The Slovak Spectator 15_39

Construction Minister Igor Štefanov holds up a copy of the Sme daily bearing a front-page photograph of himself. The ministermocked reports that Slovakia would lose out on EU funds, despite an EC decision to the contrary. Photo: Sme - Peter Žákovič

EC squelches funds forbulletin-board tender

THE CHAIR underneath yet anotherSlovak National Party (SNS) nominee iswobbling after the European Commis-sion said that it would not reimburse asingle euro spent within the controver-sial bulletin-board tender organised bySlovakia’s Construction Ministry. Minis-ter Igor Štefanov’s rhetoric was still filledwith swagger on October 7 when he saidthat Slovakia will not lose any moneyover the tender.

Prime Minister Robert Fico said thathe would request the Supreme Audit Of-fice to again check on the tender and if itsaudit shows any waste of public fundsthose responsible for the tender would beheld responsible.

The controversial tender has alreadycost the previous SNS-nominated con-struction minister, Marian Janušek, hispost and two official investigations havefound that Slovakia’s public procurement

rules were broken in awarding a €120-million contract to a consortium that in-cluded Avocat and Zamedia, two firmsreported to have close links to Ján Slota,the head of the SNS. Services alreadyprovided under the tender involved whatthe investigations found to be overpricedlogos, TV spots, and services.

The contract had been awardedafter the original tender notice was ad-

vertised solely on an internal bulletinboard at the Construction and RegionalDevelopment Ministry in an area notnormally accessible to the public.

Nicholas Martyn, Audit Director atthe Directorate General for RegionalPolicy of the European Commissionconfirmed on October 6 that the EChad completed its analysis of the bul-letin-board tender and that Brusselswould not reimburse Slovakia for anyof the funds spent in the subsequentlycancelled tender, the TASR newswirereported. Martyn added that the ECappreciates that Slovak authoritieshave taken a pragmatic approach to-wards the matter and would not bringa case seeking reimbursement of thespent funds before the EuropeanCourt of Justice.

See AUDIT pg 13

‘Not ourproblem’

ONE observer responded to a recent petitionsigned by 105 Slovak judges – who argue thatthe judicial authorities are seeking to penal-ise judges for their opinions – by saying thatSlovakia’s judiciary may require a clean-up ofAugean proportions. But this is not an opin-ion shared by Prime Minister Robert Fico andhis ruling coalition partner Vladimír Mečiar.

They say that the recent turmoil in thejudiciary has been triggered by politiciansand that if there are really any problems inSlovakia’s courts, the judges should solvethem by themselves. Fico added that protrac-ted legal proceedings are the biggest problemin the justice system.

See 105 pg 2

And then there were three

SLOVAKIA’S two state healthinsurers will merge into a state-owned mammoth and two ofthe present three privatehealth insurers are to fuse intoa private giant, cutting thenumber of health insurers op-erating on the Slovak marketfrom five to three. The Slovak

cabinet has already given thenod to the merger of VšeobecnáZdravotná Poisťovňa (VšZP) andSpoločná Zdravotná Poisťovňa(SZP), hoping to see the in-surers save 9 percent of theiroperational costs.

Though the merger itselfhas attracted some criticism, itis the state’s plan to inject €65.1million into VšZP, and thus in-crease its share capital, that hasprompted the opposition’s in-dignation. Robert Fico’s cabinetapproved the move on Septem-ber 30.

Health Minister RichardRaši has argued that the mergeris the ideal prescription to cureVšZP’s financial ills by, he said,eliminating the impacts of the

financial crisis and preservingthe financing of health care atits current levels. The opposi-tion has warned that boostingthe insurer’s share capital willhardly solve its problems, butsome observers say the mergeritself seems a logical move intimes of economic difficulty.

VšZP is currently Slovakia’slargest health insurer, withabout 2.9 million policyholdersout of a total population ofaround 5.4 million. The mainshareholders in SZP are threeSlovak government ministries:the Defence Ministry, the In-terior Ministry and the Ministryof Transportation.

See MERGE pg 4

BY BEATA BALOGOVÁSpectator staff

NEWS

Ireland votes 'yes'Irish voters gave a green lightto the EU Lisbon Treaty in are-run referendum on October2. Now only Poland and theCzech Republic must ratify itfor it to come into force.

pg 2

Regional polls nearThe unofficial campaign hasalready begun for elections toSlovakia's eight self-govern-ing regions, which will takeplace in November.

pg 3

Which drugs to pay for?The government has an-nounced the latest round ofcategorisation and more than5,000 prescription drugs arenow covered by insurers.

pg 4

OPINION

Who is the real enemy?The Slovak National Partyalone generates enough dodgydeals to keep all the country'sinvestigative reporters busy.

pg 5

BUSINESS FOCUS

Airborne goodsSlovak airports are seeking toboost the amount of cargotraffic they handle.

pg 6

Logistics cautionThe economic downturn hasput a stop to speculative lo-gistics property development.Now projects are mainly be-ing built to order.

pg 7

CULTURE

Dreaming of BrusselsA new exhibition recalls thehopes and illusions surround-ing the Czechoslovak successat the '58 Expo in Brussels.

pg 15

Prawn alertWith Peter Jackson behind it,this film was always likely tofeature some fairly oddcreatures. Howard Swainsreviews 'District 9'.

pg 15

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Ruling coalitiondismisses complaints

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Did familyties help winstate grants?

WHEN Cesta životom (Path of Life), a non-profit organisation set up in easternSlovakia’s Humenné to help recovering drugaddicts, won a €35,000 grant from the LabourMinistry earlier this year, the award attractedlittle attention.

Last month, however, it was reported thatthe non-profit was founded by Jana Vaľová, anMP for the ruling Smer party, and had itsheadquarters at her home address.

See CASH pg 12

BY TOM NICHOLSONSpecial to the Spectator


Slovakia must cover€11 million

already spent


105: Petitioners are denouncedContinued from pg 1

The petition, dubbed the ‘Five Sentences’after the five appeals it contains, was presen-ted on October 1 by three senior judges –Miroslav Gavalec of the Supreme Court,Katarína Javorčíková of the Bratislava Re-gional Court and Dušan Čimo of the TrnavaRegional Court – who talked openly about “anatmosphere of fear” within the Slovak judi-ciary.

The petition came just a few weeks after15 judges wrote an open letter in earlySeptember to Slovakia’s three highest consti-tutional officials, as well as to the JusticeMinister and Slovakia’s Judicial Council,warning of what they called the abuse of dis-ciplinary proceedings against certain judgeswho were critical of Supreme Court PresidentŠtefan Harabin.

Shortly after the publication of the FiveSentences the council of the Košice RegionalCourt distributed its own stance, dismissingthe petition as ‘biased’ and arguing that itfails to list the positive developments withinthe judiciary.

The Sme daily called the Košice documentan ‘anti-charter’, referring to a historical par-allel with events under communism in 1977,when opponents of the regime signed Charter77, which called for observance of humanrights, only to be denounced by apologists forthe regime, who drafted and signed a docu-ment called the anti-charter.

The Justice Ministry said it would begin apublic discussion about the situation in thejudiciary, but the Movement for a DemocraticSlovakia (HZDS), the party which originallynominated Harabin to the post of justice min-ister, called the recent developments an at-tack against the party.

Fico said that recent developmentswithin the judiciary were an internal af-fair of judges that they must work out forthemselves.

“Fico’s reaction is typical of a govern-ment politician who is unwilling to admit

the existence of a problem out of fear thathe could subsequently be accused of re-sponsibility for it,” Ivan Kuhn, an analystwith the Conservative Institute of M.R.Štefánik, told The Slovak Spectator. “Thisis why he has chosen the ‘offence is thebest form of defence’ tactic and is blamingthe opposition for creating this problem orexaggerating it to boost its popularity.”

According to Kuhn, Fico is trying toavoid having to engage personally in thesolution of the problem.

Representatives of the 105 signatoriesstrongly criticised Prime Minister Fico’sattitude.

“The judiciary is a public matter con-cerning the whole of society and every cit-izen. It is therefore not only judges whoare responsible for the state it is in but rep-resentatives of the executive and legislat-ive powers are equally responsible,” Gava-lec, Javorčíková and Čimo told the TASRnewswire.

On October 7, Fico restated that he doesnot want to drag politics into the judiciaryand suggested that protracted legal pro-ceedings are the biggest problem facingthe sector.

“Let's leave them to sort out their in-ternal problems,” Fico said, as quoted byTASR. “I don't even want to comment onthis issue. It's not my problem; it's theproblem of the Slovak judiciary as such.”

However, Kuhn said he could not seewhat Fico meant when he suggested thatjudges should solve the situation on theirown.

“Since the judiciary does not work onthe principle of democracy – for that, a ma-jority of judges would have to elect in a[general] vote the members of the JudicialCouncil and the members and the chiefjustice of the Supreme Court respectively[which they do not] – I really do not knowwhat the Prime Minister means when hesays that they have to solve the situation bythemselves,” Kuhn said.

Kuhn said he believed the judiciary in Slov-akia needed to be cleaned like the Augean stables,and that calming tensions would not be enough.

HZDS boss Vladimír Mečiar dismissed criti-cism of Harabin as unfounded.

“If I make up a ghost and start fearing it, it isnot an issue for the judiciary but for apsychologist,” Mečiar said, as quoted by Sme.

The petition came on the heels of the case ofBanská Bystrica District Court judge JanaDubovcová, who recently faced disciplinaryproceedings for expressing her personal opin-ion. Her boss, Ľubomír Bušík, submitted a pro-posal for Dubovcová to be disciplined after sheearlier this year wrote a highly critical com-mentary for Sme about the condition of the judi-ciary. Dubovcová also supported the “Red Lightfor Harabin” campaign organised by the Fair-Play Alliance NGO to oppose Harabin’s election,according to Sme.

Fico commented that a judge should not besuspended for expressing critical or politicalopinions, even on a theoretical level.

Justice Minister Viera Petríková, a HZDSnominee, approved Bušík’s proposal on Septem-ber 27, provoking a wave of criticism from non-governmental organisations, opposition politic-al parties and the media. The next day, Bušíkwithdrew his request for Dubovcová’s suspen-sion, saying that the matter had already turnedinto a political fight. Petríková then acceptedBušík’s modified proposal, by whichDubovcová’s judicial status was changed for thesecond time within a short period.

Meanwhile, the council of the TrnavaRegional Court has also released a stancesuggesting that it does not support the initi-ative by the signatories of the Five Sen-tences, the SITA newswire wrote.

“The council of Trnava Regional Courtdoes not identify with this form of presenta-tion by a group of judges, as it is an effort topoliticise the problems of the judiciary; sucha presentation raises doubts among the pub-lic about the credibility of the judiciary andendangers the esteem and dignity of judgesand the judiciary,” the council wrote.

Slovaks welcome Irish ‘yes’

IRELAND has given a green lightto the further process ofEuropean integration in themanner envisaged by the LisbonTreaty, a document which euro-optimists believe will bring a bet-ter future to the whole continentand one which euro-pessimistsfear as a tool for bringing the EUcloser to a single super-state.Slovakia has welcomed the out-come of the Irish vote.

“The treaty obviously doesn’tsolve all the EU’s problems – es-pecially when it comes to effect-iveness in decision-making andin policies or in transparency anddemocracy – but it’s a small stepin the right direction,” RadovanGeist, the editor-in-chief ofEurActiv.sk told The Slovak Spec-tator. “It’s in Slovakia’s interestthat the EU is democratic, trans-parent and effective – and in thissense the result of the Irish poll ispositive for us.”

The Slovak Ministry of For-eign Affairs issued a statementstating that Slovakia welcomesthe positive outcome of the Irish

vote since it opens the door forthe treaty to be actually broughtto life. The ministry also said itbelieves that ratification of theLisbon Treaty will be soon final-ised in all EU countries.

The polling stations attracted58 percent of Irish voters on Oc-tober 2, out of whom 67.1 percentvoted in favour of the treaty – aresult rather different from thevote in June 2008 when Irelandrejected the treaty.

The Irish Ambassador toSlovakia, Kathryn Coll, was verypleased by the positive result ofthe referendum.

“Against a uniquely difficultbackdrop of a severe economicdownturn, this is resoundingevidence of the capacity of the Ir-ish people to discern where theirbest interests lie, now and intothe future,” Coll told The SlovakSpectator. “Everyone is happy and

relieved that unstinting effortover many long months by the Ir-ish government, the oppositionand civil society ultimately se-cured this unequivocal yes to theEU and yes to the Lisbon Treaty.”

According to Coll, the Irishgovernment believes that theresult will give new momentumto the country’s economic re-covery and that it should infusethe EU with renewed confidencein its ability to deliver for the cit-izens of member states.

The Irish ‘yes’ has drawn theLisbon Treaty closer to its com-plete ratification, but there aretwo more countries still unde-cided about its ratification – Po-land and the Czech Republic,where President Václav Klaus isknown for his negative attitudetowards the treaty.

“The Czech Constitutiongives him the opportunity to

postpone signing the treaty andnow that the Czech Constitu-tional Court has accepted acomplaint of a group of senatorsabout the incompatibility of theLisbon Treaty with the CzechConstitution he also has a polit-ical argument to hold his signa-ture at least until the court’sverdict – which can be by theend of this year,” Geist said.

Geist expects political pres-sure on Klaus to increase but hesees several reasons why thepresident might not bow to it.

“First, resistance towards thetreaty is currently Klaus’ mostimportant political agenda andthus he politically – and un-doubtedly also personally – ishappy to remain in the positionof the person on whom ‘the fateof European integration’depends,” Geist said. “But polit-ical speculations can also playtheir role – he might hold thesignature until the parliament-ary elections in the UK whichwill probably be won by the Con-servatives, who subsequentlywill fulfil their political promiseand organise a referendum inwhich the British will very likelyreject the treaty.”

According to Geist, the prob-lem of this scenario, however, iswhat happens next.

“Would the new Britishgovernment decide to with-draw its signature from thedocument, even for a high polit-ical price or would it be satisfiedwith only a series of opt-outs orguarantees?” he said.

Nižňanský stops TV broadcastTHE GENERAL Director ofpublic broadcaster SlovakTelevision, Štefan Nižňanský,banned the broadcast of aninvestigative report about asocial company in Bardejovwhich is receiving subsidiesfrom the Labour Ministry, theSme daily reported.

The report depicted an ap-parently non-functioningcompany which exists only“officially”. On the morningof October 5 the editor of theinvestigative news depart-ment and STV lawyers hadapproved the report's broad-cast, but that afternoonNižňanský saw it and bannedit from the evening broadcastschedule. He said that thenews department had failedto finish the story on time.

“Some reporters are pro-cessing topics and reports su-perficially, unprofessionally,at the very last moment and

with a tabloid undertonethrough which they endangerthe broadcast; in many cases,they even damage STVeconomically,” Sme quotedNižňanský as saying.

The head of the STV Coun-cil, Martin Kákoš, said that itwas a failure by the head ofthe editorial departmentwho, according to thebroadcaster’s internal rules, isrequired to make sure reportsare ready for review one weekbefore they are due to bebroadcast. Sme wrote that theSTV Council will now analysethe investigative report.

“It’s a typical example ofcensorship,” Tomáš Galbavý,a member of the parliament-ary committee for media fromthe opposition Slovak Demo-cratic and Christian Union(SDKÚ), told Sme. “The dir-ector of STV is a servileflunky.”

NEWS in short

2 October 12 – 18, 2009 NEWS

Irish voters approved the Lisbon Treaty on October 2. Photo: Reuters

Macedonia to get Slovak help to join EU

SLOVAKIA is ready to helpMacedonia in its efforts toenter the European Union, For-eign Affairs Minister MiroslavLajčák told Macedonia’s Vice-Premier for European Affairs,Vasko Naumovski, during hisvisit to Bratislava on September5, the TASR newswire reported.

“You've got our supportand our understanding,” saidLajčák, recalling Slovakia'sexperience in integration andreform processes that couldbe helpful for other aspirantsas well.

Lajčák said Slovakia stands

for the so-called 'open doorpolicy' when it comes to EU andNATO enlargement and appre-ciates the progress Macedoniahas made in this regard. Interms of the visa liberalisation,Macedonia is the best preparedcountry in the region.

“We’re ready to help you onyour path to the EU not onlywith experience but also withdevelopment aid, twinningprojects, creation of adminis-trative capacities andinstitutions,” Lajčák assuredNaumovski, who expressed histhanks for Slovakia’s approach.

SMK to hold confidence vote on CsákyTHE ETHNIC Hungarian SMKparty's 's national executiveboard has voted to grant partychairman Pál Csáky’s wish for aconfidence vote in his leader-ship at a convention later thismonth in Rimavská Sobota, theTASR newswire reported.

The convention is set forOctober 17 and the SMK is ex-pected to adopt a party pro-gramme for the future.

“Within its framework, wewant to present our three iden-tities: to be citizens of the Slov-ak Republic, of Hungarian eth-nicity, and Europeans,” saidCsáky for the TASR.

He expects the November14 elections to regional gov-

ernments in November to beacrimonious given the factthat former SMK chief BélaBugár has founded a newparty, Most-Híd.

“We have to bear in mindthat we will be vying with anew party for the same voters.That’s why we will go head-to-head in some districts,” he said.The executive board approvedthe candidacy of 105 membersin five of Slovakia’s eight re-gions, while the party will runMP Ágnes Biró as it candidatefor president of the Nitra Self-governing Region.

This year 167 members quitthe party while 234 new mem-bers joined.

