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NEWS
Less free info-law? Ministers have agreed an amendment to the Freedom of Information Act which would reduce the information public bodies have to post online. pg 2 Calls to halt tender Two political ethics watchdogs asked by the government to review a controversial public tender to rent office space in Koice have called for it to be scrapped, saying it is unfair. pg 3

Vol. 17, No. 29

Monday, August 22, 2011 - Sunday, September 4, 2011

of this issue

FOCUS

Bribe claims threaten major event

PM announces suspension of grant after bribery alleged

BY MICHAELA TERENZANI
Spectator staff
MAJOR sporting events in Slovakia this year seem to be suffering from some sort of curse. After the Winter Deaflympics, scheduled to take place in February 2011, were cancelled at the last moment after it turned out that the now-jailed head of the organising committee had been diverting most of the finances into his own pocket, a corruption scandal now surrounds the organisation of the European Biathlon Championship, due to take place in February 2012 in central Slovakia. Biathlon is, together with a few other disciplines, one sport in which Slovakia excels: the countrys biathletes enjoyed considerable success at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010. The decision to hold the 2012 European championships in the biathlon centre in Osrblie, in Bansk Bystrica Region, therefore came as a challenge to the country, and the government agreed to grant financial support for the reconstruction of the facilities there.
See CASH pg 2

OPINION
Greasing the wheels Anti-corruption strategies are all very well, but when it comes to convicting officials of graft, Slovakia has a patchy record. It's time politicians delivered on their promises. pg 5

A corruption scandal (see story right) has halted work on the biathlon centre in Osrblie, central Slovakia, leaving its hosting of the European Biathlon Championship, due to take place in February 2012, in doubt. Photo: Sme - J. Krolk

BUSINESS FOCUS
Strong and growing More than one hundred British companies have invested in Slovakia, including big names like Tesco, and hardly any have left despite the market turbulence of the last few years. pg 6 Links endure The Slovak and Irish economies both took a battering during the financial crisis, but business links have held up well and bilateral trade is growing again. pg 7

Politicians divided over euro bailout

AS EUROPEAN leaders search for ways to calm the edginess of global financial markets and tools to force irresponsible eurozone countries to observe stricter fiscal discipline, Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radiov is seeking the support of parliamentary parties to back changes to the European Financial Stabilisation Facility (EFSF) agreed upon by European leaders in July. Finance Minister Ivan Miklo says that the risk of recession is evident, adding that he believes the only chance to avert a recession is the rapid and efficient implementation of the measures agreed upon by European leaders. Yet in-

BY BEATA BALOGOV
Spectator staff
stead of reaching consensus on how to address the debt crisis in Europe, Slovakias politicians have so far resorted to rancour and political manoeuvring. Slovak President Ivan Gaparovi says that such an important decision as Slovakias yes to an increase in the volume of the EFSF requires broad consensus across the political spectrum. Slovakia should remain in the position of a trustworthy and re-

sponsible member of the European Union, Gaparovi said on August 16. But the co-ruling Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party has said that it is unlikely to support any changes to the EFSF. Party leader Richard Sulk called the EUs proposals a road to socialism and the creation of a debt union. Changes in the rules of the EFSF and an increase in its size must be approved by the Slovak parliament, and the government may have difficulty finding enough votes without SaS.
See EFSF pg 10

Education, transport get priority

BY BEATA BALOGOV
Spectator staff
THE ONE piece of legislation that always has the potential to bring the government to its knees has now been tabled before the cabinet of Prime Minister Iveta Radiov. Her ministers are now preparing to do battle in order to get the largest possible slice of the state budget cake for their departments. However, cash-hungry ministries and the opposition are not the only dangers facing the 2012 draft state budget. Given the shifting economic numbers of Slovakias largest trading partners, market watchers warn that the assumptions that the Finance Ministry used to construct the draft might have been too optimistic. The ministry in turn says it is ready to make any modifications that the changing economic climate might require. The Finance Ministry is pitching its draft state budget as a roadmap for consolidation, with a budget deficit of 3.172 billion, 637.6 million lower than the deficit approved for this year.
See 2012 pg 4

CULTURE
Dublin's Slovak centre The 20,000 Slovaks resident in Ireland now have a place to call home: the Slovak in Ireland House, which opened its doors as a social and cultural venue in Dublin in June. pg 9

Slovakias economy slows

BY JANA LIPTKOV
Spectator staff
THE GROWTH of the biggest European economies is decelerating, and appears to be pulling Slovakia down too. Slovakias GDP growth slowed to 3.3 percent in the second quarter of 2011 in annualised terms, compared to 3.5 percent in the first quarter, based on a flash estimate released by the Slovak Statistics Office on August 16. Since Germany, Slovakias biggest economic partner, and other eurozone members are also losing speed, observers say the outlook is pessimistic. The slowdown in the economic growth of Germany, i.e. of the most important business partner of Slovakia, is not the best news for the Slovak economy, Eva Sadovsk, an analyst with Potov Banka, told The Slovak Spectator, adding that compared with the first quarter, when the German economy grew by 4.6 percent year-on-year, the second quarter brought a slowdown to 2.8 percent, which was below market expectations. The second biggest economy in the eurozone, France, experienced zero growth during the second quarter. The Czech Republic, another significant business partner of Slovakia, also reported slower economic growth, at 2.4 percent year-on-year. The Statistics Office will release the detailed structure of GDP only in early September, but analysts believe that it was foreign demand in particular which propelled Slovakias economy during the second quarter. Domestic demand, especially from citizens, again failed to pick up. Slovaks remain cautious in terms of spending, even though data indicates strong growth in employment. When seasonally adjusted, employment grew by 2.1 percent compared to Q2 2010 and by 0.4 percent compared with Q1 2011, according to the Statistics Office.
See GDP pg 4

SELECT FOREX RATES

benchmark as of August 18
HUNGARY JAPAN POLAND USA
HUF JPY PLN USD

CANADA CAD 1.42 CZECH REP. CZK 24.42 RUSSIA RUB 41.87 GREAT BRITAIN GBP 0.87

272.13 110.08 4.15 1.43

August 22 September 4, 2011

NEWS

President criticises ent

SLOVAKIA's president Ivan Gaparovi has criticised general prosecutor-elect Jozef ent for shredding the testimony of independent MP Igor Matovi and deleting a copy from his computer, the Hospodrske Noviny daily reported on August 12. There must be a very serious reason for shredding such a document at the prosecutors office, Gaparovi said, as quoted by the daily. Like it or not, it leaves a big question mark. The president noted that the case might also affect his decision about whether or not to appoint ent to the post of general prosecutor. President Gaparovi is insisting on waiting for a ruling by the Constitutional Court on a change made by MPs to the method used to select the general prosecutor before making his decision. However, ent was selected by MPs using the old method, to which Gaparovi has never objected. Slovak presidents appointment of MPs choices for the job have always previously been a formality. Matovi met ent on July 29 to report accusations of corruption in the state administration. After he received the MPs testimony, ent says he unintentionally deleted the file from his computer and also shredded the hard copy.

Ministers agree info-law changes

BY BEATA BALOGOV
Spectator staff
STATE-owned companies will have to publish a list of all their contracts, while citizens will be able to request publication of individual documents requests with which firms will have to comply within eight days. Municipalities will no longer have to scan and post all documents such as invoices and orders, but only list selected basic data in a more transparent form. However, as of next year state organisations and municipalities will have to publish information about all invoices and orders, irrespective of their size, rather than being able to keep smaller deals secret. These changes are envisioned by the draft revision to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that We are not solving any other issues in this revision, itansk said, as quoted by the TASR newswire on August 17. itansk said that the duty to publish complete scanned documentation was the main objection of municipalities, which had called for a simpler technique for publishing orders and invoices so that basic data could be drawn directly from accounting documents and posted on their websites. The second revision will address other proposed changes to the FOIA, which has already been amended eight times since 2000. The current governments requirement to publish public contracts online, which took effect on January 1, 2011, was designed to improve transparency in how public money is spent.
See FOI pg 10

The Central Register of Contracts

Photo: Sme - T. Benedikovi

Smers popularity dips in poll

SUPPORT for Slovakias largest political party, Smer, has fallen recently, according to the results of a poll conducted by the Median SK polling agency between June 20 and July 17, 2011. Meanwhile, one of the ruling coalition parties, Most-Hd, saw a significant increase in its voter preferences in comparison with a poll from early June 2011, the TASR newswire reported. The July poll, carried out on a representative sample of 1,113 respondents, showed that although Smer would come first in a putative general election, with 42.7 percent of preferences, it had experienced a dip in popularity of 2.5 percentage points compared to the earlier poll from June. The most significant increase in support was recorded by Most-Hd. In comparison with the June poll its preferences nearly doubled: from 4.9 to 8.6 percent of voters who said they would vote for the party if elections were held tomorrow. The ruling Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDK) saw its support increase from 14 percent in June to 16.6 percent in July 2011, while the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) attracted 9.8 percent, down on the 10.6 percent it received previously in June. Another ruling coalition party, the liberal Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), registered a fall of 1.1 percentage points, attracting 8.2-percent support compared to the 9.3 percent it received in June. The preferences of the other parliamentary party, the opposition nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS), increased from 6.3 percent to 6.5 percent.

the government of Iveta Radiov sent to parliament on August 17. Watchdogs and advocates of free access to information have been on alert after state organisations submitted a series of comments to the FOIA draft amendment during the review process, many of which would have restricted

access to information or even punished citizens for requesting it. Due to the large volume of comments, Justice Minister Lucia itansk divided the proposed changes to the law into two steps: the first revision, now approved by cabinet, pertains only to publishing contracts and invoices online.

CASH: PM's former advisor charged

Continued from pg 1 1.6 million for a biathlon

Tich appeals to Constitutional Court

ACTING general prosecutor Ladislav Tich has addressed a complaint to the Constitutional Court, objecting to an amendment to the law on the prosecution service prepared by the Justice Ministry and approved by MPs, the SITA newswire reported. We disagree with the participation of the justice minister in various committees, said General Prosecutors Office spokesperson Jana Tklyov, as quoted by SITA. Tich had already sent a letter to Justice Minister Lucia itansk in which he reminded her that the prosecutors office was not a state agency. Though deputies passed the amendment to the law on prosecution on June 28, 2011, President Ivan Gaparovi has refused to sign it into law and returned it to the parliament. If the parliament votes again in favour and overrides his veto, as of October 2011 all applicants for the post of general prosecutor will have to attend a hearing led by a 6-member committee composed of three representatives of the prosecutors office and three representatives of parliament. Prosecutors offices will also have to publish the results of their meetings online, according to the amendment.
Compiled by Spectator staff from press reports

The grant to the Slovak Biathlon Association (SZB) and the Biathlon Club Osrblie from the state was intended to contribute to the completion of a multifunctional building with rooms for referees, coaches, athletes, health-care workers and media crews. The main building there is currently just a concrete skeleton with windows attached, and needs to have fittings installed and floors finished. Construction experts say that the work could be finished in three months time, according to the SITA newswire. The government assigned a total of 1.6 million for the purpose, with 1 million to come from the Education Ministry, 300,000 from the Finance Ministry and the other 300,000 from the prime ministers financial reserve. Immediately, some persons appeared who started acting as if 10 percent belonged to them, Prime Minister Iveta Radiov said when she announced that the government had suspended the grant after 300,000 of it had been paid out. She referred to events that occurred on July 29, when police detained three people alleged to have been in the act of passing a bribe of 30,000, or 10 percent of the states grant up to that time.
PMs aide charged

project, Peter Kazk, in Novotns Bratislava office. Lka denies corruption. Novotn was on holiday in the USA when the corruption allegations were made public, and refused to comment. I dont have information and Id find it hard to take any stance, he told the Sme daily. The Government Office, however, did not hesitate and Novotn was immediately fired from his post due to the loss of trust; the news about his dismissal was accompanied by assurances from the head of the prime ministers board of advisors, Marin Balsz, that external aides have neither decision-making nor any other competencies and as such they have no impact on decisions about grants. The opposition, however, cried foul. Smer leader Robert Fico accused Radiov of corruption, saying that graft had never got so close to the prime minster as it had in this case. In the most recent development, on August 17, Novotn returned from the USA and was subsequently officially accused in the case, Interior Minister Daniel Lipic told a press conference, adding that more people might face charges in the near future, the TASR newswire reported.
Former ambassador held by police

Kazk, who according to Sme has admitted corruption in the case, was in 2010 found guilty of machination in public procurement and avoiding taxes, the Government Office stated, adding that both misdemeanours were connected to public procurement related to construction of the Osrblie facilities. Another businessman, Peter Preuch from Luenec, has also been accused of corruption over the case. He was recently found guilty of bribery by the Specialised Criminal Court, but despite that was not taken into custody. The Sme daily reported on August 17 that Preuch pledged to the court that he would not hinder the investigation, after which he was freed.
Championship endangered?

