IN SHORT
Harabins bonuses
Supreme Court President
Daniela vecov has called
on her predecessor tefan
Harabin to return salary
bonuses worth 113,000
that he ordered himself to
be paid at the beginning of
his second term at the helm
of the Supreme Court (2009-
2014).
No tanks from Poland
The Slovak Army scraped
the planned purchase of 31
Polish Rosomak eight-
wheel multi-role military
vehicles that were to re-
place Soviet OT-64 vehicles.
Demining trust
Slovakia will be in charge of
a NATO Trust Fund con-
cerning explosive ordnance
disposal and demining,
President Andrej Kiska an-
nounced after the July 9
NATO summit in Warsaw.
Police raid Mochovce
The National Criminal
Agency (NAKA) seized ac-
counting documents at the
Mochovce nuclear power
plant during a raid on July
20. Similar actions took
place across Slovakia.
Hyperloop for free?
Travelling by hyperloop
from Bratislava to Vienna
may be possible in a few
years. The transport might
be for free, the companys
vice-president said in an
interview with
Hospodrske Noviny.
Sagan has green jersey
Slovak cyclist and current
world champion in road
cycling Peter Sagan is sure
to win the green jersey at
the Tour de France this year.
For more news from Slovakia
go to www.spectator.sk.
Cabinet to cut corporate tax
BY JANA LIPTKOV
Spectator staff
TO MEET its promises from the pro-
gramme statement Prime Minister
Robert Ficos government is presenting
a package of tax changes including a
reduction of the corporate income tax.
But entrepreneurs say they see no
sign of promised measures that would
make their lives easier and point to
plans to target certain sectors to har-
ness more revenue.
The Finance Ministry proposes to
reduce the corporate tax from the cur-
rent 22 percent to 21 percent. But the
package does not contain a proposal to
abolish tax licences as of 2018 and in-
crease the caps on flat-rate expenses for
Slovaks came to light candles and lay flowers for the victims of the Nice attack in front of the French Embassy.
Hungarian funds likely finance SMK
BY ROMAN CUPRIK
Spectator staff
THERE have long been rumours that
the Hungarian government funds the
Party of the Hungarian Community
(SMK), the more radical of the two ma-
jor Hungarian parties in Slovakia. Now
it seems that j Sz, the Slovak Hun-
garian language daily, has found a
channel how this could be done.
The mysterious civic association
Fnix raises questions at first glance. It
does not have its own website, it is dif-
ficult to find information about its
activities and even more difficult to get
sole proprietors, even though these are
also in the governments programme
statement. It also proposes to abolish
health insurance levies on dividends
and replace them with income taxes.
Moreover, it proposed extension of
payment of special taxes and levies
paid by regulated sectors and financial
institutions.
Economic analyst Viliam Plenk
from the Slovak Academy of Sciences
said the package lacks a clear vision of
how to tackle the main challenges of
Slovakias society with tax policies, in-
cluding an ageing population, finan-
cing of health care and old-age pen-
sions, long-term care as well as ad-
dressing of nature protection and en-
vironmental issues, he said in a dis-
cussion programme on the news
channel TA3.
phone numbers of its representatives.
Despite that, several Hungarian insti-
tutions including the government of-
fice have sent Fnix almost 1 million.
Fnixs official goal is to support
Hungarian culture in Slovakia but j
Sz indicates that the money could
cover some SMK activities. Fnixs
head udovt Psa refused to elaborate
on how funds were used to both j Sz
and The Slovak Spectator.
I am on vacation, Psa told The
Slovak Spectator before hanging up.
Jzsef Bernyi, the former SMK
chair who led the party during the
election campaign, denied that Fnix
funded the campaign of the party.
After the dailies j Sz and Sme
I perceive the drop in rate
positively, but the space is
much bigger.
Analyst Martin Vlachynsk
The business sector and analysts
perceive the reduction of the corporate
tax as the only positive measure.
I perceive the drop in rate posit-
ively, but the space is much bigger,
Martin Vlachynsk, analyst with IN-
ESS think tank, told the Sme daily.
The Finance Ministry says that
there is still time for abolishing the tax
licences while it is now analysing a
Photo: Sme
wrote about the case, the State Com-
mission for Elections and Funding of
Political Parties and the police started
to investigate.
The state commission will pass
information published about this is-
sue to the legal entities involved in
criminal procedures, which will deal
with those suspicions, the Interior
Ministry told The Slovak Spectator.
j Sz found those transactions
thanks to a Hungarian law on free ac-
cess to information in cooperation
with tltsz.hu watchdog. The daily is
published by Petit Press, the co-owner
of The Slovak Spectator.
See SMK pg 2
change to the caps on flat-rate ex-
penses for sole proprietors.
Proposals for tax changes are now
under inter-departmental review.
Main tax changes
The corporate tax will drop to 21
percent as of 2017. This will reduce
budgetary revenues by 132 million in
2017.
The government has been prom-
ising to slash this tax for some time, but
even the new rate is well above what it
once was, 19 percent. The first Fico
government increased it to 23 percent
but within one year it decreased to 22
percent. The cut was compensated by
the introduction of tax licenses.
See TAXES pg 4
Audit finds
flaws at
VZP
ALLEGATIONS about the murky
business between the state-run
health insurer Veobecn Zdravotn
Poisova (VZP) and the companies
owned by the aunt of its former gen-
eral director, Marcel Forai, have been
acknowledged by the Supreme Audit
Office (NK).
Several of the contracts that VZP
concluded with the companies of the
aunt of Forai, Anna Sukov, were
disadvantageous for the insurer, the
NK stated in its report following an
extraordinary audit in VZP.
The contracts cost Forai his pos-
ition in September 2015, after lead-
ing the state-run insurer for most of
the former governments term.
He defended them as standard,
but after much publicity, he
resigned. MP Miroslav Beblav
pointed to seven companies in
which Sukov was active and with
which VZP concluded contracts
under Forai.
The NK audit confirmed that
VZP under Forai on several occa-
sions gave preferential treatment to
companies linked to Sukov, as well
as to the Kostka clinic, which in 2011
received a special code that enabled
it to operate in a way unheard of by
other similar facilities.
Discrepancies were also found in
payments for five pharmacies that
Sukov was involved with. VZP
continued paying annual payments
of three- to five-fold the average
payments to other pharmacies.
The auditors recorded a drop in
payment for these companies after
the contracts were medialised, NK
spokesperson Daniela Bolech
Dobkov said as quoted by the Sme
daily.
See NK pg 9
2 July 25 August 7, 2016
Slovak officials condemn Turkey coup
SLOVAKIA supports demo-
cratic processes in Turkey
and condemns the attempt at
a violent overthrow of the
local government, Interior
Minister Robert Kalik said
after the session of the Slovak
National Security Council and
Analytical Centre on July 16.
An attempted coup by a
military faction in Turkey
late on July 15 has resulted in
violence, claiming the lives
of at least 294 people, while
some 1,400 people were in-
jured.
A stable Turkey is of ex-
traordinary importance to
us, as its located at EU border
and any destabilisation
might have far-reaching
consequences for us, he
said, as quoted by the TASR
newswire.
Kalik accentuated the
importance of a stable Tur-
key in light of the migration
crisis in Europe. Any im-
provement regarding migra-
tion certainly requires Tur-
keys involvement, said in-
terior minister, adding that
the situation has stabilised,
which represents good news
for Slovak holidaymakers.
Both Foreign Minister
Miroslav Lajk and Defence
Minister Peter Gajdo con-
curred that despite the coup
attempt in Turkey, there is
no reason for panic at the
People protested at the Bonaparte complex July 18. Photo: Sme
Protests against Kalik to continue
AROUND 700 people attended
the July 18 protest, the fifth
in a series of protests in front
of Prime Minister Robert
Ficos private flat in the
Bonaparte housing complex
in Bratislava.
The opposition will con-
tinue to organise protests
calling for the dismissal of
Interior Minister Robert
Kalik, staging them in
Bratislava as well as in re-
gional capitals. The protest
rallies will take place
throughout the summer,
when no extraordinary par-
liamentary sessions are
planned.
We want to focus on
seeing minister Kalik ter-
minated, deputy chair of
Freedom and Solidarity (SaS)
moment. Gajdo convened
the crisis response staff and
inquired about the latest de-
velopments reported by the
intelligence services in re-
sponse to the coup attempt.
The stability of Turkey is
of extraordinary importance
to Europe also because of the
EU migration crisis. There-
fore, any attempt at a violent
overthrow of the Turkish
government must be con-
demned, parliamentary vice-
chair and coalition Most-Hd
party chairman Bla Bugr
reacted. It is important to
find a way to defuse the situ-
ation in Turkey, he added.
Violent coup and the re-
striction of democracy are
not proper tools for govern-
ing a country, representat-
ives of the Freedom and
Solidarity (SaS) party said on
July 16 in reference to the at-
tempted state coup in Tur-
key. SaS voiced hope that the
chaos in Turkey will be put to
an end soon.
The Slovak Foreign Af-
fairs Ministry has updated its
travel advisory to Turkey on
July 19, stating Slovaks
should consider whether it is
necessary to go to certain
parts of Turkey. It also re-
commends tourists to stay at
least 40 kilometres from the
Turkish-Syrian and Turkish-
Iraqi borders.
ubomr Galko told the July
19 press conference, as
quoted by the TASR news-
wire.
SaS and OaNO-NOVA are
complaining that by blocking
parliamentary sessions with
no-confidence votes in
Kalik and Fico on the
agenda, the governing coali-
tion has stamped upon its
constitutional rights.
Well keep protesting
until a parliamentary session
takes place, SaS chair
Richard Sulk said, as quoted
by TASR. If we cant engage
in a political battle in parlia-
ment, well do it on the
streets.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
NEWS
Law targets shell firms
BY MICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
A MORE effective law that
would prevent shell compan-
ies from earning money from
public resources was what the
junior coalition members
Most-Hd and Sie set out as
their condition for entering the
government with Smer and the
Slovak National Party (SNS).
Justice Minister Lucia
itansk of Most-Hd pledged
to prepare the law within the
first 100 days of the govern-
ment. That deadline passed on
July 1, and the law, officially
known as the law on the re-
gister of partners of public
sector, made it to the interde-
partmental review on that day.
Shell companies have
played a role in most of the
countrys major corruption Bidders on public contracts, like highways, will face greater scrutiny. Photo: Sme
scandals and allegations, most
recently the Medical Group in posed provisions could be cir- commented on the draft law subject that gains money from
2014 that was involved in the cumvented or rendered irrel- on July 13. public resources or public
overpriced purchase of a CT evant. The state needs to require property (above a certain
device in the Pieany hospital. The proposal to widen the greater transparency and oth- value) will have to publish
While the ministry current register of owners of er requirements on companies their final beneficiary or be-
pledges the involvement of at- companies who do business who want to aspire to use any neficiaries. The law will thus
torneys and auditors, higher with the state, and doubling public resources. Such com- apply to public resources
fines, and the threat of being the check of data through at- panies have to be registered in across the board, explains An-
permanently excluded from torneys or tax advisers is wel- the register of partners of pub- drej Leontiev, a partner at the
any business with the state comed, but in the Slovak cir- lic sector, and unveil their Taylor Wessing law firm who
could sufficiently guarantee cumstances it is really just a ownership structure down to cooperated on the draft law. So
the law will be more effective small step in the fight against the level of the final benefi- far, such rules have only ap-
than the current legislation, shell companies, Transpar- ciaries, the Justice Ministrys plied to public procurement.
some observers are sceptical ency International Slovensko spokesman Peter Bubla said.
and point to ways the pro- non-governmental watchdog Under the new law, every See SHELL pg 9
SMK: Bernyi was paid by Fnix too
Continued from pg 1 Ties with SMK part of 32,000 went to Fnix to cover its
costs on publishing a strategic docu-
j Sz discovered that Fnix, which Also Bernyi was paid by Fnix when ment, they said. The name of the docu-
was founded by former SMK deputy chief he led the party. In his 2014 property de- ment resembles the name of a concep-
gnes Bir, received HUF70 million claration he states that he had a working tion published by SMK in 2014.
(225,000) from Hungarian national lot- contract with the association. Besides in- This conception illustrated the idea of
tery company Szerencsejtk. come for his public service he declared in- a certain form of autonomy for regions in
More financial support worth HUF20 come topping 5,000 from other sources. southern Slovakia neighbouring with
million (64,000) came to Fnix in pre- Part of this sum is payment from Fnix. Hungary to protect the Hungarian com-
election year 2015 from Gbor Bethlen It is obvious in my property declar- munity from extinction.
foundation which supports Hungarians ation that I had income from five sources The Hungarian Government Office
living abroad. in 2014 therefore I cannot instantly name sent the third 645,000 donation to Fnix
The third and the biggest donation the all sources for that year but it could have for supporting allegiance of Slovak Hun-
association received in January 2016 only happened as you described, Bernyi told garians to their community and to im-
two months before the election, when the The Slovak Spectator. prove education in their mother tongue.
Hungarian government office sent it Another connection between the Fnix received support after it sent an
HUF200 million (645,000). party and Fnix is gnes Bir who foun- individual request. The Hungarian Gov-
ded the organisation and in the past was ernment Office checks into whether the
the deputy chair of SMK and state sec- contract is fulfilled by looking at a costs
Avoiding the law retary at the Culture Ministry. sheet, Gyrgy Rpnszki told The Slovak
The head of Fnix udovt Psa sent Spectator. Yet he has not said if the of-
j Sz refers to several employees who 45,000 to the party as a gift in 2014, ac- fice has already checked it.
under promise of anonymity said that cording to j Sz.
Fnix paid for some of SMKs activities Interior Ministry quiet
during the pre-election campaign and the Mysterious donations
salaries of some of the partys employees The Interior Ministry, which should
were covered by the organisation. Fnix has not clearly shown how it monitor the fulfilling of election legisla-
If this is true, it would be violation of used donations from Hungary. Psa told tion, has refused to say whether it is in-
the law because Fnix is not among of- the daily that the main goal of the or- vestigating the transactions or not.
ficial donors of the party and legislation ganisation is to protect the rights of na- The support of the Hungarian minor-
forbids parties to be funded from abroad. tional minorities. ity in neighbouring countries should be
If the Hungarian governments of- In the request for a donation from the transparent and focused on real cultural
fice sent money to a civic organisation Hungarian lottery company it is stated activities and not to support pseudo or-
and this organisation pays for something that money should be used to support ganisations, according to the Most-Hd
instead of SMK this would be an obvious survival of the Hungarian minority in party which also targets the Hungarian
avoidance of the law, Zuzana Wienk of Slovakia which is gradually declining in minority in Slovakia.
the Fair-Play Alliance told The Slovak number. It is problematic if the Hungarian
Spectator. The second 64,000 financial contri- government uses money of Hungarian
New SMK chairman Jzsef Menyhrt bution from Hungary was divided into taxpayers to cover the campaign of its af-
had no time to check the information, ac- two halves. Gbor Bethlen foundation finitive political party in Slovakia, Most-
cording to his spokeswoman Helena covered with the first 32,000 two opin- Hd spokesman Andrs Nagy told The
Fialov. ion polls ordered by Fnix. The second Slovak Spectator.
www.spectator.sk NEWS July 25 August 7, 2016 3

