Ministryfinds way topay nurses

THE GOVERNMENT has found a temporarysolution to the problem of how to deliver payrises granted to health-care workers lastyear. During a congress of nurses and mid-wives held in Poprad on April 27, HealthMinister Zuzana Zvolenská promised to re-solve the current dispute by allocating €50million from the state reserve.

However, the solution will only coverthe gap until the end of the year. Moreover,some representatives of the health-care sec-tor say the money will not be enough to cov-er both the salary increase of nurses andmidwives – who were supposed to get moreas of April – and the salary increase for doc-tors, whose pay is to rise from July.

“We have been claiming since November2011 that the expected funding for the in-creased salaries will be about €120 million,”Marián Petko, the president of the SlovakHospital Association told The Slovak Spec-tator.

See HEALTH pg 4

Higher taxes on the horizon

HIGHER taxes for high earners andfor profitable businesses are now setto mark the epitaph to Slovakia’s19-percent flat tax regime. Theyform part of the new government'splan for cutting Slovakia’s budget de-ficit below 3 percent of GDP in 2013as required by the European Union.

“It cannot be the purses of thepoor which will bear responsibility

for the crisis that was caused by thestrong and the rich,” Prime MinisterRobert Fico said on May 2, as quotedby the SITA newswire.

The major part of the consolida-tion of the public finances will hap-pen on the revenue side of the budgetaccording to the government pro-gramme, but the cabinet said itwould emphasise taxes which wouldaffect low-income groups and eco-nomic activity the least, while look-ing at boosting rates that are cur-rently relatively low compared toother countries.

Raising revenue from propertytaxes will be considered, taking intoaccount factors such as luxury andenvironmental impact. Pundits werequick to suggest that raising taxeswould have downsides.

“Increasing tax revenues ischoosing the easier way of consolid-ation, while only shifting the consol-idation of spending to a later date,”Radovan Ďurana of the Institute ofEconomic and Social Studies, INESStold The Slovak Spectator.

See PLAN pg 9

SSELECT FOREX RATES€ benchmark as of May 3

CANADA CAD 1.29CZECH REP. CZK 24.93RUSSIA RUB 38.78GREAT BRITAIN GBP 0.81

HUNGARY HUF 283.18JAPAN JPY 105.49POLAND PLN 4.16USA USD 1.31

NEWS

Mečiar bows outVladimír Mečiar is to standdown from the leadership ofhis Movement for a Demo-cratic Slovakia (HZDS), andsome in the party are call-ing for its dissolution.

pg 2

Vexed Hungarian tiesThe Fico government’s re-lations with neighbouringHungary are far from re-laxed, but observers saythey are unlikely to plumbthe depths seen in2006-10.

pg 3

OPINION

Silent departureEx-prime ministerVladimír Mečiar has finallyquit the leadership of hisparty, the HZDS. He – andit – are now politically ir-relevant, but his deedswhile in power should nev-er be forgotten.

pg 5

BUSINESS FOCUS

Incoming outsourcingSlovakia is becoming morepopular as a site from whichto provide outsourcing ser-vices, especially in the areasof IT, facility managementand business processingoutsourcing.

pg 6

Payroll benefitsOutsourcing of payrollfunctions is being used bycompanies of various sizesand in different economicsectors in Slovakia to savemoney and improve theirpayroll processing.

pg 7

CULTURE

100 ‘new’ worksA book that charts a hun-dred works by Slovak artistKoloman Sokol that hadnever been shown or pub-lished before was launchedon April 20 in the BratislavaCity Gallery.

pg 10

Prime Minister Robert Fico shakes hands with Finance Minister Peter Kažimír as the government programme ispresented in parliament on May 2. The programme is all but certain to be approved by MPs. Photo: SITA

Fico's governmentsketches out its plans

THE NEW government wants a mod-ern and thrifty state that intervenesin the economy only when reason-able and necessary, and will not pur-sue approaches that deform the mar-ket: this is how Prime MinisterRobert Fico pitched the cabinet’sprogramme statement before par-liament, in which his Smer partyholds 83 of 150 seats. Fico declaredthat his government’s top prioritywill be consolidation of the publicfinances so that the country’s budgetdeficit is pushed below 3 percent ofGDP in 2013. But he emphasised thatthis will not be done at the expenseof poorer citizens.

Political analysts said manypoints in the programme documentare too general and there are am-biguous declarations that leave too

much room for future re-interpreta-tion of policies. Leaders of two op-position parties termed the docu-ment a “blank check” and the“vaguest programme ever”.

“If someone was expecting con-crete numbers, then they werewrong,” Fico stated on April 27, asquoted by the SITA newswire. “Thegovernment programme is aboutpolicies. Concrete approaches shouldbe a result of social dialogue.”

Fico stated that after the pro-gramme is adopted by parliament aCouncil of Solidarity and Develop-ment would be assembled and de-

velop concrete steps on issues suchas how to increase the income taxrate on highly profitable businesses,how to construct a more progressiveregime of tax rates, and whether orhow to tax financial transactions.

Protection of lower incomegroups from growing indebtedness,particularly in relation to non-bank-ing organisations or individualsproviding high-interest-rate loansto vulnerable citizens; putting morepolice officers on the street; and asubstantial revision of the country’sCivil Code: all these figured as partof the programme document, as didpotential changes in measures pre-viously introduced by former justiceminister Lucia Žitňanská.

See STATE pg 2

Vol. 18, No. 18 Monday, May 7 - Sunday, May 13, 2012

FOCUSof this issue

On sale nowOn sale now FOCUSof this issue

OUTSOURCING

New SIS,NBÚ bosses

named

THE PUBLIC now knows who will headSlovakia’s main spy agency and its mainsecurity vetting authority. On May 3 Pres-ident Ivan Gašparovič appointed JánValko, former head of the state-ownedNuclear and Decommissioning Company(JAVYS), to lead the Slovak InformationService (SIS) intelligence agency.

Meanwhile Jozef Magala, the boss ofthe SIS during the first government ofRobert Fico, was given the cabinet’s nod totake the helm of the National Security Au-thority (NBÚ), which vets nominees forhigh political posts and issues securityclearances. Unlike the SIS boss, he needsparliamentary approval, but since the rul-ing Smer party holds 83 seats in the150-seat house Magala is a shoo-in.

Still unclear as of May 3 was the iden-tity of the new national police chief to re-place Jaroslav Spišiak. However, InteriorMinister Robert Kaliňák has reportedlylined up former police vice president Stan-islav Jankovič for the job. His appointmenthad been stalled by an ongoing criminalinvestigation into his past conduct, but adecision in late April by the prosecutor inthe case to drop it means that obstacle toJankovič’s appointment is now gone.

See CHIEF pg 3

BY BEATA BALOGOVÁSpectator staff

BY BEATA BALOGOVÁSpectator staff

BY BEATA BALOGOVÁSpectator staff

BY RADKA MINARECHOVÁSpectator staff

STATE: Programme goes to parliamentContinued from pg 1

The programme document also speaksabout: a minimum pension level for retir-ees; mergers of certain regulatory bodies;dissolution of the National Property Fund,Slovakia’s privatisation agency, whichholds shares in many state-owned andprivate companies; no privatisation ofstate-run or other public hospitals;changes in how health insurers operate;support for development of air transport;the creation of a central governmentagency to handle state real estate; and theentry of private capital into the construc-tion of public housing.

Ján Baránek, a political analyst, saidthat a positive note is that he “has notfound anything substantially negative” inthe programme statement, addinghowever that “it does leave far too wide aspace for future interpretations”. DarinaMalová, head of the Faculty of PoliticalScience of Comenius University, alsonoted that the government’s programmelacks many specifics.

Nevertheless Malová said that theprogramme’s lack of detail could be partlyattributed to the fact that a single partynow has a majority in parliament and es-sentially controls the wheels of govern-ment.

“I have briefly compared the first parts[of Smer’s programme] with the pro-gramme statement of Iveta Radičová’s gov-ernment and perhaps because that was acoalition government where the coalitionpartners were deciding what the govern-ment would be doing and what it would not… that programme was more concrete,”Malová told The Slovak Spectator.

But Malová added that the lack of de-tail is also reminiscent of Smer’s past ap-proach, noting that the programmestatement presented by the 2006-10 co-alition government, led by Smer, wassimilarly general.

Regarding the prime minister’s an-nounced intention to develop specificbudget and tax proposals based on socialdialogue, Malová said that this strategy istypical for established political parties inwestern Europe, not only parties on theleft. She noted that governments of allpolitical stripes in Germany and Austria,for example, typically consult intens-ively with employer associations, tradeunions and other non-governmental or-ganisations.

Baránek told The Slovak Spectatorthat this approach means that develop-ment of the programme’s specificpolicies, and their success or failure, alsobecomes the responsibility of thegovernment’s social partners, somethinghe called "a very clever strategy”.

Opposition expresses scepticism

According to Lucia Žitňanská, thedeputy chairwoman of the Slovak Demo-cratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), theprogramme as submitted to parliamentwas drafted far too loosely. It represents“a blank check for ministers so that theycan do whatever [they want] and afterfour years we will be unable to assess thework of the government”, she said, asquoted by the Sme daily.

The leader of the Christian Democrat-ic Movement (KDH), Ján Figeľ, noted thatthis is the first programme statementpresented by a single-party governmentin the 22-year history of Slovakia and “atthe same time it is the least specific andmost vague programme ever”.

“They [the government] will be tak-ing from everyone – the self-employed,contractors, second pension pillarsavers, owners of flats, inheritors, inshort the whole middle class – except thereally rich who will be able to avoid thetaxes Fico is preparing and who will es-cape to tax havens,” stated Richard Sulík,the chairman of the opposition Freedomand Solidarity (SaS) party, as quoted bythe TASR newswire.

State administration and the judiciary

Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák an-nounced that his ministry is working onthe most fundamental reform in publicadministration since 1989, saying thatthis should bring significant savings inbudgetary expenses, while making pub-lic administration more efficient, reli-able and transparent, SITA reported. Thenewswire reported that the governmentis planning to establish a new structurethat will integrate several administrativeoffices into a single office headed by agovernment nominee so that “peoplewill be able to use just one service pointto handle all their affairs”.

Kaliňák announced his ambition tomake government functions more ac-cessible by making the largest possible

amount of data available to the public viathe country’s data.gov.sk website. Theminister also said that the functionalityof government-administered databasessuch as the Land Registry, CommercialRegistry, Central Contracts Registry andthe public procurement website shouldbe expanded, SITA wrote.

The government’s programmestatement alludes to re-evaluating cer-tain changes made in the judiciary aswell as in the Office of the General Pro-secutor that were introduced byŽitňanská while she served as justiceminister in 2010-11. The document statesthat the government’s focus will be onmaking all legislation conform toSlovakia’s constitution and incorporat-ing recommendations from internation-al institutions.

“The government will draft a newconcept for stabilising and modernisingthe judiciary that will become the found-ation for new legislation,” states thedocument, as quoted by TASR, with pri-orities that include improving law en-forcement, eliminating court delays andincreasing confidence in the courts. Ficoalso stated that he wants to renew publicconfidence in prosecutors and expandtheir powers regarding protection ofstate assets.

Malová told The Slovak Spectator thatsince the text about re-evaluatingŽitňanská’s policies is too general in theprogramme statement it is not clearwhich actions might be preserved andwhat new initiatives might come.

“I think the judiciary has seriousproblems in Slovakia and that Žitňanskástarted taking serious steps in this area,”Malová stated. “I believe that the newgovernment will not take a step backsince the enforceability of the law inSlovakia is very low.”

Baránek commented that judicial re-form should be left to legal experts and tojudicial officials but opined that “cer-tainly not everything that Žitňanská hasestablished will be scrapped”, whileadding that it is not so much about whatthe government might terminate butmore about what steps it will take so thatthe judiciary works better, laws are moreenforceable, and corruption within thejudiciary is restricted.

Radka Minarechovácontributed to this report

Experts: Gašparovič wrong on ČentéšPRESIDENT Ivan Gašparovičmade a mistake by failing toappoint general prosecutor-elect Jozef Čentéš, accordingto 95 percent of the legal ex-perts surveyed by the Insti-tute of Public Affairs (IVO).The general public, however,is divided on the issue, theSITA newswire reported.

While 4 percent of the ex-perts surveyed said that theydid not have a clear opinionabout the issue, none of themsaid they viewed Gašparovič’s

conduct to be correct, accord-ing to the survey that wasundertaken as part of a re-search project called ‘Slovakjustice through the eyes ofthe public, experts andjudges’.

Among the judges sur-veyed, 74 percent were criticalof the president’s decision notto officially appoint Čentéšwhile only 6.5 percent ap-proved of the decision.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Labour Minister’s diploma in doubtLABOUR Minister Ján Richter,who also serves as the rulingSmer party’s general man-ager, received his bachelor’sdegree from the Law Facultyof Matej Bel University inBanská Bystrica – which laterallowed him to continue hisstudies at master’s and doc-toral level – under controver-sial circumstances, the Smedaily wrote on April 30.