The case garnered considerable public attention partly due to the fact that an external advisor to the prime minister, responsible for the economy portfolio, Martin Novotn, was allegedly involved in it. Igor Lka, who is accused of indirect corruption in the case and is currently in pre-trial custody in order to prevent him from interfering in the investigation, alleged that Novotn provided information from within the Government Office about the grant for construction of the biathlon stadium. Furthermore, Lka allegedly received the 30,000 from the owner of the construction firm that was hired for the

Meanwhile, Lka, a former Slovak ambassador to Kenya who worked at the Foreign Ministry until February this year, is the only suspect so far to have ended up in pre-trial custody. He was accused of having facilitated the passing of a bribe, along with two other persons, one of them Peter Kazk, the owner of construction company Kazk Slovakia. Lka first admitted to the investigator that he had passed information about the grant that he had said he received from Novotn to Kazk, who allegedly promised 10 percent of the sum to the facilitators of the grant, the Sme daily reported. Later, in court, Lka denied having committed any corrupt acts.

In the event that the state grant is not provided, the European championship is seriously endangered, the head of Biathlon Club Osrblie, Jozef Molan, said, as quoted by the SITA newswire. If this championship doesnt take place, it will probably mean the end of international competitions in Osrblie. According to Molan, the construction work has not progressed for two months now; it had been due to resume only after further state subsidies were granted. Radiov quickly responded to such concerns in a statement on August 12 which said that the money is still available thanks to the fast and uncompromising approach of the prime minister, the interior minister and the investigators. The prime minister is ready to sign a contract with the Slovak Biathlon Association again, provided that the SZB selects a new provider of construction works and all questions surrounding the unjustified use of financial resources are cleared up, the statement read. The SZB is also being investigated by the police special anti-corruption unit. Representatives of the association, however, have denied responsibility for any corruption in the case.

NEWS

August 22 September 4, 2011

'Summer has yet to come for the Church'

BY MICHAELA TERENZANI
Spectator staff
WHEN Rbert Bezk was chosen to become the archbishop of Trnava in 2009, to the surprise of many people including himself, he soon came to be seen as a symbol of a generational change in Slovakias Roman Catholic Church. Two years later, he prefers not to comment on any peccadilloes of his predecessors and dismisses it as part of the past while focusing on his mission and his quest to make Catholicism a living part of society. In an interview with The Slovak Spectator, Bezk spoke about his mission, his views on the diversity of the contemporary world, and the role of Roman Catholicism, the religion of some 70 percent of Slovaks, in the world of the 21st century. The Slovak Spectator (TSS): When you were appointed as archbishop of the Trnava Archdiocese you were perceived as a symbol of a change. What is new about your approach? Rbert Bezk (RB): My ambition is to link the present to the past glory of the archdiocese because Trnava has always been an important centre of Christianity in Slovakia; but I also would like to move it further into the wider European space. At the start I was thinking how to enable the Roman Catholic Church, and mainly our diocese, to be perceived as part of the central European space. And that is where my idea to open up our churches is rooted, so that they are not strictly only places of religion, but also places of art, music and culture. I was pleased to find that in the surrounding countries churches have already launched this dimension, so we got in touch with Vienna, Brno, Olomouc, Hradec Krlov, and also with places in Germany and the Netherlands where they have also opened their churches for one day for other than religious purposes. Im glad that we too have already had our first Slovak Night of Churches [in May 2011]. For me it was a dream-come-true because there were times when one couldnt think of inviting people to church; during the communist regime the church was treated strictly as a private place and if one went there one had to reckon with risks. TSS: What is the difference between the Roman Catholic Church in Slovakia and abroad? non-heterosexual people are demanding their rights and want to be accepted and respected by society and that is not always in line with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. RB: Various differences are an issue within our Christian families too. For instance, the rising number of divorces does not concern only the worldly space, but also the Christian one. New phenomena within human relations appear. On the one hand they say that love doesnt need a document which is a problem for the Roman Catholic Church because it wants people who love each other to say it aloud and sign their commitment on the other hand there are people who so very much want the document for homosexual couples. And the truth is that the Roman Catholic Church looks at some human relationships and expressions of love and sexuality with its thousand-year-old view. Its not a dynamic organisation that lives only for the present moment. When I as a bishop talk to people about marriage, it is based on the tradition that has been here for 2,000 years and even before. I'm not moving in a space where I could say whatever crosses my mind. There are some divorced people among my relatives as well and I accept it. I feel sorry for that, but I tolerate it; but sometimes I ask myself where the borderline is. Does tolerance mean that everyone can do whatever they want? And then the question is how much we can accept each other. So that its not that you must accept me but I dont like the fact that you are a Catholic and that you have your principles, because then your opinion about contraception and abortion is wrong. Sometimes it seems that Christianity should more and more open itself to the world and accept its opinions but it is expected not to present its opinions and adjust. But many of our opinions are Biblical, such as the creation of a man and a woman, Adam and Eve. On some issues the Bible really offers clear borders. I feel we might approach a point that will be hard to pass through. There are many questions that might be easy to talk about but in the end it may not be that simple. Id be glad if the Roman Catholic Church stayed responsible, even at the expense that it wont be immediate in its statements about these issues. For the full version of this interview please go to www.spectator.sk.

Watchdogs call for halt to tender

Tax authoritys decision expected soon
Subsequently, the Tax Directorate and the Finance Ministry under Ivan Miklo, another SDK minister, opened a tender to lease a building, but cancelled it before taking any decisions, saying it was unable to evaluate which of two bids made by Nitra Invest and another company, CTR was more advantageous. A new tender was announced, in which urka was the only bidder, offering a 5-year lease agreement for 6.3 million.
Fair-Play Alliance: cancel the tender

BY MICHAELA TERENZANI
Spectator staff

R. Bezk

Photo: Courtesy of the Office of the Trnava Archbishop

RB: Sometimes they say we are too conservative, afraid of whats new. Its true. Slovaks are more comfortable with emotiveness and familiarity, while rationality is still to be discovered. But elsewhere its the emotions that are missing, also in religion. There is a lack of joy from closeness, from the encounter. And then, the historical development was different. The churches around us have had to deal with other religions, and with Protestantism, which has caused shifts within the Roman Catholic Church too. In Slovakia that was less significant. It was a rural country where life followed a natural rhythm work in spring and in summer, harvest in autumn, and rest in winter. And the religion accompanied this natural rhythm of life. There were few cities to serve as intellectual centres. Our development was simply different and we need time. Many people who studied abroad are coming back to Slovakia nowadays. They speak foreign languages and bring along new ideas. So I believe the summer has yet to come for the Slovak Roman Catholic Church. TSS: The Roman Catholic Church was criticised for promoting formalism when it ran motivational campaigns before the census encouraging people to mark their religion in the census forms. Does it make sense for the church to have these formal members even if they do not live with the religion in any way? RB: As long as someone is still willing to say he or she is a Catholic, it shows something. Even if the religion has no practical dimension in the life of that person there is still the inner identification with Christianity. And thats a good sign too. The question is whether we should perceive it in this very simple sense, or whether

Catholicism should also be a force present in society. That is where statistics are not enough. Id be glad if it wasnt only about statistical data; Id like Catholicism to be more visible practically. But the fact is that we live in a society that considers numbers. Democratic society counts votes. And the Roman Catholic Church is also considered according to how many votes it has got. This dimension of democracy is thus also important for us. The more votes, the happier we are; but we are aware that it is not the most important expression of Christianity in Slovakia. TSS: What does the Roman Catholic Church offer to its believers today as they face new dilemmas? It does not always seem to be able to respond to current issues. RB: The Roman Catholic Church is not an abstract institution; its composed of people. And together we are looking for answers. I dont have them ready either; this world often surprises me with its opinions, its dynamics. I grew up not knowing what a computer or a cell phone is and today I can hardly do without them. Questions come faster than the answers. The life and morality of people moves at a tremendous speed and sometimes the only answers weve got are those from the past and they dont always fit the present. The Roman Catholic Church must look for its own way to modernise itself. In Slovakia we lived for 40 years [during communism] only in our private lives, closed in the churches, and it was only very recently that we opened them up. But we also need to preserve our own identity rather than trying to please people at any price. The search is a common effort. TSS: One of the current challenges is diversity in all areas of life. For instance,

However when Fair-Play Alliance, a political fairness watchdog, presented its opinion on the tender on August 11, it recommended that the Tax Directorate not sign a rental contract with Nitra Invest and cancel the tender altogether. The competition gave an advantage to Nitra Invest, the alliance stated. The competition wasnt announced with criteria that other bidders would be able to fulfil. Therefore we believe it wasnt fair and didnt provide the same conditions for all potential bidders. The alliance listed several problematic aspects to the tender, such as discriminatory criteria, non-transparent conditions, and the Looking to rent low credibility of analyses The situation in Koice, based on which the Tax Directorate decided that rentwhich has caused significing one building for all its ant tension within the ruloffices in Koice would be ing coalition, was first the best solution. brought to the medias atThe alliance criticised tention on April 11, 2011, the fact that the Tax Directwhen opposition leader orate listed very specific criRobert Fico termed a lease teria in the tender. These, it contract for office space signed by the tax authority said, required large-scale reconstruction which the bida clear case of party ders would have to make becronyism. Fico alleged that some of fore knowing if they would win the tender. the money from the 6.6-million rental conSome entrepreneurs tract, sealed by the Tax Dir- were thus disadvantaged, ectorate with Nitra Invest, a because they [had to] invest company owned by Slovak in their buildings before Democratic and Christian they had an assurance that Union (SDK) member On- the tax authorities would drej urka at the beginning sign a contract with them, of the year, would end up in Peter Kunder of Fair-Play Althe coffers of the SDK, liance said. though he offered no evidBoth Fair-Play Alliance ence to support his claim. and TIS pointed out that the On April 15, Nitra Invest tender required the buildannounced it was withing to have been construcdrawing from the lease ted no earlier than January agreement, stating that it 2008. did not want further suspiThe Tax Directorate arcions to be connected with gued that this was importits name. ant because the law on enPrime Minister Iveta ergy efficiency came into Radiov, also from the effect on January 1, 2008. SDK, called on the head of By setting this limit, the the Tax Directorate, Tax Directorate said it was Miroslav Mikulk, to take seeking to make sure that political responsibility for the building would possess the controversy and resign, a valid energy-efficiency which he eventually did certificate. after resisting her call for five days. See TAX pg 5

TWO out of two transparency and political fairness watchdogs are recommending that a public tender through which the Koice tax office is seeking to rent a new building for its offices a process which itself followed an earlier property deal which collapsed amid allegations of non-transparency and political favouritism be cancelled. The Tax Directorate has not said what steps, if any, it will now take. Transparency International Slovensko (TIS) and Fair-Play Alliance, the two watchdog NGOs who in an unprecedented move by the government were asked to evaluate the tender from the viewpoint of transparency, both concluded their inquiries by saying that it should be cancelled due to serious concerns that several of the criteria stated within it were discriminatory and unclear.

OPINION / NEWS
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
Mr Slota shouldnt fly so high; the thin air is apparently not doing him any good and hes talking nonsense. The Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party responds to Slovak National Party leader Jn Slotas allegations that SaS might have traded its support for the European Stability Mechanism in a political deal.

August 22 September 4, 2011

Will certain wheels always need to be greased?

