Slovak Spectator 1711

8/7/2019 Slovak Spectator 1711

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Minister: Reform, even if it hurts

REFORM is necessary even if it isgoing to hurt, said Slovakia’s Fin-ance Minister Ivan Mikloš as hetried mid March to push his rulingcoalition partners closer to a com-promise over the changes it is con-sidering making to ways of calcu-

lating income tax and mandatorypayroll taxes. A tug-of-war has been raging

between advocates of higher taxeson the self-employed and those working under Slovakia’s system

of one-off contracts, and those whooppose theplan by suggestingthat heavier payroll taxes willdrive many self-employed peopleoutof business.

“It is easiest to say that we arenot going to do it because it willalso hurt,” Mikloš warned onMarch 15, as quoted by the SITAnewswire, adding that the rulingcoalition would soon have to reachan agreement. “I expect those whoare against to put an alternative

proposal forward.”Most-Híd, led by Béla Bugár,has been trying to soften the edgesof the reformplanadvocated bytheSlovak Democratic and ChristianUnion (SDKÚ) and Freedom and

Solidarity (SaS). While the fourthruling party, the Christian Demo-cratic Movement (KDH), has com-mended the government’s aim of developing a unified system forcol-lection of income taxes, customsduties and mandatorypayrolltaxesits MPs have urged detailed as-sessment of the impact thechanges will have on self-em-ployed people.

The government of IvetaRadičová has said its ambition is to

simplify the overall system andease some of the administrative burdens on employees as well asemployers.

SeeLEVYpg4

S ELECT FOREX RATES€ benchmark as of March 17

CANADA CAD138CZECH REPCZK24.40RUSSIA RUB40.09

GREAT BRITAINGBP 0.87

HUNGARYHUF 273.74JAPAN JPY 110.42POLANDPLN 4.08

USA USD 140

NEWSBattleover CyprusSharpdifferences of opinionhaveemergedwithintheSlovakcabinet overthe fu-tureof thecountry’smilit-arycontribution to theUNpeacekeepingmission inCyprus.

pg 2

Slovakia's integrityTheGlobalIntegrityReporthas ranked Slovakiain thetop halfof monitoredcoun-tries,butits reporton thecountry is notwithoutcri-

ticism. pg 3

OPINION

HeavybaggageEvery yearin Marchyoung-stersdressed in blackuni-formsgatherin squares tocommemoratewhatis oneofthe darkest andmosttraumaticanniversariesinSlovakia’s history.

pg 5

BUSINESS FOCUS

Carmakersupbeat

2010wasa yearof chal-lengesfor carmakers oper-ating inSlovakia,all of whichhad tograpplewiththeeffectsof theglobaleconomic crisis. But 2011is alreadylookingbetter.

pg 6

E-mobilityin SlovakiaAs manycompaniesworld-wideplanto – orhavealready started– serial pro-duction of electriccars, anumber of pilote-mobilityprojects haveemergedacrossSlovakia.

pg 7

CULTURE

Thelegacy of BauhausBratislava's Design Factoryishosting anexhibition of photographsby GordonWatkinsonfocusingon thehistory andenduringphilo-sophies of theBauhausmovement.

pg11

Slovakiareadies aidfor Japan

SLOVAKIA has prepared an aid packageconsisting of funds and rescue workers tosupport recovery efforts and humanitarianprojects in Japan in the wake of themassive earthquake and tsunami that hitthecountryin mid-March.

Prime Minister Iveta Radičová sent hercondolences to Japanese counterpart Na-oto Kano following the disaster. The quakeand subsequent tsunami has left tens of thousandsof people unaccounted for.

“I wish you and the people of Japanstrength to deal with the damage and alsoin your efforts to restore the earthquake-hit infrastructure,” said Radičová, asquoted by TASR newswire. “I'm convincedthat despitethe unpredictabilityof naturaldisasters, Japan will be able to restorenormal life in the affected parts of thecountry as soonas possible.”

Slovak President Ivan Gašparovičhas also sent his condolences to Emper-or Akihito.

The European Council, which con- vened in an extraordinary session in re-sponse to the disaster, has agreed to co-ordinate help for Japan. Slovakia willcontribute €250,000 for humanitarianassistance, Radičová said, as quoted bytheSITAnewswire.

SeeAIDpg2

Slovaks layflowersin frontof theJapaneseEmbassyin Bratislavato markthe victims of theearthquakewhichstruck northernJapan on March11. Photo:Sme-VladimírŠimíček

B Y M ICHAELA T ERENZANISpectatorstaff

Quake poses questionsfor nuclear safety

THE INTERNATIONAL communityhas responded to the devastatingearthquake that struck Japan onMarch 11 with compassion for thethousands of lives lost and the morethan half a million left homeless.But theexplosions at theFukushimaI nuclear plant, where radiationlevels have been rising since theearthquake damaged its cooling sys-tem, has officials around the worldfielding questions about the safetyrisksof nuclearpower.

While some nations suggestedthe events in Japan would cause

them to take a serious look at theirnuclear energy policies, the SlovakEconomy Ministry reaffirmed itsstance that nuclear power is amongthe most stable sources of electri-city worldwide and that thecountry’s nuclear power plants aresubject to strict safety standards.

Slovakia’s nuclear supervisionauthority has assured the public

that Slovakia’s two nuclear powerplants, at Jaslovské Bohunice andMochovce, were designed to with-stand earthquakes of considerableintensity. But environmental watchdog Greenpeace has respon-ded thatthe developmentsin Japanshow what serious risks nuclearplantspose.

Interior Minister Daniel Lipšicassured Slovaks that, as of March 16,therewere no safety risksto Slovakiafromthe damagedJapaneseplant.

SeePLANTpg9

B Y B EATA B ALOGOVÁSpectatorstaff


Ex-ministeralleges

wire-tapping

DOZENS of parliamentary deputies andjournalists are having their phone calls in-tercepted with the consent of the interiorminister, accordingto former constructionminister and current Slovak National Party(SNS) MP Igor Štefanov. While some MPssaid they had heard rumours about suchpractices, the Interior Ministry immedi-ately dismissed the accusations. Štefanovhimself currently faces a proposal to striphim of his MPs’ immunity from prosecu-

tion, so that police can charge him withmisconduct in a public office over his in- volvement in the notoriously non-trans-parent bulletin-boardtendercase.

SeeTAPpg3

€250,000 pledged tosupport Japan’s recovery

But no evidence presented byMP, who himself faces serious

criminal charges

Vol. 17, No. 11 Monday, March 21, 2011 - Sunday, March 27, 2011

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On sale nowOn sale now FOCUSof this issue

AUTOMOTIVE



Slovak aid to Haiti finally released

HUMANITARIAN aid sup-

pliesfrom Slovakia havefi-nallybeen releasedby cus-toms inHaitialmosta yearafterdelivery. TheForeignMinistry confirmedthat thesupplies,sent followingthe2010Haiti earthquake,arenow readyfor distributiontoHaitiansin need,the SITAnewswire reported.

Hundreds of humanit-arian aidcontainersare re-portedly stuckat customs of-ficesin Haitidue tomassivebureaucratic delays.

Accordingto VladimírKrčméry,the rector of theSt

ElisabethUniversityof Health

andSocial Sciences,who has workedin Haiti, NGOson theground there areoften blamedforbeing slowbecause“onlythosewithmoney forbribesgetanything donequickly”.

ThehumanitarianaidfromSlovakiawillbe distrib-uted bythe NGOMagna–Childrenin Need, SITAre-ported. Thecontainer, which wasdeliveredto HaitionMarch 25,2010, contained9tonnes of materialworthover€177,000, includingtentsfor 100peopleandclothingfor 1,000.

Life little healthier in settlements

AREPORT by thePro-gramme forHealth Supportin Disadvantaged Com-munities showsthat some of theRomawho inhabitSlovakia’sshantytownsaretakingbetter care oftheirchildren’shealth, but stilltend toneglectthe healthandhygieneof adults, theSmedaily wrote.

Thereportstates thathealth issues relatedto un-healthy dietary habits,smoking andalcoholare in-creasinglypresent inshantytowns.

Officialsfrom there-gionalhealthoffices report

thatthe Romaliving therearepaying moreattentiontoannualcheck-upsfor theirchildren,and thatgoing to

thedoctor hasbecome morecommonamongpregnant women, too.

Thevaccination ratehasalsoincreased. Regionalof-ficers attributethis to localfield workers,Sme wrote.

But hygienestandardsin thesettlementscontin-ue to decline,according tothereport.

Theprojectwas financedin2007and 2008 bytheHealth Ministry,but thesecond phase, from2009 to2015,willbe financedby re-gionalhealthoffices.

Over€300,000 hasbeenspenton theproject sofar,

Sme reported.Thereareonly30 field workersassistingthe Romasettlements, thedaily noted.

Battle over CyprusSHARP differences of opinionhave emerged within theSlovak cabinet over the futureof the country’s military con-tribution to the UN peace-

keepingmission in Cyprus.Defence MinisterĽubomír Galko announced onMarch 16 that he would ad- vise the government to with-draw Slovak soldiers from theUNFICYP mission in Cyprus,citing a strategic evaluationthat he said had concludedthe mission would makelittle contribution to the development of the Slovak Armed Forces in the future,the SITAnewswire reported.

Slovakia’s contribution of nearly 200 peacekeepers is dis-proportionate in relation tothe country’s size and capabil-ities, Galko said, noting thatSlovakia’s neighbours contrib-

utefar fewer soldiers tothe UNmission. The Czech Republichas ten soldiers there, Poland15and Hungary88.

The expense of the opera-tion is another reason for end-ing Slovakia’s participation,Galko explained, as the UN re-imburses only part of thecosts. Expenditure on themission in 2010 was €8.6 mil-lion, of which the UN refun-

ded€3.4 million. Theministrythus spent €5.2 million keep-ingSlovaktroops in Cyprus.

According to Galko, asmuch as86 percentof thecon-tinually shrinking budget of the ministry is spent on non-discretionary items such as

staff pay, payroll levies, andoperations. Only 14 percent isleft for modernisation andforeignoperations.

“If funds for the mission were found outside theministry’s budget, it would bepossible to discuss allowingthe troops to stay in Cyprus,”he said, as quoted by SITA,adding that the Defence Min-istry is aware of the import-

ance of the mission forSlovakia’s foreignpolicy.

Foreign Minister MikulášDzurinda issued a sharp re- buke to Galko after the an-nouncement, describing hisfellow minister’s statementas “inappropriate” and

adding that Galko hadspokenin haste.“Thisis veryirresponsible,

very amateurish and veryharmful to Slovakia,”Dzurinda said, as quoted bySITA. He said it would be afatal mistake to pull Slovaktroops outof Cyprus.

The foreign minister alsonoted that he had received amessage from his Cypriot

counterpart, and that the ambassador of Cyprus to Slovakia was waiting to meet him attheministry.

Galko, however, later in-

sisted that the withdrawal of Slovak troops from Cyprus would not be a mistake. Hesaid that he had discussedthe issuewith Dzurinda priorto announcing it in public,SITAwrote.

Slovakia has rotated 1,900members of its armed forcesthrough Cyprus since 2001. Andrej Šándor, a security ana-lyst who was formerly head of the Czech Republic’s militaryintelligence service, explainedthat themissionis of symbolicimportance, offering Slovakiaa chance to show that it caresabout resolving the conflict between the Greek and Turk-ish inhabitants of the island.

He told the Sme daily that it isinappropriate for politiciansto exchange strong opinionsaboutCyprusin public.

“These political fightsonly harm Slovakia abroadmore than if the actual step [apull-outof troops] was taken,”he said.

Compiledby Spectatorstaff

frompressreports

AID: Special dog service ready to goContinuedfrompg1

“We want to coordinate the whole

process of humanitarian aid with othercountries in order to prevent duplicate ef-forts and, also, to make sure that they [Ja-pan] don’t miss out on getting somethingthey need,” Radičová said on March 14,adding that the form and scope of the as-sistancehadnot yetbeensettled.

Radičová said the key issue is arran-gingthe transportand distribution of thehumanitarian aid and making sure itgoeswhereit’s mostneeded.

“It has turned out in the past thatsending financial resources hasn’t always been the most effective form of aid,sowe arelookingat offeringsomeformof material,concrete help,” Radičovásaid.

Apart from the financial support,Slovakia is also preparing to send a teamfrom the Special Rescue Dog Service, loc-ated in Nyrovce, Nitra Region, which

also took part in rescue efforts in theHungarianvillageof Kolontárafter it washit by a wave of toxic red sludge in au-tumn2010.

Alexander Berek, the director of therescue service, said that they are ready todispatch a 20-member group of interna-tional specialists who already have ex-perience dealing with the after-effects of various natural disasters both at homeandabroad.

“We have Slovak and Hungarian res-cuers, dog-handlers, doctors and fourdivers in our team,” Berek told the TASRnewswire. “Another eight Hungariandoctors specialising in rescue work re-latedto naturaldisastersareready tojoinourgroup.”

The rescue team contacted the In-terior Ministry and the Foreign Ministry

to offer its assistance immediately aftertheearthquakewas reported.“We're ready to hit the road immedi-

ately, if necessary,” saidBerek.Radičová also confirmed that Slov-

akia isreadyto send 25rescueworkers, as

well as food,water,blankets, and shelter, within fourhoursof receivingnotice.

“Weareonlywaitingfor theresponsefrom Japan, so that they confirm whatthey need, how, and when,” she said, asquoted by SITA.

InteriorMinistryoffers rescue teamtoo

The Interior Ministry, in response toa call by the EU Monitoring and Informa-tion Centre (MIC), which activated theEuropean Aid Mechanism, prepared ateam of rescue workers composed of 16firefighters and personnel specialised inpost-natural disaster search and rescue,eight policemen with dogs trained tosearch for people buried in ruins, eightdivers, six doctors and a veterinary sur-geon, all of them available to depart within four hoursof a call from theMIC.