Richter’s diploma, signedby the then university rectorMilan Murgaš, is dated Janu-ary 19, 2002; five months be-fore Murgaš declared pub-licly that the study pro-gramme did not have the ne-cessary accreditation to al-

low students to be granted abachelor’s degree.

Murgaš, who was previ-ously a Smer official but wasexpelled from the party in2009, now says that he doesnot know how it is possiblethat students in the coursecould have received degrees,Sme reported.

Neither of the deans of theuniversity’s law school at thetime gave explanations either.

Richter said he believes heacquired his degree lawfully.He then continued his studiesin a master’s programme, forwhich he was accepted by thethen-dean, Mojmír Mamojka,also a member of Smer.

Gašparovič will not boycott YaltaPRESIDENT Ivan Gašparovičwill travel to Ukraine for asummit of central and east-ern European countries be-ing held in Yalta despite thefact that several of his coun-terparts have already an-nounced they will boycottthe meeting over the jail-ing and alleged mistreat-ment of Ukraine’s formerprime minister, Yulia Ty-moshenko.

“On the issue of the jail-ing of Ms Tymoshenko thepresident does not want tobe a judge but he expectsthat Ukraine will do its best[to see] that the trial was fairand in line with standardsof international law,” saidpresidential spokesman

Marek Trubač, as quoted bythe SITA newswire.

The spokesman addedthat the president is con-vinced that an open and frankdialogue with Ukraine ratherthan rejection of communic-ation is the best form ofpresenting opinions, com-ments and reservations aboutdevelopments in the country.

The German, Austrianand Czech heads of statehave announced that theywill not take part in thesummit. German ChancellorAngela Merkel has also an-nounced that her visit toUkraine during the Euro 2012football tournament in Juneis linked to the fate of Ty-moshenko, SITA wrote.

Occupy GP protests launchedA PROTEST in front of theGeneral Prosecutor’s Office inBratislava, entitled OccupyGP, was launched on themorning of May 1 and isplanned to last for the entiremonth, the TASR newswirereported.

Activists say that sincethe fall of the totalitarian re-gime in 1989 the prosecutor’soffice has done nothing toconvict people in variousscandals that have caused thestate huge losses.

“People shouldn’t just sitat home and complain infront of the TV; they should beinterested in public affairs,”

one of the protest organisers,Filip Rázga, told TASR.

The activists have a longlist of demands, among themproviding regular informa-tion to the public about devel-opments in the lawsuit ofPenta financial group co-owner Jaroslav Haščákagainst journalist Tom Nich-olson, along with a new in-vestigation involving past ac-tions of former police deputypresident Stanislav Jankovič,full investigation of other al-leged corruption and invest-igation of police tactics at oneof the so-called Gorillaprotests.

Party ends for Mečiar

VLADIMÍR Mečiar, founder ofthe Movement for a Democrat-ic Slovakia (HZDS), has an-nounced he is quitting as lead-er of the party after 21 years.The three-time prime ministerand one of the founders of in-dependent Slovakia, whosegovernments were marked bynumerous scandals, creepingauthoritarianism and dubiousprivatisation of state property,announced his departure afterthe HZDS received only 0.93percent of the vote in theMarch election.

The party, which wonnearly 35 percent of the votein the 1994 parliamentaryelections and was in govern-ment as recently as 2010, will

now look for a new leader tohelp restore its fortunes andattract lost voters. Severalpolitical scientists said,however, that without its

charismatic leader, the partyis essentially dead.

“It was the party of oneleader,” Darina Malová, head ofthe Department of Political Sci-

ence at Comenius University,told The Slovak Spectator,adding that a majority of HZDSlocal activists and organisa-tions will join either the SlovakNational Party (SNS) or Smer.

Ján Baránek of the Polispolling agency said he believesthere is little chance of theparty recovering since it “hasdefinitely lost its voters”.

But some members of theHZDS reportedly hope that anew chair, who should be elec-ted by the beginning of sum-mer, will help recover publicsupport. Mečiar told an April26 meeting of the party’spresidium that he will remainan ordinary member and thathe takes responsibility for thepoor election result, JánKovarčík, a member of thepresidium, told theHospodárske Noviny daily.

See HZDS pg 9

BY RADKAMINARECHOVÁ

Spectator staff

Vladimír Mečiar Photo: Sme

2 NEWSMay 7 – 13, 2012

Citizenship issues vexSlovak-Hungarian ties

FRIENDSHIP and mutual re-spect are not always evident inrelations between Slovakia andits southern neighbour, Hun-gary. Some have worried thatRobert Fico’s return as primeminister might reignite thetense atmosphere that markedhis first term in office, butpolitical experts say the situ-ation is now quite different.Nevertheless, Hungary’s dualcitizenship law and Slovakia’scounter amendment to its cit-izenship law remain a thornyissue.

Prime Minister Fico said onApril 16 that his governmentneeds to modify Slovakia’s cit-izenship law once again so thatit does not damage Slovak cit-izens who apply for citizenshipof another country. The cur-rent law allows Slovaks who doso to be stripped of their Slovakcitizenship. But the primeminister added that “of course,this law must continue to ap-ply in relation to Hungary, be-cause their law is still in force,to which we responded withthis [Slovak] legislation,” asquoted by the SITA newswire.

Citizenship issues becameheated after Hungary passed alaw in 2010, shortly after ViktorOrbán became prime minister,making it easier for ethnicHungarians living outsideHungary to acquire Hungariancitizenship. The Slovak gov-ernment in early 2010, whichthen included the nationalistSlovak National Party (SNS) aswell as Fico’s Smer party and

the Movement for a Democrat-ic Slovakia (HZDS), reacted tothe Hungarian law by passingan amendment to Slovakia’scitizenship law that allows anySlovak who acquires anothercountry’s citizenship to bestripped of their Slovak cit-izenship.

A member of the Hungari-an parliament, Zsolt Semjen,told Hungarian public-servicetelevision that if the Slovakgovernment proceeds withFico’s approach, his countrywill take legal action at the in-ternational level and assertedthat Hungary would have a100-percent likelihood of suc-cess, SITA reported.

Not the best start

Dual citizenship was a hotissue in the first governmentled by Fico and political analystGrigorij Mesežnikov told TheSlovak Spectator that theprime minister’s statementwas not surprising.

“It is not a good start forSlovak-Hungarian relations,”

Mesežnikov stated, whileadding that he does not expectbilateral relations between thetwo countries to be as heated asthey were towards the end ofFico’s first government.

Mesežnikov noted that ifthe Slovak government pur-sues a change to the Slovak cit-izenship law as Fico suggested,Hungary will have a strongcard in its hand and added thatSlovakia does not “stand achance in a potential conflict[with Hungary] on theEuropean level”.

“Fico is trying to play thissafe,” opined political analystÁbel Ravasz in comments forThe Slovak Spectator, sayingthe prime minister does notwant to take the blame forSlovaks who lose their citizen-ship when they receive anothercountry’s passport, but at thesame time does not want toback off from resistance to theHungarian dual-citizenshiplaw.

“His proposed solutionaims to be the best of bothworlds; helping Slovak nation-

als in [other] foreign countrieswhile keeping the ‘Hungarianmenace’ in check,” Ravaszstated.

Ravasz added that very fewethnic Hungarians with Slovakcitizenship have actually beenstripped of their citizenshipafter acquiring Hungarian cit-izenship as well, noting thatthose who did lose their Slovakcitizenship were mainly activ-ists trying to make a point andthat the conflict is largely sym-bolic.

Fico and Orbán meet

Prime ministers Fico andOrbán met in Warsaw on April26 and both told the media thatthey did not discuss Hungary’sdual citizenship law duringtheir meeting.

“The ideal way would be toresolve the state citizenship is-sues between the two countriesby an international treaty,”Fico stated, as quoted by SITAafter the meeting, while notingthat citizenship should be an is-sue for lawyers rather thanpoliticians.

SITA wrote that the primeministers discussed less con-troversial issues such as infra-structure, including buildingbridges across the Ipeľ andDanube rivers, a highwaybetween Košice in Slovakia andMiskolc in Hungary, and a nat-ural gas pipeline between thecountries. The political ana-lysts said these projects canhave a positive effect on rela-tions between the countrieswhile still adding that citizen-ship issues and policies towardminorities remain the primarychallenges in bilateral rela-tions. “Dual citizenship is ‘the’challenge”, Ravasz stated, sinceSlovakia’s current law is unac-ceptable to Hungary andHungary’s law is unacceptableto Slovakia.

Minority rights

Good relations betweenSlovakia and Hungary often riseand fall based on Slovak policiestowards its national minorities,primarily ethnic Hungariansliving within the country.

See TIES pg 5

BY MICHAELATERENZANISpectator staff

Robert Fico (l) and Viktor Orbán (r) at their meeting in Warsaw. Photo: SITA

CHIEF: Not yetContinued from pg 1

“During the investiga-tion it has not been proventhat the act was committedby the accused, Stanislav J,”Ivan Vozár, the spokesper-son for the Regional Prosec-ution Office in BanskáBystrica, said, as quoted bythe Aktualne.sk news web-site.

Kaliňák refused to com-ment on the decision and onApril 30 said that he wouldmeet Jankovič to hear hisexplanation and then decideon his possible nominationto the post of police chief.

The investigation intoJankovič was in connectionwith the alleged cover-up ofa speeding offence involvingbusinessman Ján Božík.

Božík was caught drivingat 190 kilometres per hour onthe R1 dual carriageway inJune 2010. Police officersfined him €400 and, whenhe refused to pay, confis-cated his driving licence.Božík then allegedly calledJankovič who arrived in per-son at the police station inŽiar nad Hronom and askedthat the driving licence bereturned to the businessmanand that the offence be de-leted from the public record.

The pair’s alleged tele-phone conversation wascovertly recorded becauseBožík was at the time beinginvestigated for suspicionsof corruption.

The prosecutor, TiborŠumichrast, said that thewiretap evidence could notbe used since it was made inthe course of a completelydifferent investigation.However, in March this yeardeputy general prosecutorDobroslav Trnka had saidthat the recordings could beused, despite their originalpurpose being completelydifferent, Sme wrote.

The prosecutor con-cluded there was a lack ofevidence to confirm that itwas Jankovič who returnedthe driving licence to Božík,the Sme daily reported.

As this issue of The Slov-ak Spectator went to print onMay 3, it was still not com-pletely clear whetherJankovič would get the toppolice job.

The SIS boss

and NBÚ head

Valko, whose name hasbeen touted around forvarious senior posts eversince Prime Minister RobertFico started putting togeth-er his government, hadalready been screened forthe SIS job when he was ap-pointed by the president onMay 3. Valko replaces KarolMitrík, a former SlovakDemocratic and ChristianUnion (SDKÚ) MP and may-or of Spišská Nová Ves, whowas nominated by formerprime minister IvetaRadičová.

Fico on April 27 thankedMitrík for not allowing theSIS to be turned into “anormal information office”,where, according to SITA,he said anyone can comeand ask for whatever theywant and take it away, evenin a plastic bag: an apparentreference to previous leaksof a politically comprom-ising nature which are be-lieved to have originatedwith the SIS.

Fico also said that evenif Mitrík was not from his(i.e. Smer’s) political camp,he managed to maintaincontinuity and the serviceunder his management hada professional and legal ap-proach to fulfilling its tasks.

At the NBÚ, Magala willreplace František Blanárik,a Movement for a Demo-cratic Slovakia (HZDS) nom-inee who resigned monthsago but has remained in of-fice due to the previous co-alition government’s fail-ure to agree on his re-placement. In 2008Blanárik was reported tohave been an agent in thecommunist-era counter-in-telligence service.

Freedom and Solidarity(SaS), a member of the pre-vious centre-right coalitiongovernment, was grantedthe right to name candid-ates for the job but objec-tions were raised against aseries of its nominees. Justas SaS MP Kamil Krnáč wasfinally agreed as the nom-inee, the government lost avote of confidence andKrnáč was never formallyappointed by parliament.

3May 7 – 13, 2012NEWS

Looking to the EastTHE FOREIGN policy ofSlovakia’s new single-partygovernment will be based onthe country’s membership inmulti-national structures:NATO, as a guarantor of se-curity; and the EU, as theprimary environment forSlovakia to realise its key in-terests. The cabinet commitsitself to being an active part-ner in NATO, and a “respons-ible and constructive” mem-ber of the eurozone.

“Regarding the debt prob-lems in the eurozone thegovernment considers in-creasing the coordination ofbudget policies as beingnecessary,” the programmestatement reads, in its sec-tion devoted to foreignpolicy, entitled Strengthen-ing the Position of the SlovakRepublic in the EU and in theWorld.

The cabinet notes that

Slovakia must prepare totake over the rotating presid-ency of the Council of theEuropean Union in thesecond half of 2016.

Within the EU the cabin-et of Robert Fico will be fo-cusing on the WesternBalkans, the Europeanneighbourhood policy andEastern Partnership, energysecurity, and crisis man-agement.

“The government willsupport enlargement of theEU for countries that fulfilthe membershipconditions,” the statementreads. The cabinet pledges toshare Slovakia's transforma-tion and integration experi-ences.