THERE is still a whole generation of people in Slovakia who will pass on to their children the folk wisdom that certain wheels always need to be greased in one or another way in order to get things moving. They will say that parental duties include dialling the right numbers to get their kids into the right schools. They would never call slipping the right-sized envelope into the right pocket in order to get a state order for their firm corruption, but would instead reach for one of the numerous euphemisms generated over the years by society. Bribes can take multiple forms, from innocent-looking free tickets, bottles and baskets of eggs, through small favours, waived payments and perks, up to fat envelopes and shameless sweetheart deals. Twenty-one years after the fall of communism, it is becoming clear that a change in regime or the arrival of a new generation in politics is not enough to weed out this phenomenon from the daily lives of people in Slovakia or anywhere else for that matter. One in four households in Slovakia that sought help from the Slovak health service over the past year paid a bribe, according to last years Global Corruption Barometer survey published by Transparency International (TI) in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The health service aside, the Slovak public most frequently came across bribery at land registry offices and in courts, while businesspeople and officials in state and public administration are, according to the survey, considered the most corrupt individuals. Despite the perceived high level of bribery, only 8 percent of Slovaks have ever made an official complaint. Yet any government with the ambition to reduce the widespread societal tolerance of petty forms of corruption should first of all apply zerotolerance to corruption within its own ranks. It should also encourage wider public control over the flow of taxpayers money and shed more light on how spending decisions are made. When the government of Iveta Radiov took office after Robert Fico and his politically objectionable coalition partners, Jn Slota and Vladimr Meiar, corruption and cronyism were promptly defined as the new enemies. True, the Radiov government has been wor king on anti-corruption strategies, but the most important messages are transmitted when governments, prosecutors and courts deal with concrete corruption cases. This is

Euroval 2
BY LUK FILA Special to the Spectator
EUROVAL, the European defence bulwark devised to save the common currency, was this newspapers word of the week just over a year ago. Why bother reading about it again? There are two main reasons firstly, it is likely the most important topic of this period. And secondly, it provides a fun way of discovering the double personalities of local politicians. Parliamentary speaker Richard Sulk claims that by building the euroval the EU is becoming like the Soviet Union and that he will do his best to stop the project. On the other hand, he is reluctant to say that he will leave the coalition if the other parties join forces with opposition party Smer, although the coalition agreement explicitly states that when it comes to key issues, such unions are forbidden. Where are the principles? Where is the determination to stop European Bolsheviks? And how can he stay in government with someone who is preparing to betray national interests anyway, at least the way he sees it?

SLOVAK WORD

OF THE WEEK

Smer leader Robert Fico, who could provide the coalition with enough votes, defends an equally awkward position. He keeps repeating that his Smer party is all for the financial mechanisms. But he will not vote for them unless the coalition as a whole does so as well. Prime Minister Iveta Radiov would surely like to appeal to Ficos statesmanship and sense of responsibility towards Europe. But she cant. In 2008 Radiov and the entire right refused to vote for the Lisbon treaty, against which they had no

substantial objections. The move was a protest against Ficos restrictive Press Code, which did give reason for concern, but never seemed quite as important as the new European treaty. Not even to journalists. In the end, Fico found the necessary 90 votes only thanks to a deal with the Hungarian SMK party. Radiov says that the future of the euro and the Slovak economy depend on euroval 1 and 2. But she refuses to tell Sulk and his SaS party that a failed vote will mean an end to her government, a threat she used twice during her first year in office when it came to matters that certainly wont go down as historically significant the election of the general prosecutor and a cronyism scandal in her own SDK party. In 2010 this newspaper wrote that when it comes to solving the euro crisis, the new coalition needs to build a bulwark to shield itself from populism, indecisiveness and irresponsibility. Since then, all three seem to have deepened. If that doesnt change, euroval may not be just the first big issue this government has had to deal with. It may also be the last.

EDITORIAL

BY BEATA BALOGOV
Spectator staff

TAX: NGOs welcome state's decision to involve them

Continued from pg 3

But the watchdogs pointed out that having a valid energy-efficiency certificate was already among the requirements; obtaining it did not depend on the [date of construction] of the building, but on fulfilling the functional conditions of efficiency, TIS wrote.
TIS: cancel the tender

TIS, among other things, recommended rewriting the impact study of the alternatives in the case of the Koice tax offices, and relaxing the requirements imposed on bidders. Fair-Play Alliance focused on the impacts too, saying that renting one big building for all offices should be compared with other feasible solutions in a correctly-written analysis.
Tax authoritys decision awaited

why the media are closely watching developments around the most recent corruption case, relating to the construction of a sports stadium in the village of Osrblie, which is supposed to host a European biathlon championship. The state was expected to contribute 1.6 million to the project, of which 300,000 has already been paid out. The police allege that 10 percent of the latter sum was paid as a bribe and the government has now stopped the rest of the subsidy. Among those charged with bribery are former Slovak ambassador to Kenya Igor Lka, a representative of the firm Kazk Slovakia and Martin Novotn, who has already been sacked as an economic advisor to the prime minister.

Slovakia does not have a good record when it comes to sending corrupt officials to jail, this despite various surveys and past experience demonstrating that the public sector contains more than its fair share of crooks. For example in one of the most keenly observed cases involving suspected corruption of a public official, the case of a former mayor of Raa, six years after an alleged crime was first reported by a businessman to the police the main defendants in the case were in 2010 cleared on appeal by the senate of the Specialised Criminal Court, with the court concluding that it had not been proved that the act for which the two were originally convicted had actually happened. Back in 2009, the Bansk Bystrica district court ruled that former Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) deputy Gabriel Karlin, who allegedly accepted a 16,600 bribe in 2006, was in fact innocent. The court also dismissed corruption charges against Milan Mrz, Karlins party colleague and former head of the Bansk Bystrica Regional Office. The court said the prosecutions evidence was not convincing. The head of the board of advisors to the prime minister has already pledged that the Osrblie case will be thoroughly investigated and the main figures punished regardless of their names, influence and position. That good old phrase is definitely apt here: we will see. Tough action against those who still think that all what they are doing is taking what they are entitled to would be far more effective than a series of prettily packaged anti-corruption policies.

Transparency International Slovakia recommends cancelling the current round of the search for a building to rent, and announce a new competition, was the conclusion of the analysis published by TIS on August 5. TIS reasoned that the criteria for participation and evaluation were unnecessarily strict, and said they had changed during the two rounds of the competition. TIS added that they also appeared to be unclear. The impact study of the rental deal came late and contained errors, and the changes in the competition materials that were made in the course of the tender were not explained sufficiently, TIS wrote. And although the calls for applications that were published and the impact study that was carried out show that the objectiveness and transparency of the selection process had improved, there was still no guarantee that this was the best selection process possible, it concluded. Both watchdogs recommended that a new methodology be designed for tenders announced by public institutions looking for non-residential spaces for rent or purchase, which would guarantee a fair and non-discriminatory approach to all bidders.

The sad fact is that a competition with such mistakes was, despite them, the most transparent selection of a new building for tax offices in Koice to date, TIS concluded. Despite all their criticism, Fair-Play Alliance head Zuzana Wienk noted that this was the first time ever in Slovakia that non-governmental organisations had been asked to evaluate a tender before a contract was signed. We do appreciate this new culture, Wienk said. We expect that those responsible will deal with the facts described in the evaluation and then take an independent, publicly argued decision that will support the fairness of the processes and will be advantageous for the state. The Tax Directorate has received a report from Fair-Play Alliance, the Tax Directorate said, as quoted by the SITA newswire. At the moment, we are analysing it. After assessing both reports from non-governmental organisations, we will take a stance. No further information was available as The Slovak Spectator went to print on Thursday, August 18. The final decision on whether or not to cancel the tender was expected by Friday, August 19.

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EDITORIAL

LAYOUT, WEB & IT

SALES - FINANCES

August 22 September 4, 2011

BUSINESS / NEWS

GDP: Banks rethink growth estimates

Continued from pg 1

Mobile operators licences extended

SLOVAKIAS two biggest mobile operators are to have their licences to use their existing operating frequencies extended for another 10 years, the Telecommunication Office (T) has decided but it will come at a cost, the Sme daily reported. Though the Finance Ministry originally expected that both mobile providers would pay 10 million, the licence extensions will cost the companies rather more: Orange Slovensko must pay 41 million, while Slovak Telekom, which operates mobile services under the TMobile brand, will pay 48 million. The T used ARPU (average revenue per user) indicators to calculate the fees. The former head of the telecommunications regulator, Branislav Maj, said that calculating licence fees by using ARPU effectively penalises the more successful operator. At question are identical licences and the operator who is able to earn more per user will now pay more, Maj said, as quoted by Sme. The operators can still challenge the decision. Orange Slovensko indicated before the T announced the extension fees that if its oneoff charge were higher than 5 million, it would consider arbitration against Slovakia, Sme wrote. In 2006 Telefnica Slovakia, the third mobile operator, paid 5 million for its 20-year GSM and 3G licences. Slovak Telecom may be able to sue Slovakia over a law change, since the Slovak Parliament changed the relevant act after the company had filed its original application to extend its licence. The company sent its first application to the T on January 28 this year, while parliament passed a revision allowing extension fees to be levied only on April 5.

While industrial production and foreign trade undoubtedly grew, despite the slowdown in June, retail sales have not increased in any month so far this year in yearon-year terms, Sadovsk told The Slovak Spectator. Retail sales decreased by 1.2 percent during the second quarter compared with the first three months and when seasonal effects were stripped out. Chief economist of UniCredit Bank Slovakia Vladimr Zlack attributes this decrease to a fall in household consumption and decreasing expenditure by the Slovak government as part of its ongoing austerity programme. The latest economic indicators, not only from Slovakia but also its biggest economic partners, suggest that there is a risk that economic growth could be slower than was originally forecast. Several banks now say they may cut their GDP growth estimates and some already have. We assume that the Slovak economys growth will slow in a more significant way in the forthcoming period, Zlack wrote in a memo. Already the

Economic growth forecasts are being adjusted.

Photo: TASR

June data on industrial production and foreign trade have indicated a drop in economic growth dynamics. According to Zlack, Q2 data about the German economy, which grew by only 0.1 percent when compared to the first quarter and cleansed of seasonal influences, demonstrate the decelerating economic growth of Slovakias main business partner. UniCredit Groups analysts have reduced their estimate of German growth from 3.5 to 3.0 percent for 2011 and from 2.0 percent to 1.3 percent for 2012. Slovakia exports one fifth of its production, especially cars and elec-

trical appliances, to Germany, according to the Hospodrske Noviny daily. Recent turbulent developments on financial markets may accentuate even more this slowdown of the real economy in eurozone countries, which will be reflected in demand for Slovakias exports after a certain time lapse, said Zlack. For now we are keeping our estimate for economic growth at 3.1 percent for 2011, bearing in mind the start of production of a large electro-technical producer and a carmaker during the second half of 2011, but we stress that the risk remains that the estimate could still be deflected downwards.

UniCredit Bank Slovakia, referring to the expected global slowdown, has adjusted its economic growth estimate for Slovakia for 2012 downwards by 0.6 percentage points, to 3.3 percent. VB Banka is even more pessimistic. For the rest of the year [2011] we have halved our previous estimates, Andrej Arady, macroeconomist at VB Banka, wrote in a memo. For 2012 we estimate annual economic growth at a level close to 2 percent. It will be necessary to wait and see what damage the current drop in stock markets causes to future growth estimates over the next few months, according to Arady. But he perceives the current situation as being similar to the initial phase of the last economic crisis. The scenario recalls very much the developments that occurred two years ago, Arady told Hospodrske Noviny. Since the state budget of Slovakia for next year assumes economic growth of 4.4 percent, a revision of macroeconomic prognoses by the Finance Ministry is now considered highly probable.

Banks accused of operating a cartel

THE ANTIMONOPOLY Office has launched an investigation of Slovak banks which allegedly set up a cartel agreement covering bank charges and mortgage interest rates, the Sme daily reported. Representatives of the office would neither comment on the investigation nor specify when they believe the agreement was struck. The first person to suggest that a possible cartel agreement existed was Finance Minister Ivan Miklo. He asked the banks to provide documents to his ministry containing information about their activities. Banks have been criticised for high charges and inappropriate income for years. During the first six months of 2011 the net profit of the banking sector reached 431 million, while profit from charges and provisions grew to 227 million.

