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Vol. 17, No. 17 Monday, May 2, 2011 - Sunday, May 8, 2011 of this issue

NEWS
Smer's court case
Ice hockey
MPs from Smer, the
largest opposition party,
recently brought a Consti-
takes over
tutional Court case against
the new law requiring on-
line publication of public
Slovakia
contracts.
pg 2
BY MICHAELA TERENZANI
Spectator staff
‘No one’ leads in poll
A recent survey found that
more than one third of Slov- SLOVAK flags filled the country in the
aks do not trust any politi- days leading up to the start of the
cian. Trust in Smer leader biggest international sporting event in
Robert Fico fell compared to the history of independent Slovakia, the
last year, while trust in the 2011 Ice Hockey World Championship.
prime minister rose. As The Slovak Spectator went to print
pg 3 (on April 28), Slovakia was counting
down the hours until the tournament’s
first face-offs.
OPINION Despite initial hesitation and contro-
versies about the costs of reconstructing
Bratislava’s ice hockey stadium and cri-
First impressions
ticism of the country’s level of prepared-
Ice hockey visitors are
ness for such a big event, euphoria has
likely to judge Slovakia on
Slovaks are burning with enthusiasm for the 2011 Ice Hockey World Championship which began in Bratislava and gradually risen among Slovaks.
whether taxi drivers cheat
them or waiters smile or Košice on April 29 and will climax on May 15. It is the biggest-ever sporting event the country has hosted. Photo: TASR
See ICE pg 9
glare. Let's hope we handle
this chance for internation-
al promotion with grace.

BUSINESS FOCUS
pg 5
One more secret vote Lottery saga
Tapping MICE tourism
Though Slovakia is an al-
most ideal tourist destina-
tion the country is failing to
for top prosecutor continues
Finance minister calls
lawsuit ‘a fraud’
take a bigger bite of the op- DOBROSLAV Trnka, whose term as used to select the general prosec-
portunities available to host the country’s general prosecutor utor into a recorded vote. But the
large meetings and confer- elapsed on February 2, is still fight-
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ Constitutional Court, in a decision
Spectator staff BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
ences. ing to regain the powerful posi- published on April 20, turned back Spectator staff
pg 6 tion, posing severe problems for the clock. In response to a suit
the ruling coalition led by Iveta tion, even going so far as to prom- brought by Trnka, it ruled that his
Radičová. Parliament tried and ise that she would resign if it were constitutional rights had been vi- IT IS NOT any exceptionally high jackpot
Trade fairs recovering failed four times last year to select to happen. olated during two of the parlia- that has been bringing media attention to
2008 was a successful year a new general prosecutor and The ruling coalition has since mentary votes last year. Tipos, the state-owned lottery company,
for trade shows in Slovakia. Radičová expressed strong opposi- gone to considerable lengths to but rather a long-standing legal case in-
While business has since tion to Trnka’s eventual re-selec- turn the previously secret ballot See VOTE pg 2 volving a Cyprus-based firm named
dipped, shows and fairs re- Lemikon that wants to collect €14 million
main a valuable way to from Tipos based on a recent ruling by
build contacts, and com-
panies are now exhibiting
again.
The ESM: To join or not to join Slovakia’s Supreme Court. Tipos, however,
is not planning to quickly wire money to
Cyprus and will challenge the decision of
pg 7 to replace the existing European with the ESM as well. Prime Minis- the court with an appeal to the Constitu-
Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) from ter Iveta Radičová wants the ESM to tional Court. The lottery company also told
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ the media that it is in good financial shape
Spectator staff 2013. On April 26 SaS party boss clear parliament and says she is
CULTURE Richard Sulík even went so far as to ready to hold talks with each politic- and that the legal wrangling would in no
call the ESM a fraud committed on al party until the very last moment. way threaten it from paying out winning
Veronese masterpiece THOUGH the new eurozone bailout European taxpayers. Opposition leader Robert Fico tickets.
Bratislavans have a rare op- instrument, the European Stability Aside from SaS, the four deputies criticised SaS and said that his Slovak Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš
portunity to see a signific- Mechanism (ESM), is still a work in of the Civic Conservative Party party, Smer, would not tolerate said that although he respects the ruling of
ant work of the Italian progress, one of Slovakia’s ruling (OKS), which sits within the ruling statements through which political appellate senate of the Supreme Court he
Renaissance at the Bratis- parties, Freedom and Solidarity coalition Most-Híd party caucus in parties might try to pick some fundamentally disagrees with the basis of
lava City Gallery: Portrait of (SaS), has already agreed that its parliament, may also refuse to back “cheap political gains”. the lawsuit, calling it a fraud.
a Man by Paolo Veronese. deputies will not back Slovakia’s par- the mechanism. Faction leader Peter
pg 11 ticipation in it. The ESM is supposed Zajac said they might have “issues” See NET pg 4 See BET pg 3

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The online version of our publication SPECTACULAR SLOVAKIA

2 May 2 – 8, 2011
Slovak soldier aids EU’s Libya op
THE FIRST Slovak soldier to
participate in the EU-led op-
eration focused on providing
humanitarian aid to Libya
and helping refugees fleeing
the country is Maroš Gonos,
who was deployed to Rome
on April 10 at the request of
the EU commander.