Shops still sell mostly Nice attack spurs

solidarity pledges
foreign food SLOVAK officials condemned
the terror attack in Nice on
July 14 which killed at least 84
people and left dozens more
ers.
The Interior Ministry has
meanwhile condemned the
terrorist attacks in France,
injured, thus becoming one stressing that the Slovak se-
BY RADKA of the worst terrorist attacks curity forces are monitoring
MINARECHOV in Europe in the past 15 years. the current situation and are
Spectator staff The Foreign Affairs Min- in communication with their
istry so far does not know foreign partners.
about any Slovaks among the Furthermore, the in-
THE SHARE of foodstuffs pro- victims or the injured, Igor creased terrorist threat level
duced in Slovakia offered in Skoek of the press depart- remains in force.
shops continues to drop, but ment told the TASR news- Slovakia has applied en-
not because of the lack of pro- wire. hanced security measures,
motion. The state fails to sup- There are no Slovaks which focus on places where
port the food producers who among the victims of the at- many people gather and on
were decimated especially tack. strategic objects, for a long
during the rule of the first Prime Minister Robert time, Interior Ministry
post-communist govern- Fico, who was attending the spokesperson Andrea
ments, observers say. ASEM summit in Mongolia at Dobiov stated in a press
Two recent surveys carried the time of the incident, ex- release.
out by GfK company showed pressed his condolences to Slovakia sent a special
that only about 39 percent of all the bereaved. plane to Nice to bring home
products sold in shops are of I am sorry for all the vic- citizens who wished to return
Slovak origin. The number tims and all those injured in to their country following the
dropped compared with the this repulsive terrorist at- attack, Interior Minister
2014 survey, with one of the tack, Fico said and expressed Robert Kalik informed
reasons being the low number Price trumps country of origin for food shoppers. Photo: Sme his solidarity with the after an extraordinary meet-
of Slovak producers. French. ing of the Security Council
Companies are unable to the reasons is that the EU Moreover, in most cases the during the rule of the earlier Fico said that he had been that convened on July 15 in
supply big retailers, retail provides only limited support customers are not interested in governments, which resulted in contact with the Slovak reaction to the atrocity. A
analyst ubomr Drahovsk to local food as its interest is to the origin of products. They in many domestic producers Embassy in France and with total of 36 Slovaks and one
told The Slovak Spectator, remove the borders and create rather pick the products based being gradually eliminated. the Slovak security forces and Czech Republic national re-
adding that Slovak consumers one common market, the on their price. They also check Some domestic production the secret service since the turned prematurely from
are not very interested in do- Hospodrske Noviny daily re- freshness and quality of the companies were sold to for- attack occurred, the Sme France to Slovakia on July 16.
mestic products as they are ported. products. Other important eign owners, but they finally daily reported. Slovakia will Slovakia was expected to
usually more expensive. Moreover, the Slovak factors are shopping habits and left and the production simply take measures that are usu- go to the standard level se-
To change the current shops were required by law to locality of the shops. ceased to exist, the analyst ally put in place following curity alert, but the Security
situation, the state should display close to their en- The impact of the region- continued. similar attacks, he said. Council has decided to keep it
support the production with trances how much foodstuff of al sentiment seems to be min- Moreover, support for the It is an event that will at level two, Sme reported.
various subsidies or other Slovak origin they sell. The imal, Drahovsk said. food industry lags behind resonate for several months Kalik told the press that
methods that would broaden Agriculture Ministry, European standards. Slovakia not only in Europe but also in there are already thousands
the offer. This problem can- however, informed in May More support for producers meets requirements of Brus- the whole world, because at- of police officers in the
not be solved immediately and 2016 that this duty will be sels without analysing the tacks occur in every part of streets, many more than
it is necessary to prepare a scrapped following the note of The Agriculture Ministry impacts they will have on the the world, Fico said. usual, due to the EU Council
longer-term strategy, the ana- the European Commission meanwhile tries to increase domestic sector and without Ive been deeply shaken Presidency and the police
lyst added. that the provision was at odds the share of Slovak food in proposing and implementing by yesterdays attack in Nice, corps do not really have the
Yet the fact remains that with EU legislation. shops also via various educa- the strategies that would sup- President Andrej Kiska wrote capacity to send out more.
customers have different pri- The EC claimed that the tional and promotional cam- port the Slovak food industry, in a telegram of condolence, The Foreign Ministry
orities and they still prefer only solution it would accept paigns, as well as via negoti- said Jarmila Halgaov, dir- sent to his French counter- condemned the attack and
price over origin of purchased was to remove the provisions ations with the retailers estab- ector of the Food Chamber of part Francois Hollande. It is a noted that as the presiding
products, observers point out. from the law, which the min- lished in Slovakia to sell more Slovakia. cold-blooded, barbarian act country of the EU, Slovakia is
istry accepted though it does Slovak food, ministry spokes- Combined with the ap- which abused the celebra- ready to continue fighting
Food origin not important not identify with the objec- woman Jana Gasperov said. proach of retailers we cannot tions of a national holiday to terrorism as a global threat.
tions, ministry spokeswoman The ministry also tries to expect the position of the food cause the death and suffering Foreign Minister
During recent years, the Radka Kulaviakov told the persuade producers to create industry in Slovakia will im- of many innocent people. Miroslav Lajk, who con-
Agriculture Ministry has in- TASR newswire back in May. associations that would en- prove, Halgaov told The Terrorism is an evil we all demned the attack on his
troduced several campaigns to The publishing of lists will able them to meet demands of Slovak Spectator. have to unite against. Twitter account, sent a letter
support domestic production. continue, though only on a retailers and increase their Though every govern- Speaker of Parliament of condolence to his French
It even defined what a Slov- voluntary basis, she added. negotiating power, ment promises at its begin- Andrej Danko wrote on Face- counterpart, Jean-Marc
ak food product is: a product The ministry considers Gasperov told The Slovak ning it wants to support pro- book that his thoughts and Ayrault.
with 75 percent of its raw- the information on share of Spectator. ducers, every attempt has prayers are with the families
material components made in foodstuffs of Slovak origin Drahovsk points out that failed so far, opines of the bereaved who lost their Compiled by
Slovakia, except for water, ac- from the point of revenues the domestic production in Drahovsk. children, mothers and fath- Spectator staff
cording to the regulation ad- useful and having a certain Slovakia has been decimated Even this government has
opted in July 2013. explanatory power, and can only be restored with stated some of its priorities in
The producers, however, Kulaviakov continued. difficulties. its programme manifesto. The
are not required to label their Drahovsk, however, con- The agriculture and food Agriculture Ministry, for ex-
product with a mark confirm- siders the provision one of the production was under strong ample, plans to prepare a new
ing their Slovak origin. One of grandiose stupidities. political lobbying especially law on a marketing fund to
support the promotion of Slov-
ak agricultural products.
Survey methods questioned by grocery chain Gasperov also points to the
voluntary principle of la-
RESPONDING to the March survey on the share The Kaufland survey poses similar numbers belling products of Slovak ori-
of Slovak products sold in shops in which it scored when it comes to the share on all amounts. In ab- gin, whose aim is to support the
poorer than some other shopping networks, re- solute numbers, however, the results differ. Most sale and promotion of such
tailer Kaufland ordered its own survey using Slovak products are sold by Tesco (5,315) and Kau- products and their placement
slightly different methodology. fland (5,310), while COOP Jednota offers 1,453 and in the Slovak market.
The survey carried out by the GfK company CBA 1,137 Slovak products. Yet there is still a risk that
for the Food Chamber of Slovakia (PKS) suggests PKS, however, regards Kauflands survey as the share of Slovak food in
that the most Slovak food in 2016 was sold in COOP an effort to make excuses. shops will continue decreas-
Jednota and CBA shops, where the share of Slov- People ask for more Slovak food in shops, and ing, especially at the time the
ak food on the total offer accounts for 60 and 54 not skewing the numbers as we can witness in European market faces a sur-
percent, respectively. In Tesco Stores, only 43 this case, Jarmila Halgaov, director of PKS, plus of food resulting from the
percent of offered items are of Slovak origin, while told The Slovak Spectator. Russian embargo, Drahovsk
in Billa it is 41 percent, in Metro 39 percent, in said.
Kaufland 35 percent, and in Lidl 16 percent. By Radka Minarechov Moreover, for Slovak con-
sumers price is still a prior-
ity, he added. People paid tribute to victims in Nice. Photo: AP/SITA
4 July 25 August 7, 2016
EU funds for Slovakia halted
THE EUROPEAN Commis-
sion has halted payments of
EU funds to Slovakia. The
action concerns five opera-
tional programmes from the
2007-2013 programming
period.
Brussels halted the EU
funds due to flaws found es-
pecially in related procure-
ment proceedings. The
stoppage pertains to pro-
grammes on informatisation
of society, health care, funds
for Bratislava Region, re-
search and development,
and cross-border cooperation
between Slovakia and the
Czech Republic.
Deputy Prime Minister
The first Slovak satellite
Launch of Slovak satellite postponed
THE FIRST Slovak satellite
skCUBE will be sent into or-
bit probably only in the au-
tumn of this year. Jakub
Kapu from the Slovak Or-
ganization for Space Activit-
ies (SOSA) which coordinates
the project told the TASR
newswire. Originally the
start was planned for May
and later postponed to June
and then to July.
Deflation remains historically low
THOUGH consumer prices
increased by 0.1 percent
month-on-month in June,
they dropped in annual
terms: by 0.8 percent.
Deflation, however, is
not harmful for Slovakias
economy, ubomr Kork, Kornk wrote, adding that
analyst with UniCredit Czech
Republic and Slovakia, wrote
Free rails are dearer than expected
ALTHOUGH the cost of free
rail transport for students
and pensioners was over 14
million in 2015, Transport
Minister Roman Brecely does
not intend to abandon the
measure.
Each measure like this
has its benefits and costs,
said Brecely as cited by the
TASR newswire.
Originally, the state es-
timated the cost of the
measure at 12 million per
year. Contrary to this the
annual shortfall in ticket
revenues of state-run pas-
senger rail carrier ZSSK
for Investments and In-
formatisation Peter Pel-
legrini sees this as a normal
procedure and expects that
after removing the problems
Slovakia will get the re-
maining EU funds.
Halted payments in four
programmes nears 46 mil-
lion while the amount of
those stopped in the pro-
gramme of informatisation
of the society were not
identified, the TASR news-
wire wrote.
Slovakia has so far spent
96.89 percent of the total
amount of 11.6 billion al-
located within the 2007-2013
programming period.
Photo: Courtesy of skCUBE
The pocket-sized one-unit
CubeSat, named skCUBE,
should liftoff atop SpaceXs
Falcon 9 rocket from the
Vandenberg Air Force Base in
California. It will be con-
trolled from Slovakia.
Unfortunately, our Dutch
partner recently re-sent us a
letter from the American side
informing about another
delay, said Kapu.
in a memo.
Though Slovakia has
been facing deflation for
more than two years, the de-
flation rate is still relatively
low and impacted particu-
larly by supply factors,
such deflation supports the
consumption of households.
amounted to 14.33 million
last year.
However, railway trans-
port expert Desana
Mertinkov pointed out that
the annual shortfall in ticket