Prosecutor sentenced for corruption

THE SPECIALISED Crime Courthas sentenced Michal Valach, aformer prosecutor from Lučenec,to 3 years in prison. Valach wasfound guilty of accepting a bribeof almost €10,000 for postponingthe sentence of a man whocaused a car accident with fatalconsequences, the SITA news-wire reported.

However, the Sme dailynoted that Valach did not actu-ally make any arrangements onbehalf of the sentenced man,he only faked doing so. Thus hewasn’t sentenced for briberybut rather for fraud.

It is the first time the Spe-cialised Crime Court has sen-tenced a prosecutor in a cor-ruption case. Valach was sen-tenced to three years in prisonand must pay a fine of€10,000. He will probably ap-peal the ruling, Sme reported,and his case will be forwardedto the Supreme Court.Valach’s lawyer also has ques-tioned the legal authority ofSlovakia’s new SpecialisedCrime Court.

Compiled by Spectator staff

from press reports

Final approval ofthe Lisbon Treatynow moves to thecentre of Europe

BY MICHAELA STANKOVÁSpectator staff

Foreign investorssay they plan to stay

ONLY 1 percent of foreign in-vestors running businesses inSlovakia are considering mov-ing their operations out of thecountry. That was one of thekey findings of a survey of for-eign investors in Slovakia con-ducted earlier this year by theAmerican Chamber of Com-merce in Slovakia (AmCham)and presented to high-levelbusiness representatives, rep-resentatives of ministries,members of the Slovak parlia-ment, ambassadors, represent-atives of academia, leaders ofNGOs and foreign experts whoattended the Foreign InvestorsSummit organised by thechamber on September 28.

Slovakia, which earlier inthe decade was nicknamed the“Central European Tiger” dueto its unprecedented economicgrowth, has often been recog-nised as having favourableconditions for doing business.

“However, we felt that, ascompetition continues to in-tensify for the limited supplyof highly-skilled and educatedlabour, and other issues influ-ence the development ofSlovakia’s economic standing,Slovakia’s political and busi-ness elites needed to reviewthe main deterrents to eco-nomic growth in order to se-cure healthy conditions for do-

ing business in Slovakia,” JakeSlegers, the Executive Directorof AmCham, told The SlovakSpectator when asked about thereasons why the chamber con-ducted its survey. The inten-tion, Slegers said, was to sys-tematically review currentconditions and identifyobstacles for foreign investorsdoing business in Slovakia.

“By highlighting positiveconditions and identifyingbarriers, then making appro-priate recommendations andparticipating in effective fol-low-up, AmCham Slovakiahopes to positively influenceSlovakia’s international com-petitiveness and ensure posit-ive and sustainable develop-ment of Slovakia’s economy,”Slegers said.

More than 100 companies,representing foreign investorsfrom 22 different countries, re-sponded to the survey, whichserved as a basis for the ForeignInvestors Summit and forAmCham policy recommenda-tions in two of three main areascovered by the survey: a com-petitive workforce, better regu-lation, and adapting to change.

One of the most intriguingfindings of the survey was that,while 99 percent of respond-ents said their operations hadbeen affected by the economicdownturn, only 1 percent wereconsidering moving their oper-ations out of Slovakia.

See AMCHAM pg 12

3October 12 – 18, 2009NEWS / BUSINESS

Regional polls round outa year of elections

THE SERIES of elections held inSlovakia in 2009, starting withthe presidential election inspring and the European Par-liament elections in summer,will come to its end in late au-tumn with elections in thecountry’s eight regions. Eventhough political dogfights havestarted well before the officialelection campaigning can be-gin, political observers don’t ex-pect long queues at the pollingstations on election day – quitethe contrary.

The deadline for registrationof candidates for the top electedposition (president) of Slovakia’sself-governing regions (VÚCs) aswell as for members of the re-gional parliaments ended on Oc-tober 5. Local authorities are re-quired to publish complete listsof the candidates for their elect-oral district by October 30. Theofficial election campaign will

start on October 28 and will fin-ish on the morning of November12, in accordance with the48-hour moratorium requiredunder the election law.

Saturday November 14 is theactual day scheduled for the firstround. Voters will choose a cer-tain number of candidates forthe regional parliament based

on the size of their election dis-trict from among the candidatesrunning in their district. Theywill also vote for one candidatefor the president of the self-gov-erning region. A presidentialcandidate who receives morethan 50 percent of the actualvotes in the first round wins theelection. If no candidate for re-

gional president receives a ma-jority of the votes cast onNovember 14, a second roundrun-off election will be held onNovember 28 between the toptwo vote-getters.

Foreigners can vote too

The law defines a resident ofa VÚC as any person with per-manent residence in the region –including foreigners with per-manent residency in Slovakia.Every citizen older than 18 is eli-gible to vote in the regional elec-tions as well as to run as a can-didate for the regional parlia-ment or for president of the VÚC.

Altogether there are 56 can-didates vying to become thepresident of one of the eight re-gions, with 10 candidates con-testing the position in Prešovand Bratislava Regions and onlyfour in Trnava.

Among the candidates arecurrent VÚC presidents, mem-bers of the national parliament,some members of the EuropeanParliament and citizens whohave been active in nationalpolitics in the past. There arealso some controversial candid-ates, such as the leader of an ex-tremist movement who is seek-ing to become the VÚC presidentin Banská Bystrica.

See VÚC pg 13

Slovakia will electnew regional

presidents anddeputies in

mid-November


VÚCs can influence the quality of public transport. Photo: Sme

Loyal voters will decide

THE TRADITIONALLY low in-terest by Slovaks in thecountry’s regional elections in-fluences the political map ofSlovakia - but only at the re-gional level. Observers expectthat no more than one in everyfive voters will arrive at pollingstations on November 14, whichcould principally help thosepolitical parties with the mostloyal supporters.

“A lower election turnoutcan help the political partieswith a firmer electorate, that is– in this case – the parties thatdon’t have high support in thepopularity polls but which havetraditionally disciplinedvoters,” political analyst Grigor-ij Mesežnikov of the Institutefor Public Affairs told The SlovakSpectator. In effect, he expectsthe results to favour the centre-right political parties ratherthan the ruling coalitionparties, mainly Smer. He saidthis could mean that party rep-resentation in the regional par-liaments after these electionsmight be more balanced thanafter the 2005 elections.

“But because in this electiona different election formula [ma-jority instead of proportional] isapplied, I won’t make any bigconclusions about the power ofthe political parties; but I believethat a lower turnout can help the

centre-right parties to catch upon Smer, which they lag behindat the national level,”Mesežnikov said.

Political observers are alsosuggesting that the Slovak Na-tional Party (SNS) could see itsvotes drop in the upcoming elec-tions, primarily because of therecent corruption scandals thathave been surrounding theparty’s leaders, the ČTK news-wire reported.

According to Mesežnikov,the regional elections usuallystrictly follow the overall na-tional division between opposi-tion and coalition parties.

“In the regional electionsthis inclination is natural in re-gards to the candidates’ valuesand ideology,” he said, addingthat a mature political party

should present itself in the sameway at both the regional and na-tional levels.

However, in the Nitra Self-governing Region, with its largeproportion of ethnic Hungari-ans, there will be an exception tothis ‘rule’ for a second time. Thecurrent president of the region,Milan Belica, is supported for re-election by Robert Fico’s Smerparty, Ján Slota’s SNS party aswell as by the two largest opposi-tion parties, the Slovak Demo-cratic and Christian Union(SDKÚ) and the Christian Demo-cratic Movement (KDH). One ofhis challengers is Ágnes Biró, anational parliamentary deputyfrom the Hungarian CoalitionParty (SMK). This is the secondelection in Nitra Region wherewhat has been called the ‘bigSlovak coalition’ will stand to-gether against the SMK.

“In Nitra the conditions arevery specific,” Mesežnikov said.“A coalition has been created fora second time based on ethni-city. That is connected with theway the previous SMK deputieswere governing the region. Itwould be much more natural tosee cooperation between Slovakand Hungarian centre-rightparties, but in Nitra this wasmade impossible by the pastSMK deputies who didn’t be-have sensitively in relation tothe legitimate requests of theSlovak deputies. The result isthat the governing coalitionparties are teaming up with themajor opposition parties on theethnic principle.”


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VÚCs are preparing for somechanges. Photo: Sme


Slovakia and Enel finalise purchaseTHE ITALIAN energy giant Enelis satisfied with the outcome oftalks with the Slovak govern-ment on the final price of the66-percent stake in Slovakia’sdominant electric energy pro-ducer, Slovenské Elektrárne(SE), the spokesman of the Itali-an company confirmed to theSITA newswire on October 5.

Based on an agreement onconcluding the privatisation ofSE submitted by the EconomyMinistry for interdepartmentalreview, the state and SE agreedthat the purchase price of over€839 million paid by Enel forthe majority stake in the powerutility is final.

Slovakia earned an addi-tional €113.8 million from thesale of the 66-percent stake inSE to Enel because SE agreed towaive repayment of the sumprovided to the constructioncompany VodohospodárskaVýstavba for the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros hydropowerproject on the river Danube,the Economy Ministry said.

“In discussions betweenthe Economy Ministry andSlovenské Elektrárne, thesides agreed to waive the li-ability, saving a significantfinancial amount from thestate budget,” the ministrytold SITA.

4 October 12 – 18, 2009 BUSINESS

Scanner to have international check

SLOVAK and Ukrainian foreignaffairs ministers have agreedon joint radiation measure-ments to be made on the con-tentious x-ray scanner thatchecks for contraband goods onfreight trains at the bordercheckpoint from Ukraine toSlovakia, Slovak Foreign AffairsMinister Miroslav Lajčák saidon October 5.

“In the week starting Octo-ber 12 measurements for radi-ation will be made by the In-

ternational Atomic EnergyAgency (IAEA),” he said, asquoted by the TASR newswire.

According to Lajčák, theresults of the measurementswill be binding for both parties.

“I expect that after thatweek of measurements at theborder checkpoint, service willresume to the full extent, aswas the case prior to August19,” he said. Ukraine brieflyhalted shipments citing healthconcerns for railway workers.

EC examines Slovak budget deficitIN VIEW of planned budget de-ficits of more than 3 percent in2009 in many EU countries, theEuropean Commission has ad-opted reports for Slovakia andnine other countries under thecorrective arm of the Stabilityand Growth Pact. The reportsexamine whether the deficitsplanned for 2009 are close tothe reference value of 3 percentand whether the higher deficitsare exceptional and temporary.

“We need to continue sup-porting the economy until therecovery takes hold, in line withthe European Economic Recov-ery Plan,” said Economic andMonetary Affairs CommissionerJoaquín Almunia. “But now isalso the moment to design co-ordinated exit strategies so that,when the moment is right, wecan begin to roll back the soar-ing debt levels.”

Earlier this year, thecommission had initiated ex-

cessive deficit procedures fornine other EU countrieswhich had gone over the ref-erence value in 2008. Beforethe crisis hit in the autumn of2008, only Hungary and theUnited Kingdom had beensubject to the excessive deficitprocedure (EDP).

In all of the current casesthe European Commissionconcluded that although thedeficit levels are exceptionalin nature, resulting primarilyfrom a severe economicdownturn or recession of anunforeseeable scale, they areneither close to the referencevalue nor temporary.

The next step – the re-commendations on the dead-lines for the correction – willtake into account the coun-tries’ figures for October.


from press reports

BUSINESS in short

Ukraine seeks to avoid gas crisis

UKRAINE will do everythingpossible so that Europe receivesthe natural gas it needs, saidacting Ukrainian Foreign Min-ister Volodymyr Khandogiyafter he met with his Slovakcounterpart Miroslav Lajčák onOctober 5. However, he addedthat not only his country butalso the country that is the gassupplier should guarantee gassupplies, as reported by theSITA newswire.

Lajčák said that the crisisfrom early 2009 should not berepeated. According to him,Slovakia doesn’t want to be ajudge in any dispute but itwants rules to be observed.

“So that we do not pay forthe problems of two other

countries,” he said, as quotedby SITA.

According to the EconomyMinistry, Slovakia does nothave to be concerned about acrisis in natural gas supplieslike the one at the beginning ofthis year as the country is nowbetter prepared for a potentialstoppage of supplies than itwas in January 2009. Diversi-fied contracts on additionalsupplies of gas between SPPand E.ON Ruhrgas and GDFSuez should help Slovakia sur-vive a gas crisis, the ministersaid. These contracts wouldensure additional supply of upto 850 million cubic metres an-nually for the Slovak market,SITA reported.

MERGE: News scarce on possible layoffsContinued from pg 1

It currently has about 650,000 policy-holders.

The state will be the sole shareholder inVšZP after its merger with SZP. The privateinsurers planning to merge are Dôvera andApollo, who will then share the market withUnion.

After 2010 the merged state insurer willhave a market share of 67 percent of all poli-cyholders. Along with the €65.1 million hikein its share capital, VšZP will also assume€38 million from the basic capital of SZP,according to the website of the HealthPolicy Institute (HPI), a health sectorwatchdog.

The Slovak Democratic and ChristianUnion (SDKÚ), the largest opposition party,said that the fundamental problem with themove is the ineffective management ofVšZP, adding that the merger of the state-owned insurers will only camouflage thereal problems of the health-care sector.

As for the impact that the merger mighthave on the health insurance market, oneshould await the related decisions of the An-titrust Office and the health-care oversightauthority, the president of the Associationof Private Health Insurers, Eduard Kováč,told The Slovak Spectator.

Nevertheless, VšZP general director Zuz-ana Zvolenská is already confident that themerger will bring benefits to both policy-holders and health-care providers. She saidthat a strong state insurer will emerge toserve as a guarantor of stability, the SITAnewswire reported. According to Zvolenská,the merger will stabilise the whole systemof health insurance.

All the savings that the insurers makethrough reduced operating costs – an estim-ated 9 percent in 2010, and 14 percent insubsequent years – would be channelledback to health care, Minister Raši said.

However, the largest state insurer hassaid very little about eventual layoffs relatedto the closure of branches.

Financial injection – thorn in the flesh

Under certain circumstances the movecould be defined as unfair state assistance,Kováč told the Slovak Spectator in responseto the state’s plans to pour €65.1 million intoVšZP.

Viliam Novotný of the SDKÚ said thatthe financial injection was a hot candidateto make it onto the ukradli.sk website,where his party publishes what it considerscases of non-transparent use or waste ofpublic funds.

The Finance Ministry, which had origin-ally said that stuffing money into the suc-cessor insurer would go against the publicsector budgetary rules, no longer regards thefinancial injection as a waste.

“The investment of the state is not lostat all,” Finance Minister Jan Počiatek toldthe public broadcaster Slovak Radio on Oc-tober 1. “Quite the contrary: this value willin the future most probably grow.”

But according to Peter Pažitný of theHPI, these aren’t funds that the insurersneed for the merger itself but rather to covertheir deficits.

Raši’s two immediate predecessors,Rudolf Zajac, who served in the governmentof Mikuláš Dzurinda, and Ivan Valentovič,who was current Prime Minister RobertFico’s first health minister, also proposedmerging the two state insurers but it wasnever done.

Private insurers come together

Penta financial group, which has a con-trolling interest in both of the two largestprivate health insurers operating in Slov-akia, Dôvera and Apollo, plans to mergethem in order to create an insurer able tocompete with the new state-owned healthinsurer. The new private giant should startits operations in 2010 too.

“For us, as the investor in both these in-surers, the reason to merge them was thefact that [they] have very similar values andtheir activities tend to complement eachother – so there is no sense in them acting ascompetitors,” Penta spokesperson MartinDanko told The Slovak Spectator earlier thisyear. “We are also convinced that an insurerwith 1.5 million policyholders will have agreat potential to be a real alternative to thestate health insurers.”

The merger should mean that the in-surers will save on operating costs and allowfor more effective operations.

Private equity group Penta controls 100percent of Dôvera and 49 percent of Apollovia its Dutch affiliate Hicee, the Trendweekly reported. Earlier in August, theHealth Care Supervision Office (ÚDZS) ap-proved the sale of a 51-percent stake inApollo by the Agel company to a Cyprus-based company, Prefto Holdings Limited,which is reportedly close to Penta.

At the beginning of 2009, Dôvera repor-ted about 860,000 policyholders and Apollohad about 500,000 clients.

VsŽP director Zuzana Zvolenská Photo: SITA

Deciding which drugs topay for - and how much

BEGINNING October 1, more pre-scription drugs that are fully orpartially reimbursed from com-pulsory health insurance arenow available to Slovak patients.This is a result of a regular pro-cess called categorisation under-taken every three months by abody of the Health Ministry. Pre-scription medications nowcovered number 5,040.

“In various categories, 169new drugs were added to thelist,” Adam Hlôška, the directorof the department of categorisa-tion, pricing and drug policy atthe Health Ministry told TheSlovak Spectator. “Of all thedrugs on the categorisation listas of October 1, 51 percent arefully covered by the health in-surance companies or require aco-payment of €1 or less by pa-tients. This means that everysecond drug prescribed for pa-tients is free of charge or re-

quires a minimal payment.”While prices for over-the-

counter medicines, which in-clude medicines to help peoplestop smoking or lose weight, areentirely market-based, theprices of medicines prescribedby doctors or used in hospitals inSlovakia are subject to govern-ment regulation.

Every three months the Cat-egorisation Commission, an ad-visory body of the Health Min-

istry, decides which drugs willbe fully or partially covered byhealth insurance and what por-tion of any cost will be coveredby patients.