"Since the beginning of
this operation we’ve said that
we fully support the steps to
promote peace in a country
where a mad dictator lets his
own people be killed,” De-
fence Minister Ľubomír
Galko stated, as quoted by the
SITA newswire.
According to Galko, the
Slovak solider will be in
charge of human resources
for the mission with the task
New details on Turkish truck incident
AN INTERNATIONAL crime
group based in Slovenia op-
erating in several EU coun-
tries, which arranged the
transport of acetic anhydride
to Turkey at the end of 2010,
was planning to use the
chemical to produce heroine
and then use money from the
sale of the drug in Europe to
buy weapons that would be
sold to the IRA and ETA ter-
rorist organisations, Slovak
Police Corps President
Jaroslav Spišiak told a press
conference on April 27.
The story of the Czech
truck driver who spent
Christmas 2010 in a Turkish
prison after he unwittingly
became a part of an interna-
tional anti-drug sting
launched on December 10,
began when he set off from a
warehouse in Dunajská
Streda, loaded with what the
driver believed were 17
tonnes of disinfectant, but
which was actually acetic
anhydride, a chemical used
to refine morphine into
heroin. The driver was arres-
ted upon his arrival at an
Istanbul warehouse on
December 24 and was only re-
leased after several days,
once the true circumstances
were clarified.
According to Slovakia’s
Interior Ministry, the acetic
anhydride was stolen by the
MPs' immunity to be debated again
A LAW to abolish the im-
munity of MPs for misde-
meanour offences will be de-
bated in parliament at its
regular session in May,
Speaker of Parliament
Richard Sulík said, as repor-
ted by the SITA newswire.
Such a change, in con-
trast with abolishing the
immunity of MPs for crimin-
al offences, does not require a
change in the constitution
and hence a three-fifths vote
of all MPs.
The most recent attempt
of issuing invitations and on
the basis of responses to pre-
pare a command structure
database as well as aid in
mission planning.
Gonos will be based in
Rome and will not be dis-
patched to Libya, Galko said,
adding that he will serve four
months in the post and if the
operation continues beyond
then, another soldier will
take over his post for another
four months.
“This is a contribution to
the humanitarian action, not
the military action,” Galko
told SITA. He did not rule out
that there might be further
requests from the command-
ers of the NATO operation in
Libya in the future.
international gang from a
factory in Europe and could
have been used to produce
some 400 kilograms of
heroine, which the gang was
planning to sell back to drug
users across Europe, includ-
ing Slovakia. The ministry
said 400 kilograms of heroine
would constitute around 10
million doses, enough to
supply 10,000 drug users for
a year. The street price of the
final heroine was estimated
at about €16.6 million.
Spišiak said the police
sting operation was meant to
expose the entire operation
but it ended prematurely.
“We had the whole crim-
inal gang under watch, but
the Turkish part was
marred,” Spišiak said, as
quoted by the Sme daily. He
stated that the operation had
to be halted because the life
of a man who had organised
the whole transport in Slov-
akia was in danger.
“They were controlling
him, saying that if the action
was marred or revealed they
would kill him,” Spišiak said.
The gangsters holding
the man, two Slovenians,
were subsequently detained
in Slovakia, Spišiak said and
Sme reported that another
six people were detained in
March in Slovakia and three
more in Slovenia in April.
to limit MPs’ immunity was
advanced by Prime Minister
Iveta Radičová in autumn
2010. It would have limited
MPs’ immunity only to votes
and statements made in par-
liament and judges’ im-
munity only to decision-
making while in court.
The measure failed after
only 75 MPs voted in favour
of the constitutional
amendment.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
NEWS
Smer MPs end court case
MPs FOR the largest opposi- used in political quarrels”,
tion party, Smer, have re- Smer boss Robert Fico stated.
cently questioned the consti- Since the law came into
tutionality of a new law and effect over 2,200 contracts
the division of power in par- have been published on the
liament. In a complaint filed Central Register of Con-
with the Constitutional Court tracts, a website where state
in early April a group of Smer ministries, their budgetary
MPs sought to challenge the organisations and public-
law which requires that state, service institutions publish
regional and municipal bod- their contracts, according to
ies publish all their contracts, Justice Ministry spokesper-
paid invoices and orders on- son Peter Bubla.
line – a measure which has Regional and municipal
been effective since January 1 authorities are required to
this year and which trans- publish contracts on their
parency watchdogs have own websites. Smaller muni-
called the strongest anti-cor- cipalities without websites
ruption measure taken by the must publish their contracts
current government. The The Constitutional Court in Košice. Photo: Tibor Stanko on the website of the Business
MPs have since withdrawn Bulletin, which has so far pos-
their complaint. “We fully support the any further control or sanc- ted 720 contracts.