Slovakia was also offering, from itshumanitarian supplies, emergencyhousing material (14 tents each with ca-pacity for eight people, 112 beds and 112sleeping bags), 15 mobile generators forelectricity production, 10 portable sludge

pumps, blankets, underwear andclothes,the InteriorMinistrysaid.

“Slovakia’s participation in sendinghumanitarian help to Japan is condi-tioned on the cooperation of EU coun-triesto secure airtransport, whichmightlimit the volume of the humanitarianmaterialoffered,” theministrywrote in astatement. “In case of need we will se-cure ground-based transport of the ac-cepted amount of material to a desig-natedairport forfurthertransport.”

The Japanese Foreign Ministry in-formed EU bodies that the rescue phaseof the operation is nearing its end andthat it will be followed by a phase focus-ing on meeting the basic needs of surviv-ors, for which Japan had received offersfrom 102 countries and regions and 14 in-ternationalorganisations.

The Embassy of Japan in Slovakiathanked the Slovak government for the

help it had offered and expressed “deep-est gratitude to all the Slovak people whohave expressed their sympathy and con-dolences to the bereaved families and victims” of the earthquake and tsunami,theembassy’spressreleasestated.

2 NEWSMarch 21 – 27, 2011

TwoSlovaksflewfrom Japanon March 16on a specialCzechcharter. Photo:ČTK

Minister stirs tuition fees debate

THEEDUCATIONMinistryisanalysingthe possibilityof introducingtuitionfees forfull-timeuniversity studies,EducationMinisterEugenJurzyca toldthe parliament-arycommitteeon education.After his comments attrac-tedheavy criticism fromstudentsand opposition,hestressedthat tuition feesarenot in theministry’splans

forthis parliament, noraretheymentionedin thegovernment’sprogramme.

Thementionof tuitionfeesprovoked strongreac-tionsfrom representatives of university students.

“Weare against this foraslongas thegovernmentdoesnotprove that this stepwillimprovequality,” saidtheheadof theStudentCouncil of Universities,Juraj Tilesch,as quotedbytheSme daily.

OppositionSmer MPDušanČaplovičsaid thatone universitydegreeshouldbe freeregardlessof whetherthe student is full-

time orpart-time.If thestudent wantsto getanoth-erdegreein another pro-gramme, heor sheshouldpayforit.

Thereis unevensupport

fortuitionfeesamongthecoalition partners. WhileFreedom and Solidarity(SaS)saidit wouldwelcome fees,the Christian DemocraticMovement (KDH)rejectedthe idea.Prime Minister Iv-eta Radičová, whoalong withJurzycais a memberof the SlovakDemocratic andChristian Union(SDKÚ),stressed that the

government’s programmestatement is binding.Jurzyca said that ifthe

analysis showed thatit would be appropriate fortu-itionfees to be introducedunder specific circumstancesandin somespecific form,theministrywould commu-nicatethisevenifthe idealacked politicalsupport, so asto inform peopleabout what would helpthe educationsector. He intends to elabor-atefurthersteps onlyaftertheresultsof theanalysisareavailable.

Currently, full-timeuniversitystudentsin Slov-akia payfeesonlyif they ex-

ceedthestandard lengthof studies or attend moreuni- versities.


frompressreports

Dzurinda(left)and Galkodisagree aboutCyprus. Photo:TASR



Slovakia's integrity ratingnot a reason for joy

THE GLOBAL Integrity Report(GIR) has ranked Slovakia inthe top half of monitoredcountries with an overallscore of 73 out of 100, but its

report on the country is notwithout criticism. While the fight against

corruption, the establishmentof transparent governmentprocurement processes andpublic access to informationare all on the currentgovernment’s agenda, thelatest GIR results show thatSlovakiastillhas a long waytogo in some of these areas be-fore it reaches the level of otheradvanced democracies.

What istheGlR?

Published annually by theUS-based NGO Global Integ-rity, the GIR assesses the

strengths and weaknesses of anti-corruption systems at anational level.

Every country assessmentincluded in the GIR is com-prised of two core elements: aqualitative Reporter's Note-book and a quantitative Integ-rity Indicators scorecard. Thedata from the scorecard is ag-gregated and used to generatethe international Global Integ-rity Index. The Integrity In-dicators scorecard assesses theexistence and effectiveness of key governance and anti-cor-ruption mechanisms, and thepublic’s access to them,through more than 300 action-able indicators. It examines

issues such as the transpar-ency of the public procure-ment process, the freedom of the media, asset disclosure re-quirements, and conflict-of-interest regulations.

Slovakia– a conundrum

The recently released res-u lts are based on datagathered during the RobertFico government, betweenJune 2008 and June 2009, oneyear before the leadership of the country changed hands inJune2010.

“Slovakia poses aconundrum,” the reportreads. “Although the former

communist country is now amember of the EU and a relat-ively stable democracy, thereare significant weaknesses inits overall anti-corruptionand accountability frame-

work that threaten to under-mine Slovakia’s progress to- ward more open and demo-cratic governance.”

Slovakia’s highest scores were in the fields of media in-dependence, non-govern-mental organisations, accessto information and the workof the ombudsman. But, ac-

cording to the report, signific-ant weaknesses still pose ahindrance to democracy, in-cluding issues suchas low lawenforceability, insufficientcontrol over the financing of political parties and national budgetaryprocesses.

Detailsof politicalpartyfinancingremain murky

Nathaniel Heller, GlobalIntegrity’s executive director,said that Slovakia has no ef-fective laws in place to deal with conflicts of interest orthe control of politicalparties’financing.

“Despite a healthy voting

and election integrity system,the regulations that governpolitical financing continueto be ineffective,” the reportreads.“An independent audit-ing body to monitor the fin-ancing of political parties andindividual candidates doesnot exist, and not all politicalpar ties disclose theirdonations.”

The GIR gave the effect-iveness of regulations govern-ing the financing of politicalparties the extremely lowscoreof 4 outof 100.

“The legislation needs to be improved, but then we alsoneed to focus on preventingpolitical interference in the

work of bodies that are sup-posed to be independent,”Zuzana Wienk of the Fair-Play Alliance watchdog told TheSlovak Spectator.

Wienk said that there is a

need for an independent bodythat would audit the finan-cing of political parties, thatcrimes connected with polit-ical financing have to becovered in the Penal Act, andthat the police have to be will-ingto prosecutethesecrimes.

Transparency Interna-tional Slovakia (TIS) also sup-

ports the creation of an inde-pendent audit body that would watch over conflict-of-interestcasesand politicalfinancing.

“Conflicts of interest will bedealt withjustly and effect-ively once it’s no longer a caseof politicians keeping an eyeon other politicians,” saidGabrielŠípoš, directorof TIS.

Conflictsof interestinthe judiciary

While Slovakia's ombudsman and audit agency,and its business, tax and cus-toms systems earned healthyratings, the accountability

mechanisms that oversee thejudiciary, executive and legis-lature are weak, the reportstates. National-level regula-tions for conflicts of interestamong judges, for instance,arepoorly enforced.

According to Wienk, therecent amendments to legis-lation on the judiciary,passed by the Iveta Radičovágovernment, have broughtsignificant changes but thereis still room for improve-ment, particularly in the areaof disciplinary proceedingsagainstjudges.

“In my opinion the prob-lem is that the judiciary isruled by power and financial

groups and the state is nolonger able to guarantee lawenforcement,”said Wienk.

The judiciary received amediocre-to-poor score in the2009 GIR, while regulations

governing conflicts of interestin the judiciary were rankedonly 36out of100.

Whistleblowers notprotected

Another issue that ranked very poorly (2 out of 100) wasthe lack of legislation protect-ing state employees who blowthe whistle on their superiors’misconduct. At the momentsuch a lawdoes notexist.

“[Whistleblowers] cannot be sure that they won’t betransferred to another posi-tion or that their wife will notlose her job,” said Heller, asquoted by theSITA newswire.

Šípoš, however, believes

that, rather than legislativechanges, what is most neededat the moment is a change inpoliticians’ attitude towards whistle-blowing.

“Instead of silence ordoubts about bureaucrats whouncover suspected corruption,there is a need for moral sup-port on the part of politicians,”Šípoš told The Slovak Spectat-or. He listed past examples,such as a case in the stateforestry company, and the ab-use of motor fuels at the de-partment for the protection of state officials, where politicalsupport for the whistle-blow-ingemployeeswas lacking.

Šípoš said that rewarding

whistleblowers with a pay-ment from the money theyhelped the state save, as the American Fair Claims Actdoes, would be a viable solu-tionto theproblem.

Engagingthe public?

The GIR said that the ca-pacity to monitor the national budgetary process is concen-trated in the executive branchin Slovakia and that, whilecivil society is robust, thegovernment has demon-strated little interest in enga-ging with civil society organ-isations and involving themin thepolicy-makingprocess.

“Formal tools are at ourdisposal, but are not used well,”said Wienk.

Although she admits thesituation has changed sincethe last elections she saidthere are still areas that coulduse improvement; the publiccould be informed more in ad- vance about proposed meas-ures, for example, and moretime could be provided forpublic review.

However, Šípoš said thatthere has been a big change inthe fight against corruptionand that TIS had been invitedto cooperatewith ministers increating new rules for publicprocurement and financing of

political parties.“Under the last govern-ment any criticism from ourpart resulted in us facing ac-cusations of being politicallymotivated,”said Šípoš.

B Y M ICHAELA

T ERENZANI

Spectator staff

Financingof politicalpartiesremainsproblematic. Photo:Sme

TAP: Allegations fly Continuedfrompg 1

OnMarch17 Štefanovtolda pressconference hehadconvened that,according to“information fromwell-in-formedsources”, whomhe

refused to identify,40 MPsincluding himself werehav-ing theirphonestapped,as weresome journalists.

Štefanovdid notgivethenamesof theMPsor thejournalists, nordid hespe-cifywhichinstitutionwassupposedto be tapping theirphones. Accordingto theIn-terior Ministry,the onlyin-stitutionsthat canlegallypracticeeavesdroppinginSlovakiaare thepolice andtheSlovak InformationSer- vice(SIS).Štefanovalso al-leged thatInteriorMinisterDanielLipšicis awareof theeavesdropping,and called onhimto resign.

“MinisterLipšic is tryingto centraliseexecutivepowerin onepairof hands,”Štefanovsaid, as quoted bytheTASR newswire.“Withoutany scrupleshetapsand gathers informationabouthis politicaloppon-ents,as wellas abouthis co-alition partners andputspressureon everyonewhodoesn’t agree withhim.”

Whenaskedwhyhe didnotreportto thepolicewhathe haddescribedas illegalpracticesby the ministry,Štefanov saidthat “suchthingsneed to be prepared”andtheSNS wantsto “avoid bombasticstatements of the

kindMinisterLipšicused”.HealsosaidtheSNS mightfilea criminal complaint,buttherespectivebodiescouldstartan investigation as soonas theyreceivedinformation viathe media.

Immunitylinks?

Štefanov’sclaims abouttheInteriorMinistrycameshortlyafterhe learnt thathecould losehis parliamentaryimmunityand facesub-sequentprosecutionfor seri-ouscrimes, includingabuseof thepowersof a public official,connected tothe infamous bulletin-board tendercase, as

a result ofwhich thestatelostmillionsof euros.Parliament willvoteon whetherto stripŠtefanovof hisimmunity whenMPsreceivea motionfromthe prosecutor.

Interior Minister DanielLipšicannouncedon March9that four people,whomhedidnot identify butwho are believed to includeŠtefanov’spredecessoras constructionminister, MariánJanušek,hadbeencharged withtam-peringwitha publicpro-curement. Atthe sametime,a motionwas filed withthedutyprosecutorto requestthatparliamentstrip a fifthsuspect of his immunity

fromprosecution.This laterturnedout tobe Štefanov. According to Lipšic, thecharges, if proved,could res-ultin a prisonsentenceof 10to20 years.

TheInteriorMinistryin-terpretedŠtefanov’s accusa-tionsas anattemptby theMP to deflectattention,say-ingthat hisconduct fittedtheSlovak proverb ‘a drown-ingmansnatchesevenat a

straw’.“Remarkably enough, MrŠtefanov revealeda police-related topicat preciselythemoment whenthe GeneralProsecutor’s Office is decid-ingon a proposalto striphimof hisimmunity,”theministry stated, as quotedbytheSITA newswire.

Accordingto the InteriorMinistry, any wire-tappingconductedby thepolice is basedon a propercourt orderand is constantlycontrolled.

Štefanov,in turn,ac-cusedthe interior ministeroftryingto coverup import-anttopics bymakingbom- basticannouncementsabout

thepotentialprosecutionof an ex-minister,saying thatLipšichas learned about“importanttopics discussed within theSNS leadership”.

OtherMPsheardrumours

SomeMPs, however,saidtheyhad heard thateavesdroppingmight be tak-ingplace. While DeputyPar-liamentary SpeakerMilanHortof theSlovak Demo-craticand Christian Union(SDKÚ)and SpeakerRichardSulíkof Freedom andSolid-arity (SaS) saidtheyhadn’theardof thisbefore,Most-Híd deputychairman Gábor

Gáladmittedhe hadheardthatsomeMPs mightbe be-ing wire-tapped,or mightpreviously have beenmon-itoredduring the previousgovernment’sterm.

“Ifthereare proper courtorders forthat, thentheyprobablyhavea reasontoeavesdrop,” Gáltold theTASRnewswire, adding thatitwouldbea problem ifthecourt orders weremissing.

Lipšicstated onMarch17 thatall wire-tapsbeing con-ducted by Slovak stateorgan-isations areauthorised by ajudge, in accordancewiththelaw. Headded that hedoes notknow, anddoes not

wantknow,the identitiesof anyindividuals currentlybe-ingmonitored. “MymessagetoMr Štefanovis that timeshavechanged,” Lipšicsaid,asquoted bySITA.