The commission’s membersalso divide the drugs into cat-egories, limiting which drugscan be prescribed by certaintypes of doctors. For example,some drugs for treatment ofheart diseases can only be pre-scribed by cardiologists. Drugs

are included on the various cat-egorisation lists based on applic-ations submitted by pharma-ceutical producers.

The Health Ministry appliesa philosophy so that there is atleast one drug fully covered byhealth insurance or with a lowpatient co-payment for thetreatment of each chronic dis-ease, Hlôška said.

Price referencing scheme

“The Health Ministry has in-troduced a reference pricingscheme to decrease the price ofmedicines,” Health MinisterRichard Raši told The SlovakSpectator in an earlier interview.“Within this scheme the min-istry monitors and compares theprices of medicines from produ-cers [i.e. without value added taxor the margins of distributorsand pharmacies] in individualEU member states.”

The price of certain drugs inSlovakia is compared with thelowest price of these drugs in sixother EU countries. The schemehas been used twice and the cur-rent categorisation of drugs re-flects the results of the secondprice referencing.

See REF pg 11

Insurers in Slovakia now cover 5,040 prescription drugs. Photo: TASR

Health Ministrycommission reviewresults announced

BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁSpectator staff

5October 12 – 18, 2009OPINION

The Slovak Spectator is an independent newspaper published every Monday by The Rock, s.r.o. Subscriptions: Inquiries should be made to The Slovak Spectator’s business office at (+421-2) 59 233 300. Printing: Petit Press a.s. Distribution: Interpress Slovakia s.r.o., Mediaprint-kapa s.r.o., Slovenská po‰ta a.s. Mail DDistribution: ABOPRESS. Reg. NNo.: 1200/95. © 2008 The Rock, s.r.o. All rights reserved. Any reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited by law. The authors of articles published in this issue, represented by the publisher, reserve the right to give their approval for reproducing and public transmission of articles marked ©The Slovak Spectator, 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 provided by Newton, IT, SMA and Slovakia Online with the approval of the publisher. Advertising material contained herein is the responsibility of the advertiser and is not a written or implied sponsorship, endorsement or investigation of suchcommercial enterprises or ventures by The Slovak Spectator or The Rock s.r.o. ISSN 1335-9843.Address: The Rock, s.r.o., Lazaretská 12, 811 08 Bratislava

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Who is the real enemy?IF THERE was no other politicalparty in Slovakia, the Slovak Na-tional Party (SNS) would stillhave the potential to keep thecountry’s investigative reportersbusy digging through the heapof dubious deals that Ján Slota’sprotégés have piled up over thepast three years or so.

Prime Minister RobertFico’s junior coalition memberwill now be forever re-membered for mega-scandalssuch as the sale of the country’sexcess emission quotas to theeerily-named garage-firm In-terblue Group at a price well be-low that at which Slovakia’sneighbours had sold theirs.

The SNS has also swelledSlovakia’s chronicles of politicalshadiness with grand entriessuch as the ‘fly ash tender’, afishy contract with the Escocompany for the removal anddisposal of fly ash from state-runheating plants in Martin, Zvolenand Žilina. No matter that thecontract was signed with thecompany with the highest bid.The next entry surely should bethe contract of a lifetime signedby Xiland company for renting300 hectares of land along theDanube River in the area of theGabčíkovo hydropower projectfor 99 years at €0.016 per squaremetre per year.

Fico has now ended thereigns at the EnvironmentMinistry of the SNS nomineeswho engineered all these deals.Yet it is only one of the threeministries that Slota got as hisdowry when marrying into theruling coalition.

Now Fico’s man, DeputyPrime Minister Dušan Čaplovič,is digging through the dirtyheap at the Environment Min-istry, checking about 21 publicprocurement deals from 2009.The Sme daily recently reportedthat there are some more dubi-ous deals hiding under the rug,specifically referring to an edu-cational project called Envirojar2009, for which the ministryskipped a regular tender andaddressed bidders directly foroffers. Missing stamps, non-ex-istent signatures and incom-plete documentation are justsome of what Čaplovič’sforensic diggers have found.

A distant observer might be-lieve there would be very littlefertile soil for cronyism in thehydrometeorology business,but once the SNS is involvedthen it is not far-fetched at all.Čaplovič recently sacked an SNSnominee from the top post atthe Hydrometeorology Insti-tute, Ján Kucharčík. It seemsthe former military pilot

brought along other former sol-diers and pilots and installedthem in high-level positionsdespite their professional qual-ities being questionable fromthe very beginning, Sme wrote.

But none of these pecca-dilloes comes close to approach-ing the level of European famegarnered by the SNS’s bulletin-board tender, which sent a lav-ish €120-million contract to aconsortium that included theAvocat and Zamedia firms, bothof which are reported to haveclose links to Slota. But that’snot all: the original tender no-tice appeared nowhere else buton an internal bulletin board atthe SNS-controlled ministry inan area not normally accessibleto the public.

Though the SNS’‘replacement minister’ IgorŠtefanov seemed confident thathe had a rationalisation to

quench the curiosity of theEuropean Commission abouthow a tender notice postedsolely on a internal bulletinboard could be considered pub-licly accessible, the explanationjust didn’t work. Brussels said itwould not send a single euro toSlovakia for any of the fundsspent in the subsequently can-celled tender.

If the Slovak political envir-onment worked in a normalway, Mr. Štefanov would neverhave got the chance to explainanything in Brussels for a verysimple reason: he would neverhave been appointed at all. ButFico did accept Slota’s replace-ment nominee after sackingthe previous one; despiteŠtefanov’s close involvement inthe flawed tender while servingas a key lieutenant to theformer minister.

Will Fico sack Štefanov nowafter all the softening talkabout how the tender wasn’treally as flawed as the criticssaid it was has been debunked?It actually doesn’t matter any-more. Štefanov’s recall couldhardly make Fico’s coalitionride with the SNS look nicer ormore palatable to anyone whowishes to retain some faith inthe belief that politicians arehere to work for the benefit ofcitizens and society. The heartof the SNS beats for whose be-nefit? It’s not too hard to figure.The SNS has already said that itwill not comment on the clean-ing process at the EnvironmentMinistry and Slota himself hasnot really said anything con-vincing about the bulletin-board tender either. Well, whyshould he?

Besides, he has been busysubmitting a proposal to theProsecutor’s Office seeking toban the Hungarian CoalitionParty (SMK) for what he calls at-tacks on the sovereignty ofSlovakia. It’s interesting howSlota always looks to find anenemy of the nation when hisown business comes under themagnifying glass. Perhapspeople who feel that the SNSand its leader are an assault ontheir sense of integrity andfaith in public service shouldturn to the prosecutor as well.


QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

Trojlístok

THE FATE of Slovakia’s doublecross was in the hands of theshamrock last week. The Irishreferendum on the LisbonTreaty will have an enormousimpact on the future of Slov-akia. One can hardly think of abetter symbol to epitomise theevent than the shamrock, or“trojlístok”, literally meaning“three-leaf”.

First, there were only threecountries holding up adoptionof the new EU treaty – Ireland,Poland, and the Czech Republic.The Poles were waiting for theoutcome of the Irish referen-dum and as you are reading thistheir president is likely to havealready signed the treaty docu-ment. It is difficult to predictwhat Czech president VáclavKlaus will do, but given the factboth chambers of his parlia-ment have said ‘yes’ to Lisbonand so has the country’s consti-tutional court in its previousruling, the country is likely tofind a way of pushing the treatythrough no matter what Klausdoes. Even if not, the 26 othercountries which have alreadysigned up are likely to find away to bring the treaty to lifeeven without the Czechs.

Secondly, this is the thirdimportant step in Slovakia’s fullintegration with the West sincethe country entered the EU in2004. First there was the entryinto Schengen in 2007, whichmeant the opening-up of thecountry’s borders and a truefreedom of travel. Then came theeuro in January of this year.Sharing a currency with strongwestern European economiesmeant not only stability in timesof economic crisis, but also haddeep symbolic meaning. Andnow there is Lisbon, which forall its flaws has one advantage –it means that Europe will con-

tinue on the path of ever-closercooperation and not head to-wards disintegration.

Thirdly, there are three reas-ons why deepening European in-tegration is important for Slov-akia. After US President Obama’sdecision to not build a missiledefence system in centralEurope, there are increasingdoubts about America’s futurerole in the region. Since Russiaseems to be back in an imperial-istic mood, Slovakia and itsneighbours, too experienced to

trust Putin & Company but tooweak to protect themselves,need to be part of a strong alli-ance. A strong EU with an effect-ive decision-making capacity ispreferable to a loose associationof states struggling to find unan-imous consensus on each issue.

But Slovakia also needs theoversight of strong EU institu-tions – it has serious problemsdealing with corruption andcronyism at all levels of state andlocal administration. The moreforeigners get involved, the bet-ter. If left to itself, the countrywould quite likely become runby a closed, irreformable clique,a phenomenon which is nicelyillustrated by the situation in thejudiciary, where outside inter-vention is difficult.

And for Slovakia, a strong EUis not only a matter of geopolit-ics or sound governance, butalso psychology. A developingEuropean identity can giveSlovaks a sense that they are notjust being dragged by historybut that they, too, have a say inglobal events, a feat otherwisehardly possible for a country offive million.

It’s usually four-leaf cloversthat bring luck. But this time, atrojlístok will do just fine.

SLOVAK WORDOF THE WEEK

EDITORIAL

BY LUKÁŠ FILASpecial to the Spectator

“I have returned from Brusselsfeeling like an absolute winner."

Construction Minister Igor Štefanov declares victory, despite the EC announcing that it will notpay a single euro for bills paid under the controversial bulletin-board tender contract.

Migration is not a 'problem to be solved'

IN TODAY’s world of economicrecession, lost jobs and evergreater burdens on health careand other public services, migra-tion has become a hotly debatedissue in many of the countries towhich migrants go. Unfortu-nately, much of that debate fo-cuses on the apparent burdenmigrants bring to troubled eco-nomies. The minority who haveirregular status become thecentre of attention. Fear andxenophobia can come to thefore. Lost in this debate are thelargely positive outcomes of mi-gration for the majority ofpeople concerned.

This need not, and shouldnot, be. I say ‘should not’ becausemobility, the ability to seek out

better opportunities elsewhere,is a key element of human free-dom. And need not be becausemigration policies can both meetdomestic requirements and con-cerns and help to enhancemobility’s contribution to hu-man development.

Migration is a process to bemanaged and not a problem tobe solved, argues the 2009 Hu-man Development Report – anindependent report commis-sioned by the United NationsDevelopment Programme –which was released on October5. This groundbreaking study,Overcoming Barriers: Humanmobility and development,carefully examines the evid-ence on migration – both in-ternal and international fromthe perspective of people: themigrant, their families and thecommunities from which theycame and in which they cur-rently live and work.

It demonstrates the potentialgains for all concerned – as wellas the dangers and costs that canarise, particularly for the poorestmigrants. This includes the bene-fits for the countries of origin,which can be substantial, but itwarns that migration is no sub-stitute for home-grown develop-ment. And it shows the barriersthat can impede this movement –be it absolute prohibitions, thehigh cost of the ‘paper walls’ in-volved in moving between coun-tries or the discrimination anddisadvantages many migrantsface at their destination.

In doing so, it debunks manyof the myths that surround de-bates over migration. Most of thenearly 1 billion people on themove do so within their owncountries. Contrary to receivedwisdom, the share of the world’spopulation moving across bor-ders has been remarkably stableover the last 25 years or so. What

is true is that more of these mi-grants are now going from devel-oping to developed countries andthat the impacts can varyenormously between one regionand another.

The report challenges the ste-reotypes that portray migrants as‘stealing our jobs’ or ‘scroungingoff the taxpayer,’ or their imageas ‘victims.’ Migration is rarelyan easy process. Conflicts, natur-al disasters and economic hard-ship compel many people tomove. Some fall into the hands oftraffickers, with often terribleconsequences. But the evidence,overall, strongly suggests that forthe bulk of people migrating thecosts, difficulties and stress ofmoving are more than offset byimproved livelihoods; not just inincome, but in other areas ofwell-being such as health,schooling and empowerment.

See BENEFITS pg 12

BY JENI KLUGMANSpecial to the Spectator

Irish supporters of Lisbon rejoice. Photo: Reuters

Institutions and organisations oftransport and logistics in Slovakia

Ministry of Transport, Posts and Telecommunicationswww.telecom.gov.skMinister: Ľubomír Vážny

Association of Road Transport Operators of the SlovakRepublic (ČESMAD)www.cesmad.skPresident: Peter Halabrín- this association represents the interests of its membertransport companies vis-a-vis state ministries and centralauthorities of the state administration as well to othergovernmental agencies and private organisations andassociations to develop an efficient road transportation system.

Association of Logistics and Freight Forwarding of the SlovakRepublicwww.zls.skPresident: František Komora-this association clusters companies doing business in logisticsand freight forwarding with the goal of supporting, developingand protecting the interests of its members.

Slovak Shipping and Ports (SPAP)www.spap.skChairman of the Board of Directors: Jozef Blaško- SPAP is a dominant company in the field of water transport,transshipment and warehousing of goods, forwarding services,and and building and repair of transport vessels in Slovakia.

Association of Slovak Express Transporters (ASEP)President: Laurenc Svitok

Transport Research Institutewww.vud.sk- the institute's scientific and research activities cover all aspectsof transport in fields such as engineering and technology,economics and legislation, organisational management, ecology,informatics and automation, power systems, infrastructuresafety and quality, transportation services and tourism, policydevelopment and transportation certification and testing.

6 October 12 – 18, 2009

Slovak airports seek toboost goods traffic

AIR TRANSPORT of goods isdefined by its high reliability,security and speed. In principleit is used mainly to transportgoods with high added value andlow weight, and fast movingconsumer goods. But it has alsofound a niche in just-in-timetransport and for transportationof new goods to new markets,where it can avoid the necessityto build buffer stores and whereturnover of capital is higher.

Antonín Kazda, head of theAir Transport Department at theUniversity of Žilina, makes adistinction between air trans-portation of cargo and freighttransport. While cargo transportis effected by the loading ofgoods into aeroplanes alreadybeing flown on scheduled routesby traditional carriers, freighttransport involves the use ofdedicated planes and routes.

“The number of regular linesbeing flown by traditional carri-ers with aeroplanes with the ne-cessary capacity from Bratislavaand Košice is negligible,” saidKazda. “From this point of viewthe transportation capacityoffered by both of Slovakia’sbiggest airports is negligible.”

Cargo transport, accordingto Kazda, is concentrated in thebiggest hubs in Europe, whichare able to offer planes androutes with sufficient capacity.Afterwards, goods are furtherdistributed from these hubs. Thenearest such centre, but not themost important, is in Vienna.

Regarding air transport ofthe freight type, this is not in-teresting within Europe, be-cause specialised companies areable to transport any goods bytruck within 24 hours.

“This is why the freight type[of air transport] is focused inparticular on long-distanceinter-continental transport,”said Kazda. “Transporters orientin particular on airports whichare able to offer attractive con-ditions from the viewpoint oftotal costs, which include land-ing and handling fees; it is not

decisive for them whether theyland in Amsterdam, Vienna orFrankfurt - trucks will transportgoods onwards.”

The third interesting area ofair transportation of goods isparcel companies, which createtheir own hubs. The basic condi-tion for creation of such a hub isunrestricted operation duringthe night and good highway andrailway connections.

When all these are taken in-to consideration, Kazda is notvery optimistic with regards toair transportation of goods viaSlovakia, and the low figures forgoods shipped through Bratis-lava Airport back up his views.

Bratislava Airport

During the first sevenmonths of 2009, Bratislava Air-port reported a total of 6,227

tonnes of transported goods, ofwhich scheduled carriers ac-counted for 5,868 tonnes.

Nevertheless, BratislavaAirport presents its results asbeing positive.

“In spite of the worldwidedrop in the transport of goods,Bratislava Airport managed tomaintain and extend thescheduled transport of goods,which rose by 92 percent to7,292 tonnes in the January-August period when comparedto the same period of the previ-ous year,” Dana Madunická, thespokesperson for Letisko M.R.Štefánika – Airport Bratislava,told The Slovak Spectator.

The increase was mainlydue to DHL Express, whichlaunched a regular route to andfrom Bratislava.

“After the arrival of DHLExpress in March 2008 thetransport of goods at BratislavaAirport resumed,” saidMadunická. “In the past it wasbased in particular on the useof charter planes of the IL-76type, which are no longer suit-able due to their high noiselevels.”

Compared with 2007, thevolume of goods handled atBratislava Airport reported a3.5-fold increase in 2008, upfrom 1,969 tonnes in 2007 to6,961 tonnes in 2008, BratislavaAirport writes on its website.From a historical point of viewonly 2003 and 2004 were moresuccessful; these were in factthe most successful years in themodern history of the airport.

See CARGO pg 8

Bratislava Airport wants to atrract more freight traffic. Photo: Sme

SkyEurope’s demisehad little effect on

cargo, saysBratislava Airport


BUSINESS FOCUS

TELECOMMUNICATIONSTRANSPORT & LOGISTICSSpeculative logisticsprojects are now history

Final phase of new highwaytoll system gets under way

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Where to study logistics and freightforwarding in Slovakia

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Speculative logisticsprojects are now history

THE SITUATION in the logisticsand warehousing market hasmore or less stabilised in Slov-akia, mimicking developmentsin neighbouring countries,where the business has been op-erating for longer than in Slov-akia. The financial and econom-ic crisis has increased competi-tion, pushing rentals down torecord lows.