The Smer MPs, represen- obligatory publishing of con- tions for those who violate the
ted by the party’s shadow tracts on the web as governed law, and that the motivation Smer questions committees
justice minister Róbert Madej, by the current info-law,” for all concerned parties to
requested that the Constitu- Smer spokesperson Silvia publish contracts is incorpor- Smer also doubts the con-
tional Court evaluate the con- Glendová stated. The so- ated directly into the law. stitutionality of the division
stitutionality of the provision called “info-law” – the law on Žitňanská also noted she did of power in parliamentary
in the law according to which public access to information not encounter any complaints committees. After the 2010
only contracts that are pub- – was passed in 2000 by the about possible unconstitu- parliamentary elections,
lished online are valid. The first government of Mikuláš tionality during the process of when the newly-created
government says this is ne- Dzurinda. passing the law. committees took shape, Smer
cessary to make the law en- “This provision [i.e. in- Smer did not publicise its MPs announced that they
forceable. Smer maintains validity without online pub- complaint and soon after the would challenge the composi-
that such a provision might lication] is the basis of the Constitutional Court pub- tion of the committees which
cause insecurity in legal rela- whole law,” Justice Minister lished its list of signatories they believe deformed the di-
tions, particularly in transac- Lucia Žitňanská told the Sme and the media reported who vision of power in parliament.
tions such as the transfer of daily, adding that it is import- they were, the MPs withdrew
real estate. ant that there is no need for it, “so that it doesn’t get mis- See LAW pg 5
VOTE: Coalition to try once more on GP
Continued from pg 1 secret ballot, which he did not consider As for the chances of Trnka’s reselec-
an appropriate or democratic reason. tion, Kusý said that he does have some
According to the court, the violation MPs are expected to override his veto. chance, but that those who now vote for
happened when deputies revealed how him will indirectly support the fall of the
they had voted in the secret ballot, by The tricky vote and possible resignation ruling coalition.
photographing their ballots or openly “There is no doubt that the president
declaring who they had supported. In Radičová responded on April 20 to the will assign the chairman of the strongest
doing so, the deputies violated the basic Constitutional Court ruling by saying political party to form the government,
principles of the secret ballot and thus that the secret ballot to select the general which is Fico; and it is very probable that
Trnka’s rights, the court found. prosecutor would be re-run so that the Fico would be able to form the government
The Constitutional Court thereby proceedings of parliamentary deputies and get a confidence vote from
cancelled the results of a vote on Decem- cannot in any way be doubted. parliament,” Kusý added.
ber 2 as well as that on December 7, the Nevertheless, Radičová repeated her Political scientist Juraj Marušiak said
SITA newswire reported. promise that if Trnka were to be reselected that Radičová has frequently used the
Complications around the secret bal- she would quit as prime minister, again threat of resignation but it is unclear
lot emerged after the ruling coalition raising the political stakes. Political sci- whether she knows how she would pro-
failed on December 2 to have its candid- entist Miroslav Kusý said that she could ceed if she actually had to resign in order to
ate, Jozef Čentéš, selected as general hardly have taken any other attitude. save face.
prosecutor after at least six coalition “It was not very fortunate that right Marušiak suggested that the prime
deputies used the anonymity of the at the beginning she pushed the situation minister may even be seeking to establish
secret ballot to vote with the opposition to the margin: me or Trnka,” Kusý told a personal powerbase for herself.
Smer party to reselect Trnka. Trnka The Slovak Spectator. “He wasn’t such a “It is evident that she is not certain
missed out on reselection by just one significant person for her to have framed about her own standing in the camp of the
vote, and the coalition MPs’ disloyalty the situation in that way. Nevertheless, it ruling parties, but so far it is not clear to
opened the door to speculation about has now become a question of prestige what degree she is willing to build her own
plots to unseat the prime minister. and she could hardly back out because political powerbase, though the high
On April 5 MPs agreed to change the then she would publicly trample on prom- number of non-party appointees in leading
parliamentary rules for selecting the ises confirmed several times.” positions at the Cabinet Office could signal
general prosecutor, judges of the Consti- This nevertheless makes selection of such tendencies,” he told The Slovak Spec-
tutional Court and the chairs and deputy the prosecutor a litmus test for the ruling tator.
chairs of the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ), coalition, Kusý added, suggesting that Marušiak added that currently no one
Slovakia’s public administration and right now the ruling coalition does not in the ruling coalition or Radičová’s own
procurement watchdog. Instead of being have any other choice but to hold a secret party, the Slovak Democratic and Christi-
chosen by a secret ballot they will hence- ballot and this time to get it right. an Union (SDKÚ), would benefit from her
forth be selected in a public vote, with “Any attempt at manipulation or ob- resignation, given the high popularity of
each MP’s preference being recorded. struction would be unacceptable and Smer.