Politiciansfromthe op-positionSmerpartyalsosaidthey hadheardof sometap-pingpractices beforebut didnothave anyconfirmedin-formation that they couldpublish.

“Thisis such a seriousthingthat despite thefactthatwe hearthis informa-tion,and despite thefactthat weknowabouta sourceattheRegionalCourt in Nitra, wecannot come upwithsuch

accusations and claims,”Smer’sleaderRobert Ficosaid,as quotedby TASR.

ByMichaelaTerenzani withpressreports

3March 21 – 27, 2011NEWS

Areas stillneeding

improvementinclude party

financing



Hospitals face cuts in bed capacitySLOVAK hospitalsmay lose10to 15percentof theirtotal35,000beds, basedon a pre-

liminaryplan by theHealthMinistry.The exactnumberandstructureof theaffectedwards willbe known aftertalksbetween theministry,counties,managementsof theaffectedfacilitiesand in-surance companies,the SITAnewswirereported.

Thereductionis duetoalackof financialresourcesandthe expectation thatpaymentsfrom health insur-ancecompanies willnot in-crease in thenear future.

“Strictlyspeaking, thisdoesnot meanhospitals willbeclosed;it isjusta reduc-tionof ineffective wards, aswell as supportand exten-sionof outpatientand day-care sothatpatientsareprovidedthe majorpart of health carein theirregions,”

theministryexplained, asquoted by SITA.“Specialisedcarethat is medicallyand

financiallydemanding(and,most ofthetime,onlyneces-sary inrarecases)willbecentralised becausethat istheonlywayitcanbeprovidedin thehighestpos-sible quality.”

Thefirst changes,start-ingApril 1,will concerncasesrequiring a change intheform of healthcareprovided,such as changinga one-day treatmentto ahospitaltreatment, andthose wheretransfersof bedsor centralisation of wards isnot necessary.

Marián Petko, presidentof theAssociationof SlovakHospitals,said thatthere areredundantbeds.“Some re-structuringwould partiallyhelpthe system,”he said,asquoted by SITA.

Honeywell to invest in Slovakia

ECONOMYMinister JurajMiškovon March14 con-firmedplans by US-basedmultinationalHoneywellIn-ternationalto invest over€38millionin Slovakia.Theinvestmentwillcreateatleast446 newjobsin Prešov,producingturbochargers de-signedforcarsandtrucks,theTASR newswirereported.

The EconomyMinistryintendsduring anupcom-ingcabinetsessionto sub-mita proposalon providingHoneywell withinvest-ment assistance.

“The government willthen acton theinvestor’srequestby issuing a de-

cisionon theproposalforinvestmentassistance,” theministry stated, as quoted by TASR.

Theministrysaid thatHoneywellha d fulfilled allcriteriarequired under Slov-akand EUlaw.Theinvest-mentaid wouldtaketheformof direct financialhelpthroughsubsidieswhen pro-curing materialand non-ma-terial investmentproperty,throughcontributionsforcreatingnew jobs,andthroughindirecthelp,in-cludingan income taxallow-anceon conditionthat max-imum-intensityaid foreast-ernSlovakiais fulfilled.

VOP: Find new investor or closeDEFENCEMinister ĽubomírGalkois preparingto name acrisismanager forVojenskýOpravárenskýPodnik (VOP)Nováky, a state-runjoint-stockmilitary maintenancecompany that hesaysis intheworst financialcondition

of allthe companiesunderhis ministry’sjurisdiction.“Weneed tofinda stra-

tegicinvestor, or wehaven’truledoutthat wemayhaveto liquidatethe company,”Galkosaid,as quotedbytheSITAnewswire. In thatcase,approximately200 peoplewould losetheir jobs.

Thecompany’s fateshould be determined withinsix months. Meanwhile,Galkosaid, €400,000hasbeenreallocatedto VOPNováky to providefor wages,andthe ministrywill trans-portammunition to thecompanyfor employees toworkon inthe coming

months, SITAwrote.“However,this isnotasolutionthat canbe re-peated againand again inthefuture,”SITA quotedGalkoas saying.“The De-

fenceMinistry hasammuni-tionwhichcould be dis-mantled,but wehavenofundsfor grantingthesecontractsto VOPNováky.”

Atthispoint, VOPNováky is fully dependent ontheministry's contracts,he

said.“We arecurrently ableto sellthe ammunition,”Galkosaid.“Weareabletogetridof itwithoutthiscost-ingus anymoney.”

Citingcomments by em-ployees,Galko saidthat somefunds alreadyprovidedto thecompanyhad beenused forpurposesother thanliftingitoutof debt,suchas buyingnewwindows,but addedthatitistoolatenowtodoanythingabout that.

Galko agreeswith theunions,whichhavestatedthat strategicinvestorscouldaid theailingcom-pany, andsaid itdoesn’tmatter whetherit’s a do-

mesticor a foreigninvestor, butthatthe state should re-tainmajorityownership.


frompressreports

Investors ponderquake effects

MARKET watchers worldwide are fixing their sightson earthquake-stricken Ja-pan and trying to estimatethe impact the catastrophemight have on the world’sthird largest economy, andits subsequent worldwide ef-fects. Observers noted thatthe earthquake instantly af-fected global financial mar-kets and said that even mar-kets in central and easternEurope felt some heat fromrisk-averseglobal investors.

There are no accurate cal-culations or estimates for thedamage that Japan hassufferedand market watcherssay it is too early to say howmuch the earthquake and itsaftermath will affect Japan-ese growth. The more optim-

isticsuggesta loss ofabout 0.1percentin GDPgrowth.

Japan is the third largesteconomy in the world andthe fourth most importanttrading partner of the UnitedStates. These two relation-

ships arethe most important when assessing the impactof events in Japan on the re-covery of the global eco-nomy, according to Volks- bank Slovensko chief eco-nomistVladimírVaňo.

Meanwhile , rat ingagency Standard & Poor’ssaid on March 16, as quoted by Reuters, that Asian eco-nomies will record another year of solid growth in 2011after 2010 proved that Asiais emerging from the eco-nomic downturn ina strongposition even as the eco-nomic picture for Japanafter the earthquake re-mainsless clear.

The earthquake imme-diately affected financialmarkets: in its first threetrading sessions after thedisaster the JapaneseNikkei 225 share indexplunged by over 20 percent

toits lowestlevelssincelast April, said Vaňo. He addedthat at first the Pacific re-gion, but later stock mar-kets in the USA and Europe,alsofelt thepain.

SeeGDPpg9

B Y B EATA B ALOGOVÁSpectator staff

Thepost-quaketsunami destroyedwholetowns. Photo:TASR

LEVY: Payroll tax burden is debatedContinued frompg1

The proposal, which is now being de- bated by the ruling coalition parties, mar-ket watchers and representatives of theself-employed, assumes the introductionof a so-called super-gross wage from

which one social insurance and onehealth-care contribution would be paid.The proposed healthcare levy is set at 9percent forall groups.

The Ministry of Finance has proposedsetting social contributions at 19 percentfor employees, while the self-employed would pay16 percentand so-calledone-off contract workers would pay 13 percent.The self-employed would also be offered ataxbonus.

Mikloš has denied that the changes would increase the overall payroll tax burden onSlovaks.

The minister noted that 1.65 millionemployees and 67,500 self-employed would be better off if the reform is giventhe go-ahead. He conceded that another228,000 self-employed people may indeedtake a hit, but this would only constitute

doing away with distortions in the sys-tem,the TASRnewswire wrote.

Fundamentalsof thereform

While experts agree that so-called ar-tificial self-employment needs to be ad-dressed,they differon thebest approach.

“I consider the shift from employ-ment to artificial self-employment, which is motivated only by a lowerpayroll tax burden, to be a problem sincethis leaves less money for health care orfinancingcurrentpensions, for example,”the director of the INEKO think tank,PeterGoliáš,told TheSlovakSpectator.

Goliáš considers the basic intentionof the reform, which along with simpli-fying the payroll-tax system would alsolower the motivation to switch to artifi-

cialself-employment,as correct.“The question is to what degree thehigh payroll taxes on employees will bereduced and by how much the burdenon self-employed and contract workers willincrease,”Goliášsaid.

“One of the solutions could be tomake payments for sick-leave insur-ance and employment insurance vol-

untary, while in the event of illness orjob loss limited drawing of funds fromthe second [old-age pension savings]pillar would beallowed.”

For the sake of reducing the payrolltax burden on low-income people andthus helping employment, INEKO alsoproposes having a deductible item forpayroll taxes, similar to those fortaxes,Goliáš concluded.

However, another think tank sug-gested that the problem is not the lowpayroll taxes of the self-employed butthehighpayrolltaxesof employees.

Radovan Ďurana of the INESS eco-nomic think tank gave a negative as-sessment of the plan to pay for a re-duction in the burden on low-incomeemployees by placing a heavier loadon the self-employed and contract

workers. Ďurana told The Slovak Spec-tator in an earlier comment that heexpected such a change would de-crease flexibility in the labour marketand have a negative impact on em-ploymentgrowth.

“We think that the governmentshould be reducing the payroll tax bur-den of employees and not increasing it

flatly forother groups,”said Ďurana.Are the self-employed endangered?

Meanwhile Stanislav Čižmárik, thepresident of the SlovenskýŽivnostenský Zväz (SŽZ), which repres-ents self-employed trade and craft workers, said that inJanuary2011alonemore than 6,000 self-employed peopleannounced the termination of their businesses. Additional closures wouldprobably followif thegovernmentwereto adopt the measures it has planned,hesaid,as quotedby TASR.

While the government argues thatthe current lower levies for the self-employed are unfair on regular em-ployees, Čižmárik pointed to the dif-ferences between the two groups,

stressing that the self-employed bearfull responsibility for their entrepren-eurial activities, guaranteeing them with their own property, while payingdeductions regardless of whether theyaremakingmoneyor not.

Theself-employedmaysoonpaya lotmoreintaxesandlevies. Photo:Sme - PavolFuntál

4 BUSINESSMarch 21 – 27, 2011



Jadro

THERE are three reasons whyafter the tragedy in Japan onewould expect “jadro” (nucleus)to be Slovakia’s word of theweek – firstly, Chernobyl isright next door, in neighbour-ing Ukraine. Secondly,Slovakia’s other neighbour isAustria, where the anti-nucle-ar lobby is especially strong.And thirdly, the country getsmore than half of its electricityfrom nuclear power plants.France, with 75 percent, is theonly EU country more depend-

enton nuclear energy.Yet there is complete si-lence. When asked whetherdevelopments in Japan fright-

en locals, Miroslav Remenár,

mayor of one of the villages inthe immediate proximity of the Jaslovské Bohunice powerplant, replied: “People don’t

care atall.It doesn’t even occurto anyone that something likethiscouldhappenhere.”

A poll on the Sme.sk news websiteshowedthat 76 percentof people aren’t concerned thatthe problems of the Japanesenuclear reactors could in any waythreaten Slovakia.

And all political parties without exception continue tosupport the use of nuclearpower. Sure, there are someactivists who try to start a debate on the potential threats, butwith little luck.

How can this be? It’s be-cause in Slovakia there is onekind of power that has a longertradition, broader support, and

that often leads to more im-pressive results than thepower of the nucleus: thepower ofapathy.

Heavy historical baggageMASSED marchers, neo-Nazigroupings that offer frus-trated youngsters licence tokick anyone labelled “theenemy”, sub-cultures de- voted to collecting trashyNazi relics and reading

speeches by shady figuresfrom the past that continueto haunt present generations who lack the necessary his-torical self-reflection, andextremistpoliticians: noneof thesemake goodhistorians.

Unfortunately, however,itis preciselysuchpeoplewhofrequently and shamelesslytrumpet their dubious inter-pretations of history whenev-er it suits them, guaranteeingthem attention among thosein society who are angry andreadyto lash out.

Every year, oneday beforethe Ides of March, youngstersdressed in uniforms resem- bling those of Slovakia’s war-

time Nazi militia, along witha handful of pensioners cling-ing bitterly to memories of the early 1940s – or, more of-ten these days, the filteredmemories of their parents –gather in squares to com-memorate what is one of thedarkest and most traumaticanniversaries in Slovakia’shistory: the establishmentin 1939 of the Slovak State, apuppet of Nazi Germany led by Jozef Tiso, a RomanCatholicpriest.

It is almost the samestory every year: supportersof the Nazi puppet state meeton March 14 at one of Bratislava’s squares and then

march to the grave of Tiso while shouting the samepredictable slogans every year: ‘We won’t give awaySlovakia’, ‘Slovakia for Slov-aks’or ‘Vivat Tiso’.

They are typically cit-izens vulnerable to manipu-lation by extremist leaders, who, by attacking a widerange of minorities, get themoment of fame and atten-tionthey hungerfor.

Local media reported thatin Bratislava this year, ac-cording to the SITA newswire, an estimated 200

people attended the celebra-tions of the 72nd anniversaryof the Slovak State. Thefounder of the bannedSlovenská Pospolitosť ex-tremist movement, MariánKotleba, described them as a

“handful of the brave againstthewhole system”.

Kotleba called on InteriorMinister Daniel Lipšic to de-lete the paragraph of theCriminal Code which penal-ises incitement of hatred based on race, nationality orethnicity, describing it as anobstacle tofreedom of opinionand what he called “scientificexploration”,SITA wrote.

Of course, the March 14performance of those youngsters, few of whom

would probably be able tocite even basic facts aboutthe wartime state or theactivities of itsleaders,couldhardly be characterised as“scientificexploration”.