In the area of security thecabinet considers its main al-lies – and the guarantors ofits security – to be the USAand other NATO members.

As for bilateral relations,the Slovak cabinet will focuson good neighbourly rela-tions with the Czech Repub-lic, Poland, Austria, Hungaryand Ukraine, and on being anactive member of theVisegrad Group. The newgovernment's foreign policyis also based on good bilateralrelations with Slovakia’s fel-low EU and NATO members,as well as EU neighbours,particularly countries of theWestern Balkans and theEastern Partnership. Otherinternational partners in-clude the BRICS countries,Turkey, Japan, South Korea,and Australia.

“Particular focus will beput on relations with theRussian Federation,” theprogramme statement for2012-2016 reads.

Compiled byMichaela Terenzani

Stanislav Jankovič Photo: Sme

Slovakia sued over talc miningAN AMERICAN company,EuroGas, has announcedplans to sue the Slovak gov-ernment for damages of$1.65 billion in a dispute in-volving rights to extracttalc from a mine inGemerská Polomka thatdates back to 2004, whenPavol Rusko served as theeconomy minister in thesecond government ofMikuláš Dzurinda, the TASRnewswire reported.

The firm’s board of dir-ectors passed two decisionsto seek arbitration to resolveits claims against thegovernment’s actions in2004. Wolfgang Rauball, thecompany’s board chairman,told TASR that if Slovakiadoes not respond to the re-quest for arbitration EuroGas

is prepared to file a lawsuitwith international courts.

EuroGas GmbH Austria, awholly-owned subsidiary of USfirm EuroGas, claims that theSlovak Mining Office in SpišskáNová Ves unlawfully deprivedthe company of its miningrights at the talc mine inGemerská Polomka, one of thelargest and purest talc depositsin the world, and instead gavethe mining rights to a smalldomestic accounting company.Slovakia’s Supreme Court con-firmed in May 2011 that theSlovak Mining Office had madean error in its decision.

EuroGas representativeshave alleged that the actiontaken in 2004 was a clear caseof money laundering, tax eva-sion and corruption, TASR re-ported.

Private investors welcomedTRANSPORT Minister JánPočiatek stated that he willconsider the possibility of al-lowing strategic investors toown some part of Cargo, thestate-run rail freight carrier,as well as state-owned M. R.Štefánik Airport in Bratis-lava, the TASR newswire re-ported. The first governmentof Prime Minister RobertFico, in which Počiatekserved as finance minister,ditched a plan to privatisethe airport in 2006.

“We will not prevent astrong strategic partner fromentering this sector since itis obviously needed,”Počiatek told TASR.

The current process offinding strategic investorsfor both companies was star-

ted by Ján Figeľ, the trans-port minister in the previouscentre-right coalition gov-ernment. A strategic in-vestor in Cargo was thoughtto be possible by this sum-mer and the previous gov-ernment was preparing tolease the airport to a privatefirm for a term of 30 years.

Počiatek said that hewould continue both tendersthat are already prepared butrefused to specify exactlywhat percentage of eitheroperation would be placed inthe hands of private in-vestors.

“Let’s wait to see whatthe experts have to say;[complete] privatisation, assuch, is ruled out,” Počiateksaid, as quoted by TASR.

Economic sentiment improvesTHE INDICATOR of Eco-nomic Sentiment (IES) inSlovakia rose again in April,increasing by 0.7 pointsmonth-on-month to 91.7points, the Statistics Officeannounced on April 30,with the SITA newswire re-porting that sentiment wasmore positive in all sectorsin March and that the con-sumer confidence indicatorrose in April, as did the in-dicator in the constructionindustry. Nevertheless, theIES remains 2.6 points be-low its level of April 2011and lags behind the long-term average by 5.9 points.

The sentiment indicatorin the industrial sectordropped by 1 point month-on-month to 2 points, onepoint below its long-termaverage level, with SITAwriting that this was due toan expected drop in produc-tion in the next threemonths. The indicator inthe construction sector roseby 11 points on a monthlybasis to reach -36.5 points,still lagging behind its

long-term average by 11.5points.

The indicator in the retailsector dropped by 1.4 pointsin April to stand at 9.3 points,largely due to a more pessim-istic evaluation of the busi-ness environment, accordingto the Statistics Office, whilethe consumer confidence in-dicator improved consider-ably by 11.5 points month-on-month to stand at -20.8points. The Statistics Officenoted that this was due to adrop in concerns among con-sumers about poor economicdevelopments and higherunemployment. But this in-dicator was still 9 pointslower than in April 2011.

The sentiment indicatorin the trade sector droppedby 1.4 points in April to 9.3points due to a more pessim-istic assessment of businessprospects, while the senti-ment indicator in servicesfell by 8.7 percentage pointsin April to 21 points.

Compiled by Spectator staff

from press reports

BMW denies Slovak investment plansUPMARKET German car producer BMWwill not build a new factory in Slovakia,according to company spokesman Math-ias Schmidt. He was responding toweek-long media speculation about thepossibility that Slovakia might get afourth car assembly plant, the Reutersnewswire wrote.

Slovak media had written that thenew factory could be built in an indus-trial park near the village of Kechnec insouth-eastern Slovakia. Schmidt de-scribed the reports as untrue.

Talks between the Slovak Embassy inGermany and a new investor were con-firmed by Foreign Affairs MinisterMiroslav Lajčák, according to TVMarkíza. The station reported the minis-ter as saying that the embassy wasproviding information to the carmaker;it added that the investment could bring

10,000 new jobs, including those createdby suppliers, to a region which has beenstruggling with high unemployment.

The financial daily HospodárskeNoviny, citing “well informed sources”,reported on May 2 that BMW had re-quested state aid worth €500 million,which the daily wrote would have beenone of the largest aid packages everawarded by Slovakia. Stanislav Jurkovič,the Economy Ministry spokesperson,told the daily that the ministry had notreceived any official request to discuss apotential investment stimulus.

The daily also wrote that negoti-ations were at an initial stage and it isquestionable when the project wouldstart, if at all.

Sources quoted by the Sme daily onMay 2 suggested that if the Germancarmaker decided to invest in a fact-

ory in Slovakia it could be to buildelectric cars.

Slovakia is already home to threecarmakers: PSA Peugeot Citroen, Kia andVolkswagen Slovakia.

Last year these factories producedmore than 639,000 cars, thus topping thepre-crisis figure from 2008, when 575,000cars were produced, the SITA newswirereported.

Jozef Uhrík, then president of theAutomotive Industry Association of theSlovak Republic, stated earlier this yearthat the three plants should produce ap-proximately 780,000 cars, SITA reported.According to Slovakia’s Statistics Officethe automobile sector's share of indus-trial production has now risen to 39 per-cent of total output.

By Roman Cuprik

HEALTH: Only a temporary solutionContinued from pg 1

Nonetheless, he praisedZvolenská’s efforts to solve theproblem.

During the meeting inPoprad, Zvolenská, who wasappointed as minister lastmonth, said that the previousgovernment had not allocatedenough money to cover the in-creased salary claims.

“We have set the legisla-tion in such a way as to findfunds already in the existingsystem and redistribute themto have this commitmentcovered,” said Zvolenská, asquoted by SITA. “The noveltythat we bring here today is anagreement on how to use thereserve of €50 million by anon-systemic payment to-gether with the FinanceMinistry.”

The allocated money willbe distributed to health in-surers in the second half of theyear. They will then pass it onto hospitals in the form of in-creased payments for statepolicyholders, i.e. those, in-cluding children, seniors andthe unemployed, for whomthe state pays health insur-ance contributions.

Zvolenská has asked thehospitals to cooperate and tryto cover the salary increasesfrom their own reserves untilthey receive the new moneyfrom the state. She also calledon both health insurers andhospitals not to use the moneyfor other purposes.

“We will demand that anadministrative fund is notcreated from this money; thatit is not used for the creation ofprofit; and that it is mainly re-distributed into the systemproportionally and justlyamong all segments,”Zvolenská stated, as quoted bySITA, adding that the moneyshould flow not only to hos-pitals but also to outpatientunits. She stressed that thehealth care institutionsshould not use the funds topay debts or for investments.

Mária Lévyová, presidentof the Chamber of Nurses andMidwives, told The SlovakSpectator that although theprevious government cooper-ated with the chamber during

the preparation of the new lawon minimum wages and evenpromised enough money tocover the increased salaries,after the law came into effectemployers claimed that theylacked the funds.

“There was nearly [somekind of] ‘witch-hunt’,” shesaid, adding that some seemedto believe that it was only thesalaries of nurses that werethreatening the health-caresector.

Lévyová praised the effortsof Zvolenská, who she said hadstarted to learn about the situ-ation in the health-care sectorand attended several negoti-ations not only with nursesand midwives, but also withother relevant institutions assoon as she was appointed toher post.

“We hope that nurses andmidwives will see the resultsof the efforts of the ministerand government on their payslips soon,” Lévyová said.

Finding other resources

Both health-care workersand the Health Ministry admitthat higher salaries for sectorworkers will cost the stateabout €170 million this year,and up to €175 million nextyear, since there will be a thirdphase to the increase in doc-tors’ salaries, ZuzanaČižmáriková, the ministryspokesperson, told the TASRnewswire.

But she added this is not afinal sum as it does not includethe possible valorisation ofsalaries or a possible increase inthe salaries of other medicalstaff working in state-run hos-pitals.

The Health Ministry hasalready said that it will ensurethe funding for higher salariesthrough different sourceswhich will be established afterpassing changes to the currenthealth-care system, SITA repor-ted.

The ministry, for example,plans to amend the system bywhich money is dividedbetween health insurers,basing this on the illness profileof each insurer’s policyholders.Such a change might secure upto €30 million a year for thestate-run health insurer,Všeobecná ZdravotnáPoisťovňa. Moreover, the gov-ernment also plans to increaseits payments for policyholderscovered by the state.

Lévyová said she believesthat additional money can bealso found in savings from anew drugs policy, or by restrict-ing privately-owned health in-surers from retaining profits.

Petko added that it is alsonecessary to gradually imple-ment the so-called DRG system,a payment system based ondiagnoses, or to develop a sys-tem which will set the exactamounts paid for operations,medicaments and specifictreatments.

Solving

other problems

The need to secure themoney to increase nurses’,midwives’ and doctors’ paywas also covered in thegovernment’s programmestatement. Additionally, thecabinet said it plans to makethe whole health-care sectormore effective and improveits quality.

When asked about themain challenges for theHealth Ministry over the fol-lowing months, Vladimír Ba-logh, adviser to the presidentof the Slovak Medical Cham-ber (SLK), told The SlovakSpectator that the ministryshould focus on the pricingpolicy across the whole sec-tor in connection with im-plementation of the DRGsystem, establish a function-ing public health system,and improve health care andset competencies for hospit-als in the regions.

Petko said that the min-istry has already solved themost urgent problems,finding money to increasesalaries and the need tochange the allocation ofmoney between health in-surers.

“The ministry has tocalm the situation since it isvery tempestuous and thereis a threat of general dissatis-faction with health care,”Petko stated.

4 BUSINESS / NEWSMay 7 – 13, 2012

€50 million from the state reserve will be used to raise the pay of medical staff. Photo: TASR

1. Máj

BOTH the pioneers marchingin the parades with their redscarves on and the party ap-paratchiks waving from thetribunes would be surprisedthat someday there would beno socialism to celebrate andno Czechoslovakia to celebrateit in.

And what’s more, labourwould not be the only thingremembered on May 1. In anironic twist of fate, the favour-ite holiday of communists pastand present would have toshare dates with Slovakia’sentry into the European Union,a Western club, once a symbolof capitalism and freedom.

However, more and morepeople feel the irony is van-ishing. For one, the EU is seen

as becoming socialist. And in-terestingly, the notion stickseven in countries that re-member the real deal.

Secondly, the union andits bailout mechanism causedthe collapse of the local right-wing government and thelater landslide victory of theleft-wing Smer party, whoseleader Robert Fico famouslysaid that he did not notice theNovember revolution of 1989.

Let’s hope that the EU getsback on the right track andSlovakia survives the secondFico government withoutpermanent damage. There issome hope: the new cabinet’smanifesto is vague and bringsfew ideas. But at least there isno mention of red scarves, na-tionalisation or May Day pub-lic parades.

TIES: Tensions could easeContinued from pg 3

“Fico’s policies are driven by opportunism– he understands the current popular yearn-ing for strong, reliable and moderate gov-ernance and he thus presents himself as astatesman,” Ravasz told The Slovak Spectator,adding that having a friendly stance towardsethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia serveshim well in maintaining this image.

Mesežnikov told The Slovak Spectator thatSlovakia needs a comprehensive law onminorities living in the country but noted thatpursuing such a law would not be in accordwith Fico’s view of “maintaining the statusquo”, which the political scientist said has notactually been the case since the cabinet nolonger includes a deputy prime minister fornational minorities and human rights.

Ravasz noted that the reduced number ofSlovak citizens who identified themselves asethnic Hungarians in the 2011 census is seenin Budapest as a clear signal that assimilationof the Hungarian minority in Slovakia is ac-celerating.