2012: Some ministries to feel the pinch

Continued from pg 1

Social insurer turns debt collector

THE STATE-RUN social insurer Socilna Poisova has improved its collection of insurance fees. The head of the insurer, ubo Lopatka, said that since January 2011 the amount of money owed by private individuals and companies has dropped by one third, the Sme daily reported. Over the first seven months [of 2011] 79,395 cases were submitted to executors, Lopatka announced, as quoted by Sme, adding that this represented a 151-percent increase. The social insurer says it is currently achieving a 106-percent collection of fees and debts. After being inactive in this area for years, the social insurer now publishes the names of debtors online and has increased bonuses for staff who successfully collect the amounts due. Thanks to the increase in the number of solved cases the state could reportedly save up to 100 million.

Six companies interested in NCHZ

BANKRUPT chemical factory Novcke Chemick Zvody (NCHZ) has attracted six potential buyers, the Hospodrske Noviny daily has reported. Two Slovak and four foreign companies are reportedly interested in purchasing the company. One of the Slovak applicants is MEnergo, owned by Miroslav Remeta, who participated in a first bidding round which was stopped by the National Property Fund (FNM) for alleged non-transparency. The official list of bidders will be published as soon as companies send the bankruptcy administrator a draft of the contract and an advance payment of 1 million.
Compiled by Spectator staff from press reports

The public finance deficit in 2012 should thus fall to 3.8 percent of gross domestic product, with the target being to reduce it further in 2013, to beneath the 3-percent eurozone limit set by the Maastricht Treaty. This year, the public finance deficit is expected to reach 4.9 percent of GDP. In fact, at a cabinet meeting on August 17, ministers toyed with the idea of an even more radical consolidation of the public finances than the government had originally planned, with Finance Minister Ivan Miklo confirming that his colleagues had demonstrated that they understood the need to cut the deficit. I have a good feeling from todays discussion because no one doubted this priority; on the contrary, there were voices asking whether we are able to seek even faster reduction of the public finance deficit, Miklo said, as quoted by the SITA newswire. Yet Miklo said that despite this understanding, ministers have collectively lodged requests for money which far outstrip the possibilities of the budget. The education and infrastructure sectors will be treated as priorities, he said. The 2012 draft state budget forecasts total revenues of 15.27 billion, representing an increase of more than 16 percent over this years estimated receipts. Expenditure, by contrast is expected to grow more moderately, rising by 8.8 percent compared to this years budget to reach 18.443 billion, SITA reported. I consider the plan to cut the budget deficit up to 2013 to be ambitious enough, VB Banka economist Andrej Arady told The Slovak Spectator. However, the basic macro-economic prognoses that the cabinet has built the state budget on now seems optimistic. It will take several months until the smoke clears and we see the real damage caused to the economy. Arady said that estimates for real economic growth seem inflated and a

scenario of slow growth at 2 percent for next year seems more realistic to him. However, he said he is sure that the government is following developments and will re-evaluate the draft budget if necessary. The necessity to cut the budget deficit to 3.8 percent is very acute and the government in fact does not have room for hesitation, Tatra Banka analyst Juraj Valachy told The Slovak Spectator. If the economic situation allows it even a little, then the reduction in the budget deficit could be even more ambitious, Valachy said. He agreed that the estimates that serve as the basis for the budget calculations may be too rosy. The macro-economic assumptions on which the state budget is built are optimistic when seen through todays prism, said Valachy. It would be desirable to update the assumptions and adjust the spending side to lower revenues even before the key vote in parliament. As for the potential risks hanging over next years plan, Valachy identified potentially worse development in the economy than the government expects. He warned that if this occurs, additional modifications on the spending side and the revenue side by increasing some taxes will be necessary to ensure that the country retains the confidence of the financial markets. This would be reflected in higher costs of financing for the state and subsequently also companies and inhabitants, said Valachy. The Finance Ministry has said that if the global economic situation calls for changes, the ministry will reflect actual developments in the draft budget for next year. The analytical team at the ministry very carefully monitors the situation, but after four days of volatility on the market it is premature to say what will happen, ministry spokesman Martin Jaro said on August 10. If corrections become necessary, they will be made.

The Finance Ministry has said that the draft put before cabinet includes the basic priorities of education and infrastructure, while other political priorities will be subject to further coalition talks over the next few weeks. Valachy said that these budget priorities are right. However, he added that the judicial system should also be a priority, since the courts have long evoked concern among not just investors but also citizens. I consider tuning the priorities of the budget to infrastructure and education the right step towards a long-term increase in Slovakias competitiveness, Arady said. It is a good investment which will deliver a return to Slovakias economy, with interest.
The numbers

The Defence Ministry will again get a smaller portion of spending, at least according to the draft. Total defence spending is set at 1.03 percent of GDP for 2012, compared to 1.11 percent of GDP this year, SITA reported. The department will see its budget cut by 0.72 percent, to 754.3 million. Defence Minister ubomr Galko said he would not resign over the proposed budget, but would try to fight for more cash for Slovakias armed forces. The Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development can expect to get 2.126 billion, a 12.9 percent increase on 2011. Of this sum, 1.911 billion is earmarked for the development of road and rail infrastructure. The Economy Ministry will see its budget shrink dramatically in 2012: it will get 209 million, as opposed to the 334 million it is receiving this year. The Finance Ministry proposes to achieve this reduction by a cut in investment stimuli and support for businesses. The Labour Ministry will get 2.37 percent less than this year, receiving 1.96 billion. The most generous package will go to the Education Ministry, which will have 2.434 billion to spend in 2012, a 4.8-percent increase compared to 2011.

August 22 September 4, 2011

British Council prefers longterm links to 'short affairs' British box-maker invests in eastern Slovakia

Restoring order in the UK

BY MARTIN KAY
Special to the Spectator
IT HAS been difficult to turn on the television or pick up a newspaper without hearing about this months horrific rioting in Britain. Watching from afar, whilst representing British interests in Slovakia, my heart goes out to the families and small business owners who have been harmed by these events. First and foremost, the behaviour of the persons involved in the rioting has been utterly appalling. Regardless of context, this is criminality, pure and simple, and the looting, vandalism, and gang behaviour cannot and will not be tolerated. The violence and depraved actions of these individuals are wholly unacceptable. Prime Minister David Cameron has stressed that Britain will use all means necessary to restore law and order. Fortunately the country is well on its way to achieving this goal. When it became clear that more police were required on our streets and more robust police action was necessary, all annual leave within the Metropolitan Police was cancelled and 16,000 police were deployed to the

GREAT BRITAIN
BUSINESS FOCUS
to contribute to the restoration of order. In many ways, these events have showcased the worst of Britain, but I also believe weve seen some of the best of Britain. Over a million people have signed up on Facebook to support the police in cleanup efforts, and entire communities are pitching in to help to restore a sense of normality and calm. Complacency has never been and will never be an option. I hope that these awful events will not distract the world from the fact that the coming year is a big one for Britain: 2012 will mark the celebration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London, and the Queen will celebrate her Diamond Jubilee. In terms of the Olympics, the focus of the government and everyone involved is to deliver a safe and secure Olympic and Paralympic Games that London, the UK and the world can enjoy. The police and emergency services have substantial experience in terms of preparation for these major events, and also have major experience dealing with protests, both of the peaceful and law-abiding variety, and also the violent.
See MK pg 11

Next issue:
GERMANY

United Kingdom: General facts

Political system: constitutional monarchy Capital: London Total area: 242,500 square kilometres Population: nearly 61 million Main language: English Currency: pound sterling

UK institutions in Slovakia
British Embassy Ambassador: Susanna Montgomery has been appointed and is due to take up her post in Bratislava on September 2 www.ukinslovakia.fco.gov.uk/ British Council Director: Alena Rebrov www.britishcouncil.sk British Chamber of Commerce in the Slovak Republic Chairman: John Barter www.britcham.sk

Martin Kay, charg daffaires at the British Embassy

Photo: Courtesy of the British Embassy

streets of London, which had the desired effect across the capital. Copycat crimes began popping up in other British cities, including Birmingham, Manchester and Nottingham. Hundreds of arrests have been made in these cities and police are working tirelessly to quell further incidents. British government and law enforcement agencies are ensuring that the violence stops and that the police are equipped with whatever resources they need to restore

order. To date [Ed. note: August 15] over 2,800 people have been arrested nationally, more than 1,100 have appeared in courts, and 808 of these have been charged. British courts remained in session around the clock and will continue to ensure that procedures and processes are accelerated and justice is served. I am heartened by the swiftness of this response, and bolstered even more by the efforts my fellow Brits have taken upon themselves

Some companies with British capital in Slovakia

AquaCity Poprad, www.aquacity.sk Boxperfect, www.boxperfect.com BPP Professional Education, www.bpp.com/slovakia ENL SK, www.enl.sk HSBC Bank, www.hsbc.com Kinstellar, www.kinstellar.com Slovak Health Spa Pietany, www.spapiestany.sk Spiller Farmer, www.spillerfarmer.sk Tesco Stores SR, www.itesco.sk
Source: British Chamber of Commerce in the Slovak Republic, databases of The Slovak Spectator

British investors' interest is strong and growing

UK investors are active in retail, spa treatment, education and many other sectors BY JANA LIPTKOV
Spectator staff
According to Repka, British exports to Slovakia grew by 22 percent compared to 2009. He specified that advanced engineering and automotive, electronic machinery and appliances, telecommunication equipment and metallurgical products are the goods most traded between the two countries. Slovakia continues to export approximately twice as much to the UK as the UK exports to Slovakia, according to the British Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia. However, the 2010 figures are significantly lower than the 2.3 billion of exports to the UK achieved annually during 2007 and 2008. One factor has to be the decrease in the value of sterling; we know of cases where manufacturing companies had taken fixed price contracts in sterling and it was cheaper to pay the penalties for non-delivery rather than manufacture the product, John Barter, chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia, told The Slovak Spectator. Luckily, in most cases the Slovak companies were able to re-negotiate their contracts so that they could deliver, but what has become clear is that because of the devaluation of sterling it is more difficult for Slovak companies to be competitive in the UK market. According to Barter, the chamber knows of Slovak companies that have taken advantage of the economic crisis to re-organise in order to significantly increase their productivity and competitiveness. These companies are now stronger, more efficient and able to compete worldwide. Regarding our expectations of the future, one can predict that if the Slovak economy continues to grow then the UK will see many opportunities as the service sector develops, but we all have to be vigilant and recognise that the eurozone faces many challenges over the next three years, said Barter. Repka would like to see further growth in this and coming years but, according to him, the current debt situation in the USA is very likely to have an impact on European trade relations as well.
British investments in Slovakia

ECONOMIC and trade relations between Great Britain and Slovakia are strong and thriving. There are a number of British investors already well established in Slovakia and others are eying opportunities here: experts evaluate mutual economic cooperation as sound, with prospects for further growth. Trade relations between Slovakia and Britain are very good, Peter Repka, head of the trade and investment department at the British Embassy in Bratislava, told The Slovak Spectator. According to British statistics, bilateral trade in goods exceeded GBP2 billion in 2010 an impressive achievement from both ends, considering the impacts of the global crisis.

The interest of British investors and entrepreneurs in Slovakia is relatively high with regards to the number of inquiries our agency records, said Richard Drer, spokesperson for the Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO), adding that British com-

panies regularly enquire about Slovakia and opportunities to make investments here. So far SARIO has completed 16 projects with British investors. These have brought in aggregate investments of 63 million and created between 805 and 1,286 jobs. SARIO is currently working on two projects with British investors, according to Drer. With regards to the activities SARIO carries out to attract British investments to Slovakia, Drer specified that the agency regularly presents its activities and the opportunities to invest in Slovakia via its own investment seminars. One such seminar took place in Cardiff in October 2010. It was organised by the trade counsellor of the Slovak Republic in Great Britain, Vladimr Kumik, in cooperation with Slovakias honorary consul in Wales, Nigel Payne. The seminar was attended by 60 companies from Wales who showed great interest in Slovakia, according to SARIO. Its presentation focused on introducing Slovakia as a country that has a greater interest than in the past in direct foreign investment in high-tech industries with a higher added value, and in research and development.

