municipalities within Brat-
islava, Jarovce and Čunovo,
would be designated Croa-
tian-speaking.
According to the pro-
posed law, however, any of
Slovakia’s nine officially ap-
proved minority languages
can be used in official oral
communication anywhere
in Slovakia as long as the re-
spective official and all per-
sons concerned in the offi-
cial procedure agree. The
minority languages recog-
nised in Slovakia are: Hun-
garian, Czech, Romani,
Ruthenian, Ukrainian, Ger-
man, Polish, Croatian, Yid-
dish and Bulgarian.
Another highlight of the
amendment is that it intro-
Rudolf Chmel
April 4 – 10, 2011 3
duces fines for those official
bodies that fail to observe it,
so that it mirrors the condi-
tions which are valid for us-
ing Slovak in official com-
munication according to the
State Language Act.
A chance for Slota
Predictably, Slota, ad-
dressing parliament for only
the second time since last
year’s June general election,
used the debate as an oppor-
tunity to insult Slovakia’s
ethnic Hungarians, calling
them “murderers from cent-
ral Asia who imposed their
language on the Slovak
population”.
“The ruling coalition
parties are sitting on the
shovel of the Hungarian
party Most-Híd and get
taken in by their every de-
mand, which step by step
strips us of our self-determ-
ination and statehood and is
attaching our southern ter-
ritory to Hungary,” Slota
said, as quoted by the Sme
daily's website, Sme.sk.
Ondrej Dostál, a Most-
Híd deputy and member of
the Civic Conservative Party
(OKS) faction responded by
calling Slota the shame of
the Slovak nation.
Though politicians are
paid to defend national in-
terests it does not mean that
they have to do it even at
price of provoking extrem-
ism, said MP Pavol
Hrušovský, a deputy speaker
of parliament from the
Christian Democratic
Movement (KDH) .
Nevertheless, former
culture minister and Smer
deputy Marek Maďarič con-
tributed to the debate by not-
ing that Hungary’s prime
minister, Viktor Orbán, had
confirmed his intention to
give voting rights to resid-
ents of other countries who
obtain Hungarian citizen-
ship by means of Hungary’s
recently passed Dual Cit-
izenship Act.
Bugár responded that
deputies cannot always look
at what Viktor Orbán is do-
ing because they live in
Slovakia and must do their
best to make sure that
minorities within Slovakia
get proper consideration.
Photo: TASR
4 April 4 – 10, 2011
Slovakia tops car production chart
SLOVAKIA is the world’s
number one car producer per
capita, according to a re-
search paper by UniCredit
Bank. Slovakia returned to
the top of the chart after a
year’s absence, followed
closely by the Czech Republic
and Slovenia. These three
countries produce around 100
cars per 1,000 citizens, the
SITA newswire reported.
In the world chart of
gross car production, Slov-
akia placed 19th last year,
with 557,000 passenger cars,
accounting for one percent of
overall car production
worldwide. In 2009, the coun-
try occupied 20th position.
The region remains at-
tractive for the automotive
industry due to its low la-
bour costs in comparison to
western Europe, geograph-
ical position and dense net-
work of suppliers.
Honeywell investment takes shape
PREŠOV City Council ap-
proved a draft intention to
sell land in the Záborské In-
vestment Industrial Park to
US company Honeywell
Turbo on March 30. The draft
declares the city’s intention
to sell 5 hectares of land to
Honeywell at a price of €30
per square metre, the TASR
newswire reported.
“I appreciate that the
deputies, although they had
certain reservations, voted for
this material,” Prešov’s Mayor
Pavel Hagyari told TASR. “It
shows that the deputies are
responsible and that they
want to solve the problem of
unemployment, which in our
region is most acute.”
On the same day, the cab-
inet approved €19 million for
Honeywell in investment
stimuli from the state. A total
Construction law change proposed
BOTH a small-scale revision
to the Construction Act draf-
ted by the Transport Min-
istry and an amendment to
the Penal Code proposed by
the Justice Ministry intro-
duce tougher sanctions for il-
legal construction. If passed,
the two legal changes will
take effect on September 1,
2011, the SITA newswire re-
ported.
The applicable Construc-
tion Act from 1976 is tooth-
less, often circumvented and
lacks real tools against illegal
building projects, Transport
Minister Ján Figeľ argued, as
quoted by SITA, adding that
the new legislation aims to
bolster discipline and re-
sponsibility.
The revision, which will
be submitted for interde-
partmental review, stipulates
more detailed and more exact
rules for state supervision of
“Also with regard to the
announced increase in pro-
duction capacities in the re-
gion, we expect that the im-
portance of the region in
passenger car production in
Europe will again grow in the
coming five years,” UniCred-
it Bank analysts forecast, as
quoted by SITA. Car produc-
tion in the EU jumped 11 per-
cent year-on-year in 2010.
The expansion was
fuelled by rising demand
outside the EU. The share of
European output coming
from new EU member
states situated in the cent-
ral-eastern European region
shrank last year for the first
time since 2001.
Three firms make cars
in Slovakia: PSA Peugeot
Citroen in Trnava; Kia Mo-
tors Slovakia in Žilina; and
Volkswagen Slovakia in
Bratislava.
of €11.5 million is to be spent
on the purchase of long-term
tangible and intangible as-
sets, more than €7 million in
contributions for new jobs
and nearly €600,000 in the
form of tax allowances. Based
on a draft proposal for stimuli
provision which the cabinet
passed March 30, the reques-
ted incentives per employee
will reach nearly €43,000, the
SITA newswire reported.
Honeywell is planning to
build a plant to make tur-
bochargers for cars and
trucks. Its estimated costs are
forecast to be around €38 mil-
lion and the investment
should create about 446 jobs,
with the average salary ex-
pected to be around €1,300.
More jobs are expected to be
created indirectly because of
the Honeywell investment.
construction sites and
amends measures allowing
works to be put on ice.
Not only the owner but
also the respective construc-
tion company and its super-
visor will be accountable for
buildings erected without a
construction permit. Energy
supply stoppage is one of the
potential preventive meas-
ures featured in the draft law.
The ministry plans to pen a
brand new Construction Code
next year, SITA wrote.
The recently presented
Penal Code amendment also
deals with the problem of il-
legal structures. The Justice
Ministry proposes that illeg-
al construction should be-
come a crime which could be
sanctioned with up to five
years in prison.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
BUSINESS / NEWS
CODE: Unions threaten
more protest actions
Continued from pg 1
While Labour Minister
Jozef Mihál is expecting a
compromise over the code, the
unions on March 31 were
already halfway through a
week of protests against some
proposed changes to the code
and what they called an
“enormous increase in prices”.
“The decline in the eco-
nomic and social status of em-
ployees continues at a [high]
tempo, which is unbearable
for employees and unions, but
also for the citizens of
Slovakia,” Machyna told The
Slovak Spectator.
Machyna offered a list of
complaints to justify the uni-
on protests: enormous in-
creases in the price of basic
foodstuffs, measures which
are raising the tax and social
burden of employees, and
changes to the Labour Code to
weaken the position of em-
ployees and unions.
The unions have 10 fun-
damental objections, includ-
ing repeated limited-time
contracts, increases to over-
time work, the extension of
employees’ probation periods,
and the cancellation of simul-
taneous notice periods and
severance payments, said
Machyna.
According to Machyna, a
minimal number of union
comments on the draft have
been accepted.
“We still stick to the
opinion that it wasn’t neces-
sary to change the Labour
Code at all,” said Machyna,
adding that the unions re-
fuse to accept any comprom-
ise over points that weaken
the legal and social status of
employees.
The unions say they will
continue with strikes.
“We are considering addi-
tional protest actions of a dif-
ferent nature; we do not ex-
clude announcing a referen-
dum or preparing a general
strike,” said Machyna. “We
want to protect human dig-
nity at any price.”
The Labour Ministry, in its
official response to protests
held in front of the ministry
and the Government Office,
said the organisers perhaps do
not have enough information
on the economic development
of Slovakia over recent years
and about the steps the cur-
rent government is taking to
support low-income groups.
“Otherwise they would
not protest today but three
years ago, when prices in
Slovakia were growing sub-
stantially faster,” said the re-
lease. “At that time, the uni-
ons openly supported the gov-
ernment of Robert Fico and its
policies of wasting and steal-
ing. The result was that over
the past two years the in-
debtedness of the country
grew by €2,000 per citizen.”
KOVO trade union members march in Bratislava.
As for the increase in
prices, the Finance Ministry
said that world prices for food
and oil are mostly to blame.
“If union leaders are blam-
ing the government for the
poor harvest worldwide and
the conflict in Libya, they are
attributing to it much greater
power than it actually has,”
said Finance Ministry spokes-
man Martin Jaroš, as quoted by
SITA newswire. “A noisy de-
fence of the people would have
been justified at the time when
there was shameless and un-
concealed waste and theft,
since public finances are the
money of all the people.”
Employers object,
but continue negotiating
Martin Hošťák of the Na-
tional Union of Employers
(RÚZ) commented that the
unions are fighting for their
privileges but added that he
prefers the negotiating table to
the street.
“We look at them [the
union protests] as a way for
[the unions] to communic-
ate their disagreement with
the proposal,” he told The
Slovak Spectator. “However,
we still believe that one can
achieve more across the ne-
gotiating table.”
“The unions’ provocation
of tensions in society is politi-
cising the issue and is aimed
at preserving union privileges
and fulfilling pre-election
agreements with Smer,”
Hošťák, who is secretary of
the RÚZ, commented. “I am
asking why the unionists did
not protest when under the
previous government
Slovakia’s indebtedness grew
dramatically, cronyism and
corruption were spreading,
and EU funds and public fin-
ances were mismanaged?”
Photo: Sme
For Hošťák the problem
with the Confederation of
Trade Unions (KOZ) is that he
sees it as effectively uninter-
ested in solving the problem of
15-percent unemployment.
KOZ’s declared interest in the
protection of employees, he
said, obscures its real motive:
preserving union privileges,
financial resources and the
power of union bosses.
Hošťák also criticised the
unions’ unwillingness to pub-
lish membership numbers,
suggesting that in reality
they might actually represent
only a few tens of thousands
of workers out of the more
than a two-million-strong
national workforce.
Branislav Masár, execut-
ive director of Slovakia’s Fed-
eration of Employers’ Unions
(AZZZ), told The Slovak Spec-
tator that he sees no room to
preserve the existing Labour
Code. The AZZZ submitted its
comments on the code on
March 28, when the process of
interdepartmental review was
wrapped up. In the next step,
the Labour Ministry will pro-
cess the comments and only
then will the federation know
which of its own contribu-
tions were accepted.
Masár sees progress in
creating more room for social
dialogue and collective bar-
gaining within companies.
“However, we also wel-
come the cancellation of
simultaneous severance pay
and layoff notice, the pro-
longation of the trial period
and weekly working hours,
even if it is only for a selected
group of employees,” Masár
said, adding that the AZZZ
still has many objections and
has submitted 60 funda-
mental comments.
“For example, we dis-
agree with the new defini-
tion of dependent work and
the principle of merit when
it comes to the notice period
for all cases of layoff notice,”
he added.
According to Masár, it is
necessary to change the code
so that the potential to create
new jobs increases.
According to Hošťák, the
draft proposed by ministers
does not remove barriers to
job creation, but contrives to
retain the existing Labour
Code’s extraordinary com-
plexity. It does not equalise
employment councils and
unions, and does not address
the problem of how repres-
entative the unions really
are, he added.
In terms of what he sees
as positives, Hošťák pointed
to the cancellation of obliga-
tory severance payments and
the possibility of combining
severance payments and no-
tice periods. He also wel-
comed the widened oppor-
tunity to use limited-term
employment as well as the
permanent installation of
Flexikonto, which is a long-
term worked-hours account.
This is intended to man-
age employees’ working time
flexibly during swings in pro-
duction. It allows employees
to stay at home on full pay,
with the unworked hours re-
corded in individual ac-
counts. Later, over a period of
months or years, the employ-
ee is expected to work the
hours in the form of overtime.
The RÚZ still has objec-
tions in the areas of notice
periods and provisions regu-
lating mass layoffs as well as
minimum wage demands.
The proposed new code
The government says the
new code will be more fam-
ily-friendly, giving both em-
ployers and employees the
option to work flexible hours
based on their own needs.
The government is also
proposing a shorter proba-
tionary period for employees
in lower positions while des-
ignating longer periods for
positions with higher pay.
The proposal provides an
employer with the option of
negotiating a flexible com-
bination of severance pay and
layoff notice with an employ-
ee, while the minimum no-
tice period would depend on
their number of years of em-
ployment with the firm or
organisation.
According to the Labour
Ministry, the law’s current
form is unfair because it does
not take into consideration
the different status of em-
ployees based on their salary
levels or positions in a firm.
The ministry said the current
law lacks flexibility in regards
to employees changing jobs
or seeking higher earnings.
 OPINION
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
“It’s been a very interesting 70 years,
since my childhood up to today.” When 44 isn't a lucky number
President Ivan Gašparovič shares some pearls of wisdom FORTY-four can be a lucky
in a speech at his official birthday celebration on March 31 number, especially if that is
the indicator of the affection
of the electorate for a particu-
April 4 – 10, 2011 5
water utility just before last within its four-party-plus-
year’s municipal elections. two-faction structure.
As well, a legal analysis What this particular poll
charges that Ďurkovský far clearly shows is that Fico is