“Since this is disadvantageous for theHungarian government, it is very likely topress Fico to widen minority rights inSlovakia,” Ravasz stated, adding that this willprobably not be met with much understand-ing by the Slovak government.

Nevertheless, Mesežnikov said the overallpicture of Slovak-Hungarian relations should

be better than under the previous governmentled by Fico, which included cabinet membersfrom the SNS. That party failed to win seats inparliament in the March 10 general election.In the closing days of Fico’s first term as primeminister in 2010 his Smer party as well as oth-er parties played the so-called ‘Hungariancard’ to mobilise voters, according toMesežnikov.

“This government is one-coloured; Smerhas a majority in parliament and I do not be-lieve [it] will have a strong need to play theHungarian card,” Mesežnikov stated, addingthat one scenario in which Fico might chooseto “play this card” could be before the nextelection if Smer’s popularity were to drop andnationalist parties were ascendant. But heconcluded that this was not very likely.

According to Mesežnikov, Fico is in amuch better position now in regards to Hun-gary since the prime minister is positivelyperceived as part of the pro-European main-stream and has promised that Slovakia willpose no obstacles to a common European ap-proach in dealing with economic issues.Mesežnikov added that Hungary has morechallenging economic problems and also has aworse image among other EU countries.

“I don’t think Fico will nourish Slovak-Hungarian controversies but he will ratherjoin the European critics of Viktor Orbán andthis will be perceived as a sign of Europeansolidarity,” Mesežnikov stated.

Leaving in silence“MAY GOD be with you; I amleaving you; I have not hurtany of you.” So croonedsoon-to-be ex-prime minis-ter Vladimír Mečiar in 1998,giving a pathetic good-byewave on national televisionafter being voted out of of-fice in that year’s decisivegeneral election. ThoughMečiar said he was leaving,no one really believed thathe would give up the pro-spect of power. Yet manysaid he should have done sohad he wanted to preservesome of the political mythsthat were attached to him:in particular ‘father of thenation’, the epithet that hisapple-polishers liked to ap-ply to him and of which hetoo was rather fond.

Now, following hisMovement for a DemocraticSlovakia’s (HZDS) dismalresult of less than 1 percentin the March general elec-tion, Mečiar has announcedhe is quitting. There must bevery few who now doubtthat this time it is for real.Once the country’s leadingpolitical force – in 1994 itwon nearly 35 percent of thevote in parliamentary elec-tions – the HZDS is now awashed-up irrelevance.

After the 2010 parlia-mentary elections, in whichMečiar’s party received 4.32percent of the vote and thusfailed to clear the 5-percentthreshold needed to winseats, Mečiar continued tofake some political activity.His party’s press department,for instance, adopted thehabit of sending out simu-lated interviews with theboss in which he suggestedthat he held the key to solv-ing various social and polit-ical ills, despite clear evid-ence that he did not evenhold the key to getting hisown party into parliament.

Mečiar had turned into apolitical hologram, a kind ofthree-dimensional imagethat simulated presence andinfluence in the politicalarena. But actually he hadbeen absent for some time.

Ironically, for all thenoise he once made, Mečiaris leaving in relative silence.Just as the pundits are dili-gently analysing the pro-gramme of Robert Fico’ssingle-party administration,

which boasts an approvalrating of over 40 percent, feweditorials, analyses or longinterviews are seeking to as-sess the role Mečiar played inthe post-revolution historyof Slovakia, despite his obvi-ous significance. It is simplythat he missed the chance toleave politics at a time whenany substantial part of soci-ety still cared what he wassaying or why.

Nonetheless, there areseveral active politicianswho owe their career to theexistence of Mečiar, the au-thoritarian democrat or thedemocratic autocrat, a per-son who somehow got stuckhalf-way on the transitionfrom totalitarianism to free-dom, the type of politicianthat only a society on its wayfrom communism to demo-cracy could have produced.

Mečiar’s erstwhilesidekick Ivan Gašparovič, for

one, would hardly have be-come president in 2004 if thenation had not been confron-ted with a choice betweenhim and Mečiar, whom alarge majority did not wantsee return to power.

For years, anti-Mečiarism was a unifyingforce for some oppositionparties and in some sensealso the cradle of MikulášDzurinda’s political career.Indeed, earlier this yearDzurinda was forced to re-ject comparisons betweenthe fate of his Slovak Demo-cratic and Christian Union(SDKÚ), which has seen itssupport tumble over thepast year, and that of theHZDS.

There is still one aspectin which time is onMečiar’s side: some of thecontroversies that surroun-ded him seem to be fadingfrom the public’s memory.But of course the mediashould still point these outdespite Mečiar’s politicaltoothlessness.

Under the entry for theMečiar era there should al-ways appear such items asthe suspected involvementof his government in the ab-duction of Michal Kováč Jr,the son of the former presid-ent; the murder of police go-between Róbert Remiáš onApril 29, 1996; the controver-sial amnesties that Mečiargranted to protect unknownperpetrators involved in thecase of the abduction; theperiod of ‘wild’ privatisationin which people close toMečiar made fortunesovernight; and the abuse ofthe country’s intelligenceagencies to harass journal-ists and political opponents.

Mečiar himself, beingcompletely resistant to self-reflection, has not demon-strated much remorse for theway he wielded powerbetween 1993 and 1998, and ifthere is any service he canprovide for future generationsof Slovak leaders, then it is asan example of all that can gowrong with a politician.

5May 7 – 13, 2012OPINION / NEWS

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “[My] bachelor’s thesis was in 2002. So I do not remember.”

Labour Minister Ján Richter, when asked why he could notrecall the title of his own university thesis.

SLOVAK WORDOF THE WEEK EDITORIAL

BY BEATA BALOGOVÁSpectator staff

BY LUKÁŠ FILASpecial to the Spectator

This year's May 1 celebrations in the High Tatras had a somewhat retro feel... Photo: SITA

The Slovak Spectator is an independent newspaper published every Monday by The Rock, s.r.o. SSubscriptions: Inquiries should be made to The SlovakSpectator’s business office at (+421-2) 59 233 300. Printing: Petit Press a.s. Distribution: Interpress Slovakia s.r.o., Mediaprint-kapa s.r.o., Slovenská po‰ta a.s. Mail Distribution: ABOPRESS. EV 544/08. © 2010 The Rock, s.r.o. All rights reserved. Any reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited by law. The authors of articles published in this issue, represented by the publisher, reserve the right to give their approval for reproducing and public transmission of articles marked ©The Slovak Spectator, aswell as for the public circulation of reproductions of these articles, in compliance with the 33rd article and 1st paragraph of the Copyright Law. Mediamonitoring is provided by Newton, IT, SMA and Slovakia Online with the approval of the publisher. Advertising material contained herein is the responsibility of the advertiser and is not a written or implied sponsorship, endorsement or investigation of such commercial enterprises or ventures byThe Slovak Spectator or The Rock s.r.o. ISSN 1335-9843. Address: The Rock, s.r.o., Lazaretská 12, 811 08 Bratislava. IâO: 313 86 237.

JÁN PALLO - Publisher

EDITORIALBEATA BALOGOVÁ - Editor - In - Chief JAMES THOMSON - Assistant EditorDONALD SPATZ - Assistant Editor

JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ - Staff WriterMICHAELA TERENZANI - Staff Writer

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LAYOUT, WEB & IT TATIANA ŠTRAUCHOVÁ - Graphic Designer

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SALES - FINANCESBEATA FOJTÍKOVÁ - Sales Executive

TOMÁŠ KELLEY - Sales & Marketing ManagerKATARÍNA SIROTNÁ - Circulation & PR Manager

Facility management conference

THE SLOVAK Association of Facility Management (SAFM)is organising a conference called Facility ManagementDays SAFM – May 2012, subtitled 'current facilitymanagement trends in practice and education'.

The conference will take place in the SlovenskáSporiteľňa building on Tomášikova Street in Bratislavaon May 29 and 30.

Lecturers include facility management (FM) experts:Kathy O. Roper from the USA; Margaret Nelson from theUK; Natalija Lepkova from Lithuania; Lenka Krobová,Ondřej Štrup, Miroslav Marenčák and Martin Mayer fromthe Czech Republic; and Bartosz Soroczynski fromPoland. Slovak FM experts Viera Somorová, KarolHederling and architect Branislav Somora will alsodeliver lectures.

The lecturers will address topics such as legislation in thefield of facility management, the current FM situationin Lithuania and Slovakia, impacts of the economic crisison the FM sector, FM benchmarking and other subjects.

For more information, see www.safm.sk

Compiled by Spectator staff

Slovakia as a prime sitefor outsourcing firms

SLOVAKIA is becoming moreand more popular as a site fromwhich to provide outsourcingservices, especially in the areasof IT, facility management andbusiness processing out-sourcing, often known as BPO.The country’s relatively inex-pensive labour force, with itshigh number of universitygraduates, their good languageskills and its cultural proxim-ity to countries in westernEurope, leads experts in thefield to believe the prospectsare good for more outsourcingservices to be based here.

“The advantage of Slovakiaas a country providing out-sourcing services for foreigncompanies doing business invarious sectors is the singlecurrency, the euro, as well asthe language skills of uni-versity graduates,” MichalPaulen, a consultant in theconsulting department at De-loitte in Slovakia, told TheSlovak Spectator. “Moreover,Slovakia still offers, comparedwith other countries of centralEurope, a cheaper labour forceand simultaneously high la-bour productivity.”

Paulen and PeterHorovčák, a senior manager inthe consulting department atDeloitte, added that unlikewell-known outsourcing coun-tries like India or China, com-panies that provide out-sourcing services from Slov-akia are closer to westerncountries, geographically andculturally.

“This fact makes commu-nication easier and the com-pany that has outsourcedactivities has better controlover them,” Paulen stated,adding that several unsuccess-ful experiences in outsourcingto India and other Asian coun-tries have caused more west-ern European companies toprefer what is called‘onshoring’ or ‘nearshoring’,and Slovakia and other centralEuropean countries belongamong the best locations fornearshoring.

Alica Pavúková, a partnerof PwC in Slovakia, which

provides assurance, tax, legaland advisory services, spe-cified that central and easternEurope is a kind of mecca foroutsourcing functions to ser-vice centres and particularlyfor accounting services.

Based on a global CEO sur-vey conducted by PwC, shesees a high demand for out-sourcing in coming years.Globally, about 35 percent ofcompanies opted for out-sourcing of some kinds of pro-cesses or functions in 2011,while in all of western Europeit was 38 percent, 41 percentin Germany, and 33 percent inSlovakia. She added that 47percent of all companies incentral and eastern Europehad outsourced work.

“These data show thatthere is a significant demandfor outsourcing as well assupply,” Pavúková told TheSlovak Spectator. “The biggestoutsourcing centres in the re-gion are in Prague, Budapest,Brno, Krakow and Bratislava.”

Slovak firms as providers

Firms in Slovakia focus oninformation technologies andPaulen said demand for theseservices is the greatest.Pavúková agreed that IT is thesector in which developmentof internal or external out-sourcing is growing quickly.All three experts agreed thatalmost all larger companiesare outsourcing various ITfunctions and that manycompanies do not realise thatacquiring IT services in thisway is outsourcing.

Outsourcing work to callcentres as well as functionssuch as billing is also in highdemand and demand is also

growing for business processoutsourcing (BPO) and out-sourcing of human resourceand facility management(FM) functions.

Facility management out-sourcing is used extensivelyby banks, shopping and en-tertainment centres and in-dustrial parks and is also be-ing used for buildings ownedby the state government orregional and local govern-ments.

Pavúková explained thatcompanies often use what iscalled internal offshoring viaa central service centre or ashared service centre. In gen-eral, outsourcing means thata company no longer handlesa certain process or functioninternally and purchases it asa service, sometimes from anaffiliated company. Internaloffshoring or contractingwith a service centre meansthat some processes are out-sourced but go to anotherspecific unit within the cor-poration. For example, an in-ternal service centre in Slov-akia is contracted to performaccounting services for thecorporation’s individual affil-iates or subsidiaries located inmultiple countries.

“Global companies use in-ternal offshoring via servicecentres or shared servicecentres,” said Pavúková.“Among those in Slovakiaemploying thousands ofpeople are IBM, Dell, Lenovo,Kraft Foods and Johnson Con-trols. These service centresspecialise particularly infunctions and processes likeaccounting, financial super-vision, budgeting and alsosales and after-sales services.Their customers are often the

parent company and otherunits within the corporation.”

Pavúková added that mostservice centres in Slovakia arebased in Bratislava because itoffers modern office spaceand a large number of uni-versity graduates with goodlanguage skills. In some ser-vice centres, 70 percent of theemployees are universitygraduates, she said.

Experts believe growthwill come in outsourcing ofhuman resources functions incoming years.

“Companies outsource,either internally or extern-ally, activities like trainingand development of employ-ees, hiring new employees,payroll processes or person-nel administration,”Pavúková stated. “Nowadaysalmost all companies use per-sonnel outsourcing in oneform or another.”

Why Slovakia?

