State debt to be 'capped' by law

FISCAL irresponsibility might

bring down future governments in
Slovakia if a new constitutional
law to cap state debt is approved
by parliament. The draft legisla-
tion, presented on October 4,
would set an initial limit on public
debt at 60 percent of gross domest-
ic product (GDP), with a gradual
reduction in the ceiling from 2018
of 1 percentage point per year until
it reached 50 percent of GDP. If a
government were to hit the
60-percent debt ceiling, it would
face an automatic no-confidence
vote inparliament.
Observers said the initiative,
which is rare in uniting the ruling
coalition and the opposition, is the
right move but should be only a
first step to achieving responsible
fiscal policies.
The authors of the idea say that
the draft was created as a prevent-
ive measure and that it would be
better if debt were never to ap-
proachthe limits.
The debt brake is being draf-
ted as a draft constitutional law so
that we never have to use it, said
udovt dor, one of those behind
the law and an adviser to the
prime minister on financial af-
fairs, as quoted by the SITA news-
wire.
The law would also trigger a
series of preliminary steps as debt
approached the limit.
The finance minister would have
to table a sound explanation when
debt reached 50 percent of GDP,
along with proposed solutions for its
reduction. If the debt then grewto 53
percent, the government would be
obliged to adopt a package of meas-
ures to reduce it, as well as to freeze
state salaries. At 55 percent, spend-
ing would be frozen in the next fiscal
year. If the debt reached 57 percent of
GDP, the government would be ob-
liged to table a balanced budget.
See60%pg4
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NEWS
Doctors' dispute
Doctors' unions and the
HealthMinistry are facing
off after thousands of hos-
pital doctors handed in
resignationnotices ina dis-
pute over reorganisationof
state hospitals and pay.
pg 2
Project plugpulled
Planet of Knowledge, a ma-
jor digital learning project
planned to be rolled out in
Slovak schools, will not go
forward after it was can-
celled by the Education
Ministry amid claims of er-
rors and duplication.
pg 3
OPINION
Abreathof freshair
President Gaparovi is
nothing if not predictable.
After MPs elected a new
general prosecutor he re-
fused to appoint him and
he is still stalling.
pg 5
BUSINESSFOCUS
Buildinggas capacity
Since the jolt delivered by
the 2009 gas supply crisis,
Slovakia has beenbusy
building extra gas storage
capacity and new
pipelines to neighbouring
countries.
pg 6
Solar onthemargins
Marginal land inswamps,
waste dumps, airports and
quarries is increasingly be-
ing used as the site for new
photovoltaic power plants.
pg 7
CULTURE
Exercisingart
Marc Sands fromBritain's
Tate Gallery recently gave
two lectures inBratislava.
As he tells The Slovak Spec-
tator, attracting more vis-
itors to galleries is not as
expensive as one might
think.
pg 13
HealthMinister IvanUhliarik (l) looks onas LOZ unionleader MarinKollr speaks tojournalists followinganincon-
clusive meetingonOctober 5 todiscuss the demands made by LOZ members (see story onpg2). Photo: TASR
SaS tables proposal to
break EFSF deadlock
ONLY a couple of days remain for
Prime Minister Iveta Radiov to ne-
gotiate a compromise with her coali-
tion partners in the Freedom and
Solidarity (SaS) party over their op-
position to changes to the European
bailout scheme or to find some
where else the votes she needs to get
the changes approved. But the only
alternative source of votes is the
largest opposition party, Smer and
its leader Robert Fico says it will not
support changes to the bailout
mechanism on October 11, the date
the ruling coalition has chosen to
hold the crucial vote in parliament.
Fico, however, stated on October 5
that he would be willing to vote in
favour of the changes in a later vote,
which he said could be held on Octo-
ber 17. The Smer boss has made clear
he aims to extract a hefty price by the
latter date: reconfiguration of the
government or early elections.
However, developments on Oc-
tober 6 raised expectations among
those who hope that the Radiov
government will be able to both rat-
ify the changes to the temporary
European Financial Stability Facil-
ity (EFSF) and continue to rule in its
present form. The source of these
hopes was an offer made by SaS. In
return for its support for an en-
larged EFSF it demanded an ad-
dendum to the ruling coalition
agreement to create a special com-
mittee with the authority to decide
on the use of money from the bail-
out fund, on which all parliament-
ary parties would have a nominee
with the right of veto. The ad-
dendum would also oblige all the
coalition partners to vote against
the EFSFs eventual permanent re-
placement, the European Stability
Mechanism(ESM).
SeeDEALpg10
Vol. 17, No. 35 Monday, October 10, 2011 - Sunday, October 16, 2011
On sale now On sale now
FOCUS
of this issue
FOCUS
of this issue
ENERGY
Court blocks
law on
prosecutors
SEPTEMBER was not a very successful
month for Slovakias Ministry of Justice.
Changes the ministry is seeking in the law
on judges garnered criticism from an in-
ternational judges association; and re-
forms passed by MPs that should have be-
come effective in October, changing vari-
ous aspects of the prosecution system to
make it more transparent and open, were
blocked by the Constitutional Court.
Nevertheless, Justice Minister Lucia
itansk maintains that her ministrys
actions have been in line with the
governments programme statement and
pledges to continue pursuing further
changes inthe countrys judicial system.
SeeLAWpg11
Last obstacle
to ent
removed
BOTH public and secret ballots are legit-
imate methods for the Slovak Parliament
to use to select the prosecutor general, and
are in line with the countrys constitution,
according to a ruling by Slovakias Consti-
tutional Court. The long-awaited decision
should mark the end to a lengthy tug-of-
war between opponents and advocates of a
change to the parliamentary rules that
govern how one of the countrys most
powerful positions is filled.
Acting general prosecutor Ladislav
Tich and a group of 35 opposition MPs
from the Smer party had challenged the
change in the parliamentary discussion
order, which was approved by MPs in May
this year. Slovak President Ivan
Gaparovi has been using the court case
as a reason to refuse to formally appoint
Jozef ent, who was chosen to serve a
seven-year term as general prosecutor by
parliament onJune 17.
After long-running problems getting
its candidate selected via a secret ballot
including a vote in December last year in
which several coalition MPs anonymously
voted with the opposition, almost bring-
ing down the government the ruling co-
alition went to considerable lengths to
turn the previously-used secret ballot for
choosing general prosecutors into a recor-
ded vote.
SeeENDpg2
BYMICHAELATERENZANI
Spectator staff
BYBEATABALOGOV
Spectator staff
BYBEATABALOGOV
Spectator staff
BYBEATABALOGOV
Spectator staff
European judicial group
also criticises itansk
SMK polls above 5 percent threshold
IF PARLIAMENTARYelec-
tions had beenheld inearly
September, the Hungarian
CoalitionParty (SMK) would
have returned to parliament
with5.3 percent of the votes,
according to the results of a
survey conducted by the Fo-
cus polling agency. The poll
took place betweenSeptem-
ber 6 and September 13 and
involved 1,004 respondents,
the SITAnewswire reported.
The oppositionSmer
party would remainthe
largest party inparliament,
the poll found, with43.1 per-
cent enoughto winit 70 out
of the 150 seats. The party re-
gistered a rise insupport of
1.4 percentage points from
July. The second largest
party would have beenthe
Slovak Democratic and
ChristianUnion(SDK), on
12.8 percent, up 0.2 percent-
age points, followed by the
ChristianDemocratic
Movement (KDH) on9 per-
cent of votes, 2.7 percentage
points less thaninthe previ-
ous poll.
Boththe Slovak Nation-
al Party (SNS) and Freedom
and Solidarity (SaS) recor-
ded a rise insupport, with
SNS getting 8.5 percent, up
by 2.7 percentage points,
and SaS up 1.9 percentage
points to 8 percent.
Meanwhile, Most-Hd
party, a member of the four-
party governing coalition,
recorded a fall insupport to
just 5.9 percent, downfrom
6.9 percent inJuly.
Mafia lists leak investigated
THE INTERIORMinistry has
filed a criminal complaint
over suspected abuse of
power by a public official
after personal data fromso-
called mafia lists drawnup
by the police were leaked to
the media. Interior Minister
Daniel Lipic said the leaked
data were confidential, the
TASRnewswire reported on
October 4.
Two separate lists of
people allegedly connected
to various mafia groups have
appeared inthe media re-
cently. They containmore
than300 names withpic-
tures and detailed personal
data including birth-registry
numbers, car licence-plate
number and gun-licence
numbers, TASRwrote.
National police chief
Jaroslav Spiiak denied that
he had ordered the lists to be
created, the Sme daily repor-
ted. In2005 Spiiak, then
deputy police chief, drewup
a false list containing the
names of alleged mafia
members inorder to provoke
the media into reporting
about organised criminal
activity, Sme reported. He
also announced that the cur-
rent lists contained the
names of people who are not
criminals but are linked in
some other way withcrim-
inal cases.
Spiiak said he believed
that the lists had been
stolenfromthe Office for
the Fight against Organised
Crime, a unit inthe national
police force.
We are heading towards
the identificationof the
people responsible for this
leak of information, he said,
as quoted by Sme.
Plagiarismto become a crime
EVENTHOUGHstudents can
be threatened withthe loss
of their qualificationand
title if a court rules that they
copied their thesis from
someone else, a new
amendment to the Uni-
versity Act prepared by the
EducationMinistry does not
containany measure to pen-
alise other fraudulent ways
of gaining titles, the Sme
daily reported.
EducationMinister Eu-
genJurzyca said that it
would be too difficult for his
ministry to punishall dubi-
ous ways of receiving educa-
tional titles, but said he had
asked Justice Minister Lucia
itansk to amend the Pen-
al Code to make frauds in-
volving plagiarisminreceiv-
ing a university diplomas a
crime. Jurzyca said he be-
lieves that the newamend-
ment will increase the qual-
ity of Slovakias universities
and colleges. As well as new
penalties for plagiarismit
contains several other
changes, setting fees for edu-
cationprogrammes held in
foreignlanguages, abolish-
ing limits onschool fees and
prolonging study periods for
external students.
The ministry also plans
to create lists of university
employees and publishthem
onthe internet. Students
will thereby be able to find
out whether their lecturers
also teachat other schools,
the TASRnewswire reported.
Inaddition, Jurzyca wants to
loosenthe rules for appoint-
ing lecturers and professors,
so that people withadequate
experience but who lack a
particular qualificationwill
be allowed to fill suchposts.
The amendment does
not containany measure
that would abolishfinal ex-
ams, Sme wrote. Jurzyca
made concessions to his crit-
ics and allowed schools to
decide whether they want to
have final exams or whether
they will let students defend
their theses.
CompiledbySpectator staff
Doctors protest issues
remain unresolved
AT LEAST one Czech hospital
has started recruiting physi-
cians from Slovakia while an-
other hospital in that country
reported an increased interest
in employment from Slovak
physicians after 2,411 doctors
working in hospitals across
Slovakia submitted notices to
terminate their employment
contracts on September 29.
Health Minister Ivan Uhliarik
restated that urgent health
care will be available in Slov-
akia even if these doctors
resignfromtheir hospitals.
The Slovak doctors chose
the tactic of mass resignation
to demonstrate their opposi-
tion to a proposal pursued by
the Health Ministry to change
the legal form of state-run
hospitals as well as to demand
more health-care funding,
higher salaries and adherence
by hospitals to the Labour
Code. After meeting with dir-
ectors of state-run hospitals
on October 4, Uhliarik, who
was nominated to his post by
the Christian Democratic
Movement (KDH), said that
some doctors are now with-
drawing their notices,
something that the ministry
and the hospitals had hoped
would happen.
Every day the notices of
some physicians are being
withdrawn, Uhliarik stated
on October 4, as quoted by
SITA. We will have to keep
persuading and motivating
the physicians to withdraw
their resignations.
While Uhliarik remained
tight-lipped about the types of
motivation the hospital dir-
ectors might use, he did say
that the directors will accept
withdrawal of the notices
only until the end of October.
Unfortunately, after
November 1, the directors of
hospitals will have to seek
other physicians for these
positions, Uhliarik said,
adding that the teaching hos-
pital in Preov currently has
100 job applications and that
it recently hired two new
physicians.
Uhliarik stated the hos-
pitals are not yet considering
hiring physicians from other
countries.
Representatives of the
doctors trade unions who met
with Uhliarik on October 5
denied that the protesting
physicians were withdrawing
their notices en masse. It was
unclear how many physicians
might have withdrawn their
resignation notices when The
Slovak Spectator went to print
onOctober 6.
Marin Kollr, chairman
of the Medical Trade Unions
Association (LOZ), said on Oc-
tober 5 that additional doctors
were joining the protest by
signing notices to terminate
their employment contracts,
according to the Sme daily. TV
Markza quoted an unnamed
physician who said the med-
ical unions were pressuring
doctors to sign the notices. On
October 5 the unions also
submitted a legislative pro-
posal to increase the salaries
of physicians working in
state-runhospitals
Slovak media have been
speculating for some time
that hospitals in neighbour-
ing countries, particularly in
the Czech Republic, might try
to hire Slovak health-care
specialists.
SeeDOCpg4
BYBEATABALOGOV
Spectator staff
END: No legal barriers should remain
Continuedfrompg1
Paradoxically, MPs ended up chosing
ent using the original secret-ballot
method. They did this mainly to avoid
complications in the event that the rule
change were to be later overturned by the
Constitutional Court.
I hold the legal opinion that there
are no legislative barriers in the way of
my appointment, ent commented
after the ruling on October 5, as quoted
by the SITAnewswire.
If Smer returns to power it will
change the selection process back to a
secret-ballot-only method as the party
views this as more democratic, Smer
leader Robert Fico said in response to the
ruling of the Constitutional Court,
adding that the courts decision must be
respected nevertheless.
The ruling Slovak Democratic and
Christian Union (SDK) said that the
court ruling was a defeat for Smer.
Prime Minister Iveta Radiov said
she was convinced there was now no
reason for President Gaparovi to refuse
to appoint ent. In a statement, she
noted that the Constitutional Court ruled
in September 2009 that the president is
not entitled to judge the professional
background of nominees because the
president is not responsible for their per-
formance in the job. By the act of ap-
pointment the president only certifies
that during the process of proposing the
candidate all of the legal procedural re-
quirements have beenmet.
President Gaparovi, who must
formally appoint the general prosec-
utor, avoided commenting on the rul-
ing, and suggested he would do so only
after he had obtained the courts writ-
tendecision.
Political ethics watchdog Fair-Play Al-
liance (FPA) said that the president now
has no choice other than to appoint
ent. Its director Zuzana Wienk said
that every attempt to delay the appoint-
ment was part of a cynical power game
aimed at keeping the prosecution under
the control of certain power centres,
SITAreported.
Gaparovi announced immediately
after the June 17 vote that he would not
appoint ent, who was backed by the
ruling coalition, until the Constitutional
Court had issued a ruling about the consti-
tutionality of the newselectionprocedure.
But the courts subsequent decision to
drop any interim objections to the selec-
tion procedure and the fact that ent
was in any case chosen using the old pro-
cedure left the president, who has vetoed
numerous coalition-backed laws passed by
parliament, out on a limb.
The term of the previous general pro-
secutor, Dobroslav Trnka, expired in Feb-
ruary. In the absence of a formally appoin-
ted successor, Trnkas deputy, Tich, won
automatic promotion to the post of acting
top prosecutor.
Theruling
The court looked at whether the rule
change was in line with constitutional
principles, rights and freedoms. It ruled
that no constitutional principles had
been violated since the Slovak Constitu-
tion does not define such ballots as ex-
clusively secret. According to the court,
no real conflict has emerged and the con-
stitutional principle of the secret ballot
has not been violated. The court also
found that the change to the selection
method did not violate the equality of
rights or evoke retroactivity.
A majority of the constitutional
judges voted for the decision, while the
differing opinions of two judges, in-
cluding court president Ivetta
Macejkov, were attached to the ruling,
Macejkov said, as reported by SITA.
In the reasoning, Macejkov noted
that it was known on June 15 that the
Constitutional Court had issued a pro-
visional ruling suspending the validity
of the change in the rules of parlia-
mentary order until the court had
reached a definitive verdict on the con-
stitutional merits of parliaments
change inthe voting procedure.