Ničnerobenie lar political party. If no one

BY LUKÁŠ FILA
Special to the Spectator
“THOSE who do nothing, do
nothing wrong,” says one
Slovak proverb. The Christian
Democrats, good conservatives
that they are, do what they can
to stick to the wisdom of their
forefathers. But someone
should try explaining to them
that the point is to keep trying,
not to indulge in ničnerobenie
(“nothing-doing”) in the hope
that that way things will turn
out alright.
A recent opinion poll by
the Focus agency found the
party’s support fall to just over
6 percent. In a system where 5
percent is the minimum re-
quired to get into parliament,
that is not good news for a
party. Just a month ago things
did not look so dire, as the
party was over 10 percent.
The sudden fall indicates
that the events in recent
months are hurting the KDH.
Party boss Ján Figeľ has still
not given up his flat in the
centre of Bratislava, which he
promised to do after it emerged
that he had got it virtually for
free from his party colleagues
at the city council. Neither has
his performance building
Ján Figeľ, leader of the KDH.
SLOVAK WORD
OF THE WEEK
highways and redirecting
European funds been very con-
vincing. Health Minister Ivan
Uhliarik, virtually unknown to
the public before getting into
office, has become a more fa-
miliar face mainly thanks to
some strange personnel de-
cisions at the Bratislava emer-
gency service, and some even
more suspicious decisions –
concerning which vaccines
would be paid for by the state –
that seemed to unjustly favour
his former employer.
But the party has a deeper,
long-term problem which will
not go away even if the num-
bers recover a little. It is failing
to adjust to a modernising so-
ciety, where issues such as
abortion, sex education, or
treaties with the Holy See can-
not win elections. If the KDH
does not want to end up like
the Czech Christian Demo-
crats, or Vladimír Mečiar’s
HZDS, which are no longer in
parliament, it should learn its
lessons – a conservative agenda
and reliance on an aging group
of voters is very tricky.
The party tried to redefine
itself in 2009, when Figeľ was
elected party leader. The party
expected to receive over 10 per-
cent in the 2010 elections, but
ended up with only 8, the same
as in 2006. That was the first
sign that a radical turnaround
for the better had not occurred.
If the KDH is to become
competitive again, it should do
at least three things: find new,
dynamic leaders; move its
agenda more to the centre; and
demonstrate an ability to deal
with the economy.
No other party can boast
the history and tradition of
the KDH, founded in 1990 and
present in all parliaments
since. And in testing times it
has tended to be on the right
side of history. But if it fails to
do things right now, its
members will soon have
plenty of time for sweet
ničnerobenie.
Photo: SITA
else, Robert Fico, chair of the
opposition Smer party, will
long treasure the 44.8 percent
popularity rating his party
scored in a March poll taken
by the Focus agency.
The parliamentary math
instantly offered the media
their headlines: Smer would
be able to form a new gov-
ernment entirely on its own
if a parliamentary election
had been held in March.
The bad news for Fico
and his shadow cabinet,
however, is that there is not
a parliamentary election in
sight that could give rise to
another government.
If the current coalition
government manages to
fine-tune its communica-
tion strategies and makes
sure that its attention-driv-
en politicians do not contin-
ue to serve up half-baked
proposals which they in-
stantly change in response
to the first hint of public
squeamishness, then there
is little likelihood that Fico
can turn that 44.8 percent
number into a march back to
the Government Office.
This poll, however, cer-
tainly has the potential to
make the Christian Demo-
cratic Movement (KDH)
quite edgy since the party re-
corded a steep drop in pop-
ularity to only 6.3 percent,
four points less than it polled
in February. Martin Slosi-
arik, a sociologist with Fo-
cus, suggested that the KDH
should wait for the next poll
to see whether its dismal
numbers are confirmed.
Observers could instantly
point at the very thorns that
left bleeding wounds on
KDH’s corpus: the departure
of Andrej Ďurkovský, one of
the party’s founding mem-
bers and the former mayor of
Bratislava, whose political
neck was snapped when me-
dia reported on the ‘hidden
privatisation’ of Bratislava’s
exceeded his mayoral au-
thority when he approved
the demolition of Bratislava’s
doing very well in opposi-
tion and that even though he
might not prefer being
PKO cultural centre. severed from his past power,
his rhetoric and overall ap-
proach to politics makes him
EDITORIAL
one of the best-suited politi-
cians to stand in opposition.
Of course, those who dis-
like being in opposition even
more than Fico himself are
the ‘Maecenases’ of the party
who are likely dreading the
prospect of more transpar-
ent public procurement.
Those who sigh that the
Slovak electorate is more
likely to lean towards those
politicians who promise
higher Christmas bonuses
for pensioners than to polit-
ical parties who seek to
shine more light under the
soiled black robes of the
country’s Judicial Council
might have a strong point.
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ The Slovak electorate
Spectator staff may also have a fleeting
memory and not fully re-
member the colourful
An earlier revelation that tapestry of scandals that Fico
Ján Figeľ, KDH’s chairman and his coalition partners
and transport minister, re- stitched while in office as
ceived a valuable flat in they were queried in the
Bratislava’s Old Town for the March poll amidst the pain of
paltry sum of €2,000 has not a package of austerity meas-
helped the KDH much ures enacted by the sitting
either, particularly when government to heal the pub-
one of its officials had said it lic deficit.
was “the party with the Eventually every popu-
purest moral profile”. list politician runs out of
Even if the theory is rhetoric. But the ‘more-
proved true that past sup- thoughtful’ politicians of
porters of the KDH have the current coalition who
been only temporarily infec- seem to be unable to speak
ted by Smer’s rhetoric that to citizens other than
the current government is through half-baked mes-
the worst enemy of citizens’ sages that are later retrac-
ability to afford the necessit- ted, or who are unable to
ies of life, the KDH and the prioritise the promises they
other parties of the coalition made, or who cannot even
must soon undertake some live up to their own pledges
sorely needed self-reflection of relative purity, should
and take a hard look at their not be surprised by unpleas-
social policies. ant poll results. Nor should
That, of course, might they even count on the con-
only be a wishful suggestion tinued loyalty of those who
as the coalition fractiously passionately do not want to
debates how to live up to its see Robert Fico return to the
2010 programme declaration prime minister’s seat.