revenues are only part of the
total costs of the measure.
Costs for the additional 105
new state trains and higher
subsidies for the private car-
rier RegioJet operating the
Bratislava-Dunajsk Streda-
Komrno route should be in-
cluded too, the SITA news-
wire cited Mertinkov.
Compiled by Spectator staff
BUSINESS
FinMin seeks to legalise
artificial revenues
BY PETER ADAMOVSK
Spectator staff
CIRCUMVENTING the official
forecasts in budgeting reven-
ues is set to be legalised based
on a draft legislation authored
by the Finance Ministry.
The cabinet would legally
raise revenues in the budget
beyond official forecasts in
following years after the min-
istry submitted an amend-
ment to the act on financial
regulation of the public ad-
ministration. While the draft
law allows authorities to work
with numbers that are not
contained in the prognoses of
the Tax Forecast Committee
(DV), experts perceive such ef- Finance Minister Peter Kaimr Photo: TASR
forts as an attempt to legalise
an illegal practice already in
use. tank told The Slovak Spectator. accounted for in the official amendment shifts legislation
The government included budget prognosis that the DV closer to unified reporting of
additional revenues in the Artificial revenues publishes several times a year. budgetary data in the budget
budget which the DV did not For 2016, the government and raises attention to the ef-
approve the previous two Through the draft law, pushed through additional ficiency of public expendit-
years, and therefore reduces which is currently under in- revenue of 250 million more ures, Finance Ministry
transparency in making the terdepartmental review, the than the official forecasts, al- spokeswoman Alexandra
budget, Peter Golia of the In- ministry aims to legalise ad- though the appropriate legis- Gogov said.
stitute for Economic and So- ditional tax and levy revenues lation is still not in place.
cial Reforms (INEKO) think in the budget which are not In addition, the draft See FIN pg 9
TAXES: Critics argue for spending cuts
Continued from pg 1 proposes keeping the rate banks pay, 0.2 to 14 percent. Instead, the ministry pro-
percent on corporate and private indi- poses to introduce a new 15-percent tax.
The 21-percent rate will remain one of viduals deposits, while it was scheduled Bal considers taxing of dividends a
the highest in the region, Vlachynsk told to decrease to 0.1 percent as of 2017 as good step as the current rules favoured
Sme. banks would have already contributed financial groups and foreign monopol-
The ministry proposes to extend and more than 750 million. The ministry also ies. Health insurance levies are paid only
increase a special tax paid by businesses in proposes to keep the levy until 2020. from dividends up to 50,000.
regulated industries like companies act- The Slovak Banking Association (SBA) INEKO analyst Peter Golia, however,
ive in energy, insurance, public health in- questions the policy. warns the new measure will decrease the
surance, telecommunications, postal ser- The increase of the so-called bank attractiveness of Slovakia in the eyes of
vices or aviation sectors. The levy was to levy represents a potential risk for the investors and will also slow economic
be temporary and end in 2016 but the min- stability of the domestic banking sector, growth, Sme wrote.
istry proposes to prolong it and double the endangers the ability of banks to fin- In case of dividends to be paid out to
rate from 0.00363 percent to 0.00726 per- ance the growth of the economy and wor- a company or individual from the so-
cent. As a result, budgetary revenues sens the competitiveness of Slovak banks called non-contracting state, the tax
should increase by 76 million annually. on the EU single market, said Ladislav should be as high as 35 percent. These are
The companies will probably reflect Unovsk, SBA executive director, as mostly countries that can be considered
this in higher fees or prices, prognost- cited by the SITA newswire. tax havens. Among non-contracting
icator with the Slovak Academy of Sci- Citizens will also pay more for their states are countries with which Slovakia
ences Vladimr Bal told Sme. vices as the government increases ex- has not signed agreements for the avoid-
Vlachynsk warned that this higher cise taxes on cigarettes and introduces a ance of double taxation or are not sig-
tax may reduce the appetite to invest. special tax on gaming machines. natories of the international agreement
While the Finance Ministry wants to The government proposes to in- about exchange of tax information.
secure consolidation of public finances, crease taxes on tobacco products, which The ministry perceives taxation of di-
employers continue to perceive this tax as may increase the price of one package by vidends also as an instrument to combat
problematic. Martin Hotk from the Na- 6 cents or more. The tax should gradu- tax evasion and the fight against shell
tional Union of Employers (RZ) would ally increase until 2019. By 2020 the state companies.
like to see the consolidation of public fin- should receive 200 million more than Experts warn that the change may not
ances on the side of expenditures and not now from such taxes. bring the desired effect. Tax advisor Mar-
on the side of revenues as it was so far and The aim is to stabilise the tax in- cela Bokov specified for the Hospodrske
how it is proposed also in this tax pack- comes from tobacco products, prevent Noviny that typical tax havens like the
age. their drop and achieve balance with the Seychelles islands, British Virgin Islands,
The Finance Ministry also proposes to goals of health protection, the ministry Cayman Islands or Cyprus belong among
change the current law on the bank levy said. contracting countries and thus the high-
in a way that doubles the special tax banks Gaming machines in Slovakia will be er tax rate does not apply to them.
should pay in 2017. taxed 1,500 per machine which should The business sector does not like tax-
The government imposed the special bring an additional 9.9 million. The state ation of dividends when Peter Kremsk,
tax levy on banks to collect money for will collect as much as 145 million from head of the Business Alliance of Slovakia
tackling a potential crisis in the banking taxing gambling this year. (PAS) points out that this means a second
sector. Banks have been paying it since tax on profit.
2012. The levy was designed to be a tem- Taxing dividends Milan Seliak of Bisnode pointed out for
porary measure and should end once the Hospodrske Noviny that abrupt and
banks have paid a total of 1 billion. In addition, the draft tax changes pro- massive changes may cause an outflow of
The payment scheme was proposed as pose to abolish the levies from dividends companies from Slovakia into countries
degressive. Now, the Finance Ministry to health insurers which currently amount without such taxes.
www.spectator.sk
It would be a sin to scrap the protests.
Igor Matovi, head of OaNO and one of the main organisers of the
protests targeting Interior Minister Robert Kalik.
The five stages of grief
BY JAMES THOMSON
Special to the Spectator
BRITAIN, despite the almighty
clanger it dropped on June 23,
and the tumult that followed,
appears to have returned to its
normal, rather pragmatic self
with startling speed.
Indeed, the post-Brexit-
vote grieving process appears
to have run through almost all
the stages of the Kbler-Ross
spectrum in less than a month.
First came denial, with fu-
tile calls for a new referendum
from distraught Remainers
and admissions from the Leave
campaign that their promises
had actually been just aspira-
tions, or even mistakes.
Then anger, as the London-
centric elites fumed at what
they clearly regarded, in all but
name, as a peasants revolt.
Then came depression, as the
country was faced with yet
another bout of Acheson-esque
self-doubt about its role in the
world. And finally acceptance,
with the rapid appointment of
a new prime minister, Theresa
May, her unambiguous state-
ment that Brexit means
Brexit, and her selection of
three prominent pro-Leavers
Blog: Greetings from a
country full of good ideas
BY ANCA DRAGU
Special to the Spectator
THE RED carpet is baking in
the sun at the entrance of the
new Slovak National Theatre
building making some
passers-by wonder what grand
premiere is about to take place.
Well, the red carpet did not
welcome movie stars but
mayors and other delegates of
towns and regions from all
over Europe who gathered in
Bratislava to talk about how to
support innovation, create
sustainable economic growth
(and jobs for young people) and
make their cities intelligent. It
means using modern techno-
logy to improve the efficiency
of a wide range of services from
public transport and lighting
to thermal insulation for
buildings. Whoever walked
down the red carpet could hear
officials from both the Brat-
islava City and Bratislava Re-
gion talking a lot about how
they support innovation and
how the Slovak capital has the
ambition of becoming a mod-
el when it comes to intelli-
gent cities.
Outside, a few white tents
stand shoulder to shoulder in
the little square. One of the
tents has a big banner on its
to manage the process.
The arcane rules of the
European Union themselves
in no small part the cause of
Britons discontent with that
institution mean that the
bargaining stage has been
skipped for now, and might
not formally begin until 2017.
Apparently, EU membership is
not doing Britain so much
harm that it cannot afford to
soft-pedal for months or years
yet.
As the panic subsides,
where does all this leave Bri-
tain in Europe, and Slovakias
presidency of the EU?
Britain has already been
side-lined. Outgoing prime
minister David Cameron was
excluded from an EU summit
immediately after the vote; the
UKs commissioner has quit
and not been replaced; and the
French foreign minister has
branded his newly appointed
UK counterpart, the pro-Brexit
Boris Johnson, a liar.
Such contempt is mostly
justified: Brexit is a cata-
strophic failure of British dip-
lomacy (and if it is not, the
front Slovak innovators. In-
side, a group of young re-
searchers from the Slovak
University of Technology in
Bratislava demonstrate how
they can remove traces of
drugs and medicines from wa-
ter using a technology in-
volving diamonds. In brief, if
instead of returning your un-
used antibiotics to the phar-
macy for safe liquidation you
decide to flush them in the toi-
let, these guys can help clean
the mess. Your research looks
like exactly that kind of in-
novative solution that can
help cities deal with pollution
in a smart way. Has anybody
from Bratislava Region or the
capital city contacted you to
talk about this project?- No-
The Slovak Health Ministry
has put the fight against an-
timicrobial resistance high on
its agenda of priorities during
Slovakias presidency of the EU
Council. Has anybody from the
ministry or its Office for Pub-
lic Health that has a depart-
ment in charge of the hy-
giene of the environment-
contacted you?-No, politi-
cians are not interested in our
activities. In Slovakia science
lacks support. Here science is
done only by some crazy en-
thusiasts.
Its yet another Friday and
yet another event linked to
OPINION
parade of British ministers and
diplomats who have trooped
through Bratislava, among
other places, insisting over
many years that Britain is a
strong partner in Europe have
a lot of explaining to do). More
disturbingly, the Leave cam-
paign in the UK reeked of anti-
immigrant hostility an im-
pression the new government
has so far done little to re-
dress.
Slovakia, leaving aside the
recent antics in parliament
here and what look like under-
hand attempts to block pos-
sible anti-EU protests in Brat-
islava, deserves credit for ap-
plying a steady hand so far in
its role as EU president. It will
get a further chance to shine at
a leaders summit now
planned for Bratislava in
September.
By then, Brexit may not
even top the agenda. With
events like the horrific attack
in Nice, and the no-less-bloody
attempted coup in Turkey and
its potential consequences for
the continents migrant crisis,
Europe is not looking at its
most stable right now. Let us
hope Slovakias diplomats en-
joy more luck, and foresight,
than their British counter-
parts.
Slovakias presidency of the
Council of the European Uni-
on is taking place. It is the turn
of labour ministers of the EU
member states to meet and
talk about how to deal with the
challenges that new techno-
logies pose to the labour mar-
ket. Again everybody talks
about supporting innovation
and attracting skilled mi-
grants to Europe. The pro-
gramme of the two-day gath-
ering included a field trip too.
To a biscuit factory in Sere.
Maybe it was chosen because
it could be visually boring to
visit a world-renowned soft-
ware company launched by
Slovak engineers or another
one that produces navigation
systems...nothing to see there
but nerdish IT people in jeans
and flip-flops writing lines of
code.