A court ruling must be officially
published inthe countrys collectionof
laws in order to become effective and
the ruling coalition, according to the
Sme daily, used this time gap to hold
the vote on June 17, because the courts
decision had at that time been an-
nounced but had not yet been pub-
lished.
The failure to respect the decision
of the Constitutional Court was argued
that the decision was not binding be-
cause it had not been published in the
countrys collection of laws and thus it
was possible to hold the vote even
based on the challenged provisions,
Macejkov said, as quoted by SITA.
According to the court, the fact that
the June 17 vote was secret means that
the rules were respected formally and
legally, based on both the revised and
also the original legislation.
The Constitutional Court on June 29
overturned its own provisional ruling,
which had suspended the validity of
the parliamentary rule change affect-
ing the way the general prosecutor is
selected and also appeared to block any
other method of selection.
Doctors announce their protest plans. Photo: TASR
2
NEWS
October 10 16, 2011
Top general to retire
THREE governments and five
ministers of defence: that is
what General ubomr Bulk
has seen in the seven years he
held Slovakias top military
job. But now he is going, and
while the defence minister has
stated that the armed forces
need a breath of fresh air and
that a change at the top will do
them good, Bulks farewell
message was different: what
the armed forces need is more
money.
General Bulk announced
that he would leave his post as
head of the General Staff of the
Slovak Armed Forces on
December 1 and that he will re-
tire.
Im not bidding my
farewell yet, Im leaving as of
December 1, Bulk told a press
conference on September 30.
However, from this place Id
like to thank all the profes-
sional soldiers for their top-
quality work.
Under Bulks leadership
the Slovak Armed Forces have
regularly topped the rankings
as the most-trusted state insti-
tution. But at the same time
Slovakias military has felt the
impact of being underfin-
anced, with leaders in the De-
fence Ministry and the armed
forces as well as independent
observers and national secur-
ity experts saying that the mil-
itary has been poorly financed
for years. Bulk stated that it
needs a financial shot.
Bulk said he will be leav-
ing his post based on a mutual
agreement with Defence Min-
ister ubomr Galko.
Backstageconflicts?
Nevertheless, Slovak me-
dia have reported there has
been discord between Bulk
and Galko for some time.
It is a forced departure,
caused by pressure on him,
the lack of finances which
the minister did not secure,
and relations with the min-
ister and the people around
him, said Jozef Viktorn, a
former colonel in the Gener-
al Staff, as quoted by the
Pravda daily.
Galkos predecessor as de-
fence minister, Jaroslav
Baka of the Smer party, also
said there had been conflicts
between Galko and Bulk and
called Galko incompetent.
Another point made by
the Sme daily is that Galko
and a reformist wing around
the ministrys state secret-
ary, Rbert Ondrejcsk, be-
lieve they need new people in
the military leadership to be
able to push through addi-
tional reforms.
We need a fresh breeze
here, Galko said at his press
conference. Several other
generals holding important
posts in the military have
been reshuffled in their posi-
tions as well.
It is not yet clear who will
replace Bulk. When he leaves
in December, his duties will
be exercised by Miroslav Ko-
cian, recently named first
deputy head of the General
Staff after previously serving
as head of operations for the
General Staff.
Underfinancedmilitary
The changes that Galko
plans to initiate in the armed
forces are in what the minis-
ter calls the White Book of
Defence and have been based
on the Strategic Defence Re-
view ordered by the ministry
in autumn 2010.
Analyses of the prelimin-
ary results of that review
have found that the Slovak
Armed Forces are in an alarm-
ing state: the readiness of
units to lead military opera-
tions is problematic and the
operational preparedness of
several Slovak army units has
fallen, according to a think
tank, the Centre for
European and North-Atlantic
Affairs (CENAA).
The ministry has stated
that the problems stem from
a recurrent shortage of re-
sources allocated to the de-
fence department in the
state budget. Funds alloc-
ated to defence have been
close to one percent of GDP
in recent years, even though
Slovakia made a pledge in
2004 to spend at least 2 per-
cent of GDP each year on de-
fence once it became a
member of NATO.
After the most recent
round of talks on October 5
concerning the state budget
for 2012, the Defence Ministry
stated that it needs 78.5 mil-
lion more than it has been al-
located in the draft budget,
the TASR newswire reported.
Experts worry that if the
financial shortfalls continue
the Slovak Armed Forces
might lose not only its ability
to fight effectively but also its
capability to meet interna-
tional obligations.
Our tiny defence budget
forces us to lower the number
of soldiers in overseas mis-
sions, lower the number of
missions, and leaves our sol-
diers working with worn-out
equipment, Samuel Arbe, the
executive director of CENAA,
told The Slovak Spectator
earlier this year. All this cre-
ates the image of a less re-
sponsible and less reliable
partner, while the work of
Slovak soldiers becomes
harder and more dangerous.
BYMICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
General Bulk will retire inDecember. Photo: TASR
Plug pulled on
schools e-project
SLOVAKschools will not be-
ginusing digital textbooks
inthis school year as origin-
ally planned. After months
of questions and numerous
media reports criticising the
educational programme
called Planet of Knowledge,
the EducationMinistry an-
nounced it will not complete
the multi-million-euro pur-
chase and will invest the
money intraditional text-
books instead.
After months of nego-
tiations, concerns and what
we believe was a transpar-
ent approach, we state that
anagreement to purchase
Planet of Knowledge wasnt
reached, EducationMinis-
ter EugenJurzyca stated on
October 4.
The ministry will not
signthe contract with
Agemsoft, a software firm,
worthanestimated 6-12
million, to supply copies of
the digital educationpro-
gramme to schools across
Slovakia. Adisparity
betweenthe quality of the
product and its price was
the decisive factor inhis
decisionto scrap the idea,
Jurzyca explained to the
media.
But making more digital
educationmaterials avail-
able to schools will continue,
evenwithout the Planet of
Knowledge package, with
the minister pledging to do
so inother ways withfinan-
cial assistance fromEU
structural funds.
The negotiations
betweenthe ministry and
Agemsoft took place amid
heavy criticisminthe Slovak
media, withthe Sme daily
and the Tdeweekly in
particular running multiple
stories inrecent weeks high-
lighting several factual mis-
takes inboththe Slovak and
the Englishversions of the
digital text.
What is Planet of
Knowledge?
Planet of Knowledge is a
digital educationpro-
gramme for primary and
secondary schools inthe
fields of mathematics, phys-
ics, chemistry, biology and
other natural sciences. It is a
Slovak versionof anEnglish-
language original called
Universal Curriculumde-
veloped by the Young Digital
Planet company.
Agemsoft is the holder of
anexclusive licence to de-
velop similar materials in
Slovakia.
The company started pi-
loting the project at Slovak
schools in2008 after the ma-
terial was recommended by
the State Pedagogical Insti-
tute (P) and approved by
former educationminister
JnMikolaj eventhough
Sme wrote that there were
no expert evaluations avail-
able to either Por the
ministry at that time.
Agemsoft stated that
its investments for the
Slovak version, Planet of
Knowledge, have amoun-
ted to several millioneuros
and that translationof the
content into Slovak took
two years and cost over 1
million.
Critical voices
BothSme and Tde
weekly wrote about what
they called errors inthe con-
tent and format of Planet of
Knowledge. The Education
Ministrys spokesperson,
Miriamiakov, stated that
the ministry had identified
126 errors, Sme reported.
While the first part of
Universal Curriculum, the
original Englishversionof
the product, is geared to-
wards childrenaged 11 to 13
it was to be used withchil-
dren10 years and younger in
Slovakia, Tdewrote.
Tdes reporters also
wrote that there were many
similarities betweenthe ma-
terials inPlanet of Know-
ledge and Knowledge in
Pocket 1, another product
developed eight years ago by
Young Digital Planet which
more than1,200 Slovak
schools already have but do
not regularly use. Tde
wrote that Knowledge in
Pocket 1 was still available
six months ago at a cost of
150 for a multi-licence for
one school.
Softwarefirmresponds
Agemsoft rejected these
statements inanofficial re-
lease and called the criti-
cisms a mixture of dem-
agoguery and untrue
claims.
If anyone proves that
Planet of Knowledge is a
product identical with
Knowledge inPocket 1,
Agemsoft will provide a li-
cence for Planet of Know-
ledge to all schools for 1,
states the firm's release.
After the minister an-
nounced that Planet of
Knowledge will not be pur-
chased, Agemsoft respon-
ded that it is ready to use all
available legal tools to chal-
lenge the decision, Sme re-
ported, adding that the
company stated it has
suffered significant dam-
age to its name fromwhat
the company called mis-
leading statements from
the ministry.
3 October 10 16, 2011
NEWS
Advancing scientific research
SLOVAKIA has not been very successful
thus far in drawing down money alloc-
ated to the country fromthe EUs Region-
al Development Fund to support scientif-
ic research, so several Slovak universities
have nowdecided to band together to im-
prove the situation.
The Education Ministry, the Fin-
ance Ministry and representatives of
Slovakias scientific community agreed
inearly Marchthat they will seek to in-
crease funds coming fromthe EUby fo-
cusing on larger projects such as con-
struction of science parks or techno-
logycentres.
One of the applications prepared un-
der this strategy is for building Bratislava
Science City, jointly developed by
Comenius University (UK), the Slovak
University of Technology (STU) and the
Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV), that
would be built in the Mlynsk Dolina and
Patrnka part of the city. These three in-
stitutions are already undertaking top-
level scientific research in Slovakia in
terms of quality and quantity, according
to the rector of UK, Karol Miieta.
Researchis the tool to evolve creativ-
ity this is the main objective of our mu-
tual message, Rbert Redhammer, the
rector of STU, toldThe SlovakSpectator.
Slovakia has drawn slightly over 18
percent of the total financial resources
that have been allocated by the EU to the
countrys Operational Programme Re-
search and Development for 2007-2013.
Redhammer explained that the main ob-
jective of the joint approach by UK, STU
and SAV is to use funds available under
this operational programme to modern-
ise existing institutions in Mlynsk Do-
lina and Patrnka so that they are more
competitive with institutions in coun-
tries that invest more into research.
SeeFUNDSpg10
BYRADKAMINARECHOV
Spectator staff
BratislavaScience City couldbe aleader inbiomedical research Photo: Sme- J. Krolk
BYMICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
Education
Ministry scraps
Planet of
Knowledge plans
Academic institutions
unite to seek funds
fromthe EU
State budget draft revised
THE STATE budget deficit in
2012 is estimated to reach
3.243 billion, 70 million
more thanprojected inthe
original draft drawnup by
the Finance Ministry inthe
middle of August. However,
the ministry is sticking to its
target of cutting the deficit
fromthis years 4.9 percent
to 3.8 percent of GDP in2012,
the TASRnewswire wrote on
October 4.
Inline withthe updated
proposal, whichalso con-
siders somewhat gloomier
predictions regarding up-
coming developments inthe
Slovak economy, state rev-
enue in2012 should amount
to 15.281 billionand ex-
penditures are predicted to
reach18.524 billion.
The newdraft includes a
significant increase inthe
money allocated to the
HealthMinistry, whichis to
receive 50 millionmore
thanhad originally been
planned.
The Interior Ministry
will receive 36 million
more, while the budget for
the Defence Ministry will
rise by more than20 mil-
lion. The Finance Ministry
also increased spending on
the Slovak InformationSer-
vice (SIS) intelligence agency
and the Government Office,
whichwill receive another
2 million.
Onthe other hand, funds
for the general treasury ad-
ministrationwill be cut by
43 million.
Not all members of the
government were satisfied
withthe newdraft.
I cansee that the priorit-
ies of Most-Hd have beenre-
solved to the point of zero,
while the priorities of the
SDK[Slovak Democratic
and ChristianUnion] are at
100 percent, said Agricul-
ture Minister Zsolt Simon,
adding that sucha budget is
aimed against people living
inthe countryside.
The ruling coalitionwas
due to discuss the revised
draft at its sessiononOcto-
ber 6 but no results had
emerged as The Slovak Spec-
tator went to print.
Mayors disagree with changes
MEMBERS of the Association
of Towns and Villages of
Slovakia (ZMOS) have rejec-
ted the Ministry of Finances
proposed changes to the way
inwhichSlovak municipalit-
ies are financed. They say
that the state is trying to
solve its problems by moving
themonto the shoulders of
citizens, the SITAnewswire
reported.
Financing [of municip-
alities] was agreed during
the fiscal decentralisationof
2005, and nowthe govern-
ment is trying to change it
without agreement, said
the chair of ZMOS Jozef
Dvon, as quoted by SITA.
We would be happy if the
government listened to our
arguments and we could
reachagreement onthe way
that villages and towns are
enabled to performtheir
duties.
At the end of September,
the Finance Ministry pro-
posed that finances provided
to municipalities should be
composed of several differ-
ent types of tax, including
the income taxes for person-
al and legal entities, the
value added tax and all types
of excise taxes. At the mo-
ment, municipalities receive
money solely fromthe tax on
the incomes of physical en-
tities. Dvon promised to try
to persuade deputies, chairs
of parties caucuses and also
the speaker and deputy
speakers of parliament to re-
ject the proposed changes.
The financing changes
have already beenrejected by
the heads of self-governing
regions, who calculate that
throughthis model muni-
cipalities will get 62 million
less, the Sme daily reported.
They have also threatened to
close downschools and an-
nounce crisis regimes in
protest. Moreover, they plan
to address their complaint
that the government has vi-
olated the international Mu-
nicipal Charter to the
Europeancourts.
The Finance Ministry
said that the changes for
municipalities are necessary
if Slovakia does not want to
end up inthe same situation
as Greece, SITAreported.
Finance Minister Ivan
Miklo explained that
throughthe newmodel
municipalities will get
three percent more money
thanthey got last year. He
stressed that the ministry
is not trying to change the
systemof fiscal decentral-
isation.
Travel agents slammed by minister
NINE out of tentravel
agencies use unfair busi-
ness practices, according to
Economy Minister Juraj
Mikov, speaking onTues-
day, October 4, at a present-
ationof the findings of a re-
cent inspectionby the
Slovak Trade Inspectorate
(SOI).
Most of the shortcomings
were found inagreements
drawnup by travel agents
and signed by customers, the
Sme daily reported.
CompiledbySpectator staff
60%: Cap attracts cross-party support
Continuedfrompg1
Nevertheless, a deep re-
cession, a bank bailout or the
need to tackle the effects of a
major catastrophe would trig-
ger an exemption from the
sanctions, which could apply
for up to three years.
Themainoppositionparty,
Smer, saidit isopentosupport-
ing the constitutional draft.
The partys deputy chairman,
PeterKaimr, saidSmerwould
still proposesomechanges, but
described the law as a neces-
sarymeasureforSlovakia.
Wearetalkingabout alaw
which would deserve the sup-
port of all 150 members of
parliament, Kaimr said, as
quotedbySITA.
After installing this debt
brake as the first step, the
second move should be to in-
troduce caps on spending, ac-
cording to Radovan urana of
theeconomicthinktankINESS.
Thisrulewill beambitious
if it forces the government to
manage the state with a sur-
plus, since only in that case
will it be possible to reduce
debt as ashareof GDP, urana
told The Slovak Spectator. I
consider thefact that thedepu-
ties are proposing a transition
period with a higher cap on
debt an expression of their
unwillingness to yield to the
newrules fromthe very begin-
ningandfrommypoint of view
it disqualifies this as an ex-
pressionof theirdesiretoreally
managethingsefficiently.
Accordingtourana, sucha
highreserveis not necessaryfor
suchalongtransitionperiod.
At first sight it might
seem insufficiently ambi-
tious, but I think it was set
correctly, said Vladimr
Tvaroka, State Secretary of
the Finance Ministry, inanin-
terview with the Sme daily.
One has to realise that sanc-
tions for the government in
upcoming years will start ap-
plyingat 50percent.
Tvaroka notes that the
state budget for next year as-
sumes public debt at 45.7 per-
cent of GDP, while in2014 debt
is forecast to be 46.8 percent of
GDP. If the crisis is deeper or if
more funds are needed to bail
out some other European
countries, then Slovakia
might reach the 50-percent
limit relativelyfast, headded.