“Lately a relatively largenumber of projects have beencompleted whose constructionwas started before the crisis,”Peter Jánoši, head of the indus-trial real estate department inSlovakia at global real estateconsultancy firm CB Richard El-lis (CBRE), told The Slovak Spec-tator. “These were often plannedexclusively on a speculativebasis, meaning that potentialtenants were only sought duringconstruction itself or once theproject was completed. Thismeans that a relatively largeamount of logistics and ware-house capacity has suddenlyemerged onto the market, butdue to the economic decline in-terest on the part of end-usershas decreased.”

Under the influence of theeconomic downturn developers

and operators of logistics andwarehouse capacity have star-ted fighting for each potentialclient and have cut rentals toall-time lows.

“Such an atmosphere has re-kindled interest among potentialtenants and because free capa-city is slowly but surely beingused up and because no newconstruction is currentlyplanned, it may be the best timeto consider renting such logist-ics and warehouse facilities,”Jánoši said.

Developers and logisticscentres operators confirm theslowdown and stagnation.

“The market is stagnatingand only a few transactions arebeing made,” Pavel Pelikán, ex-ecutive director of J&T Real Es-tate, told The Slovak Spectator.“Industrial production is de-

creasing and there is no reasonfor new large plans. Moreover,Slovakia has experienced a sig-nificant drop in production, inparticular in the automotiveindustry.”

Many companies are re-as-sessing their expansion activit-ies or plans to move the existingunits. Clients are more cautiousand headquarters are determ-ined to cut expenditures and im-prove the effectiveness and us-age of existing production andwarehouse capacities.

“From all sides it is possibleto feel great caution and thisdominates also when invest-ment decisions are being made,”Roman Karabelli, spokespersonfor developer HB Reavis, told TheSlovak Spectator. “There is stillgreat demand from tenants forlogistics and warehouse projects

linked to retail, while there islow demand in warehousinglinked to production.”

Impacts from the economiccrisis have also forced developersand operators of logistics andwarehouse premises to respondand adjust their plans.

HB Reavis said it has under-taken some internal rationalisa-tion following the economiccrisis.

Meanwhile, Pelikán of J&TReal Estate said he believes thatduring the crisis period thosewho are prepared can benefitfrom it. Because sites beingoffered by his firm are ready fordevelopment, Pelikán believesthat they can be very quick incarrying out projects for clients.

“In the market segment forindustrial and logistics propertywe remain active, but we do notintend to enter any speculativeprojects,” said Pelikán. “We willfocus on completing the indus-trial park in Devínska Nová Vesand will respond in particular to[demand for] tailor-made solu-tions for specific clients.”

On the other hand, the crisishas made clients more demand-ing and they often realise theirmore advantageous positionwhen negotiating terms.

Jánoši believes that becauseof the dominance of the auto-motive industry in Slovakia, andgiven the connection of logisticsto this segment, its future re-vitalisation could bring aboutpositive development in logisticsand warehousing more widely inSlovakia.

See PARKS pg 9

FOCUS short

Electronic toll system starts final phase

THE NEW system for elec-tronic collection of tolls foruse of highways and firstclass roads across Slovakiawill start on January 1, 2010.Trucks and buses and othervehicles over 3.5 tonnes willpay the toll based on thenumber of kilometres driven.The satellite-based toll collec-tion system will cover morethan 2,000 kilometres of roadswith six highway gates and 40control gates on parallel firstclass roads.

The new system will re-place the current system ofhighway stickers. The gov-ernment hopes that it willbring more money into statecoffers which can be investedback into the roadway infra-structure.

The construction of facilit-ies required for the new sys-tem is in the final phase.ČESMAD, the association oftransport companies, signedan agreement about operationof contact and border distri-bution centres with SkyToll,the administrator of the newtoll system. The agreementseeks to secure a trouble-freetransfer from the highwaysticker system to electronictoll collection.

ČESMAD will operate 21 of90 distribution locationswhere carriers can acquire therequired on-board units(OBUs). The electronic system,via satellite monitoring of theOBUs, will know the locationsof vehicles and automaticallycalculate the number of kilo-metres driven on toll roads.The users will pay for the

kilometres driven on the basisof either a pre-paid or post-paid scheme.

It is estimated that about90,000 vehicles will be subjectto the new system in Slovakia,public broadcaster Slovak Radioreported. The Transport Min-istry expects the new system toincrease annual revenues fromfees paid for use of highwaysand first class roads to €183 mil-lion – but this estimate does notreflect any potential drop inroad transport caused by theeconomic crisis.

ČESMAD expects that car-riers will encounter increasedcosts and that these may be re-flected in higher prices forcustomers.

Most hauliers consider theelectronic collection system tobe fairer than stickers sincethey will only pay for kilo-metres driven based on thecategory of the vehicle, itsemission class and the num-ber of axles.

The final toll for a vehiclewill depend on its weight, thenumber of axles and the type ofengine, allowing more envir-onmentally friendly vehicles topay lower tolls. The toll will bebetween €0.06 and €0.21 perkilometre, according to theNDS website.

Tolls on first class roads willbe lower than on highways anddual carriageways. Slovakia hasdecided to include first classroad in the toll system to pre-vent a situation in which heavyvehicles bypass tolled high-ways by using these roads.


Great caution isbeing used when

making investmentdecisions

Logistics parks flank many of Slovakia's highways. Photo: SITA

Despite current caution logistics developers see a bright future

THE CURRENT financial and economiccrisis has halted several speculative lo-gistics and warehouse projects whichdevelopers had begun without any pre-leasing or other firm commitmentsfrom tenants.

Developers of logistics centres havebecome more prudent and now are fo-cusing on build-to-suit projects. Theyrecommend that companies have a lookat currently available facilities, notingthat it is now the customer who can dic-tate conditions.

But they also say that because of thecurrent lull in construction of new ca-pacity, the market situation will changein the coming years.

The Slovak Spectator spoke withMartin Polák, leasing manager of Pro-Logis in Slovakia, Peter Bečár, market-ing director of PointPark Properties forSlovakia and Martin Fodor, projectmanager of CTP Invest SK about the cur-rent business situation in the logisticsparks segment, its prospects in the fu-ture and the specific plans of their com-panies in Slovakia.

The Slovak Spectator (TSS): Howwould you assess the current situ-ation in the construction and leasingof logistics and warehouse capacitiesin Slovakia? Is Slovakia similar to theneighbouring countries?

Martin Polák (MP): The situation oflogistics and warehouse capacities inthe Slovak market is comparable tomost others in the central and easternEuropean (CEE) region. We have seen ahalt in speculative development acrossthe region, which is a prudent move inthe current economic climate, and itresults in a lower availability of ware-house space.

This is important for a couple ofreasons. Primarily it means that therewill be no new developments coming online through 2009 and potentially into2010. When the economic situation inthe region improves, this could result inless available space and fewer com-pleted projects to choose from. I wouldadvise companies looking to locate inquality logistics centres in ideal road-side locations to have a serious look atthis situation because making a stra-tegic decision now could result in signi-ficant savings down the line.

Peter Bečár (PB): The market hasslowed down significantly this year andthis is common for all CEE countries.Construction of new logistics capacitiesis very low. Two projects with a totalcapacity of 62,200 square metres havebeen completed so far this year. Of themone was built as a speculative project

but its construction had started alreadylast year. The second one is our projectof a tailor-made hall for Mobelix, with28,000 square metres in our logisticspark – PointPark Bratislava. This hasbeen the only project with constructionstarting and finishing in just this year.

Construction on a solely speculativebasis was completely halted over thecourse of 2009 and tenants are ratherleasing existing facilities. Constructionthis year and also next year will focusonly on tailor-made projects.

Neighbouring countries register atrend of slowing construction, too. Be-cause of the lower total volume of exist-ing logistics capacities in Slovakia incomparison with neighbouring coun-tries and a total vacancy rate lower thanin neighbouring countries, at about 11percent, we assume an earlier increasein construction here.

Martin Fodor (MF): The second halfof 2009 has brought a slight recovery indemand for industrial property. Logist-ics and manufacturing companies havestarted to re-examine the status of indi-vidual projects and have submitted newrequirements. Development in indi-vidual countries depends on the oppor-tunities and benefits.

TSS: What is the impact of the eco-nomic and financial crisis on yoursegment? Can you see customers be-having differently?

MP: Customers are price-sensitiveand looking for a ‘good deal’. Smart cus-

tomers will realize that a cheaper rentin a sub-standard building locatedkilometres from main transport routesmay yield immediate savings, but thatthis impact is short-lived as mainten-ance costs and higher fuel costs add up.Choosing to locate in a high-qualitybuilding with modern, energy-efficientfeatures will result in greater cost effi-ciency over time.

PB: For now, it is really the custom-er who dictates the conditions. De-velopers are endeavouring to get cus-tomers not only by lower rental pricesbut also through other discounts andbenefits. Today it is also possible for aclient to get an advantageous rental fora shorter period of time; that was notpossible in the past.

MF: We are happy to see that thevast majority of our customers are do-ing well. Many of them have been act-ing carefully over the previous 12months and many of them have seenopportunities. The result is that thosewhich are in good shape and have anedge on the competition can benefitnow. This is the moment for reorgan-isation and the best time to make de-cisions to improve their competitive-ness. For us, future growth restsprimarily on our existing customers.We believe that those strong companieswill continue to expand their facilities.

TSS: What impact has the crisis hadon your company? Has it broughtsome new challenges?

MP: The global financial crisis andits impact on the availability of capitalhave severely reduced developers’ de-sire and ability to build on a speculativebasis. Companies are now focusing onbuild-to-suit projects which enable de-velopers to reduce financial risk whileproviding greater flexibility to the cus-tomers. Moving forward, we believethis development trend will continuebut at a much slower pace.

ProLogis decided to take severalmeasures, announced last November, toconserve capital resources and protectProLogis’ franchise and long-termstrength in the current economic cli-mate. Since that time ProLogis has re-duced its debt by more than US $2.9 bil-lion and has modified and extended itsglobal line of credit of US $2.25 billionthrough 2012. These actions, plus manymore, have strengthened ProLogis’ fin-ancial status and have proven that thecompany can respond quickly to worst-case-scenario market conditions.

PB: PointPark Properties is an in-ternational company operating in eightcountries of central and eastern Europe.Currently, we administer about 900,000square metres of space in 30 distributioncentres and also have almost 610,000square metres of land on which we planfuture developments. As a developer,we have built five parks in Poland, theCzech Republic and Slovakia which wenow administer.

See SURVEY pg 8

Now is a good time forusers to look at

high-quality locations

7October 12 – 18, 2009BUSINESS FOCUS



October 12 – 18, 2009 BUSINESS FOCUS

SURVEY: Expansionplans in the pipeline

Continued from pg 7

Our logistics centre, Point-Park Bratislava close to Bratis-lava, is gradually expanding.We are also working on im-proving and enhancing theservices for our tenants. Thecrisis, despite a number ofnegative impacts which havealso hit our company, has alsobrought some opportunitieswhich we are trying to seize.

Our experience and finan-cial stability have enabled usto grow during these timeswhen other developers wereforced to halt their projects.

MF: Thanks to our long-term business partners, sup-pliers, bankers, as well as theCTP organisation, we havebeen able to use these oppor-tunities as well. We have im-proved our after-care, reducedour vacancy rate and havebeen able to carry out our solarpanel project, which is an idealopportunity for CTP to utilizeits property portfolio and in-crease profitability. We re-main conservative and carefulwhen it comes to new devel-opments. Figures for the firsthalf of 2009 show a profit andwe are looking forward to therest of 2009.

TSS: What are yourcompany’s plans in Slovakiafor the future? In whichareas of Slovakia do you seeprospects for further devel-opment?

MP: While we have haltednew speculative developmentprojects for the foreseeable fu-ture, we are open to consideringbuild-to-suit proposals on a case-by-case basis. We are now highlyfocused on leasing activities atexisting parks. During the lastfew months we managed to signlease contracts with five cus-tomers for a total of 30,000square meters in Slovakia.

PB: We expect that themarket for logistics halls willcontinue to concentrate in thevicinity of Bratislava, morespecifically in the localities ofSenec and Trnava, thanks tothe existing infrastructure. Butthe gradual completion of thetransport infrastructure to-wards the east brings a hugepotential for development ofthe logistics market in easternSlovakia. Thus, our expansionplans will focus on westernSlovakia along with the D1highway and eastern Slovakia.

MF: Our long-term planshave not changed. In the futurewe expect a successful launchof our planned construction inall locations: CTPark Trenčín,CTPark Žilina Airport, CTParkMartin, and CTPark Prešov.These are strategic locationswith excellent transport infra-structure, history and ability towin customers. In implement-ing these projects CTP Investwill benefit from lessonslearned from our past opera-tions within the territory ofcentral and eastern Europe.

CARGO: DHL BA departures hit 1,000 p.a.Continued from pg 6

“After a significant drop intransportation of goods in 2007,performance in 2008 confirmedthe potential of Bratislava Air-port for this segment andmight mean the start of a newera in the development oftransportation of goods inBratislava,” said Madunická.

More cargo in Bratislava

DHL Express launched ascheduled route between Leipzigand Bratislava in late March2008. For the time being theroute is being used at between80 and 90 percent capacity andhas been fulfilling the expecta-tions of the company.

“Such a fundamental step asthe launch of a direct route ispreceded by a very exhaustivepreparation of the project, partof which was also an analysis ofall possible risks as well as pre-paration of multi-stage alternat-ive solutions,” Slavomír Has-munda, gateway and customsmanager of DHL Express (Slov-akia) told The Slovak Spectator.“Thus we did not count on any-thing other than maximal ful-filment of our expectations.Moreover, the attitude of theRamp Operations at BratislavaAirport to the whole project wasvery responsible and profession-al and they proved during thevery first day that they are ableto handle without problems alsolarge container airplanes.”

DHL Express is currentlythe only express transport

company flying directly fromSlovakia and operates the onlyscheduled route to transportfreight in Slovakia.

“We hope that we will notstay at Bratislava Airport aloneand that gradually transporta-tion of goods will start to devel-op here,” said Hasmunda.

He also hopes that much-needed background infrastruc-ture, such as space for cargo,novel goods manipulation tech-niques, etc. will gradually alsobe built at Bratislava Airport.

“Bratislava Airport has asound potential, which is,however, currently used only toa very limited extent,” saidHasmunda.

Last year was, from theviewpoint of re-organisation ofthe air network within DHL, ofkey importance.

DHL put into full operationthe most modern sorting centrein Europe, in Leipzig, accordingto Hasmunda. This has signific-antly improved the effectivenessof its air infrastructure. Themove has also opened up newopportunities and the direct linkto Bratislava was one of them.Most often the link is used totransport commodities from theautomotive and electro-technic-al industry.

This year DHL Express hasalready extended the currentroute between Leipzig andBratislava. The daily route wasprolonged to Sofia in Bulgariawith a stop in Bratislava. Sim-ultaneously, the company in-creased the number of arrivalsand departures at Bratislava

airport by 100 percent to about1,000 annually.

“In principle it is not ourgoal to increase the number oflines to and from Bratislava orextend the number of destina-tions serviced directly fromM.R. Štefánik Airport, as is thecase of some air companiestransporting passengers,” saidHasmunda. “For us it is im-portant to secure a stable airroute with sufficient capacityinto the central sorting centrein Leipzig, from where we haveair connections, direct and in-direct, to the whole world.”

DHL Express uses Boeing757-200 Special Freighter aircraftwith a capacity of 15 cargo con-tainers, representing a load ofup to 30 tonnes. According toHasmunda, potential extensionof the capacity will be achievedby a change in the type of aero-plane used and not by an in-crease in flights.

The company also providesnon-scheduled air transport atBratislava Airport, along withother companies. These areWalthair Europe, Arcus-Air-Lo-gistic, Antonov Enterprise, Bin-Air Aero Service, Aero Nova,Farnair Switzerland, Midex Air-lines and others. In total, non-scheduled transporters transferup to 5 percent of the totalvolume of goods transported, ac-cording to Madunická.

Of the scheduled air carri-ers, ČSA Czech Airlines and Aer-oflot load goods into aeroplaneson their regular routes in andout of Bratislava.

Bratislava Airport wants to

further develop the scheduledtransportation of goods and thusdiversify its business activities.

“Bratislava has a strategicposition as a business routes’crossroad,” said Madunická.“There is a close connection tothe Czech Republic, Hungary,Austria and Poland. Close to theairport there is a cargo harbouras well as the railway, whichmeans that goods can be imme-diately transported further.With regards to the advantage-ous geographical position of theairport and its connection toother transport infrastructurewe have the preconditions toturn Bratislava into an inter-modal cargo hub.”

The fall of SkyEurope

The recent fall of Slovakia-based low-cost airline SkyEuropeemptied airports in Slovakia, butit left cargo transportation unaf-fected, Madunická told TheSlovak Spectator.

“The share of SkyEurope inthe transport of cargo to andfrom Bratislava Airport wasnegligible and thus the end ofits operations should not havea significant influence on thevolume of cargo transported atBratislava Airport,” Madunickásaid.

Kazda of the Air TransportDepartment explained thatcargo transport does not appealto low-cost carriers since it is notpossible within their short turn-around times – Ryanair’s, for ex-ample, is about 25 minutes – toload cargo into their aeroplanes.