Nevertheless, there arestill historians trying to re-package the rotten core of Tiso’s state, disregarding thefact that, obedient to Hitler,it sent some 70,000 SlovakJews to Nazi death camps while actually reimbursingthe Reich for the costs of de-portation. No re-interpreta-tion can soften this fact or

make it more ‘acceptable’ fora democraticcountry.

Yet the streets will alwayshave their self-made histori-ans and there will always besub-cultures who decades agoretreated into the dark caves

with what they believed wasthe truth, and who have nev-er really emerged since. In-stead, they continue to polishtheir rings and plates adorned with Nazi swastikas, andsearch internet sites to ex-tend their collections, caring verylittleabout thevictimsof the regimes which producedtheircherished mementoes.

March 14 is still wrappedup in many myths that con-tinue to be abused by extrem-ists. Historians and politicalscientists repeatedly remindus that the Slovak State hadmany of the attributes of a to-talitarian state, and oppressedtherightsofthe majorityof its

own citizens. But this awk- ward fact, of course, hardlyenters into the type of rallytalk in which the extremistsareinvolvedevery year.

Perhaps especiallyaround the Ides of Marchthere should be some moresubstantial debate: the broadcast media could skipone of the episodes of its ap-parently interminable soapoperaseries andhosta debateof historians over the issue;though the hopeful premisefor such an initiative is thatthewider public cares, whichmightwellbe a forlornhope.

The hope that one daythese people will eventually

melt away, like the dirtysnow under the rays of theMarch sun, is wrong: they willnot justdisappear.

History is sometimesheavy, rusty and difficult tohandle, and sometimes it is very fragile. This is why itshould never be treated like afootball, kicked by those whodo not understand the im-portance of historical inter-pretation. Without care, fu-ture generations will be ableneither to carry their unre-solved historical baggage norputit where it belongs.

5OPINION

QUOTE OF THEW EEK:“We want to avoid any bombasticstatements andshouts like those of [Interior] Minister Lipšic.”

SNS MP Igor Štefanov, who claims that 40 Slovak MPs are beingwire-tapped– but has presentedno evidence to back his assertion.

SLOVAK W ORDOF THE WEEK

EDITORIA L


B Y LUKÁŠ F ILASpecial to the Spectator

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€ T he Slovak Spectator i s an independent newspaper publ ished every Monday by The Rock, s .r.o .Subscrptions: Inquiries should be made to The Slovak Spectator’s business office at (+421-2) 59 233 300 .

Printing: Petit Press a.s. Dstributon: 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 reproductionin 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 transmissionof articles marked ©The Slovak Spectator, as well as for the public circulation of reproductions of these articles,in compliance with the 33rd article and 1st paragraph of the Copyright Law. Media monitoring is providedby Newton, IT, SMA and Slovakia Online with the approval of the publisher. Advertising material contained hereinis the responsibility of the advertiser and is not a written or implied sponsorship, endorsement or investigation of suchcommercial enterprises or ventures by The Slovak Spectator or The Rock s.r.o. ISSN1335-9843.Address: The Rock, s.r.o., Lazaretská 12, 811 08 Bratislava. IâO: 313 86 237.

JÁN PALLO - Publisher

EDITORIALBEATA BALOGOVÁ - Editor - In - Chief

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March 21 – 27, 2011

Nuclearenergyis notan issuefor mostSlovaks. Photo:Sme -Pavol Funtál



Motor shows in Slovakia

There aretwo mainmotorshows in Slovakia:The21st International Showof MotorVehicles, Accessoriesand Garage andServicingEquipment- Autosalon / MotorShow Bratislava2011will takeplaceon April12 to17 at Incheba Expo Bratislava www.incheba.sk

The18th CarShow Nitra , theonly Slovak automobilefairlisted in theprestigiouscalendarof theOICA

(Organisation Internationaledes Constructeursd'Automobiles)takesplaceon September 29 to October3 at Agrokomplexin Nitra. www.agrokomplex.sk


Best-selling cars brands in Slovakia

Intotal, 70,951carswere sold inSlovakiain 2010,21.54percentfewerthan in 2009,when carsales werepropelled by thecar-scrappingbonusscheme.Salesfiguresfor newpassenger carsand smallutilityvehiclesin 2010by manufacturerwereas follows:

1. Škoda– 13,631 units: 19.21percent of market2. Renault – 4,988units:7.03 percent3. Volkswagen – 4,926units:6.94 percent4. Peugeot– 4,742units:6.68 percent

5.Kia – 4,373units: 6.16 percent6. Citroën – 4,329units:6.10 percent7. Hyundai – 3,370units:4.75 percent8.Fiat– 3,053units: 4.30percent9. Toyota/Lexus – 3,029units:4.27 percent10.Ford – 2,913units:4.11 percent

Source:ZAP SR

Car sales

Salesof newpassenger carsand small utility vehiclesupto3.5 tonnes:

2006– 78,568 vehicles2007– 83,255 vehicles2008 – 96,897vehicles2009– 90,426vehicles2010– 70,951vehicles

Source:ZAP SR

Car producers in Slovakia

VolkswagenSlovakia Volkswagen Slovakiais theoldestcarmakerin Slovakia.

www.volkswagen.skPSAPeugeotCitroënSlovakiaThePSA PeugeotCitroënSlovakiacar plantnear Trnava isthemost technologically advanced in theentirePSAPeugeotCitroën group. www.psa-slovakia.sk

KiaMotors SlovakiaKiaMotors Slovakia is themost recent carmakerto arriveinSlovakiaandits plantnearŽilinais theSouth Koreanmanufacturer’sonly onein Europe. www.kia.sk

Automotive industry organisationsin Slovakia

Automotive IndustryAssociationof theSlovakRepublic(ZAP SR), www.zapsr.skChairman:JozefUhrík

Automobilovýklaster– západnéSlovensko(Automotive Cluster– WesternSlovakia),a clusterof producers of carcomponents,universities,schoolsandlocalgovernmentbodies.Its visionis to builda highlyprestigious andmodernbase forthe automotiveindustryin westernSlovakiaby 2012. www.autoklaster.sk

Big three prepare toramp up production

2010 was a year of challengesfor carmakers operating inSlovakia, all of which had tograpple with the effects of theglobal economic crisis. Num-bers revealed so far indicatethat the sector stabilised lastyear, and the outlook for 2011looks promising. All three car-makers in Slovakia are alreadyexpanding or plan to expandtheir production here, mean-ing more car models will beproduced, and more peopleemployedin thelocal automot-iveindustry.

“2010 had all the signs of stabilisation and, I would evensay, indications of a return tothe growth dynamics seen be-fore 2008,” Jozef Uhrík, presid-entof theAutomotiveIndustryAssociation of the Slovak Re-public (ZAPSR),told TheSlovakSpectator in an assessment of the development of the auto-motive industry in Slovakiaoverthe lastyear. “Production,which accounted for about

557,000 cars, represented an

increase of almost 20 percentcomparedwith2009.”

Of the three carmakers inSlovakia, only Volkswagen hasrevealed official productionfiguresfor2010sofar.

“Volkswagen Slovakia pro-duced 144,510 cars in 2010, anannual increase of over 36percent,” Andreas Tostmann,CEO of Volkswagen Slovakia,said on March 14. He specifiedthat production had thrivedduring the second half of the

year in particular. During thefirst half of 2010 the company was still feeling the impact of the economic crisis, but laterdemand in all markets revivedsignificantly. The turnover of the company grew by 37 per-cent to €4.04 billion and itstaxed profits went up by 31.6percentto€75million.

Volkswagen Slovakia, be-cause of its focus on produc-tion of high-end sport utility vehicles (SUVs), was hit hard

by the global economic crisis.In 2009 it produced fewerthan 106,000 vehicles, downfrom188,000in 2008. In 2010,SUVs made up 93 percent of total car production at itsBratislavaplant.

“2010 was for us a year fullof challenges; from the start of production of the new genera-tion of Volkswagen Touaregand Porsche Cayenne models,through to the start of serialproduction of the first hybrid

model, the Volkswagen Tou-areg Hybrid, within the VWconcern,” said Tostmann. “Forthewholeyearwe werealsoin-tensivelypreparing forproduc-tion of the New Small Family[rangeofcars].”

Almost all the cars pro-duced in 2010 by VW Slovakia –99.3percent– wereexported. Itis the only plant in the VWgroup that produces the Volk-swagen Touareg and Audi Q7 models. Mostof theproduction

– 36percent– went toGermanylast year. But the most dynam-ically developing market for VW Slovakia’s cars is China, where 18.9 percent of produc-tion was exported. Compared with the previous year thisrepresented an increase of 5.7 percentage points. The USAand Russia followed, with 9.4

percent and 5.4 percent re-spectively. Only 0.7 percent of VW Slovakia’s car productionremainedinSlovakia.

For Kia Motors Slovakia,the youngest carmaker in Slov-akia, 2010 was a groundbreak-ingyear,eventhoughithasnot yet revealed its official car pro-ductionfigures.

“We registered record res-ults in production,” DušanDvořák, spokesperson of KiaMotorsSlovakiatoldTheSlovakSpectator. “This was thanks tothelaunchof production oftwonewSUV models,the KiaSport-ageand Hyundaiix35, while re-gisteringanincreasingnumberofordersduringthewholeyear.

Simultaneously, we startedproduction of the new 1.7-litrediesel engine,which wemountintoSUVmodels.”

Kia Motors Slovakia alsolaunched a significant invest-ment exceeding €100 millionlast year, when it started con-struction of a second plant forproduction of engines, which will have an annual capacity of 150,000units.

SeePLANSpg8

B Y J ANA LIPTÁKOVÁSlovak Spectator

Productionis forecastto grow. Photo:Courtesyof VWSlovakia

Car sales deliver positive surprise

THEFINAL figures forcarsalesin Slovakiain 2010 have returned a positive surprise:even though they lagged well behind therecord set in 2008, not to mention saleslast year, they exceeded market expecta-tions. Sales of new cars rose strongly dur-ing the final months of 2010, indicatingthat the car market is recovering from thecrisis and that the appetite of Slovakdriversfor newcars is growing.

“The almost71,000carsand smallutil-ityvehiclessoldin 2010 wasforme a smallpositive surprise because we did not ex-pect such a number,” Jozef Uhrík, presid-ent of the Automotive Industry Associ-ation of the Slovak Republic (ZAP SR), told

The Slovak Spectator. “I expect car sales

willfollow anupwardtrendin 2011. “Theregistrationof newpassengercarsand small utility vehicles weighing up to3.5 tonnes totalled 70,951 units in 2010,down from the 2008 record level of 96,897 units. The car-scrapping bonus schemehelped maintain car sales in 2009, when atotal of 90,426 new cars were registered inSlovakia. However, the scheme may haveaffected car sales in 2010, when sales fell by21.54 percent comparedwith 2009.

According to Uhrík, sales in 2010 werepropelled in particular by companies. After halting the renewal of their carfleets during the crisis, they started to re-placeold vehicles lastyear.

Škoda was again the most popular car brandin Slovakiain 2010,withalmost onefifth (19.21 percent) of all new passengercars and small commercial vehicles sold

in Slovakia carrying a Škoda badge. Noother carmaker achieved a double-digitmarket share. Renault was second, with7.03 percent of the market and Volkswa-gen had 6.94 percent. Peugeot was fourth with 6.68 percent, followed by Kia (6.16

percent), Citroën (6.10 percent), Hyundai

(4.75 percent), Fiat (4.30 percent),Toyota/Lexus (4.27 percent), Ford (4.11percent), Suzuki (4.06 percent) and Opel(3.76percent).

Neworold?

With regards to the ratio betweennew and used vehicles sold in Slovakialast year, Uhrík does not think that Slov-akia differs significantly when compared with other European countries, eventhough the situation in each of them isnotidentical.

“The record from 2008, when the re-gistration of used passenger cars andsmall utility vehicles stood at 100,597 units and thus exceeded the registrationof new cars, was not repeated in 2010,”Uhrík said. The registration of used cars

decreased in 2009 as well as in 2010, downto 78,834 and 66,248 units respectively.The decline between 2010 and 2009 wasmorethan 16 percent.

SeeUPpg8

B Y J ANA L IPTÁKOVÁSlovak Spectator

6

ENERGY

Next issue:BUSINESS FOCUS

AUTOMOTIV EMarch 21 – 27, 2011

Output stabilisedin 2010, but

Slovak car plantsall have

expansion plans

Prospects for the sector are improving after

a difficult 2010

Slovakia's electric avenue

Thieves avoid pink cars

Slovak fuel prices soar



Carmakers propel Slovakia’s economy

THEMANUFACTURINGin-

dustry is growing in Slovakia.In January localproductiongrewby 17.1percentyear-on- year.According to theSlovakStatisticsOffice,it wascar-makersand mechanicalen-gineeringcompaniesin par-ticular thatdrove thegrowthin production. Analysts ex-pectSlovak industry to con-tinueto thrivein thecomingmonths, theHospodárskeNovinydaily wrote.

“Thetrend in assessingindustrialproduction wasupward, whichis a precondi-tionfor further stronggrowth,”said AndrejArady,analyst withVÚB Banka.

Theautomotivesector

should bethe maindrivingforceof Slovak industrythis year. During thefirst monthsof 2011car production hasalready risenby asmuchas50.9percenty/y, andanalystsexpect carmakersto makethe biggestcontributionto therevival in Slovakia’seconomy.

“Theconcentration onthecarindustryis playing toSlovakia’sbenefitfor thetime

being,”said BorisFojtík, an

analyst withTatraBanka. Ac-cording tohim,the startof newproduction linesat Volk-swagen, alongwith thestart-upof newinvestments intheelectro-technical industry, willbe an importantfactor.

Volkswagen increasedproductionin January.

“Whilein January 2010 weoperated intwo shiftsforfive days perweek, this year wemanufactured carsin fourshifts sevendays perweek,” VladimírMachalík,spokes-person of Volkswagentoldthedaily.