Though the proposed law
is good news, I do not consider
it to be correct that there will
be a constitutional right for
debt to remain at 40 percent of
GDP, saidurana, addingthat
it is unfair to future genera-
tions who might not benefit
from the debt and would only
do so if it arose because of cap-
ital spending with long-term
added value. He said this is not
the case for Slovakia since the
countrys debt has emerged
mainlyfromroutinespending.
Deficitsinjust thepast two
years have deepened
Slovakias public debt to al-
most 27 billion, or 41 percent
of GDP, noted Potov Banka
analystEvaSadovsk.
The state owes approxim-
ately 5,000 per capita but we
account for only three-tenths
of a percent of the total debt of
the EU, Sadovsk told The
Slovak Spectator. All this puts
Slovakia among the less in-
debtedeconomiesof theunion.
Nevertheless, we still consider
adebt captobetheright step.
Sadovsk regards keeping
the limit at 60 percent of GDP,
which is also the maximum
set by the Maastricht Treaty,
as realistic, and said she does
not consider the gradual
loweringof thislevel after 2018
to 50 percent as problematic
either.
Public debt grows in
times of recession, Sadovsk
said. At such times, state rev-
enue are endangered and the
public finance deficit deepens,
followedbythepublicdebt.
Sadovsk sees a risk in the
uncertain outlook for global
economic development and
consequentlyforSlovakiatoo.
It isimportant tograspthe
needtocreate reserves intimes
of stronger economic growth,
Sadovsk said. Then it is
slightly easier to handle the
crises. We had such a chance
when we were known as the
central European tiger, but we
slightlywastedthischance.
urana sees risks in what
he called the unwillingness to
admit the bad condition of the
public finances and the sub-
sequent unwillingness to save
on expenditures.
The current government
hassofar madecutsonlyinthe
running of the state, but re-
fuses to cut ineffective trans-
fers to the public, urana
said. Inthe event of a deepen-
ing recession within the EU,
this would lead to high
deficits.
Another risk, according to
urana, is posed by the con-
tinuing problems of the euro-
zone, and the problems that
this couldcauseinraisingdebt
infinancial markets tofinance
thedeficit.
As for additional measures
that could help to tame the
debt, urana listed strict debt
caps, which would restrict the
government in increasing
spending when designing
statebudgetsbasedonforecast
tax revenues, and would re-
quire the government to post a
surplus over an election or
economiccycle.
The draft, however, also
includes other tools to tackle
the state debt and make fiscal
policies more transparent.
These include the optionof es-
tablishing a Council for Fiscal
Responsibility, which would
function as an independent
bodyandwouldbe financedby
the central bank, the National
Bankof Slovakia(NBS), accord-
ing to SITA. The independent
three-member council would
consist of experts: one would
be nominated by the govern-
ment, onebythepresident and
thethirdbythegovernorof the
NBS. The nominations would
be subject to approval by par-
liament.
The council would look at
the fiscal impact of legislative
proposals, and keep an eye on
the development of public fin-
ances.
urana said he does not
think that the council is tech-
nicallynecessary, but saidthat
its institutionalised and per-
sonifiedformcouldact toplace
more pressure on the execut-
ivebranchandparliament.
The decisive factor will be
how active and politically in-
dependent the council will
be,uranasaid.
Public debt will exceed45 percent of GDPin2012. Photo: Sme
DOC: Czech hospitals are recruiting
Continuedfrompg2
Sme wrote that Czech hospitals have
been advertising openings for physicians
for some time andthat a Czechhospital in
Vsetn has a recruitment campaign tar-
geted at physicians from ilina in north-
ern Slovakia, a fact confirmed by Robert
Fcek, the headof the doctors trade union
inilina. Aphysicianworking ina Slovak
hospital earns an average of 1,500 per
month while some Czech hospitals are
abletooffer2,211, Smewrote.
A hospital in Kyjov in the Czech Re-
public reportedit hadreceivedtenapplic-
ations fromSlovak physicians and Tom
Zdechovsk, the hospitals spokesman,
told the Mediafax newswire that the hos-
pital will consider suitable candidates.
However, the teaching hospital in Brno,
thelargest Czechcityneartheborderwith
Slovakia, has not noted any increased in-
terest by Slovak physicians and reported
that the hospital already employs a signi-
ficant number of Slovak physicians, the
SITAnewswirewroteonOctober3.
Some hospital directors have con-
cededthat the number of terminationno-
tices they have received may cause prob-
lems and SITA wrote that the situation at
Childrens University Hospital in Bratis-
lava may be most critical as nearly all of
the hospitals anaesthesiologists have
submittedresignationnotices.
Uhliarikreportedthat doctors from18
hospitals have submitted resignation no-
tices fromamongthe 59health-careinsti-
tutionsthat theHealthMinistryadminis-
ters and stated that most hospitals will
remainina normal operational mode and
complete care will be available for cancer
andcardiologypatients.
Kollr has warnedthat hospital medical
treatment in Slovakia could collapse in
December after the two-month notice peri-
od has runits course. Uhliarik responded by
accusing the doctors of using patients as
hostages, but at the same time assuredSlov-
aks that they need not worry about being
left without proper healthcare.
LOZ has rallied doctors around four
demands: a halt in the ministrys plan to
transform public hospitals into joint-
stock companies; for hospitals to follow
the Labour Code with respect to hours of
work and other working conditions; an
increase in government funding for
healthcare; andagradual riseinthesalar-
iesof health-careemployees.
The demandtohalt the transformation
of the state-run hospitals into joint-stock
companies seems to be the most conten-
tious issuebut Uhliariksaidit is impossible
for him to change this as the process was
agreedbyMPsandhasnowbegun.
On September 27 the Slovak cabinet
approved revised documents for the legal
transformation of the hospitals, includ-
ing a model founding document and
model statute for a joint-stock company.
Prime Minister Iveta Radiov said after
that cabinet meeting that changing the
legal statusof thehospitalshasnothingto
dowithprivatisation.
The transformation does not create,
anticipate or enable privatisation,
Radiov stated, as quoted by the SITA
newswire, emphasising that the model
statute clearly provides that these joint-
stock hospitals will continue to be
100-percent state-owned.
4
BUSINESS / NEWS
October 10 16, 2011
Ofaj
RICHARD Sulk is a man of
slang. To the speaker of par-
liament any former commun-
ist or for that matter any
current member of the social-
ist Smer party is a koman (a
Comanche). He despises
politicians who have spent
their lives zavanm sa
(stitching themselves, which
sound painful, but means
only that they avoided real
work). And any idea he dis-
agrees with is a haluz (liter-
ally translated a branch, but
actually derived from hallu-
cination).
So it was little surprise
that when a week ago the co-
alition offered him a com-
promise on the euro-bailout
vote, he dismissed it right
away as an ofaj (a swindle,
derived from faji, to smoke).
Now his SaS party is indicat-
ing that that very same pro-
posal, the right of coalition
parties to veto any loans from
the bail-out fund, sounds ac-
ceptable. Opposition leader
Robert Fico was quick to call
this U-turnSulks ofaj.
It remains to be seen what
will come out of the negoti-
ations. But it was high time
for SaS to come to its senses
and realise that there was no
way it could block the mech-
anism. Their reluctance to
vote in favour would only
drive them out of government
and cause further political in-
stability.
Any regular party would
have trouble explaining such
a drastic change of heart to its
voters. But SaS fans must by
now be accustomed to such
contradiction. Sulks first
political priority was to get rid
of the fees levied on con-
sumers and used to subsidise
the public-service media. But
they still exist. There was his
failed referendum on a num-
ber of issues, most long since
forgotten. The legalisation of
gay marriage and decriminal-
isation of marijuana have re-
mained mere election slo-
gans. And the list goes on.
Why does Sulk still have
any support, given that he
fails to deliver most of what
he promises? People must love
the way he talks.
A strong breath of fresh air
SLOVAK President Ivan
Gaparovi is quite predict-
able. Few expected him to
quickly appoint Jozef ent
as general prosecutor after
the Constitutional Court
ruled that both a public vote
and a secret ballot are legit-
imate ways for Slovakias par-
liament to choose the person
to fill this powerful post.
Gaparovi has been jus-
tifying his refusal to formally
appoint ent, the candid-
ate of the governing coalition
elected by parliament to a
seven-year term on June 17,
by pointing to the case
pending before the Constitu-
tional Court. In this way the
president extended the reign
of the sitting managers at the
General Prosecutors Office
well beyond the expiration of
Dobroslav Trnkas term in
February. In the absence of a
formally-appointed succesor,
Ladislav Tich, Trnkas
former deputy, automatically
became acting general pro-
secutor and then didnt pass
on the opportunity to ap-
point Trnka as his deputy.
Thanks to Gaparovi,
who received the backing of
Smer boss Robert Fico for his
2009 re-election, Tich and
Trnka have played this game
of musical chairs and will
continue to occupy those
chairs till at least the second
half of October. The president
said he will decide on offi-
cially appointing ent at
that time, adding that he is
waiting for a copy of the
courts ruling so that he can
study it. His office also an-
nounced that the presidents
schedule is quite packed, in-
cluding a visit to Indonesia
and the Philippines.
Zuzana Wienk of the Fair-
Play Alliance watchdog group
called on Gaparovi to stop
delaying the appointment,
which she said stems from
cynical power games aimed
at keeping the prosecution
under the rule of certain
political power circles.
Wienk added that if the pres-
ident fails to appoint ent
in a timely way it can be ad-
ded to the list of failures that
he already demonstrated as
speaker of parliament when
he stripped deputy Gaulieder
of his mandate.
The Gaulieder case is not
very likely to be included in
the presidents memoires
and it has served as a light-
ning rod for critics who say
the former right-hand man
to Vladimr Meiar should
never have been put in the
presidential palace. Indeed,
the Gaulieder case is a rather
sordid tale that will always
spoil efforts by Gaparovi to
be seen as a guardian of the
constitution.
In 1996, when Gaparovi
served as speaker of parlia-
ment as a nominee of the
Movement for a Democratic
Slovakia (HZDS), he facilit-
ated a vote to strip the man-
date from Frantiek Gaul-
ieder, an MP from the same
party, for criticising the
HZDS. Gaparovi accepted a
parliamentary committee
report stating that Gaulieder
had agreed to resign from
parliament while Gaulieder
publicly denied ever doing so.
Gaulieder was stripped of his
mandate and a year later the
Constitutional Court ruled
that this violated the consti-
tution.
Slovakias system of pro-
secution is not only in urgent
need of a new person at the
top but also of comprehens-
ive reform. And even though
the Constitutional Court
seems to have cleared the
way for ent to take up his
post, the court also blocked
implementation of a reform
amendment passed by par-
liament in June that would
make the entire system more
transparent and open to pub-
lic oversight.
The courts recent ruling
on the reform amendment
was in response to multiple
objections brought before the
court by Tich, including the
new selection procedure for
prosecutors. It is also worth
noting that Gaparovis re-
fusal to appoint ent was
based onTichs appeal to the
Constitutional Court about
the changes in the voting
method approved by parlia-
ment.
Trnka, who has been des-
perately trying to get another
seven-year term as general
prosecutor, chimed in after
the courts ruling that he still
believes he should have been
declared the winner of the
May 17 secret ballot vote in
parliament and that his
name should have been sent
to the president. So now his
claim that the votes were in-
correctly counted in May and
that this violated his right to
equal access to an elected po-
sition now sits before the
Constitutional Court.
This saga, continuing
now for half a year, clearly
demonstrates the urgent
need for thorough reformof a
closed prosecution system
where people with broad
powers want to remain glued
to their chairs, want to con-
tinue making life-and-death
decisions behind closed
doors, and never want to be
held publicly accountable.
Thats task one. A strong
breath of fresh air at the pres-
idential palace is task two.
5 October 10 16, 2011
OPINION
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
If I didnt have such an expectation, I wouldnt bother with
the complaint and pay expensive lawyers.
Dobroslav Trnka expresses confidence that the Constitutional Court will order
a re-run of the general prosecutor vote based on an appeal he has lodged.
SLOVAK WORD
OF THE WEEK EDITORIAL
BYBEATABALOGOV
Spectator staff
BYLUK FILA
Special to the Spectator
RichardSulk is amanof slang. Photo: SITA

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Slovakia seeks self-sufficiency
in generating electricity
GENERATIONas well as consumptionof electricity
increased inSlovakia in2010 as the economy revived,
withconsumptionincreasing by 5 percent to 28,761 GWh.
Electricity generated withinthe country grewby 6.3
percent in2010 to 27,720 GWh, meaning that Slovakia
had to import 3.6 percent of the electricity it consumed in
2010, a fall fromthe 4.8 percent imported in2009,
according to the Economy Ministrys regular electricity
supply report. Nuclear power stations generated 53
percent of Slovakias electricity, withhydroelectric
stations producing 20 percent and thermal power
stations contributing 18 percent. Electricity fromother
sources suchas companies owngenerators and
renewable energy sources accounted for 9 percent.
The launchof a newcombined-cycle power stationwith
aninstalled capacity of 430 MWinMalenice near
Trnava, a project by the E.ONenergy group, as well as
newphotovoltaic plants withanaggregate capacity of
195 MWwere the two largest sources of newgenerating
capacity last year.
The most anticipated event to bring more generating
capacity to the country will be the launchof the second
pair of nuclear reactors at the Mochovce power plant, a
project by Slovensk Elektrrne, scheduled to come
online in2012 and 2013. This generating capacity is likely
to returnSlovakia to the positionof an
electricity-exporting country.
CompiledbySpectator staff
Some companies in the energy
sector in Slovakia
ACEnergia, www.acenergia.sk
A.EnSlovensko, www.a-en.com
Business Commercial Finance, www.bcf.sk
EZ Slovensko, www.cez.sk
Elgas, www.elgas.sk
Energetick Centrum, www.e-centrum.sk
Energie2, www.energie2.sk
Eustream, www.eustream.sk
Geon, www.geon.sk
Komunal Energy, www.komunal-energy.sk
Lumius Slovakia, www.lumius.cz/sk
Nafta, www.nafta.sk
Magna E.A., www.magnaea.sk
Nuclear DecommissioningCompany(JAVYS),
www.javys.sk
Pozagas, www.pozagas.sk
Power-EN, www.pow-en.sk
Probugas, www.probugas.sk
RWE Gas Slovensko, www.rwegas.sk
SE Predaj, www.sepredaj.sk
SlovakPower eXchange, www.spx.sk
Slovakia Energy, www.slovakia-energy.sk
Slovensk Elektrrne (SE), www.seas.sk
SlovenskPlynrenskPriemysel (SPP), www.spp.sk
Solar Time, www.solartime.sk
Stredoslovensk Energetika (SSE), www.sse.sk
Vaa Energia, www.vasaenergia.sk
Vchodoslovensk Energetika (VSE), www.vse.sk
Zpadoslovensk Energetika (ZSE), www.zse.sk
Sources: TheSlovakSpectator databases, companywebsites, Smedaily
Institutions and organisations in the
energy sector in Slovakia
State bodies:
Ministryof Economy, www.economy.gov.sk
RegulatoryOffice for NetworkIndustries (RSO),
www.urso.gov.sk
SlovakElectricityTransmissionSystem(SEPS),
www.sepsas.sk
Nuclear RegulatoryAuthority(JD), www.ujd.gov.sk
SlovakInnovationand EnergyAgency(SIEA),
www.siea.sk
Industryassociations:
SlovakGas and Oil Association, www.sgoa.sk
Associationof Entrepreneurs inWaste Management
(APOH),www.apoh.sk
Diversifying natural gas
sources and routes
SINCEthe natural gas crisis in
January 2009, when Russian
gas flowing via Ukraine was
completely halted, concerns
about the availability of nat-
ural gas are raised before each
winter heating season. While
Ukraine has reassured Slov-
akia that its supply will re-
maintrouble-freethis winter,
Slovakia has continued to ex-
pandits gas storage capacities
andextendits distributionin-
frastructure to give the coun-
try more options in the event
of supplyproblems.