   

 


     
 

 
      
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6 April 4 – 10, 2011

TRANSPORT
Not all the wrinkles are ironed
out of the e-toll system
BUSINESS FOCUS Next issue:

Slovak cabinet discusses

broad-gauge rail project LEGISLATION

Revamping the railways Institutions and organisations in

Government
plan will
lead to
5,000 layoffs
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
STATE-OWNED railway com-
pany ZSSK Cargo has started
implementing mass layoffs.
The company’s general direct-
or, Pavol Ďuriník, confirmed
on March 30 that about 150
workers will lose their jobs in
early April, to be followed by
200 more in early June, 700 in
early July and another 700 by
the end of 2011. Altogether
ZSSK Cargo will eliminate 1,800
positions from its total labour
force of about 9,000.
The layoffs among Cargo
employees are part of an ex-
tensive revitalisation plan for
Slovakia’s three railway com-
panies adopted by the cabinet
of Iveta Radičová on March 16.
In addition to the sacking of
thousands of employees, the
plan will also reduce railway
passenger routes and pave the
way for sale of a majority stake
in ZSSK Cargo.
"It isn't about layoffs but
about rescue," said Transport
Minister Ján Figeľ on March 16,
as quoted by the TASR news-
wire. “The current situation is
no longer sustainable. The
overall indebtedness of the
three companies has climbed
to €1 billion.”
Slovak rail companies are facing major changes.
Ľubomír Palčák, director of
the Žilina-based Transport Re-
search Institute (VÚD), views
the problems in the railway
sector as long-term, going back
to before 1993, when Slovakia
was a federal republic within
Czechoslovakia.
“One of these problems is
that on one hand we want the
railway companies to operate,
and I think that this is the cor-
rect approach, under a clear
economic environment, but on
the other hand it is very diffi-
cult to push through any
changes which would affect
this environment in a more
significant way because the
railway sector was always im-
portant from the viewpoint of
employment,” Palčák told The
Slovak Spectator. He added
that political involvement,
from either the right or the
left, has complicated the situ-
ation even more.
He believes the
Photo: Sme
government’s revitalisation
programme is moving in the
right direction.
“I think it has happened
sometimes to name the prob-
lems in the railway sector but
then not to start solutions,”
Palčák said. “Now at least there
is an effort to bring order in the
railway companies’ economic
operations and I believe this is
a correct direction.”
Palčák sees an opportunity
for railway transport to be
more central to Slovakia. Cur-
rently, railways account for
only 6.2 percent of total pas-
senger transport in Slovakia,
while roughly 20 percent of
cargo is transported by rail. He
said there is an opportunity to
increase these figures to
somewhere around 10 percent
in passenger transport and up
to 30-35 percent in cargo trans-
port. He added that an import-
ant step forward for passenger
transport is better harmonisa-
tion of rail and bus transport so
that routes and scheduled
times do not overlap.
“This might bring savings
or at least better quality to pub-
lic transport, which is also
covered from public finances,”
Palčák said.
The overall revitalisation
programme for Slovakia’s
three railway companies pro-
poses to lay off around 5,000
employees within three years
and projects that the compan-
ies would at least start to break
even within that timeframe.
The programme also
seeks to secure settlement of
receivables between the rail-
way firms and the state and to
optimise the setup of the
railway sector. While Cargo is
to lay off one fifth of its staff,
the railway infrastructure
operator, Železnice Slov-
enskej Republiky (ŽSR), is ex-
pected to declare 2,700 em-
ployees redundant in two
phases by the end of 2012, ac-
counting for about 16 percent
of its current workforce.
Slovakia’s passenger rail-
way company, Železničná
Spoločnosť Slovensko (ZSSK),
will lay off 621 employees in
five stages by the end of 2013,
about 12 percent of its work-
force. The actual number of
people laid off at ZSSK may be
lower, as the company an-
nounced a smaller reduction in
train connections than those
announced in the original re-
vitalisation programme. The
new, reduced train schedules
will start on May 1.
See RAIL pg 8
transport and logistics in Slovakia
Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional
Development, www.telecom.gov.sk
Minister: Ján Figeľ
Association of Road Transport Operators of the Slovak
Republic (ČESMAD), www.cesmad.sk
Slovak Union of Motor Carriers (UNAS)
www.uniadopravcov.sk
Association of Logistics and Freight Forwarding
of the Slovak Republic, www.zls.sk
Transport Research Institute (VÚD)
www.vud.sk
Organisations involved in Slovakia's
highway e-toll system
e-myto – the website of the Slovak e-toll collection
system
www.emyto.sk
National Highway Company – builds, maintains and
operates highways in Slovakia
www.ndsas.sk
SkyToll – built and operates Slovakia’s electronic toll
collection system. SkyToll was established by companies
of the Ibertax-SanToll consortium, the winner of a tender
for developing an e-toll system in Slovakia. SanToll is
owned by Sanef, a French-based corporation that
operates toll-road networks in Europe.
www.skytoll.sk
Railway companies in Slovakia
Železničná Spoločnosť Cargo Slovakia (ZSSK Cargo)
– the state-owned railway cargo company
www.zscargo.sk
Železnice Slovenskej Republiky (ŽSR) – the state-owned
railway infrastructure operator
www.zsr.sk
Železničná Spoločnosť Slovensko (ZSSK) – the state-
owned rail passenger transport company

Demand for logistics space grows www.slovakrail.sk

RegioJet – a Czech private rail passenger transport

Build-to-suit projects
are now the
dominant model
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
THE STANDSTILL in construction of new
warehouses and logistics centres in Slov-
akia in 2009 because of the economic
crisis extended into 2010 as well. A clear
market trend has been for logistics and
warehouse-space operators to focus on
renting their available space in existing
facilities and to construct new facilities
only for specific clients on a build-to-suit
basis. But industry experts say that
Slovakia’s low vacancy rate and the ex-
pected inflow of new foreign investment
may spur the construction of new logist-
ics centres, particularly in areas outside
western Slovakia.
“Construction was halted especially
because of lower interest by end-users
and more difficult financing,” Peter
Jánoši, the head of the industrial de-
partment at CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), a
global provider of corporate and institu-
tional services in the real estate industry,
told The Slovak Spectator. “Only projects
which had already started were com-
pleted. This has led to historically-low
vacancy rates. Compared with neigh-
bouring countries in which the boom in
the segment of industrial and logistics
real estate arrived a bit later than in Slov-
akia, for example in the Czech Republic
and Poland, Slovakia has not ended in
such a bad situation in terms of existing
projects being vacant.”
Martin Baláž, from the department of
industrial and retail warehousing at
Cushman & Wakefield Property Services
Slovakia told The Slovak Spectator that
during the last quarter of 2010 the va-
cancy rate at modern logistics parks in
Slovakia was about 5 percent. Over the
last few months additional space was
rented and Baláž estimates that the cur-
rent vacancy rate is around 4 percent.
Martin Polák, a market officer for the
Czech Republic and Slovakia for ProLo-
gis, which is the logistics market leader
in Slovakia with about 38 percent market
share, said that the overall demand for
logistics and warehouse facilities was
healthy in Slovakia in 2010 but added
that the lack of available space resulted
in less overall leasing activity last year
than in 2009.
“Developers avoided speculative de-
velopments, choosing to focus on leasing
their existing portfolios and looking for
build-to-suit opportunities,” Polák told
The Slovak Spectator, adding that for that
reason rental levels remained stable.
“The market in Slovakia is closer to the
Czech market than the Hungarian mar-
ket due mainly to Slovakia’s economy be-
ing stronger than its southern
neighbour's. Demand decreased due to
the lack of existing options and poor
availability; on the other hand, both the
Prague and Ostrava markets can offer
immediate space. Therefore, for regional
international distribution, companies
are looking more for options in the Czech
Republic than in Slovakia.”
See SPACE pg 8
company, which plans to provide services in Slovakia
www.regiojet.cz
Wagon Service Travel – a private firm offering charter
train services throughout Europe
www.wagonservice.sk
Travelling Bratislava - Košice during
the Ice Hockey World Championship
Slovakia’s passenger rail operator, ZSSK, has launched a
new product for the 2011 IIHF World Championship: the
Ice Hockey 2011 pass ticket. It is valid for up to 19 days for
all trains in Slovakia during the championship
between April 28 and May 16. The price of a first-class
pass ticket is €99; a second-class pass ticket costs €89.
www.slovakrail.sk
Slovak airline Danube Wings has added special flights
between Bratislava and Košice during the championship.
Effective between April 29 and May 9, there will be three
flights in each direction on weekdays.
www.danubewings.eu
Compiled by Spectator staff