KiaMotorsSlovakia nearŽilina reports anincreasedin-terest in itscars fromSlovaks.

“Wehave registeredamoresignificantgrowthcomparedwith the previous yearand we believe thatthesenumberscan grow evenfurther,” saidcompanyspokespersonDušan Dvořák.Thecompanyregistered anincreaseddemandespeciallyafterit launchedits newHy-undai ix35and KiaSportagemodels.

Slovakia’s electricavenue

THE FIRST vehicles poweredentirely by electricity weremanufactured as early as inthe 1900s, but after more thanone hundred years electriccars remain a curiosity, atleast in Slovakia. Neverthe-less, the situation is now setto change. As many compan-

ies worldwide plan to – orhave already started – serialproduction of electric cars, anumber of pilot e-mobilityprojects have emerged acrossSlovakia. Most of them are be-ing runby electricity distribu-tion companies since infra-structure, specifically char-ging stations, remains a crit-ical issue, even though mostelectric cars can in theory berecharged from domesticpowerpoints.

“Car producers are pre-pared for the production of electric cars,” Jozef Uhrík,president of the AutomotiveIndustry Association of theSlovak Republic (ZAP SR), told

The Slovak Spectator. “Thestart of production of expens-ive electric cars depends onlyon how his excellency thecustomer, who has becomeused to the comfort of classic-al, i.e. internal combustion,engines, will respond. Whenthe advantages of electric carsare sufficiently appealingthatthey overcome this familiar-ity, then I see the idea of e-mobility as feasible. However,this is a question which willbe not solved in one or twoyears, even though this is aglobal theme on which a largenumber of world organisa-tionsare working.”

According to Uhrík, great-

er usage of electric cars willalso depend on building re-lated infrastructure, includ-ing charging stations.

“The client will respondwhen he or she is sure that heor she can use an electric carpermanently,” saidUhrík.

First swallowfromtheeast

The first swallow of e-mobility arrived in the east of Slovakia. In November 2010the regional power distribut-or Východoslovenská Ener-getika (VSE) launched thefirst public charging station,and stated its ambition to be-

come the leader in e-mobilityin Slovakia.“The launch of the sale of

electric cars is planned forthis year [i.e. 2011] and thusan increase in interest in

charging stations is expec-ted in general in Europe atthe end of 2011 or in 2012,” VSE spokesperson AndreaDanihelová told The SlovakSpectator.

To support the develop-mentof e-mobilityin Slovakia

VSE is offering drivers of elec-tric cars free charging untilthe middle of 2011. VSE plansto continue building chargingstations in order to allow thedrivers of electric cars tomake it from Košice to Bratis-lava: on average an electriccar can travel only around 150kilometres on a single charge. VSE plans to open its nextchargingstation in Bratislava.

According to Danihelová,the selection of towns wherecharging stations will be builton the Bratislava-Košice route willdependon several factors, but in particular on prospectsfor their usage and supportfrom local municipal or

private bodies. In general,however, VSE plans to directconstruction of charging sta-tions towards bigger towns because the e-mobilityconcept is designed especiallyforusein urbanareas.

In early March VSE tookanother step and added thefirst electric car to its com-pany car fleet. Its ambition isto drive 20,000 kilometres inthe car, a Peugeot iOn, in citytraffic to test this newconcept of urban mobility inreal-time conditions. It willalso provide the same vehicleto its partner organisationsforthemto try.

The next regional power

distributor to announce thestart of e-mobility operations was Stredoslovenská Ener-getika (SSE).

“During the second half of 2011 SSE will extend its

car fleet by five electriccars,” Jana Bolibruchová of SSE told The Slovak Spectat-or. The vehicles will thusmake up approximately 3percent of the company’spassenger-car fleet. “We'recooperating in this field

with carmaker Peugeot, which is the world leader inthe number of electric carssold. It will launch its elec-tric car model, the PeugeotiOn,in Slovakiathisyear.”

SSE is not limiting its sup-port for the development of e-mobility to the purchase of electric cars. It is also plan-ning to build medium-capa-city charging stations. Suchstations are able to rechargeanelectriccar’s battery from 0to 100 percent of its capacityin 3 hours without any negat-ive effect on the battery, ac-cordingto Bolibruchová.

The regional power dis-tributor in western Slovakia,

Západoslovenská Energetika(ZSE), announced its e-mobil-ity project, Vibrate, in earlyMarch this year. This projectis being run in cooperation with Vienna and should bethe first cross-border e-mobil-ity project in Europe. It isplanned to link Bratislava and Vienna by a so-called greenhighway, i.e. a network of chargingstations.

As Ján Orlovský, spokes-person of ZSE, the Slovakleader of the cross-borderproject, told The Slovak Spec-tator, a decision about the fi-nal number of charging sta-tions has not been made yet.But since only 12 kilometres

of the total route are in Slov-akia, Orlovský says it would besensible tobuildjustone ortwo charging stations on theSlovak side. Primarily, thestations will be built at exist-

ing parking lots and petrolstations, i.e. places where cardrivers areused to stopping.

ZSE will not limit build-ing of charging stations tothis project: it plans to openits first pilot rechargingpoint inside ZSE premises inthe summer and anothernextwinter.

“For the time being thenumber of electric cars inBratislava is minimal andthus massive construction of recharging stations, exceptthose intended to demon-strate how something likethis looks, does not make anysense for now,” Orlovský toldTheSlovakSpectator.

With regards to makingelectriccars morepopular andused by the general popula-tion, Orlovský sees this as amatter of the supply of vehicles that are affordableand attractive from the view-pointof usage.

“As with any new and ex-pensive technology, this onetoo has a greater chance forsuccess only with statesupport,” said Orlovský.“Otherwise its implementa-tion will take longer. Morethan €30,000 for a small-me-dium sized car is too much formost people.”

Apart from Peugeot, it sis-ter carmaker Citroën is also

offering an all-electric model,the Citroën C-zero. ThePeugeot iOn is now on sale at€35,460 including VAT, andthe Citroën C-zero is availablefor the same price, accordingtothe websitesof Peugeot andCitroën dealersin Slovakia.

The high price of electriccars is regarded as the main barrier to wider usage of thetechnology in Slovakia, rais-ing the question of whetherthe government will providesupport.

“Each new technology istaken up more quickly whenthe state stimulates demandfor it,” Marcel Lauko, directorof the Energy Centre Bratis-

lava,a partner inZSE’sVibrateproject, told The Slovak Spec-tator. “In the case of e-mobil-ity at question is not only fin-ancial support, but otherareas such as parking, whichin the case of cars is a crucialissue. Thus other forms [of support] arepossible.”

Lauko stressed that e-mobility can be also understoodas a system for storing elec-trical energy, which once theconcept spreads widely will become part of the so-calledsmart grid, as one of its moreimportant components. Hav-ing large numbers of car bat-teries connected to the elec-tricity grid wouldmakeit pos-

sible to regulate storage andrecharging according to theneeds of the grid, thus balan-cingthe grid’s stability.

SeeE-CARpg8

Students build their own car

STUDENTSof theFacultyof MechanicalEngineering attheTechnical Universityof Košice havebuilt theirownfull-sizecar. Except forthe basicplatform andthe en-gine,the attractiveICAR2010cabriolet is theachievementof a team of students,the Pravda daily wrote in lateDecember.

Theassignment wasnotaneasyone.Thestudents were assigned to design andmanufacturea carin a way which simulatedthe produc-tionprocessesof carmakers.Moreover,thecarwas tobeattractiveintermsof itsori-

ginality, aggressivedesign,speed, modern innovativeelementsand sportylook.

“Theplatform fromŠkoda’sFabia servedas the basisandwe used a 1.9-litre

TDiengine with anoutputof 120 horsepower,”Miloš Libafrom theFacultyof Mechan-ical Engineeringatthe Tech-nicalUniversityof Košiceex-plained, as quotedby Pravda.The car hasa topspeed of over 200kilometres perhour.

Designing thecar tookoneyear,whilethe team workedfor anotheryear‘materialising’ theirideas.Theresultis an eleganttwo-seater roadster with wingdoors.

Butit seemsthattheICAR isnot theKošicestu-dents’ finalword.

“Alreadywork on anoth-

erproject,which willdifferfromthis one,has started,”Liba said.“It will bean elec-triccar.”


frompressreports

Kia Slovakia has new president

ONJANUARY 1, Myung-ChulChungwas appointedpres-identand CEOof KiaMotorsSlovakia,which produces

cars atits plantin TepličkanadVáhom, nearŽilina.HereplacedIn-KyuBae, thefirstpresidentof Kia Motors Slov-akia,who hasleft Slovakiaaftermorethansixyearstocontinuehis professional ca-reerwithinHyundaiKia AutomotiveGroupin theRe-public of Korea, Kia MotorsSlovakia announced.

Chunghas beenworkingatKia Motors Slovakiasince2005,whenhe wasappointedthehead of thepurchasingandprocurementgroupat theplant. Togetherwithhis col-

leagueshe participatedin theestablishmentof thefirst Kiaproduction facilityin Europe.

“IhavebeenwithKia

Motors Slovakiasince itsbe-ginning,so I know thecom-pany very well,”hesaid.“I willcontinue thetraditionsandpromotethe strengthsof ourcompanyto its furtherdevelopment.”

KiaMotors Slovakiaisthefirst assemblyplant of KiaMotors CorporationinEurope.The plantwas built between2004 and2006, andproductionof vehiclesas well as engines forpassengercarsstartedin December2006.Kia employs over2,900people in Slovakia.

B Y J ANA LIPTÁKOVÁSlovak Spectator

A battery isat theheartof anelectriccar. Photo:ČTK

7 BUSINESS FOCUS

FOCUS shorts

March 21 – 27, 2011

New electric carsare taking to the

local roads



UP: Used-car sales are also growingContinuedfrom pg6

“Thus I do not see any significant mat-ters in terms of this,” Uhrík said, addingthat instead there is an expectation thatsales of new and used cars will hoveraround the ratio of 1:1. He added that themain players in the car sector in Slovakiawould welcome it if the market for usedcars were to consist mainly of cars used inSlovakia, i.e. from the renewal of local carfleets, andnot of foreignimports.

AAA AUTO, one of the biggest sellers of used cars in Slovakia, sold a total of 10,512cars last year. Compared with the previous

yearthis represented an annual increaseof 13 percent, with sales rising by almost 45percent year-on-year during the finalquarter of 2010.

“2010 was atypical from the viewpointof seasonal influences,” KarolínaTopolová,vice-president of AAA AUTO, told The Slov-ak Spectator. “At the beginning of the yearconsumers postponed their decisions overcar purchases in expectation of the furtherdevelopment of the economic crisis. Fromthe beginning of May our company startedto register increases in sales, which ex-ceeded 2009levelsin every month.”

At AAA AUTO the most-sold used carlast year was the Škoda Fabia (with metal-lic silver the most popular colour), fol-lowed by the VW Passat, Peugeot 206,RenaultThalia andFiat Punto.

“The category of SUVs became the

jumper of the year, with sales ballooningby as much as 29 percent over the year,”Topolová said. “Compared with 2009, theinterest in diesel engines increased byover one third as a consequence of lowerdieselprices.”

Carsalesupsofarin2011

The beginning of 2011 saw a continu-ation of the upward trend in car sales which had begun in the last few monthsof 2010. The number of new registrationsof passenger cars and small utility vehicles of up to 3.5 tonnes grew by over20 percent during the first two months of 2011. In January car sales in this categoryrose 21.8 percent y/y to 4,772 cars, and inFebruary by 21.61 percent y/y to 5,243. Inspite of this robust growth, sales are still well short ofthe records setin thelastfew

years: as recently as February 2008monthlynew carsalesstoodat 7,375units.Nevertheless, ZAP sees the beginning of this year as promising compared to thefirst months of previous years, which weremarked by stagnation, or decrease.

The January-February sales, inspite of annual growth of 21.7 percentto 10,015, lagged behind the 2008 numbers, when a total of 14,237 new vehicles were registered.

With regards to the February chartof the most popular cars in Slovakia,Škoda managed to keep its traditionalfirst place, with a market share of 19.71percent.

Lucia Busquet, spokesperson forŠkoda-Auto Slovakia, confirmed forprivate broadcaster TV Markíza that in-terest inbuyingcars wasrising.

“Compared with the same period of

2010, in January we sold 118 percentmorepassengercars,” Busquetsaid.“We believe that this positive trend will con-tinue forthe whole of 2011.”

With regard to prospects for 2011 AAA AUTO iscautious,butas salesin thefirst two months have exceeded all ex-pectations the company hopes that thetrend willcontinuefor thewholeyear.

“Assuming no unexpected change inthe market, we expect that our salescould increase by 12 percent inSlovakia,”said Topolová.

Withregards to the currentinterestof Slovak used-car buyers, they aresearching for cars with up to 80,000kilometres on the clock, with a full service book and a traceable history. Thisis why AAA Auto has increased theshare of such cars it offers to approx-

imately 30 percent. It says interest isrising in all types of Škoda cars, butalso in SUV models, multi-purpose vehicles and estate cars. Sellers of usedcars are also reporting increased inter-esting inluxury cars.

Fuel prices soar in Slovakia AVERAGE motorfuel priceshavecontinuedto grow inSlovakia, recently hittingrecord levels. The averagepriceof thebest-selling 95Natural petrol is currentlyaround€1.44perlitreandtheaveragepriceof dieselis around€1.35perlitre,the natankuj.skfuel-pricemonitoringwebsitewroteonMarch14.

Petrol pricesrose twice betweenlate February andmid March, whiledieselprices werehiked threetimes.But the develop-ment ofoil pricesandoil

products onstockex-changes asof Monday,March14, suggesteda haltinthe upwardtrend.