8

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70359

SME ABSOLÚTNA JEDNOTKA

Návštevnos spravodajských portálov

Zdroj: audit AIMmonitor.sk júl 2009

Pinnacle becomes PointPark Properties

PINNACLE, a developer and op-erator of logistics parks haschanged its name in Slovakiato PointPark Properties after itfound out that its previousname was not directly associ-ated with the developmentbusiness, the Trend weekly re-ported in early September.

The company adopted itsnew name and logo to moreclearly identify itself as a keyplayer in the property market.The PointPark trademark is

known in several Europeancountries.

The company operatesPointPark Bratislava in Slov-akia at the D2 highway next tothe Lozorno exit.

The company was launchedin 2001 and is active in western,southern and central Europe. Itoperates 1.4 million squaremetres of warehouse capacitiesin 30 logistics centres.


Logistics parks sprout in Trenčín

THREE new logistics com-plexes will soon be constructednear Trenčín. Following twopreviously reported projects tobe built in the villages ofChocholná-Velčice andTrenčianske Stankovce, a thirdlogistics park has been an-nounced in the area close to thevillage of Opatovce. Kupred, aTrenčín-based company, plansto construct a logistics parkwhich will operate on bothsides of the D1 highway,Obchod magazine reported inmid September.

The location of the newestpark is about 3.5 kilometresfrom Trenčín and it will have acapacity of almost 40,000square metres and parking for480 vehicles. The investor

plans to launch constructionthis year and it will be solely alogistics centre without anyindustrial production.

Another logistics park cov-ering 40 hectares is underwayin the vicinity of Chocholná-Velčice, only a few hundredmetres away from the Kupredproject. It will also be locatedalong the D1 highway at thecrossroad with the highway toBrno or Zvolen. This park plansfive halls with a total rentablearea of almost 150,000 squaremetres.

The third logistics facility,in Trenčianske Stankovce,plans to provide 12,000 to15,000 square metres of storagecapacity and almost 1,500square metres of office space.

9October 12 – 18, 2009BUSINESS FOCUS

PARKS: Waiting tactics are typicalContinued from pg 7

“With regards to the devel-opment of the road infrastruc-ture in Slovakia and its inter-connection to main roads inEurope and the strategic positionof Slovakia, we have becomemore and more interesting forinternational companies whenlocating their national or inter-national distribution centres inSlovakia,” he said. “Recentprojects by companies such asWhirlpool, Mobelix, Tacco, C&Aand many others confirm this.”

The development of logisticsparks is not barrier-free in Slov-akia. Jánoši sees the biggestobstacles as being the impairedaccess to financing for newprojects, but also the frequentunpreparedness of localities andconstruction plots for such de-velopment. Often the ownersalso seek unrealistic prices fortheir land, according to Jánoši.

Future prospects

For now Bratislava and itswider environs dominate, butmarket watchers see new pro-spects in other parts of the coun-try as well.

“With regards to the still-strong dominance of the Bratis-lava region in the area of logist-ics, we assume that new projectswill follow the development ofthe highway infrastructure inSlovakia,” Jánoši of CBRE said.“We also see huge prospects foreastern Slovakia as a potentialbridge for the EU market furthereastwards, and due to a lack of

suitable logistics projects in thisregion to service the localmarket.”

HB Reavis sees potential inwestern Slovakia, especiallyaround Bratislava and along theD1 and D2 highways. This is thelocation most used by companiesoriented towards export intoEurope. It sees also further pro-spects along with the D1 high-way to Košice and Prešov in theeast.

“The combination of an ex-isting highway and a large re-gional capital is fundamental,”said Karabelli.

With regards to future ex-pectations, Jánoši believes thatnew, bigger logistics projectswill be built only after existingcapacities are used up.Moreover, future constructionwill be not based on speculation

any longer, but developers willfocus more on build-to-orderprojects for specific clients.

“In the current situationwaiting tactics are typical,” saidKarabelli. “In spite of this, Slov-akia has maintained its potentialin the middle and long term, es-pecially thanks to its strategicposition. Premises in key localit-ies, which are ready for immedi-ate construction from the pointof view of permission processes,face the best future.”

A few statistics

Total modern warehousespace in Slovakia amounted to984,345 square metres at the endof the second quarter of 2009, CBRichard Ellis wrote in its latestmarket review. Approximately84 percent of this is located in

the greater Bratislava area.Lower take-up led to more

vacant space, which resulted inthe overall vacancy rate increas-ing to 12.31 percent. Net effectiverents across all of Slovakia re-mained stable and stoodbetween €3.4 and €4.5 per squaremetre, although there was evid-ence that incentives have beenincreasing and tenants weresigning shorter-term leases, thereview reads.

ProLogis controlled 40 per-cent of the logistics propertymarket in Slovakia in the secondquarter of 2009. J&T with IIG fol-lowed in second, with 13 per-cent, and AIG Lincoln was third,with 11 percent. HB Reavis con-trolled 10 percent, Karimpol 7percent and Pinnacle, nowPointPark Properties, made up 5percent of the market.

Waiting for a load: demand for new logistics parks has slackened during the crisis. Photo: SITA

11236

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You are of a mixed Swiss-French origin. What brought you to Slovakia? When did you decide to settle down in Slovakia?

I came here for the first time twenty years ago with my ho-metown hockey team. I did not know much about Slovakia then but I was pleasantly surprised by this country. Then I came back and forth a couple of times and I finally settled down here.

When did you come up with an idea to start your own business? Was it completely natural or was it a long-term process?

This country went through its worst before creating a fair business environment. The-re were not many business-friendly incentives and there

was omnipresent corruption and a complicated tax system. The only advantage at that time was a cheap labor force – but this was obvious-ly not sufficient. My company has been progressively growing thanks in part to many reforms that have been made in recent years. We started off with a small team provi-ding company acquisition services for foreign customers. Later on, we added the idea of outsourcing for foreign companies in Slovakia, which turned out to be very suc-cessful, especially in the field of road freight transport.

Why do you think road freight transport was so suc-cessful?

Our team has been wor-king in the field of road trans-port for more than 5 years. The year 2004 was also marked by

a boom in terms of establishment of foreign transport companies in Slovakia. It was not fully unexpec-ted; thanks to what I mentioned before. Slovak membership in the European Union sent a very strong signal towards western countries where many business people were still reluctant to en-large their activities further to the east. However, we managed to convince them and they are now thankful for the tough decision they made. We are proud of our small contribution to their huge success and prosperity.

How would you describe the impact of the world financial crisis on this sector?

As a company we have not been influenced that much but never-theless, it is an issue of global concern. The transport business depends mostly on production. If production decreases signifi-cantly, it will have an impact on the transport sector as a whole. In my opinion, small companies are handicapped with many having gone bankrupt over the last coup-le of months. Banks are not very helpful either as they are taking too many precautions before they decide to finance a project. Trans-port companies are therefore una-ble to develop, invest or just over-come difficult times. Of course, if

they have lost a majority of their customers, a bank loan would not help them bounce back. Luckily enough, some of our customers were able to hold onto the same number of customers and even find new ones. Unfortunately, they were held back by the reluc-tance of banks to grant loans or to lend at a decent interest rate.

Another problem lies in delayed payments for services rendered. Waiting for payment for more than a month or two after the due date can substantially influence your cash flow. As a result, even a heal-thy company able to retain its cus-tomers becomes insolvent. I do not need to stress what happens next. Combine it with what I have said previously and you get stuck in a vicious circle.

What is your own recipe to overcome the current – but hopefully only temporary – downturn?

I strongly believe that by each of us contributing just a very lit-tle bit we all can make this crisis as short as possible. My recipe is very simple. If I worked hard be-fore the crisis, now I work even harder, together with motivating my employees to do the same. As a team we do not reduce our commitment to provide the best services to our customers. I do not use the word crisis as an ex-cuse for misbehavior towards either my customers or my employees, like many do.

My personal advice for those considering relocation of their business is to have a good look at Slovakia and then to come over and start their new business projects here. Our company is rea-dy to assist and provide them with tailor- made services including full establishment of their compa-ny, selection of the most appropri-ate employees, book-keeping and lots more.

Achieve more with a reliable partner Five questions to Alain Muller, Director General of ISC Real

Find out more at www.iscreal.sk

The core business activity of ISC Real is the establish-ment of foreign companies in Slovakia, either by crea-tion of a brand new entity or by acquisition of an existing one. The high credibility of ISC Real and the quality of our services is directly conneted with the professiona-lism and long-term experience of our team members who are the guarantee that the right decisions will be taken in the strategic planning of your company.

ISC Real has established more than seventy compa-nies in Slovakia. Most of these companies continue to be our customers to whom we now provide accounting and human resource management services.

• Establishment of Companies • Accountancy • • Human Resources Management • Consulting •

FOCUS shorts

10 October 12 – 18, 2009 FEATURE

Roma women are proud martyrs

DENISA Gáborová, a community assist-ant for medical education, is 35 years oldand has four children. She was marriedat 17 and spent many years since thenon maternity leave; but after givingbirth to her last child she returned toschool and has been studying and work-ing as a medical assistant.

How did you get married? When didyou meet your husband?

DG: Among the Roma it’s like this:one family comes courting. They came;they asked whether their son could goout with me. My parents agreed andthen I agreed. We went out for sometime and then we got married.

Had you seen him before then or wasthis the first time you’d met?

DG: No, I’d never seen him before inmy life. But I’m happy with him. Helistens to me and I have everything Ineed with him. He’s educated, he worksand our children are raised well.

And where was love?DG: At first there was no love, only

that I liked him. Later I started lovinghim.

Did you go out together for long?DG: Six months. I was a month

pregnant and he still let me attendschool. So I could finish school, becausehe is also educated. He didn’t preventme from finishing. And I admire this.Because, you know, in the Roma com-munity when a Roma woman works,there are doubts among the other Roma.And not only did my husband not stopme, he supported me. And he still sup-ports me.

You married into a family with differ-ent values than you had at home.What was the most difficult thing foryou?

DG: The most difficult part for mewas getting used to the Roma in the set-tlement. I don’t mean my husband’sfamily, because they are on the samelevel; they had completed school.However, they grew up among theRoma and from a young age I grew upamong the non-Roma. I attended a non-Roma school and it took me about tenyears to get used to life in the settle-ment.

Does this mean that you come from adifferent world and that you, as aRoma woman, had to get used to theRoma?

DG: Yes; no non-Roma lived there atall. I asked my mother: Where are thenon-Roma? Where is the shop? Where isthe school? And she replied: It doesn’tmatter; you’ll get used to it. You’ll walka kilometre to the shop and when youhave children, they’ll go to school.There is a Roma school here, so my chil-dren go there. So I live my own life andI’m raising my children the way myparents raised me.

How did the local Roma receive you asa different type of Roma woman?

DG: They laughed at me becausewhen my children were born I taughtthem to speak like the non-Roma, andthey asked me what am I doing actinglike a non-Roma? But in time they gotused to me. The worst of it was when Ifinished maternity leave and went towork. My children got the worst of it.They scolded my children, saying that Idon’t care for them. And my boy said tome, “Mama, do you know what they

told me? That you don’t take care of me,that you go to some training and don’tcare for us.” That lasted about two years,until my children got used to it.

In the Roma community, peoplethink that a wife should be at home,cooking, caring for her children andhusband. And in non-Roma families,it’s the opposite. When a non-Romawoman doesn’t work, she is inferior.And among the Roma, a wife cannotwork, only a husband.

What did your mother and father-in-law say about this?

DG: My father-in-law was glad that Iwas working, but my mother-in-lawhad doubts about it. She thought Ishould be home. She wasn’t verypleased about it. But she is now.

Today you actually live in your ownhome and have four children. Wheredo you work?

DG: I work in the regional office forpublic health as a community medicalassistant.

How did you get involved in thiswork?

DG: In 2005 there was recruitmentin Kecerovce. I went there and they se-lected me. I worked for a year inEuroplus. Then for four months I didn’twork. Then they heard about us at theregional office, that we worked there.We went there and they took us on.

Did you take part in some sort oftraining, or how were you able to getthis work when you didn’t have theeducation?

DG: I worked in Europlus. I havethree certificates from there and I havethree months' training in health-careservices.

How did you feel at the first trainingsession? When you went there amongso many non-Roma and educatedpeople – you a Roma woman from asettlement?

DG: When I heard about the recruit-ing, I thought: How should I dress forthis? How should I speak? And I said: I’lldress simply, cleanly. When they askme something, I’ll answer them. Thisgave me strength: the fact that I passedand that there were five of us from onevillage. And they chose me.

You work as a health-care assistantand go to Roma settlements. Is whatyou witness there difficult for you tohandle?

DG: It’s pretty difficult. We recentlywere in Jasov to vaccinate children. Alot of children there hadn’t been vaccin-ated against tuberculosis.

When you come to a settlement, doyou speak with people in the Romalanguage?

DG: Yes, in Romani. I’m notashamed of my native language.

Do the Roma believe you?DG: They believe me, and it’s good

that there is also a non-Roma womanthere.

Why?DG: When a non-Roma woman

comes with me, the level of respect ishigher. And a non-Roma would say theopposite: that it’s better when a Romawoman is there with her.

You study at the same school as yourdaughter…

DG: We attend the Private Pedago-gical and Social Academy in Košice. Mydaughter wants to be a teacher in apreschool. I’m in the second year andshe is in the first. Before that she studieddesign, but she didn’t like it. She is a co-ordinator in the Stop project. She also at-tends training courses and I’m glad thatshe likes them.

What do other Roma girls say to her?DG: They say that she won’t turn out

to be a good girl, because she’ll grow oldand never get married. That who wouldtake her, that she goes after men… She’ssuffered in this settlement enough, but Ialways tell her: just ignore them. Onceyou start to work, they’ll come and thenthey’ll see. So I support her in this.

How is it going for you in school?DG: I’m trying to do what I can. I

have to handle the household, schooland work.

How is life going for you? You gotmarried early and had children. Youhad to adjust to new surroundingsand obey. So how does your life looktoday? Have you so far achieved whatyou wanted?

DG: Some things have happened andothers haven’t. It’s true that I got mar-ried early and went to live with mymother-in-law. There were five boys athome and she was the only woman.There is a problem with water in the set-tlements. And water is important. Wewere the sort of Roma who were able tocarry water so that we could bathe andclean. My mother-in-law was strict, butI admire her. I was the second oldestdaughter-in-law. She taught us a lot.Mainly this: that we should care for ourhusbands.

Do you think that a non-Roma womanhas an easier life than a Roma wo-man?

DG: No. She has a harder life. Be-cause she has to study, work and takecare of everything.

Every woman interviewed thus farhas said that the life of a Roma wo-man is more difficult than that of anon-Roma woman. Why do you thinkotherwise?

DG: I say it because when a non-Roma woman doesn’t work, she is defi-cient. With Roma women, this is theopposite. Particularly in the settle-ments.

What are the most beautiful situ-ations you’ve experienced that you’llremember?

DG: The first time I went to BidovceI had no idea how people live there. Wespoke with the mayor because theydidn’t have a well there. The first timewe came, people lived on a trash heap,but when we came for the third time,there was a great change. Houses wereclean, no junkyard there now.

We didn’t return there, however,for perhaps half a year, and again it’slike a junkyard there. These peopleneed someone to check on them andeducate them.

They do this only if they feelashamed in front of other Roma?

DG: Yes, this too. Only they mustfeel this inside. Not because of us; be-cause of themselves. This only lasts un-til they understand.

Have you experienced a situationwhen your relatives highly regardedwhat you do? Were they proud ofyou?

DG: Yes. My father-in-law had anaccident. He fell from some steps andbroke his ribs. I went with him to theemergency room. There was one ac-quaintance there who also works in theregional public health office. She saidhello to me and my husband and father-in-law were proud that such peoplegreet me and know me and value me.

If you could now, what would youchange in your life? What would youhave done differently?

DG: Complete school and go to uni-versity. This is my dream. And I plan towrite a book about my life. I would liketo help the Roma if I can. If I have suchan opportunity. And so that there wereno only-Roma schools. Because thiscreates differences between children inchildhood.

Are there many such women herelike you, who know what they wantfrom life?

DG: Yes. Three from a 700-membercommunity.

Do you think that if Roma womenwere more active that somethingwould change in the Roma com-munity?

DG: Yes. And this is something Iwould like to change.

If someone asked you to get involvedin politics… what would you say?

DG: I would go.

To regional or to bigger politics?DG: To bigger politics. I wouldn’t

want to be a mayor, because I wouldrather do more good and whether somepeople liked it or not. Here there is agreat deal of envy.

If Roma women were to go into polit-ics, what should they say to our polit-ical representatives or members ofthe European Parliament?

DG: Let something be done in thesesettlements regarding unemployment.

Do you think this depends on them,or on the Roma? What should be donefor them?

DG: Well, if it were only as it wasunder totalitarianism. Things were bet-ter for the Roma then. A Rom who didn’twork was punished. And now when aRom goes to look for work, they don’ttake him. I also know Roma who wantto work and who have studied and whenthey come and people see them, theydon’t want to employ them. This shouldchange.

How is it, for example, with the mod-ernity of the community? Do you livea modern life at home?

DG: Yes.

How could you dress in your home?DG: When I liked a pair of pants, for

example, mama bought the materialand I had them made. I had clothingmade. Or mother went to buy them inOstrava.

And how were you able to dress atyour mother-in-law’s house?

DG: I couldn’t wear anything shortor anything elastic.

Is it still the same?DG: Yes.

Does this mean that a woman herecannot expose herself?