I received an unambigu-
ous answer that Ukraine will
deliver the contracted
amounts of gas, stated Slovak
Foreign Affairs Minister
Mikul Dzurinda, as quoted
by the TASR newswire, after
meeting Ukrainian Prime
Minister Mykola Azarov on
September 5. Azarov gave
Dzurinda assurances that
Ukraine will be a reliable part-
ner and that the 2009 crisis
will not be repeated. Earlier in
September the Economy Min-
istry assured citizens that the
country is prepared for the
winter season and for any
crisisthat might emerge.
In the event of supply
problems from the east, the
ministry said Slovakia could
rely on natural gas stored in
underground storage facilities
in western Slovakia, as well as
on alternative supply con-
tracts that the countrys gas
utility, SPP, signed with E.ON
Ruhrgas and GDF Suez after
the 2009 crisis, the SITA
newswire wrote. Consump-
tion of natural gas last year in
Slovakia amounted to 5.7 bil-
lion cubic metres, and about
98 percent of that was impor-
ted, the Economy Ministry re-
ported.
Nafta, the biggest
Slovakias gas storage com-
pany, is continuing to boost
capacity to ensure the
wider availability of natural
gas. It recently completed
the second and most im-
portant phase of a new gas
storage facility near the vil-
lage of Gajary in Bratislava
Region.
SeeGASpg8
The central areaof Nafta's Gajary-Bdenfacility. Photo: JanaLiptkov
Nuclear plant stress tests continue
THE DISASTER at the Fukushima nucle-
ar power plant in Japan in March,
which was caused by an earthquake and
subsequent tsunami, raised the ques-
tion of the safety of nuclear power
plants worldwide. In response, the op-
erators of nuclear plants within the
European Union were required to un-
dertake comprehensive risk and safety
assessments under the supervision of
their national regulatory authorities. In
Slovakia, these are being done by
Slovensk Elektrrne (SE), the operator
of nuclear power plants in Jaslovsk
Bohunice and Mochovce, under the su-
pervision of Slovakias Nuclear Regulat-
ory Authority (JD). In mid September,
the authority delivered to the European
Commission its interim national report
on stress tests of the countrys nuclear
power plants. The deadline for submit-
ting the closing national report is
December 31.
The power plants subject to the tests
are the two units of the Jaslovsk Bohu-
nice V2 nuclear power plant and the two
operating units at the Mochovce nuclear
power plant, plus the two further units in
Mochovce which are currently under
construction. All the nuclear power
plants in Slovakia have so far passed all
the tests, a result which came as no sur-
prise to the JD.
The stress tests have not identified
any deficiencies requiring immediate
remedial measures or a shutdown of op-
erating nuclear power plants, the JD
wrote in its press statement. The re-
sponse of the tested power plants to the
stress tests corresponds with the re-
quiredsafetylevel.
Peter Uhrk, chief executive of the
JD, said on September 14, when the in-
terimreport was sent to Brussels, that his
organisation is convinced that the nucle-
ar power stations in Slovakia are robust
enough, but that the tests had shown
space for improvement and that author-
ity did not therefore consider them to
have beenuseless or worthless.
These tests have shown that it is ne-
cessary to test some non-standard routes
and have highlighted what a nuclear
power station needs to have in place in
order to be supplied with electricity, be-
cause one of the worst possible events for
a nuclear power station is when it loses
its power supply, a situation known as a
stationblackout.
What arestress tests for
nuclear power stations?
After the Fukushima disaster, in
which a major earthquake and sub-
sequent tsunami disabled the power sup-
ply and cooling to three reactors leading
to a nuclear accident, the European
Council on March 24 and 25 declared that
the safety of all EUnuclear plants should
be reviewed, on the basis of a compre-
hensive and transparent risk assess-
ment", whichit dubbedstress tests.
SeeNPPpg11
BYJANALIPTKOV
Spectator staff
6
CAREERS
Next issue:
BUSINESS FOCUS
ENERGY
October 10 16, 2011
All Slovakias plants
have passed so far
Slovak firm also
expands its gas
storage capacity
BYJANALIPTKOV
Spectator staff
Jaslovsk Bohunice. Photo: JanaLiptkov
Harnessing the sun
on marginal land
Understanding household
electricity prices
NGOsays pipeline route is dangerous
ACIVICorganisationthat is
opposed to the planned con-
structionof anoil pipeline
betweenSlovakia and Aus-
tria across itn Ostrov, the
biggest freshwater reservoir
incentral Europe, says a
leaked document it received
sets forthwhat it called an
outrageous route for the
pipeline.
According to informa-
tionfromthe material we
have, the Bratislava-
Schwechat pipeline will
lead right belowthe win-
dows of Bratislava
residents, said Tom
Mikulec, the vice-chairman
of the No to the Pipeline
Throughitn Ostrov NGO
onOctober 3, stating that
they received the Economy
Ministry's document from
ananonymous source, the
TASRnewswire wrote.
According to the NGO,
the pipeline, to be built by
Slovakias Transpetrol com-
pany and Austrias OMV,
would runalong Bratislavas
Einsteinova street in
Petralka inone variant, and
along Dolnozemsk street in
a second variant.
Bothroutes endanger
water resources, said
Mikulec, adding that
neither variant is acceptable
to the NGO.
Slovakias Economy Min-
istry responded that none of
the tenproposed routes for
the pipeline goes via itn
Ostrov and that it has met
the requirements it prom-
ised, adding that the
ministrys top priority is en-
ergy security for Slovakia.
Slovakia has to secure
its energy security inall
respects, said Economy
Ministry spokesperson
Daniela Pirelov, as quoted
by TASR. Simultaneously
we want to prevent draining
of the 400-km-long Druzhba
pipeline. Thus, interconnec-
tionof the pipeline withAus-
tria is inevitable.
The Slovak government
said the pipelines final route
has not beendecided and the
cabinet is only scheduled to
discuss a feasibility study on
the project.
Integrating electricity markets
THE CZECHRepublic, Slov-
akia and Hungary are coup-
ling their domestic electri-
city markets. Before the end
of June 2012 Hungary plans
to become part of the short-
termelectricity market that
was created inSeptember
2009 by Slovakia and the
CzechRepublic, thus help-
ing to move the central
Europeanregioncloser to
the EU's goal of creating a
European-wide energy mar-
ket in2014, the SITAnews-
wire reported, citing in-
formationpublished by
Hospodsk Noviny, a
Czechfinancial daily, inlate
September.
Integrationmay ad-
vance evenfurther next year
as efforts will be directed
towards integrationof the
central regionwiththe
westernand northern
Europeanregions. Energy
specialists expect that mar-
ket coupling inEurope will
facilitate cross-border trad-
ing inelectricity, as well as
significantly increasing the
liquidity of energy ex-
changes intrading day-
ahead electricity.
During the first month
after the Slovak and Czech
markets were coupled, the
amount of sold electricity
doubled, said Igor Chemiinec
fromOTE, the Czechelectricity
and gas market operator, as
quoted by the daily.
Inanideal case, coupling
of markets also leads to uni-
ficationof electricity prices.
This is howit operates, for ex-
ample, betweenthe Czech
Republic and Slovakia, where
electricity prices differ for
only a fewdays ina year. The
coupling withthe Hungarian
market will be more complic-
ated however, as transmis-
sioncapacity across the Slov-
ak-Hungarianborder is cur-
rently insufficient. Asimilar
problemmay occur during
additional market-coupling
across Europe.
Yousimply cannot
transmit electricity without
wires, stated Ji Strnad
fromEPS, the Czech
Republics transmissionsys-
temoperator. If there is
trade integrationbut insuffi-
cient transmissioncapacit-
ies, zones withdifferent
prices will be created.
Harnessing the sun
on marginal land
SOLAR energy has become a
popular discussion topic in
Slovakia. Only recently,
charges of corruption and
fraud related to state support
provided to newly-construc-
ted photovoltaic power sta-
tions in the form of generous
feed-in tariffs have hit the
Slovak media. While invest-
igation of these cases is still
continuing, a look at other
solar projects suggests that
the baby should be not
thrown out with the bath
water.
Slovakia was one of six
European countries, three
from central and three from
southern Europe, which
joined in the Photovoltaics
(PVs) in Bloom Project en-
titled "Farming photovoltaic
flowers: a new challenge for
land valorisation within a
strategic eco-sustainable ap-
proach to local development".
Its aim was to explore how to
use marginal land and terrain
that is not of agricultural use,
and it concluded that it is pos-
sible to produce solar energy
on airports, military bases,
landfill sites and swamp
lands. Project partners built
more than 19 megawatts-peak
(MWp) of installed solar
power on marginal lands.
Slovakia has various ex-
amples of installation in mar-
ginal areas, such as PVE Doln
Bar, a photovoltaic power
plant built on swampy land,
with an installed capacity of 1
MWp; PVE eliezovce, built
on a municipal dump, with an
installed capacity of 3 MWp;
and PVE Dobin, built in an
asbestos quarry, with an in-
stalled capacity of 2 MWp.
The Slovak Spectator
spoke to Giorgio Dovigi, the
secretary general of the Itali-
an-Slovak Chamber of Com-
merce about the PVs in Bloom
Project and the harnessing of
solar energy in Slovakia.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS):
Why and how did the Itali-
an-Slovak Chamber of
Commerce became one of
the partners in the PVs in
BloomProject?
Giorgio Dovigi (GD): The
Italian-Slovak Chamber of
Commerce undertakes
projects in the field of renew-
able energies not only to en-
courage and support the ex-
port activities of Italian and
Slovak companies working in
this sector, but also because
we really believe in the im-
portance of promoting
policies related to environ-
mentally-sensitive technolo-
gies. We are constantly fol-
lowing a series of projects
concerning renewable energy
sources. At the time that we
submitted the project PVs in
Bloom, Slovakias solar en-
ergy market was emerging.
TSS: What was the philo-
sophy behind the PVs in
BloomProject?
GD: Photovoltaic power
is a form of technology and
as with all technologies it
should be applied using a
sustainable rationale. So we
explored how to use mar-
ginal land and terrain that is
not of agricultural value,
sought reasons why such
unproductive pieces of land
might not be suitable, ob-
served how we would build
various models, and saw
what other actors were do-
ing inother countries.
TSS: How did you identify
suchland inSlovakia?
GD: We visited self-gov-
erning regions and had en-
couraging meetings with rep-
resentatives of municipal au-
thorities in Slovakia, present-
ing and explaining to them
the philosophy of the project.
Through a series of meetings
we gained more information
about marginal areas.
Contrary to the experi-
ence of the rest of the project
partners, we found consider-
able understanding on the
part of Slovak public authorit-
ies and valued their support
for renewable energy, even
though recent changes in the
feed-in tariff policy in Slov-
akia towards photovoltaic
power makes this industry
unattractive to investors as
prices have not only been
drastically reduced, but addi-
tional restrictions have been
introduced for this type of in-
stallationand power.
TSS: Can you compare Slov-
akia with other countries
participating in the PVs in
Bloom project in terms of
photovoltaic installations
on marginal land, for in-
stance in terms of the land
available and the position of
municipal and other au-
thorities?
GD: Considering the size
of Slovakia, the number of in-
stallations in marginal land in
our country is considerable.
We cannot in any way com-
pare the results with those
achieved by countries like
Italy and Germany, with in-
stalled capacities of 2,321 MW
and 7,408 MW, respectively,
in 2010.
TSS: What is the role of such
projects ina practical sense?
GD: The partnership
worked according to a collec-
tion of EU best practices and
in the end we built 19 MWp of
photovoltaic plants, and nego-
tiated with banks and regional
administration to get faster
approval of licences. Our role
is to find the best solutions in
terms of how to work, and we
drew upon some significant
best practices.
The project involved three
countries from central Europe
and three from southern
Europe in order to better com-
pare technologies and prac-
tices given the various solar
radiation levels and natural
potential. One added value of
the project should be con-
sidered the pulling-together
effect on different public bod-
ies and private investors to ob-
tain concrete results. Within
PVs in Bloom, 67 municipalit-
ies across Europe were directly
involved in projects focusing
on the recovery of marginal
areas through renewable en-
ergy generation.
We have also developed a
complete manual on adminis-
trative and technical proced-
ures, as well as business plan
samples and calculations that
can be found in the Slovak
language on the website of the
project.
TSS: The PVs in Bloom
Project culminated with a
closing conference in Bud-
apest on September 22.
Could you please give some
interesting experiences and
examples of innovative ap-
proaches presented at the
conference?
GD: One of the most in-
novative projects presented
was about a solar plant de-
veloped on a swampy dump
by JnOten, a solar expert
from the company Solar
Time. The solutions used for
long-term stability of this
type of constructionincluded
the use of additional sleeves
added to anchor screws
(some anchor screws used
are up to 3 metres long), the
placement of inverters and
other electrical equipment in
a higher position, and the
water-protection of all cables
used so that they were certi-
fied waterproof.
TSS: Taking into considera-
tion the current feed-in tar-
iff policy in Slovakia and re-
strictions on this type of in-
stallation, but also the de-
creasing costs of photovol-
taic generation, how would
you evaluate Slovakia as a
potential destination for in-
vestment in photovoltaic
plants?
GD: As of July this year
the photovoltaic industry in
Slovakia is interesting only
for rooftop installations up to
100 kW. Such installation of
rooftop solar projects requires
management of permit-grant-
ing processes that generally
involve the power authority,
distribution companies and
municipalities. I see Slovakia
as a market for small-scale
solar businesses, and attract-
ive mostly to local investors.
TSS: Are you going to devel-
op on the experience ob-
tained through PVs in
Bloom?
GD: Yes. Of course, we are
following trends in the sector
and trying to be very active in
order to encourage local eco-
nomic actors and public act-
ors in the responsible use of
energy sources as a contribu-
tion to climate change issues.
As of April we have started
another project in coopera-
tion with the partners from
PVs in Bloom. This time we
would like to develop a model
for green-blue factories, a
benchmark for labelling in-
dustrial zones and related fa-
cilities that use combined
sources of renewable energy
to meet their electricity and
heating needs.
The PVs in Bloom Project was
funded within the Intelligent En-
ergy Europe Programme of the
European Commission. It was
managed by an international con-
sortium, led by Unioncamere del
Veneto (the Regional Union of
Chambers of Commerce of Veneto,
in north-east Italy) and composed
of nine partners from six EU
countries: Italy, Greece, Spain,
Poland, Austria, and Slovakia.
To get more information
about the project, go to
www.pvsinbloom.eu.
BYJANALIPTKOV
Spectator staff
Photovoltaic power sources canbe built onmarginal land, like
swamps. Photo: Courtesyof Solar Time
7
FOCUS shorts
October 10 16, 2011
BUSINESS FOCUS
AnNGOis leadingoppositionto the oil pipeline. Photo: TASR
EZ sells gas, power via Facebook
EZ Slovensko, one of newer
sellers of natural gas and
electricity that emerged after
liberalisationof the Slovak
energy market, is nowoffer-
ing to sell gas and electricity
to Slovak consumers via
Facebook, the online social
network. The company
hopes to capture about 500
newcustomers every day,
the TASRnewswire wrote in
mid September.
We knowthat among
our potential customers are
fans of the internet and so-
cial networks, people who
prefer a fast and simple pro-
cess without the need for
personal contact, said Igor
Nagy fromEZ Slovensko, as
quoted by TASR.
He added that his com-
pany is the first supplier in
the Slovak market that
provides potential custom-
ers withthe opportunity to
change their gas or electri-
city supplier via Facebook,
eventhoughit continues
to maintaina network of
sales representatives as
well as a customer service
telephone line.
The company nowhas
three channels to reachnew
customers: sales representat-
ives, its website and the tele-
phone service line, and it re-
ports that it has established
contracts withover 55,000
household customers inthe
past eight months.
EZ Slovensko, anarm
of a Czech energy company,
begansupplying natural
gas and electricity inSlov-
akia inJuly.
The list of alternative
companies supplying gas as
well as power also includes
Vaa Energia, Energie2,
Geon, Elgas, Magna E.A., and
Lumius Slovakia, the Sme
daily reported inlate
September.