Barter and Repka confirmed that Slovakia remains attractive to UK investors and visitors. Everyone I have hosted in Slovakia enjoys Bratislava and falls in love with the country, said Barter. The central location serviced by Bratislava and Vienna airports gives Slovakia significant advantages over its neighbours. The current motorway-building programme is already having an impact and the railway infrastructure modernisation will be of equal importance. However, Repka admitted that the economic downturn has affected trade and investment relations between the two countries. British investors are a bit cautious about expanding their businesses, not only in Slovakia but in Europe as such. We would love to see more manufacturing investors coming in, said Repka. On the other hand, a report compiled by the British government agency for trade and investment in August 2010 shows that some 24 percent of UK companies consider the central and eastern European region in general as a favoured market for exporting in the future.
See UK pg 8

August 22 September 4, 2011

New centre for Slovaks opens in Dublin Ryanair dominates Bratislava Airport

'A more rounded picture'

BY KATHRYN COLL Special to the Spectator
IN THE few months before my arrival to take up this position in September 2008, the onset of recession in tandem with our initial rejection of the Lisbon Treaty began to cloud the bright image Ireland had enjoyed in Slovakia and in the EU generally. Worse was to come for Ireland as an unprecedented banking and economic crisis took hold and bank debt morphed into sovereign debt. Slovakias negative growth of 2009 was rapidly reversed as international trade rebounded. Irelands difficulties both homegrown and global in their making continue to challenge us. Budget adjustments equivalent to over 13 percent of GDP have been implemented since 2008 and, after three years of contraction, the economy has returned to growth. Ireland is meeting all of the targets agreed with our funding partners in the EU and IMF and the new government is determined to use its unprecedented mandate to bring the deficit down below 3 percent of GDP by 2015. In July, the eurozone leaders put in place more favourable financing terms for countries such strengths are showing more clearly. Export performance last year was both strong and broad-based: Irish exports grew by over 9 percent. We secured 126 foreign direct investments in 2010, including a 20-percent rise in the number of companies investing in Ireland for the first time. The World Bank ranks Ireland among the top 10 countries in the world for ease of doing business. At annual business events organised by Enterprise Ireland, the same message was passed to Irish companies already doing business in Slovakia or looking to enter the Slovak market and to their Slovak partners, actual and potential. It was passed to newspaper editors and economic analysts, to university students, to the Irish Chamber of Commerce and the wider Irish community in Slovakia; even the International Womens Club of Bratislava was not spared. So salient is the economic message in the embassys priorities that our cultural contacts also become seized of it. In the past three years, a number of happy accidents were turned into opportunities to project Irish film and literature in Slovakia and to access networks we would not otherwise encounter.
See KC pg 9

IRELAND
BUSINESS FOCUS

Next issue:
GERMANY

Ireland: General facts

Political system: parliamentary democracy Capital: Dublin Total area: 70,282 square kilometres Population: over 4 million Official languages: Irish and English Currency: euro

Irish institutions in Slovakia

Embassy of Ireland Ambassador: Kathryn Coll www.embassyofireland.sk Irish Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia Chairperson: Glen Farrell www.irishchamber.sk

Irish Ambassador Kathryn Coll

Photo: Jana Liptkov

Some Irish companies in Slovakia

Ballymore, www.ballymore.co.uk CPL Jobs, www.cpljobs.sk Grafton Recruitment, www.grafton.sk Odenberg Engineering, www.odenberg.com PPI Adhesive Products, www.ppiadhesiveproducts.com Silcotec Europe, www.silcoteceurope.com
Source: Irish Chamber of Commerce

as Ireland in order to facilitate our return to the markets at the end of our funding programme. We are confident that these new financing terms will underpin Irelands debt sustainability, investor confidence and the recovery of the economy. To promote Irelands interests and burnish its reputation in Slovakia in these circumstances, the embassy has had to show the Slovak authorities, particularly those inputting to debate in Brussels, that Ireland has the political will and the capacity, with appropriate support, to turn its problems around. In communicating the scale of our problems and

the series of tough corrections made by our government since 2008, I have tried also to convey a more rounded picture. In Bratislava as elsewhere, a key Irish message has been that our economy has over several decades built strengths we are determined to preserve and deploy: attractiveness to FDI in high value-added sectors, a broad-based and diversified export sector, entrepreneurial flair, collaboration between industry, academia and government, a developing reputation for innovation and science: Dublin will be the European City of Science next year. As our economy recovers competitiveness, these

FOCUS shorts
Eurovea attracts tenants
DEVELOPERS as well as real estate agents are reporting signs of recovery in the market for office space, saying companies in Slovakia are more confident and showing more interest in new office space. Companies are showing stronger interest in largersized office accommodation compared to the previous two years, Andrea evkov, office leasing manager for Ballymore Group, stated in press release in early August. Ballymore Group owns and leases Class A office premises in the three central buildings at the Eurovea development on Bratislavas Danube embankment. We are reasonably pleased with the leasing results so far, Mike de Mug, retail director for Ballymore, said in the press release. Both Central 1 and 2 are substantially leased and the remaining areas are in negotiations. Central 3 is close to reaching 50 percent occupancy, which would leave us with two floors of 2,500 square metres for which we are keen to attract a larger occupier.

Slovak-Irish business links endure

Irish companies are aware of the potential for doing business in Slovakia BY JANA LIPTKOV
Spectator staff
EVEN though the global financial and economic crisis did affect business relations between Ireland and Slovakia, bilateral trade so far this year has been showing significant growth at both ends. And Irish entrepreneurs are aware of the advantages Slovakia, as a eurozone member in the centre of Europe, enjoys and the potential this means for doing business. All these factors mean Slovakia remains an interesting target for Irish investors. The financial crisis certainly had a negative impact on trade between Slovakia and Ireland, Ladislav Mller, the director of the Enterprise Ireland office for Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, told The Slovak Spectator. However, this year seems to be very different. Exports from Ireland have grown by nearly 20 percent in the first five months of 2011 and reached 66.5 million. Slovak exports have increased even more significantly, by 70 percent to 31.5 million. Enterprise Ireland regards Slovakia as a developed, stable and enterprising economy with many advantages. Slovakia has a very favourable business environment and its eurozone membership provides quite a distinct advantage, said Mller. Exchange rate stability is an enormous bonus point and a single currency simplifies and promotes trade within the eurozone bloc. Slovakia has a strategic location, well-educated workforce and is the only member of the eurozone in central Europe. Irish companies are very aware of the potential for doing business in Slovakia. On the other hand, Ireland also continues to attract young Slovaks as they can gain valuable experience in Irish companies, which value their contribution highly.
Attractive location for Irish investments

According to Mller, Ireland has traditionally traded and invested very strongly with established partners such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America. In todays

globalised world however, companies cannot afford to focus their attentions narrowly. Part of Enterprise Irelands strategic focus is to help Irish business to diversify its trading base and find new customers in new markets, said Mller. We have had a particular drive on securing the opportunities which are available in Europe, including the central European region where Slovakia represents a strategic starting point and base for expansion to Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary. Unless we experience another external economic shock, my expectations of future business developments are very positive. The Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO) registers interest from Irish investors and entrepreneurs in Slovakia. It is currently working on one Irish project, spokesperson Richard Drer told The Slovak Spectator. So far SARIO has completed three projects with Irish investors. These have brought in aggregate investments of 2.2 million and created between 100 and 155 jobs. According to data from the National Bank of Slovakia, the inflow of foreign direct investment from Ireland totalled 4.87 million up to the end of 2009.
See EIRE pg 9

Ryanair dominates Bratislava Airport

IRISH low-cost airline Ryanair remains the most important airline flying from M.R. tefnik Airport in Bratislava, with 498,430 passengers during the first half of 2011. Flights to and from London have been the most in demand since the beginning of the year, with 156,930 clients, the SITA newswire wrote in late July. Ryanair operates 17 flights to six countries from Bratislava, serving Brussels, Dublin, Barcelona, Rome, and Paris, among other destinations. In mid February Bratislava got a direct scheduled air connection to the Canary Islands. In 2010 Ryanair increased its passenger numbers flying through Bratislava by 40.3 percent to 1.1 million. This accounted for 66 percent of all passengers served by Bratislava Airport. Ryanair began operating out of the airport in October 2005.
Compiled by Spectator staff from press reports

August 22 September 4, 2011

BUSINESS FOCUS

Council prefers long-term links to 'short affairs'

BY ZUZANA VILIKOVSK
Spectator staff
THE BRITISH Council is certainly one institution that can give a helping hand to Slovakias education system as it faces a very ambitious target: to extend compulsory English tuition throughout the system and, in the process, address the challenge of a lack of English-language teachers. However, the outgoing head of the British Council in Slovakia, Andrew Spells, and his successor Alena Rebrov say that this is only one aspect of the councils activities here. The Slovak Spectator spoke to Spells and Rebrov about the mission and activities of the council. The Slovak Spectator (TSS): What is the British Councils main mission here and what activities do you offer to the public? Andrew Spells (AS): The British Council in this country has three main areas of operation: one is teaching English; the second is providing access to British exams throughout Slovakia general English-language exams but also professional exams, and exams that British universities might send forth to students in Slovakia; the third area is what we generally refer to as projects, and at the moment we have a number of projects, primarily in arts, education and society, and in English. We have been discussing where we think we can achieve the most impact for Slovakia and of course for the UK, too. We are really not interested in putting on a musical cycle for the sake of it: we always try to go deeper than that; to provide some lasting value. Through looking at what weve done in the past, and learning from that experience, weve now arrived at a point where weve got a more focused and hopefully more relevant range of projects running here. TSS: There have been a lot of changes in Slovakia within the education sector. How is the British Council involved in educational projects? AS: We are always trying to work closely with partner organisations, be they ministries, non-governmental organisations, or some local institutions. One of the two main areas at the moment is support for teachers of English. Recognising that the Slovak [education] ministry is seeking to extend compulsory teaching of English down through the system, and that there is a shortage of Englishlanguage teachers, we are responding to the situation: with the support of the ministry, we ran a conference in June for teachers of English across Slovakia, and the response was better than we expected. A future conference is being considered. Another area where we are trying to support teachers of English in Slovak schools is by providing access to a range of materials that the British Council has corporately developed and made available around the world.
See BC pg 11

FOCUS shorts
British box-maker invests in Kojov
BOXPERFECT, a company from Essex in the UK, has picked the village of Kojov in Gelnica District for a new plant to manufacture gift and presentation boxes for the retail trade. Production began in June. During the first phase 30 jobs were created; more employees should be hired next year. Boxperfect plans to export 85 percent of its production. Growth in demand, especially in the European market, and higher interest from customers led us to decide to open a new plant, the Hospodrske Noviny daily quoted Mark Bottger, director-general of Boxperfect, as saying in May. Apart from the level of production costs the sound reputation of the Slovak labour force also contributed to the companys decision to choose Slovakia. A lot of Slovaks have worked in our plant in England, he said, adding that the company had found them to be skilled and dutiful workers. According to the daily, the British investment has arrived in Kojov partly thanks to the global increase in fuel costs; China used to be a significant supplier of gift boxes to Europe but now the price difference between Boxperfect and China has narrowed significantly, it wrote. Boxperfect also plans to use Slovak suppliers of input materials. The arrival of the British investor in the small and relatively remote village brings some hope of a reduction in the high local jobless rate. Almost 27 percent of Kojov citizens are registered unemployed, while joblessness in Gelnica District is almost 20 percent, the TASR newswire wrote.