DG: No, she can‘t. Not even a swim-suit is considered appropriate here.

And what about young girls then? Arethey used to going out with skin ex-posed in summer?

DG: My daughter does. She’s young.She goes out quite lightly dressed. Theseolder women keep an eye on how theyoung girls dress, but they do it anyway.

So that cultural dress is maintained?DG: Yes.

What kind of cultural traditions orRoma traditions are kept in your fam-ily?

DG: A girl has to be honourable ifshe’s not married.

And in the Roma language?DG: We speak both Slovak and Ro-

mani.

Do you have any Christmas tradi-tions?

DG: I’m in my own house, but othermembers of the family go on visits. I tellmy husband: it’ll be the way I want it.Everyone will be at home for ChristmasEve dinner and no one will leave home.This is my tradition.

Didn’t your husband have a problemwith this?

DG: He did. At the beginning. Atfirst he went to his parents and left mehere alone. I wasn’t even angry withhim. Then he realised that this isn’tright.

So the women have won rights inyour family?

DG: We’re terribly proud women.And we are great martyrs; we can with-stand anything. Everyone has sufferedsomething in life. But we are able to for-give, too.

Does this mean that the women inyour family suffer because they goafter their life goals?

DG: Yes. They know what they wantin life.

Interviews with Roma women are part ofa project by the Roma Press Agency and willbe published in a forthcoming book.

Denisa Gáborová Photo: Courtesy of MECEM

BY KRISTÍNA MAGDOLENOVÁ& JARMILA VAŇOVÁSpecial to the Spectator

REF: Price referencing fordrugs attracts broad supportContinued from pg 4

“The system of referencingprices is done in Slovakia in avery dynamic and progressiveway and, along with that, it isvery transparent,” Hlôška toldThe Slovak Spectator. “TheEuropean Commission assessesour pricing system to be veryeffective in maintaining thesustainability of funds spenton drugs.”

According to Hlôška, thiswas evident from a recent visitby a delegation from the MalteseMinistry for Social Affairs andHealth which had a high in-terest in the details of Slovakia’smethod of pricing drugs.

“Another proof is in the sta-bilisation of increases in ex-penditure on drugs since thestart of 2009, where we havemanaged even to achieve a dropin expenditure during the firstquarter of 2009 when comparedwith 2008,” said Hlôška. “Only afew countries in the EuropeanUnion managed to do this.”

Health insurance companiesperceive the referencingscheme, which brings savingson the costs of drugs, in a posit-ive light.

“Referencing is a trend inpricing of drugs not only inSlovakia, but also in the wholedeveloped world,” MartinVišňanský, director of thestrategy and health policy sec-tion at the biggest health insur-ance company, VšeobecnáZdravotná Poisťovňa (VšZP), toldThe Slovak Spectator. “For theinsurer, and equally for the pa-tient, it brings significant sav-ings which can then be re-dis-tributed for the purchase of oth-er health care.”

Višňanský sees one disad-vantage of strict referencing inthat pharmaceutical companieshave only a small amount ofroom for manoeuvre in theareas of price and volumes ofsales in the relatively small drugmarket in Slovakia.

“On the other hand, intro-duction of the euro, a transpar-ent system of price proposals viathe internet, as well as othermechanisms bring to pharma-ceutical companies, health in-surers, patients, and to thewhole system the possibility ofpermanent improvement in theperception of the value of medi-cines, the value of health, and

the price which we are willingto pay to buy ‘health’ within oursystem,” said Višňanský.

The second state health in-surer, Spoločná ZdravotnáPoisťovňa (SZP) also acknow-ledged the value of the referen-cing scheme.

“Referencing of drug prices,with the aim of reducing pricesof individual drugs, has been fol-lowed with savings in drugcosts,” Daniela Stričková, theSZP spokesperson, told TheSlovak Spectator. “We see thesteps of the Health Ministry, aswell as any other savings whichcan be used for the benefit of pa-tients, in a positive light.”

The Association of HealthInsurers (ZPP), composed ofthree private health insurers inSlovakia, also welcomes the ref-

erencing scheme and supportsits application as consistently aspossible. But Eduard Kováč,president of the association,told The Slovak Spectator thatthe association does not like thecurrent method of setting theso-called digressive margin,which reduces the margins ofpharmacists and distributors inhandling more expensive drugs.

According to the Slovak As-sociation of Research-BasedPharmaceutical Companies(SAFS), the referencing systemhas pushed the price level ofdrugs in Slovakia to among thelowest in the European Union.

“The Slovak market is one ofthe smallest in the EU and eachproducer has to decide whetherand how quickly it will introducea new drug to the Slovak market,”Miroslav Lednár, the chairman ofthe SAFS Board of Directors toldThe Slovak Spectator.

“Referencing of drugs alsotouches generic drugs, especially

in connection with changes incurrency exchange rates whichinfluence the prices of drugs,” Ka-rol Polóni, the first vice-chairmanof GENAS, the association of gen-eric drug producers in Slovakiatold The Slovak Spectator.

Polóni sees a disadvantage inthe current system of categorisa-tion because it allows membersof GENAS to change prices of cat-egorised drugs only during thenext categorisation procedure.

Composition ofthe commission

The current CategorisationCommission consists of 11members. In addition to Hlôška,two other members representthe Health Ministry, five mem-bers represent health insurancecompanies and three membersspeak for medical organisations.

Because the two state healthinsurers will merge into one en-tity next year and two privatehealth insurers, Apollo andDôvera, are also expected to be-come one company as early asthe beginning of 2010, the rep-resentation of the health in-surers on the commission maychange, according to Hlôška.

The commission does nothave a representative from pa-tients’ organisations.

“The legislation does notpermit this,” said Hlôška. “Butthe Health Ministry is open to adiscussion about whether rep-resentatives of patients shouldbecome members of the com-mission. However, this re-quires a very wide discussionwithin the expert communityas well among the general pub-lic, and last but not least,changes in the legislation."

The biggest health insureracknowledges that thecommission’s representationmight be broadened to includeother important groups.

“In the future it might besuitable to consider, of course incooperation with the HealthMinistry which participates increation of legislation in thedrugs policy area, strengtheningthe participation of two key rep-resentatives – patients’ associ-ations and experts from thefields of pharmaceutical eco-nomics and/or health techno-logy assessment – includingtheir right to vote,” saidVišňanský of VšZP.

BUSINESS / NEWS 11October 12 – 18, 2009

Developing new drugs isnow taking much longer

PHARMACY is as old as human-kind itself. From the very be-ginning people tried to curethemselves with herbs, magicformulas or even using soil. Theword ‘drug’ comes from theGerman word ‘getrocknet’,meaning dried in English, andoriginally denoted the driedparts of plants or animals thatwere used either directly as aremedy or indirectly in the pre-paration of a more complexmedication. People in the pastbelieved that thetherapeutic effect-iveness of a naturalremedy rested in thesimilarity of theform or colour of theplant or animal tothe organ beingtreated. Thus the shape of nutssuggested that they were usefulin the treatment of brain ail-ments and spiders were used totreat ear pain because a curled-up, dead spider somehow re-sembled the inner ear.

Such an approach is now apart of history and modern sci-entific medicine and pharmacyascribes the effectiveness ofremedies to the chemical sub-stances they contain. Pharma-ceuticals is a sophisticated in-dustry with hundreds of com-panies, thousands of employeesand billions of euros invested inresearch, development and pro-duction.

“The main driving force ininnovative pharmaceutical re-search is an effort to move for-ward and to overcome limits inour abilities to cure patients,”Miroslav Lednár, the chairman ofthe Board of Directors of the Slov-ak Association of Research-BasedPharmaceutical Companies(SAFS) told The Slovak Spectator.“The innovative pharmaceuticalindustry and the development ofmodern drugs and vaccines havecontributed to a change in thelives of millions of people.”

Research and development(R&D) for an original drug takes10 to 15 years on average andcosts about €1 billion.

“Compared with the past,this whole process – from thestart of research up to thelaunch of an original drug on themarket – has significantlylengthened,” Lednár said. “Tolaunch a new original drug onthe market in 1960 lasted sixyears on average. During the last50 years or so this period hasbeen extended by an additionalsix years. This is because ofmore stringent requirements fordocumenting the effectivenessand safety of drugs.”

Today, the development of anew drug starts with basic mo-lecular research, with 5,000 to10,000 molecules being explored

as potential constituents of amedicinal drug, followed by pat-ent protection procedures andpre-clinical study, i.e. laboratorytests and animal testing. Thethree phases of clinical studiesthat then follow are the mostdemanding financially. If thepre-market medication is testedsuccessfully, the drug is re-gistered. After the new drug islaunched, it is evaluated andmonitored in a fourth phase.Data about its usage are collectedin this phase, enabling detectionof possible deleterious effects notuncovered during clinical trials,Lednár explained.

The stricter requirementsfor testing coupled with the

longer time periods requiredfor the launch of a new medica-tion increases the cost of thewhole process.

“It is necessary to say that 98percent of the investment intoresearch and developmentcomes from the private sector,from pharmaceutical and bio-technology companies, and theremaining 2 percent comes fromthe government and academicsector,” said Lednár.

The biggest challenge of thewhole R&D process is its high riskof failure. History provides ex-amples in which undesirablecharacteristics were uncoveredonly after a drug was used in med-ical practice. Since its potentialrisks outweighed its benefits, inthe end the drug had to be with-drawn from the market after alarge investment was made.

“Only 3 out of 10 drugs have areturn on the funds invested intotheir development,” said Lednár.“Therefore, these three drugsmust earn enough money so thatthe pharmaceutical company canbegin the process of new researchwith 10,000 molecules, one ofwhich could be the potential basefor a new drug.”

Patent protection

The pharmaceutical sector isone of the principal users of theglobal patent system and protec-tion of intellectual propertyrights is of fundamental import-ance to it. This is because of thenecessity to address current andemerging medical problems andthe long lifecycle of products andtheir long development periods.

“The exclusivity periods gran-ted through patent law and othermechanisms provide incentivesto the originating companies tocontinue innovating,” said theExecutive Summary of the Phar-maceutical Sector Inquiry Report,published in July 2009.

Original pharmaceuticalproducts are protected by a gen-

eral 20-year patent umbrella, asis the case for all other inven-tions. The primary, potentiallyeffective molecule can be gran-ted patent protection even if it isnot yet clear whether it can beused for practical treatment atsome time in the future.

“When the R&D processswallows up 10 to 12 years, orsometimes even 15 years, thenon average a pharmaceuticalcompany has only 8 to 10 years toearn back its investment into anew original drug,” said Lednár,adding that other industrialbranches, in which research anddevelopment of new products isnot so time-consuming can en-joy exclusivity for 18 years and

more.After the

patent expires,manufacturersof genericproducts canenter the mar-ket with med-

ications that are equivalent tothe original drug.

“An optimal solution wouldbe if a generic producer can bringthe new generic drug on themarket one day after the patentof the original producer lapses,”Michaela Palágyi, vice chairwo-man of GENAS, the association ofgeneric drug producers in Slov-akia told The Slovak Spectator.“But preparing the productionprocess, as well as other admin-istrative procedures, prolongsthe period for the entry of a gen-eric onto the market by sixmonths on average.”

The prices of generic drugsare typically much lower thanthose of the original formulationsince generic producers are notinvesting in research and devel-opment of new drugs. Using gen-eric drugs helps to maintain pub-lic health budgets and benefitsconsumers with lower prices.

In Slovakia for the thirdquarter of 2008, 77 percent of thevolume of packaged medica-tions sold was generics and 23percent was original, patentedmedicines, according to datafrom IMS Health, an interna-tional consulting and data ser-vice company for the pharma-ceutical industry.

“When calculated accordingto the number of packages of gen-eric drugs purchased, Slovakia be-longs among the countries in theEU with the highest genericconsumption,” said Lednár. “Thisis historical also, since up to the1990s medical treatment was, ingeneral, set to the benefit of gen-erics with the exception of few li-censed pharmaceuticals. Onlyafter the fall of the communistregime in 1989 did producers oforiginal drugs start entering theSlovak market.”

Starting with this issue, TheSlovak Spectator will bring readersmore information about the pharma-ceutical sector and health care via thePharmaColumn.

PHARMACOLUMN

Drug firms say that Slovakia now has some of the cheapest medicines in the EU. Photo: TASR

The column is brought to The Slovak Spectator readers with the support of the SlovakAssociation of Reasearch–Based Pharmaceutical Companies. (www.safs.sk)


Referencing is a trend

in pricing of drugs not

only in Slovakia, but

also in the whole

developed world

Martin Višňanský,

director of the strategy

and health policy

section at VšZP

12 October 12 – 18, 2009 BUSINESS / NEWS

BENEFITS: Jobs are oftenthe crux of the debateContinued from pg 5

The skills, ideas and di-versity brought by migrantsare also largely benefiting des-tination societies. The reportfinds no evidence of large-scalejob losses by locals due to mi-gration. The contribution ofmigrants to economic growthcan be high, while the impacton public services is generallysmall or even positive; al-though some local communit-ies do face heavier burdensthan others. Importantly, thereport presents evidence thatpublic opinion in many coun-tries is receptive to migration –provided jobs are available.

Jobs are often the crux ofthe debate underway in destin-ation countries. The reportputs forward a package ofmeasures that can improve jobaccess for migrants that arelinked to labour demand. Andnow is the time for a new dealon migration, one that will be-nefit the people who relocate,those in destination com-munities and others that re-main at home.

Based on best practices, theproposed measures are politic-ally feasible, especially whenan economic recovery gatherspace. Renewed growth opensup more jobs and a well-man-aged migration policy benefitsmigrants and destination soci-eties. For the ageing popula-tions of many developed coun-tries, particularly those in

Europe, ensuring such a flow oflabour is a must if economicgrowth is to be sustained.

But realising this mutualinterest must take place withwider development imperat-ives in mind. Migration is driv-en by large and growing in-equalities. The poor have themost to gain from moving, andincreasing access for the low-skilled, for example, can help tomaximize the gains for humandevelopment. As important isensuring the fair treatment ofmigrants. Combating discrim-ination in wages, for example,benefits local workers as muchas it does migrants. The rightsof migrants must be protected,including those of irregularmigrants.

Such a balanced policy to-wards migration is available.The challenge facing govern-ments is not an easy one. Many– though not all – were movingin the right direction, althoughthere have been signs of a roll-back during the recession. Along-term perspective isneeded, in which employers,trade unions and civil societyeach have a huge role to play.The UN’s new report is a con-tribution to more balanced andinformed public debates on thiscontroversial issue.

Jeni Klugman is the Dir-ector of the Human Devel-opment Report Office at theUnited Nations DevelopmentProgram

CASH: MP denies knowingContinued from pg 1

Furthermore, the moneythat was approved by the min-istry – led by Labour Minister Vi-era Tomanová, a personal friendof Vaľová – was supposed to beused to build a halfway house inthe village of Repejová. Repejováofficials said they knew nothingof such a project.

It is now clear that the indi-viduals behind Cesta životom areconnected to a larger network ofsubsidy approvals. The head ofCesta životom, Anna Brezíková,is the sister-in-law of ZuzanaMiková, a bureaucrat from theGovernment Office. Miková thisyear became the headquartersboss for the Council of Ministersfor Drug Addiction. According toinformation obtained by TheSlovak Spectator, Miková’s officelast month approved a further€80,000 award for Cestaživotom, although the decisionwas overturned by a senior offi-cial within the Government Of-fice after the media began in-vestigating Vaľová’s role.

Miková also founded NGO

Miková herself founded anon-profit group called Čistý deň(Clean Day) in the western Slov-ak town of Galanta six years ago.In 2008, Čistý deň also won agrant from the Government Of-fice towards improving the qual-ity of therapists at its “resocial-isation centre”.

The NGO got €25,000, themaximum amount the Officewas allowed to award. Theproject was supported throughMiková’s Council of Ministers.

Čistý deň also got €80,000last year from the Anti-Drugfund, which is located at the La-bour Ministry. MinisterTomanová is a member of thefund’s board, while Smer MPVaľová was a member of thefund’s advisory committee for“evaluating projects concerningthe resocialisation of drug ad-dicts – the very purpose forwhich Čistý deň got its grant.

“Ms. Vaľová did not particip-ate in the committee’s delibera-tions on March 11, 2008, whenthe Čistý deň projects wereevaluated,” said Anti-Drug Fundchief Miroslav Žufa. “However,she later approved the recom-mendations of the committeemembers.”

Zuzana Miková representedthe Government Office at themeeting, which approved fourprojects submitted by the NGOshe founded, but according toŽufa “had no voting rights” inthe matter.

Coalition MPs and Govern-ment Office employees were notthe only NGO founders that wereable to swing grants for theirown charities.

The NGO Športom protidrogám (Sports Against Drugs),which was founded by JaroslavMalchárek, the brother of formerEconomy Minister JiříMalchárek (2005-2006), won twogrants from the Anti-Drug fundin 2008, worth a combined€67,000.

Malchárek was a member ofthe advisory committee thatstudied these projects, but ac-cording to Žufa, “did not havingvoting rights over the Športomproti drogám projects.”

Labour Minister Viera Tomanová Photo: Sme - Peter Žákovič

AMCHAM: Investors worried about non-transparent tendersContinued from pg 3

In addition, only 8 percent of sur-veyed firms planned to downsize.

“The fact that a vast majority of for-eign companies want to keep their op-erations at least at current levels is astrong indication that Slovakia re-mains highly competitive,” Slegerscommented, adding that it’s equallyimportant that 35 percent of respond-ents indicated that they were even con-sidering expanding their operations inSlovakia.