CompiledbySpectator staff
Understanding electricity prices
TOHELP household electri-
city consumers become more
knowledgeable about the
factors that go into the final
price they pay for electricity,
www.energia.sk, aninternet
portal focusing onenergy is-
sues, has prepared a special
sectiononits website that
explains the individual parts
that add up to a consumers
final monthly electricity bill.
The price of electricity
as a commodity makes up
less thanone-half of the fi-
nal, or integrated price, that
electricity consumers pay in
their bills, said Michal Hu-
dec, the creator of the new
service and publisher of the
energia.sk website, inex-
plaining why he developed
the information. The rest
consists of costs linked with
transmissionand distribu-
tionof electricity and vari-
ous additional fees, for ex-
ample to support develop-
ment of renewable energy
resources and to exploit the
use of browncoal inthe eco-
nomic interests of the state,
as well as for decommission-
ing of nuclear power stations
owned by the state, the A1
and V1 units inJaslovsk
Bohunice.
The goal of Hudecs initi-
ative is to provide electricity
consumers withinforma-
tionthat shows howthese
various factors affect the fi-
nal price.
The final price for
household electricity con-
sists of six cost factors, with
the price of the electricity it-
self and fees for its transmis-
sionand distributionac-
counting for the largest por-
tion. But the actual final cost
for eachindividual factor
also varies according to the
consumptioncategory of a
household and there are six
of these categories.
The cost of generated
electricity acquired via the
EuropeanEnergy Exchange
(EEX) accounts for 34 to 53
percent of the total price to
consumers and the fees for
transmissionand distribu-
tionrange from16 percent to
45 percent of the total price.
Atariff for operationof
the system, whichis to cover
the costs for the electricity
market operator, plus addi-
tional fees to support devel-
opment of renewable energy
resources and combined pro-
ductionof electricity and
heat, and other state energy
policies adds from8 to 12
percent to the final price for
household consumers.
Atariff for systemser-
vices ranges from5 to 7 per-
cent and includes the costs
for maintenance of voltage
and frequency withinthe
electrical grid. Another fee is
assessed to cover electricity
losses during distribution,
and accounts for 6 to 9 per-
cent of the final bill.
The last itemis a fee that
all consumers pay to the Na-
tional Nuclear Fund for de-
commissioning of nuclear
facilities; it accounts for 2
percent of the bill for all
household categories.
Value added tax of 20
percent is also added to the
final price for electricity.
The newwebsite uses
data provided by Slovakias
Regulatory Office for Net-
work Industries (RSO) and
Stredoslovensk Energetika,
one of Slovakias three main
electricity distributors
those that were operating in
the market before its liberal-
isation is a partner with
the website.
8
BUSINESS FOCUS
October 10 16, 2011
GAS: Nord Stream opens
Continuedfrompg6
On September 6 the com-
pany officially opened its con-
trol centre for the new facil-
ity. The company has spent
106 million so far on the
project, which should be
completed in 2014 at an over-
all cost of 166 million.
By opening the Gajary-
Bdenproject, whichis part of
the up and running Lb com-
plex of storage facilities,
Naftas storage capacity will
increase to 2.5 billion cubic
metres, said Alexander Spies,
chairman of Naftas board of
directors at the opening ce-
remony. This represents a
full 50 percent rise [in capa-
city] within one decade, from
2003 to 2014.
Nafta initiated the Gajary-
Bden project in response to
increased market demand
and when the entire project is
finished it will add about 500
million cubic metres of stor-
age capacity.
In addition to the im-
proved security of gas sup-
plies, the importance of the
Gajary-Bden project lies in
the support of a liberalised gas
market, thus strengthening
the position of Naftas storage
facilities in the central
European energy industry,
said Martin Holl, Naftas CEO
at the opening.
The role of underground
natural gas storage facilities
is to balance the seasonal dif-
ferences in gas consumption
between summer and winter
seasons. It has even more
strategic importance in Slov-
akia since gas supplies enter-
ing the country are not very
diversified. With the chan-
ging environment in the en-
ergy market, Nafta earlier
this year developed new stor-
age possibilities for its cus-
tomers by allowing them to
inject and withdraw gas and
to change their entry and exit
points at any time during the
year, according to a company
press release.
The significance of
Naftas expansion project in
terms securing the reliability
of gas supplies in central and
eastern Europe has been re-
cognised by the European
Commission, the company
added. The EC provided a
grant of 3 million that was
used to interconnect Naftas
facilities in Lb and Gajary-
Bden, adding new entry and
exit points to the existing
transmissionsystem.
Storinggas underground
The new gas storage facil-
ity in Gajary-Bden is located
at a depth of 1,800 metres and
is actually positioned directly
below the Lb storage facility
knownas UGS Lb 3.
The challenge was that
our biggest storage area is
located at a depth of 600
metres and we had to drill
through it, said Ladislav
Goryl, the head of Naftas un-
derground storage facilities
division, while showing a
piece of rock from the geolo-
gical deposit, which has 20
percent porosity, and actu-
allystores the gas.
Goryl explained that the
development of any under-
ground gas reservoir depends
on the parameters of the rock
deposit where the storage fa-
cility is to be build, adding
that a high-standard reser-
voir should be sufficiently
porous as well as permeable
so that gas canbe injectedand
withdrawn most easily. Addi-
tionally, the reservoir must
be geologically well-sealed to
retainthegas.
Diversifyinggas supplies
Russia is diversifying its
available transmission routes
for natural gas exports and in
September started adding
natural gas to the first of two
planned Nord Stream
pipelines that both bypass
Ukraine. Commercial opera-
tion is expected in early
November. This 7.4-billion
project includes two roughly
parallel pipelines constructed
across the Baltic Sea with an
annual capacity of 55 billion
cubic metres of gas.
NordStreamis the biggest
energy project in Europe, the
TASRnewswire wrote, andby
constructing these routes
Russia will bypass all other
countries and have a direct
connection into western
Europe.
The Nord Stream project
will likely impact the gas
transmission system across
Slovakia operated and main-
tained by Eustream, a subsi-
diary of SPP. That transmis-
sion system has an annual
capacity of more than 90 bil-
lioncubic meters.
Everything is proceeding
in line with our forecast since
2008, Vahram Chuguryan
from Eustream told The Slov-
ak Spectator. Despite the
negative short-termeffect we
firmly believe that the grow-
ing role of gas in the EUs en-
ergy policy, as well as recog-
nition of natural gas as an en-
vironmentally-friendly fuel,
will lead to a strengthened
role for Eustreams gas
transmission system in the
medium and long-term hori-
zon and that the short-term
drop [in gas transmission]
will becompensated.
Eustream is also actively
constructing new intercon-
nections with other natural
gas pipelines such as the
Slovak-Hungarian gas inter-
connector.
The strategic importance
of the project lies in ensuring
access to the new sources of
gas supply in the form of a
bridgehead to the planned
South Stream and Nabucco
pipelines and to the LNG ter-
minal in Croatia, Chuguryan
added. Furthermore, we are
working on introduction of
new market products such as
day-ahead flexible booking as
well as introduction of a na-
tional virtual tradingpoint.
Construction of the Slov-
ak-Hungarian gas intercon-
nector was advanced recently
when a memorandum of un-
derstanding was signed in
early September by represent-
atives of Eustream and
Orszgos Villamostvvezetk
(OVIT), a member of the MVM
Group and a leading player in
theenergysector inHungary.
The interconnecting
pipeline is expected to be in
operation by January 2015 and
will have a length of about 115
kilometres, connecting the
high-pressure gas transmis-
sionsysteminVek Zlievce in
Slovakia with the Hungarian
network near the village of
Vecss in the suburbs of Bud-
apest. The total investment is
expected to be more than100
million, of which the EU will
provide about 30 million
from its European Energy Pro-
grammefor Recovery.
Karel Hirman, the director
of the Energy Policy Section at
the Slovak Innovation and En-
ergy Agency (SIEA), expects
that the launch of the Nord
Stream pipelines will reduce
gas transitingSlovakia.
The long-term contract
on gas transmission via Slov-
akia signed in 2008 with
Gazexport already planned
on the launch [of Nord
Stream], Hirman told The
Slovak Spectator. Thus, it is
possible to really expect that
during the next two years the
transmission of gas via the
Ukrainian-Slovak transmis-
sioncorridor will decrease re-
latively notably due to Nord
Stream, into which Gazprom
will redirect not a small por-
tionof its gas supply.
Hirman added that cur-
rent developments in the gas
market in the EU, which do
not confirmthe rapid increase
inconsumptionof Russiangas
that had been predicted when
the German-Russian con-
tracts were signed, also indic-
ate that there will be some fal-
loff ingas transitingSlovakia.
In addition to the Nord
Stream project, the South
Stream pipeline is planned to
transport Russian natural gas
across the Black Sea to Bul-
garia and then on to Greece,
Italy and Austria, as well as
the Nabucco pipeline that
will run from Erzurum in
Turkey to Austria, both of
which will further diversify
natural gas suppliers and de-
liveryroutes inEurope.
Construction of South
Stream, a newroute fromRus-
sia to the European Union
which would bypass the
Ukrainian-Slovak corridor
from the south, is mainly a
political project under the
current situationinthe EUgas
market, andits primary goal is
to solve disputed issues
between the Russian Federa-
tion and Ukraine, Hirman
stated. Nabucco is also for
now more a political project,
even though at question in
this case is gaining access to
new, highly-prospective nat-
ural gas deposits in central
Asia for EUmarkets.
Hirman believes it im-
possible at this time to pre-
dict the impact of these
projects on the transmission
route across Slovakia but
thinks that building new
pipelines into the EU should
not have a duplicative char-
acter and that the EU should
support their construction
only when they secure a new
source of gas or they create a
new transmission route that
can be used to cover increas-
ingconsumption.
Samples of the mineral deposits inwhichnatural gas is stored
inundergroundreservoirs. Photo: JanaLiptkov
FOCUS shorts
9
ADVERTISEMENT
October 10 16, 2011
SP90525/2
hLWCLLAh
LhLkC
f0k 1hL 1 A 1kAS
ENERGY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
ENERGY FOR THE COUNTRY
1Lkh0ChA1A-hICh1A1kAS
Slovensk elektrrne, a subsidiary of the
Enel group, have installed new solar panels
at Tryho chata (Trys Hut). Their rated
output is 9 kWp and will signicantly
improve the operational comfort and service
level. Compared to power generation by a
diesel-generator, this will save up to 6 tons
of carbon dioxide emissions.
After more than 110 years, Tryho chata has
become a graphic example of clean energy
in the valley of Mal studen dolina.
SE ulieudy munuges u
ieliuble mix ol pioduction
souices: lydioelectiic, nuc-
leui, tleimul und plotovoltuic
powei plunts. Two new plo-
tovoltuic plunts, in Moclovce
und neui tle Vo}uny tleimul
powei plunt, contiibute to
tle 90 peicent ol electiicity
tlut SE pioduces witlout ge-
neiuting luimlul emissions
ol gieenlouse guses. In luct,
us euily us 2009 Slovenske
elektiuine biouglt tle liist
plotovoltuic punels to tle
Teiy mountuin lodge und tle
Zbo}ncku mountuin lodge. It
tleieby ietuined gieen eneigy
to tle Higl Tutius tliougl tle
pio}ect Eneigiu pie piiodu /
Eneigy loi Nutuie. Reseuicl
und development togetlei
witl tle development ol pio-
duction cupucities uie }ust one
wuy in wlicl SE contiibutes
to tle long-teim lullilment ol
its coipoiute gouls. An equully
impoitunt puit is tle deve-
lopment ol lumun cupitul
und tle educution ol young
powei engineeis. Slovenske
elektiuine is developing long-
teim coopeiution witl Slovuk
teclnicul univeisities und tle
Slovuk Acudemy ol Sciences. It
suppoits lutuie powei-couise
undeigiuduutes witl seveiul
pio}ects. Eucl yeui, it uwuids
scloluislips ol 1,330 eucl
to lilty students wlo uclie-
ve top iesults. Teclnology-
couise students ulso luve
tle oppoitunity to enguge in
seveiul competitions loi peo-
ple witl tulent in tle eneigy
spleie. One ol tlem is tle
upcoming competition loi tle
Auiel Stodolu Awuid in wlicl
tlose inteiested in puitici-
puting cun upply, using tleii
linul woiks, until Octobei 10
ut tle lutest. Tle uutlois ol
tle best disseitution, diplomu
und bucleloi's woiks cun ie-
ceive considei-uble linunciul
iewuids. Tle winneis ol tlis
yeui's Auiel Stodolu Awuid
will be unnounced ut u ceie-
moniul evuluution in Novem-
bei.
Aside liom tle teclnicul
uspects, SE's piogiummes tlut
locus not }ust on gieen eneigy
but ulso on tle souices loi lu-
tuie geneiutions uie popului
umong young people. Tlese
uie muinly events uimed ut
impioving und pieseiving tle
cleun enviionment in Slovu-
kiu's mountuins und loiests.
Visitois to mountuin puiks
duiing tle ligl touiist seuson
leuve u lot ol wuste belind
tlem. Employees ol Sloven-
ske elektiuine und volunteeis
liom ull ovei Slovukiu iegu-
luily puiticipute in tle event
Ciste loiy / Cleun Mountuins
wlicl uims to cleun up moun-
tuin putls, lukes und loiests.
Tlis yeui, tley locused on
tle uieu uiound tle Bincul-
ku mountuin lodge. Binculku
will ulso soon get u new sou-
ice ol powei. In tle pust, it
geneiuted powei loi its own
consumption liom u smull
lydioelectiic powei stution
wlicl is no longei opeiu-
tionul. Cuiiently, u diesel ge-
neiutoi, pioducing luimlul
emissions, is used to covei tle
lodge's needs. Tlus, Sloven-
ske elektiuine, in coopeiuti-
on witl otlei expeits, lus ini-
tiuted piepuiution ol u pio}ect
to ienew tle smull lydio-
electiic plunt, neui Zelene
pleso luke. Reconstiuction ol
tle powei plunt will stuit tlis
uutumn, und so Binculku will
become tle tliid lodge in tle
ligl mountuins to become
eneigy sell-sullicient using
gieen eneigy.
Coipoiute sociul iespon-
sibility (CSR) wlen doing
business is ieguided by
Slovenske elektiuine us
un insepuiuble puit ol tle
gioup und compuny's munu-
gement cultuie. CSR cieutes
conditions loi peimunently
sustuinuble development in
u iesponsible wuy, tuking into
consideiution tle enviion-
ment duiing eveiyduy busi-
ness us well us in otlei sple-
ies ol lile. Tle piogiumme
Eneigiu pie kiu}inu / Enei-
gy loi tle Countiy lus been
u synonym loi sociul und
enviionmentul iesponsibility
in Slovenske elektiuine loi
tliee yeuis now. It includes
uctivities divided by tlemes
into live spleies locused
on tle development und
piotection ol cultuiul vulues,
nutuie und enviionmentul
piotection und tle pie-
seivution ol bio-diveisity,
pievention us well us pio-
tection ol leultl, develo-
pment ol spoits uctivities,
und suppoit loi und develo-
pment ol educution, cluiity
und pliluntliopic uctivities.
Biielly, tlese uie tle pio-
giummes Eneigiu pie piiodu
/ Eneigy loi Nutuie, Eneigiu
pie zivot / Eneigy loi Lile,
Eneigiu pie kultuiu / Enei-
gy loi Cultuie, Eneigiu pie
vzdelunie / Eneigy loi Edu-
cution und Eneigiu pie spoit
/ Eneigy loi Spoit. In 2010,
tle compuny invested u totul
ol moie tlun 1.91 million in
tlis pio}ect, tliougl wlicl
it suppoited S04 pio}ects in
tle live spleies mentioned
ubove.
Clean energy also beneIlts nature
Today, there are sti!! 1.4 bi!!ion peop!e wor!dwide wi-
thout e!ectricity. A further bi!!ion have no re!iab!e ac-
cess to it. The power supp!ier S!ovenske e!ektrrne (SE),
which since 2006 has been part of the Ene! Group, gu-
arantees S!ovakia's energy security through its stab!e
production and continuous investments in the moderni-
sation of existing sources of e!ectricity, and in the deve-
!opment of new sources. Moreover, in recent weeks the
Ene! Group p!edged at the UN to secure access to power
for two mi!!ion extra househo!ds over the next three ye-
ars. In S!ovakia, we expect the third and fourth b!ocks of
the Mochovce nuc!ear power p!ant to be finished.