Slovakia, the country of
good ideas where science is
done only by some crazy en-
thusiasts.
Anca Dragu is a journalist
with Radio Slovakia Internation-
al, which is available in Bratis-
lava in English on 98.9 FM at
18:30 and 20:30 and at
www.rsi.sk. The opinions ex-
pressed in this blog are her own.
Read the full blog
at www.spectator.sk.
Crash course
WHAT do you want first, the
good news or the bad news?
Well, the good news is
that Slovakia and the rest of
central and eastern Europe
are producing a young, am-
bitious and successful gener-
ation of workers, busi-
nesspeople and innovative
thinkers. The bad news is that
many of them opt not to stay
in their native country and
instead move to Western
Europe and the United States,
according to a new report re-
leased by the International
Monetary Fund (IMF).
Unfortunately, the bad
news also gets worse.
Though the numbers are
most alarming in Southeast
Europe (aka the Balkans),
overall emigration from the
region including Slovakia
has been unusually large,
persistent and dominated by
educated and young people,
according to the IMF. In fact,
as compared to the recent
influx of Syrian refugees,
migration from the CEE re-
gion has been a persistent
and much larger wave of
mostly economic migration.
Some 20 million people from
the region have left in the past
quarter century, nearly 6 per-
cent of the population and
most do not return.
Such trends not only de-
prive the region of top private
sector talent, but they make
good governance more diffi-
cult thus pushing even more
people to emigrate. Emigra-
tion of better educated people
has been associated with
weaker governance, the re-
port argues.
It goes on to say that this
leads to a negative feedback
loop from permanent high-
skill emigration to weaker
governance that, in turn, has
likely fuelled more outflows of
better educated people. Not
only does this trend drive
natives out of the country, but
it discourages skilled foreign-
ers from wanting to move in,
leading to an adverse bal-
ance of outflows and inflows
of talent, which undermines
July 25 August 7, 2016
long-term growth prospects,
according to the IMF.
Though this mass out-
ward flow of migrants from
central and eastern Europe
where populations continue
to act against their own self
BY BENJAMIN
CUNNINGHAM
Spectator staff
interest by generally oppos-
ing any inward migrant flow
has brought positive out-
comes for migrants them-
selves and for the European
Union as a whole, it likely
also has slowed growth and
income convergence
between the CEE region and
the rest of Europe. Though
wages have risen, because
there are fewer skilled work-
ers competing for the same
jobs, productivity has de-
clined meaning long term
prospects are sacrificed for
short term income gains.
During the campaign
earlier this year, Prime Min-
ister Robert Fico promised to
boost Slovak standards of liv-
ing to 85 percent of the EU av-
erage by the end of this elec-
tion term. With the country
already at 77 percent, and EU
statistical averages set to drop
with the United Kingdom on
its way out, this seems a goal
that is within reach even
amid incompetent gov-
5
ernance. But if the IMF re-
search is to be believed, that
goal lacks ambition. Accord-
ing to the IMF, but for this
mass exodus of citizens, GDP
growth in central and eastern
Europe would have been 7
percent higher on average
between 1995 and 2012 that
is a lot of wealth that ended up
elsewhere.
Something like 100 per-
cent convergence would seem
possible in an environment
where young people believed
they had future prospects.
Instead, consistently bad
government has brought low
expectations, which unsur-
prisingly leads to more un-
derwhelming governance
pushing more people to leave.
The IMFs proposed solu-
tions to these problems sound
a lot like common sense. For
example, they argue for
strengthening institutions
and economic politics that
encourage people to stay. No
doubt these are the values
that CEE reformers have been
pushing for in recent decades
and they continue to do so.
But there are things that
can help bring immediate re-
lief to this spiral of decline,
including a push to attract
skilled workers from other
countries, according to the
IMF. But this would require a
change of mindset from much
of the population, not to
mention political leaders
with the courage to explain
why and how an inward flow
of migrants would not only
help Slovaks here, but also
encourage more of the skilled
young people who are leaving
to stay. Some of those skilled
people who have left might
even be encouraged to return
by the increased dynamism of
their native country, further
bolstering growth.
The IMF does not offer a
clear prediction about what
happens to a country that
cant keep its own young
people and also resists ac-
cepting workers from abroad.
But Slovakia can stay the
course to find out.
6 July 25 August 7, 2016
Partnership stays strong
in turbulent times
BY HELFRIED CARL
Special to the Spectator
IN TODAYs spectacularly
changing world, two years can
almost amount to an etern-
ity. When I came to Bratis-
lava in autumn of 2014 to as-
sume my post as Austrias
Ambassador, we lived in a dif-
ferent Europe: the refugee
crisis had not yet escalated
(though it certainly did not
materialise out of the blue),
Schengen was not ques-
tioned, Paris and Brussels were
still unwounded by terrorist
attacks, and Brexit was a hy-
pothetical possibility no one
took quite seriously. This is not
the place to moan about the
loss of some ideal, quiet Europe
that probably has never exis-
ted anyway. It is simply a fact
that the European and the in-
ternational environment is
rapidly changing.
This is why friendly, stable
and close ties among European
countries, and especially
among neighbouring coun-
tries like Austria and Slov-
akia, are more important than
ever. Fortunately, I can state
that the relations between our
two countries are character-
ised by the high quality we
should wish for in these tur-
bulent times.
The close relationship is
demonstrated by the high fre-
quency of political consulta-
tions and visits. During my
term as ambassador, I had the
pleasure to organise visits of
the Austrian president, the
chancellor, the vice chancel-
lor, the minister of foreign af-
fairs, and many other minis-
ters and leading politicians.
Many of them will re-visit
Bratislava in the upcoming
months with Slovakia hold-
ing the Presidency of the EU
Council.
On the one hand, the in-
tensity of the political con-
tacts is mirroring the neces-
sity of close cooperation and
coordination in the European
agenda where Austria and
Slovakia, as members of the
Schengen area and the euro-
zone, share many of in-
terests. On the other hand, the
close contacts are also due to
the huge interdependence of
our countries in many areas.
Take for example the eco-
nomy. Slovakia is one of Aus-
trias major trading partners.
The trade volume between
Austria and Slovakia is bigger
than, lets say, between Aus-
Austrian Ambassador Helfried Carl
tria and Spain or Japan. Slovakia, and it is not diffi-
Thanks to the EUs single mar- cult to convince them to come,
ket and global value chains, for because they know that Slov-
example in the automotive akia is so close not only geo-
sector, it is perhaps mislead- graphically, but also cultur-
ing to call Slovakia simply a ally. I am delighted by the
partner. In fact, our eco- huge attention writers like
nomies are thoroughly inter- Martin Pollack and Robert
Menasse or the sculptors De-
borah Sengl and Erwin Wurm
have received in Slovakia. Im-
Austrian diplomats avoid portant topics, like the refugee
calling Austria a small crisis, have been dealt with
also in the cultural sphere, in-
country. cluding through our cooper-
We should not make ation with Kunsthalle Bratis-
lava at the very important
ourselves smaller than show Fear of the Unknown
we are. (still running). Slovakia can be
proud to have such interna-
tionally renowned curators
linked and interwoven. Aus- like Juraj arn, Richard
tria is the second largest in- Gregor and Lenka Kukurov,
vestor in Slovakia. Approxim- who are highly regarded even
ately 2,500 Austrian compan- in Austrias competitive art
ies are doing business in Slov- world.
akia. Understandably, they are As mentioned above, in
interested in a predictable leg- most fields Austrian-Slovak
al and judicial environment. relations are defined by a con-
They are currently employing gruence of interests. Still, even
around 40,000 people, and in the best relationships there
some of them would like to can be a divergence of opin-
hire even more, though it is ion in specific regards. It is no
not easy to find them. There- secret that Austria has a clear
fore, Austria has supported the policy of rejection of nuclear
(re-)introduction of dual edu- energy, whereas Slovakia is
cation in Slovakia. Hopefully, running two nuclear power
this will turn out to be a ma- plants. Two new units at the
jor success, as it has been in Mochovce power plant are
Austria for decades. supposed to be switched on in
Culture is another field of the near future. Maximum
intense contacts and ex- transparency and intense
change. The Austrian Cultur- communication, not only
al Forum is very successful in among experts, will be needed
bringing Austrian artists to when confronted with the
Photo: Jana Liptkov
contrasting approaches.
Compared to the 1990s, the
distance between Austria and
Slovakia has decreased. Thou-
sands of Slovaks have moved to
Austrian towns and villages in
the border region. Who could
have imagined that two dec-
ades ago? Also, cross-border
infrastructure has signific-
antly been improved: there are
frequent trains from Vienna to
Bratislava and since 2007 the
highway is connecting our
capitals. I also would be happy
to see significant improve-
ments of the infrastructure
across the Morava river. The
bridge for bicycles near
Schlosshof/Devnska Nov Ves
is a success, but we need more
bridges. In that regard, in-
tense talks between Austrian
and Slovak experts are on the
way.
Austrian diplomats avoid
calling Austria a small
country. We should not make
ourselves smaller than we are.
Still, it is not easy for coun-
tries of the size of Austria or
Slovakia to establish a firm
presence in the mental map of
the population even in the
close neighbourhood. Many
people in Austria still do not
know enough about Slovakia.
The Presidency of the Council
of the EU therefore is a great
opportunity to increase the
visibility of this successful and
beautiful country.
Helfried Carl is Austrian
Ambassador to Slovakia
Austria: General facts
Political system: federal parliamentary republic
Capital: Vienna
Total area: 83,871 square kilometres
Population: about 8.7 million
Official language: German
Currency: euro
Source: CIA World Factbook
Austrian institutions in Slovakia
Austrian Embassy in Bratislava
Ambassador: Helfried Carl
www.bmeia.gv.at/botschaft/pressburg
Advantage Austria
www.advantageaustria.org
Austrian Cultural Forum
www.rakuskekulturneforum.sk
Slovak-Austrian Chamber of Commerce
President: Mria Berithov
www.sohk.sk
sterreich Institut in Bratislava
www.bratislava.oesterreichinstitut.sk
Compiled by Spectator staff
Bratislava has smart cities potential
SLOVAKIAS capital has the This area has been
potential to become an ex- identified as one of the de-
ample of smart cities solu- veloping regions of Europe,
tions. The crucial factor to Nesrovnal said, as quoted by
achieve this goal is its the Trend weekly.
proximity to Vienna, said The municipality of
Bratislava Mayor Ivo Nes- Bratislava wants to create in
rovnal after meeting with cooperation with Vienna
representatives of Slovak the concept of so-called
regional capitals, the Eco- smart twins. Nesrovnal did
nomy and Environment not want to specify the
Ministries on July 8. projects, but he mentioned
The discussion on smart the ambition to introduce
cities is very topical and in- innovative approaches to
dicates the way how prob- parking, the operation of
lems, which European cities public lighting, the envir-
face, can be solved, he ad- onmental protection and
ded, as reported by the TASR the use of rainwater, Trend
newswire. reported.
Bus service to Vienna launched
CZECH private carrier Re- bus departs from Schwechat
gioJet launched a new bus airport at 22:00, the SITA
service between Bratislava, newswire reported.
Schwechat airport and Vi- The bus line has carried
enna on November 18, 2015. nearly 160,000 passengers
The buses travel 16 times during the first six months
a day in both directions, on of its operation, the com-
an hourly basis. They depart pany informed in late May.
from Bratislava between It is a strategic [route]
4:30 and 19:30, while the last for us as it connects the in-
ternational airport in
Schwechat with the rest of
RegioJets yellow lines net-
work in Slovakia, com-
panys owner Radim
Janura said, as quoted by
SITA.
Yellow buses now travel to
Vienna. Photo: TASR Compiled by Spectator staff
www.spectator.sk BUSINESS FOCUS July 25 August 7, 2016 7