Not all wrinkles ironed
out of e-toll system
Electronic toll
system now past
one-year mark
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
SLOVAKIA launched its elec-
tronic highway toll collection
system for vehicles over 3.5
tonnes more than a year ago.
While the impacts of the new
system on truckers and road
cargo transport companies
have not been fully assessed,
it is clear that politics were
intermingled with its launch,
that the system was con-
structed in a short period,
and that its debut during the
deep economic downturn
have been factors in its ongo-
ing criticism. Some problem-
atic issues will likely remain
unresolved until more in-
formation from the past
year’s operation points to
specific ways to improve the
system. And a transportation
expert looking at the e-toll
system from a broader point
of view says the opportunity
to use it as a regulatory tool
has not yet been fully tapped.
“Slovakia has a function-
ing electronic toll collection
system but at the same time I
am saying that it is not
perfect,” Ľubomír Palčák, the
director of the Transport Re-
search Institute (VÚD) based
in Žilina, told The Slovak
Spectator. He said that the
political nature of the de-
cision to introduce the sys-
tem was problematic, and
that its launch within one
year could have meant that
not all aspects were com-
pleted properly from the
point of view of either the
technologies employed or of
the overall system concept.
For that reason, he said, some
changes are warranted.
The current leadership
of the Ministry of Transport,
Construction and Regional
Development has tuned its
ear towards complaints and
demands made by truckers
5
5"%+$"%(&
who have been very critical
of the system from its very
Slovak truckers are not satisfied with the electronic highway toll system.
to, in particular, reduce costs
linked to toll collection and
operation of the e-toll system
so that as large as possible
share of revenue goes into
construction and mainten-
ance of roads.”
Krajčovič stated that the
Transport Ministry would
reveal specific steps in the
coming weeks.
“The ministry is inter-
ested in making the toll sys-
tem more effective and op-
timising its operation,”
Krajčovič said. “This is also
why it launched a commis-
sion to review the effective-
ness of the toll system that is
made up of representatives of
the Transport Ministry,
truckers (ČESMAD and
UNAS), the National High-
way Company (NDS), the toll
police and SkyToll, which
operates the e-toll system in
Slovakia. It was a suggestion
from this commission, for
example, to reduce fines for
toll offences.”
Truck drivers on toll roads
who do not have an onboard
unit (OBU), used to measure a
vehicles’ road use via satel-
lite, or those who drive on toll
roads without paying the ap-
plicable fee are fined €1,655 if
they pay on the spot or €2,655
if they pay later.
Many truckers have
BUSINESS FOCUS
Truckers’ views
The e-toll system meant
an increase in truckers’ costs
because rather than buying a
highway sticker which had a
flat payment for highway us-
age regardless of the kilo-
metres driven, they now must
pay tolls based on the number
of kilometres covered on
highways, dual carriageways
and first-category roads.
Currently, about 1,900
kilometres of roads in Slovakia
are tolled and the amount
ranges from €0.020 per kilo-
metre to €0.209 per kilometre
depending on the weight of
the vehicle, its emissions cat-
egory and other factors, ac-
cording to the National High-
way Company.
The opinions of many
truckers to the new system
has been extremely negative
and they based their criti-
cisms on what they called a
poorly prepared and over-
priced system as well as a fail-
ure by the government to oth-
erwise assist carriers which
had already been severely hurt
by the economic downturn.
“After the most difficult
crisis year of 2009, 2010 started
in the spirit of an overpriced,
non-functional, badly-pre-
pared and unfair toll system,”
Rudolf Páleš, the vice-presid-
Photo: Sme - Ján Krošlák
“In 2008 we experienced
the pressure of high diesel
prices in road transport,
which was at least partly
compensated by the still-
growing economy,” Jančovič
told The Slovak Spectator.
“The following year, 2009,
was particularly disastrous
for road cargo transport be-
cause even though diesel
prices decreased, the demand
for our services steeply de-
creased too. This situation
continued until the end of
2010 and it was also signific-
antly influenced by the in-
crease in our costs after the
launch of e-tolls in Slovakia.”
Páleš said truckers have
managed to win some conces-
sions from the government
but that these have not solved
the basic problems of the sys-
tem which he said are over-
priced tolls and the scope of
the roads tolled. He stated that
many trucking firms already
suffering from low demand
due to the crisis were re-
strained from including the
increased toll costs into their
prices and were forced from
the market.
“A [typical] Slovak carrier
went down to the bottom of its
reserves during the crisis,”
Páleš said.
Jančovič of ČESMAD said
hundreds of transport com-
April 4 – 10, 2011 7
FOCUS short
Bratislava Airport to be leased
SLOVAKIA plans to lease motivation to invest in the
Letisko M. R. Štefánika – airport's development.
Bratislava Airport – to a A recent analysis stated
concessionaire for a period that Bratislava Airport's un-
of 30 years, Transport Min- avoidable investment needs
ister Ján Figeľ said after a are expected to reach at least
government session on €350 million. These invest-
March 16. The minister ments include an overall re-
stated that the process – construction and extension of
choosing a suitable con- the existing runway, increas-
sultant with international ing the amount of space for
experience and preparing a planes at the terminals, and
tender to seek the conces- other necessary upgrades.
sionaire – should be com- Bratislava Airport served
pleted by June 2012, the 74,600 passengers in Febru-
TASR newswire wrote. ary 2011, down 17 percent
Figeľ is expected to from the same month in
submit a comprehensive 2010. In the first two months
plan to the government be- of 2011 the number of pas-
fore the end of April. sengers checking in dropped
The Transport Ministry by 15 percent from the same
originally suggested that period last year.
the airport should be leased Letisko M. R. Štefánika is
for a maximum of 30 years fully-owned by the state:
but the Finance Ministry Slovakia’s National Property
subsequently argued for a Fund holds 50.3 percent of
period of 40 to 50 years, say- the shares and the Transport
ing a shorter lease period Ministry holds 49.7 percent.
would reduce an investor's Compiled by Spectator staff
hk}ly{pzltlu{
w•’‰ˆ––Œ’‘„–
Œ‘ê—•„‘–“’•—
Your partner for Air, Sea, Road transport
and Logistics solutions
cargo-partner SR, s.r.o.
.opþLansNa ,   %ratLsOaYa
3Kone    , )a[   
sNEts#cargo-partner.coP, ZZZ.cargo-partner.coP
SP90534/1
5(!#+,#+5 50)*++5

%(.$#5+)(%5+5*(
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beginning. The ministry has complained that these fines
adopted a reduction in some can cause bankruptcy.
fines related to e-toll viola- Slovakia’s cabinet adopted a
tions and has promised to reduction in the fines of
make other changes so that about 60 percent in March
it becomes simpler and that will take effect on Au-
more effective. gust 1, Krajčovič said. The
“The previous cabinet ap- ministry is also preparing to
ent of the Union of Motor Car-
riers of Slovakia (UNAS), an or-
ganisation launched by dissat-
isfied truckers at the begin-
ning of 2010, told The Slovak
Spectator. “While other coun-
tries were looking for ways to
help companies survive the
panies have left the market ///"%+$
and thousand of trucks are
gone. He blamed not only the SP90523/1
e-toll system but also the eco-
nomic decline.
UNAS also maintains that
the e-toll system has not been
achieving any regulatory
proached the electronic toll


system in a non-conceptual
way that resulted in lower
revenue from e-tolls and in-


creased costs for operation of
the system,” Transport Min-
istry spokesperson Martin



commission an independent
audit of the toll system.
“The ministry is also
preparing other steps to
make operation of the sys-
tem, which was poorly set
up by the previous cabinet
crisis, the Slovak cabinet star-
ted to collect tolls which
brought chaos at border cross-
ings and at contact points.”
When looking back, Pavol
Jančovič, the president of the
Association of Road Transport
function and Páleš said for- 
%*$)'-

%
'!) $

"(
"%+! 
eign carriers are particularly
avoiding payment of tolls. He
added that Slovakia, contrary 

to Austria or Germany, has not 
adopted any compensatory ac-
tions such as a reduction of %$







Krajčovič told The Slovak of Robert Fico, more effect- Operators of the Slovak Repub- vehicle taxes for truckers. ,










Spectator. “For the time being ive and optimal,” Krajčovič lic (ČESMAD), took an even % "






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it is the task of the ministry added. longer view into history. See TOLL pg 9
SP90544
8 April 4 – 10, 2011 BUSINESS FOCUS