These three experts agreethat university-level educa-tions, good language skillsand work habits, use of theeuro, and Slovakia’s centralgeographical position and cul-tural affinity to otherEuropean countries are theprimary reasons for compan-ies to establish outsourcingoperations in the country.

But Pavúková noted thatrising labour costs in Slovakia,and particularly in Bratislava,as well as the relative satura-tion of service centres in thelabour market means thatother European countriessuch as Ukraine, Romania,and Bulgaria are gaining acompetitive advantage.

Nevertheless, the expertssee IT as most promising forfurther growth of outsourcingfrom within Slovakia, withcall centres, facility manage-ment, human resources, ac-counting services and logist-ics as other potential areas.

“Simultaneously, we see achange in the expectations ofcompanies in using out-sourcing, with reduction ofoperating costs and regulat-ory compliance no longer be-ing the only goal ofoutsourcing,” Pavúková said.

“The goals now are an in-crease in the effectiveness ofprocesses, innovation, accessto new technologies, an in-crease in the quality of in-ternal communication, andsupport when fulfilling busi-ness strategies,” she con-cluded.

BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁSpectator staff

IT outsourcing has potential in Slovakia. Photo: ČTK

6 May 7 – 13, 2012

Geographical andcultural proximity

are important

Next issue:BUSINESS FOCUS

OUTSOURCING BANKING & LEASING

Payroll outsourcingcatches on in Slovakia

Penta acquires a Polishfacility management firm

SP12066/003

SP012092/001

SP12095/001

● Recruitment ● Coaching ● Temporary staffing ● HR interim management ● Assessment Centre ● Professional diagnostics ● Personal audit and assessment

Personel efekt, s.r.o.Letná 45, 040 01 Košice, p. n. / fax: +421 55 633 16 96ke@personelefekt.sk, www.personelefekt.sk

Ladislav POMPURAmanaging partner

Payroll outsourcingcatches on in Slovakia

THE OUTSOURCING ofpayroll functions is not anunknown concept in Slov-akia as companies of varioussizes in different economicsectors are using this ap-proach to save money andimprove their payroll pro-cessing. The Slovak marketstill offers many opportunit-ies for firms that handlepayroll services. But an ex-pert in the field notes that acompany must be very care-ful when selecting a payrollprocessing firm and shouldcarefully determine whetherthis option will be effective.

“In Slovakia the termpayroll outsourcing is a rel-atively common term,”Marian Driensky, managingdirector of Accace for Slov-akia and the Czech Republic,told The Slovak Spectator,adding that small companieswith just tens of employees,mid-sized companies andeven the largest firms withthousands of employees arecontracting for services fromexternal payroll processingfirms.

Driensky explained thatmany small firms have out-sourced their payroll servicesin the past because it was notcost-effective for them tohave an internal employeefor this work. But the trendfor larger companies to do sois much more recent as manyof these companies had in-ternal payroll departmentsthat are now being replacedby external providers. Payrolloutsourcing is common inother countries and Drienskyexpects this will be the caseas well in Slovakia.

“During the next 10-15years we expect significantgrowth and a [higher] level of

penetration of outsourcing incentral and eastern Europe, upfrom several percents to tensof percents and for privatecompanies this will be near 50percent,” Driensky stated.

Accace bases its expecta-tions on the results of a sur-vey on payroll and account-ing outsourcing it conductedin 2011. It surveyed 62 com-panies based in Bratislavaand Košice and the results re-leased last November foundthat more Bratislava-basedcompanies are using servicesfrom external payroll pro-viders than those based inKošice. In Bratislava it was68 percent of the surveyed

companies, and less than 30percent in Košice.

When is it suitable?

Outsourcing is poten-tially suitable for any type ofa company active in any kindof business as well as forpublic institutions, Drienskysaid, noting that the size ofthe company may rangefrom one employee to thou-sands of employees, but thatany firm must properly as-sess whether payroll out-sourcing can bring benefitsand advantages.

See OUT pg 8

BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁSpectator staff

It can pay to outsource some of your paperwork. Photo: Jana Liptáková

7May 7 – 13, 2012

Potential benefitsare higher

quality, bettertechnology and

lower costs

BUSINESS FOCUS

SP012093/001

Trends in business support services

CONTINUED pressure on corporate prof-itability and the ongoing need to increasethe effectiveness of business supportfunctions has driven interest in globalsourcing to a new level. More than everbefore, today’s business environmentdemands that firms develop and main-tain a competitive advantage throughimproved service levels, lower costs andinnovation.

As a result three areas of globalsourcing – namely outsourcing, sharedservices and offshoring – are becomingentrenched business strategies to thepoint of giving rise to a new era of collab-orative partnering.

Outsourcing grows

The 2012 Slovak CEO Survey conduc-ted by PwC and Forbes magazine shows ahigh interest in outsourcing as 33 percentof firms in Slovakia had initiated out-sourcing of business processes or func-tions in the past 12 months.

Outsourcing may be a powerful com-petitive weapon for businesses but it iscertainly a double-edged sword. Whenused strategically it has the potential to

make a material impact on the company’sperformance but if it goes wrong it candrag a company backwards and leave itscarred. That is because the implementa-tion of one of these programmes is com-parable to a major corporate transaction.

The difference is that a major dealinvolves only one transaction while anoutsourcing arrangement is much morethan a single transaction – it is an ongo-ing relationship with an external, inde-pendent entity. Processes might bestripped out of a company but the regu-latory and reputational risks remainwithin it.

For this reason outsourcing cannotbe treated as just another procurementprogramme, executed and managed bythe purchasing department. The chiefexecutive officer or chief financial of-ficer must drive these projects or theywill fail. Poor structuring or poor con-tract management between the pro-vider and the company can lead to abreakdown in the relationship. Gettingthe right management team and gov-ernance processes in place for the life ofthe contract is critical for successfuloutsourcing.

Many companies have already out-sourced their IT and back-office func-tions or established shared servicecentres for their support functions andprocesses. They are now outsourcingeven core activities like research,product development and tax and legalservices as globalisation and connectiv-ity enable new ways of doing business.

See CORE pg 8

BY ALICA PAVÚKOVÁSpecial to the Spectator

Alica Pavúková Photo: Courtesy of PwC

CHAMBER COLUMN

Post-graduate course in FM

THE FACULTY of Civil Engin-eering at the Slovak Uni-versity of Technology inBratislava is again offeringan opportunity to attend apost-graduate course ofstudy on facility manage-ment (FM) during the sum-mer semester of the 2011/12academic year.

The course, which costs€420, is designed for stu-

dents and graduates of theFaculty of Civil Engineering,and for people working inroles such as facility man-ager, project manager, build-ing administrator, architect,construction manager, realestate manager, HVAC tech-nician and others.

Compiled by Spectator staff

from press reports

Penta acquires Polish FM firmPENTA, a central Europeaninvestment group, has ex-panded its business in com-prehensive administrationand maintenance of build-ings, i.e. facility manage-ment or FM, by adding clean-ing services. In early Febru-ary it announced its acquisi-tion of a leading cleaningservices provider in Poland,Clar System. By acquiring ABFacility in the Czech Repub-lic in December 2010, Pentasaid it is pursuing a strategyof consolidation in the FMsector in central Europe. Thetransaction is subject to ap-proval by Slovakia's Anti-Monopoly Office and itsvalue will not be disclosed,

Penta said on its website.Poznań-based Clar Sys-

tem was founded in 1999 andcurrently employs 4,000. Itsrevenue of €18 million in 2011representated 24-percentyear-on-year growth.

“In Poland, we reviewedseveral potential acquisitiontargets in the facility man-agement sector and finallyopted for Clar System,” saidZdeněk Kubát, Penta’s in-vestment director. “It is acompany with an excellenttrack record, solid coverageacross Poland and a diversi-fied portfolio of clients allow-ing for further growth interms of scale as well as scopeof offered services.”

CORE: Many taskscan be outsourced

Continued from pg 7

When SSC is an option?

In reviewing traditionalmodels, companies may finda shared services centre (SSC)an effective delivery optionfor their operational strategy,especially if they need tokeep certain processes in-house. Companies state twomajor reasons for imple-menting a SSC: improvementin quality through standard-isation and optimisation ofprocesses and better services;and reduction of operatingcosts for human resourcesand infrastructure.

Achieving the funda-mental goal of higher qualityservices at a lower cost re-quires more than just a one-off effort. Companies thathave already established aSSC are confronted with anumber of challenges, bothinternal and external. To ad-dress these challenges effect-ively, a SSC needs to con-stantly review which ser-vices it provides, its level ofservice delivery and thestructure of the company.

For companies using aSSC, continued optimisationnot only generates additionalsavings but can also createoperational flexibility if us-ing the right strategy. SSCsare often separate businessunits with their own organ-

isational structure and theSSC can even decide to trans-fer selected processes to anexternal service provider.

A number of advantagesand benefits can be realisedby companies who developtheir SSC to a higher level,according to the PwC SSC ma-turity model, which is char-acterised by better capabilit-ies and efficiency. Thismeans that the both thecompany itself and the SSCare able to focus on their corebusiness. The SSC optimisesitself autonomously and ini-tiates the implementation ofnew technologies, acting as aprofessional service provider.Furthermore, the extensionof the competencies of theSSC creates the basis for fur-ther internal SSC optimisa-tion and future make-or-buydecisions. Adjustment of SSCservices according to chan-ging service requirementssafeguards long-term costand quality advantages, em-bedding a holistic model forservice delivery.

Alica Pavúková is apartner of PwC in Slovakia,providing assurance, tax,legal and advisory ser-vices.

This column is prepared incooperation with AmCham, theAmerican Chamber of Commercein Slovakia. www.amcham.sk

OUT: Discretion and confidentialityContinued from pg 7

A common advantage is thetransfer of responsibility whena firm gives the tasks for qualityprocessing of payroll matters toan outsourcer, Driensky said.Saving money can be an addedvalue and this can come fromlower labour costs as well assavings on significant invest-ments in technology, hardwareand software, and needing toupdate payroll systems oftenbecause of legislative changes.

The quality of the providedservices can be another addedvalue, according to Driensky.

“The [outsource] providerhas a payroll department thatconsists of many experts,”Driensky stated, adding that itis optimal if an outsourcingcompany also has a tax adviserand lawyers specialising inemployment law who can giveadvice or resolve more seriousor complex problems.

Another alternative is par-tial outsourcing of certain re-sponsibilities of a firm’s intern-al payroll department or helpwith an emergency situationdue to the unexpected or tem-porary absence of staff whonormally perform this work in-ternally.

Driensky highlighted thatoutsourcing payroll functionsusually provides a higher de-gree of automation and effect-iveness.

Additional services that aresupplied by some payroll pro-cessing firms are a hotline foremployees as well as servicesfrom tax and employment lawexperts, Driensky noted, whileadding that companies thatemploy foreigners can also re-ceive services such as assist-ance in obtaining work permitsand handling tax and payrolllevy issues.

Driensky said the financialcost of outsourcing payroll pro-cessing differs from companyto company and from project toproject and that a reduction incosts is not always the decisivefactor.

“Clients decide to out-source not only because ofcosts,” Driensky stated. “Theywant a better quality of services

or they want to get rid of re-sponsibility or they want to ob-tain access to the latest techno-logy. A need for high discretionand confidentiality of informa-tion is often a reason, too.”

A real-life example

NESS Slovensko is onecompany that has opted forpayroll outsourcing. ZuzanaJojićová, the firm’s human re-sources manager, explained toThe Slovak Spectator that hercompany decided to outsourceits payroll operations in 2005,when it became a subsidiary ofNess Technologies.

“Our parent company hadgood experiences with payrolloutsourcing and, with regardsto a big expected increase in our

labour force in NESS Slovenskoas well as our plans to open ourbranch Ness KDC in Košice, wedecided that it would be moreeffective and economical forthe company to outsource thepayroll agenda,” Jojićová toldThe Slovak Spectator.

According to Jojićová, thefact that the company followsSarbanes-Oxley requirementsalso played an important rolewhen making its decision. Thislegislation was enacted by theUS Congress in response to thehigh-profile Enron and World-Com accounting scandals toprotect shareholders, employ-ees and the general public fromaccounting errors and fraudu-lent practices.

When selecting the com-pany to which it would out-source its payroll operations,NESS Slovensko took into con-sideration good references, thenumber and experience of theoutsourcing firm’s payroll ac-countants, and their flexibilitywhen solving a range of non-standard requirements. NESSSlovensko also appraised theoutsourcing firm’s confidenti-ality and professionalismwhen processing companydocuments.

Jojićová put reduction ofwage costs and overhead ex-penses, plus savings in in-vestments into software, as themain advantages of payrolloutsourcing. She added that ithas also brought an opportun-ity to confer about wage andemployment issues with ex-perienced consultants, andsaid the payroll provider alsofacilitates communicationwith state and oversight bodieson behalf of NESS Slovensko.

Outsourcing is suitable forNESS Slovensko because of itsdouble control and also becauseit brings an opportunity tostore employment documentsexternally, according toJojićová.

“The HR department canfocus more on key activities,”Jojićová stated.