Austrian firms praise

Slovak productivity
But state still
needs more
transparency
BY PETER ADAMOVSK
Spectator staff
THERE are a variety of Austri-
an companies doing business
in Slovakia, and they find both
advantages and drawbacks.
Though these companies are
still drawn to Slovakia mainly
thanks to geographical prox-
imity and low labour costs,
they often stay because of fin-
ancial stability and shared EU
membership.
The Slovak Spectator spoke
with Markus Jelleschitz,
country manager of Gebrder
Weiss Slovensko, a provider of
logistics services; Walter
Egger, managing director of
Strabag construction com-
pany; and Mria Berithov,
head of the Slovak-Austrian
Chamber of Commerce, about
advantages, problems and op-
portunities of the Slovak busi-
ness environment.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS):
What are the advantages of
doing business in Slovakia?
Mria Berithov (MB): In
the first trimester of 2016, there
was an opinion poll among the
EU investors in Slovakia in-
cluding Austrian companies.
Among the best valued local
factors in the poll is member-
ship in the EU, productivity
and workers willingness to be
productive, availability and
Austrian firms see several drawbacks in the Slovak business environment.
quality of local suppliers, la-
bour cost and the qualifications
of workers. Though the last
factor is still rated positively, it
recorded a significant decrease
compared to the previous year.
In addition, geographical
proximity is also of interest.
Markus Jelleschitz (MJ):
Slovakia plays a significant
role in high-tech and auto-
motive sectors, and in recent
years it has achieved a huge
expansion in these sectors. In
addition, there are a number of
suppliers specialising in elec-
tronic parts and sufficient
network of customers and
partners who are already ac-
customed to a high standard of
services provided by us.
Walter Egger (WE): Fin-
ancial stability, the euro as
currency with no exchange
risk and CEE region which
means short geographical dis-
tances to our headquarters,
similar culture, good know-
ledge of foreign languages and
open minded people.
TSS: What are the problems
of the Slovak business en-
vironment in your view?
MB: The opinion poll
defined problematic areas as
corruption and crime, legal
confidence, transparency in
public procurement and the tax
system. Meanwhile, a new act
on public procurement entered
into force which means a num-
ber of changes in the practices
and processes of the procure-
ment including those changes
that reflect real requirements of
the practice and try to make the
process of drawing EU funds
more effective. Currently, we
register certain progress espe-
Photo: Sme
cially in strengthening of
transparency and predictabil-
ity in the legislative process.
Recent drafts of legislative
measures leading to increased
transparency and efficiency of
the courts is a positive step.
MJ: There are a few
obstacles that threaten the
countrys advantages in the
long run, and some of the
biggest are lack of resources
and the entire education sys-
tem. As an example, when we
search for appropriate employ-
ees for our company, we re-
peatedly need to educate and
train them at least for one year
to see them able to carry out our
jobs. Ergo, we are trying to find
ways to exploit the dual educa-
tion and work closely with the
universities and high schools.
See FIRMS pg 8
Bratislava to intensify links to Vienna
TO INCREASE the awareness
of and interest in cultural
events in Bratislava was the
main objective of the press
conference held in the Slov-
ak Cultural Institute in Vi-
enna on June 1. The Austrian
reporters received more in-
formation about planned
cultural happenings and po-
tential visits to the Slovak
capital, the TASR newswire
reported.
We need to intensify the
cooperation with Vienna as
they are the two nearest
capitals in the world, Brat-
islava Mayor Ivo Nesrovnal
said, as quoted by TASR.
Since the fall of the Iron
Curtain, only three mutual
projects have been success-
ful: the construction of
highway, the cycling bridge
and the Twin City Liner. The
plan, however, is to lure
more Austrians to visit Brat-
islava and Slovakia, Nes-
rovnal added.
As for the cultural events
that may attract inhabitants
of Vienna, head of the Brat-
islava Cultural and Inform-
Planer premiered in Bratislava
AUSTRIAN artist Georg
Planer exhibits his work in
Bratislava for the first time.
The display of his sculptures
and paintings in the Austri-
an Cultural Focus is also the
last exhibition within the
2016 edition of the interna-
tional project Sculpture and
Object, the TASR newswire
reported.
I am not interested in
traditional figurative sculp-
ture, Planer told the July 6
conference, as quoted by
ation Centre Vladimr Greo
pointed to the 41st year of
the Cultural Summer and
Castle Festivities in Bratis-
lava. It will offer various
performances on more than
20 stages. Moreover, there is
also a guitar festival, which
celebrates 41 years in 2016, or
the Viva Musica festival.
Our cooperation with
Austrians has been at the top
level for many years, head
of the Slovak National
Theatre (SND) Marin
Chudovsk said, as quoted by
TASR.
In cooperation with one
Vienna-based travel agency,
together 0.5 million people
have come to Bratislava to
see opera and ballet. They
also visit drama perform-
ances as some of them have
English subtitles, Chudovsk
said.
The proximity to Vienna
has been highlighted also by
the head of Viva Musica
festival Matej Drlika, who
considers it the capital of
classical music, as reported
by TASR.
freedom and do not have any
function in an ordinary
meaning.
He perceives his sculp-
tures as rock folding, while
the paintings represent the
inhospitableness of moun-
tains.
Every rock he uses has its
own story which still con-
tinues even after he has cre-
ated an exhibit from it.
I do not give names to
my paintings and objects,
Planer told TASR.

Martin Pollack: I could not be silent TASR, adding he is interested

Coping with the past
has always been
superficial in Austria
BY MICHAL HVORECK
Special to the Spectator
ACCEPTING the fact that your father is a
Nazi criminal is nearly impossible. Aus-
trian writer Martin Pollack solved it by
breaking up with his family, about which
he often writes in his books. He presen-
ted one of them in Bratislava in early June.
In an interview with the Sme daily,
Pollack also describes how he examines
crucial moments in history through stor-
ies of people from eastern Europe.
SME: You did not have an idea what
Slavonic Studies are, but you decided to
study them anyway. Eastern Europe
has become your destiny. How did it
happen?
Martin Pollack (MP): I did it particu-
larly to spite my grandmother. I was com-
ing of age and started realising I was
brought up by Nazis. My life was turned
upside down. I understood more clearly SME: Parting with your own family
in the rock and its meta-
morphosis. This is what he
The July 6 opening of the
exhibition was attended also
by Austrian Ambassador to
that my idyllic childhood was only a mask, must have been extremely hard. How tries to express. My rock Slovakia Helfried Carl. It
a terrible hypocrisy. In our family, silence did you cope? sculptures are created from runs until August 21.
ruled. The crimes committed by my fath- MP: It was a gradual, extremely diffi-
er during World War II were taboo. cult and long process. In my family, Nazism
was everywhere. I believe that one can Biomethane station to be built
SME: Do you remember your first trip really cope with the past only if it is truly
to Poland? honest, authentic, when a person con- KOICE-based company The plan is to start con-
MP: Of course, because it was a break- fesses everything, hides, embellishes and Lesmo plans to build a bio- struction in October 2016 and
ing point. It was first of all an escape from omits nothing. I am convinced that if we tell methane station for 9 mil- launch the production in
my family. I did not have a clue about Pol- the whole truth, it is possible to move for- lion near Tura nad Bodvou, April 2017. The expected an-
ish culture as a young boy, but something ward, to understand what happened and eastern Slovakia. This stems nual production of biometh-
subconscious dragged me to the east. It is not to repeat the same mistakes. from the investment pro- ane may amount to more
strange. I learned about what my father posal submitted for the en- than 3 million cubic metres
did in Ukraine, Poland and Slovakia as SME: You wrote a book The Dead Man vironmental impact assess- (some 30,500 MWh) during
commander of a special Nazi commando in the Bunker about your fathers ment process. an 8,600-hour operation. The
unit much later. crimes. Was it also a long process? The biomethane station main material used in the
MP: Very long, it took me decades to should be used to process process will be corn silage,
SME: Have your relatives responded to write about them. But I knew I have to biomass from arable farm- with an expected weight of
this interest? speak loudly about what he did in Slov- ing. The final products will 26,280 tonnes a year, TASR
MP: With displeasure, even aversion akia when suppressing the Slovak Na- include biogas which will be wrote.
and big concerns. My grandfather and tional Uprising. What he did in Donovaly subsequently purified and Slovakia currently lacks a
father as well as other family members or in Ruomberok. Coping with the past turned into biomethane biomethane production
were strongly convinced about German has always been superficial in Austria. with the quality of natural plant. The Lesmo company is
superiority. They considered Slavs a lower Austrians tried to pose themselves as vic- gas. After compression it will co-owned by Austrian firm
race. They wished for great Germany and tims immediately after the wars end and be transported to the distri- SFG Beteiligungs. Austria is
were afraid of European cooperation and claimed that Germans had committed all bution network of SPP considered one of the biggest
friendship. They lived in hatred for the evil. I wanted to show, with the ex- Distribcia company, the supporters of green energy,
everything unfamiliar. They feared that I ample of my own family, how it actually TASR newswire reported. the Trend weekly reported in
would bring a Polish or Jewish wife the was. It has been a very painful experi- The digestate, which will December 2015.
most. That was the last straw. ence for me. But I could not be silent. also be produced in the pro-
cess, will be used as fertil- Compiled by Spectator staff
See MP pg 8 izer. from press reports
8 July 25 August 7, 2016 BUSINESS FOCUS

MP: Far-left and far-right are uniting FIRMS: Labour

Continued from pg 7

I refused the comfort of

costs still a draw
denial, suppression which I Continued from pg 7 concerns about the quality
considered much worse. I of the judicial system dam-
would be lying too. The second challenge is age the business environ-
the huge amount of admin- ment and discourage in-
SME: You were not allowed istrative burden and legis- vestors.
to enter Poland for nine lative requirements in Moreover, we may re-
years as you were critical of spheres like data protection, member the infrastructure
the communist dictatorship waste management, the la- for better linking of the east
and informed about the bour code, accounting and and the west crucial for de-
Solidarity movement. But work protection. In com- ciding on the location.
you did not come to hate Pol- parison with other coun- Poorly developed transport
ish culture and literature tries, Slovak regulations still infrastructure in central and
and you even became one of have a lot of space for im- eastern Slovakia is still an
its most influential pro- provement and making a obstacle to investment.
moters. What did you find more friendly environment. MJ: Among the critical
attractive in it? WE: The lengthy time it factors in entering the mar-
MP: I befriended Ryszard takes to get a decision from a ket are geopolitical location,
Kapusiski, whose work I ad- court. macroeconomic indicators,
mire, and I translated his best the degree of promotion of
books into German. I gradually TSS: Which factors affect foreign investment, infra-
found many older and also the decision of Austrian structure, resources, avail-
contemporary Polish and companies to launch a ability, quality and language
Ukrainian writers. I found out Martin Pollack at BRaK book festival. Photo: Mienka Plantnik, archive of BRaK festival business in Slovakia? skills of the workforce and
that the West almost does not MB: For the future, it is last but not least costs.
know eastern European cul- centuries, though we had once topics like mass migration, a photographer. I did not know very important to solve the Slovakia provides a very nice
tures. I was strongly influ- been one huge country. It per- which I later reminded of from how to take photos, but luck- lack of skilled, qualified mix of positive indicators of
enced by the Polish school of tained to the war, the atrocities Galicias history, can be found. ily I managed to take this one. workforce and to adjust the all the above factors. Of
reportage founded around the that happened there were con- We were talking very openly; education system to the course, not everything is
Gazeta Wyborcza daily. I con- cealed. Austria rather looked SME: In Austria, and also he accepted his fate of being in needs of the market. Fre- perfect, however, the most
sider it a global phenomenon. away. I was fascinated by that here, certain groups have a exile in his own country. He quent changes in the legis- important factors are long-
I also like American creative territory and I realised that one strange nostalgia for the al- was not pretending anything. lation and burdensome ad- term developing trends. And
non-fiction, at whose start was big common topic 120 years ago legedly good old times of He worked in his garden wear- ministrative procedures and in this respect, the country
Truman Capote and his phe- and today is migration. It was a the monarchy. But its east- ing only a vest and he did not requirements unfavourably provides stability and de-
nomenal novel In Cold Blood, mixture of nations, languages ern parts suffered from ex- mind me depicting him in an influence business in Slov- velopment for foreign com-
but Poles are closer to me re- and cultures which attracted treme poverty and the aver- ordinary human form. When I akia. Huge administrative panies.
garding both topics and style. me. It was the exact opposite of age life expectancy belonged saw him one year later talking and regulatory barriers WE: The good opportun-
a nonsensical call for one na- to the lowest in Europe. at the square, I knew he would within certain professional ities for a start-up or buy-in,
SME: With your book Em- tion and one leader. MP: Vienna treated Galicia not be a leader for the second services and network in- financial stability and
peror of America you re- literally as a colony. It was hor- time. He belonged to different dustries as well as long-term transparent size of business.
minded Austrians of the SME: Do you still travel rible. Almost nobody dealt with era. His time had expired.
world of Galicia. How did you there? serious problems. So the des-
find it? MP: Yes and I also want to perate masses fled. The coun- SME: What do you fear the
MP: I came to Galicia as I write about those places. It is try could not even deal with the most in the region these
was forbidden to enter Poland. a love for the whole life. I of- refugees. I picked real stories of days?
So I continued in my journey to ten remind Austrians of read- people for my book, and I star- MP: The far-left and far-
the east, to where I was al- ing their own classical writers ted in Slovakia, in Brutovce in right are uniting in a bizarre
lowed to go. I discovered who came from there. They Spi region. I found period re- way; they have been united by
Bukovina and other areas like to talk about Joseph Roth, ports according to which Slov- hatred. Their common aim is to
which dropped out from Aus- but they actually do not know aks were considered uncivil- close the borders and return
trian cultural memory. Nobody him well. They do not even ised, maladjusted in the United the individual countries. It is Laundry leasing expands to Slovakia
had been talking about the read his Radetzky March States. Nearly all of them were an absurd goal in a world which
former kingdom of Galicia for precisely where many avoided illiterate. They were used as is so closely connected. And THE AUSTRIAN family com- firm was founded in 1916 by
strikebreakers because they those having their own emig- pany Salesianer Miettex the grandmother of current
took any job. But many of them rants, like Hungary and Slov- continued its expansion to owner, Thomas
succeeded after initial hard- akia, are calling for it the most. Slovakia, with opening a new Krautschneider. The com-
Who is Martin Pollack? ship and became Americans. My beloved Poland heads to- high-tech laundry-service in pany, still family-owned, is a
wards clerical fascism. I have Bratislavas Petralka bor- multi-national corporation
Pollack was born in 1944 in Bad fame. Since 1998 he has been a SME: You know Slovakia recently written a story about ough in May 2016. employing more than 2,150
Hall, Upper Austria. He studied freelancer. In his non-fiction well. The world could even it, which aroused resentment The firm, with more than people.
Slavonic Studies in Vienna and literature he deals with the see your photo of Alexander at top political levels. I was 100 years of experience, has Daily, it supplies around
Warsaw. For years he has been Nazi history of his family and Dubek from the 1980s. How taken aback by the responses. I been operating in Slovakia 25,000 consumers across
working for Der Spiegel his country. was it made? would not be surprised if they since 1995 and thanks to a Europe with 360 tonnes of
magazine. He studies emigration, MP: I wanted to do an in- banned me from entering the new greenfield investment clean textiles. The main
Since the 1980s he has been disputed borders and forgotten terview with him very much, country again. worth more than 10 mil- competence is a complex of-
intensively translating from minorities of the Austro- but the secret police tried to lion, it plans to create about fer of service leasing of tex-
Polish to German, especially Hungarian Empire. He has re- prevent it. They were afraid as To read the whole interview, 100 jobs in its new plant. tiles, sanitary products and
books by Ryszard Kapuciski ceived several awards for his Spiegel, for which I was work- please go to www.spectator.sk. A new hi-tech laundry cleaning mats, the TASR
and contributed to his world work. ing at the time, was a big service, with a total area of newswire wrote.
magazine. We finally made a The interview was published 3,600 square metres and ca- Apart from services and
deal, but I could not come with in the Sme daily on June 8, 2016. pacity of 32 tonnes of laundry products, the offer includes
a day, will equal more than also a sophisticated concept
6,400 washing machines in of logistics.