DEAL: Coalition parties react cautiously
Continuedfrompg1
The ruling coalition
parties are against Slovakias
participation in the ESM,
states the draft addendum
published by the Sme daily.
In the event that it rejects it,
Slovakia would not block oth-
er countries since 95 percent
of the capital is enough for it
to be approved.
Slovakias representative
to the EFSF scheme, Martin
Bruncko, would be bound by
the decision of the committee
and Slovakia would thus be
able to block loans to particu-
lar countries.
As part of the deal, ruling
coalition parties would agree
to abstain from individual
party campaigns over the
bailout issue.
The largest party in the
ruling coalition, the Slovak
Democratic and Christian
Union (SDK), was not par-
ticularly forthcoming with
comments on the proposal,
saying that Prime Minister
Radiov was negotiating
with SaS and that it would not
comment before she did.
Radiov, a member of the
SDK, did not attend the Oc-
tober 6 meeting of the Coali-
tion Council, which was ori-
ginally scheduled to discuss
the revisedstate budget.
Bla Bugr of Most-Hd
said that while his party may
support the creation of a
committee, its make-up
might have to be discussed.
However, none of the rul-
ing coalition parties rejected
the SaS proposal out of hand.
Fico, by contrast, immedi-
ately denounced the proposal,
calling it one of the greatest
frauds committed on Slovak
voters and promising that his
party would never nominate
anyone to such a committee,
as reportedby SITA.
It is a decent proposal
which protects the money of
Slovak taxpayers, and at the
same time does not block oth-
er countries of the eurozone
and thus I hope it will be
accepted, said Speaker of Par-
liament and SaS leader
Richard Sulk, who on October
6 also formally summoned the
next session of parliament for
October 11 and made the euro-
zone bailout vote the first
itemupfor discussion.
Sulks October 6 com-
ments came as something of a
contrast to his words a day
earlier, when he said he did
not see any solution in sight
that would be acceptable to
his party.
In [its current] form we
will certainly not support the
bailout because it would
massively damage Slovak
taxpayers, Sulk said on Oc-
tober 5, as quoted by the SITA
newswire. He added that the
rest of the ruling coalition had
delivered on its promise to en-
sure that Slovakia was the last
eurozone country to vote on
the bailout deal.
Regarding the October 11
vote, Sulk said that he had no
reason to delay the vote now
as it would be unfair to other
countries.
The leaders of two other
coalition parties Jan Fige of
the Christian Democratic
Movement (KDH) and Bugr
of Most-Hd said there was
still room to negotiate with
Sulk, stressing on October 4
that it was in Slovakias in-
terest to preserve the stability
of the eurozone.
Dont be penny wise and
pound foolish, Fige said, as
quoted by SITA, in support of
his argument that Slovakia
should be more concerned
withthe huge sums it receives
fromthe EuropeanUnion.
Nevertheless, both the
KDH and Most-Hd have
stated openly that if the rul-
ing coalition fails to approve
the bailout on its own, con-
tinuing to govern might
then prove problematic and
the government could hardly
continue without significant
changes.
Im sure that a solution is
at hand, Fige said, as quoted
by the TASR newswire. But if
it becomes clear that this is
not possible, an early election
will be one of the possible
solutions.
Fico predicted on October 5
that SaS would end up voting
in favour of the enlarged EFSF
despite its vocal disagreement.
If SaS finds an excuse and
presents it as a compromise
that has allowed it to back the
EFSF, the party will violate all
its promises, Fico said, as re-
ported by TASR. Weve got in-
formation that SaS is looking
for an excuse. Fico added that
this might involve Sulk vot-
ing against EFSF, with the rest
of the SaS caucus backing it.
Sulk was quick to respond
that Fico had no such inform-
ation. He said his party would
try to demonstrate that it is
not the only group in Europe
which opposes the European
bailout schemes. To this end,
he invited a deputy from
Germanys ruling coalition
Free Democratic Party (FDP),
Frank Schaeffler, who in
Sulks words has been organ-
ising resistance to the bailout
inGermany, SITAreported.
Fico also said that he had
discussed the EFSF issue
with foreign partners and
diplomats inSlovakia.
They all unambiguously
confirmed that Radiov lied
to Slovakia when she
claimed that she was negoti-
ating a compromise for
Slovakia, Fico asserted, as
quoted by SITA. All, includ-
ing Angela Merkel, told
Radiov that no comprom-
ises exist.
Fico did not name any of
the diplomats he had spoken
to and Radiovs spokesman
Rado Bao told Sme that the
Government Office would
not respond to Ficos claims.
Radiov spoke to Merkel
in Warsaw on September 30
at a meeting of European
leaders. She described the
talks as very open discus-
sions. I informed themabout
my perspective on solutions
which could be an acceptable
compromise for my coalition
partner, [and] which would
mean that it [the partner]
would not have to change its
opinion and stance on this
issue. according to TASR.
Radiov restated on
September 30 that she has an
obligation, after the bailout
system had been ratified by
the other 16 eurozone coun-
tries, to ensure that Slovakia
did not block the process and
at the same time the condi-
tions set for fulfilling the
bailout meant very respons-
ible handling of our guaran-
tees and our position within
Europe and our possibilities
for economic growth.
SaS leader RichardSulk, party caucus chief Jozef Kollr andLabour Minister Jozef Mihl (l-r) along
withother SaS members have vowedtostandunitedduringthe bailout negotiations. Photo: Sme
FUNDS: Boosting
research activity
Continuedfrompg3
Environment, biomedicine
andIT
Various kinds of projects
are part of the Bratislava Sci-
ence City idea but they all fo-
cus onthree fields envir-
onmental issues, biomedi-
cine and informationtech-
nology because bothUK
and STUhave specialised
faculties inthese fields loc-
ated inSTUs campus in
Mlynsk Dolina and at SAVs
offices and laboratories in
Patrnka.
Jaromr Pastorek, the
head of SAV, said his institu-
tionplans to focus ondevel-
opment of materials techno-
logy and biomedicine within
Bratislava Science City.
[Approval of] projects is
based onsustainability, top
research, participationinin-
ternational consortiums, es-
pecially those withinthe
EUs framework projects,
and cooperationwithdo-
mestic as well as foreignre-
searchinstitutions and
companies, Pastorek told
The Slovak Spectator.
Miieta explained that
Comenius University would
like to focus mostly onmo-
lecular and environmental
medicine and biotechnology
and expects to bring the res-
ults of the researchinto prac-
tical application.
We want these projects
to solve issues comprehens-
ively, not only their medical-
scientific part but their soci-
etal and humanitarianpart
as well, Miieta said.
STUplans to divide funds
it could receive fromthe EU
among various projects, such
as informationscience and
informationand communic-
ationtechnologies, includ-
ing electronics, automation
and nanotechnologies.
We assume that
Mlynsk Dolina will become
the mecca of Slovak IT re-
search, development and in-
dustry as some kind of centre
of collocation, Redhammer
told The Slovak Spectator,
adding that private compan-
ies will be welcome to parti-
cipate inthe research. He
said a second package of
funding could go towards re-
searchonrenewable energy
sources and flood prevention
systems.
Bureaucracyas abarrier
EducationMinister Eu-
genJurzyca told the parlia-
mentary committee for edu-
cation, science, young
people and sport inearly
September that Slovakia will
drawall available funds from
this EUoperational pro-
gramme ontime. But the
heads of the three institu-
tions involved inBratislava
Science City say that a prob-
lemis bureaucracy surround-
ing the applicationprocess.
The biggest and the
most illogical problemis the
highrigidness used by na-
tional authorities ininter-
pretationof Brussels
regulations, Redhammer
told The Slovak Spectator. It
means that we have to prove
that all rules, including the
Slovak ones, have been
observed. He added that an-
other problemis the finan-
cial motivationof employees
inthe government institu-
tions that naturally forces
themto find as many mis-
takes inthe applicationas
possible.
The EUs rules ongrants
fromsome of its structural
funds restrict regions with
economic performance bet-
ter thanthe EUaverage from
drawing funds and since
Bratislava Regionis inthat
category there are some con-
cerns that this might hinder
getting funding for Bratis-
lava Science City projects in
the 2014-2020 programming
period.
But Pastorek does not be-
lieve this will be a problem,
explaining that there should
not be any differentiation
betweenBratislava and the
rest of Slovakia inthe area of
scientific research, while
also noting that no signific-
ant researchinstitutionhas
beenbuilt inBratislava for
the past 20 years.
For Bratislava and Slov-
akia it [Bratislava Science
City] will meanthe concen-
trationof top researchat one
locality, a higher level of co-
operationbetweenSAV, UK,
STUand the EU, and signific-
ant consolidationof
infrastructure, Pastorek ex-
plained.
Nitratakes
asimilar approach
Bratislava is not the only
locality where researchinsti-
tutions are uniting to have a
better chance at receiving
funding fromthe EU. Con-
stantine the Philosopher
University (UKF) and the
Slovak University of Agricul-
ture (SPU), bothinNitra, are
jointly seeking to build mod-
ernscientific laboratories
and workplaces withina re-
searchcentre focused onag-
riculture, biotechnologies
and other technological pro-
cesses, the SITAnewswire
reported.
The centre will also unite
institutions suchas local of-
fices of the Environment
Ministry and institutes of
the Slovak Academy of Sci-
ences located inNitra, the
rector of UKF, Libor Vozr,
told SITAat the end of
September.
The centre will focus on
researching hazards infood
products suchas E-coli and
BSE, commonly knownas
mad-cowdisease as well as
communicable diseases such
as bird flu, SITAwrote.
10
BUSINESS / NEWS
October 10 16, 2011
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NPP: Final report
due by end of year
Continuedfrompg6
The EuropeanNuclear
Safety Regulatory Group
(ENSREG) and the European
Commissiondefined stress
tests as a targeted re-as-
sessment of the safety mar-
gins of nuclear power plants
inthe light of the events
whichoccurred at Fukushi-
ma: extreme natural events
challenging plant safety
functions and leading to a
severe accident.
Uhrk specified that
stress tests do not focus on
the safety of nuclear power
plants per se but onthe
plants safety margins, or
howfar a nuclear power sta-
tionis able to cope withan
event beyond its original
designparameters.
The objective of the
stress tests is to determine
whichlevel of severity of an
external hazard the nuclear
power plant canwithstand
without severe damage to
nuclear fuel (inthe reactor
core or inthe spent fuel) or
without significant releases
of radioactive materials into
the environment, the inter-
imreport wrote. Previous
studies did not have this as
anobjective, since normally
the plant structures, sys-
tems and components were
designed to cope withthe
loads caused by external
hazards withinthe plant
designbasis covering all
events withnon-negligible
frequency of occurrence.
This also means that in
the stress tests the nuclear
power plants are assessed re-
garding the margins they
have to cope withinconnec-
tionwithextremely unlikely
hazards not originally con-
sidered intheir design.
Under the stress tests ex-
traordinary external events
suchas earthquakes, floods
and other events that could
lead to potential loss of mul-
tiple plant safety functions
are tested and analysed. A
combinationof suchevents
is also considered, including
a power supply interruption,
long-terminterruptionof
(cooling) water supply as
well as a loss of power supply
caused by extreme climate
conditions, according to the
nuclear authority.
Uhrk explained that the
stress tests also verified the
functionality of systems that
are not routinely tested, and
said the equipment was
tested ina configurationthat
was not considered inthe
plants original design. The
tests, for example, looked at
howwater could be supplied
to the spent fuel pond by
natural flow, i.e. by relying
ongravity instead of circula-
tionpumps; supplying steam
generators withwater from
fire-fighting trucks located
tens of metres fromthe main
block was also tested.
While some tests were
carried out physically, others
could be done only onpa-
per as it is impossible to
test for a real earthquake or
a flood beyond the original
design. These are tested
analytically by calculations
and estimations.
One of the principal ob-
jectives of the assessment is
to indicate opportunities to
increase the robustness of
the plant to withstand condi-
tions arising fromextreme
natural events.
We expect, however,
that all our nuclear power
plants will continue to im-
plement further future
improvements, said Marta
iakov, chair of the JD,
adding that eachaccident at
a nuclear facility is closely
monitored by national nuc-
lear authorities. The results
are scrutinised indepthto
see what happened and what
lessons canbe learned to
prevent a similar occurrence.
The stress tests started
onJune 1 and the JDs in-
terimreport described the
approachused and current
status of the facilities in
meeting the stress tests.
The deadline for SE to com-
plete the stress tests and de-
liver its final report is Octo-
ber 31. Afterwards, the JD
will drawup the closing na-
tional report and deliver it
to the EuropeanCommis-
sionby December 31. Inor-
der to enhance the credibil-
ity and accountability of the
process, the national report
should be subject to a peer
reviewprocess.
Uhrk stressed that the
reports should not be used to
compile a safety ranking of
nuclear power stations, but
only to showthe robustness
of the nuclear power sta-
tions designs and their
safety margins.
[The process] has shown
that safety margins are more
thansufficient inthe case of
bothnuclear power stations
[inSlovakia], Uhrk said.
According to Uhrk, the
tests have shownthat the
type of nuclear power station
used inSlovakia comes out of
the tests relatively well be-
cause of its design. Slovakia
uses pressurised water re-
actors unlike Fukushima,
where boiling water reactors
were installed witha small
output, whichmeans that
the active zone and the
amount of fuel are small. By
contrast, the amount of
coolant inthe primary as
well as the secondary cir-
cuits is huge.
This means that the
safety margins and inherent
safety of the nuclear power
stations are big fromthe very
beginning, said Uhrk.
What was a weak point of
the power stations or what
was considered to be a weak
point at the beginning was
their control systems, which
have already beenreplaced
completely inbothnuclear
power stations.
LAW: Minister says
criticism is misinformed
Continuedfrompg1
An amendment to the law
on prosecution, passed by par-
liament in June, that the
Justice Ministry expected
would make the work of pro-
secutors and prosecutors of-
ficesmoretransparent will not
take effect this month as the
Constitutional Court ruled on
September27 that it isblocking
application of the amended
law following a complaint
submitted by acting general
prosecutor Ladislav Tich,
who claimed that the changes
would politicise the work of
prosecutors.
Theblockedchanges
The June amendment to
the law on prosecution re-
quired, among other changes,
that prosecutors publish their
decisions on the internet and
that a person cannot serve as
general prosecutor for more
thanone seven-year term. The
amendment also required that
newprosecutors wouldhence-
forth be appointed by a six-
member selection committee.
This would have reviewed
candidates insteadof thembe-
ing appointed by the general
prosecutor, as is currently the
case. The amendment spe-
cified that the selection com-
mittee would consist of three
members chosen by parlia-
ment and three members
chosenbyprosecutors offices.
The courts ruling was in
response to Tichs multiple
objections to the changes ini-
tiated by the amendment, in-
cluding the newselectionpro-
cedure. itansk had based
the change in the selection
method for new prosecutors
on the system adopted by par-
liament in February for select-
ingnewjudges.
We respect the ruling of
the Constitutional Court and
thus we must respect, for in-
stance, that [future] prosec-
utors will be selected behind
closed doors by Mr Tich and
Mr Trnka [the former general
prosecutor and now a deputy
to Tich], itansk said in
reactiontothecourt ruling.
CriticismfromEuropean
Associationof Judges
itansks legislative
package regarding judges also
received criticism in Septem-
ber. Earlier in the month, the
EuropeanAssociationof Judges
(EAJ) passed a resolution con-
cerning proposed or adopted
amendments relating to the
status of judges in Slovakia and
their conformity with interna-
tional judicial standards in
which the association ex-
pressedconcernthat several of
the amendments under exam-
ination are used to increase the
overall influence of the gov-
ernment onthejudiciary.