One disadvantage ofpayroll outsourcing, accord-ing to Jojićová, can be thatwhen NESS Slovensko realisesit has made a mistake, it is ne-cessary for the outsourcingcompany to re-run their calcu-lations, bringing additionalcosts. Also, when NESS Slov-ensko needs any informationwhich it cannot get via remoteaccess, obtaining data can takea little longer than if it had aninternal payroll accountant.

Jojićová also warned that apoor choice of outsourcingcompany can lead to thedanger of loss of sensitive dataand of trust, and that theremay be problems with quality.

“Since the provider mayhave several clients, it cannotpay 100-percent attention toyour data and that can resultin a delay in calculations andimperfections,” said Jojićová,adding that there are hiddencosts that can arise or legalproblems that can occur if theconditions for outsourcing arenot properly defined in thecontract. “Fortunately, this isnot the case for us.”

Cost-cutting is not the only reason to outsource. Photo: Sme

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PLAN: Missing details in some areasContinued from pg 1

“One should not forgetthat it will also be necessaryto consolidate more than €1billion in 2014 and 2015. If thedisposable incomes of low-in-come citizens are not to becut, then the consolidationwill have to happen throughthe spending side.”

According to Ďurana, suchspending cuts and tax riseswill prove demanding becauseon present assumptions theywill not allow, for example,the removal of what he calledthe ineffective premiumwithin the construction sav-ing scheme.

“Hiking tax rates based ona comparison with foreigncountries is only [a way of]seeking a justification forhigher rates,” Ďurana said.“At the same time, the gov-ernment should not forgetthat by decreasing the eco-nomic activity of people withhigher income and increasingthe progressiveness of theirtaxation damages all groupsof citizens in the end.”

Ďurana added that suchphenomena could be com-pared to a situation in whichdoctors are allowed to treatpatients for only seven hoursa day and professors to teachfor only four hours per week.The progressivity of the per-sonal income tax system isalready high, he added, notingthat an estimated 15 percentof higher-income employeespay 50 percent of all personalincome tax.

The government includedamong its goals the comple-tion of the ongoing reform ofthe tax administrationthrough the UNITAS project.Its goal is the unification ofthe collection of taxes, cus-toms duties, and payrolllevies. At the same time, thegovernment wants to focus oncombating tax evasion whichit says “will provide for addi-tional budgetary resources”.

Energy, privatisation

and roads

In the area of energy thegovernment foresees the con-struction of a new nuclearpower plant in Jaslovské Bo-hunice, while hasteningcompletion of the third andfourth units at the Mochovcenuclear power plant. Never-theless, Robert Fico also in-tends to focus on what he callsthe “adverse consequences ofthe non-transparent andwrong privatisation of naturalmonopolies, so that thesehave progressively fewer op-portunities to abuse theirdominant position”. The gov-ernment will also seekstronger oversight of regu-lated businesses, SITA repor-ted.

The future of some privat-isation projects launched un-der the previous governmentremains unclear since thegovernment programme onlysuggests that “the cabinet willassess the completion of theongoing privatisation process

in its complexity”. Fico toldthe press after the April 27meeting of his cabinet thatstrategic companies wouldnot be privatised but thatwhat he called “redundantassets” might be sold,something that he said didnot constitute privatisation.State-controlled forests wouldnot be privatised either, headded.

One of the government’spriorities is to speed up high-way construction, while de-claring that “the governmentwill ensure balanced tenderconditions so that there are nomore cases of uncompletedsections and the devastationof whole business chains”.While the government in-tends to concentrate on usingpublic-private partnership(PPP) projects, it does not spe-cify, for example, which roadsections should be built usingthis method.

Key sector: Education

Many critics and expertshave said that Slovakia’s edu-cational system is in need ofserious reform. Thegovernment’s programmestatement pledged the cabinetto better tune the educationalsystem to the needs of the la-bour market while focusingmore on technical and naturalsciences, SITA wrote, addingthat the government will alsopursue a different school fin-ancing approach to ensurethat quality rather than thenumber of students is the de-cisive factor when distribut-ing state funding. The docu-ment also mentions stoppingso-called brain drain from thecountry and seeking to attractmore students and research-ers from developing countriesto study and work in Slovakia.[The Slovak Spectator willprovide more detailed cover-age of proposals for the educa-tion sector in a future issue.]

The Labour Code and

the pension system

In its programme, thegovernment pledges to rein-troduce an opt-in system forthe second, private pillar ofthe country’s old-age pension

system and says it will assesswhether the current numberof investment funds is justi-fied. Currently, there are fouroptions within the second pil-lar: a bond fund, a balancedfund, a stock fund and a new,equity-linked index fund.

Ďurana says that the in-stallation of voluntary entry isan expression of mistrust to-wards securing pension in-come through private pensionfunds.

“It is weakening the im-pacts of the pension reformwithout adequate and neces-sary changes to the first pillar,which is today highly[indebted],” said Ďurana. “Thenumber of funds comparedwith Sweden, for example, isminimal, and the necessity ofmixed funds could be dis-cussed as well.”

Labour Minister JánRichter has also been taskedwith pursuing the introduc-tion of a minimum pension.

Ďurana noted that theidea of a minimum pension isa “good-looking” measure be-cause it can be easily intro-duced but said that it wouldsignificantly reduce the flex-ibility of the pension system.

Ďurana identified the pos-sible further revision of theLabour Code as another of hisconcerns.

Health care

During its tenure the Ficoteam will not turn university,teaching or public hospitalsinto joint-stock companiesand thereby, it says, preventprivatisation. But DušanZachar of Institute for Eco-nomic and Social Reforms,INEKO, told The Slovak Spec-tator that the current legalstatus of large state-run hos-pitals creates extensive roomfor non-transparent man-agement.

“The stricter managementand accounting rules that ap-ply to joint-stock companieswould narrow this ‘blackhole’,” Zachar stated.

The government also saidin its programme that itwould adopt measures thatare in line with the constitu-tion and European legislationin order to maximise the

amount of insurance contri-butions that eventually gotowards diagnosis and treat-ment of patients.

According to Zachar, thegovernment probably has inmind limits on private healthinsurers’ freedom to retainprofits but the wording in thegovernment’s programmestatement is imprecise andprovides room for wide inter-pretation.

“Banning health insurersfrom [retaining] profits is acounterproductive step,” saidZachar. “To discuss the regu-lation of the creation andpayment of profits in thestate-regulated environmentof health care and mandatoryhealth insurance, which isconsiderably concentrated,however, is legitimate.”

Excessive regulation ofprofits, crossing the optimalline, could have a negativeimpact in the form of lowermotivation to operate and de-velop services in this market,Zachar added.

As for the tools the gov-ernment could have includedin its programme to start ef-fectively addressing thehealth sector’s many prob-lems, Zachar listed toughbudgetary rules for health-care providers as well ashealth insurers, and a trans-parent system of informingpatients and insurers aboutthe costs, volume and qualityof care provided, via the pub-lication of comparison chartson the internet.

Additional steps, inZachar’s opinion, could be thereduction of market concen-tration and state influence onthe insurance market, for ex-ample through the break-upof Všeobecná ZdravotnáPoisťovňa, the state-ownedhealth insurer, and comple-tion of the transformation ofstate hospitals into joint-stock companies, allowing forthe possibility of eventualprivate investment. If themanagers of state hospitalsand other health-care institu-tions were to be picked usingtransparent selection pro-cesses, this would also benefitthe sector, Zachar said.

Education Minister Dušan Čaplovič Photo: Sme

9BUSINESS / NEWS May 7 – 13, 2012

HZDS: Does ithave a future?

Continued from pg 2

“He [Mečiar] is disappoin-ted by the attitude of voterstowards him as well as theHZDS,” said Kovarčík, asquoted by the daily.

While Kovarčík said hehopes that support for theparty will rise as a result ofthe reaction of voters to theunpopular measures whichthe ruling Smer party willhave to pass, Baránek says itis too late for any kind ofcomeback.

Moreover, he told TheSlovak Spectator that onegroup of HZDS members isbent on disbanding the party.He was referring to calls byJozef Božík, the HZDS mayorof Partizánske, for the party’sregional structures to dis-solve the movement since“there is no otheralternative”.

“The HZDS can express itscorrectness and responsibil-ity only with its departurefrom the political scene andits controlled dissolution,”the mayor said, as quoted bythe TASR newswire.

Political scientists doubtthe possibility of establish-ing a completely new partybased on the values of theHZDS. Malová told The Slov-ak Spectator that this ishardly possible since themovement lacks “a fiercepersonality which wouldjoin such project” whileBaránek believes thateverything will depend onthe functioning of the party’sstructures, noting that theHZDS remains among thebetter-organised politicalmovements in Slovakia.

“One thing is to havethem [the structures of theparty] on paper, and the otheris whether they are stillfunctional,” he told The Slov-ak Spectator.

Into the shadows

Vladimír Mečiar be-came well-known duringthe Velvet Revolution as a

member of Public AgainstViolence (VPN), the firstnon-communist politicalmovement to be formed inthe wake of the communistregime’s collapse. Somemembers of VPN left it in1991 and established theHZDS as a new politicalparty with Mečiar as theirleader.

During the first half of1990 Mečiar served as in-terior minister of the firstpost-communist Slovakgovernment. In June 1990he was elected to the post ofprime minister, where heremained until April 1991.

He became prime min-ister again in June 1992after parliamentary elec-tions and remained in thatpost until March 1994,when he lost a no-confid-ence vote in parliament.However, he returned asprime minister in Decem-ber 1994 after the generalelection in autumn of thatyear saw the HZDS sweep tovictory, remaining as primeminister until October 1998.Between March and Octo-ber 1998 he also was actingpresident while IvanGašparovič served as speak-er of parliament – later be-ing elected Slovakia's pres-ident in 2004.

Though the HZDS fin-ished first in the parlia-mentary elections in 1998and 2002 it was unable toform a government eitheryear. The HZDS returned togovernment in 2010 in co-alition with Smer and theSlovak National Party.

In the 2010 parliament-ary elections Mečiar’s partyreceived only 4.32 percentof the vote, failing to passthe 5-percent thresholdneeded to win seats in par-liament.

Vladimír Mečiar alsoran in two presidentialelections: in 1999 he was de-feated by Rudolf Schuster;in 2004 he won the firstround but lost the run-offround to Gašparovič.

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10 CULTUREMay 7 – 13, 2012

Books in Englishnow available in Slovakia

Spirits of the Dead:Tales and Poems. Edgar Al-lan Poe. Penguin PopularClassics, London, England,1997.

Poe’s tales and poemsdraw the reader into an un-settling world of mysteryand fear. In “The System ofDoctor Tarr and ProfessorFether”, “A Predicament”,“The Angel of the Odd” andother stories, characters arecaught in macabre situ-ations, often with horrifyingresults. The poems are full ofmelancholic beauty, wheth-er in the disturbing images ofdeath and events beyond thegrave – described in “TheRaven” and“Lenore” – or inthe hypnoticfantasy ofworks such as“The Bells”,“The City in the Sea” and“Annabel Lee”. With hispowerful, richly inventiveimagination, Poe exploredthe darkest corners of thehuman psyche. He is con-sidered the inventor of thedetective fiction genre and isfurther credited with con-tributing to the emerginggenre of science fiction.

Battle Hymn of the Ti-ger Mother. Amy Chua.Bloomsbury, London, 2011.

Chua’s book was sup-posed to be a story of howChinese parents are better atraising kids than Westernones. But instead it is about abitter clash of cultures, afleeting taste of glory, andhow the author was humbledby a thirteen-year-old. Aninternational bestseller, thework was praised by Timemagazine for being “brutallyhonest”. A story about amother, two daughters andtwo dogs, others have calledher story “blissfully funny”but also “courageous andthought-provoking”.

The Terrorists, a MartinBeck Novel. Maj Sjowall &Per Wahloo. HarperCollinsPublishers, London, 2011(first published by RandomHouse in 1975).

The tenth and last novelin the series about DetectiveInspector Martin Beck tries

to explore the very definitionof terrorism. He and his po-lice team aim to stop a groupof terrorists set on assassin-ating an American senatorwho is visiting Stockholm. Isthe case somehow connectedwith the murder of a mil-lionaire pornographer? WillBeck be able to manage eachunravelling case and preventfurther atrocities, even whenhis own life is on the line?

Dennis Lehane states inan introduction that in theannals of realistic fictionalpolicemen, Beck stands a fullhead above most. He carriesplenty of mental scars andadmits to a depressive per-

sonality, but heis not gloom-laden. Rather, heis “a doggedworker bee en-tering his later

middle-aged years with ahealthy romantic life and noillusion about his place inthe larger scheme of things.A great cop, yes, but inSjowall and Wahloo’s vision,a great cop is little more thana great functionary in a hope-lessly flawed system.

The Daydreamer. IanMcEwan. Red Fox, London,1994. (With illustrations byAnthony Browne.)