UK: New investments are coming

Continued from pg 6

AquaCity expects increase in visitors

THE POPRAD-based AquaCity resort is forecasting a 15-percent increase in visitors this year. It recorded nearly 800,000 visitors in 2010, but says numbers so far this year are on course to be even higher. 2011 is developing significantly better than last year, AquaCity director Richard Pichonsk said in early July, as quoted by the SITA newswire. He added that in June alone 38,000 pupils and students visited the water park at the end of the school year. Slovaks make up the largest portion of visitors to AquaCity. They are followed by Poles, Czechs, Britons and, during the summer months, Germans. While the High Tatras region has registered a consistent outflow of Polish tourists over recent years, this has not been the case for AquaCity. It is true that in 2009 there was a significant outflow of Polish clients, but they returned in 2010, Pichonsk said. This year AquaCity has not added any new water attractions as the companys management has focused on a new target group sport stays. This is closely linked with the Continental Hockey League in Poprad and a planned football training centre. Further investment in water attractions depends on the completion of technical infrastructure in the locality that is required for the planned construction of the second phase of AquaCity. The AquaCity project, by British investor of Czech origin Jan Telensky and the city of Poprad, uses geothermal water and solar energy to heat and power the resort. It consists of outdoor and indoor pools, water attractions, a wellness and spa centre, two hotels on the AquaCity resort premises and another in the High Tatras.

In terms of Slovakias advantages, British investors first list the tax system, the countrys location and its relatively flexible Labour Code, according to Barter. Repka also listed the countrys return to economic growth, its 19-percent income tax and the improving transport infrastructure. With regards to the advantages which investors see in Slovakia, Barter said he believes that many of the perceived barriers are being removed and British businessmen have the advantages of being EU citizens. Certainly, there are frustrations over the time it can take for state institutions to approve paperwork, and we are confident that this will improve," he said. Repka further stressed that Bratislava is a centre for many international companies, and a high number of expatriate citizens live here. He added, citing Eurostat data, that although the countries of central and eastern Europe are yet to reach the economic level (GDP per capita) of western European members, the greatest shift in the past 10 years was reported by Slovakia, which jumped from 50 percent of the EU average in 2000 to 74 percent in 2010. With regards to disadvantages, Repka pointed out that despite Slovakias relatively high unemployment, the availability (in some regions) and skills of the labour force have started to become a problem, and that some investors are concerned about the public procurement system and tenders. There has been a lot of improvement recently but there is still some way to go, Repka said. Drer listed the sectors that are most interesting for British investors as being the automotive and electro-technical industries, but also mentioned shared services. Repka said the security sector (i.e. companies like G4S), education, as well as climate change and low-carbon recovery all have potential for further cooperation. The security sector is gaining momentum, because of the increasing interest and demand from Slovak organisa-

Tesco is the largest British investor in Slovakia.

Photo: Sme - Vladimr imek

tions and companies and the existing excellence, expertise and know-how at the British end, Repka said. The education sector is also very interesting as, after the temporary decline of demand after the crisis, there is a renewed interest in Slovakia for various management training and other education services.
Examples of successful British investments

Tesco Stores Slovakia, with its 100 stores across the country, is the largest British investor here, according to Repka. It is Slovakias largest retailer and ranks in the top five private employers, with over 8,800 staff. But few people recognise that Slovak Health Spa in Pieany and in Smrdky is ultimately a British investment, Repka said, pointing out that Pieany Spa employs over 1,200 people. The security provider G4S is another major investor. There are also many companies that have not invested in manufacturing but are key players in the market via trading, franchising or provision of services. These include companies in the defence,

pharmaceuticals, nuclear-environmental, oil and gas, ICT, and advanced engineering sectors, according to Repka. But it is not possible to say precisely how many British companies are in Slovakia. Not every British company in Slovakia registers with us, said Repka. We are aware of over one hundred businesses with some kind of British ownership but there surely are many more. Repka sees one problem in identifying these as being the multinational character of many firms, while another issue is the lack of a reliable resource listing all foreign-owned entities. But we can say that we have seen very few, if any, British investors leaving the country and many more coming in or expanding their businesses, he said. Repka added that a new British investor, Freeport, is due to open an outlet centre in spring 2012 near Bratislava. The completed project will cover an area of 200,000 square metres, with over 100 retail and restaurant units. The development will comprise three separate phases, with phase one creating over 60 retail outlets.

British retail giant expands

RETAIL chain Tesco continues to extend its network of outlets in Slovakia. In late June Tesco Stores SR, the Slovak arm of the British retailer, opened its 100th outlet in Slovakia, in Poltr. The opening took place only shortly after the retail chain had celebrated the 15th anniversary of its arrival in the Slovak market, Oga Hrniarov, corporate affairs manager of Tesco Stores SR wrote in a press release. The store in Poltr stocks 4,700 products and is open seven days a week. It employs 23 people. During 2010 Tesco opened 16 new outlets and the plan for 2011 is to open 25 new stores throughout Slovakia, the SITA newswire wrote in April. Last year investments were directed in particular into making Tesco Stores SR independent from its Czech counterpart, as well as in creating an independent management structure. Tesco entered the Slovak market in 1996. Its more than 8,800 employees make it one of the biggest private employers in Slovakia.
Compiled by Spectator staff from press reports

BUSINESS FOCUS / CULTURE

August 22 September 4, 2011

New centre for Slovaks opens in Dublin

BY RADKA MINARECHOV
Spectator staff
IRELAND has been an attractive destination for Slovak migrants in recent years and there are currently more than 20,000 Slovaks living there. Despite the severe effect that the global financial crisis has had on the Irish economy, Slovaks continue to arrive and bring with them some of their customs and traditions. Apart from their own folklore ensemble, Ostrohy (Spurs), the Education Centre for Slovak Children, and a magazine, Slovak in Ireland (SII), Slovaks now also have a place to meet: a recently opened community centre. The Slovak in Ireland House opened its doors on June 16, 2011, in Dublin, at the presence of the head of the Office of Slovaks Living Abroad Milan Vetrk and Slovak AmExcept for the magazine, the centre houses a library that offers readers access to up to 600 Slovak books. It also serves as a gallery for members of a Czech-Slovak club of photographers to exhibit their pictures, and as a venue for various lectures and activities for children. Everybody who has any hobby which might be interesting for the community can come, Kapikov says. We are open for all Slovak nationals. Though it will start full operations only in September, Kapikov says that they have already had some successful projects. Together with Ambassador Buek, and the Slovak Film Institute they have opened the Slovak Cinema Club, thanks to which members of community can watch Slovak films made in the 1960s and 70s. In cooperation with Radio Slovakia USA they also plan to start broadcasting to Slovak nationals.

When the Irish celebrate in Slovakia

THE CHANCES of spotting a man in green clothes, a big green hat and a red beard drinking Guinness in a Bratislava pub are higher than one might think. Though Slovaks do not celebrate the national holiday of Ireland, named after the patron saint of the Emerald Isle, St Patrick, many Irish people living in Slovakia come to Bratislava every year on March 17 to meet their compatriots and take part in celebrations. While more than 20,000 Slovaks have decided to settle in Ireland, the latest figures provided by the Irish Chamber of Commerce state that only 204 Irish people currently reside in Slovakia. Though they do not have any cultural centre, the chamber does organise some events for Irish people in Slovakia to help to turn this corner of central Europe into something that more closely resembles their homeland. The chamber recently organised a Family Sports Day in unovo [about 19 kilometres far from Bratislava] where Irish games, including Gaelic football and hurling, were played, Tom Redmond from the Irish Embassy in Slovakia told The Slovak Spectator, adding that the sports day was also attended by teams from the Czech Republic and Austria. The event, held in mid July, was also an opportunity to taste Irish food and drink, and listen to Irish music.

Milan Vetrk (third left) and Ambassador Roman Buek (second Photo: Courtesy of SII right) attended the opening ceremony.

By Radka Minarechov

bassador to Ireland Roman Buek. The centre was named after the magazine, whose editorial staff are the principal tenants of the building. The idea of establishing the Slovak in Ireland House occurred gradually, the magazine's editor-in-chief, Eva Kapikov, told The Slovak Spectator, adding that the magazine needed a place

where its editors would be able to prepare issues. We were preparing the paper in my kitchen, recording the videos in other peoples houses and doing interviews in pubs or restaurants, she said. One evening we were drinking whiskey with an Irishman who offered us the building for a very good rent.

EIRE: FDI flags, but sales offices spread

Continued from pg 7

However, there were no substantial direct investments from Ireland into Slovakia during 2009 and this has not changed significantly since then. Investment flows are always lagging behind trade and this is the case in 2010 and 2011, Mller explained. Irish indigenous companies were largely focused on regaining competitiveness lost during the boom years and also searching for new markets. Mller cited the European Commissions Report on Economic Adjustment Programme for Ireland, according to which prices fell by 1.5 percent, unit labour costs fell by 5.5 percent, while labour productivity grew by 4 percent in 2010. One of the pleasing aspects of the current business environment is that Enterprise Ireland client companies are continuing to invest in R&D, Mller said. In 2009 Irish-owned businesses spent over half a billion euros 563 million on R&D. Irishowned businesses are expected to have spent almost 600 million an increase of 6 percent on R&D in 2010, despite the impact of the recession. Enterprise Ireland has implemented a range of initiatives to help companies with their competitiveness. Lean business practices are a wellrecognised set of principles which can be implemented in a business to reduce waste, minimise costs, and generally

a challenge because Slovakia has so far focused mainly on attracting large multinationals rather than on fostering its own cohort of internationally competitive SMEs. Mller does not see any significant barriers to doing business in Slovakia but he pointed out that the infrastructure may be a challenge in some parts of Slovakia, as well as the smaller pool of potential indigenous joint-venture partners.
The Irish Chamber of Commerce Eurovea opened in spring 2010.
Photo: Sme

Irish stew was served at the sports day.

Photo: Courtesy of SII

KC: Links forged via films, books, drama

Continued from pg 7

improve the operations side of a companys business. We have had some significant success with this programme, with companies reducing their cost of sales by between 15 and 20 percent, said Mller. As a consequence, many Irish companies have been focusing on investments in their current place of business and have postponed decisions and plans for overseas expansion. Another factor is companies access to bank credit, something which remains a challenge. However we are currently witnessing a growing number of companies setting up regional sales offices in Slovakia and concluding partnerships with Slovak enterprises, said Mller. The best-known companies with Irish capital or roots that are active in Slovakia include Ballymore, which is

behind the Eurovea development in Bratislava, and Ryanair. In the production sector are Odenberg Engineering and Silcotec Europe, and in HR CPL Jobs and Grafton Recruitment have a strong presence. According to Mller, in terms of sectors Irish companies are very strong in information technology, life sciences, medical devices and construction services. At the same time Irish companies are usually smaller in size and are interested in markets where the presence of large multinationals provides supply opportunities. Their products and services are valuable parts of the supply chain, rather than end-users. Irish companies like to work in partnerships with domestic, home-grown companies to tap into opportunities in their region, said Mller. This often represents

Back in March 2009 the Irish Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia was established with the aim of promoting the growing links between the Slovak and Irish business communities. It offers support mainly by providing networking opportunities and events. The Irish Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia has become increasingly dynamic and forward-looking; the main benefit that attracts more and more members is our focus on providing innovative social networking opportunities, Eszter Redmond, the executive director of the Irish Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia, told The Slovak Spectator. Through our various social and cultural activities we ensure that there is also a fun factor, with an emphasis on creating close networks among the Irish and local community working and living in Slovakia.

I think gratefully of contacts made in connection with the screening of Irish and Czech-Slovak-Irish films at the 2009 Inakos and Bratislava Film Festivals, respectively; of parlaying modest participation in the 2010 Bibiana Festival of Animation Films into what will, I hope, be a larger Irish involvement in the October 2012 Festival; of how glimpses into the worlds of publishing, literary translation and literary studies in connection with the publication in Slovak of works by prizewinning Irish novelists Sebastian Barry (2010) and John Boyne (2011) contain the germ of future collaborations; of the satisfaction of positively acknowledging a tiny Slovak theatre company which for years has produced plays by Irish dramatists. In supporting and engaging enthusiastically with the Slovak initiators of such projects, the embassy enlarges their reach, facilitates links with Irish counterparts and nurtures appreciation of key aspects of Irelands impressive (non-commercial) cultural achievement. Our Slovak cultural contacts

know that the arts have continued to thrive in Ireland and that they contribute powerfully to national pride and resilience. One incalculable asset the embassy has in promoting Ireland in Slovakia is the number of Slovaks who, since 2004, live, work and improve their English in our country before, in some cases, putting the gains to work back home. On a much smaller scale, young Irish people test the waters in Slovakia; some go on to make their lives here. A respectful mutual awareness is developing and there is some potential for collaboration. A display of scenes from Ireland as envisioned by Slovak amateur photographers was one element of the Irish Chamber of Commerces St Patricks Day Festival at Eurovea this year. I would like to think that dramatic scenes of sea and sky will have prompted Slovaks who have still to visit their family members to make that trip. Queen Elizabeth and President Obama gave every appearance of enjoying Irish fare and the Irish welcome. And there has never been a better time to visit Ireland.