Choir, Vienna opera house partner households.

The Salesianer Miettex Compiled by Spectator staff

THE LINKS between Slovakia and Austria
may really be deep-routed, as is proven by
the example of a Slovak choir and a prom-
inent Vienna-based opera house. The
Slovak Philharmonic Choir and the Vi-
enna State Opera have been cooperating
already for more than 28 years.
We appreciate the cooperation with
the Vienna State Opera very much,
Mariana Kukov, manager of the Slovak
Philharmonic Choir, told The Slovak
Spectator, adding that the opera house
belongs among the prominent world
stages.
Over the course of nearly three dec-
ades the choir has been cooperating with
many well-known conductors, includ-
ing Claudio Abbado, Franz Welser Mst,
Bertrand de Billy, Semyon Bychkov, and
Peter Schneider, as well as prominent
soloists and renowned directors. The
choir performs along with members of
the Vienna State Operas orchestra and
choir.
The very first production in which the
Slovak Philharmonic Choir performed
was the opera Khovanshchina by Modest
Petrovich Mussorgsky, conducted by
Italian conductor Abbado. Since then,
they have performed in other pieces, in-
cluding Moses and Aaron by Arnold
Schoenberg, Tannhuser and Rienzi, both
by Richard Wagner.
During the 67th season, the choir per-
formed in two operas: Khovanshchina
(conducted by James Conlon) in Septem-
ber 2015 and Boris Gudonov (conducted by
Marko Letonja) in May 2016, Kukov said.
I hope that in upcoming concert sea-
sons there will also be room for coopera-
tion which is grounded in quality and
reputation of our prominent vocal en-
semble, Kukov added.
By Radka Minarechov New laundry in Petralka. Photo: SITA
www.spectator.sk
SHELL: Contract cancellation among the biggest threats
Continued from pg 2
What we want to achieve
is a greater validity of the data
in the register and the motiv-
ation of partners of the public
sector to provide high quality
data, Bubla told The Slovak
Spectator.
The key change is that the
register will be public and reg-
ularly updated, Leontiev said.
The updates will be done an-
nually, when a contract is
concluded, when the author-
ised person changes, or when
the company gets paid from
the state.
That means that in key
moments the state and the
public will always know who
the final beneficiary is, Leon-
tiev stressed.
Critics of the law, however,
point to the fact that a final be-
neficiary who owns less than a
25 percent stake in the com-
pany does not have to be iden-
tified.
Double check
Under the new rules, if a
company or a natural person
that wants to do business with
the state wants to be entered in
the register, it needs the stamp
of an intermediary, a person
that even under the current
legislation against money
laundering has the obligation
to report suspicious opera-
tions and investigate the final
beneficiaries: a bank, an attor-
ney, an auditor or a tax ad-
visor. These persons will be co-
responsible for the data that a
private person enters in the
register to correspond with
reality, Bubla said.
It is no formal matter,
Bubla said. Providing these
services is connected with
significant reputation risk on
the part of the authorised per-
sons.
While TIS criticised the
authorised persons and insists
that there are many attorneys
who wont be discouraged
from participating in murky
business just because they are
risking their reputation, Le-
ontiev who co-authored the
law relies on this, as well as the
fact that under some circum-
stances the authorised per-
sons guarantee the fines of
their clients.
That means they will have
to do their best to investigate
and check the information
about the final beneficiaries of
their clients, Leontiev said.
The fact that these entities
are already now obliged to in-
vestigate about the final bene-
ficiaries of their clients means
that theyve got the necessary
experience, he noted.
Bigger sanctions
The ministry also relies on
more severe sanctions to dis-
courage companies from stat-
ing false or incomplete data in
their registration. Current
BUSINESS / NEWS
Justice Minister Lucia itansk
sanctions are between 10,000
and 1 million and a ban of
participation in tenders for
three years.
The draft law counts on the
fines for companies to amount
to the economic benefit made
from the business with state,
between 10,000 and 1 mil-
lion, a fine for the represent-
ative of the company up to
100,000 (with the intermedi-
ary person being the guarant-
or that the fine would be paid),
and a complete erasure of the
company from the register.
Importantly, the state
should have the right to can-
Photo: TASR
cel the contract with such a
company.
The ministry is also con-
sidering widening the scope of
criminal activities for which
legal persons can be prosec-
uted, and include subvention
fraud and harming the finan-
cial interests of the EU among
such crimes, according to
Bubla.
Leontiev, however, main-
tains that the criminal liabil-
ity would not be effective in
this case.
It is much more effective
if a fraudulent entrepreneur
loses the contract and has to
July 25 August 7, 2016
return the economic profit
they made thanks to lying
about their final beneficiary,
Leontiev said.
Special office too expensive
Independent MP Miroslav
Beblav who ran in the elec-
tion for the Sie party and
drafted that partys own pro-
posal of a new anti-shell law,
now says there are several
holes in it that mean that it
will remain virtually inef-
fective.
The state should create a
specialised office that would
check the data before they are
entered in the register, he in-
sists: one with enough capa-
city and ability to evaluate the
papers and the complicated
international tree of owners;
and sufficiently independent.
The central bank and the Fin-
ancial Administration have
been considered for the task,
he noted on his Facebook page.
Yet the ministry argues
that by setting up a special of-
fice the state would be running
the risk that the costs would
exceed the benefits of the law.
The state has no ambition
to create another office full of
expensive bureaucrats who
would have to check on
something that is in fact very
hard to check, Leontiev
maintained.
The ministrys proposal
practically allows data to be
entered in the register without
9
any substantial review on the
part of the state. The ilina Dis-
trict Court that is assigned as
the administrator of the re-
gister will have judicial clerks
checking papers. Only after the
company is registered the court
will be able, but not obliged, to
look into the data in the re-
gister, Beblav explained.
The ministry in response
argues that whenever suspi-
cions about the data in the re-
gister arise, a mechanism will
be put in place that is de-
signed in the draft law. Also,
there are ever more sophistic-
ated mechanisms of informa-
tion exchange among EU and
OECD countries. That goes also
for tax and banking opera-
tions, thus the portfolio of in-
struments for revealing final
beneficiaries gradually
widens, Bubla said.
While every law can be
circumvented, the aim of the
new draft law is to narrow
down the manoeuvring space
of fraudsters as much as pos-
sible, and increase the costs of
fraud and covering-up the
links between politics and
business, Leontiev said.
It is worth a try, because
the draft law increases the risk
and the costs mainly for
fraudsters (although also for
the honest ones to some ex-
tent), Transparency Interna-
tional Slovensko wrote. But
let us not mislead the public
that this is a big deal, like the
ministry says it is.