The EAJ wrote that
Slovakias methodfor nomina-
tion, appointment andpromo-
tion of judges is problematic,
noting that three of the five
members of the selection
committee that will choose
new judges are appointed by
the justice minister and that
this is against the current
tendency in all international
standards. Another issue
presented in the resolution
concernsdisciplinaryproceed-
ings against judges, with the
EAJ stating that these can be
exclusively initiated by the
ministerof justice.
The EAJ also criticised
itansk for what it called
unjustified criticismof the ju-
diciary, writing that there has
been inappropriate criticism
of court decisions and specific
comments expressing un-
founded doubts about the cor-
rectness of judicial decisions,
as well as the making of of-
fensive statements by repres-
entatives of the executive and
legislative [branches] ad-
dressed to judges and to the
judiciaryasawhole.
The EAJ stated that it un-
dertook its review of changes
in Slovakias legislation at the
request of the Slovak Associ-
ation of Judges (ZSS). After the
EAJ releasedits resolution, the
ZSS called on the Slovak gov-
ernment to make sure the
countrys laws onjudges are in
accord with international
standards and Slovakias con-
stitution.
Incorrect information?
The justice minister main-
tains that the resolution is-
sued by the EAJ was based on
incorrect information. In her
response to the EAJ she poin-
ted out several factual mis-
takes in the text of the resolu-
tion, noting, for instance, the
EAJs statement that the
justice minister chooses three
of the five members of the se-
lection committee for judges.
itansk wrote that the new
lawstates that thepresident of
a court whichseeks to appoint
a new judge is responsible for
selecting four of the five mem-
bers of the selection commit-
tee: one member froma pool of
names chosen by parliament,
two members from a pool of
names chosen by the justice
minister, and one member
fromapool of nameschosenby
Slovakias [state-level] Judicial
Council. The fifth member of
the committee is a judge who
is chosen by the judicial coun-
cil that oversees the work of
the court seeking to appoint a
newjudge.
The whole selection pro-
cess is public and its maxim-
um transparency provides
space for the public, the non-
governmental sector, judges,
aswell astheZSS, toreviewthe
process and point out any
doubts that should be raised,
itanskwrotetotheEAJ.
She also pointed out that
she is one of five persons who
may initiate a disciplinary
proceedingagainst ajudgeand
that this is not new as
Slovakias justice minister has
been able to initiate disciplin-
ary proceedings under current
lawsince2000.
The fact that the Judicial
Council lost the right to file
proposals for disciplinary pro-
ceedings against judges came
only as a logical step in pre-
venting the Judicial Council
from having the posts of both
plaintiff and judge, since the
Judicial Council createsdiscip-
linary senates, itansk
stated, adding that this ap-
proach is in accord with EAJs
principles.
Judges grouped withinthe
initiative called For Open
Justice (ZOJ) backed up
itansks charge that the
criticism in the resolution
prepared by the EAJ was based
on incorrect information,
with representatives of ZOJ
telling the media that it was
the fault of the Slovak Associ-
ation of Judges that the EAJ
hadfaultyinformation.
Oppositionwants
itanskout
Slovakias parliamentary
opposition quickly seized on
the criticism made by the
EAJ, and the leader of Smer
party, Robert Fico, stated his
party may initiate a no-con-
fidence vote in the justice
minister. Fico accused
itansk of using her 14
months as minister to do
away with Supreme Court
President Stefan Harabin
and to politicise the judiciary
andtheprosecutors offices.
Slovakias judiciary does
not deserve a minister like
this, Fico tolda press confer-
enceonOctober3.
itansksaidonOctober
4 that the changes she is pur-
suing as justice minister are
based on the programme
statement adopted by the
government in 2010 and that
she sees it as her duty to fol-
lowthatdocument.
Surprisingly, after four
years [Fico] discovered the
judiciary and started acting
as if the previous four years
of hisgovernment hadbeena
walkintherosegardenfor all
inconvenient judges; as if
therehadnot beenchicanery
in lawsuits, as if foreign dip-
lomats had not come to
watch disciplinary proceed-
ings, as if there had not been
a problem of cronyism at
courts, as if we forgot about
passing notes and influen-
cing courts rulings, she
stated.
Parliaments committee
on constitutional and legal
affairs debated the second
package of changes to the
law on judges proposed by
the Justice Ministry on Oc-
tober 4. At that hearing
itansk told the commit-
tee that she considered rein-
troduction of a system for
evaluation of judges as the
most important change in
the package, something she
said the Fico-led govern-
menthadabolished.
Luciaitansksays she will continue topursue reform. Photo: Sme- Tom Benedikovi
11
NEWS / FOCUS
October 10 16, 2011
12
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October 10 16, 2011
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'Art is like a muscle'
THERE are a lot of things gal-
leries can do that are not
hugely expensive and that will
allow people to view work on-
line, says Marc Sands, director
of audiences and media at the
Tate Gallery in London. Sands
gave two well-received lec-
tures on the future of galleries
and print newspapers in the
digital age as part of the recent
Bratislava Art Festival (BLAF).
The festival, which took
place between September 30
and October 5, involved more
than a week of lectures, work-
shops, discussions, exhibi-
tions and other events in the
Slovak capital. This year the
BLAF worked with the British
Council to bring in Sands, who
gave his first presentation on
October 3.
The packed room saw a
vivid interchange between
Sands and the Bratislava art
community on how to attract
people to galleries, and howto
foster an understanding of art
among the wider public. His
second lecture was entitled
Life with the Media, and took
place the next day at the Uni-
versity of Economics within
the Forum of Inspirational
Ideas, partnered by the Trend
weekly. Before beginning at
the Tate, Sands worked as a
marketing director at the
Guardian newspaper and this
lecture focused more on the
British newspaper and how it
hopes to continue to attract
readers in a fast-changing
media environment. The
Slovak Spectator discussed
with Sands how new techno-
logies have changed the art
and media worlds, and how
they can be used to enhance
and enlivenit.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS):
Howdo you see the future of
galleries? Doyouthinkthere
will be only virtual galleries
oneday?
Marc Sands (MS): Well,
virtual galleries already exist
now, but no, I dont think that
solelyvirtual artworks will ex-
ist in the future. For me, the
question is not the real thing
versus the digital thing. I
think the real thing will al-
ways win. There is no ques-
tioninmy mind is it better to
see the Mona Lisa in real life?
Of course its better! But I
think the fact that we are able
to show you here, in Bratis-
lava, whats in a gallery in
London right now, is fantast-
ic. If you can see that, then
there is a great chance you
will think, What an interest-
ing work, why not go and see
it in London? So for me, it
works both ways. Its not just
marketing trying to get you
in. It is also trying to give you
the opportunity to see it, es-
pecially if for some reason you
cant make it to the gallery.
As for the Tate, we are put-
ting all our collections online
because I believe that people
should have many different
choices regarding how they
want to view art. You might
get to a gallery twice a year, or
youmight get to one every day
- but most people dont. If you
saw a picture in the gallery
and then want to have a look
again then its wonderful to
have that opportunity.
TSS: What can galleries do to
attract people that would
not betoocostly?
MS: Solutions are much
less expensive than people
think. There are a lot of things
galleries can do that are not
hugely expensive and that will
allow people to view work on-
line. To me the problem seems
not so much expense but
rather that the technology
feels new, scary: galleries can
be very radical, but sometimes
they are very conservative.
Within the digital space they
have displayed more conser-
vatism than radicalism. The
world is moving incredibly fast
and for a largely visual media
to fail to engage in the online
world and take full advantage
of it seems weird. The other
thing Ive learned is that you
need to go with the audience.
People under a certain age
spend all their time at a com-
puter. So you need to be there
too or else you will get lost and
ignored. And the case of galler-
ies is not like that of newspa-
pers, where internet content is
basically the same as print
content. If you can get it for
free and the delivery mechan-
ism is easy and comfortable,
thenof course you choose that.
News on paper is getting a
little prehistoric. I still enjoy
it, but people under 40 dont.
TSS: Do you like art? Do you
haveartworks at home?
MS: I do like art, although
Im not an art historian. I like
art the way normal people like
art. But thats not why the Tate
hired me. They hired me be-
cause of my skills with audi-
ences, the internet and mar-
keting.
I think you really have to
love the job. I enjoyed working
for newspapers, and I find art
amazing. You have to care, I
would say, in this sort of
world. If you work for news-
papers or in the art world
and you dont really love it,
you dont really care about it,
you struggle. These are com-
plicated worlds, full of people
who are immense enthusiasts;
and if you are not an enthusi-
ast, its difficult. But you dont
have to be an art historian to
be an enthusiast. And it used
to be the same at the Guardian.
I think what the Tate is trying
to do in forming, educating
and enhancing peoples en-
joyment of art, thats a fantast-
ically simple reason to exist. If
you understand that, then
everything makes sense. If
you dont understand that,
thenit will be difficult for you.
TSS: What other ways are
there, apart from techno-
logy, to get wider audiences
and especially young
people toexhibitions?
MS: The thing with art is
that its like a muscle: you
have to learn how to use it.
Most teenagers would be
scared or think its not inter-
esting, its not for them. And
we have to say to people This
is not just a game for the elite;
of course its for you. And if
you like it, thats wonderful;
and if you dont like it, thats
absolutely wonderful, too.
But the more art you see, the
less scaredyouwill be.
The best way but not al-
ways doable is to get a curator
and listen to him or her. Oth-
erwise people look around and
they have no idea what theyre
looking at. If someone can put
the art in some sort of context,
that would change things; and
here again, I see the space for
internet and digital media to
help. But with a curator, the
story suddenly comes alive
and then you want to go back,
youwant to read more. And its
those small moments that
make it all worthwhile, when
you listen to people describe
how one day a miracle
happened when they heard
something about art, when
someone explained it for
them. And it blew their
minds.
Marc Sands Photo: Sme- Gabriel Kuchta
Lost City project to start in 2013
PARTS OF the historical
centre of Bratislava demol-
ished under fascismand
communismwill be brought
back to life under a new,
tram-based initiative.
The Lost City (Straten
mesto) project is being led by
the Israeli Chamber of Com-
merce inSlovakia (ILCHAM),
withthe support of local
politicians. Its aimis to re-
freshthe historical memor-
ies of residents and visitors
and to revive the old districts
of the Slovak capital that
used to stand under Bratis-
lava Castle. Predominantly
Jewish, they were systemat-
ically destroyed during
Slovakias periods under to-
talitarianrule during the
20thcentury, and to this day
only their ruins remain.
The idea is to make a
tour of historical memory
where a tramof historical
memory will circle; instead
of windows, it will have large
LCDscreens showing the vir-
tual story of the Lost City, and
specifically the destroyed dis-
tricts of Zuckermandel, Vy-
drica, Rybn nmestie
(Fishermens Square) and the
Jewishghetto.
Passengers will be able to
watchthe story that led to
first the emptying and then
the demolitionof historically
significant streets and
squares inthe downtown
area. At Rybn nmestie, the
demolished Neolog syn-
agogue, built in1893 just
next to St Martins Cathedral
and torndowninthe 1960s,
will be reconstructed as a
60-percent-scale model.
We have not beenable to
rebuild the whole city anew,
we could just do it virtually,
Milo iak of ILCHAMtold
the TASRnewswire.
The full name of the
project is Lost City (Straten
mesto) Bratislava Pozsony
Pressburg. The latter two are
the names by whichBratis-
lava was knowninthe 20th
century by Hungarians and
Germans respectively.
To present the project to
the public, a concert was or-
ganised onSeptember 25
withthe Slovak Pressburger
Klezmer Band playing the
opening gig. The band played
klezmer, Jewishmusic that
originated incentral Europe,
and performed mainly in
Yiddish. Next, Pieany rabbi
Zev Stiefel sang a mixture of
songs, some of themtradi-
tional, withone song includ-
ing lyrics inHebrew, English
and Slovak.
Afilmby Zuzana Piussi
about the lost districts
around the castle was
screened. The climax of the
concert came withThe
Klezmatics, a US band which
started playing klezmer dec-
ades ago and whichhelped
spread it and bring it back to
the regionwhere it
originated, Miro Lago, cla-
rinettist of the Pressburger
Klezmer Band, told TASR.
The Klezmatics wona
Grammy award for Best
World Music Albumin2006.
Entrance to the concert
was free and took place at a
parking lot under castle hill,
at a site where some of the
destroyed areas once stood.
The next day, the project
continued witha conference
among what was dubbed the
informed public, including
City Mayor MilanFtnik,
Old TownMayor Tatiana
Rosov, Deputy Prime Minis-
ter for Ethnic Minorities
Rudolf Chmel, Israeli Am-
bassador to Slovakia Alexan-
der Ben-Zvi, historians, ar-
chitects and intellectuals.
Divided into three parts,
the conference compared
historical Bratislava withits
current form, discussed fu-
ture visions and possibilities,
and included anexhibition,
Podhradie inthe Architects
Vision1942-2009, conference
co-organiser Ladislav Snopko
told the SITAnewswire.
ByZuzana Vilikovsk
Forger exhibits artworks in Nitra
ACOLLECTIONof 80 works
inspired by artist Gustav
Klimt and celebrity Marilyn
Monroe will appear for only
four days inNitra.
Called Larte Dei VIP da
Gustav Klimt a Marilyn Mon-
roe, the collection by Daniel
Dond, a famous Italian
artist and art forger, is being
presented as contemporary
modernart.
The exhibits are made
fromgold, precious metals,
pearls and Swarowski crys-
tals, and will be exhibited in
the Mikado Hotel inNitra
betweenOctober 19 and 22.
CompiledbySpectator staff
13 October 10 16, 2011
CULTURE
Shelter animals found new homes
BRATISLAVAS Star Mesto
(Old Town) borough has
founded a charitable project
that offers locals the chance
to pass a pleasant Saturday at
the Horsk Park forest park,
while also helping aban-
doned animals. For the third
time this year, the borough
organised an animal welfare
event called Njdite sa! (Find
Each Other!), held in the
park on September 24. Four
animal shelters took part,
promoting the work they do
around the city and offering
animals to potential new
owners. Personal contact is
the best way for pets to en-
chant people, the shelters
told the Staromestsk Nov-
iny website.
The event set a record,
finding homes for three cats
and 11 dogs, the SITA news-
wire reported. The project
was initiated by Old Town
Mayor Tatiana Rosov, whose
was the first to sign a petition
calling for the adoption of an
entirely new law on animal
protection that was launched
at this latest Njdite sa!
The days programme in-
cluded a range of entertain-
ment. There was a show of
rescue dogs, a consultancy
for pet-owners by a "dog-
training school, a demon-
stration of dogs trained for
canistherapy (therapy by
dogs), and a presentation of
the skills of guide dogs for the
visually impaired. There was
also music, and a selection of
celebrities came to talk about
their love affairs with their
pets. TV hosts Ea Vacvalov,
Erika Judnyov, and Lucia
Habloviov all gave talks.
The four shelters that
took part were the civic asso-
ciations Majme srdce, Pes v
ndzi, and Zchrann korb
(the latter travelling 60 kilo-
metres from atn to at-
tend), as well as the non-
profit organisation Sloboda
zvierat (Animal Freedom).
CompiledbyZuzana Vilikovsk Dond withMarilynMonroe. Photo: Courtesyof Omnimedia Photo: Courtesyof Star Mesto
BYZUZANAVILIKOVSK
Spectator staff
Farming the fields of Zzriv
SLOVAKIA is among the
countries in which manual
cultivation of agricultural
land continued
well into the 20th
century. In the
mountainous re-
gions of the north,
farm lands were
cultivated with hoes and
spades as late as the 1950s, as
more sophisticated plough-
ing equipment could not be
used due to the terrain. Many
fields had high elevations
and steep slopes and many
farmers did not even have
draught animals they could
use. Moreover, men from
these poorer northern re-
gions tended to go elsewhere
for work, leaving fieldwork to
women.
Until the mid-20th cen-
tury, a system of rotating
three fields was used in the
mountainous regions of
Slovakia even though west-
ern Europe had been using a
more efficient and profitable
two-field system for quite
some time. As recently as
1934 it was reported that 631
municipal areas were farmed
in this way. Even more re-
cently farmers in these re-
gions had difficulty in
switching to a
two-field rotation
system but the
state then issued a
law forbidding the
three-field system.