10 August 22 September 4, 2011

NEWS / BUSINESS

EFSF: Will Radiov hammer out a deal?

Continued from pg 1

Peter Zajac, the head of the Civic Conservative Party (OKS), which sits in parliament as part of the Most-Hd caucus, said that solving the debt problems of European public budgets by increasing them is dangerous, and that his party regards balanced budgets by eurozone member countries and cuts to public spending as the only realistic ways to prevent further economic crisis and recession. The approach of Smer, the largest opposition party has been ambiguous. While its leader Robert Fico, has on several occasions declared that he supports the changes agreed upon in Brussels, as of August 18 he had not confirmed whether his 60-plus block of MPs who rarely, if ever, defy his orders would back the changes to the EFSF in a vote in parliament. After a meeting with Radiov on August 16, Fico said that the ruling coalition must first be unanimous in its support for the changes. Do not be counting votes all the time; where do we want to have Slovakia this is how the question needs to be posed, Fico said, as quoted by the SITA newswire, adding that there is nothing to discuss with the prime minister because she herself does not know what kind of support she can expect from her ruling coalition partners. Iveta Radiov is unable to secure anything, he stated. Fico then suggested that he himself would initiate talks with the ruling coalition parties. Yet none of the four parties had agreed to meet Fico as of August 18. The leader of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) parliamentary caucus, Pavol Hruovsk, said that it is the prime ministers role, not Ficos, to summon round tables.
The economic aspect

Iveta Radiov's government looks for support.

Photo: Sme

Chief analyst with Volksbank Slovensko Vladimr Vao suggested that the inability to
CLASSIFIEDS

hammer out an agreement on such a crucial issue one which the prime minister has already signed up to at an EU summit could imply significant difficulties in pushing through inevitable fiscal consolidation measures over the next few years. That could harm [Slovakias] credit rating, increase interest rates for public as well as interconnected private borrowing, and undermine the confidence of foreign investors with all the consequences for the strength of the economy and labour market conditions, Vao told The Slovak Spectator. Referring to the possible consequences if Slovakia ultimately refused to support changes to the EFSF, Juraj Karpi, an analyst with the Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS), said that representatives of the eurozone would have to return to the negotiating table and find a new solution which would not include the use of Slovak public finances. According to Vao, the unanimous nature of the agreement reached at the EU summit in July speaks volumes about the crucial importance of these measures for the future of European monetary union. Given the extent of the agreement across all of the participating governments, there is no room to think that there is any comparable, viable alternative that would gain unanimous support, Vao said. Most importantly, one should keep in mind that eurozone leaders are responding to

threats from the financial markets in an environment where time is money. Even more importantly, the ability to act in a timely and decisive manner is crucial to maintaining credibility. Vao said that given the more than fragile nature of the economic recovery, hesitancy in adopting necessary and inevitable measures could further undermine business and investor confidence in the European economy and would subsequently result in bigger pain both in the real economy as well as the labour market. He also said that there is no such thing as Slovak opposition to the conclusions of the EU summit, which were jointly agreed and duly signed up to by the prime minister of the Slovak Republic. Of all the relevant political forces on the Slovak political scene, stubborn threats to block this agreement are coming only from a junior coalition party that was created just shortly before the last election and played a populist antiGreek card in its pre-election campaign, Vao said. Threats to block the conclusions of the EU summit are hence chiefly motivated by the effort to retain populist-driven public support in the face of eroding support in opinion polls. Karpi said it is difficult to speculate about the consequences that a rejection of the changes to the EFSF would have for Slovakia. It would probably not please other countries, Karpi told The Slovak Spectator. It would be a fundamental signal

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that could motivate other countries to withdraw from such an approach to solving the European debt crisis, which over the past year has not worked very effectively. According to Vao, the worst-case scenario associated with letting the situation evolve unchecked would bring with it the risk of a more pronounced recession and the weakening of the credibility of euro. Deeper recession would inflict not only untold pain through an increase in unemployment, it would also undermine budget revenues and push expenditure and, more importantly, deficits higher, Vao said. In the current situation, this would significantly exacerbate the sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone, and would put both credit ratings as well as interest rate expenses under unfavourable pressure. As for other solutions, Karpi suggested that representatives of the eurozone should implement a plan of radical restructuring of unsustainable debt, with subsequent liquidation and in some cases nationalisation of insolvent financial institutions. The existing EFSF and the European Central Bank could be used to support the banking system in the eurozone during the critical transition period, without financing or even further inflating the already unsustainable debts in peripheral countries, Karpi said. According to Karpi, Slovakia has the right to refuse to participate in what he called this mistaken approach to the debt crisis within the eurozone. The potential costs for Slovak taxpayers are immense, he added. This is why the country should use this right, especially if there are alternatives which have better potential to solve the debt crisis, Karpi said. Karpi suggested that transferring the debts of problem countries to Slovakia and other members of the eurozone represents an unjust transfer of wealth, which moreover worsens fiscal discipline in the eurozone and thus only deepens the existing problems. Nobody claims that the conclusions of the EU summit are a panacea for the difficult situation, Vao told The Slovak Spectator. They prevent the worst-case scenario and provide at least the minimum necessary stability and predictability for future development that is needed by the private sector in order to avoid undermining economic activity. For Vao the most important fact is that the conclusions of the EU summit, unanimously agreed by the participating leaders of member states, are of paramount importance to avoid the situation being further aggravated, or even getting out of control.

FOI: Ministries propose limits

Continued from pg 2

It has been presented as a show-case initiative by the government, one that has helped the media report some questionable spending at Slovak ministries and staterun companies. According to itansk, the current draft also specifies the range of contracts that those falling under the legislation have to publish, since there have been problems interpreting the current rules, SITA reported. It was not obvious from the text of the law whether trading companies with state co-ownership or co-owned by municipalities were obliged to publish all the documents or not, said itansk. Based on the draft, commercial companies that are 100-percent owned by the state or municipalities must publish details of all contracts online. However, companies will be no longer obliged to publish full-text contracts if they have been concluded in the form of regular commercial contracts that form part of the business of the companies, according to itansk, as reported by SITA. Such contracts will still be indicated in the central register of contracts and thus, according to the minister, it means that we will know about all the contracts. Citizens will be able to request full copies of contracts which are not subject to commercial secrecy and are not classified. The cabinet on August 17 changed its original draft, which would have made it possible for companies to conceal the bulk of their contracts except for those involving significant investments. State-owned companies argue that the requirement to publish contracts has put them at a competitive disadvantage. But lawyers working with the non-governmental organisation Via Iuris, as quoted by Sme daily, posed the question: who will guarantee that firms do not refuse to publish information when requested, on the grounds that it is a commercial secret? itansk said that state-owned companies are already obliged by the FOIA, or info-law as it is commonly called, to publish the requested information and that the draft only addresses the unclear situation regarding publication of contracts.
The review process

Via Iuris earlier this year warned that if some of the comments submitted on the draft revision to the FOIA were adopted then it would mean a huge step back and a significant weakening of the

rights of journalists and citizens to access information. For example, ministries and state offices are proposing that a penalty of up to 1,650 (in some cases) be imposed on citizens for requesting information, and have suggested that existing sanctions against bureaucrats for failing to comply with the info-law be removed, according to Via Iuris. They are also proposing that joint-stock companies in which the state holds a majority share be relieved of the obligation to provide information about their economic performance. The Interior Ministry also proposes to make information on the decision-making activities of offices classified, which would mean that citizens could, for example, no longer obtain information on the ongoing process of issuing licences for construction projects which might affect their health or the environment, according to Via Iuris. The Finance Ministry also proposes including some vague provisions suggesting that every document the publication of which could endanger the activities and justified interests of the person obliged to provide the information should be classified, along with information the publication of which would contravene contractual obligations. Via Iuris warns that this provision provides broad scope for abuse: it would be enough for an office to claim that the published information might threaten its activities, or to agree, for example, with a businessman to classify any contract as confidential and therefore conceal it. The Ministry of Economy proposes that citizens who have been provided information on the wages and bonuses of managers should not be allowed to disseminate that information. A citizen would thus not be allowed to publish the information on the internet or forward it to other people, according to Via Iuris. As for the duty to provide information on the wages of managers, Dagmar Hlavat of the Economy Ministrys press department told Sme that the ministry considers this to be discrimination against state employees, and that there is a difference between publishing and giving access to this information. The Slovak Information Service (SIS), Slovakias main intelligence agency, proposes that it be completely exempted from the law, which would mean that it would no longer be required to provide any information, even about its handling of public funds.

FOCUS / CULTURE

August 22 September 4, 2011

11

BC: Supporting creative industries

Continued from pg 8

The pull of UK art

THERE IS something to it (but I dont know what it is). The name of an exhibition by Helen Brown installed in the Nitra Gallery in winter 2010/2011 could in a way express the mysterious attraction that Slovakia seems to have for some British artists. As well as Brown, a young British artist who brought her installation to this city in western Slovakia, a host of British artists and performers have come to Slovakia in the past year, some of them more than once. One such outstanding artist is the British clarinettist Merlin Shepherd, who returned to Bratislava for a second time to play with the local Pressburger Klezmer Band recently. Klezmer is the typical eastern and central European Jewish music that was once very popular in Slovakia and its neighbours. After a gig in the Klub za Zrkadlom in March, Shepherd made Bratislava's Main Square dance, clap and vibrate during a performance on August 5 that was part of the Bratislava Cultural Summer series. British movie director Michelle Coomber screened her documentary about a notorious Roma ghetto on the outskirts of Koice at the citys DOCsk festival of documentaries. Another movie festival, the low-key Motorbikers' Movie Festival in Ruomberok, was attended by Nick Sanders from the UK, who holds several world records for long-distance motorbike riding and who, true to form, rode all the way from Britain to Slovakia. The Dunaj cultural centre in Bratislava invited British comedian Craig Murray to join its monthly series Stand-Up Comedy on July 20. Murray last year received the Best Comedy Performance award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. On August 24, Dunaj will host UK comics Mark Felgate and Mark Restuccia.