Smer leader Robert Fico denounced would send the vote again to the Consti- Based on article 116 of the 5th para-
the move, branding the idea of an open tutional Court,” Kusý said. “The ruling graph of the constitution, along with
vote in parliament as “undemocratic” coalition simply cannot afford this.” Radičová, the whole government would
and calling it one of the most shameful For the political scientist the situ- have to resign, which would require ruling
decisions in the history of the Slovak ation within the ruling coalition does not coalition talks, and these might fail, thus
Parliament. seem any different from the situation threatening early elections, Marušiak said.
Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič ve- during the vote in December. “This widens Radičová’s room for
toed the law on April 21, arguing that the “There is still the phenomenon of six manoeuvre,” he concluded.
ruling coalition had decided to change or four deputies of the ruling coalition
the law as a result of its deputies’ failure who voted for Trnka and this could be Michaela Terenzani
to select a new general prosecutor in a repeated,” Kusý said. contributed to this report

‘No one’ leads in poll
of trustworthiness
More than one
third of Slovaks
do not trust any
politician
BY MICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
“POLITICIANS are working
very intensively on losing
trust among the people,” said
political analyst Miroslav
Kusý in his comments on a re-
cent survey which showed
that more than one third of
Slovak citizens do not trust
any of the politicians on the
Slovak political scene. In fact,
the numbers suggest that dis-
trust exists on both sides,
among ruling coalition and
opposition supporters alike.
The ranking of politicians,
based on a survey conducted
by the Institute for Public Af-
fairs (IVO) in the first week of
March 2010, changed signific-
antly from a similar survey
carried out in February 2010.
Perhaps most significantly,
the highest percentage of re-
spondents did not express
trust in former prime minis-
ter and opposition Smer party
leader Robert Fico, who led
the previous poll. Instead, a
plurality, 37 percent, said they
trust nobody on the Slovak
political scene, a steep rise
from 24 percent a year ago.
The authors reporting on the
survey, Zora Bútorová and
Oľga Gyarfášová of IVO, ex-
plained the increase by point-
ing to an overall change in the
country’s political climate:
the pre-election mobilisation
of early 2010 was replaced by a
decrease in interest in politics
and disappointment about re-
cent political developments,
they suggested.
Kusý agreed that politi-
cians very cynically have for-
gotten about their pre-elec-
tion promises and have been
surrounded by scandals that
add to their falling trustwor-
thiness. Another aspect that
he said plays a part in lower-
ing trust in politicians is that
they hurl blame at each other
publicly, through the media,
“and the voter is open to ac-
cept their mutual invectives
as true from both sides”.
Fico still the most trusted
The overall decrease in
the perceived trustworthi-
ness of politicians was reflec-
ted in the numbers for most
of those who appeared in the
ranking, composed by the
IVO analysts from the results
of a survey in which respond-
ents were asked to name no
more than three politicians
they trust.
One political analyst called Radičová a 'good-news messenger'.
Fico remained the most
trusted politician, although
the number of people who
trusted him dropped from 31
percent in 2010 to only 23 per-
cent in March 2011. He is fol-
lowed by the current prime
minister, Iveta Radičová, who
had the trust of 17 percent of
the respondents. Smer’s
deputy chairman and former
interior minister under Fico,
Robert Kaliňák, ranked third,
with 9 percent of respondents
saying they trust him (as op-
posed to the 16 percent he re-
ceived a year ago).
According to political ana-
lyst Juraj Marušiak of the In-
stitute of Political Sciences of
the Slovak Academy of Sci-
ences, one of the reasons for
Fico’s decline in popularity
might be the fact that he and
his party have been critical of
the anti-corruption measures
passed by the current gov-
ernment, such as the re-
quirement to publish all state
contracts online, and have
opposed limiting the im-
munity of MPs.
“Meanwhile, neither
Smer nor its leader offers any
positive alternative, which in
the end leads to a kind of fa-
tigue among his voters,”
Marušiak told The Slovak
Spectator.