The survey results also point outthat Slovakia’s efforts to stabilise itspublic finances by entering the euro-zone are bearing fruit. Fully 83 percentof foreign investors perceived the use ofthe euro as the official currency as hav-ing a positive impact on their business.

As many as 72 percent of corres-pondents surveyed said they con-sidered the allocation of public tendersand financial resources as being non-transparent and that the state has notcreated and does not apply transparentprocedures for allocation of incentivesand EU funds. In addition, 81 percentconsidered corruption to be a barrier todoing business.

“A vast majority of the participantspointed to the strong need for increasedusage of electronic media in govern-ment-related transactions,” Slegerssaid. “The surveyed investors expressedtheir will to support all of the Slovakgovernment’s initiatives to raise aware-ness in this area and implement addi-tional anti-corruption measures. “Oneof the suggested ways to overcome thisbarrier and increase transparency, aswell as efficiency, was to proactively ad-vance positive initiatives in e-govern-

ment and e-procurement, which arecurrently only in the intention or designstatus.”

At the summit, it was noted that theUN 2008 e-Government Readiness Indexcompares various countries according totwo primary indicators. These indicat-ors are, firstly, the state of e-governmentreadiness and, secondly, the extent of e-participation. Indicative of Slovakia’slack of progress in these areas isSlovakia‘s rank of 38th of the top 50countries in the UN index.

“Unfortunately, this places it behindall of its central and eastern Europeanneighbours,” Slegers said. “A greatersense of urgency is therefore expected bythe respondents specifically in the areasof e-government and e-procurement.”

The Slovak Business Alliance (PAS)noted similar problems in its Index ofBusiness Environment (IPP), executivedirector of the alliance Róbert Kičinatold The Slovak Spectator.

“Businessmen point out corruptionas the third most serious barrier to doingbusiness in Slovakia, after weak en-forceability of the law and the high levelof bureaucracy,” he said.

The investors surveyed by AmChamalso strongly encouraged the Slovakgovernment to decrease the adminis-trative burden on businesses, reducerapid and non-systematic changes of le-gislation and allow greater discussionand involvement by various stakehold-ers in preparation of new legislation.

According to Kičina, the ineffective-ness of public expenditure was also rankedby the World Economic Forum, which con-ducted a survey that placed Slovakia 127thamong 133 in an evaluation of cronyism.

The complicated and ineffective so-cial welfare system, legislation and

backward education system are alsoamong the most significant barriers tobusiness, according to the PAS.

In the AmCham survey almost 50percent of respondents saw the educa-tional system as not adequately prepar-ing individuals for Slovakia’s labourmarket needs and the lack of a qualifiedworkforce currently belongs among themain challenges that companies face inthe area of human resources. The sur-veyed investors recommended includ-ing more practical training and educa-tion in school curricula, and increasingthe focus on language and communica-tion skills, including soft skills, such asleadership training and the develop-ment of a service-oriented approach tobusiness, Slegers said.

However, PAS, which in its IPP re-corded a continuing deterioration in theSlovak business environment in thesecond quarter of 2009, points out thatthe impacts of the crisis also showstrongly in the country. “More and moreoften businessmen openly talk aboutlower performance, productivity andability to fulfil their obligations,” Kičinasaid. “The crisis has caused the ability ofcompanies to follow their aims and vis-ion to drop.”

Foreign investors said they would welcome less bureaucracy in Slovakia. Photo: TASR

Jeni Klugman Photo: Courtesy of UNDP

“I didn’t evaluate those projects”

Interview with Jana Vaľová, aparliamentary deputy for Smer

Do you know Zuzana Mikováfrom the Government Office?She is the sister-in-law of AnnaBrezinková, the boss of theCesta životom NGO that youfounded and that is still re-gistered at your address.

JV: If you have any ques-tions, send them by email.

You were a member of theAnti-Drug Fund advisorycommittee that last year eval-uated several projects by Čistýdeň, the NGO that ZuzanaMiková founded. They got€80,000 in support.

JV: I never in my life evalu-ated such a project.

But Anti-Drug Fund directorMiroslav Žufa said you laterapproved the committee’s rul-ings on Čistý deň, so you musthave known what you wereapproving, right?

JV: I was a member of theevaluating committee, but holdon a moment, the way thatprojects are evaluated is that

everyone [on the committee]gets certain projects to look at,and I certainly never evaluatedthis project.

So why did you later approveit?

JV: I have no voting rights,I’m just a member invited to bepresent.

But you approved it, so againI’m asking if you rememberwhat you approved, and yourreasons for doing so.

JV: No, because given that Ididn’t take part in thecommittee’s proceedings, Icouldn’t have evaluated it.

But director Žufa said you ap-proved it.

JV: I can’t seem to make youunderstand.

What is your current rela-tionship with the Cestaživotom NGO, which you foun-ded and which also got grantsfrom Miková’s Government Of-fice?

JV: Send your questions byemail.

13NEWS October 12 – 18, 2009

AUDIT: Opposition calls for Štefanov to goContinued from pg 1

“It really could not havehappened otherwise,” saidZuzana Wienk, director of thepolitical ethics watchdog or-ganisation, the Fair-Play Alli-ance. “It is completely evidentthat the European Commissionis a body with a much stricterpolitical culture than is stand-ard in Slovakia and it really actsin the name of taxpayers andfor their protection.”

The consortium had beenpaid €11 million under thetender before it was cancelled.

According to Wienk, it hasbeen clear from the very begin-ning that the European Com-mission could not pay formoney spent as part of a tenderorganised in the way it was.

“The fact is, the only insti-tutions that could achieve thereturn of the wasted money are

the Prosecutor’s Office or theConstruction Ministry,”Wienk said. “The ministry hasclearly shown that it does notprotect taxpayers’ money andwould not take such steps.”

So Wienk thinks that theProsecutor’s Office is currentlythe sole body which could re-cover some of the fundsalready spent.

“If the Prosecutor’s Officeprotects the rule of law in thiscountry, then it should do it,”Wienk said. “According to ouranalysis, the sums that havebeen paid to firms from the bul-letin-board consortium aremuch higher than the marketprices so the state budget couldget back a relatively significantsum which could be spent forthe benefit of taxpayers.”

The parliamentary opposi-tion parties had already calledon Prime Minister Fico to recall

Štefanov, who prior to his ap-pointment was a key lieutenantof the previous minister,Janušek, and whose signatureappears on many of the keytender documents. Fico hasthus far rejected sackingŠtefanov, saying that he wasonly an officer of the ministryexecuting orders and that fullresponsibility lies withJanušek.

Štefanov is claiming thatSlovakia “won't lose a singleeuro” and that Slovakia’s tax-payers will not be affected sincethe EU funds designated for thetender will be used to cover oth-er state activities and themoney already paid will be re-placed from the state budget.

The chairman of the SNS,Ján Slota, responded to the re-cent developments by suggest-ing that since the funds fromthe tender were mostly spent

for media promotion and ad-vertisements and because“those media are now the firstto criticise” that perhaps themedia should return money tothe ministry, TASR reported.

Ivan Mikloš, the deputychairman of the Slovak Demo-cratic and Christian Union(SDKÚ), the strongest opposi-tion party, viewed the recentdevelopments as the EuropeanCommission convicting thecabinet of Robert Fico of com-mitting a scam, the SITA news-wire reported.

Mikloš also reminded theprime minister of what he hadsaid a month ago: that theEuropean Commission wouldreimburse a significant part ofthe funds already paid to thefirms involved in the bulletin-board tender. The SDKÚ has alsocalled for the immediate recallof Štefanov.

VÚC: Powerful but uninteresting?Continued from pg 3

The Interior Ministry has already startedits preparations for the elections, as all ma-terials and documents required for the elec-tions must be delivered to municipal officesby November 3. The ministry has almost€8.5 million allocated for this purpose whilethe Statistical Office is authorised to spend€1.3 million, said Alena Koišová from thepress department of the Interior Ministry.

The power of the VÚCs

According to Slovakia’s 2001 Act on Self-Governing Regions, the eight regions havetwo main governing bodies: the regionalparliament and the president.

Despite the rather lukewarm attitudeSlovaks have shown towards the two previ-ous VÚC elections, the regional authoritiespossess a significant package of public au-thority according to the law.

“From the viewpoint of daily problems,the self-governing regions are definitelyless important than the municipalities;that was the intention,” Viktor Nižňanský,an analyst with the MESA 10 think-tank andthe former government plenipotentiary forthe reform of public administration andlater for decentralisation, told The SlovakSpectator. “The VÚCs tackle things thatwould be impossible or too complicated forthe local governments to solve. Their maintask is to create good conditions for the de-velopment of the region and the quality oflife of its inhabitants.”

Nižňanský said the regional authoritieshave decision-making authority in educa-tion and social services as well as in public

transportation and in maintaining 2nd and3rd category roads, adding that they canalso be active in inter-regional and cross-border cooperation, tourism and education-al activities.

Regional expenditures are financedmainly from their own resources flowingfrom taxes paid directly to the regions, in-cluding income and motor vehicle taxes.They also receive grants from the state min-istries and from European structural funds.In 2010 they are expected to spend approx-imately €1.110 billion.

Uninteresting?

Despite the rather big chunk of moneythe regional authorities handle, previouselections have repeatedly failed to stir theinterest of voters. In 2001, when the first-ever regional elections were held, 26.2 per-cent of voters came to the polls for the firstround. Four years later, in 2005, only 18.2percent of the electorate showed up to votein the first round. This time, observers ex-pect about 20 percent of citizens to vote.

“The trend of falling turnout hasstopped this year in all the other electionsthat took place, which makes me believethe forecast that 20 percent could turn up[in the VÚC elections],” sociologist PavelHaulík told The Slovak Spectator. He saidcitizens are not interested in their VÚCmainly because it doesn’t represent an or-ganic whole.

“They have powers in several differentareas without a systemic link betweenthem,” Haulík said, adding that the publichas a rather cold feeling towards the re-gional authorities.

“If the turnout doesn’t at least reach theturnout in the first elections, I think itshould be an impulse to consider whetherthe VÚCs were created well, from the as-pect of their functionality,” Haulík added.

Nižňanský believes that the citizensare more interested in their local govern-ment since this is where they turn forhelp with their daily problems. Also, hesaid the VÚCs have been working properlyonly for four years, because in their firstterm they had only been acquiring thetasks that were previously done by thestate administration.

He also sees a problem in the fact thatthere are now eight VÚCs while Slovakiahad been divided into only three regionsduring most of its history.

“It would perhaps motivate peoplemore if Slovakia was divided into the nat-ural regions to which Slovaks have astrong, centuries-long relation,”Nižňanský said.

Regional elections could be of more sig-nificance to citizens if the VÚCs had morepowers and responsibilities but Nižňanskýsaid it is also the duty of the politicians tomotivate people to participate and vote.

“Despite the legality of their election,the legitimacy of their decision-making isalso lower because of the lowvoter-turnout,” he said.

“The elected officials should turn to thevoters more when making serious de-cisions and involve them in programmesand projects. Of course, those [elected offi-cials] who are not serious about their du-ties are happy with the present situation,as they are less controlled by the citizens,”he concluded.

SP90021/3

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SPECTACULAR SLOVAKIA The Slovak Spectator’s travel guide

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your discount.Contact: The Rock s.r.o, Lazaretská 12, 811 08 Bratislava, Slovak Republic, tel: +421 (0)2 59 233 300, fax: +421 (0)2 59 233 319,e-mail: [email protected], or [email protected]

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1. Prices of classified ads (according to no. of words)● Up to 20 words - € 10 (Sk301.26)● Up to 50 words - € 20 (Sk602.52)● Up to 70 words - € 30 (Sk903.78)● Up to 100 words - € 40 (Sk1,200.04)● Up to 150 words - € 60 (Sk1,807.56)Additional options● Logo or picture insertion

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2. Prices for business classifiedads (according to size):

Western SLOVAKIA

Bratislaval LIVE MUSIC: Double Down Live – ZZ Top,the famed American rock trio founded in1969, give their first ever concert in Slov-akia.

Starts: October 14, 20:00. Admission: €25.Sibamac Arena (The National Tennis Centre),Príkopova 6. Tel: 041/5004-136, www.vivien.sk.

Bratislaval DANCE: One – The PR-Evolution DanceCompany from Hungary arrives in the coun-try with a modern choreography about in-terpersonal relations and human existence.

Starts: October 18, 19:00. Admission: €10.Meteorit Theatre, Čulenova 3. Tel:0905/253-414, www.meteorit-theatre.com.

Bratislaval FASHION: Bratislava Fashion Days – Afashion show featuring designs by renownedSpanish artist Agatha Ruiz de la Prada opensthis 7-day festival celebrating beauty and sa-voir-vivre.

Runs: October 16, 20:00. Admission:€100. Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav Theatre,Gorkého 17. www.agentura-promotion.sk.

Bratislaval OPERA: The Plays of Mary – The SlovakNational Theatre has added to its programmea new piece by Bohuslav Martinů, one of themost outstanding and best-known Czechcomposers, on the occasion of the 50th an-niversary of his death.

Starts: October 17, 19:00. Admission: €10 -€30. The Slovak National Theatre, Hviezdosla-vovo Square. Tel: 02/5778-2534, www.snd.sk.

Bratislaval EXHIBITION: The Brussels Dream – Acomprehensive interactive display relatingthe story of Czechoslovakia in the late 1950s,when its pavilion at the Expo '58 World's Fairin the Belgian capital charmed the West.

Open: Tue-Sun 10:00-17:30, until Novem-ber 15. Admission: €3.32. Esterházy Palace,Nám. Ľudovíta Štúra 4. Tel: 02/5443-2081,www.sng.sk.

Komárnol LIVE MUSIC: Parázs Tour – Révész Sándor,former leader of two famous Hungarian rockbands, Piramis and Generál, visits southernSlovakia.

Starts: October 12, 19:00. Admission: €16.

City Culture Centre, Hradná 1. Tel:035/7713-550, www.elokoncert.sk.

Nitral EXHIBITION: Poznać Poznań – Threegraduates from the Academy of Fine Artsbased in the Polish city of Poznań, KamilWnuk, Diana Rönnberg and Pawel Polus,have prepared a multimedia display aboutborders and boundaries, bearing in mindtheir common motto “I do care”.

Open: Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, untilNovember 8. Admission: €0.66. Nitra Gal-lery, Župné Square 3. Tel: 037/6579-641,www.nitrianskagaleria.sk.

Central SLOVAKIA

Žilinal DANCE: Homecoming – Les Slovaks, a Brus-sels-based Slovak modern dance ensemble,come back home to present their second show,full of humour and improvisation.

Starts: October 13, 20:00. Admission: €5.The Stanica Žilina-Záriečie Culture Centre,Závodská Cesta 3. Tel.: 041/5623-564,www.stanica.sk.

Banská Bystrical FESTIVAL: Banská Bystrica Music Days –

Five concerts and the premiere of GiuseppeVerdi’s Simon Boccanegra make up the pro-gramme of the 16th edition of this classicalmusic festival.

Runs: October 16-22. Admission: €2 - €7for a performance. The State Opera, Národná11. Tel: 048/4154-544, www.stateopera.sk.

Eastern SLOVAKIA

Prešovl LIVE MUSIC: 25 Years of Mloci – The Slovakcountry-folk band celebrates its 25th birth-day by inviting famous musicians - PeterLipa, IMT Smile and Chiki Liki Tu-A to per-form songs from Mloci’s (Newts) repertoire.

Starts: October 15, 18:00. Admission: €10.City Sports Hall, Ul. Jána Pavla 2.www.mloci.sk.

Popradl FESTIVAL: International Mountain FilmFestival – For the 17th time, hiker-film-makers from all around the globe gather topresent their latest adventures on film.

Runs: October 14-18. Admission: €1 - €3for a screening. Gerlach Cinema, NábrežieJána Pavla II 3. Tel: 052/7763-296,www.mfhf.sk.

By Dominika Uhríková

Time grinds byat Nitra flour mill

THIS idyllic scene with horsesdrinking and coachmen idlingaround was captured in thetown of Nitra sometime around1925. Today, hundreds of carspass this place every day head-ing to a nearby bridge over theNitra River.

Also, interestingly, at thetime when the picture wastaken the location was situatedin the town’s periphery whilenow it lies near the centre.

The building on the left isthe Árpád Mill, one of the oldestindustrial sites in Nitra. Flour

from the mill was exportedmainly to Hungary, Austriaand Silesia but it also reachedmarkets in Bohemia andMoravia.

When a cholera epidemicbroke out in Nitra in 1873, themill was turned into a hospital.It later returned to its originalrole and in 1935 it becameSlovakia’s first paprika mill.

The building, however, nolonger exists. A modern shop-ping centre has taken its place.

By Branislav Chovan

POP-ROCK fans from all around Slovakia canlook forward to hearing some of the best-known hits by singer-songwriter RichardMüller, who only recently announced hiscomeback after several years of retirement,as he is touring the country between October14 and 27. Within his 2009 Best Of Tour, the48-year-old musician, former member of theBanket band, performs singles such as Mi-lovanie v daždi (Making Love in the Rain),Tlaková níž (Cyclone) or Nebude to ľahké (ItWon’t Be So Easy). This week the singer willperform in Bratislava, Levice andRužomberok, and later in October, sevenmore towns will host his concerts. Ticketscost between €12.90 and €17. Further inform-ation can be found at www.muller.sk.