Some of them are available online, some of them through face-to-face training. Many of them are freely available, and weve been working with the ministry to promote those and make them available to teachers. Weve also been working with the ministry on accreditation of some of the modules for face-to-face training. They are generally short courses on specific areas like use of technology in the classroom, or courses aimed particularly at teachers of primary-schoolaged children. The courses are quite focused, and that makes them more accessible. TSS: What projects and services do you provide to those wanting to learn English? AS: There is an extensive British Council website called LearnEnglish which is full of resources that anybody can access. We are also running a project called Connecting Classrooms, which connects classrooms from schools in Slovakia with schools in the UK and in other countries around Europe. There are already a number of straightforward links between schools; were trying to enrich that by bringing in other countries, e.g. schools in Germany and Serbia. I think what is really good about this project is that we encourage students themselves to take the lead. The project is not teacher-led, although teachers are obviously involved. Alena Rebrov (AR): Most participants are secondary grammar schools, but there are also vocational schools. A smaller part is formed by the last years of primary schools. The age of participants is 14-plus. TSS: In the area of projects, and more specifically in the area of creative industries,

The British Council's Andrew Spells Photo: Courtesy of BC Slovakia

what is the main focus of your organisation? AS: Moving on to the arts, as I said before, were not really interested in one-off performances or events; we rather try to find ways to support and encourage growth of the arts in Slovakia and links to the UK. The creative industries is the area we are focusing on mainly now since these cover things like film and television, fashion, crafts, architecture, computer games; quite a wide range of areas. We were aware that the Slovak Culture Ministry was thinking about supporting creative industries, as we have already worked with them very successfully on a project to set up a portal providing information about arts and culture and heritage in Slovakia called Slovakia Cultural Profile. Its in English and in Slovak and about a million people a year look at the website. A couple of months ago we brought here the former min-

ister of culture in the UK, Lord Chris Smith, who was responsible for all this initial work in the UK, to raise the profile of creative industries and promote them. We agreed that we would help and work with the ministry to start off by mapping the creative industries in Slovakia, because you need to know what exists now, before you start developing. We would also like to find opportunities to bring out UK experts. Mark Sands, who is director of audiences and media at the Tate Gallery, is coming here in October to coincide with the Bratislava Art Festival and he will be talking about the Tate Gallerys experience with different ways of attracting audiences and talking about support for small galleries as well. AR: We are bringing a Sheffield Theatre group to Nitra and Koice: to Nitra to the Divadeln Nitra theatre festival in September. This comics-like, scary and funny

drama is staged in an innovative way which our experts in Edinburgh identified as something interesting and so far the group has never been to Slovakia. AS: In the creative economy another way in which we are trying to stimulate interest is through a competition for young, creative entrepreneurs which weve run for three years. This years leitmotif is design and fashion: it is called the International Young Creative Design and Fashion Entrepreneur Award and its a great way of promoting creative industries. We invite entries, we establish a local panel with our partners to judge entries, and then eventually a winner for Slovakia is identified. Then there is a final in the UK where the winner of each of the countries involved presents their work, and eventually there is an overall global winner. But its not just about who wins and who doesnt; its a way of promoting interest in creative industries and providing a chance to meet professionals. AR: The idea of the competition is not to find the best designer, but rather the best entrepreneur among designers, and to make the best business plan and succeed with it. TSS: Do your projects work in both ways. i.e. for the UK too? AS: There is already, I guess, quite a strong relationship between Slovakia and the UK; but within the projects we try to make sure that the people involved are in contact with people in the UK who work in the same field and have the same interests. To read the full interview, please go to www.spectator.sk

By Zuzana Vilikovsk

MK: Taking advice

Continued from pg 6

Lessons learned from this experience will invariably be taken into account with security preparations before and during the games. Tourism remains largely unaffected, and while many small business owners have been devastated by the events, Britain remains open for business and fully operational. The British prime minister has expressed interest in calling upon other major cities with experience in combating gang violence, particularly in the US. He is consulting Bill Bratton, former New York City and Los Angeles police commissioner. This cre-

ates room for an international dialogue on how best to fight crime and preserve safety in our towns and cities, and I am bolstered by the moral support the international community has shown Britain in its time of need. There are times when Britain not only gives out advice and cooperation but is very grateful to also receive it. There are many lessons to be learned from this months shocking events. It is my sincere hope that in the future, these will not only be stopped, but prevented from happening in the first place. Martin Kay is charg daffaires at the British Embassy in Bratislava

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August 22 September 4, 2011

CULTURE
Western SLOVAKIA
Septeto Santiaguero The Jazz pod veou / Jazz under the Tower cycle brings this Cuban band, comprising F. Dewar on tres (Cuban guitar), I. Borges on maracas, I. Heredia on vocals, A. Aquilera on contrabass, A. Castellanos on percussion and E. Lobaina on trumpet. Starts: August 24, 20:00; St John of Nepomuk Courtyard of the Primatial Palace. Admission: 7. Tel: 02/5293-3321; www.ticketportal.sk.
Bratislava l CLASSICAL / GYPSY MUSIC: Bratislava l JAZZ MUSIC:

Rafting on the Vh

EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE

ONLY a few centuries ago, travelling across the territory of present-day Slovakia was no easy matter. There were no regular roads, only random tracks with no foundations. Swampy or muddy sections were usually strewn with tree trunks. Thus rivers presented a much simpler means of transport. The Vh River was normally navigated by wooden rafts. Over time, rafting became a livelihood for many people, as goods were transported by raft from the northern parts of what was then the Kingdom of Hungary to the south. Those in power also used

river transport. Hungarian Palatine Frantiek Wesselnyi was one of the first to use a raft in 1656.

HISTORY TALKS
In 1802, Arch-Duke Jozef used rafts during his visit to Spi and the High Tatras, and the nobles of Likava-Hrdok had 16 vessels built for the purpose. In 1880 an exclusively male party departed from Oravsk Podzmok (the village beneath Orava Castle) to Kraovany, at the confluence of the Rivers Orava and Vh, and from there sailed on a specially summoned raft

down the Vh in order to enjoy the beautiful countryside of the Povaie region. River transport was used because of its ease and accessibility, but also because it was safer. But security was far from guaranteed. Several ambushes on boats were recorded at the beginning of the 18th century. They were all ascribed to the most famous of Slovak bandits Juraj Jnok. He reportedly attacked and robbed travellers on the river several times. In this rare postcard from the beginning of the 20th century, we see a pltisko, or raft harbour, near Kraovany.

Cignski diabli a Jaroslav Svcen na Hrade The band, famous for its classical and Roma music, joins renowned Czech violin soloist Jaroslav Svcen to perform at a special venue. Starts: August 25, 20:00; Bratislava Castle Courtyard. Admission: 22-28. Tel: 02/ 5293-3321; www. ticketportal.sk. Pressburger Klezmer Band Within the cycle Hudba na Dunaji / Music on the Danube this band, which focuses on easternEuropean Jewish klezmer music, plays on board a boat on the river. Starts: August 22, 19:00 -21:00; Riverboat Martin, pontoon No. 52. Admission: 7. Tel: 02/5293-3321; www. ticketportal.sk.
Bratislava l EXHIBITION: Bratislava l LIVE MUSIC:

THE REGGAE festival Uprising, which has become an established tradition in Bratislava, this year hosts headliners like Gentleman, Burro Banton, Foreign Beggars, General Levy, Looptroop Rockers and Congo Natty aka Rebel MC (pictured), a legend of ragga-jungle music. On August 26 and 27, the Zlat Piesky complex in Bratislava will see these performers and more take part in this unique event. Tickets cost 29 (or 35 on the door) for the whole festival or 23 for one day and can be purchased via the Ticketportal website. For more information, please visit www.uprising.sk. Photo: Courtesy of Uprising Fest

After series that forms the core of this exhibition, she de-constructs post-modernism only to articulate new methods in art. Open: weekdays 13:00 -18:00 until August 30; Open Gallery, Batov 5. Admission: free. Tel: 02/5441-3316; www. ncsu.sk.
Pieany l COUNTRY MUSIC: Lodenica

perfect conclusion to summer. This, its 31st year, includes competitions of cartoons, and performed and improvised humour by domestic and international participants. Starts: August 26-28; various sites in Kremnica. Admission: from free to 12. Tel: 045/6742-856; www.gagy.sk. Medzinrodn leteck dni / Slovak International Air Fest (SIAF) 2011 Amateur pilots Oovsk Baovia, as well as the RetroSkyTeam from Koice, will show their skills at this major air show, while the Bieli Albatrosi (White Albatrosses) army acrobats will give autographs. Starts: August 27-29 8:00-17:30; Slia Airport. Admission: 4-8. Tel: 02/52933321; www.ticketportal.sk, www.siaf.sk.
Slia l AIR SHOW:

By Branislav Chovan

Art from maps, plus Warhol

MAPS have been around since ancient times and will continue, no matter how times change. Most of the time we use them without giving them a second thought. However, as Slovak National Gallery (SNG) curator Lucia Gregorov points out, maps can show not only the space people live in, but also the space where they would like to live. When turned into artistic concepts, they can become symbols of the crossing of borders which cannot be crossed in reality. Mapy / Maps (Art Cartography in the Centre of Europe 1960-2011), a joint project by the Bratislava City Gallery (GMB) and the SNG, explores the unmapped land of cartography and maps used in art. In the GMB the exhibition is called Maps Known and Unknown and represents the more factual and often political side of maps, Daniela arn, the GMBs curator, said at a press conference. The works of authors from Visegrad Group (V4) countries (Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary) take maps as the starting point for their adventurous creative work, sometimes using them as ready-mades, sometimes as symbols of mental freedom that cannot be limited by real maps and borders, sometimes as reflections of the trips on foot they have made, and sometimes as a launch into spaceflight. Until August 28, the artworks of more than 50 authors of all generations from the V4 countries (including Rudolf Sikora, Otis Laubert, David ern, Barbara Kozlowska, Tams St. Ruby, and Gyorgy Galantai) show the development of the concept of maps through the decades, and the different approach of individual artists. Another exhibition, currently installed on the ground floor of the GMB, is entitled simply Andy Warhol. On show until September 4, it brings to the Slovak capital a collection of Warhols serigraphies that are unique in being complete, all-different-colour versions of one work. Visitors can compare various Goethes, Ted Kennedys, Queen Ntombi Twalas of Swaziland, Cologne cathedrals, or different versions of his remakes of medieval and Renaissance artworks, like St Apollonia or Uccellos St George and the Dragon. The last works are the famous Hammer and Sickle and Camouflages. The exhibition comes from a private collector and was curated by Michal Bycko.

Cesta okolo sveta / Trip Around the World This collection by young contemporary artist Sarah I. Avni invites visitors into a world of amazing places, exotic flowers and animals; she makes her paintings in a combined technique with gold, gems, sand, and more. Open: weekdays 12:0017:00 until September 3; SPP gallery, Mlynsk Nivy 44/c. Admission: free. Tel: 02/6262 -4203; www.spp.sk.

2011 The creme de la creme of Czech and Slovak country music meet at this renowned festival. Musicians like the Nedvd brothers, Lenka Filipov, Richard Mller, echomor, Plavci, Fleret, Poutnci, and Hrdza will play; there is also a country ball and accompanying events. Starts: August 26-27; amphitheatre at the Lodenica camp. Admission: 12 (one day) - 30 (VIP ticket for both days). Tel: 02/5293-3321; www. ticketportal.sk; www. lodenica.sk.

Eastern SLOVAKIA
Gero Jazz Quartet Four musicians from Levice put on a concert of modern jazz. Starts: August 27, 16:00; terrace of the Grand Hotel. Admission: free. More info: www.tatryportal.sk, www. dimdom.net.
Poprad l EXHIBITION: Star Smokovec l JAZZ MUSIC:

Katarna Poliaikov - Teleidoskop With her guest, Czech artist Ji Thn, Poliaikov tries to transgress the limits impost by the post-modern times. In the

Bratislava l EXHIBITION:

Central SLOVAKIA
Kremnica l FESTIVAL OF HUMOUR:

Kremnick gagy / Kremnica Gags This European festival of humour and satire makes a

By Zuzana Vilikovsk

KAREL Gott, the famous Czech singer, gives a concert in the Ice hockey stadium in Humenn, in the east of Slovakia. Gott has

Warhol re-interprets Uccello.

Photo: Courtesy of GMB

been known for his unique voice since communist times and his popularity has endured. On August 27 he will be supported by his compatriots Leona Machlkov and Big Band Felixa Slovka. Tickets cost 15 -40 and can be bought through www.ticketportal.sk. More information about the concert can also be found on www. humenne.sk. Photo: TASR

Medzi mtom a realitou: Stretnutie s Rmami / Between Myth and Reality: Meeting with Roma shows the work of four young photographers from Vienna. M. Dorninger, S. Freynchlag, A. Rogenhofer and F. Weiss mapped life in Roma settlements in the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia. Open: Tuesdays to Saturdays 10:00-17:00, Sundays 13:00 -17:00 until September 7; Tatra Gallery, Hviezdoslavova 12. Admission: 0.50-1.50. Tel: 052/7721-968; www. tatragaleria.sk.

By Zuzana Vilikovsk
2 0 1 1
Saturday Silvia August 27 Sunday Augustn August 28

N A M E
Monday Tuesday Filip August 23

D A Y

A U G U S T
Thursday udovt August 25

Wednesday Bartolomej August 24

Friday Samuel August 26

Weather updates and forecasts from across Slovakia can be found at www.spectator.sk/weather.

Tichomr August 22

A Slovaks name day (meniny) is as important as his or her birthday. It is traditional to present friends or co-workers with a small gift, such as chocolates or flowers, and to wish them Vetko najlepie k meninm (Happy name day)