RAIL: Seeking a partner for ZSSK Cargo

Continued from pg 6
ZSSK will completely ter-
minate passenger service on
five routes that it evaluated as
inefficient. Another 314 pas-
senger routes will be reduced
in terms of scheduled times or
their overall length, according
to the SITA newswire.
The Transport Ministry
will also seek to find a strategic
investment partner for ZSSK
Cargo and plans to hold an in-
ternational tender by June 2012
that will offer an ownership
stake of at least 66 percent in
the company. The Finance
Ministry had proposed to sell
the state’s entire 100-percent
ownership stake in Cargo.
Palčák said railway cargo
transport is a globalised busi-
ness today and companies
which want to succeed in this
market must be linked with
other strong players. In select-
ing a strategic partner for ZSSK
Cargo, Palčák said that foreign
partners who would bring added
value but not competition for
the Slovak company are the
most interesting and said these
could include Russian Railways,
České Dráhy from the Czech Re-
public, or German railways, but
Palčák noted that the latter two
options could bring possible
problems with competition.
Former transport minister
Ľubomír Vážny has criticised
the revitalisation plan, saying
that it focuses only on redu-
cing costs while not solving
the issue of how to increase
revenue. Current officials in
the Transport Ministry insist
that cost reductions are neces-
sary or the railway companies
could otherwise go belly-up.
“We perceive this as the
stance of the former minister
who was not courageous
enough to face up to the prob-
lems of the railway companies
and was blindly following the
orders of his boss,” Transport
Ministry spokesman Martin
Krajčovič told The Slovak
Spectator. “If we had not star-
ted the revitalisation process
in the railway companies,
they might have gone bank-
rupt. In a better-case scenario
the state would become in-
debted in order to settle their
debts, which might within
some years bring in, for ex-
ample, higher taxes. There is
no way to escape – the railway
companies must be revitalised
at the cost of some unpopular
measures; otherwise this
would catch up with us sooner
or later. We do not want to
close our eyes to the problems
in the railway companies as
the former cabinet did.”
Krajčovič stated that the
three railway companies have
generated a combined debt of
about €1 billion and that ac-
counts for about 1.5 percent of
gross domestic product. He also
said that the railway compan-
ies are currently overstaffed.
“If we do not reduce the
railway labour force, we would
endanger another 27,000 work-
ing positions,” said Krajčovič.
“This means that this [pro-
gramme] is rather about salva-
ging employment. In this re-
spect I would like to point out
that most layoffs affect the too-
extensive administration… This
step [reducing the workforce] is
not pleasant for anybody but it
is inevitable. We are preparing,
in cooperation with the Labour
Ministry, a national social pro-
gramme with over €7 million
for those who will be laid off.”
The railway companies
have said that they view the
government’s revitalisation
programme as a positive step
and said they would have wel-
comed it even earlier.
“ZSSK Cargo welcomes the
approved programme for re-
vitalisation of the railway
sector,” Martin Halanda,
spokesperson for ZSSK Cargo,
told The Slovak Spectator. “It
will enable us to adopt meas-
ures revitalising the company
and prepare it for the entry of a
strategic investor. The part of
the programme related to ZSSK
Cargo is set up in a very realist-
ic way and thus we do not ex-
pect that we would fail to
achieve its goals.”
The new management at
ZSSK Cargo started remedial
measures immediately after
they assumed their positions
in the fall of 2010, Halanda
said, adding that these efforts
have yielded cost savings of
over €30 million.
The revitalisation pro-
gramme also proposes a meth-
od to deal with settlement of
the €166 million subsidy that
Cargo received from the state
in 2009. Halanda told The Slov-
ak Spectator that the Finance
Ministry has postponed the
start of repayments for one
year and added that the
company’s debt is expected to
be covered from proceeds from
the sale of the majority stake.
ZSSK also views the Slovak
cabinet’s revitalisation pro-
gramme as a positive step, ac-
cording to ZSSK spokesperson
Alexander Buzinkay, who added
“it is a pity that it is arriving
with a delay of two months be-
cause our stances were already
clear and pre-negotiated in
December [2010] and nothing
about them has changed.”
FOCUS shorts
Cabinet discusses broad-gauge rail
THE SLOVAK cabinet on
March 16 discussed a report
reviewing some of the res-
ults of a feasibility study
about extending a broad-
gauge railway track across
Slovakia from Košice to Vi-
enna via Bratislava. A broad-
gauge railway track already
runs from the Slovak-Ukrain-
ian border to Košice.
The proposal under dis-
cussion would extend the
broad-gauge railway from
Košice by 430 kilometres and
add two new railway ter-
minals – one in Parndorf,
Austria and one in Nové
Zámky, Slovakia. The railway
track would be built in paral-
lel with the existing stand-
ard-gauge track that crosses
southern Slovakia. The total
investment in laying the
track and building the new
terminals is estimated at
€6.36 billion.
The extension of the
broad-gauge track is being
discussed by four countries,
Austria, Russia, Ukraine and
Slovakia, and is strongly
supported by Russia and
Ukraine. The position of
various railway experts in
that Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin has said if
Slovakia does not view the
project as useful his country
is ready to route the broad-
gauge railway through
Hungary and that Prime
Minister Viktor Orbán has
already shown an interest.
The feasibility study pre-
pared by Roland Berger, a
German consulting firm,
stated that extending the
broad-gauge railway track by
430 kilometres is technically
and legally feasible and
would draw a significant
amount of transport busi-
ness. However, questions re-
lating to the financing of the
project remain unanswered;
the feasibility study said the
most credible way to finance
the extension is through
public funds.
The European Commis-
sion has stated that it does
not support including the
proposed broad-gauge exten-
sion into the trans-European
transport network (TEN-T).
Slovakia’s position on
the project has been incon-
sistent. The cabinet of
former prime minister

SPACE: Focus on build-to-suit projects Austria is relatively neutral

Continued from pg 6
Investment spurs logistics centres
The inflow of foreign investments has
an effect on occupancy rates and the build-
ing of new logistics facilities.
“This trend is visible, for example along
the D1 highway around Trnava and Galanta
where the arrival of investors like PSA
Peugeot Citroen and Samsung also initiated
the building of modern logistics centres,”
said Baláž.
Jánoši agreed, adding that new major
foreign investments were accompanied by
the arrival of many subcontractors which
drew in logistics companies to handle those
companies’ outsourcing.
“Those companies often need to be loc-
ated as close as possible to these prominent
investors,” said Jánoši, adding that in the
past such important investments centred
especially in western Slovakia with its
dominant automobile industry (Volkswa-
gen Slovakia in Bratislava, Kia Motors Slov-
akia near Žilina and PSA Peugeot Citroen in
Trnava) as well as major electro-technical
companies (Foxconn, Samsung and AU
Optronics). Jánoši said this was because of
the better road infrastructure in western
Slovakia, such as the D1 highway joining
Bratislava and Žilina and the D2 highway
between Bratislava and Brno.
Jánoši said Slovakia is of interest to lo-
gistics companies because of its geograph-
ical position and its developing road infra-
structure, but added that the country has
not yet tapped its full potential.
“Slovakia, compared with neighbour-
ing countries, is a small market and logist-
ics companies often prefer centralising
their logistics operations in bigger econom-
ies, for example in the Czech Republic and
Poland,” said Jánoši. “In most cases it is
possible to serve the Slovak market from
these countries without any big problems.
We see further prospects in the develop-
ment of road infrastructure but also of
railway infrastructure – which would help
Logistics parks have mushroomed near
Bratislava. Photo: Courtesy of ProLogis
Slovakia become part of important
European rail corridors.”
Baláž expects more development in
other regions of the country, especially
eastern Slovakia, that will complement the
developed logistics centres in western
Slovakia.
“Some development companies have
already announced their intention to build
logistics premises in eastern Slovakia,”
Baláž said. “It will be important to get ten-
ants for a sufficiently large amount of space
so that construction can start.”
CBRE has registered interest not only
among end-users, i.e. logistics firms, but
also developers in building warehouses and
industrial premises in less-developed parts
of Slovakia, Jánoši said. These include in-
dustrial regions of northern Slovakia, for
example Žilina and Martin and their vicin-
ity, as well as eastern Slovakia, especially in
the areas around Prešov and Košice. He
noted that the recent activities of Point-
Park Properties and its newly-built logist-
ics parks in Košice and Žilina are good ex-
amples of this trend.
“But we do not expect concentration of
parks [in the east or north] to such an ex-
tent as in western Slovakia in the past,”
Jánoši commented. “We assume that these
will be rather stand-alone, build-to-suit
projects.”
Expectations for 2011
Speculative construction of logist-
ics facilities was the dominant model
in Slovakia for some time but during
the recent past the primary interest of
owners of logistics facilities has been
to lease their already available capa-
city and experts say the most visible
trend in the market today is to start
construction based only on the specif-
ic needs of a client.
“However, there is an assumption
that when premises are constructed
for a particular client, then the in-
terest of other potential clients in a
given locality can increase and for that
reason some developers are prone to
start construction on a speculative
basis as well so they can satisfy poten-
tial demand as fast as possible,” Jánoši
said.
Jánoši said lease prices for logistics
space decreased to historical lows in
the recent past but that prices may in-
crease moderately because the current
prices of land, construction and finan-
cing are in the end reflected in the
lease price.
Polák of ProLogis views the optim-
istic economic forecasts for central
and eastern Europe, including Slov-
akia, as an encouraging sign and hopes
that further improvements in the
market for modern distribution facilit-
ies will come in 2011.
“We expect a further increase in
demand, generated mostly by com-
panies in the logistics sector as well as
by growing retailers and manufactur-
ing companies,” said Polák.
“It is worth noting that due to the
decreasing stock of available ware-
house space in Slovakia, rental rates
will remain stable or may increase this
year. In 2011, we plan to focus on ex-
tending lease agreements with our ex-
isting clients and targeting pre-let op-
portunities and build-to-suit projects.”
but the Vienna chapter of the
Federation of Austrian In-
dustry is a significant pro-
moter of the project.
“The Russian partners
are convinced that this
project offers Slovakia the
possibility to profit not only
from the unique opportun-
ity to join the European-
Asian transport chain but
also brings an added value
in the form of several sup-
plementary activities dir-
ectly attached to this
project,” the report states.
The report further noted
Flights to 25 destinations from capital
REGULAR flights to 25 des-
tinations in 13 countries as
well as flights to Košice will
be offered from Bratislava
Airport between March 27
and October 29, the SITA
newswire reported. Eight
airline companies – Ry-
anair, Danube Wings, Czech
Airlines, Polish Airlines,
Travel Service, El Al (Sun
d'Or International),
Armavia and Belle Air will
operate scheduled flights
from Bratislava Airport.
Scheduled flights to Las
Palmas on the Spanish island
of Gran Canaria and to
Yerevan, Armenia, are now
offered by Ryanair and
Armavia and are additions to
last summer’s schedule.
Belle Air, an Italian-Al-
banian low-cost airline
company, is scheduled to
start flights to Tirana at the
end of March. El Al’s daugh-
ter company, Sub d’Or In-
ternational, and the Czech
Travel Service airline com-
Robert Fico endorsed the
project but the parties of the
current governing coalition
were critical of the high cost
of the project when they
were in opposition.
As the government’s as-
sessment of the feasibility
study is not yet complete,
the report discussed by the
cabinet did not propose any
further concrete steps to be
taken by Slovakia at this
time.
The Transport Ministry is
to prepare a proposal by the
end of 2011 on Slovakia’s
course of action in 2012.
pany are offering regular
connections to Tel Aviv.
Košice International Air-
port offers regular flights to
three destinations: Bratis-
lava, Prague and Vienna.
During the holiday sea-
son Slovak airports also offer
charter flights to popular
holiday destinations.
After nearly two years,
civil flights should be re-
newed at Sliač airport, SITA
wrote. Civil flights from Sliač
halted in May 2009, when the
reconstruction of a runway
with NATO funds started.
At present, preparations
are being made to enable reg-
ular use of the military airport
for civil operation. The condi-
tion for resumption of civil
transport at Sliač airport will
be a licence for provision of
air navigation services for
civil air transportation issued
by the Transport Ministry.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
 BUSINESS April 4 – 10, 2011 9