Slovak President Ivan
Gašparovič came in fourth,
with 8 percent of respondents
saying they trusted him, four
percentage points down from
2010.
Most leading politicians
in the ruling coalition parties
saw voters’ trust in them
drop, according to the results
of the IVO survey. The leader
of Most-Híd, Béla Bugár, who
ranked fifth with 7 percent of
people trusting him, and
Christian Democratic Move-
ment (KDH) leader Ján Figeľ,
tenth with 3 percent, both re-
ceived four percentage points
less than in February 2010.
Mikuláš Dzurinda, the leader
of the Slovak Democratic and
Christian Union (SDKÚ) and
Daniel Lipšic of KDH also
dropped to 3 percent in 2011.
NEWS
Only Ivan Mikloš of the
SDKÚ and Richard Sulík, the
leader of Freedom and Solidar-
ity (SaS) kept their scores from
2010. Mikloš ranked sixth,
with 6 percent, and Sulík
ended eighth, with 3 percent
of respondents saying they
trusted him.
Radičová adds to
her trustworthiness
Prime Minister Iveta
Radičová was the only prom-
inent politician to see her
trustworthiness rise from last
year, since in February 2010
she was trusted by 14 percent
of the respondents.
Marušiak suggested that
this might also be because
Radičová is still seen by the
public as a new face in Slovak
politics and her name is not
connected with the previous
establishment and its past
political and corruption con-
troversies.
“Either knowingly or un-
wittingly she has accepted the
role of the good-news
messenger,” Marušiak said,
explaining that Radičová is
critical of some measures of
the ruling coalition when it
comes to their adverse social
consequences, something
which helps her popularity
even on the frequent occasions
when she is not able to push
through a concrete result.
Marušiak noted that the prime
minister is also often critical
towards political controver-
sies within the ruling
coalition,and is willing to
enter into conflicts with other
coalition politicians, even
those within her own party.
In fact, Radičová also rep-
resented the only exception to
the rule that the leaders of
political parties were the most
trusted politicians within
their respective parties. The
majority – 65 percent – of SDKÚ
supporters saw her as the most
trustworthy politician in her
party, while Dzurinda, the
chairman, ranked only third
(on 17 percent), after deputy
leader Mikloš (32 percent).
Photo: Sme - Vladimír Šimíček
The poll was carried out
before Fico broke the scandal
about the Tax Directorate
building lease, which promp-
ted several questions about
Radičová’s independence and
the strength of her position
within the SDKÚ.
According to Kusý, the re-
cent developments might
even have strengthened her
position, because in the end
she came out of the contro-
versy the winner.
“There is this strong feel-
ing of wrongdoing that the
public is so sensitive to,” Kusý
told The Slovak Spectator.
“Mikloš and Dzurinda wanted
to face her with a ready-made
partisan decision, but it turned
into her advantage. Although
hers wasn’t a clear decision
that she would claim from the
very beginning, she reached it
gradually – [realising] that she
needed to act decisively. And
that turned out to be a factor in
her success.”
According to the survey,
Radičová is not only number
one among supporters of her
own party. She is also the
second most trusted politi-
cian in the eyes of the sup-
porters of all the other ruling
coalition parties – her pop-
ularity thus extends well bey-
ond the SDKÚ electorate.
The trustworthiness of
politicians as perceived by
supporters of their respective
parties has also dropped signi-
ficantly in comparison with
2010. The largest portions of
respondents who said they do
not trust any politician were
found among those who voted
for SaS and Smer (both 29 per-
cent) and the KDH (27 percent).
Trust in specific leaders of
political parties has declined
too, particularly in the case of
Smer, where only 57 percent of
the party’s supporters said
they trusted Robert Fico, com-
pared with 83 percent in 2010.
It was a similar tale for Most-
Híd, whose leader Béla Bugár
was trusted by 54 percent of
the party’s supporters in
March 2011, as opposed to 81
percent in February 2010.
BET: Ministers
trade barbs
Continued from pg 1
“I consider this whole
case a fraud from its very be-
ginning, based on which
speculators want to strip the
state of billions of Slovak
crowns,” Mikloš stated, as
quoted by the SITA news-
wire. “The Finance Ministry
as shareholder [of Tipos] will
do its best and use all legal
means at its disposal to pro-
tect the money of taxpayers.”
The legal dispute in-
volving Tipos arose in Janu-
ary 2000 when another lot-
tery company, Športka from
the Czech Republic, sued
Slovakia's state-run Tipos
over what it called unau-
thorised use of lottery
trademarks as well as tech-
nical know-how. The com-
panies also litigated the is-
sue of appropriated business
practices and lost profit to
Športka, with the Czech firm
demanding Sk300 million
from Tipos in 2000.