After thelatestpricehikes,95 Naturalpetrol rose

toan averageof €1.445perlitre,significantlyabove thehistorical recordfrom sum-mer2005,whenit hit€1.410perlitre,partlyas a resultof theeffectsof Hurricane Kat-rinain theUSA.Summer2008alsowitnessedhighpetrolprices,of upto €1.370perlitre.Overthe lastfew yearsSlovakspaidleastforpetrolin early 2009, when 95Naturalpetrol soldfor€0.980per litre.

Diesel prices havenot brokentheir previousrecord yet.In summer 2008driversinSlovakiahadto pay€1.480

perlitre fordiesel.On March13the averagedieselprice was€1.344per litre.


frompressreports

Thieves avoid pink cars

THENUMBER ofcars stoleninSlovakia increasedduringthefirst11 monthsof 2010,when2,082cars illegally‘changedhands’. Thefigureis 134morethanduringthe sameperiodof2009.Asmanyassixcarsadayon average arestolen inSlovakia, theSme dailywrote

in lateDecember.Ofallthe cars stoleninthe January-Novemberperiod passengercars ac-countedfor thebiggestpor-tion, over1,900.The policemanagedto find103 stolencars,up from93 inJanuary-November2009.

Silver carsweremostpopular amongthieves,with395stolen during themon-itored period, followedby black car(384 stolen).Thieves tended to steerclearof lesstraditional colours likepurple (7stolen),beige (5),pink(2) andblue-green(1).

Intermsof brands,Škodawas themostpopu-larvehicle brand withthieves (855stolen). Theyfocused especiallyonOctavia saloons (380),Fabi-as (180)and Octaviaestates(120). Otherpopularmarques included Volk-

swagen (241), BMW(189)andAudi(130). Theleastpopular brands wereSmart, Aprilia and Scania,ofwhichonlyone each wasstolen.

Most theftstookplacein BratislavaRegion,from whereoveronehalf ofallstolencars, or 1,083,disap-peared. From this pointof viewŽilinaRegionwas thesafest, with only 32 vehicles stolenthere. Thecapital toppedthe chartof townswith thehighestnumberof stolencars, with752 vehicles.

E-CAR: New modelsContinuedfrom pg 7

Electricvehicles

Thereare basicallytwotypesof electriccars: thosefully propelledby electrical

energy andso-calledhy- brids,which combinea con- ventionalinternal combus-tionenginepropulsionsys-temwith an electricpropul-sion system.

Bothtypesrechargethemselvesduring driving(fromenergycaptured dur-ingbraking,for instance)andcanbe rechargedatchargingstations.

Mostelectric carscan berechargedfroma domesticpower point,but thiscantake upto eighthours.As aresult specialchargingsta-tions areconstructed,whichusehighervoltagesandcur-rents, thusreducing the

timenecessaryfor chargingtoas littleasa fewminutes.

Manufacturers list themainadvantages of electriccarsas being their zero-CO2emissions andzero noisi-ness, andfocusespecially on

corporateclients, giventhe vehicles’currently highpurchaseprices.

Onthe otherhand,op-erating costsare lowerthan inthe case ofcarspowered by fossilfuels:Citroën wrotein itspressrelease that totalcostsfordriving 100 kilometresareabout €1.50in thecaseof its Citroën C-zero.

The maximum rangeof electriccars islimited toabout 150kilometresby thecapacity of the battery.This makes electric carsmost suitablefor dailycitytripsand othershort-hauljourneys.

PLANS: New models now in sightContinuedfrom pg6

PSA Peugeot CitroënSlovakia’s production plantnear Trnava has not revealedits official results for 2010

either, but as spokespersonPeter Švec told the SITAnewswire in mid December,the figure was below 200,000cars, down from the 203,732which rolled offits productionlinesin 2009.

Positiveprospects

In terms of the plans of carmakers in Slovakia,Uhrík expects furthergrowth in2011.

“Iexpectcar productiontobreak the record from 2008,when carmakers in Slovakiamanufactured 575,000 cars,”Uhrík said, estimating thatproduction in 2011 will be at

least 600,000 to 620,000 cars.This would mean an annualincrease of almost 13 percent.Headdedthatnewproductioncapacities, construction of which started roughly one-and-a-half years ago, willgradually be completed dur-ing 2011 and contribute to theupward trend in Slovakia’sautomotivesector.

Dvořák of Kia MotorsSlovakia, whose total invest-ments in Slovakia havealreadyexceeded €1 billion, isalsooptimistic.

“The car industry grewduring 2010, which was verypositive for the whole Slovakeconomy,” Dvořák said,

adding that the automotiveindustry could also contributeto stronger GDP growth this year, and that apart from KiaMotors Slovakia other car pro-ducers are forecasting growth

in production. “Many subcon-tracting companies in Slov-akia, which produce car com-ponents, raw materials or ser- vices for final producers, willfeel the positive impact of thegrowth in carproduction. "Weexport cars produced in ourcompany to the whole of Europe and demand for them will depend especially on thesituationon themarket.”

Kia Motors Slovakia plansto continue its developmentactivitiesin 2011.

“During the first quarter we should complete construc-tion of the new plant for pro-duction of engines,” specifiedDvořák. “Serial production

should be launchedduringthesecondhalfof2011.Inthiswaythe annual capacity of ourplant should increase from300,000 to 450,000 engines. Apart from this, we plan toprepare our production linesfor production of the Kia Venga model. In 2011 we planto produce approximately240,000cars.”

VW Slovakia’s plans for2011 and the following yearsareambitious.

“This year is a milestonefor Volkswagen,” said Tost-mann.“Our company willthis year mark 20 years of opera-tion by Volkswagen in Slov-akia. With the launch of pro-

duction of cars of the NewSmall Family range we will become the only plant withfive brands under one roof inthe world. Simultaneously, we will extend our portfolio

withanewsegmentofcars.” Volkswagen plans to invest€1 billion in Slovakiaoverthe next five years. VW’s in- vestments in the country upto2010totalled€1.9billion.

Investment leading up tothe production launch of cars within the New Small Familyrange should be €308 million;production is due to start laterthis year. The project will re-quire 1,500 extra workers, ex-panding Volkswagen Slovakia’scurrentlabourforceto 8,500.

Tostmann did not specifyexactly when production of New Small Family city cars willbelaunched.

Volkswagen didnot exhib-

it the highly anticipated citycar known as Up! at theGeneva MotorShowin March.

“It is still not the righttime to show it,” Volkswagenrepresentatives explained, asquoted by the HospodárskeNoviny daily.

Volkswagen Slovakiacouldalsobe wherethefirstE-Up! battery-electric version of its New Small Family car isproduced.Tostmannexpectsafinal decision on the produc-tion location to be made dur-ingthesecondhalfof2011.

Kia Motors Slovakia doesnot plan to enter the marketfor hybrid or electric cars this year.Accordingto Dvořák,the

company is responding tocalls for greener technology by offering its ISG stop&godrivingsystemas anoptioninits cars. It says this helps tosave fuel in city traffic by

10-15 percent. The ISG system was fitted to about 15 percentof cars produced at the Žilinaplant lastyear.

Forthe time beingKia Mo-tors Slovakia produces three versions of its Kia cee’d modeland in 2010 it launched pro-duction of two SUV models –the Kia Sportage and the Hy-undai ix35. Apart from the Kia Venga, preparations for theproduction of which are tak-ing place this year, the com-pany is also planning to pre-pare production of a brandnewmodelin 2012.

According to plans an-nounced in mid December,PSA Peugeot Citroën Slovakia

will expand production at itsTrnava plant. It was theautomaker’s director general,Luciano Biondo, who in an in-terview with Prime MinisterIveta Radičová said that ex-pansion would bring approx-imately 1,000 more jobs – upfrom thecurrent 3,000– buthedidnot elaborate.Accordingtoinformation revealed by theautomaker’s former CEO,JeanMouro, the expansion may beto allowproductionof a hybrid version of the Peugeot 207 model. Currently the Trnavaplant manufactures Peugeot207 and Citroën C3 Picassomodels. The latter is producedexclusively in Slovakia.

Demandfor newcars is rising. Photo:TASR

8 BUSINESS FOCUSMarch 21 – 27, 2011

FOCUS shorts



PLANT: Design accounts for quakesContinuedfrom pg1

“Of course, we need to beprepared and cautious,” Lipšicsaid, as quoted by TASR news-wire. He added that the Slovak

authorities would not concealinformation on any potentialincrease in radioactivity, ashappened during the 1986Chernobyl disaster in theformer SovietUnion.

According to estimates, theradioactive cloud from theFukushima plant will approacheither North America orKamchatka on March 17, Envir-onment Minister József Nagysaid. He stated that the cloud,currently 8,000 kilometresaway from Slovakia, is beingcarefully monitored by 26 Slov-ak meteorological stations anda number of international in-stitutions,TASR wrote.

Nochangeto energy policyEconomy Minister Juraj

Miškov said that Slovakia isn’tconsidering changes to its en-ergy policy. Nuclear energycurrently makes up a majorpart of the country’s total elec-tricityproduction.

Slovakia’s total electricityproduction in 2009 reached26,074 GWh, of which 54 per-cent was generated by nuclearpower plants. In 2010, produc-tion reached 27,720 GWh, of which 52 percent was gener-ated in nuclear power facilit-ies, Dagmar Hlavatá of theMinistry of Economy told TheSlovakSpectator.

In 2009, nuclear powermade up 22 percent of thecountry’s power capacity, andthat amount remained stablein 2010. Hlavatá said that theministry would refrain frompredicting the share of nuclearenergy after the 3rd and 4thblocks of Mochovce are com-pleted in 2013, since that de-pends not only on the blocksbeingcompleted,buton alltheinvestment in nuclear energyfor which licences have beenissued in line with Slovakia’senergy policy. Analysis will beavailable in the second half of 2011 during creation of Slovakia’s new energy policy,Hlavatáadded.

On March 15, FulvioConti,chief executive officer andgeneral manager of Enel, themajority shareholder of Slovenské Elektrárne, thecountry's dominant powerproducer and operator of bothof Slovakia's nuclear powerplants,told a pressconferencethat the current situation in

Japan should not affect com-pletion of the nuclear powerplantinMochovce.

“In Slovakia we’re com-pleting two reactors, whicharesetto belaunched in2012and 2013. We don't see anyreason for changing the en-gineering procedures,” saidConti, as quoted by TASRnewswire, adding that theproject is well prepared, with safety as the upper-mostpriority.

Slovakia’snuclear plants

Slovakia’s active nuclearplants, Jaslovské Bohuniceand Mochovce, are both loc-

ated beyond active seismiczones, Robert Merva of theMinistry of Economy’s com-munications department wroteinarelease.

The construction of eachpart of the power plant is de-signed to withstand quakesseveral times stronger thanthose recorded near in the vi-cinity over the past 100 years,Mervawrote.

“Upon taking office, Min-ister Miškov personally en-quired about the safety of Slovakia’s nuclear plants andmade sure that the countrycurrently meets all the strict-est safety standards duringproduction,”Merva said.

Miroslava Pirožeková of the Slovak Nuclear Regulatory Authority(ÚJD) said thatbothof the power plants were de-signed using projections basedon a so-called calculatedearthquake, which accountfor an intensity that is prob-able once in about 10,000 years. Subsequently, the com-

ponents, systems and con-struction of the given nuclearpower plant are designed insuch a way that if the calcu-lated earthquake occurs, thepower plant can be shut downand the system allowed tocool,Pirožekovátold The Slov-akSpectator.

Jaslovské Bohunice was built to withstand earthquakesup to a magnitude of 8 on theMSK-64seismic intensityscale, which is the level at which acalculated earthquakewas pro-jected for that location,Pirožeková said. The Mochovceplant was built to withstand a7.4-magnitudequake.

According to Pirožeková,

the “safety of nuclear facilitiesin Slovakia in terms of seismicresistance is continuouslymonitored and the results areregularly re-evaluated in thecontext of the latest results of science and research. In addi-tion, measures are continu-ouslytakento improvesafety”.

According to the Eco-nomy Ministry, both powerplants have security systemsthat automatically shut theplant down if seismic activ-ityreacheseven50 percentof theintensityfor whichit wasdesigned.

The reactor is cooled byseveral mutually independentsystems. Compared to the Ja-

panese boiling water reactorin Fukushima, the pressur-ised-water reactors used inSlovakiahaveamoreelaboratedouble cooling system, theministrystatedinitsrelease.

Environmentalwatchdogcriesfoul

Meanwhile, environ-mentalwatchdogGreenpeace warned thataccidentscannot beruledout atany nuclear re-actorin thefuture.

“The unfortunate eventsin Japan show yet another of themany situations in whichnuclear energy is dangerous,” Andrea Zlatňanská,Greenpeace’s energy cam-paignco-ordinator,wrote in apressrelease.

Greenpeace also vehe-mently objected to a state-ment by Economy Minister

Miškov, who told the Smedaily that safety standards atSlovakia’s nuclear facilitiesare above-standard.

Zlatňanská said the powerplants are of a Russian designfrom the 1970s, and that anenvironmental impact as-sessment (EIA) of Mochovce 3and 4 turned up concernsaboutthe safetyand sufficientsupplies of cooling water incrisissituationsthat have stillnotbeen addressed.

“The minister’s statementthat the nuclear plant could,forexample,withstanda planecolliding into it, ismisleading,”Zlatňanská said.

Pirožeková responded

that the Nuclear SupervisionOffice continuously monitorsnuclear safety andthat Slovaklegislationis fullyin line withinternational standards andEU legislation.

The Nuclear Regulatory Authority is ready to particip-ate in international assistanceconcerning developments atthe Fukushima nuclear powerplant, and will implement anyrecommendations onstrengthening nuclear safetythat result from it, PirožekovátoldThe SlovakSpectator.