FIN: New law could delay consolidation NK: VZP erred

Continued from pg 4
Former finance minister
Ivan Miklo strongly criticised
the proposed law, saying that
the ministry is raising reven-
ues beyond what is found in
the budget approved by the
government and what is in
line with the macroeconomic
and fiscal forecast.
The amendment weakens
and deforms the system that
has worked since 2003, Miklo
told the Sme daily.
The Budgetary Responsib-
ility Council (RRZ), the gov-
ernments advisory body, ex-
pects an increase in budget
transparency, comparability
with the real data published by
the Statistics Office and better
quality of the monitoring of
ongoing development.
However, the draft law allows
the rule that higher tax rev-
enue should be restricted to
only 1 percent of cash ex-
penditures of the state budget
to be avoided, said RRZ chair
Ivan ramko.
The new law would allow
the use of all additional rev-
enues that will come from the
favourable macroeconomic
development for additional
expenditure.
This will delay the con-
solidation of public finances,
with negative consequences
for the long-term sustainabil-
ity of thereof, ramko told The
Slovak Spectator.
Radovan urana of the In-
stitute for Economic and So-
cial Studies (INESS) think tank
said the changes would create
indirect pressure on the DV to
be more optimistic in pro-
gnoses.
Experts from the F. A.
Hayek Foundation do not ex-
pect the amendment to cause
any radical chaos in public
finances. The approved budget
is always just a plan on both
income and expenditure sides,
said Mat Povanc, director of
the F. A. Hayek Foundation.
The budget chapters are
hungry enough to consume all
new revenues, Povanc told
The Slovak Spectator.
The brake
To prevent mindless
spending, the draft law sug-
gests a built in brake to re-
strain the government from
spending non-existent funds.
If the government planned ar-
tificial revenues and also
spending of 200 million and it
selects only 100 million over
the year, it could spend only
that 100 million, Golia said.
The risk remains that
political pressure will be
stronger and the government
will spend the budgeted rev-
enues although they will not
flow to the state budget,
Golia said.
This money will only be
possible to draw after reven-
ues are confirmed by the DV,
Gogov noted.
Missing ceilings
Current legislation does
not reflect the European Com-
missions (EC) requirement to
form the budget according to
realistic budgetary prognoses.
Moreover, the draft law is
in defiance of EC and OECD re-
commendations on the intro-
duction of binding expendit-
ure ceilings, according to the
RRZ.
Expenditure ceilings were
meant to be introduced in 2012
under Miklo but have not
been established yet. Al-
though their existence is im-
plied in the act on fiscal re-
sponsibility, noted ramko.
urana agrees that the
proposed changes are in con-
tradiction to the responsible
approach to manage public
finances, which are meant to
look three to four years ahead.
This approach obliges minis-
tries to define their priorities
and keep them long enough, he
said, making ceilings a neces-
sary element of any new rules.
An unexpected increase
in revenue cannot, therefore,
become prey to greedy minis-
ters, urana said, adding that
it should either be used for
predefined objectives or to re-
duce the deficit.
Golia too sees that the gov-
ernment is opening a legal way
to spend money rather than re-
duce the deficit, thus reducing
the chance that we will use
good times to prepare for fu-
ture crises and consequences of
population ageing.
Boosting revenue
In the long term, experts
talk about the need to estab-
lish a tax calendar for the ex-
cise tax on cigarettes which
clearly prepares the sector for
a gradual increase in taxes,
Povanc opined.
The state benefits from
the fact that consumers in a
wholesale increase do not seek
to circumvent the tax liability
by fleeing to less taxable
products, in this case the black
market, Povanc said.
urana proposes ex-
penditure ceilings, compuls-
ory expenditure prioritisation
and calculation of value for
money on the widest possible
basis.
Golia emphasised better
detection and punishment of
tax cheats as an effective
measure to improve tax col-
lection. He added that the gov-
ernment might substantially
increase public scrutiny by
choice, for example in regular
publication of rankings of
companies according to paid
taxes or amount of VAT re-
funds.
The Baternk affair in-
dicates the fact that Slovakia
still has a large reserve in this
sphere, Golia said.
Read the whole story at
www.spectator.sk.
Continued from pg 1 since May, TASR reported.
Meanwhile, VZP has
VZP closed contracts for stated that it will heed NK
a greater scope of proced- recommendations. The new
ures than the provider was management declared that
able to perform, NK says. it was interested in making
Sme points out the case of processes in the insurance
the CPKSB Spisk Bel that company more transparent.
in 2011 got a contract for VZP has prepared amend-
specialised outpatient care ments to internal norms,
for a health-care service that changing the process of
had not been approved, thus concluding contracts and
breaking the law on the accepting new diagnostic
scope of health care. The and treatment procedures,
insurer paid for unapproved TASR reported from the
services worth 4.15 million, statement of the insurer.
NK told Sme.
NK also found that Compiled by Spectator staff
VZP made a contract with
the Kostka Clinic in 2011 on
providing specialised health
care coded under a special
code, which wasnt proced-
urally approved.
It thereby acted at odds
with the law on the purview
of health care, the report
reads, as quoted by the TASR
newswire in reference to the
high-profile case involving
massages.
The Health Ministry,
which oversees the state-run
insurer, announced on July
20 after the report was pub-
lished that it will keep a
close eye on VZP in adopting
the recommendations of the
NK on making supervision
processes more transparent
and releasing contracts on
the internet. It also pointed
to the fact that the insurer
has had new management
10 July 25 August 7, 2016
Upside-down house
AN ORIGINAL
attraction was
opened near
the aquapark
close to
Liptovsk
Mikul. Its owner wants to
show tourists how it works in
Slovakia.
Entrepreneur Cyril Foga
has reacted to his experiences
with state authorities in his
own way. As satire, he built
an unusual house that is
turned upside down with the
roof on the ground. It was
opened to the public on July 5.
The house will be open
year-round, but during the
summer season it will be open
from 9:00 to 21:00, so twelve
hours per day, stated Foga
for the SITA newswire.
There are two fairytale
themed kids rooms in the
The house has two fairytale rooms.
Experience the underwater life in the High Tatras
A VIDEO cam-
era placed in the
trbsk Pleso
lake allows
everybody to
view the hid-
den life under-
water.
Visitors to the website of
the Tatra National Park
(TANAP) Administration are
able to take advantage of a
new project to watch online
the life under the water of
trbsk Pleso as workers re-
cently placed a video camera
in the lake.
I believe that the lake
will stay algae free for a long
time so viewers have the pos-
house. One of them displays
the fairy tale Snow White and
the Seven Dwarfs and the
other shows Little Red Riding
Hood. There will also be a
standard childrens room,
living room, kitchen and
workroom. There are also two
bathrooms, a full bathroom
with a toilet and a separate
WC, that are also upside
down.
Building the house wasnt
easy, according to Foga, be-
cause the whole structure of
the house is made from steel
and anchored to a concrete
base.
The house is inclined by
twelve degrees on both sides,
so in a lateral and also longit-
udinal plane, explained
Foga. Because of this,
people will have a greater ex-
perience from the visit.
Photo: TASR
sibility for maximum exper-
ience, stated Pavol Majko,
director of TANAP, for the
SITA newswire and added
that there is plenty of fish
such as chub, northern pike,
and green perch. The cam-
era is installed to provide
people with an experience.
However, he added that a
rare kind of fish whitefish
people will obviously not see
as it is a deepwater fish.
This is the second cam-
era in the area of the High
Tatras that TANAP has placed
underwater.
The first was installed
back in September in the val-
ley of the upper stream of the A video camera was placed in the trbsk Pleso lake. Photo: TASR
FEATURE
Zuzana Maurry
Maurry wins best actress
at Czech film festival
SLOVAK actress Zuzana
Maurry enchanted the Kar-
lovy Vary International Film
Festival, winning the Best
Actress award for her role in
Uiteka / The Teacher film.
The female teacher, who
lectures in Russian language,
explains the history of revolu-
tion and manages to involve
students in the smooth func-
tioning of her household that
is the main character of the co-
production movie, directed by
Czech Jan Hebejk but featur-
ing many Slovaks. She also
asks parents to help her with
problems she cannot or is not
willing to solve, and indirectly
hints that students will suffer
if they do not oblige.
I once read an interview
with director Jan Hebejk,
Maurry said when receiving
the prize in Karlovy Vary, as
quoted by the Sme daily. He
said he would like to cast a less
famous actress in his film. I
thought it would be great if he
went to Slovakia to look for her
but I did not quite believe it.
Hebejk originally wanted
to make only a TV movie, and
it was a surprise that the film
finally made it to the main
competition in Vary, she ad-
ded. He shot it in Slovak lan-
guage, with Slovak actors and
in majority Slovak co-
production.
Photo: TASR
The film reflects the fears
and courage and characters
exposed to manipulation, be it
social or personal, Sme wrote.
Hebejk himself sees his
film as not primarily a polit-
ical one but it is difficult to
avoid this label, he added for
the TASR newswire.
Hebejk suggested that the
film in Slovak cinemas as of
July 21 is very emotional, es-
pecially the issue of manipu-
lation. Script-writer Petr
Jarchovsk adds that the
movie takes place in the early
1980s and contains some fea-
tures that were conditioned by
that era; but also some time-
less dilemmas.
river Bel.
The second camera offers
splendid camera images of
underwater life. In addition,
the lake has a much greater
capacity than the river, ac-
cording to Majko.
We want reveal at least a
part of the mystery of the
kingdom of still silence and,
with a bit of luck, get to know
its inhabitants better, he
said for SITA.
By using a webcamera,
visitors can watch plenty of
fish not only from the TANAP
website but also on the web-
site kukaj.sk.
Online broadcasts from
the animal kingdom are suc-
Slovaks are
world
champions
SLOVAK ball hockey repres-
entations were successful at
the junior world champion-
ship in British Sheffield
where they won one gold
and two silver medals. In all
three final matches they
faced the teams from
Canada, the TASR newswire
reported.
The U-20 team defended
the title they won last year,
after defeating the Cana-
dians 3:2 in shootouts.
We saw top ball hockey
equal to the senior level,
with the two best teams in
the championship making it
to the finals, said teams
coach Duan Danko, as
quoted by TASR, adding that
some boys showed their best.
The other two teams
were not as lucky. The U-18
lost to Canada 1:2 in over-
time, while U-16 was de-
feated 1:2 in regular time,
TASR wrote.
In addition to the
medals, several Slovak ball
hockey players won indi-
vidual rewards.
Jahoda became the best
Adam
goalkeeper in the U-16 cat-
egory, while Alexander
Hvizdo and Simeon Pjatak
were chosen to the All-Star
team.
In the U-18 category,
Luk Olejnk made it to the
All-Star team, while Peter
Junas became the best de-
fenseman and Marko
turma the most useful
player.
The players in U-20 cat-
egory won the most re-
wards, as Filip Surk and
Miroslav Olejnk were
among the top five players,
Luk urkech became the
best shooter and Michal
Buovsk was selected the
best defenseman of the
whole championship, TASR
reported.
cessful, according to Majko,
as they capture a high num-
ber of viewers on the inter-
net. Birds of prey as well as
storks have been popular.
People are not accus-
tomed to watching archived
video but want to watch on-
line broadcasting in real
time, explained Majko for
SITA.
Animals are watched in
real time for daily visibility.
We tried to watch night
animals as well, however,
most people sleep at that
time so it is unnecessary to
use such demanding techno-
logy for a few visits, stated
Majko.
www.spectator.sk CULTURE July 25 August 7, 2016 11

Galleries face merger Geometric abstraction prevails

BY ZUZANA ULIIANSKA
Special to the Spectator
THE KUNSTHALLE Bratislava
continues to fight for its inde-
pendent existence. After being
supported by the National
Centre for Public Enlighten-
ment, now the plan is to put it
under the Slovak National Gal-
lery.
In September 2014, Bratis-
lava was pasted with billboards
on which Slovak visual artists
like Ilona Nmeth, Dorota
Sadovsk, Rudo Sikora or Ro-
man Ondk promised to un-
cover the sense of contempor-
ary art through the new Kun-
sthalle. The first exhibition in
its new premises, on the SNP
Square in the capital followed.
Since then, it actively func-
tions as the gallery of the Slov-
ak Centre of Visual Arts, which
also fulfils documentary func-
tions. The trouble is, however,
that Kunsthalle is administrat-
ively under the patronage of the
National Centre for Public En-
lightenment (NOC). But now
the Culture Ministry intends to
move it under the Slovak Na-
tional Gallery (SNG) umbrella.
Drawing from experience
The SNG is naturally closer
to issues of visual arts than the
NOC, Culture Ministry
spokesman Jozef Bednr told
the Sme daily.
The main curator of Kun-
sthalle, Richard Gregor, agrees
that the institution must be
Kunsthalle: The Fear of the Unknown exhibition.
separated. Kunsthalle has been
since the beginning only an
unwanted child of the NOC, he
said, opining that the incom-
patibility of the two organisa-
tions causes everyday accumu-
lation of elementary problems.
But he rather believed that an
independent state-funded in-
stitution should be established.
He reminds that also design-
ers, musicians, theatre-
makers, filmmakers and au-
thors have similar institutions.
Today, the Kunsthalle is a
gallery we can visit in profu-
sion, show to foreign guests,
respect or criticise, Gregor ar-
gues.
He likens the merging of
the documentation centre and
Kunsthalle into SNG to the shift
of the Theatre Institute under
the Slovak National Theatre, or
the Music Centre under the
Photo: TASR
Slovak Philharmonic. He also
cites experience from neigh-
bouring countries.
Rudolfnum in Prague
does not fall under the National
Gallery, nor does Zamek
Ujazdowski under the Warsaw
Zacheta, or Vienna-based Kun-
sthalle under the Museum of
Art History, Gregor said. Were
the last three years only to dis-
solve Kunsthalle now under the
administration of another gal-
lery?
A logical step?
In contrast, SNG head Al-
exandra Kus perceives the
ministrys move as a logical
one.
SNG has both capacities
and professional background to
fulfil such a role, she said.
This solution will be a tem-
porary one, until it will be pos-
sible to establish an independ-
ent organisation. According to
her, the new arrangement will
enable the Slovak Centre of
Visual Arts to focus more on ex-
pert activities and less on the
administrative agenda.
Also organisers of the
Month of Photography in Brat-
islava would welcome the mer-
ger of SNG and Kunsthalle last
year, they failed to agree on co-
operation with the Kunsthalle
management. [For years, the
Month of Photography had the
key exhibition there.]
Gregor sees both institu-
tions as competitors, though.
Their mutual rivalry has been
behind several exhibitions in
the recent years which reached
European standards. The inde-
pendent functioning of both
institutions is a guarantee for
him that no single code or a
single poetics of fine arts will
prevail in Slovakia.
Visual artist Dorota
Sadovsk says that anti-
monopoly principles should
apply to art. Mria orejov, gether by curator Daniel Roy
too, sees an ideological conflict
in the functioning of Kun-
sthalle and SNG.
Instead of experts and the
lay public being able to watch
the original vision of the Kun-
sthalle come true, they can see
only a fight for existence,
orejov said. If the vision of
becoming independent was
present when it was estab-
lished, then I see the whole is-
sue as further sweeping im-
portant things under the car-
pet.
IN THE 21st year of the sum-
mer event Statue and Object,
geometric abstract art pre-
vails, organiser Viktor Hulk
said. He added that what
continues is that every year,
the quality of foreign artists
participating in the project
continues increasing.
Statue and Object brings
artworks to open-air venues
and also to galleries in the
Slovak capital. This year, the
only open-air venue is the
garden of the Grassalkovich,
presidential, Palace. It is
open for the public during
the day but closed at night.
Regarding galleries, the
biggest number of various
artists and works has been
concentrated in the Bratis-
lava City Gallery (GMB), in
the Mirbach Palace, where
the Space and Structure ex-
hibition presents interna-
tional artists connected by
the Nove Tendencije / New
Tendencies project in 1961 21st year also presents other
in Zagreb. They focused
mostly on concretist and
kinetic art and paved the way
for the op-art that developed
later. The exhibition, put to-
Statue and Object in Grassalkovich Garden
includes also Slovak artist of
this genre, Viktor Hulk.
A vast selection of works
by another concretist, Ger-
man Klaus J. Schoen, can be
visited in the Umelka gallery
of the Slovak Union of Visual
Arts until August 7.
In the special space of the
Statua Gallery in Plffy
Palace in Zmock 4, the
works of a married couple are
shown in the Pala & Pala ex-
hibition. The creation of Zora
Palov and tpn Pala as
inspired by their stay in New
York is broad from the point
of view of genre and style.
The concept of this exhibi-
tion is a reflection of cul-
tures, the connecting and
intersecting of their influ-
ences across time and space,
in glass plastic objects,
drawings, objects and site-
specific light installation.
The Statue and Object /
Socha a object project in its
Slovak and foreign artists in
two more galleries and three
institutes of foreign cultures
until the end of August.
By Zuzana Vilikovsk
Photo: T. Hulk