TOLL: Lower revenue hk}ly{pzltlu{

JOB OFFERS
Continued from pg 7 the amount of traffic on heav-
ily-used roads. Database Administrator
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the system and Páleš said the future so that the system is
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tapped. He believes the e-toll The e-toll revenues of the
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least partly, saying that in Trucks pay tolls on about 1,900 kilometres of roads. Photo: Sme amounted to only €36.2 mil-
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way use does not fully reflect that launched similar sys- buy vehicles with less impact lion compared to the plan, to
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be reviewed, i.e. whether cer- and more damage to second- amount of traffic on roads projected and totalled
tain roads should be excluded and third-category roads. during peak hours or to lessen €141.42 million. Advanced C/C++ Software developer
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launch of the eDANE application. amounted to several thousand euros and %




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32
Previously, a district tax office had to “eDANE secured full access to the ac- blamed the supplier, Novitech Tax. It
approve each request for an extension. tual tax return documents and at the even went as far as suing the firm. Senior Design Engineer for HVAC
Up to March 28, Slovak district tax of- same time fundamentally eliminated the Novitech responded that the firm had +"' # *
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fices had received 28,161 notifications burden on the www.drsr.sk portal,” previously warned about the “unsustain- 

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about 3 percent of the total number of re- portal was not accessible, the taxpayer portal”, as reported by Sme last spring.
turns expected to be filed in 2011. Gabriela could still use the eDANE application Sme this year wrote that the Tax ERP specialist
Dianová, spokeswoman of the Tax Direct- without any limitations.” Directorate’s new management had ,#"

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orate, told The Slovak Spectator that this Dianová suggested that access prob- withdrawn the lawsuit. &
0
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was 4,300 more taxpayers than in 2010. lems to the main tax portal again this year Dianová said the current remedial %




1

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But the Sme daily reported that the beginning on March 25 showed that de- measures are only short-term solutions
number of late filers might be much bigger veloping the eDANE application was justi- to stabilise the electronic filing system Supply Controller
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returns had not yet been filed. This year to the www.drsr.sk portal, Dianová said. the previous management.
the Tax Directorate expects approximately By March 29, more than 81,813 tax- Slovakia’s Finance Ministry is push- ERP Functional Consultant (Invoicing)
1.128 million individual tax returns and payers had downloaded the eDANE ap- ing forward its UNITAS programme un- 00

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11,694 corporate returns, SITA reported. plication, which was developed by the der which income taxes, customs duties
%




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In addition to their income tax doc- DITEC company. and insurance contributions would be
ument, taxpayers must also submit an Last year’s collapse of the tax portal centralised in a single institution. The
annual statement to their health insurer and the government’s subsequent de- implementation of UNITAS between
by March 31 for calculation of future cision that taxpayers could not use this as 2011 and 2013 should result in compre- 



 

monthly payments.





Dianová said the Tax Directorate un-
dertook several measures to maintain
better accessibility to its tax portal at
an acceptable reason for failure to submit hensive computerisation of tax adminis-
tax returns by the deadline of March 31 tration, with Dianová adding that it will
prompted massive criticism. The Tax represent a fundamental conceptual


www.profesia.sk
Directorate said last April that the finan- change in Slovakia. SP90256/11

C LASSIFIEDS

REAL ESTATE REAL ESTATE Advertising rates for business classifieds

APARTMENTS for lease: Rent: 1. P ric es of classif ie d ads Fre quency discounts:
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www.madison.sk 0903 234 999, 0903 471 999 FOR MORE INFORMATION:
● Logo or picture insertion
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C 3655 C 3675
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+ € 0.3/word fax: +421 2 59 233-319
2
ENGLISH LANGUAGE WORSHIP ● Box + €3 or write:
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Sundays, 9:30 at historic Small Lutheran Church 2. Prices for business classified ads (according to size):
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Web Site: www.bratislavainternationalchurch.org
or
C 3573
10 April 4 – 10, 2011
Záhorie’s tallest church
IN THIS picturesque postcard
dating back to 1918, the
Church of the Virgin Mary
towers over the municipality
of Veľké Leváre. Its builders
erected it on a mound and, as
much of the Záhorie region is
flat, the church can be seen
from far away.
This sacral construction
did not get its prominent loca-
tion and huge dimensions by
chance. Nor were the dates of
it construction, between 1729
and 1733, chosen accidentally.
Exactly half a century before,
in 1683, Christian armies had
defeated the Ottomans at Vi-
enna and thus freed this part
of Europe of a menace that had
lingered for almost a century
and a half. To commemorate
the victory, Pope Innocent XI
pronounced September 12 the
holiday of the Name of the
Virgin Mary and the new
church was consecrated with
this name too. In Záhorie, the
new church was regarded
with pride and satisfaction as,
by that time, memories of Ot-
toman plunder were still very
much alive.
The main initiator of the
construction was the arch-
bishop of Vienna, Cardinal
New business book in English
ANOTHER book from the five-
volume Enterprise and Entre-
preneurship series by Slovak
author Štefan Kassay has been
translated into English. The
monograph, entitled Econom-
ics and Finances, tries to sum
up practical economic know-
how and provide a more gen-
eral view for managers as well
as for economic theoreticians.
This second volume focuses
on the connection between
macro-economics and micro-
economics and helps readers
quickly orient themselves to
make management decisions,
according to a review by Feli-
cita Chromjaková. Kassay
Adventure films at Aupark
THE HORY a Mesto (Mountains
and City) international film
festival annually attracts many
fans of the outdoors, docu-
mentaries and adventure-
seekers with its wide array of
films. The 2011 festival features
more than 50 films about
mountain climbing, rafting,
cycling, hiking, skiing and
other outdoor activities and 13
of the films are Slovak-pro-
duced, with three of these
holding their premieres.
The festival opens on April
6 and runs until April 10 at the
Palace Cinema in the Aupark
Shopping Center in Bratislava.
Weather updates and forecasts from across Slovakia
can now be found at www.spectator.sk.
In cooperation with the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute
HISTORY TALKS
Žigmund Kollonič, who was
closely attached to Veľké
Leváre by virtue of the proper-
ties he owned there. Gener-
ally, Záhorie enjoyed strong
combines theoretical studies
with practical knowledge, as
he is both a researcher (and a
member of the European
Academy of Sciences and Arts)
and a businessman, serving as
a member of the supervisory
board of food company I.D.C.
Holding.
Macro-economic devel-
opment can fundamentally
influence a company’s busi-
ness and effectiveness and
this volume also touches on
the growing role of economic
globalisation, the role of eco-
logy, etc. A bigger part of the
book deals with corporate fin-
ances and financing, and
The Slovak-produced films of-
fer an inspirational insight in-
to Slovakia and its mountains,
its river rafting and its urban
centres and will also transport
Slovak audiences to exotic loc-
ations in Africa, Madagascar,
Mongolia, Italy and North
America.
The three films premiering
are: Dotknúť sa Denali by Rasťo
Hatiar, which traces a 2010 ex-
pedition by twelve Slovaks to
America’s highest peak, Mount
McKinley; Tatras Wild Ride by
Michal Babinec, about the first
rafting on Studený potok in the
High Tatras; and the Phantom
CULTURE
links with Vienna and many
locals used to go there to trade
and work.
By Branislav Chovan
looks at how to define stra-
tegic goals and how to achieve
them. The volume also covers
new trends, new approaches
to corporate economics, and
the financial crisis, according
to a review by Kamil Mikulič.
Economics and Finances
is published by VEDA (the
publishing house of the Slov-
ak Academy of Sciences) and
goes on sale in April. The first
volume, entitled The Entre-
preneurial Environment, has
already been published in
English and the final three
volumes are also expected to
be translated in due course.
Compiled by Spectator staff
Cima Grande by Martin Graj-
ciar, which recorded the efforts
of three Slovak rock climbers to
scale the northern wall of Cima
Grande in the Italian Dolo-
mites.
Several other activities ac-
company the screenings, in-
cluding a simulated base
camp, an educational path,
onstage bouldering and a pro-
gramme allowing children to
paint discarded household ap-
pliances as part of an ecologic-
al education initiative. More
information is available on-
line at www.horyamesto.sk.
Compiled by Spectator staff
Western SLOVAKIA
Bratislava
l CLASSICAL MUSIC: Dva EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE
pohľady / Two Views – With-
in the cycle Musical Mosaic,
the Slovak Philharmonic
brings a concert of works by
two famous composers,
Hungarian György Kurtág
and Ukrainian-Slovak Ev-
genyi Iršai, performed by top
musicians: violinist Milan
Paľa, soprano Eva Šušková,
cimbalom player Michal
Paľko, and Iršai on piano.
One of Kurtág’s composition
is a Slovak premiere and one
of Iršai’s works is a world
premiere.
Starts: April 5, 19:00; Dvo-
rana concert hall, Zochova 1.
Admission: €5. Tel: 02/2047-
THE PRESSBURGER Klezmer Band, this time featuring famous
5233; www.filharm.sk, www.
ticketportal.sk. British clarinettist Merlin Shepherd, gives a concert at the Za
Zrkadlom Club at Rovniankova 3 in Bratislava, at 20:00 on April
Bratislava 9. The band plays klezmer, i.e. secular European-Jewish music
l BALLET: Balet Gala – This meant for celebrations, weddings, etc. Tickets cost €8 and can
gala evening brings ingenious be bought through www.ticketportal.sk, or for €10 at the door.
dancer-choreographer Rudolf Photo: Courtesy of KZP
Nureyev’s work to Slovakia for
the first time, hosting stars
like Vladimir Malachov, sion: free. More information: symbol for a whole period of
Cédric Ygnace and Nina www.gallerykressling.sk. Slovak art. Two more exhibi-
Poláková. The money raised tions, of more recent Slovak
will go to a charity that tackles Prievidza artists, are also on show until
the effects of drug abuse. l LIVE MUSIC: RetroACT Ex- April 9.
Starts: April 6, 19:00; new perience Bosorak Tour 2011 – Open: Tue-Sat 10:00-17:00
SND building, Pribinova 17. This new musical project by until July 14; P.M. Liptovská
Admission: €25-€45. Tel: 02/ Slovak drummer Martin Va- galéria P.M. Bohúňa, Tra-
2047-2111; www.snd.sk. lihora brings, apart from his novského 3. Admission: €0.50
drums, Oskar Rózsa on bass, -€3.50. Tel: 044/5522-758;
Bratislava and Eugen Vizváry on key- www.galerialm.sk.
l RUNNING: Beh Devín-Brat- board in a combination of acid
islava – The 64th year of a fun- jazz, funk and soul. Fiľakovo
run open to all ages and fit- Starts: April 9, 20:00; Pia- l EXHIBITION/MUSEUM:
ness categories. The course is
11,625 metres long and tradi-
tionally attracts thousands of
no Klub, Ulica energetikov 27.
More info:
prievidzamusic.sk.
www.
Ľudové umenie historického
Novohradu / Folk Art of the
Historical Novohrad/Nógrád
runners from several coun- Region – This exhibition com-
tries. Trnava bines artefacts from both the
Starts: April 10, 9:00; un- l FOLKLORE: Lúčnica - The Slovak and Hungarian parts of
der Devín Castle. Admission: world-famous Slovak folklore this previously united region,
free for spectators, runners ensemble gives a perform- making it quite unique.
must register in advance. ance in the local House of Cul- Open: Mon-Sun
More information: www. ture. 10:00-18:00 until May 24;
starz.sk. Starts: April 7, 19:00; DK Fiľakovo Castle Museum. Ad-
Trnava, Trojičné Square 10. mission: €0.70-€1.70. Tel: 047/
Bratislava Admission: €12. Tel: 033/5515- 4382-017; www.filakovo.sk;
l EXHIBITION: Blondínky & 354; www.dktrnava.sk, www. www.muzeum.sk.
Londýnky / Blondes & Lon- ticketportal.sk.
doners – An exhibition of ab- Eastern SLOVAKIA
stract and figurative paint- Central SLOVAKIA
ings by Czech artist Jakub Levoča
Špaňhel. Liptovský Mikuláš CLASSICAL MUSIC: Levočská
Open: Mon-Fri 13:00-18:00 l EXHIBITION: Martin Benka hudobná jar / Levoča Spring
until April 20; Kressling Gal- (1888-1971) – This phenomenal Music Festival – Within the
lery, Ventúrska 18. Admis- Slovak painter has become a Spring Festival, Koncert pre
dva klavíre / Concert for Two
Pianos presents Viera Sal-
javčíková and Mária
Kamenická on piano, the
voice of Karolína Kopa-
ničáková, Peter Dubivský on
guitar and Peter Tomko on
guitar, piano and cajón.
Starts: April 8, 18:00; Kon-
gresová sála, MKS, Námestie
Majstra Pavla 54. Admission:
€1. Tel: 053/4512-522;
mskslevoca.sk.
Košice
l LIVE MUSIC: David Koller
SKI-TOURING is a form of backcountry skiing involving travers- Tour – The famous Czech rock
ing winter landscapes on downhill skis after climbing up rather and pop singer and drummer
than using ski lifts; it enjoys considerable popularity in Slovakia. brings to a Slovak audience
On April 9, the 3rd Skialp Maratón Sedlami Vysokých Tatier (Ski- hits like Černí andělé, Oheň,
touring Marathon Through the Passes of the High Tatras) will be and others; he will be suppor-
ted by Slovak band Talkshow.
run in the municipality of Vysoké Tatry from 7:30. Disciplines in-
Starts: April 8, 20:00; Jum-
clude a marathon (with an ascent of 2,890 metres) and a half- bo Centrum, Masarykova 2.
marathon (with an ascent of 1,750 metres) for seniors (born in Admission: €19. Tel: 02/5293-
1972 and later) and veterans (born before 1971). Admission is free 3321; www.ticketportal.sk.
for spectators. For more info please visit www.jamesdk.sk.
Photo: TASR By Zuzana Vilikovská
N A M E D A Y A P R I L 2 0 1 1
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Izidor Miroslava Irena Zoltán Albert Milena Igort
Larisa
April 4 April 5 April 6 April 7 April 8 April 9 April 10
A Slovak’s name day (meniny) is as important as his or her birthday. It is traditional to present friends or co-workers with a small gift,
such as chocolates or flowers, and to wish them Všetko najlepšie k meninám (Happy name day)