Michaela Terenzani andJana Liptáková contributedtothis report.

Thenuclear powerplantin JaslovskéBohunice. Photo:TASR

GDP: Rebuildingcould aid growthContinuedfrom pg 4

Accordingto theana-lyst, evenmarketsin cent-

ralandeastern Europefelttheheat from theaftermathof the Japanese earthquake. With globalequity marketsunder pressure,the riskaversionof globalinvestorsshotup dramaticallyto thehighestlevelssincelastsummer,followingtheGreekdebt crisis,as meas-uredby theVIXindexof volatility.As a result,re-gionalcurrenciescame un-der depreciation pressure.

Asfar asSlovakiais con-cerned,direct trade links re-flectits geographic distancefrom Japan:lastyear a nom-inal 0.1percentof totalSlovakexports were direc-

tedto Japan.“Though directtradelinksmight be considerednegligible,Japan holdsasignificantly moreimport-antfoothold inSlovakiaas asourceof foreign directin- vestment:Japanesecom-panies haveinvested over€60 million in Slovakia,thoughthatis also less thanonepercentof total FDIstock investedin thecountry,” Vaňosaid.“However, Slovak facilitiesof Japanese multinationalcorporations areproducingforthe 330-million-pluseurozonemarket andthe500-million-strong market

ofthe EU,hence theirfateandtheoutlookfor Slovakemploymentin thesefacilit-iesis more directlylinked with thestrengthof recov-ery in [Europe].”

Accordingto Vaňo,thanksto itsmembershipof the eurozone, Slovakiaavoided the directimpactthat wasfeltin theregionthrough the depreciationof local currencies.

“Themost directimpactofeventsin Japanon Slov-akiais a potentialweakeningof the hawkish determina-tion ofthe European CentralBank,which onlya fortnightago signalledits readiness to

startnormalising ratehikesofits keyinterestratefromits all-timelows. Should Ja-paneseevents undermine

globalrecovery,this is themajordirect impactthat thissituationmight haveonSlovakia,”Vaňo said.

The earthquakeand en-suingtsunamidirectlyaf-fectedan areaof Japanac-countingfor anestimated8percentof thewholecountry’sGDP. Suspensionof productionat factories, thenegative impacton domesticconsumers,and interrup-tionsto electricitysupplies,includingrolling blackouts, willexerta negative drag ontheJapanese economy, ac-cording to Vaňo.

Onthe otherhand,inline withthe“brokenwin-

dowfallacy”,one canexpectsignificant reconstructionoutlays,which willshow uppositivelyas investmentgrowthin Japan’sGDPstat-istics, he added.

WillSlovakiafeelanybe-nefitfrom Japan’srecon-structionefforts?

“Asfaras thedirect in- volvementin reconstruc-tion work is involved,thatisa question forSlovakcon-struction companies,”Vaňoresponded.

Theshutdown of almosta thirdof Japan’s oil-refin-ingcapacity, the anticipatedincrease in demand fromoil-firedpower plants, but also

higherconsumptionof fuelforreconstructionas wellasimports of rawmaterialsmight,however,exert up- wardpressureon thepriceofoil,he added.

“Necessary importsof rawmaterialsfor recon-struction wouldalso rep-resentfurther demandpressurefor otherindustri-al commodities,”Vaňo toldThe SlovakSpectator.“Withrespectto commod-ity markets,though, much willdependon if,and to whatextent, recoveryinglobal growthis delayedbythe earth-shattering eventsin Japan.”

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in old town Bratislava – PANSKA 2• 74 sqm, 3 rooms• completely reconstructed building,

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equipped with appliances, storageroom, bathroom, closet

• available from March 1st• 800 eur per month plus utilities

If interested to see the apartment pleasecall 0905 253 498

C 3671

9NEWS / BUSINESS March 21 – 27, 2011



The bastion of Helena Zrínska

EASTERN Slovakia’s ZborovCastle, pictured here in apostcard from the 1920s, usedto have two names. Apartfrom Zborov, itwas alsoknown as Makovica, orPoppyhead. It was hitby one disaster after

another. In realityMakovica, as a guardcastle, could not have expec-

tedanythingelse.During the Ottoman in-vasion the castle was rebuiltto a truly vast defensive com-plex. But this did not stop itfrom being demolished to alargeextent in1684by imper-ial army. The coup-de-gracewas delivered in 1914 when,

during battles between theRussian and Austro-Hungari-an armies, it was completelydestroyed.

One of the castle’s well-

known residents was HelenaZrínska, the last member of afamous Croatian noble fam-ily. She was probably im-pressed by stubborn men, asshe choseFrantišekI Rákócziforher husband,and after hisdeathmarriedImrichTököly.Both were leaders of an anti-

Habsburg revolt in Hungary.Helena, too, took an activepart in the battles. First shedefendedZborovand,when it

fell, led the defence of another cas tle,Mukačevo. When it was conquered afterthree years by the im-perial army in 1688,

Mukačevo Castle was torn

down and she was im-prisoned in a Vienna monas-tery. Later, Tököly managedto exchange her for a cap-tured imperial lieutenant-colonel. Then the couple leftfor exile in Turkey, wheretheybothdied.

ByBranislavChovan

H ISTORY T ALKS

Western SLOVAKIA

Bratislaval FILM FESTIVAL + MUSIC:

The 4th Indonesian Film Ex-hibition brings movies likeCin(T)a, Ruma Maida(Maida’s House) and Euphor-ia, all with English subtitlesand simultaneoustranslationinto Slovak. The opening ce-remony will include a per-formance of Balinese tradi-tionalmusic.

Starts: March 22-24, scree-nings at 17:30; Mladosť cine-ma, Hviezdoslavovo Square14. Admission: free. Tel: 02/5443-5003; www.indonesia.sk.

Bratislaval LIVE DANCE: DancingPuzzle – For the first timethis year, different dancestyles and studios meet un-der one roof. The J.M. BellaConservatory from BanskáBystrica, the Andalucia en-semble, the Tangere DanceStudio, Laban’s Atelier fromBratislava and the hostdance company, elledanse,are all represented. Theevent includes also an Im-pro-Jam with live impro- visations.

Starts: March 23, 20:00and 21:30 (Impro-Jam); T & D,Miletičova 17/B. Admission:€4-€6. Tel: 02/5541-0716; www. elledanse.dus.sk.

Bratislaval EXHIBITION: Viedeň patríženám alebo Páni, sme vobraze! / Vienna belongs to women – The internationalassociation of female artistsINTAKT has organised a year-round project on the 100thanniversary of International Women’s Day. The core of this exhibition is a selectionof biographies of famous women.

Open: weekdays 9:00-16:00 until April 1, AustrianCultural Forum, Zelená 7. Ad-mission: free. Tel: 02/5464-1337; www.rakusko.eu.

Bratislaval EXHIBITION:Putovanie dokrajiny zázračno / A Journeyto the Wonderland – A travel-ling exhibition with the sub-title Slovak Theatres to Chil-dren maps children's theatre,particularlypuppet theatre.

Open: Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00until March 27; InternationalHouse of Art for ChildrenBibiana, Panská 41. Admis-sion: €0.35-€0.70. Tel: 02/5443-1308; www.bibiana.sk.

Bratislaval EXHIBITION: 5 rokovreštaurovania fotografie na VŠVU/ Five years of the res-toration of old photographs atthe Academy of Fine Arts inBratislava – This exhibitionexplains the process and his-tory of restoring old photo-graphs, as taught at the local Academyof FineArts.

Open: Tue-Sun 13:00-18:00until April 3; Central European House of Photography,Prepoštská 4. Admission: €1.Tel: 02/5441-8214; www. sedf.sk.

Trnaval EXHIBITION: Miro Trubač:Bipolárnasúvzťažnosť/ BipolarCorrelation – An exhibition bya Trnava native which showsthe coexistence of a man and a woman in a common space, intheirhousehold,in life.

Open: Tue-Fri 10:00-17:00,Sat-Sun 13:00-18:00 until April1; klUb 3, Koppel Villa of JánKoniarek Gallery, Zelený krí-ček 3. Admission: €0.60-€1.30.Tel: 033/5511-659;www.gjk.sk.

Central SLOVAKIA

Žilinal DANCE: Slovak Dancer Award – This open competi-tion, seeking to pick the besthip-hop dancer in Slovakia,is hosted by Osťo, a member

of the Breakfans dancegroup.

Starts: March 26, 14:00; Aupark Shopping Centre. Ad-mission: free. More informa-tion: www.kamdomesta.sk.

Breznol INSECTS:Exotické potvorky/ Exotic Small Beasts – Thisexhibition of tropical insectsfrom the private collection of Michal Zachar from Prievidzashowcases diurnal and noc-turnal butterflies, attractivespecies of swallowtail, pea-cock butterflies, and hawk-moths, mostly from Africa, Asiaand SouthAmerica.

Open: Mon-Fri 8:00-17:00,Sat 9:00-17:00; HorehronieMuseum, Gen. M. R. ŠtefánikSquare 13. Admission: €0.20-€0.50. Tel: 048/6112-453; www.horehronskemuzeum.sk.

Eastern SLOVAKIA

Humennél LIVEMUSIC:Collegium Mu-sicum: Speak, Memory Tour –The latest leg of a tour by thislegendary Slovak rock band, who recently returned to per-forming. M. Varga, F. Frešo, F.Griglák are the original members, with only M. Valihora ondrums as a new addition.Their music represents astunning combination of rock, jazzand classicalmusic.

Starts: March 25, 19:00;theatre hall of the House of

Culture. Admission: €12.Tel: 057/7755-548; www.humenne.sk.

Prešovl EXHIBITION:Portréty / Por-traits – This exhibition of the works of Bolesław Barbacki(1891-1941), an influential Pol-ish painter, was organised incollaboration with a museumin Nowy Sącz, Prešov’s sistercityin Poland.

Open: Tue- Fri 9:00-17:00,Sun 14:30-18:30 until April 3;Šariš Gallery, Hlavná 51. Ad-mission: €0.50-€1. Tel: 051/7725-423;www.sgpresov.sk.

By Zuzana Vilikovská

E VENTS COUNTRYWIDE

THISYEAR,the OneDayJazzFest will bringa tasteofthe Orient:apart from the Martin Valihora Trio (Slovakia) and Gypsy Clas-sic (Hungary)theMarch22 event,whichtakes placein theSlov-akRadiobuildingat Mýtna1, will also feature the Abhijit Baner- jeeTrio fromIndia,thus comprising a unique cross-over concertof modern Slovak jazz and classical Indian music. The ODJF is jointly organised by M. Valihora and the Shiraz agency. Ticketsfor the concert, which begins at 19:00, cost €15 and can bebought throughwww.ticketportal.skor atthe venue.

Photo:B.J.Chowdhury,CourtesyofShiraz

THE FAMOUS Cigánski Diabli (Gypsy Devils) band will playgypsy folk music as well as classical and modern pieces at theTown Sports Hall in Michalovce as part of a concert with rockveteran RoboGrigorov that takesplaceon March 26from19:30.Their recent tour has resulted in a fascinating combination of theartists’differentmusicalstyles. Photo:TASR

10 CULTURE

I n c o op er at i on w it h t h e S l ov ak H yd ro me te or ol o gi c al I ns t it u te

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

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 R C H 2 0 1 1

Monday Blahoslav

March 21

Tuesday BeÀadik

March 22

Wednesday Adrián

March 23

ThursdayGabriel

March 24

Friday Marián

March 25

Saturday Emanuel

March 26

Sunday Alena

March 27

March 21 – 27, 2011

Ambassador visits RomaON MARCH 11 and 12, Norwe-gian Ambassador Trine Sky-moen met people working forthe pilot project Divé Maky –šanca pre rómske talenty zcelého Slovenska / Wild Pop-

pies – A chance for Roma tal-ents from all Slovakia whichhas been run since 2009 bythe civic association ProDonum in the biggest Romasettlement in Slovakia,Jarovnice. She watched a per-formance by children in-volved in the project, metJarovnice mayor Florián Giňaand also witnessed everydaylifein a Romasettlement.

Skymoen said, as reportedby Pro Donum, that she didnot have any expectations,butthat therealitystruckher.She added that she liked theidea of giving Roma childrena chance to show and developtheirtalentsandskills.

In November 2009, an ex-

pert jury picked 100 childrenfromthe settlement: theyhadto showtheirtalent, andtheir willingness to study and develop it; theyalso qualifiedforhelp if their families lackedthe money to pay for theirstudies.

For one year, tutors,teachers and professional

artists worked with the selec-

ted children and this visit, in-cluding the performance, wasthe climax of the project, which will be assessed by theend of March 2011. It was sup-ported by the EEA FinancialMechanism, the NorwegianFinancial Mechanism andSlovakia’sstate budget.

Compiledby ZuzanaVilikovská

TrineSkymoenin Jarovnice. Photo:Courtesyof DivéMaky

SP90474/1

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The legacy of Bauhaus

BAUHAUS was not only an ar-chitectural style; it was also asocial solution to the prob-lems of the 1920s and 1930s

whose concepts remain relev-anttoday.“Thefutureof architecture

lies in the application of Bauhaus ideas to today’s prob-lems – including affordablehousing, which remains themain architectural issue of the 21st century. The focus of Bauhaus architecture has al-ways been on finding solu-

tions to the fundamentalproblems of humans in theirrespective times,” said Mi-chael Siebenbrodt, director of the Bauhaus Museum inWeimar, Germany, in conver-sation with the Americanphotographer GordonWatkinson.

Enchanted by the conceptof Bauhaus, Watkinson pho-tographed 12 iconic buildingstypical of the Bauhaus styleand 12 contemporary build-ings inspired by or reflectingtheideas ofBauhaus.Thepho-tosare onshowuntilMarch 27 at the Design Factory in Brat-islava as part of the exhibitionBauhaus Twenty-21: An Ongo-ing Legacy. The images notonly convey the architecturalhistory of Bauhaus, but gomuch deeper, uncovering itsenduring philosophies andthe importance of its legacyfor contemporaryarchitects.