This first book for chil-dren by the Booker Prizewinner describes the ex-traordinary world of ten-year-old Peter Fortune, “adifficult child”, as he is per-ceived by those around him.His world is bizarre, with noboundary between realityand daydreams. The readermeets his sister Kate, his cat(William Cat) and his par-ents. Only long after he him-self has grown up, does hestart to understand how andwhy he was seen as“difficult” – enclosed as hewas in his own world, hisown reality.

This column is a selection byThe Slovak Spectator of English-language books recently releasedin Slovakia; it does not representan endorsement of any of thebooks selected. The column isprepared in cooperation with theOxford Bookshop Bratislava.

100 'new' works by Sokol

A BOOK that charts a hundredworks by artist Koloman Sokolthat had never been shown orpublished before waslaunched on April 20 in theBratislava City Gallery (GMB)as part of the Bratislava for Allweekend. Sokol was a world-renowned painter and graphicartist of Slovak origin whoplayed a key role in the devel-opment of Slovak graphic artin the 20th century.

The book premiered aswell on April 16 in the Palaisdes Nations in Geneva duringthe opening of a selective ex-hibition of Sokol's workscalled The Life of an Artist inExile that remained open untilthe end of April. The curator ofthe Swiss exhibition was IvanJančár, co-author of the re-cently released book and headof the GMB.

US Ambassador TheodoreSedgwick spoke at the Bratis-lava event. He called Sokol,whose life story reflects theturbulence of the 20th cen-tury, a bridge between Slov-akia and the United States.The book, titled 100 Unpub-lished Works (100nepublikovaných diel), is inSlovak and English.

Sokol was born inLiptovský Mikuláš in 1902 andfirst moved to Mexico wherehe lectured at the Universityof Mexico. After World War IIhe returned to Czechoslovakiafor some time but later left tolive in the US and Canada. Hedied in Tucson, Arizona in2003.

Sokol had a joint exhibi-tion with Austrian artist Os-

kar Kokoschka in New York in1968. Sokol is seen as a repres-entative of critical expression-ism and his works focus on so-cial issues and human exist-ence. But art critics say Sokol’sstyle was always quite uniqueand it is difficult to categorisehis art.

Ivan Jančár’s chapter inthe book titled The Emergenceof Abstract Expressionismdiscusses the 1952 exhibitionof 15 American abstract artistssuch as Jackson Pollock, MarkRothko, Clyfford Still and oth-ers while the centre of con-temporary art was movingfrom Paris to New York. ButJančár wrote that the eventhad no significance for Sokoland that he actually com-pletely rejected the artisticconcept stating: “What theabstract artists do has little todo with art. If it is nice, it canbe decoration; but to change itinto art, you need the spirit”.

Jančár recalled an episodewhen he visited Sokol andsearched through the artist’s

desk drawers while he wasnapping and found nudedrawings in one of them.When Sokol awoke he yelled“Oh, no! You cannot takethese; they are too private, toointimate!” Jančár confessedthat they are now part of thebook, adding that he hopedSokol would forgive him.

The Hospodárske Novinydaily’s online edition wrotethat it was Sokol’s son Jurajwho invited Jančár to helpsort out the artist’s worksafter he and his wife Lýdie hadboth died. Juraj Sokol andJančár found so many un-known works that the latterproposed that a book be pre-pared so that they would beavailable to the public.

Lee Karpiscak, the othercurator of the exhibition andco-author of the book, is an arthistorian born in New Yorkwho now works at the Uni-versity of Arizona Museum ofArt in Tucson. She wrote aboutSokol’s 100 years of life and the100 works selected for the

book. The art historian reflec-ted on the impact of fate andimmigration on the painter’swork, writing: “Sokol’smemories and nostalgiaformed an escape for him…and continue to touch usthrough his art. Not only wasSokol faced with a perplexingamalgamation of nationalidentities through the Slovak,Hungarian, Czech, Mexicanand American cultures inwhich he lived but also with agamut of artistic influencesfrom which to choose. Yet heremained true to himself. Andwhat if he would have chosenthe ‘path not taken’? WouldPicasso be the householdname it is had he remained inhis native Spain? How wouldliving permanently in one ofthe world capitals of Prague orParis or New York have alteredSokol’s notoriety? Certainlyhis visibility would have in-creased, giving his art thechance to be seen, appreci-ated, evaluated and analysedinternationally. It is now leftto the rest of us, as the keepersof the legend that is KolomanSokol, to call attention to thequalities and characteristicsthat shaped his art.”

Koloman’s son Juraj andhis wife Chrissy attended thebook launch and Juraj recalledsome of his childhood memor-ies from Slovakia. Otherspeakers included Bratislavamayor Milan Ftáčnik and JurajHeger, head of the Slovart pub-lishing house which producedthe book. The work, which isavailable at the GMB and vari-ous bookshops, was symbolic-ally baptised with sand fromthe desert near Tuscon whereSokol died and with soil fromLiptovský Mikuláš where hewas born.

BY ZUZANA VILIKOVSKÁSpectator staff

Greek Sculpture, 1945-46. Photo: Courtesy of Slovart

Bratislava for All draws big crowdsBRATISLAVA pre všetkých(Bratislava for All), already inits 9th year, has become anannual tradition in the Slovakcapital. Over 100,000 visitorstook part in this year’s events,which included several newvenues. The goal of the week-end activities was to encour-age residents and visitors toexplore places and areas of in-terest around the city.

On the weekend of April19-22 a number of popularsites, including the zoo, thebotanical garden, as well asseveral museums were avail-able without admission fees.Other venues offered specialprogrammes or opened doorsespecially for this event.Turnout was excellent, withmany sites experiencing longqueues. The offer of free sail-ing aboard the Martin boat onthe Danube River was one ofthe most popular draws withlarge crowds. The first dayalso began with a second-hand book exchange.

On April 20 the BratislavaCity Gallery sponsored twoevents: the opening of an ex-

hibition entitled The Martyrs’Legends; and the launch ofthe publication of a bookpresenting the drawings andpaintings of Koloman Sokol(see story above).

A special programme onSunday featured a presenta-tion in the City Museum ofthe Old Town Hall by ThomasFrankl, son of the Bratislava-born painter Adolf Franklwhose work was on display.Frankl recounted his child-hood memories and accom-panied his talk with photos.

Milan Ftáčnik, the mayorof Bratislava, opened his of-fices in the historic PrimatialPalace. Visitors were also al-lowed to have a look at themayor’s study and other areasnot normally accessible to thepublic. An exhibition of thework of contemporary artistStanislav Harangozó was alsoon display and the CityTheatre of P. O. Hviezdoslavhosted another special pro-gramme at the theatre.

Though it is currently un-dergoing reconstruction theApponyi Palace was partially

opened to the public. An ex-position of winemaking wasoffered in the cellars of thepalace, including wine tastingat the very reasonable rate of€1 per glass. Other sites whichopened for the weekend in-cluded the Pisztory Palace inŠtefánikova Street and the ex-cavated remains of Kaplnkasv. Jakuba (St Jacob’s Chapel)on SNP Square.

A tour and lecture at thearchaeological site in front ofStará tržnica (Old Market Hall)proved to be one of the mostpopular programmes of theweekend. This small, glassed-off excavation marks the ru-ins of St Jacob’s Chapel and isnot normally open to the pub-lic. Because the guided tourwas open to only a few peopleat a time, the wait in thequeue was quite long.

Branislav Resutík of theCity Monument Board ex-plained that the archaeologic-al site is only partly finished.Discovered during the recon-struction of the market build-ing in the 1990s, the presenceof the chapel indicates that

there had been structures out-side the old city walls for cen-turies. The origin of thechapel goes back to aRomanesque rotunda in the12th century but it could beeven older. Because of a lackof funding, the archaeologicalresearch has been halted,with some layers unexplored.

The ruins exist becauseafter the Battle of Mohács inHungary in 1526, Bratislava’sleaders feared the advancingOttoman army would level allstone buildings outside thecity walls so these were des-troyed in advance. The build-ings demolished included thischapel as well as St Michael’schurch which once stood nearSt Michael’s tower.

Today, nothing remainsexcept the chapel's ossuaryand a few underground walls.But it is fascinating to thinkthat modern-day shoppersand unknowing touristshurry past, unaware that theyare passing a site of immensearchaeological significance.

By Zuzana Vilikovská

BOOK CORNER

Historical trams operated during Bratislava for All. Photo: TASR

11May 7 – 13, 2012CULTURE

Sandrik in Dolné Hámre

THE REGION of Štiavnickévrchy, the Štiavnica Hills, isamong the most renownedmining areas in Europe, withunderground mines existingfor perhaps a thou-sand years. The lastboom in the area,though short-lived,occurred at theturn of the 19th and20th centuries.

In 1894, a businessmanby the name of Berks starteda silver processing facility inDolné Hámre but the com-plex was named after JánSandrik, who owned theland. The Sandrik works hada slow start because silverproducts were not affordableto many Slovaks. But a fortu-itous break came after a

young graphic designer, JanPeterka, arrived from Bo-hemia and won gold medalsfor his designs at the WorldExpo in Paris in 1899 and at

the Millennium Expositionin Pest in 1900. Peterka wasthen given authority to man-age the whole facility eventhough he was only 29 yearsold, and he subsequently de-veloped a successful, modernsilver processing operation.

Several other interestingfacts are connected with theSandrik works. As early as

1897 the company started avocational school and thecompany also built dormitor-ies for its employees to re-solve the issue of long, daily

commutes.In 1904, it even

opened a cinema foremployees, only thethird cinema inSlovakia. Addition-ally, the Sandrik

works had its own brass bandand football club.

The Sandrik works wasexceptional in its policiestoward employees comparedto other companies operatingat that time in Slovakia.

This postcard shows theSandrik complex in the 1920s.

By Branislav Chovan

HISTORY TALKS

Show features glass artistryfrom Lednické Rovne

AN EXHIBITION called Nazdravie! Na dizajn! (Cheers!To design!) at the Slovak Na-tional Gallery (SNG) in Bratis-lava presents 120 years ofglassworks made in the Slov-ak town of Lednické Rovne inTrenčín Region. Glass fromLednické Rovne is renownedthroughout the world for itscombination of artistry andquality production, the TASRnewswire wrote.

“The exhibition shows,for the first time as an expos-ition, a set of historical booksof patterns from the end ofthe 19th century and offerscatalogues from the first halfof the 20th century. Theoverview of the glassmakers’designs is completed by a se-lection of designer works byauthors who have cooperatedwith the glassworks in thesecond half of the 20thcentury,” Karmen Koutná ofthe SNG told TASR.

The RONA glassworkswas founded in 1892 by Josef

Schreiber, who owned a rel-atively large distributioncompany for glass productsand lived in Vienna.

The factory initially pro-duced sheet and pressed glassbut its types of productschanged quite often, fromtechnical and laboratoryglass, to light bulbs, babybottles, and other usefulitems. At the beginning ofthe 20th century, RONA ac-quired an international repu-tation for beautiful, high-quality beverage glasses,TASR wrote.

This glassworks was oneof only a few in Slovakiawhich closely cooperatedwith visual artists such asKarol Hološko, Jaroslav Tara-ba, Dagmar Kudrová, Ladis-lav Pagáč, Jozef Kolembus,Patrik Illo, Mária Berkyová-Račeková, and Peter Šipoš –all of whom contributedgreatly to the fame of glassproducts made in LednickéRovne.

Alongside machine pro-duction, the glassworks fo-cused on handcrafted glassthroughout its history, ac-cording to the accompanyingtext to the exhibition. Theexhibition at the gallery isthe third of its kind and iscalled simply RONA – His-tory.

The curators of the exhib-ition are Dagmar Poláčkováand Vladimíra Buengerováwho aptly show the 120-yearhistory of the design andproduction of glass andglassware in the town.

The exhibition at is at theSNG’s Water Barracks build-ing at Rázusovo nábrežie 2and is open from Tuesdays toSundays from 10:00 to 18:00(on Thursdays from 12:00 to20:00) until May 20. More de-tails about the exhibition areavailable from the SNG'swebsite: www.sng.sk/en.

Compiled byZuzana Vilikovská

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

A Slovak’s name day (meniny) is as important as his or her birthday. It is traditional to present friends or co-workers with a small gift, such as chocolates or flowers, and to wish them Všetko najlepšie k meninám (Happy name day)

N A M E D A Y M A Y 2 0 1 2

Monday

Monika

May 7

Tuesday

IngridaBank Holiday

May 8

Wednesday

Roland

May 9

Thursday

Viktória

May 10

Friday

BlaÏena

May 11

Saturday

Pankrác

May 12

Sunday

Servác

May 13

Western SLOVAKIA

Bratislaval QUIZ: Quiz Night – The Ir-ish Chamber of Commerce isorganising a general know-ledge quiz, offering – amongother things – tickets to theforthcoming Cranberries gigas a prize.

Starts: May 10, 19:00;Gremium restaurant, Gorkého11. Admission: teams of 4/€5per person. Contact: communication@irishchamber.com.

Bratislaval LIVE MUSIC: Judas Priest –The legendary British heavymetal band (comprising GlennLipton, Richie Faulkner, IanHill, Scot Travis and RobHalford) perform their biggesthits as well as new pieces.