Asking questions with photographs
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
THE FUNDAMENTALS of photojourn-
alism remain the same as ever: to tell a
story, no matter what technologies the
photographer is using. But some as-
pects of photojournalism today are dif-
ferent than in the past. New technolo-
gies put different pressures on photo-
journalists and surviving as a photo-
grapher in the media industry today is
more difficult, says Aidan Sullivan,
vice president of photo assignments
for Getty Images UK and USA. Sullivan
served as a member of the jury for
Slovakia’s 2010 Journalism Award for
best news photos in February and was
also one of nineteen jurors that selec-
ted the World Press Photo of the Year
2010 in Amsterdam.
The Slovak Spectator spoke with
Sullivan about how he goes about
judging photos, the impact of the glob-
al economic crisis on print media, and
the kinds of challenges facing the cur-
rent generation of photojournalists.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS): You were
a member of the jury for the 54th an-
nual World Press Photo contest in
January. How do you go about se-
lecting the best photos when more
than 108,000 photos were entered
for 2010?
Aidan Sullivan (AS): It is an in-
tense process. I believe that most
awards and competitions are really as
good as the judges and the work
entered. If you have good work and bad
judges, then you’ll get a bad result. If
you have good judges but no good ma-
terial, it’s the same thing. I knew
many members of the judging panel
over a number of years, people I highly
respect. I went in knowing that we had
work that would be coming from Haiti,
work coming from the Pakistan floods,
other dreadful kinds of natural dis-
asters and man-made disasters, so we
knew from day one that there was go-
ing to be a lot of material. Everything
was pretty much anonymous so I
think we all identified the works we
liked best; but it’s a long process, it
takes many, many hours to go through
the photos.
TSS: Was there a general consensus
in the jury about the winning por-
trait by Jodi Bieber of Bibi Aisha, a
woman who was disfigured as retri-
bution for fleeing her husband's
house in Afghanistan? Was it
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Aidan Sullivan
reached by discussion, by voting?
How did the final decision come?
AS: Choosing the winner is very
much a case of discussion and of a vot-
ing system that is very fair and very
well thought out. But in the end it was
pretty much this very powerful pic-
ture that remained among the last few,
and the judges discussed it and voted
and it was not as long and painful as it
sometimes might be. Then there was
the case of why it should win, what
was the picture’s strength. It was the
questions that this photograph is go-
ing to lead to. When people see this
image, they are going to wonder why
this happened. Somebody is going to
have to explain that. And I think that
an image can highlight an issue and
this issue is an issue that needs to be
addressed. The picture is one very
powerful and poignant photograph – it
sums up something that was horrific.
TSS: Do you think that a photo has
the power to change opinions and
address an issue?
AS: It raises the issue and I think
that’s all we can ask. It’s no doubt that
people who have the ability and power
to ask for change, to make change, use
that as a vehicle to address the situ-
ation. This image is highlighting it in a
very visual and very strong way that
you can’t back away from. I think most
people would be horrified to learn
what happened to that woman – with
the sanction of a supposed court giving
permission to a man to do this to his
wife. What we hope is that by the
power of this picture, as World Press
WWW.SPECTATOR.SK
CULTURE
Photo: SITA
Photo will be touring the picture
around the world, we’ll put the issue
in front of a lot of people. And that’s
what we hope; that the questions
will be asked.
TSS: In your opinion what impact
has the economic crisis in print me-
dia had on photojournalism?
AS: Regarding the business part of
it and the position I run, I actually liken
it to the position the music industry
was in about 10 years ago when Napster
came along and suddenly, some pretty
smart people in the music industry ran
around like headless chickens and
didn’t know what to do and were just
panicking, panicking, panicking. And
if you look now, guess what? They
worked out how to do it, they have li-
censed the music to make money out of
it, to get it in front of the public, and
management companies found the
way to do it themselves and generate
fans for their artists. And so when I
look at the crisis [in print media] I look
at it as a similar crisis. And you know
what? There are a lot of very smart
people in our business and we tend to
be up to surviving because we can
think our way around problems. There
is always going to be storytelling.
There has been storytelling since man
drew pictures on cave walls. We tell
stories. We tell visually, we tell
through writing, photography, illus-
tration or art, but it is storytelling that
gets passed down from generation to
generation. What we are facing now is
that we are going to find a new way to
do that. I’m always optimistic – prob-
April 4 – 10, 2011 11
ably too much so and I am not making tions like World Press Photo, Reuters
light of the situation because clearly and others to be absolutely strict about
our industry has suffered enorm- what we will not accept from our pho-
ously, but I do believe that there’s al- tographers. We have very strict
most light at the end of the tunnel guidelines about what they can or
now – subscriptions coming through cannot do. Any manipulation of im-
Apple and Google… that’s the future. agery at Getty Images, and I am sure
It’s a good future as long as we can also at other agencies, is absolutely not
make people pay for it. And if you allowed. We tell them exactly what
make it good enough, smart enough, they can do even in terms of colour cor-
they will pay for it. rection, that things should be recorded
as truthfully as possible. I think that’s
TSS: How has photojournalism the only way we can try to ensure that
changed since you worked for we keep within this discipline. What
newspapers? Is the current position we have to do as a profession is to try to
of a photojournalist easier than keep these disciplines as traditional
when you were working as a photo- values intact. That is very important.
journalist, either technically, or
just to survive as a photographer? TSS: What do you think about the
AS: I think that every technology publication of touching, or even
has its pluses and its minuses – I mean cruel, pictures; has it gone too far?
carrying digital cameras and different AS: No, to be honest, no. The pub-
cards and having to get your pictures lic is so used to watered-down ver-
back to the picture desk in three sions of things, dumb-downed ex-
minutes creates a lot of pressure. We amples of things and a constant bar-
used to take film, develop it and put it rage of surreal celebrity lifestyles. I
on transmitter and it took three hours think the public isn’t seeing enough
so I don’t think that aspect is any easier
of reality. Then they are shocked be-
now. There is more choice and I think cause they are not used to that kind
digital is now at a stage where it can doof thing being published. They are
what film couldn’t do in much lower expecting to see a celebrity coming
light conditions and it’s far more flex- out of a restaurant – not people
ible. But it’s a different discipline. So I
starving to death, killing each other
think that in that aspect photojournal- for food. It’s biased to try to protect
ism has changed. I wouldn’t say it’s people from reality in a surreal way.
any easier or harder: it’s just different. When I was a kid I remember see-
As for being a photographer in this ing pictures from the Vietnam War
economic environment – it is without and those were tough pictures. So no,
doubt harder. There are a lot of people I don’t think it is any worse now. But
chasing the same amount of work. It is you have to draw a line somewhere. I
tough but I think most industries, or remember when I was working for
most professions, have that built-in the Sunday Times there was a dis-
filter. People who will survive it are the
aster at a football stadium and I had
people who are determined, have the an issue with running pictures of
skills and are willing to put in the ef- people who were deceased – and re-
fort. So it is definitely tough, but there
cognisable – before their families
are great photographers – great young were notified. You have to take all
photographers – out there who are just these things into account and I think