A Cyprus-based firm,
Lemikon Limited, which is
associated with business-
man Radovan Vitek, pur-
chased Športka’s legal claim
in October 2008. That same
year Tipos paid roughly €16
million to Lemikon’s ac-
count. Tipos now, however,
said it expects Lemikon to
pay back around €1.9 million
as the payment made in 2008
was that much more than
the damages awarded by the
Supreme Court.
Tipos said it will also file
an appeal in the next few
days on the grounds that its
right to court protection,
particularly the constitu-
tionally-guaranteed right to
fair court proceedings, was
infringed.
“This right also includes
the right to a high-quality ra-
tionale behind a court
ruling,” said Tipos general
director Miloš Ronec, stating
that the Supreme Court’s
reasoning spans only four
pages out of a ruling of more
than 100 pages, the TASR
newswire wrote.
Ronec also told the me-
dia that Tipos has filed an-
other proposal to restructure
the company after a similar
proposal was rejected by
Bratislava I District Court
last week.
Tipos is still waiting for a win in the Športka case.
May 2 – 8, 2011 3
That application was
turned down by the court
for what it called a failure to
observe requirements pre-
scribed by law. TASR wrote
that Tipos has been seeking
to restructure the company
in order to gain protection
from creditors whose
claims, Tipos asserts, are
questionable.
The current Finance
Ministry blamed the previ-
ous management of Tipos
and the ministry for the re-
cent developments. Former
finance minister Ján
Počiatek rejected the
charges that the ministry
under his management did
not protect the public in-
terest.
“Always when Mikloš
has some problems, which
he is now obviously having,
he blames the previous
management of the
ministry,” Počiatek stated,
as quoted by SITA.
Počiatek responded that
the Finance Ministry under
his direction had acted as
permitted by law and that
his effort was to assure that
Tipos, as one of the most
lucrative state firms, was
not brought to its knees.
Mikloš asserted that in
2008 the Finance Ministry
signed an out-of-court set-
tlement with Lemikon in a
somewhat secretive manner
under which Lemikon was
to receive €66 million from
the Slovak state, TASR
wrote, and that an initial
payment of €16 million was
made to Lemikon even be-
fore changes in legislation
made it possible for then-
general prosecutor
Dobroslav Trnka to seek a
postponement in the en-
forcement of court rulings.
The former state secret-
ary (deputy minister) of the
Finance Ministry, Peter
Kažimír, told the media on
April 26 that Mikloš has al-
ways preferred to see Tipos
go into bankruptcy to re-
solve the whole issue,
adding that he thought
some private financial entit-
ies would probably welcome
it if the state-run lottery
company went bust so they
could take over its position
in the Slovak market, TASR
reported.
Photo: Sme
4 May 2 – 8, 2011
Public debt reaches 40 percent of GDP
SLOVAKIA’S public debt as a
percentage of GDP has in-
creased by over 13 percent-
age points since 2008, with
the total debt growing from
27.79 percent of GDP in 2008
to 35.42 percent in 2009 and
to last year’s 40.97 percent,
the SITA newswire repor-
ted, adding that large
budget deficits recorded in
the past two years are
primarily to blame.
In 2009 the public budget
deficit was 7.96 percent of
GDP and it was only slightly
less last year, at 7.90 percent
of GDP, according to
Slovakia’s Statistics Office.
SITA wrote that the global
economic crisis that caused
Slovakia’s economic decline
in 2009 can be blamed to a
certain degree for the higher
budget deficits but that the
failure of the state to reign in
spending was another factor.
“The bad budgetary situ-
ation over the past two years
Banks object to more taxes
BANKS paid €266.90 million
in direct and indirect taxes
to Slovakia last year, the
Slovak Banking Association
(SBA) stated on April 26, say-
ing that €173.40 million was
paid in income tax and the
rest came from indirect
taxes, non-deductible taxes
and VAT.
“This money ends up in
the state budget as available
income,” Ladislav Unčovský,
the SBA’s executive director
Custom offices get radiation detectors
SLOVAKIA’s customs admin-
istration has received five
hand-held IDENTIFIER GR-
135 Plus radioactive isotope
detection devices from the
United States government,
the SITA newswire reported.
The devices will make
possible better monitoring,
identifying, measuring, and
localising of the presence of
ionising radiation, along with
easier identification of the ac-
tual radioactive material.
The devices were
provided by US embassy rep-
resentatives on April 27.
800 new jobs to come to Trnava
EXPANSION of a production
hall at the Fine DNC Slov-
akia company, a supplier of
components to Samsung,
operating in the Voderady
industrial park near Trnava,
is expected to bring 800
new jobs, the SITA news-
wire reported.
The company currently
produces LCD components
for producers of white and
black goods and employs
400 people.