Starts: May 9, 20:00; In-cheba Expo Aréna, Viedenskácesta 3-7. Admission: €35-€79.

Bratislaval CLASSICAL MUSIC: TheSlovak Philharmonic’s hostconductor Ralf Weikert andmezzo-soprano DagmarPecková perform Grieg’s ImHerbst (In Autumn), Mahler’sLieder eines fahrenden Gesel-len (Songs of a Journeyman)and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1.

Starts: May 10 and 11,19:00; Slovak Philharmonic-Reduta, Medená 3. Admission:€11. Tel: 02/5293-3321; www.ticketportal.sk, www.filharmonia.sk.

Bratislaval BULL RIDING: Bull RidingSlovakia Cup 2012 – The firstevent of this type in Slovakiais an international champion-ship in this discipline, includ-ing riders from eightEuropean countries as well asthe USA and Canada, whichare the twin cradles of this ex-treme sport. Later, the eventmoves to Košice.

Starts: May 12, 18:00; Slov-naft Aréna / Ondrej Nepela IceStadium. Admission: €20-€30.Tel: 02/5293-3321; www.ticketportal.sk.

Bratislaval GASTRONOMY: Deli Weekv Bratislave – After Košice, thecapital will also see a host ofevents at various sites focus-ing on good-quality coffee,tea, desserts (including less-known cupcakes), ice cream

and more. Saturday is also ori-ented towards design.

Starts: May 9 – 12; Creaseshop-centrum; Villeroy &Boch outlet, Dom nábytku At-rium; Guteva chocolatehouse, Luxor pasáž; DemmersTeahouse, Štúrova 4; Aupark,Einsteinova 18; Live Café,Aupark; Design House,Ivánska cesta. More info: www.skvelakava.sk/index.php?sk=tyzden.

Levicel BIKERS' REUNION: RidersParty 2012 - Lovers of big bikeswill meet for one of the fivebiggest events of this kind inSlovakia and will host bikersfrom all over the country. Theevent starts with a paradethrough Levice on Friday,continues with a Sprint ofBikes race, part of the SlovakCup (from 10:30 to 15:00), andends with a music pro-gramme in the evening.

Starts: May 11-13; Margita-Ilona holiday resort. Admis-sion: free for onlookers. Moreinfo: www.riders.sk.

Central SLOVAKIA

Liptovský Mikulášl PHOTO EXHIBITION: PavolBreier - Zem snehu / Land ofSnow – Documentary storiesfrom north-eastern Tibet,ordered in cycles and photo-graphed by Pavol Breier.

Open: Tue-Sat 10:00-19:00until May 24; Galéria Domu fo-tografie (The House of Photo-graphy Gallery), Tranovského3. Admission: €0.50-€1. Tel:044/5522-758; www.galerialm.sk.

Eastern SLOVAKIA

Košicel CLASSICAL MUSIC: PavelŠporcl – Within the Košickáhudobná jar / Košice MusicalSpring, this world-famousCzech violin virtuoso will per-form – conducted by Poland’sPatricyja Pieczara – the over-ture to Borodin’s opera PrinceIgor, his Polovtsian Dances,Eroch. W. Korngold’s Concertfor Violin and Orchestra in DMajor, and OttorinoRespighi’s Impressioni Bra-siliane.

Starts: May 10, Domumenia / House of Art,Moyzesova 66. Admission:€10-€14. Tel: 055/6220-763;www.sfk.sk.

Prešovl CLASSICAL MUSIC:Prešovská hudobná jar 2012 –The Prešov Musical Spring isin full swing, and offers a con-cert celebrating 20 years of theJán Pöschl hobby musicalschool for children, whichhosts a Youth String Orches-tra, Witches, the Brass Bandof the ZUŠ Jána Pöschla andPKO, Fatimas, and more.

Starts: May 9, 18:00; Hallof the PKO Čierny orol, Hlavná50. Admission: free. Tel: 051/7723-741; www.pkopresov.sk.

By Zuzana Vilikovská

EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE

MUSIC CITY returns with another day-long series of free musicalperformances across Bratislava on Saturday, May 12. The mainstage will be under the Lafranconi Bridge, where various per-formers (including Hex, Vidiek, Rytmus, Kontrafakt and more)will appear. Other venues will be the ELAM student nightclub;the Music Gallery u Dežmára; Eurovea Shopping Centre; Hlavné/ Main Square; Mlyny, and near the Propeler Café on the Danubeembankment where there will be a silent disco in the evening. Inthe Klarisky Concert Hall there will be a musical evening withMarián Varga (see photo) and the Moyzes Quartet. There willalso be a floating stage on the Martin riverboat; and the Elec-tronic Beats Festival (with an admission fee of €14) at the Slovn-aft Refinery Gallery. More information can be found att-musiccity.hudba.zoznam.sk. Photo: Sme - Mirka Cibulková

2v1: POSED + DIEGO is a combination of dance performance andconcert. Posed / Raised Hide is a choreography by Peter Mikaand Olga Cobos (CobosMika Company, Spain) to the music ofVlado Ďurajka, exploring the essence of dance and movement.The evening on May 11 at 19:00 in Divadlo Štúdio Tanca, Ko-menského 12, in Banská Bystrica includes a concert by under-ground indie band Diego. Tickets cost €4-€6. More informationis available at 048/4146-540 or www.studiotanca.sk.

Photo: Courtesy of ŠT

American turtleslove Slovakia

TURTLES ofthe red-earedslider species(Trachemysscripta eleg-ans) have

been found living aroundLake Baňa near Michalovce,east of Košice, even thoughthis species is originally fromthe Americas. It seems thatliving in the area is quiteconducive for the turtles andthey are even able to spendwinter in the wild there.

Zuzana Argalášová, a zo-ologist from the protectedarea known as the VihorlatLandscape Park, told theTASR newswire that the red-eared sliders living near thelake were in all probability letloose by people who had ori-ginally bred the turtles athome.

“In the 1980s, theseturtles were sold in the size ofa ten-crown banknote. Butthey gradually grew andowners failed to accommod-ate their needs as it was ne-cessary to change their waterdaily and to feed themregularly,” Argalášová ex-plained, adding that some ofthese owners or breeders gotrid of their turtles by releas-ing them to the nearest riveror lake.

Because sliders are veryvigorous and have no naturalpredators they can survive inthe wild without muchtrouble, Argalášová said, not-ing they have documented acolony of seven turtles livingnear Michalovce.

“Since April 2007, a ban onimporting and breeding sev-eral species of exotic animalshas been in effect and this in-cludes the red-eared sliders.However, the ban does notapply to animals that hadbeen previously registered –people can continue to breedthose,” Argalášová told TASR.

She noted that pet shopscan only currently sell spe-cies of water turtles that can-not survive in the wild.

The zoologist reportedthat the exotic Americanturtles can be seen in springsunbathing on the banks ofthe Baňa after havingwintered by the lake.

Because this species isnot indigenous to Slovakiathey are moved to the zoo atBojnice if they are captured.

“This species has noplace in our fauna,”Argalášová stated, notingthat the only indigenousspecies of turtle in Slovakiais the European pond turtle(Emys orbicularis).

Students removing trash from the Mlynská dolina area of Bratislava. Photo: TASR

Thousands help to clean uplitter from natural areas

THE 2012 edition of Let usClean Up Slovakia (Vyčistimesi Slovensko) attracted stu-dents from hundreds ofschools as well as volunteersfrom local governments, civicassociations and hobbygroups, according to BeatriceHudáková, the EnvironmentMinistry’s former spokesper-son, who told the SITA news-wire that 2,041 organisationsparticipated this year, 500more than last year.

“When we announced thefirst year of this event, Ifeared whether there wouldbe at least 150 groups inter-ested in participating. Lastyear’s number of 1,500 seemedlike something not likely to be

repeated so this year’s num-ber of more than 2,000 is awonderful farewell for me,”said József Nagy, the envir-onment minister who re-cently left office.

Hudáková told the mediathat the Green Patrol (Zelenáhliadka) association organiseda clean-up effort along thefloodplains of the Danube inthe Petržalka area of Bratis-lava. The group is also cooper-ating with the capital’s BikingCoalition to promote the ideaof urban cycling.

Students at the VendelínJavorka elementary school inŽilina helped make their en-vironment greener by clean-ing pavements in the Hliny

housing complex. The town ofHorný Bar near DunajskáStreda welcomed spring bytidying up its surroundings,including a channel flowingfrom the Gabčíkovo dam and alocal pond.

The Environment Min-istry organised the event forEarth Day, April 22, and calledon its employees, representat-ives of non-profit and non-governmental organisations,schools and private sectorcompanies to pitch in.

Hudáková explained thatthe day focuses on collectinggarbage and waste, sprucingup natural areas and raisingthe environmental con-sciousness of Slovaks.

Concretereplicas

THE OBSER-VATORY inPartizánskenow housesreplicas oftwo concrete

observatory towers thatwere built in 1911 by MilanRastislav Štefánik, the Slov-ak statesman, astronomerand world traveller, to ob-serve a total eclipse of thesun on April 28 of that yearon the Pacific island ofVava’u.

František Kele, head oflast year’s expedition thattracked Štefánik’s activitiesas an astronomer on Pacificislands, was able to find theoriginal towers on Vava’uand documents about theirconstruction. He told theTASR newswire that the ob-servation towers are aunique part of the culturalheritage of Slovakia.

“I came to the conclu-sion in 2009 that it would begreat to bring the towersback to Slovakia; this site isthe only palpable evidenceof Štefánik’s activities in thesouthern hemisphere,” Kelestated. Later he was advisedby a friend and several as-tronomers that the originaltowers should stay wherethey were “born” and he de-cided to make replicas.

Several Slovak expat as-sociations from Australiaare interested in taking careof the original towers incoming years. The idea toplace the replicas in thePartizánske observatorywas supported by the veryactive branch of the Associ-ation of M. R. Štefánik in thistown in western Slovakia

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AROUND SLOVAKIAcompiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports

12 FEATUREMay 7 – 13, 2012

World Touring Car Championship races at Slovakia Ring

ALMOST 60million spec-tators acrossthe world hadSlovakia intheir sights on

April 28-29 because SlovakiaRing, the country’s main mo-torsport track, hosted races forthe 2012 season of the WorldTouring Car Championship(WTCC). A big question hungin the air at the track just 36kilometres from Bratislava.Could the venue, which is nowin only its third season, suc-cessfully host a WTCC event?The verdict seems to havebeen a resounding ‘yes’.

Four races were held at therelatively new race track, the3rd and 4th rounds of the

European Touring Car Cup(ETCC) and the 7th and 8throunds of the WTCC. The ETCCraces were especially interest-ing for Slovaks because twolocal drivers lined up at thestart: Matej Homola driving aBMW 320si and Patrik Nemecin a SEAT Léon Cópa. Homolafinished in 5th position inboth races but took 3rd posi-tion in the provisional classi-fication of his group, S2000.Nemec finished 6th in the firstrace and 8th in the second.

“I see it very positively; wehave met all the resolutionswe made,” Nemec told TheSlovak Spectator.

After the ETCC races, thespectators’ attention focusedon the next set of speedy carsand drivers competing forWTCC points. Even thoughpole position in the first racebelonged to Norbert Micheliszfrom Hungary driving a BMW

320 TC, Gabriele Tarquini fromthe Lukoil Racing team ofRussia was the first to crossthe finish line, followed by histeammate Aleksei Dudukalo,each driving a SEAT León.Alain Menu from Switzerland,driving a Chevrolet Cruze 1.6Tfor Team Chevrolet, finishedthird. The Russian team’sdrivers said they were pleasedwith the characteristics of thetrack.

“It is very similar to thecircuit in Russia, so for me it isa little bit easy,” Dudukalotold The Slovak Spectator,adding that a previous race inMarrakech was very difficultfor him and Slovakia Ring wasmuch better.

The victors in the secondWTCC race were Robert Hufffrom the United Kingdom,who finished first, and YvanMuller from France in second,each driving a Chevrolet

Cruze for Team Chevrolet.Tarquini finished third in thesecond race.

“Honestly, I did not expectus to be this good as far as thetempo is concerned,” Michel-isz told The Slovak Spectator.“I am very glad that I man-aged to get the first pole posi-tion and that the best lap inthe first race was also mine. Ofcourse I regret that I didn’twin the race, but for me it isimportant that I felt competit-ive this weekend.”

The event attractedaround 41,000 visitors cheer-ing for their favourite teamsor drivers. A large number ofvisitors came from Hungary.

“It was especially a goodfeeling, just like competing athome,” said Gábor Wéber, adriver for Zengő Motorsport inHungary.

Homola told The SlovakSpectator that the Slovak

drivers were also pleased withthe support they receivedfrom local fans.

“This event should not beviewed solely as one of the 12WTCC rounds that are heldthroughout the world; it

really is a historic milestonein the history of motor sportin Slovakia and of course a his-toric milestone in the life ofour circuit,” Tomáš Vranka,CEO of Slovakia Ring, told apress conference.

BY DUŠAN DUDÍKSpecial to the Spectator

Homola at the track. Photo: Courtesy of autosportfoto.sk

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