Fromfurniture

to architecture

Watkinson, a commercialphotographer for a broadrange of clients from advert-ising, architecture, design,

and fashion, came to Bauhausthroughfurniture.

“WhenI first came toDes-sau [the German town in which the Bauhaus school islocated] I was looking for par-ticular pieces of furniture anddidn’t realise they had all been moved to Berlin,” Watkinson said during a'guided tour' of his exhibit forjournalists in Bratislava. “So Ihadto look atthe architectureinstead, and I learned a lot whileI wasthere.”

He learned that Bauhaus was not only a style, but also asolutionto thesocial problemsof those times that remainsrelevant today.

“Although the nameBauhaus is well known inter-

nationally, few people aretruly aware both of the com-plexity of its history and thediversity of its architecturallegacy,” Watkinson wrote onhiswebsite.

Bauhaus, which means‘house for building’ in Ger-man, was a school combiningcrafts and fine arts founded by Walter Gropius in 1919. HereGropius and other architectsintroduced principles thatshaped the foundation of modernarchitecture.

As Watkinson explained,one of the basic tasks of archi-tects in the 1920s and 1930s, when large industrial manu-facturing needed an inflow of

workers, was to design mod-ern and affordable housing forthe middle and workingclasses. How the architectsdealt with this task is the sub-ject of Watkinson’s images of

Törten, the estate in Dessaudesignedby Gropius.

When Gropius was as-signed to design housing forthe middle and workingclasses in Dessau, he didn’tlook to other architects forsolutions, but found inspira-tion in car producer HenryFord and in standardised in-dustrial modules. At Törten,Gropius used on-site prefab-rication and was able to com-pletesix housesina week.

Törtenisoneofthe12icon-ic buildings selected for theproject, which also includes what is probably the mostfamous Bauhaus building, the building of the school itself,designedby Gropius in 1925.

“Allideas for theeducation

of architects are embodiedhere,” explained Watkinson.“One of Gropius’ basic ideas was the idea of building blocks.He believed thatmodu-lar building would make ar-chitecture and housing moreaffordable for the middle and working classes.”

This building also containsa glass wall, embodying themodernist idea of breaking the barrier between nature and ar-chitecture andlettingthe lightin,accordingto Watkinson.

Choosing theworks

Watkinson worked withtwo advisors to choose

projects to photograph. WithMichael Siebenbrodt, he selec-ted 12 historical projects de-signed between 1923 and 1933.Besides the Bauhaus buildingand the Törten estate, there is

also the steel house by GeorgMuche and Richard Paulick inDessau, the so-called masters’

houses by Gropius in Dessau,House Am Horn by GeorgMuche in Weimar, the TradeUnion School by Hannes Mey-er in Bernau, Germany, andthe German Pavilion in Bar-celona and Tugendhat Villa inBrno, Czech Republic, both byLudwig Mies van der Rohe,andothers.

Falk Jaeger, who is an ar-chitecture critic in Berlin,helped Watkinson select hiscontemporary subjects. Amongst them are the FederalEnvironmental Agency de-signed by Sauerbruch Huttonin 2003; House R128 by Wern-er Sobek in Stuttgart, Ger-many; the Solar Estate in

Freiburg, Germany by Rolf Disch; and Skywood House inDenham, Great Britain, de-signed by Graham Phillips.Many of these address thechallenge of the day – energyefficiency. For example, theFederal Environmental Agency and the Solar Estateare energy self-sufficient,harnessing geothermal andsolar energy using the mostmodern technologies.

Alltheimages arein black-and-white. Watkinson ex-plained thatthe photos are notin colour because “the colourof historical buildings imme-diately dates them, and I wanted to demonstrate that

theseformsare timeless”.The exhibit includes fur-niture, which visitors are in- vited to use.

“The furniture and archi-tecture of Bauhaus were de-signed to be together,” said Watkinson, explaining that when designing furniture, ar-chitects stuck to the basicideas of Bauhaus – to producedurable furniture the middleclass could afford. “They werelooking for materials that would be cheap and sturdy,and the cheapest suitable ma-terial they could find wasmetal bicycle tubing. All of these were originally madefrombicycletubing.”

What: BauhausTwenty-21: AnOngoing Legacy- Photographs by

Gordon WatkinsonWhere: Design Factory,Bottova2

www.designfactory.sk

B Y J ANA L IPTÁKOVÁSpectatorstaff

GordonWatkinson Photo:Jana Liptáková

Bratislava,a new home

“THOSEOFyou whoarelessthan 25yearsoldarelessBratislavanthan I am,”saidSawkat Choudhury, a physi-cianwho cameto Bratislavaasa medical student in1985andstayed,duringa debatein Bratislava’s Artforum bookshopwhich gathered

fiveexpats fromfar-offas well as not-so-distantplaces whocurrentlyresidein theSlovak capital.

Thedebate,entitled“Prepačté,nevjemdobreposlovensku!”[sic](Excuse me,I don’tspeakSlovakthat well),was an event organ-ised onMarch11in coopera-tionwith theMilan ŠimečkaFoundation.It waspartof thefourthBratislavain Art-forum Festival,which takesplaceannually in theArtfor-um bookshop,a location whichhasovertheyearsbe-comesomethingofa cult venuein thecity. ThedebatesawDutch photographer Il-

lahvan Oijen, Canadian cafe-ownerBen Pascoe, Macedo-nianresearcher ŽivkaDel-eva,American translatorandthird-sector consultantJanetLivingstone, andChoudhurytalkingin Slovakabouttheir experiences, im-pressionsand opinions of life inBratislavain frontof acrowdedaudience.

“Bratislava,on theonehand, hasthe qualitiesof Slovakia’s other,smaller cit-iesthat peoplebringwiththem, buton theotherhandthere is thepressureof something‘Pressburger’,diverse, that hasalways been here– Jewish,Slovak,

or German alike,”Choudhurysaid.“You canseethat from people’sbeha- viour,andI grewto like itmuchmorethan the15-mil-

lion-strong [city of] Dhaka whereI grewup.”

Theexpats,who admittheirmanifold identitiesand whohave madeBratislavatheirhome,are returningtothecitysomeof itsalmost-lostdiversity. Theyspokeabouthow Bratislavahaschangedduringthe timetheyhave livedhere,howtheydealt withthe chal-lengesofliving ina foreigncityand speakinga foreignlanguage,and howtheygrew tolikeit.

“Icarryon,andIdomy bestto makeBratislava myhome;I feelgood here,” Del-eva, whohasbeenlivinginBratislavafor fouryears,saidof herexperiences.

Illahvan Oijen, whose bookof photographyaboutBratislavawas publishedre-

cently, said that upon herar-rivalin Bratislava in2007shefeltthe responsibility of aphotographer to documentthechangesthatshesawhappeningin thecity, andthatshe regardedas huge.

“Bratislava is a topic inmy life, I keep dealingwithit,I keep taking pictures of it,peoplekeepasking meabout it,”van Oijen said,adding thatthe problemof Bratislavais thatits peopleremainsteeped in nostalgiaabout whatBratislavahaslost throughout history.Butshebelieves oneneedsto becritical andlookforwardto what canbe improved and

builtinthecity.“I’m home here, now,really, forbetter orworse,”saidJanetLivingstone,whohasbeen in Slovakia sincetheearly1990s, addingthatforher,life in Bratislavaisfullof contrasts.

Ben Pascoeadmittedthatthanks toleavingCanadaand startinga newlifein Bratislavahe hashada chanceto meet interestingpeoplethathe wouldneverget tomeetinhis homecountry.

“Everyday I misslessandless things fromCanada,” he said.

TheBratislava in Artfor-

um Festival lasted fromMarch10 toMarch18andfeatureda livedebateeverynight.On March14, thean-niversaryof theemergencein1939of thewartime Nazi-alliedSlovakState– a date which frequentlybringssupportersof far-rightmovementsonto thestreets– thedebatewasfocusedonnationalismand patriotism.Itwas organisedas a part of theEnoughof Silenceprotestagainst fascism andsimilartendenciesin society. Theprotest events comprisedanexhibitionabout theperse-cutionof homosexualsinNaziGermany,a concertand

a documentary screening,afilmmarathon,and debatesinthe Open Gallery,as wellasa debate accompaniedby atasting of traditionalJewishdishes at Artforum.

A detailfrom theBauhausBuilding(left)and theFederal EnvironmentalAgency,bothin Dessau,Germany. Photo:GordonWatkinson

11CULTURE March 21 – 27, 2011

Design Factoryhosts an

exhibition of thearchitecturalhistory and

enduringphilosophies of

Bauhaus

B Y M ICHAELAT ERENZANISpectator staff

Bratislava Photo:J. Liptáková

Immigrants toBratislava share

their experiences

and opinions of the city



Birds get threenew shelters

THE ENVIRONMENT Min-istry has designated threenew, mountainous regions –the MaláFatra, SlovenskýRajand the Tatra Mountains – as

Protected Bird Areas (CHVÚ),ministry spokesperson Be-atrice Hudáková told theSITAnewswire.

“This brings Slovakiacloser to fulfilling a direct-ive of the European Parlia-ment and Council on theconservation of wild birds,”she said. “As of January 15,we have designated37 of therequired41 areas.”

Each of the new areascoincides with other protec-ted land in the region, and

with nat ional parks ,Hudákovásaid.

She noted that the newMalá Fatra andSlovenský Raj

areas are both importanthabitats for the peregrinefalcon, and that goldeneagles nest in the new areasin the Malá Fatra and the

Tatra Mountains.Other birdsthat will be protected in thenew areas include white- backed woodpeckers ,collared flycatchers, therufous-tailed rock thrush,the western capercaillie, thehazel grouse and the Eurasi-anpygmyowl.

Slovakia remains in legalhot water concerning itsnon-compliance with thedirective.

Conservationists say aplan for designating all therequired bird protectionareas should have been pro-posed before Slovakia joinedtheEU inMay 2004.

TheMalá Fatra: nowa protectedareasfor birds. Photo:Sme

Thedocument discovered ina church tower in Raslaviceduringits reconstruction. Photo:TASR

Church reconstructionreveals 1920s mementoes

WORKERSrenovating theChurch of StTrinity inRaslavice, amunicipality

in eastern Slovakia’s Bardejovdistrict, recently made a sur-prising discovery. While re-

placing the church’s roof,they found a metal tube thatcontained a letter written in1926 and15 antique coins.

“The letter was written while the church’s tower wasunder reconstruction,” saidPeter Paľa, a local official, theTASR newswire reported. “Itstates such things as who led

the church’s congregation atthe time, who was mayor and who took part in thereconstruction.”

Paľa also said that the let-ter recorded reconstructionon the church’s roof in 1926 ashaving cost 8,000 Slovakcrowns. He compared that to

the €8,000 cost of similar re-construction being done onthe church today.

Most of the coins alsodated back to the 1920s, Paľasaid, but some had been min-ted in the 19th century. A fewhad Empress Maria Theresaon them, meaning they had been produced in the late 18th

century. “Once the construc-tion is complete, we plan toput the message back in thetube and leave it for futuregenerations,”Paľa said.

Historians say a churchhas been located on the samespot in Raslavice since thesecond half of the 13th cen-

tury. Originally a Catholicchurch, it became Protestantonce Evangelicals began at-tending in the 16th and 17thcenturies. It revertedto beinga Catholic church in the firsthalf of the 18th century, andremained so until a new Catholic church was built inthe1990s.

World-record holder visits Biker Film Festival

THE SECONDannual Biker

Film Festival inRužomberok welcomed aspecial guest

this year, Marian Illéš, thefestival’s organiser, told theSITAnewswire.

Nick Sanders, a British biker who holds several worldrecords for long-distancerides, arrived with his wifeandthree children.

The festival screened 22films from 10 countries, Illéšsaid. The accompanying pro-gramme included a discus-sion with some young menfrom Banská Bystrica whohad filmed their trip to Kaza-khstan on small-capacity

motorbikes. Sanders showedsome of his movies andsigned autographs. There was also an exhibition andlecture by a doctor who works for the Helicopter

Emergency Medical Serviceand an exhibition on Japan-eseand German motorbikes.

The festival’s winningmovies were Cuban Harlistas

by Vieri Nissim (Italy); Paral-lel World 3 by Nick Sanders;The Tough One by Jeff Pakosta (US); Beyond theBorder: Riding Solo in Mexico

by Sterling Noren (US); and Veľká cesta malých strojov(The Big Trip on Small Ma-chines) by the young ridersfromBanskáBystrica.

Findingtheir ownfeet in BA

THE HOUSEof MOST-BRIDGE, anon-profitorganisa-tion that as-

sists the mentally ill, is cel-ebrating a milestone, itsdirector, AndreaBeňušková, told the SITAnewswireon February3.The organisation recentlyarranged its first flat inBratislava for two mentally

ill men, who will stay thereto learn to live independ-ently. The flat is in the DlhéDiely section of the city,and has enough space tohouseanothertwo people.

Daniela Adamková, whoruns the organisation’sapartment project, said themen are going to spend between six months andtwo years in the flat work-ing with caretakers who will help them achievegoals such as learning tocook. The fact that the men willhave to contribute €100of the flat’s €800 monthlycost, as well as continue totake medication and attend

therapy sessions duringtheir stay, will help them become more self-reliant,she said.

The organisation hasalready opened flats for thementally ill in Lozorno, a village near Bratislava, andRimavská Sobota, a town insouthern Slovakia.

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AROUND SLOVAKIAcompiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports

12 FEATUREMarch 21 – 27, 2011

NickSandersfromthe UKgave outautographs tofans. Photo:Courtesyof Filmfest.sk

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