This postcard from the
end of the 1950s shows the
village of Zzriv inthe Orava
region. This snapshot of
farming methods used in
Slovakia is something of an
historical document as few
farmers now pursue tradi-
tional agricultural methods.
ByBranislavChovan
HISTORY TALKS
WesternSLOVAKIA
Bratislava
l MULTI-GENRE: Voices Live
25 The monthly multi-genre
event this time brings Slovak
bands Diego and Datasystem,
documentary photographer
Boris Nmeth, the animated
cartoon Ovce.sk, a book writ-
ten by children from foster
families, the literary corner
of Boris Farka, and the pub-
lishing house Kniha do ucha,
whichpublishes audio-books.
Starts: Oct 13, 19:00;
Heineken Tower Stage,
Tower 115, Pribinova 25. Ad-
mission: 5. Tel: 02/5293-
3321; www. ticketportal.sk,
www.heinekentowerstage.sk.
Bratislava
l SPANISH MUSIC & DANCE:
panielske mzy / Spanish
Muses This event dedicated
to Spanish music and dance
comprises a dance evening,
DANZA; a master-class work-
shop of clarinet music by J. L.
Estelles; and a musical even-
ing, MSICA, supported by
the Spanish Embassy and the
music and dance schools of
Bratislava.
Starts: Oct 13, 19:00; KC
Dunaj, Nedbalova 3 (DANZA);
Oct 14, 9:00 Music Faculty of
the Academy of Performing
Arts (workshop); Oct 15
19:00, Dvorana concert hall,
Zochova 1 (MSICA). Admis-
sion: free. More info: www.
bratislavskenoviny.sk (in
Slovak).
Bratislava
l EXHIBITION: P-O-S-T-E-R-I-
U-M The curator of this in-
ternational project of posters,
Duan Junek, has invited
renowned graphic artists and
artists of visual communica-
tion to exhibit their works in
European cities, starting in
Bratislava.
Open: Mon-Thu 10:00-
16:00, Fri 10:00-15:00 until Oct
28; Polish Institute, SNP
Square 27. Admission: free.
More info: www.polinst.sk.
Bratislava
l EXHIBITION: Premeny
krajiny / Changes of Land-
scape Czech painter Jan
Tich, scion of a famous
artistic family, exhibits his
paintings and pottery, most of
which come from the last
three years.
Open: Tue-Sun 13:00-18:00
until Oct 23; Michalsk dvor
Gallery, Michalsk Street 3.
Admission: free. Tel: 02/5441
-9295; www.galeria.sk.
Bratislava
l EXHIBITION: Pam iary /
The Memory of a Line Fam-
ous Slovak illustrator, paint-
er, and sculptor Miroslav
Cipr exhibits his works of
various genres, including in-
stallations and large-format
paintings.
Open: Tue-Sun 13:00-18:00
until Oct 23; Galria Z,
Ventrska 9. Admission: free.
More info: www.galeria-z.sk.
Central SLOVAKIA
ilina
l LIVE MUSIC: Super Triango
Tour 2011 Peter Breiner, a
Slovak musician nowliving in
the USA, has invited jazz viol-
inist Stano Palch and accor-
dionist Boris Lenko (both
Slovaks) to put together music
inspired by the Argentinean
tango. For this tour, the play-
ers are joined by guest cross-
over cellist Irina Khirkova.
Starts: Oct 10, 19:00;
House of Art Tatra. Admis-
sion: 12. Tel: 02/5293-3321;
www.ticketportal.sk,
www.triango.sk.
LiptovskMikul
l EXHIBITION: Zcalo LOC-
ALES Anexhibition by Pavl-
na Fichta ierna within the
cycle Pocta Kolomanovi Soko-
lovi / Tribute to Koloman
Sokol shows her paintings and
a video presentation.
Open: Tue-Sat 10:00-17:00
until Dec 3; Koloman Sokol
Centre, Nmestie Oslo-
boditeov 28. Admission: 2.
Tel: 044/5522-758; www.
galerialm.sk.
EasternSLOVAKIA
Poprad
l FILM FESTIVAL: XIX.
Medzinrodn festival
horskch filmov / 19th Inter-
national Festival of Mountain
Movies The annual festival
of movies about mountains
and climbing brings competi-
tions, screenings, multi-me-
dia presentations, discussions
and more.
Starts: Oct 13-16; Theatre
Hall of the House of Culture,
tefnikova 99/72. Tel:
www.mfhf.sk.
SpiskNovVes / Smiany
l MUSEUM: Top 60 mzea
Spia / The Spi Museums
Top 60 The Spi Museum
celebrates its 60th an-
niversary this year, and this
profile exhibition shows the
best of the 130,000 items from
different spheres and
branches collected in the
museums depository.
Open: Mon-Fri 8:00-16.30,
Sat 9:00-13:00 until Dec 20;
Mzeum Spia, Letn 50. Ad-
mission: 1-2. Tel: 053/4423
-757; www. muzeumspisa.com.
ByZuzana Vilikovsk
EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE
ONE OF the worlds top mezzo-sopranos, Italian star Cecilia
Bartoli, gives a galaconcert on October 13 in the newbuilding of
the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava at 19:00, along with
the leading Milanese chamber orchestra Il Giardino Armonico
conducted by Giovanni Antonini. They will perform Sacrificium,
a project commemorating music for castrati composed by Nic-
ola Porpora, AntonioCaldara andCarl HeinrichGraun, andthree
arias sung by the last castrato, Alessandro Moreschi. For more
information, visit www.snd.sk. Photo: Uli Weber/Decca
THE DANCE studio tdio tanca in Bansk Bystrica is organising
the 8th year of the tyri (+1) dni tanca pre vs (Four (+1) Days of
Dance for You) festival between October 11 and 16. The pieces
offered include performances by the host studio, by guest dan-
cers and troupes fromSlovakia and the Czech Republic, and also
a multi-media performance, Too Close to Return (Prli blzko na
nvrat) on Oct 12 at 19:00 in which Slovak choreographer
Katarna Mojiov and Austrian group Machfeld (video and
screening) premiere their medley of genres. To buy tickets and
for more information, please goto: www.studiotanca.sk.
Photo: Transforma, DivadloPonec - Courtesyof tdioTanca
14
CULTURE
Weather updates and forecasts from across Slovakia
can be found at www.spectator.sk/weather.
A Slovaks name day (meniny) is as important as his or her birthday. It is traditional to present friends or co-workers with a small gift,
such as chocolates or flowers, and to wish them Vetko najlepie k meninm (Happy name day)
N A M E D A Y O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1
Monday
Slavomra
October 10
Tuesday
Valentna
October 11
Wednesday
Maximilin
October 12
Thursday
Koloman
October 13
Friday
Boris
October 14
Saturday
Terzia
October 15
Sunday
Vladimra
October 16
Jazz returns to Bratislava
EVERY year during three Octo-
ber evenings Bratislava turns
into something like the
swinging city of New Orleans,
where visitors to bars and oth-
er venues can listen to jazz by
famous as well as lesser known
musicians nearly every day of
theyear. FromOctober 21toOc-
tober 23 those who visit Bratis-
lava Jazz Days (BJD) will have
thechancetojivetothesounds
of saxophones and trumpets,
accompaniedbykeyboardsand
bassguitars, just asif theywere
intheFrenchQuarter.
BJDhas become a tradition
in Slovakia: the festival is cel-
ebrating its 37th birthday this
year. Froma small, amateurish
event it developed into a fest-
ival withinternational stature,
attractingmanyworld-famous
musicians. The long-time or-
ganiser of the festival, musi-
cian Peter Lipa, says that it is
not important to know all the
performers or to recognise all
thevarious styles of jazzplayed
aroundtheworld.
We know that people are
coming because of the brand
and they want us to surprise
them, teach them and show
them how jazz is played in the
world today, Lipa told a press
conferenceheldonOctober3.
He stressed that the festiv-
al has no overall theme and
this allows the programme to
resemble a colourful puzzle
composed of differently-
shapedpieces.
Various artists from
Europe, NorthAmerica andthe
Caribbean will perform on two
stages. StageAbelongs tohead-
liners such as Polish singer
Grayna Augucik, US singers
Ral Midn and Curtis Stigers,
two Cuban piano players, Har-
rold Lpez-Nussa and Chucho
Valds, US trumpet players
Nicholas Payton and Randy
Brecker, who will perform
with the Slovak group AMC
Trio, and US piano player
Robert Glasper. The festival
will culminate in a concert by
Earth, Wind & Fire Experience
featuringAl McKay.
Slovakia will also have
many musicians at the festiv-
al such as The Illusions Trio
and the Mat Jakabic CZ-SK
BigBand.
While the first stage will
belong to headliners known to
jazz aficionados, the second
stage will introduce newblood
with nine groups competing
for aprizesponsoredbytheSPP
Foundation, and the chance to
play on the first stage at next
yearsfestival.
Stage B will also welcome
an international project called
JazzPlaysEurope Laboratory,
sponsored by seven European
countries including Slovakia.
The network supports con-
temporary jazz by organising
exchange concerts, concert
tours and artists residencies.
Slovakia is represented by sax-
ophonist RadovanTarika.
ByRadkaMinarechov
October 10 16, 2011
Trumpet player Randy Brecker, photographedby Merri Cyr.
Photo: Courtesyof RockPopBratislavaAgency
Bardejov awards
cultural prizes
THE DAYS of
European Cul-
tural Heritage
opened in
Bardejov in
eastern Slov-
akia on September 8.
Throughout September sim-
ilar events followed in other
municipalities under the
2011 leitmotif Values of Cul-
tural Heritage for Society.
Our association ad-
dressed about 450 towns and
villages in Slovakia that have
important monuments or
artefacts, and called on them
to open some spaces that are
not normally available to the
public or to show some new
exhibits, Juraj Pauula of
the Association of Historical
Towns and Municipalities
told the TASRnewswire.
Bardejov made part of its
normally inaccessible state
archives available to the pub-
lic, as well as several Jewish
monuments.
The town also marked
the occasion by awarding
prizes for the protection of
cultural monuments.
Though prizes have been
awarded for the past 20
years, the number of categor-
ies rose this year from six to
10. Two categories had no
laureates this year while
others had several.
The candidates were
judged by representatives of
Pamiatky a mze (Monu-
ments and Museums), a spe-
cialised magazine published
by the Slovak National Mu-
seum and the Slovak Monu-
ments Board.
Altogether, 11 prizes in
eight categories were be-
stowed on individuals and
institutions during a cere-
mony at St Egidius Cathedral
inBardejov.
One of the prizes awardedinBardejov. Photo: SITA
Celebrities RoboPapp(l) andMrioRadaovsk were amongthe volunteers. Photo: TASR
Volunteering event attracts
record number of Slovaks
PERHAPS because 2011 was
designated the European Year
of Volunteering, the Days of
Volunteering on September 23
and 24 in Slovakia drew a re-
cord number of 6,651 volun-
teers who lent a helping hand
to many types of organisa-
tions and people inneed.
The total number of hours
spent by the volunteers help-
ing others reached 23,870 and
the activities included paint-
ing and decorating outdoor
and indoor spaces, assisting
seniors and hospital patients,
cleaning natural areas, and
crafting small gifts. In addi-
tion to adults and company
teams, students from ele-
mentary and secondary
schools and groups of seniors
also volunteered their hands
and hearts.
The biggest number at a
single event or facility was 555
volunteers at an event in iar
nad Hronom in central Slov-
akia where they helped pre-
pare a theatre performance for
mentally disabled persons and
seniors, Albeta Mrakov of
the C.A.R.D.O. civic associ-
ationtold the SITAnewswire.
In eastern Slovakia, the
most volunteers gathered in
Trebiov, where 185 people
worked in the town park and
inthe damaged amphitheatre.
In Bratislava, 110 volunteers
cleaned the nature reserve of
Sov Les, Hrabn and
Chorvtske rameno,
Mrakov added. She noted
that several celebrities sup-
ported the volunteering
events such as actors Luk
Latink, who has the title am-
bassador of volunteering in
Slovakia, and Juraj Kemka,
who helped with gardening in
Horsk Park inBratislava.
Lucia Habloviov the
ambassador of the European
Year of Volunteering 2011
along with singer Misha, bal-
let dancer and choreographer
Mrio Radaovsk, Mika
urcikov (Miss Slovensko
2011), Jakub Petrank, a parti-
cipant in the Superstar / Slov-
akia Has Talent TV competi-
tion, actress Mirka Partlov,
and singers Martin Madej and
Robo Papp helped with
gardening and also decorated
the interior of a centre for aut-
istic people.
In Nitra, volunteers
helped with the registration
of participants at the
Divadeln Nitra festival to-
gether with actress Kristna
Farkaov, according to Jana
Andreasov of the Nitra vo-
lunteering association.
Mrakov said that her or-
ganisation conducted a poll
and found that 27.5 percent of
Slovaks work for a specific or-
ganisation as a volunteer and
more than half of all people
aged over 15 helpinformally.
She added that an
amendment to the law on vo-
lunteering that is expected to
be passed by parliament be-
fore the end of this year will
help to improve volunteering
inSlovakia.
Fire engine marks 100 years
HODRUA-HMRE, a
municipality in central
Slovakia, had a good reas-
on to celebrate on
September 3. A historic
fire engine, provided by
the nearby suburb of Kopanice, was un-
veiled after being restored to mark its
100thbirthday.
Using a grant from a charity, the
municipality refurbished the vehicle and
it is now part of a permanent exhibition
about the towns fire brigade. Cleaning
and preservation of the fire engine, over-
seen by experts from the Slovak Mining
Museum in Bansk tiavnica, and recon-
struction of the firehouse to house the
permanent exhibitioncost about 8,500.
We asked for a grant from Nadcia
VB (the VB Foundation) for 7,000 and
we received it. We managed to raise the
other money from our own resources
thanks to the municipal office in
Hodrua-Hmre and volunteer firemen
in Kopanice, Katarna Brestensk, the
initiator of the project, told the TASR
newswire. The fire engine is branded R.
Czermack, M. K. Priv, Feuerloeschgerte
Fabrik, Teolitz i.B. with a depiction of
the Austrian state symbol, a female
eagle, and experts say it is historically
valuable.
In the words of a historian, this en-
gine has European significance, com-
memorating the activities of fire bri-
gades inthis region, Brestensk stated.
ubomr turk, the head of the local
volunteer fire fighters said there is one
more historical fire engine in Kopanice, a
two-wheeled model from 1927. We
would like to repair and exhibit it, too,
he told TASR.
The firehouse containing the exhibi-
tion lies in the centre of the town and
since it is well lit tourists cannot miss it,
evenat night.
Astronaut
honoured
EUGENE
Cernan, a
US astro-
naut who
made three
space voy-
ages and is the last person
to have set foot on the
moon, has family roots in
the Kysuce region of Slov-
akia.
His grandparents left
the region before the end of
the 19th century. Now, a
permanent exhibition ded-
icated to the astronaut is
housed in the Kysuce Mu-
seuminthe townof adca.
The exhibition lovek
na Mesiaci (Man on the
Moon) shows Cernan's life
story through large-screen
reproductions and informa-
tional panels. Visitors can
literally touch the surface of
the moon or inspect a space-
suit indetail, Pavol Markech
of the Kysuce Museum told
the SITAnewswire.
An artwork by sculptor
Milan Gregu entitled
Tribute to Eugene A.
Cernan a polychrome
volcanic rock from 2003 is
also part of the display.
Cernan, who celebrated
his 77th birthday on March
14, served as pilot of the
Gemini 9 spacecraft in
1966, as pilot of the Apollo
10 lunar module in 1969,
and as commander of the
Apollo 17 mission three
years later.
Cernan has visited
Slovakia several times and
even though he has US cit-
izenship, he has proudly
talked about the homeland
of his ancestors and their
native regionof Kysuce.
The ilina Region's
government declared 2011
the Year of Eugene An-
drewCernan.
1
2
3
AROUND SLOVAKIA
compiled by Zuzana Vilikovsk from press reports
15 October 10 16, 2011
FEATURE
Hodrua's 'new' fire engine. Photo: TASR
16
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October 10 16, 2011
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