Horse, marten or pig? ition of Ladislav Berger, an

THE NAME of the central-
Slovak village Kunerad has
caused sleepless nights for
several linguists. Its name is
slightly mysterious, and every
scientist has his own view. Let
us contribute to this
chaos a bit.
Most frequen-
tly, the name is
thought to be de-
rived from the word
for horse. But in
Slovak, the word is k, not
kun. From among fauna,
the Slovak word for marten,
kuna, could also be an option.
Another possibility is to turn
back to ancient Slavonic no-
blemen, as one of them with
a similar name could have
owned this area. Eventually,
as is often the case, the most
probable version will be the
least appealing. The word ku-
neraz was used in the Middle
Ages for a hog, and so it is quite
possible that Kunerad was a
vassal village where the main
occupation of inhabitants was
hog breeding.
However, in popular
knowledge Kunerad is rather
associated with a notable
hunting mansion which Ger-
man count Ballestrm ordered
to build in 1914 1916. During
the Slovak National Uprising,
guerrilla headquarters were
located here, and
Germans later pu-
nished this fairy-
tale mansion in the
way quite usual
then burning it
down. Despite be-
ing repaired after the war,
today it is again in a lament-
able shape. In this postcard
from the 1920s, we can see the
mansion still in its full beauty.
By Branislav Chovan
evening with Peter Zagar, a
performance of Helga Bachov
(soprano) and Enik Ginzry
(cimbal), Petrof Piano Trio
(CZ), Carl Palmer Band, etc.
Starts: Jul 29-31; various
sites. More info: www.fph.sk.
ilina
n THEATRE FESTIVAL: Kiosk
The ninth edition of the fest-
ival of independent dancers,
groupings and theatres will
presents a host of Slovak,
Czech and foreign per-
formers, e.g. the results of a
workshop by Karine Ponties
and Guillaume T. Fromentin
The Legits Blast is international hip-hop/break-dance festival which Dancing Body and Light, or
comprises several sub-festivals: the Outbreak Europe, Undisputed Matthew Rogers and Chris
and Rep Your Country dance and acrobatics events, and dance Leuenberger. Starts: Jul 28-
battles. Open Mic, Perfect Beat Challenge and the highlight, the Le- 31; Stanica ilina-Zrieie,
gits Blast Concert, are meant for hip-hop fans, featuring Moja Re, Zvodsk cesta 3. More info:
Boy Wonder, Krok Spet, Boco & peker, as well as Majk Spirit. Ac- www.kiosk.sk.
companying events include Graffiti Jam, Perfect Beat Challenge, 3x3
Basket, and more. The event takes place on July 24-31 in Europa Shop- Eastern Slovakia
ping Center in Bansk Bystrica. More information can be found at
www.thelegitsblast.com, tickets at predpredaj.zoznam.sk/sk. Koice
Photo: Outbreak Europe 2013, Courtesy of Outbreak Europe n CONCERT: PiotrWyleo(PL)
Polish pianist and composer
Western Slovakia Open: Tue-Fri 10:00-18:00, is a renowned jazz player. He
Sat-Sun 13:00-18:00 until Sep will play his work Improludes
Nitra 11; Youth Gallery, upn Squ- released on the eponymous al-
n EXHIBITION: Dennk bar- are 3. Admission: 3. More bum where he presents his
mana / Diary of a Barman The info: www.nitrianskagaler- own compositions inspired by
newest drawings, paintings ia.sk. the music of Franz Liszt, full of
and collages of English artist personal jazz expression. The
James Prescott are presented, Central Slovakia concert is part of summer mu-
including various kinds of sic festival Hevhetia.
oeuvres, e.g drawings of large Bansk tiavnica Starts: Jul 28, Eastern
format, black and white, full of n MUSIC FESTIVAL: Festival Slovak Gallery, Hlavn 27. Ad-
detail or bizarre scenes and Peknej hudby / Nice Music mission: 5. More info:
characters. The artist also re- Festival This is the 17th year www.hevhetiafest.sk.
veals a selection of his diary of the festival, which includes
notes. an authors concert, an exhib- Compiled by Spectator staff
12 July 25 August 7, 2016 BRATISLAVA

Danube banks are neglected

Renowned
architect offers
vision for further
developing the
capital
BY JANA LIPTKOV
Spectator staff
PETER Gero emigrated from the
then-Czechoslovakia to Ger-
many in 1968 and became a
prominent architect. During his
rich career there he served also
as the director of city develop-
ment in Hamburg and was re-
sponsible for the project of urb-
an regeneration of old port
warehouses in Hamburg into a
new quarter, HafenCity. He now
lives both in Hamburg and Brat- Peter Gero
islava.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS):
What exactly was the position
you held in Hamburg?
Peter Gero (PG): It is called
the director of city development
and it is a post at the city coun-
cil. I won a competition and held
it from 1994 until 2006.
TSS: Is it comparable with any
function here in Bratislava?
PG: No. This is what has
been missing here. The director
of city development is the citys
architect, the head of transport;
he is responsible for utilities but
also main parks, infrastructure
in the city and much more. This
position integrates all elements
related to the development of
the city.
When speaking about de-
velopment of a city architecture
that should not be the initial fo-
cus. The stress should be put on
the concept, or in other words
the direction the development
should follow. When you are
planning the development of a
city, you must have a reach on all
these things.
And what is important you
are an important partner for de-
velopers.
TSS: In Slovakia discussion
between the city, developers
and the public about new
projects does not work. Why?
What can change this?
PG: It does not work because
the discussion must primarily
be held between investors and
experts in the city manage-
ment. This means that the city
should create a position that
represents the public interest
and this can be achieved only by
discussion, which however,
does not work in Bratislava.
Individual stakeholders do
not communicate with each
other.
And also what is needed is
courage: this is my function, I
am responsible for this and I
think that this is how this
should be done. When you want
to do it in a different way, you
have to remove me.
TSS: Water and development
of embankments is a topic also
in Bratislava. How do you per-
ceive the latest proposals for
development of the Danube
River on the Petralka side on
the site of the former Lido
pool?
PG: Water is a topic not only
in Bratislava but also in Hlo-
hovec, Trenn and Pieany. All
these are cities in which water
creates their character.
In terms of embankments in
Bratislava, these are neglected.
In Bratislava, the Danube used
to mean more of a danger than a
benefit. But this has been chan-
ging, especially on the Petralka
embankment.
Thus each initiative to cre-
ate a vibrant embankment
should be supported by the city.
Eurovea may serve as an ex-
ample as there are apartments,
offices, a shopping mall, a
theatre and so on. In terms of
urban development this may
continue further beyond the
Apollo Bridge.
TSS: Do you mean to move the
cargo port?
PG: Yes. The city has exten-
ded and quarters next to the port
are not industrial any longer.
Thus the port has lost its reason
to be here, at least in its current
function and size. Instead of
factories you have here Eurovea
and Panorama City. When the
city develops like this you have
to say B after A, which means
something big lacking urban
intimacy is being built there. I
perceive it that the scale is
wrong here, but not only in
Bratislava, but also in other
Slovak cities.
I am very sorry that Bratis-
lava is getting rid of its historical
layers and then it is laboriously
trying to create interconnec-
tions between the old and new.
TSS: You are a member of the
circle of advisors at the
Dunajsk Fond (Danube Fund).
Could you specify its activities
and aims?
PG: The Danube Fund (DF) is
an initiative of freely thinking
people, who have realised that
things can be solved only by dis-
cussion and when joined to-
gether. It is a platform for stake-
holders whose goals and activ-
ities are connected with the
river in any way. These may be
Photo: Courtesy of Peter Gero managers of water courses, de-
velopers, water sportsmen,
that the Apollo Bridge is not the nature conservationists and so
end of the city centre and that on, while their individual aims
the city should extend there the can be fulfilled only via commu-
urban quality as well. nication. Before the Danube
The Danube creates good Fund, they did not know about
natural conditions there for a each other. The DF offers them
port and having a port in the city the possibility to discuss and
is also charming, nevertheless I improve their primary ideas and
would open this question so that concepts.
all the stakeholders can have
their say and take part in the de- TSS: You live both in Hamburg
velopment of this area with and Bratislava. What does
their interests. Bratislava have and what does
Hamburg lack and vice versa?
TSS: In Bratislava several his- Is Bratislava a good city for
torical industrial buildings living?
have been demolished, for ex- PG: For me, one way or an-
ample Kablo or Gumon, but other, Hamburg is the most
also PKO on the Danube em- beautiful city in the world
bankment. How do you per- (laugh) and after spending 40
ceive this? years there I understand Ham-
PG: Here in Bratislava there burg better than Bratislava. But
is missing a kind of vision to the fundamental difference is
perceive what quality is possible that Bratislava has a very dy-
in new usage of these old indus- namic young community. Brat-
trial buildings. Some of them islavans are very light-hearted
really do not have any historical and generous. There are young
value, but they bear a trace of teams, young architects, de-
history which adds some special signers and this should be used
character to the city. The basic for the citys development.
idea here is just to pull So yes, Bratislava is cer-
everything down, remove the tainly a good city for living.
trees in order to have a flat
empty plot, which is the best for To read the whole interview,
a building company. And then please go to www.spectator.sk.
MUSIC
n CONCERT: We Are Scient-
ists + Juraj Hnilica The
New York-based indie rock
group performs as part of
their European tour. Special
guest of their Bratislava
concert is Slovak bass gui-
tarist and composer Juraj
Hnilica.
Starts: Jul 25, 20:00; KC
Dunaj, Nedbalova 3. Admis-
sion: 13. More info:
www.ticketportal.sk.
n CLASSICAL MUSIC: Jean
Rondeau: Harpsichord goes
modern French harpsi-
chordist performs as part of
the music festival Viva Mu-
sica! accompanied by a five-
member ensemble.
Starts: Jul 29, 20:00. St
Martin Cathedral, Rudnay-
ovo Square 1. Admission:
20. More info: www.cityl-
ife.sk.
EVENTS
n PARTY: Electro Swing
Night Swing dance hall of
the thirties with the energy
of the current club scene.
The summer evening in-
cludes swing, jazz and elec-
tro. Visitors can await DJ
DayD and DJ Caterpillar.
Starts: Jul 29, 21:00;
Dunaj, Nedbalova 3. Admis-
sion: 3. More info:
www.citylife.sk.
n OUTDOOR: Fencing
Tuesdays at the Old Town
Hall Entertaining fencing
and theatre performances,
scenes, martial arts from the
Gothic, Renaissance and
Baroque times performed by
Crovus Arma Havrani.
Starts: every Tuesday Jul
26-Aug 30, 18:30, 19:15; the
Old Town Hall, Radnin
street 1. Admission: free.
More info: www.citylife.sk.
EXHIBITIONS
n EXHIBITION: Mir & Co-
BrA The exhibition
presents more than 60 works
by Mir and members of the
artistic movement CoBrA
including a replica of Mirs
studio in Mallorca.
Open: Tue-Sun; 11:00-
19:00 until Nov 13. Danubi-
ana Meulensteen Art Mu-
seum in unovo. Admis-
sion: 10. More info:

Siho island gets new trees www.danubiana.sk.

THE STATE forestry company Lesy SR
completed planting trees in July on Brat-
islavas oldest water-source island Siho,
on which trees were cut down earlier this
year. Activists and nature conservation-
ists welcome reforestation of the island,
they would like to see more native tree
species planted there.
The forest company planted 990 hy-
brid poplar trees and 525 black poplars on
1.6 hectares within its reforestation
activities.
Nature conservationists object to
planting of fast-growing hybrid poplar on
the island as its growth is not nature-
friendly and because a hybrid poplar
forest is not able to regenerate naturally
without intervention by man. Instead
they call for planting more species that
belong to this environment like black,
silver or grey poplar or various willows.
The Siho island hit front pages of pa-
pers earlier this year after plans of Lesy
HIGHLIGHTS OF
THE YEAR
SR to carry out extensive logging were
published. In response the Agriculture n BALLET: Romeo and Jul-
Ministry asked Lesy SR to halt logging liet The world renowned
until all involved parties agree upon fur- Royal Russian Ballet per-
ther management of the forest. Such a forms a romantic story
plan has not been approved yet. The latest composed by Sergey
plan of Lesy SR is to log and reforest 27 Prokofiev, inspired by the
percent of the trees on the island within famous theatre play by Wil-
liam Shakespeare.
10 years. It also promises support of nat- Starts: Dec 18, 19:00;
ive tree species in an effort to regain the Incheba Expo Arena,
original composition of the forest. Viedensk street 3-7. Ad-
Activists, however, remain sceptical. mission: from 23. More
I have a feeling that Lesy SR on one info: www.ticketportal.sk.
hand have receded to the pressure of the
public and until they are under public su- For more exhibitions go to
pervision they will plant an original www.sng.sk or
floodplain forest, but they would still www.gmb.sk.
prefer planting here hybrid poplar that Compiled by
they can log every few years, stated Spectator staff
Miroslav Dragun of the Institute for De-
velopment of Bratislava Region. For more tips for events
please go to www.spectat-
By Jana Liptkov Reforestation of the Siho island. Photo: Sme or.sk.