Photo: Courtesy of www.muller.sk

HISTORY TALKS EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE

I n c o o p e r a t i o n w i t h t h e S l o v a k H y d r o m e t e o r o l o g i c a l I n s t i t u t e

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

N A M E D A Y O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9

TMonday

Maximilián

October 12

Tuesday

Koloman

October 13

Wednesday

Boris

October 14

Thursday

Terézia

October 15

Friday

Vladimíra

October 16

Saturday

Hedviga

October 17

Sunday

Luká‰

October 18

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)

The SME daily & the Slovak Film Institute present a special DVD offer:

SLOVAK MOVIES OF THE 1960S IIEvery Monday, starting September 25, you can buy a DVD from the newsstand nearest you featuring

a famous Slovak movie with English subtitles for only € 3,29 (Sk 99).

Name: ...................................................................................................................... E-mail: ............................................................................................................

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I want to order the whole DVD edition – 11 movies for € 32,45 (Sk 979)*. The order will be delivered in two packages of 5 DVDs.

I want to order following movies. Price of one DVD is € 2,95 (Sk 89)*.

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* The price does not include postage. Postage will be calculated according to the price list of Slovak post office.

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1. Skalní v ofsajde Soccer fans - coming September 25 2. Kým sa skončí táto noc Before tonight is over - coming October 2 3. Šerif za mrežami The sherif f behind bars - coming October 9 4. Zvony pre bosých The bells toll for barefooted - coming October 16 5. Majster kat Master executioner - coming October 23 6. Panna zázračnica The wonder-maid - coming October 30 7. Živý bič The living scourge - coming November 6 8. Tri dcéry Three daughters - coming November 13 9. Zmluva s diablom A pact with the devil - coming November 2010. Vtáčkovia, siroty a blázni Birdies, orphans and fools - coming November 2711. November 1989 očami slovenských dokumentaristov As seen by Slovak documakers - coming November 2

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SP90036/1

14 October 12 – 18, 2009 CULTURE

CULTURE 15October 12 – 18, 2009

Dreaming of Brussels

EVERYBODY knows Atomium,one of the most famous Brusselslandmarks. Fewer people re-member that this depiction of aniron crystal, magnified 165 bil-lion times, was an iconic modelbuilt for Expo ‘58, the World’sFair held in Brussels in 1958. Andeven fewer know that theCzechoslovak pavilion at thatexpo won the top prizes awardedby the general public and by theexpo jury.

The Czechoslovak participa-tion in the Brussels Expo has be-come legendary in what are nowthe Slovak and Czech Republics:for many people who either par-ticipated in the creation of theCzechoslovak pavilion and itsexhibits or who visited it, it rep-resented a turning point in theircareers.

Indeed the overall victory ofthe Czechoslovak pavilion can beseen as having opened the doorto a new lifestyle. The BrusselsDream exhibition in the SlovakNational Gallery (SNG), subtitledCzechoslovak Participation atthe Expo ‘58 World Exhibition inBrussels and the Lifestyle of theFirst Half of the 1960s, recalls thephenomenon as well as its af-termath.

“The exhibition has two focalpoints,” Daniela Kramerová,curator of the exhibition said.“One is related to the expo itselfand the second one focuses onwhat the fair brought toCzechoslovakia. This means thehuge designer wave, which wasdubbed ‘Brussels style’ andwhich laid the foundations forthe golden 1960s.”

The exhibition in Brusselswas also very important in aworldwide context: it can beseen as the most importantworld fair of the second half ofthe 20th century. This is, in par-ticular, because of the long peri-

od which had elapsed since theprevious world fair, which tookplace at the end of 1939 and thestart of 1940, according toKramerová.

“Not only Slovakia, but alsothe world powers and actually allparticipating countries investeda lot of energy and money intoit,” explained Kramerová. “Itwas one of the great cultural butalso political events of the time.”

The layout of the exhibitionin the Czechoslovak pavilionpresented one day inCzechoslovakia, elaborated inthree sections – work, relaxationand culture.

As Kramerová recalled, Expo‘58 took place during a toughperiod in the political life ofCzechoslovakia and theCzechoslovak pavilion represen-ted a top-level political goal.

“What was presented at theexpo in fact had nothing incommon with thethen-Czechoslovakia,” she said.“All the exhibits were uniqueartworks created specifically for

this world fair. Or they wereproducts presented as com-monly manufactured inCzechoslovakia, but the oppositewas the truth.”

Products presented were of-ten prototypes made for theexpo, which in the end did notmake it into production.

“This is the Potemkin [Vil-lage] dimension of this Brusselsillusion, of this dream,” saidKramerová explaining the nameof the exhibition.

Nevertheless, visitors toExpo ’58 left charmed by thisdream.

“Especially those from theWest did not have the experi-ence to enable them to exposethis or they just allowed them-selves to be charmed by this illu-sion and were not so interestedin the reality of Czechoslovakiaof that period,” Kramerová toldThe Slovak Spectator.

Kramerová sees a number ofreasons as having lain behindthe success of the Czechoslovakpavilion.

“On the one hand it was amoment of surprise becausesince the period of the so-calledFirst Czechoslovak Republic onlylimited information was avail-abe about Czechoslovakia,”Kramerová told The Slovak Spec-tator. “Further, I think thatpolitical motifs also played a cer-tain role, in which Expo was acompetition between the Westand the East and Czechoslovakiastill remained somewhatin-between.”

“But when thinking aboutthis from today’s perspective, Idon’t think that we succeededbecause of the individual exhib-its – even though there were ex-cellent pieces made from glass,textiles, Laterna Magica andother important things – but be-cause of the overall concept ofthe pavilion,” said Kramerová.“It was done in a way which wasvery attractive for visitors with aminimum of written words, butwith mainly visualinformation.”

The Brussels Dream exhibi-tion arrives in Bratislava fromthe Czech Republic, where it wasoriginally presented in Pragueand Brno to mark the 50th an-niversary of the Czechoslovaksuccess.

Since Slovak participation inthe pavilion was relativelysmall, the SNG has used this op-portunity to enrich the exhibi-tion with artworks from its col-lections created directly for thepavilion.

Girls on the Bank, a work innatural baked clay by JozefKostka, is an authentic piece ofart that was presented in Brus-sels. Other works include draw-ings by Ladislav Guderna, whichserved as patterns for graphicpanels of individual parts of theexhibition.

“This is a very unique oppor-tunity to show why these worksof art were created and fromwhat they stemmed,” saidVladimíra Büngerová, who is co-operating on the display on be-half of SNG.

What: Brussels DreamWhere: Slovak National Gallery,Esterházy Palace, Štúrovo Square 4When: Tue-Sun 10:00-17:30 until 15Novemberwww.sng.skwww.expo58.info

A Tatra 603 car beneath Atomium. Photo: Svět v obrazech


Exhibition recallsCzechoslovak

success at Expo ’58in Brussels, and its

aftermath

Film review: District 9

Director: Neill BlomkampStarring: Sharlto Copley

FOR its opening half an hour,Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 is ableakly realistic and shame-fully familiar tale of organisedprejudice and man’s intoler-ance of minorities. It depicts instartling documentary footage,interspersed with eye-witnessand expert testimony, the gov-ernment-sponsored dissolu-tion of a fetid ghetto on theoutskirts of Johannesburg, avast shanty town of shacks andtents and squalor housingmore than a million displacedcreatures.

Blomkamp grew up inapartheid-era South Africa andhis personal recollections drivethe film. The immigrants hepresents are forced to forage inheaps of waste for theirsustenance, to live on hand-outs of cat food, or else pur-chase contraband meat on theblack market. Despite once be-ing beckoned into the city,they are now considered a pes-tilence and resentments growamong the “legitimate” resid-ents of Johannesburg. Hencethe desire to shift them, hencea Government official namedWikus Van De Merwe (SharltoCopley) dispatched with aparty of heavies to evict them,hence this film detailing thesethankless endeavours. Hence,the consequences.

The twist – and it is fairlynotable – is that this minority,these immigrants, are literallynot of this world. In the film’sparallel reality, a giganticspaceship appeared above thecity in 1983, surprising observ-ers by its choice of Johannes-burg rather than, say, Manhat-tan, but then proceeding to donothing but hover and cast ashadow across the landscapefor more than three years.Humans eventually overcametheir delight at not being in-stantly death-rayed but thencould not contain their curios-ity. Probes sent up to cut intothe ship discovered the popula-tion of malnourished aliensand an inversion of tradition:they became man’s responsib-ility rather than their foes.

District 9, then, is an alienmovie. True, it’s an artfullyrendered, multi-layered andintelligent alien movie, but it’san alien movie nonetheless –

and that means aliens. Theprincipal tip-off for an audi-ence comes with the words“PETER JACKSON presents” inthe opening credits, and that isalso our reassurance that ourvisitors from the planet CGIwill be nothing like we haveseen before.

The label “prawns” isderogatorily applied to thecreatures, apparently owing totheir resemblance to a speciesof giant African stick insect,but they are also not dissimilarto an upright version of thecrustacean. But there issomething human about themtoo.

The prawns are evidentlyintelligent (they have, after all,mastered intergalactic travel)and they care for their childrenin a human fashion, as well assharing a love for sport and forguns. Van De Merwe asks fortheir signature, or tentacleprint, on their eviction papersas if required of a lawful opera-tion. But there are obvious ul-terior motives: Van De Merwesmartly distils popular opinioninto sound bites such as: “Theprawn doesn’t really under-stand the concept of ownershipof property” and news camerastend to focus on the black mar-ket, run by Nigerians, and eveninter-species prostitution.“There are a lot of secrets inDistrict 9,” we hear intoned.

One of those secrets is thatthe prawns aren’t exactlyhappy with their living condi-tions either and are working onan escape plan. But, true toform, the humans aren’t con-tent for that to happen, at leastnot until man has harnessedtheir visitors’ genetic power forheavy-duty armaments. Afterstudying a rare mutant, one topbod at the shady Multi-Nation-al United observes: “What hap-pens to him is not important.What matters is that we har-ness from him all we can.”

This is a gloomy assess-ment of human greed and thethirst for money. On the onehand, the cost is our inter-galactic reputation, on the oth-er it is the reduction of docu-mentary articulacy into thelanguage of the fugitive actionflick. Still, perhaps we can re-deem ourselves in the inevit-able District 10.

By Howard Swains

SP90061/6

Away We Go / premiere S I 15 1:50 17:50 19:50 21:50Happy go Lucky / premiere S I 12 2:10 17:40 20:20District 9 S I 15 2:10 10:30 11:30 13:00 14:00 15:30 16:30 18:00 19:00 20:30 21:30Taking Woodstock S I 15 1:40 10:40 17:40The Wrestler D I 15 2:00 20:00Up (in Slovak) D A 7 1:55 14:40G-Force (in Slovak) D A 7 1:40 12:40 13:40 15:40 16:40 18:40 20:40Bottle Shock S I 15 2:00 11:40 13:50 16:20Orphan S I 15 2:15 18:50Normal OV I 18 1:45 21:20Knowing S I 12 2:10 11:50 14:20 16:50 19:30 21:50

from Wednesday October 7 - Wednesday October 14

Up (in Slovak) OV A 7 1:55 11:00 13:30 15:30Orphan S I 15 2:15 17:40Normal OV I 18 1:45 11:40 20:20Taking Woodstock S I 15 2:00 12:30 19:00 21.20The Secret Moonacre S I 12 1:43 14:10Knowing / premiere S I 12 2:10 12:50 15:20 17:50 20:30The Accidental Husband S I 15 1:45 13:00 15:10 17:20 19:20 21:30Inglourious Basterds S I 15 2:45 11:30 16:40 19:40Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (in Slovak) D A U 1:50 12:00G-Force OV A 7 1:40 14:00 14:50 16:00 16:50Jáno‰ík OV A 15 2:40 18:00 21:00

SP90060/6

Notes: *Screenings on Saturday and Sunday only S - Subtitles OV - Original VersionD - Dubbing U - Universal (Suitable for all ages)

The Accidental Husband S I 15 1:40 12:10* 14:10 16:10 18:10 20:10Jáno‰ík OV I 15 2:40 13:40* 16:40 19:40Inglourious Basterds S I 15 2:45 11:20* 14:30 17:30 20:50The Secret Moonacre S I 12 1:43 13:10* 15:10The Ugly Truth S I 12 1:45 11:10* 17:10 19:10 21:10Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (in Slovak) D A U 1:50 12:50* 15:20That Boat That Rocket S I 12 2:3010:50* 14:20 17:20

from Wednesday October 7 - Wednesday October 14

Notes: *Screenings on Saturday and Sunday only S - Subtitles, OV - Original Version, D - Dubbing, U - Universal (Suitable for all ages)

District 9 / premiere S I 15 2:10 13:20 15.50 18:20 20:50The Ugly Truth S I 12 1:40 12:00 16:10 18:10 20:10

16 October 12 – 18, 2009 FEATURE

Bat lovers gatheredin Jasov cave

THE MUSEUM ofEastern Slovakiain Košice (VSM)has organised anevent to helppeople get to

know more about bats, andthus help protect them.

It took place near JasovCave in Košice Region between18:00 and 20:00 on September24. Visitors were able to putquestions to experts, research-ers, and conservationists,Miroslav Fulín of the VSM said.The European Night of Batswas organised by museum em-ployees in cooperation withthe BAMBI Centre for Envir-onmental Education in Mol-dava nad Bodvou and theSlovenský Kras National Park

administration. Visitors firstheard a lecture in the entranceto the cave, which was fol-lowed by a demonstration ofthe research. Conservationistsshowed how bats were caughtin a collision net, how they ex-amined them and how they tellthem apart.

The event had previouslyproved popular with visitorsand this year was no exception:the audience was large in spiteof the fact that its practicalelements had to take place inthe dark, when the bats be-come active. Part of the attrac-tion was that visitors couldlook closely at bats and evenstroke them, Štefan Matis ofthe Slovenský Kras NationalPark administration said.

More than 1,640 volunteershelp clean up the High Tatras

AFTER THEsummer touristseason ended inthe High Tatramountains, onSeptember 26, a

large group of volunteers joinedforces to collect rubbish in thearea. The volunteers includedtourists, locals, and employeesof the State Forests of the TatrasNational Park (ŠL TANAP-u).

It was the 31st year of theClean Mountains (Čisté hory)event, and more than 1,640people filled about 800 bags withabout 650 kilograms of waste. Asevery year, one third of the vo-lunteers were elementary schoolpupils. The largest group of par-ticipants were in the westernpart of the mountains, in Orava,

Habovka and Zverovka, whereabout 600 people volunteered.

The least waste was collectedin the valleys around Oravice,whereas the most waste waspicked up in Hrebienok, nearRainer’s and Zamkovský’s cot-tages, and from around the cablecar station in Tatranská Lomnica,the coordinator of the event IgorStavný of the ŠL TANAP-u told theTASR newswire. He added thatmany Czech tourists took part inthis year’s cleaning drive.

The event also included clean-ing of the brook in the village ofŽdiar by 27 members of the topmanagement of Enel SlovenskéElektrárne. From almost twokilometres of brook, they clearedabout 700 kilograms of waste. Onthe banks of the stream and in the

water they found plastic bottles,metal plates, old prams, but alsoconstruction material like doors,windows and even wheelbar-rows.

Altogether, more than 33,000volunteers from Slovakia andabroad have participated overthe past 30 years. During thattime they have collected about 51tons of various types of wastefrom within the territory of theTatras National Park. Accordingto organisers, volunteers man-aged to rid the park of a signific-ant environmental burden.

On Saturday, October 3, thePieniny National Park (PIENAP)in north-eastern Slovakia en-joyed a similar clean up, organ-ised in cooperation with thePIENAP administration.

A lot of visitors means a lot of rubbish: volunteers collected 650kgs of it in the High Tatras. Photo: TASR

Visitors were able to get to know bats intimately. Photo: TASR

RecallingZamarovský

SLOVAK writerVojtechZamarovský,who rose tofame thanks tonon-fiction

books about ancient and pre-ancient societies, was born onOctober 5, 1919, in Zamarovce,today a part of the town ofTrenčín, making 2009 the90th anniversary of his birth.

He was noteworthy ofwriting in an arresting stylestories of the very earliestdays of mankind. Zamarovskýauthored fourteen books alto-gether and the first one, a“historical travel book” pub-lished in 1960 entitled Questof the Seven Wonders of theWorld, shot him to fame inCzechoslovakia. His otherworks included Gods andHeroes of Ancient Myths,Gods and Kings of AncientEgypt, Quest of the Mystery ofthe Empire of Hittites, At theBeginning, It Was Sumer,Discovery of Troy, HistoryWritten by Rome, or Resur-rection of Olympia.

Vojtech Zamarovský isthe descendant of an old fam-ily of minor gentry, whichdates back to the 12th cen-tury, the ČTK newswirewrote. He graduated in lawand economy and started towrite more or less by acci-dent. He had been fascinatedby ancient times ever sincechildhood, but the impetus towrite his own works cameonly when he was sackedfrom the State Planning Of-fice for political reasons inthe 1950s. From 1946 he livedin Prague, where he died onJuly 27, 2006, and from thefirst half of the 1960s hewrote in both Czech and inSlovak. His friends used tojoke that after Ján Kollár andPavol Jozef Šafárik, he wasonly the third real Czecho-Slovak bi-linguist. Apart fromother activities, he also trans-lated from German, English,French and Latin into Czechand Slovak.

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AROUND SLOVAKIAcompiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports

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