The company an-
is a result of shrinking
budgetary revenues
without adequate cuts in
expenditures over the past
two years,” Eduard Hagara,
an analyst with ING Bank,
told SITA.
Analyst Michal Mušák
of Slovenská Sporiteľňa
shared a similar opinion.
“The state implemented
hardly any measures to
curb the deficit in 2009 and
2010 and launched the defi-
cit reduction process as late
as this year,” he said, as
quoted by SITA.
Mušák added that this
year's consolidation of public
finances that are projected to
cut the deficit this year to 4.9
percent of GDP must be even
more radical.
“As for this year, I cannot
see any signs of the deficit
significantly deviating from
the [budget] plan but it is still
too soon to evaluate the
whole year,” Mušák said.
told the TASR newswire.
“The higher the sector's
profits, the higher the taxes
we pay into the budget. So,
we don't understand Finance
Minister Ivan Mikloš's initi-
ative to introduce another
special tax on banks.“
The idea of levying a
special tax on banks begin-
ning in 2012 is included in
the Slovak government’s
Stability Programme for
2011-2014.
US Ambassador
Theodore Sedgwick said he
hoped that the portable de-
tection devices would in-
crease the overall safety of
Slovak citizens.
The spokeswoman for
the Customs Directorate,
Miroslava Slemenská, said
the highly sensitive
devices can detect gamma
and neutron radiation and
can be used as well to de-
tect extremely low levels of
radiation or trafficking of
camouflaged nuclear ma-
terials.
nounced that it plans to in-
crease its production area
from 6,300 square meters to
7,800 square meters and to
more than double its storage
area, with the additional
capacity to be used for pro-
duction, storage and hand-
ling of its LCD components.
The company did not
disclose the amount it was
planning to invest.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
BUSINESS
NET: Divisions re-emerge over ESM
Continued from pg 1
Fico, whose party could
play a crucial role in the event
that SaS refuses to vote for the
ESM in parliament, added
that he expects the govern-
ment to support the ESM un-
ambiguously.
SaS’s partners in the ruling
coalition have expressed re-
servations about the way it has
chosen to communicate its
stance. SaS has retorted that it
is the only parliamentary
party that will not succumb to
what it calls false solidarity.
“We haven’t forgotten
that first and foremost we are
here for the people of Slovakia,
to represent their interests,
not the interests of foreign
banks, which for a long time
have been earning from high
interest rates on loans given to
irresponsible countries,” Sulík
said on April 20, as quoted by
the TASR newswire.
Sulík added that it is a
matter of principle for Slov-
akia and that he is aware that
politicians in Brussels “won’t
be enthusiastic, but we have
to live with that”.
Most-Híd party boss Béla
Bugár said that SaS was using
the topic simply to differenti-
ate itself from the rest of the
ruling coalition at any price.
As for the OKS, Zajac said
that he and his colleagues
had serious doubts about the
ESM but would explain how
they intended to vote in a
week or two.
The safety net
Eurozone leaders agreed
on the rules of the ESM, which
should begin operating from
July 2013, at meeting in Brus-
sels in March. The bailout
mechanism must be ratified
by the national parliaments of
individual member states. It
will be backed by €80 billion in
cash, paid in directly by mem-
ber states, plus €620 billion in
capital that can be called on
when a lending requirement
emerges. Its effective lending
capacity will be €500 billion;
the extra €200 billion is being
raised in order to provide the
fund with a premium credit
rating. The €80 billion should
be collected within three
years, with €40 billion avail-
able from launch and the rest
received by 2016.
Slovakia’s share should
amount to 0.824 percent of the
total fund, as opposed to the
0.99 percent which is the
country’s contribution to the
existing EFSF. The reduction
came as a result of a com-
promise proposed by Estonia
which allows smaller coun-
tries like Slovakia, Slovenia
and Estonia itself to contrib-
ute around 17 percent less in
contributions than they cur-
rently do to the EFSF.
Outside politics
“I would not rush in with
excessively fast or sensation-
seeking conclusions, espe-
cially when the subject of dis-
cussion concerns not only
Richard Sulík says SaS will vote against the ESM.
5-million-strong Slovakia, but
the stability of the 331-million-
person eurozone and the cred-
ibility of the euro, the second
most important global reserve
currency,” Volksbank chief
analyst Vladimír Vaňo told The
Slovak Spectator.
The creation of the EFSF
was subject to criticism, as
well as bold statements ahead
of the general election last
summer, but in fact Slovak
participation in it was suppor-
ted in an August 2010 parlia-
mentary vote by 140 out of 142
MPs present, Vaňo noted.