so committed, who just know that it’s just common decency and not just
they can’t even contemplate doing trying to publish things to shock. It
anything else. There are also so many has to have a reason. I think it has to
awards and foundations and pro- have an element of common decency.
grammes that you can apply to and get These people were someone’s fathers,
funding for your projects. mothers, brothers, sisters. I think we
had to respect that. There are rules,
TSS: Digital photography is more for sure. And there should be.
susceptible to alteration and ma-
nipulation. How do you think pho- Aidan Sullivan was a member of the
tojournalism is coping with this? jury that selected the best photos for
AS: Looking again at the basics of Slovakia’s 2010 Journalism Award organ-
photography, manipulation has been ised by the Open Society Foundation. The
going on since the beginnings of pho- winning photographers will be announced
tography. It’s just that these days it’s on April 14 at the Open Gallery.
easier because of the technology and it
is harder to track. But I think in basic To read the whole interview,
terms it requires people and organisa- please go to www.spectator.sk
12 April 4 – 10, 2011
Foreign bagpipers
at Slovak carnival
THE GAJ-
1
DOŠSKÉ
Fašiangy
(Bagpipers’
Carnival) in
Malá Lehota
in Žarnovica district took
place for the 24th time this
year. Apart from Slovak mu-
sicians, foreign bagpipers
from Scotland, the Czech Re-
public and Hungary also at-
tended. The festival began on
March 2 at schools in Nová
Baňa, with concerts for stu-
dents, and with screenings of
documentary films about
bagpipers. Later, a ball and
contest of carnival masks
took place in Malá Lehota,
along with the opening of an
exhibition of artworks focus-
ing on the carnival as well as a
concert for children.
The highlight of the fest-
ival was the evening pro-
gramme on March 4, called
Gajdujte, Gajdence (Play,
Bagpipes) in the Malá Lehota
House of Culture. The even-
ing culminated in a carnival
ball. On Saturday, March 5,
the Bagpipers’ Guild held a
session in the nearby muni-
cipality of Veľká Lehota. The
guild was founded by the
long-time organiser of the
Gajdošské Fašiangy, Bernard
Garaj Jr. In the evening, a
bagpipe concert was offered
for the local audience.
The bagpipers’ festival
takes place in Malá Lehota on
A youthful bagpiper works his magic.
AROUND SLOVAKIA compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
the last Friday before Ash
Wednesday each year, ac-
cording to the Catholic calen-
dar. Following an ancient
tradition, bagpipers go
through the whole village,
from door to door, playing
and visiting their neighbours
living in surrounding muni-
cipalities. Bagpipers are
among the oldest and most
universal folklore instru-
mentalists. As theirs is a truly
difficult and demanding in-
strument, they have often
been judged the best musi-
cians. In Europe, there are
about 300 types of bagpipes
which differ in tone, sound
and construction, the TASR
newswire wrote.
The festival was organ-
ised by the municipality, the
Guild of Slovak Bagpipers and
the Pohronie Educational
Centre. Although in the past
bagpipes were the most
widespread and one of the
most popular folk instru-
ments in Malá Lehota,
nowadays they tend to be
played and produced else-
where. Garaj told the Sme
daily that partly thanks to the
festival and other promo-
tional activities, the number
of Slovak bagpipers has risen
from about ten to maybe 100,
and that there are about 20
bagpipe-makers. The pipers’
ages go from seven to 70 so the
future of this instrument in
Slovakia seems bright.
Photo: Sme-V.Šimíček
FEATURE
The winning tree, in Leliceni, Romania.
Romanian lime named
Europe’s top tree
A COMPETI-
2
TION to select
the first
European Tree
of the Year was
organised in
Slovakia by the Nadácia Eko-
polis foundation and in the
Czech Repbulic by the Nadace
Partnerství foundation. Sim-
ilar national polls were held in
five other European countries
with the goal of bringing is-
sues concerning the protec-
tion of trees to a wider
European public. More than
56,000 votes were cast to de-
termine the European Tree of
the Year for 2010.
The final placement
among the nominated trees
was a follows: in first place, a
500-year old lime tree in Leli-
ceni, Romania (23,298 votes);
in second place, a plane tree
(sycamore) from Garmen,
Bulgaria (18,374 votes); in
third, a plane tree from
Young people learn the art of recycling
YOUNG parti-
3
cipants at an
international
workshop
called the Art
of Recycling
held in Banská Štiavnica at the
beginning of March turned
old, unused steel barrels into
ovens for homeless people.
The goal of the week-long
workshop was to make young
people more sensitive to their
environment and to think
more ecologically.
It was not only the old
barrels that were given new
uses, but also other waste
such as plastic and paper that
were recycled into new, use-
ful items.
“With the help of so-called
decoupage handicraft tech-
niques, the participants re-
Photo: Romanian Environmental Partnership Foundation
Letenye, Hungary (8,836
votes); in fourth, an oak from
Dubinné, Slovakia (3,403
votes) and in fifth place, an-
other oak from the Olomouc
region of the Czech Republic.
The awards were an-
nounced on March 7 by
Nadace Partnerství in cooper-
ation with the Czech
Republic’s Environmental
Fund and Environment Min-
istry. Slovakia’s Nadácia Eko-
polis is now organising the
9th year of its poll to select
Slovakia’s Tree of the Year for
2011 and those interested in
nominating a tree can do so
on the www.ekopolis.sk
webpage until May 20, after
which a shortlist of finalists
will be determined.
The competition for
European Tree of the Year was
quite strong in 2010. The win-
ing lime in Leliceni is almost
20 metres tall and has been
standing its ground for nearly
cycled plastic bottles into dec-
orative wall coverings and
made handbags from scrap
paper,” Jarmila Lipková, the
coordinator of the project, told
the TASR newswire.
About 30 young people
from Slovakia, Slovenia,
Italy, Greece, Germany and
the UK took part in the work-
shop initiated by Mládež
Európy (Youth of Europe),
which runs activities at the
Junior Leisure Time Centre in
Banská Bystrica and received
a contribution from the EU’s
Mládež v akcii (Youth in Ac-
tion) programme to support
the workshop.
The local community was
also involved in workshop
activities and could attend an
exhibition of the products
made during the week.
500 years. According to locals,
it has survived several dis-
asters including droughts,
hailstorms, fires and floods.
Leliceni residents believe it
stands in a lucky place.
Slovakia’s oak in Dubinné
(which hints at the Slovak
word for oak, dub) is surely
one of the oldest oaks in
Europe as it is about 850 years
old, stands 25 metres tall and
has a circumference of 730
centimetres. The oak has also
survived several crises: it was
almost logged when it was de-
leted from the list of protected
trees by a clerical error. After
the tree was treated by ex-
perts in 2007, locals believe it
will survive for a long time yet
and will continue to represent
its village, the region of
Prešov, and Slovakia.
For more information on
the 2010 and 2011 competi-
tions, see www.ekopolis.sk or
www.treeoftheyear.org.
Banská Štiavnica hosted the workshop.
Slovak
culture in
Budějovice
THE DAYS of Slovak Culture
event held in České
Budějovice in the Czech Re-
public celebrated its 12th
year with almost 25 pro-
grammes dedicated to Slov-
ak culture and art within a
10 day period beginning in
mid February. In addition to
the historical closeness
between Czechs and Slov-
aks, this city of 100,000 res-
idents has a large Slovak
minority, making up 2.4
percent of the population.
Beginning on February
18, a series of art exhibitions
such as illustrations by A.
Švolíková, photos by B.
Németh and J. Csáderová,
oil paintings by K. Alexyová
and sculptures by M. Lukáč
were on show. Additionally,
a puppet performance was
offered as well as modern
dance and a Czecho-Slovak
fairy tale for children. Popu-
lar singer Peter Nagy and his
band called Indigo, blues
singer Zuzana Suchánková,
Vitali Virtúzi from Liptov,
and legendary musician
Marián Varga were part of
the musical notes during
the Days of Slovak Culture.
Folk cimbalom music drew
huge crowds. Since food is
an inseparable part of na-
tional culture, hotels offered
Days of Slovak Cuisine,
cinemas screened Slovak
movies, and representatives
of universities and writers
held joint meetings, the ČTK
newswire wrote.
The culmination was
the Town Hall Ball on Feb-
ruary 26 with Slovak per-
formances and a concert
one day later with Czech
and Slovak chansons.
Photo: Sme-Ján Krošlák