“Participation in the EFSF
as well as in its planned con-
tinuation, the ESM, are benefi-
cial for Slovakia in raising its
credibility in bond markets
and hence lowering the cost of
servicing its public debt,
which has jumped from less
than 28 percent of GDP in 2008
to over 45 percent of GDP, as
forecast, next year,” Vaňo said.
As for the impact that
Slovakia’s refusal might have
on the functioning of the
eurozone, Vaňo said that ag-
gravation of the turbulence on
eurozone debt markets might
in the worst case affect the re-
covery of the real economy.
“Such a scenario might
mean a risk of repeated reces-
sion, with all its consequences
not only for the biggest eco-
nomies like Germany, but also
for their trading partners, like
Slovakia,” said Vaňo.
Listing other risks, Vaňo
said that a potential loss of
credibility for the euro as the
second most important reserve
currency might curtail the de-
mand of global central banks
for the sovereign debt of euro-
zone member countries and
that this would mean a higher
cost of borrowing for virtually
all eurozone members.
The consequences of
Slovakia’s refusal to support
the ESM would depend on
whether other and larger
countries were to follow
Slovakia’s lead, or whether the
ESM could be constructed
without Slovakia, said Juraj
Karpiš, an analyst with the In-
stitute of Economic and Social
Studies (INESS).
Nevertheless, Karpiš told
The Slovak Spectator that “the
existence of the ESM will make
it possible for countries with ir-
responsible fiscal policies and
Photo: Sme
influential financial institu-
tions to shift their losses and
risks to the taxpayers of other
countries, which strengthens
the moral hazard in the monet-
ary union and might lead to
growing tension between par-
ticular member countries or to
nationalistic tendencies.”
According to Karpiš, the
ESM and its credit sources are
siphoning resources away
from the private sector, in-
creasing the cost of refinan-
cing and thus decreasing fu-
ture economic growth.
The ESM can be viewed as
the European version of the
International Monetary Fund
(IMF), i.e. a safety net for ex-
treme situations, Vaňo said.
“It is neither a panacea nor
a replacement for necessary
fiscal consolidation and
healthy long-term fiscal
policies,” Vaňo said. “As in the
case of the IMF, the use of this
safety net is associated with
fierce restrictive measures
and de facto temporary loss of
a major part of national sover-
eignty with regards to man-
agement of public finances.”
The example of Ireland
suggests that voters are not
happy to see decisions about
public finances being taken
over by an external multina-
tional creditor, be it the IMF or
the ESM, he added.
“A safety net is associated
with conditions that don’t
make it such an alluring, or
palatable option to seek, but
rather one to avoid,” Vaňo told
The Slovak Spectator.
Alternatives
In terms of an alternative
to the ESM, Vaňo said that this
amounts to the same as was
the case for Hungary in Octo-
ber 2008: international assist-
ance through the IMF.
“The biggest contributor to
the IMF is the USA, and such
an alternative would hence
equal nothing more than a
public admission that even 60
years after the Marshall Plan,
Europe is not able to stand on
its own and resolve its internal
crises and turbulences without
the external assistance of the
world’s biggest economy,”
Vaňo concluded.
Karpiš, however, identi-
fied another alternative: debt
restructuring.
“An adequate solution
would be a directed restructur-
ing of the debts of problem
countries with the imposition
of part of the losses on in-
vestors and subsequent sup-
port for systematically im-
portant financial institutions
negatively affected by this step
from the public funds of their
home countries,” Karpiš said.
Some have expressed con-
cern that Slovakia’s eventual
refusal to support the ESM
might somehow impact the
country’s position in relation
to the future EU budget. But
Karpiš argued that acceptance
or rejection of changes to the
Lisbon Treaty, necessary to le-
gitimise the existence of the
ESM, should be left up to
member countries and shared
EU sources should not be used
to influence this decision.
“Despite this, it would be
still worth Slovakia exiting
the ESM even under threat of
reduced European transfers,”
he said.
Solidarity?
Nevertheless, advocates
of the European safety net
stress that it is an expres-
sion of European solidarity,
one of the pillars of the
European Union.
Karpiš rejected this in-
terpretation, however: “The
ESM is not an expression of
solidarity.”
He added that thanks to
the safety net it is possible to
pass losses that came as a con-
sequence of bad decisions
made by commercial financial
institutions or politicians onto
the shoulders of taxpayers, of-
ten in other countries. Accord-
ing to Karpiš, the safety net is
taking its toll on socially
weaker groups through tax
hikes and cuts to subsidies
from the social system.
“Considering the state of
the public finances of some
European countries, which are
drawing or in the future will
draw assistance from the ESM,
there is a real possibility, that
they will not be able to pay
these obligations and part of
these costs, via guarantees,
will fall on Slovak taxpayers,”
Karpiš told The Slovak Spectat-
or. “Such a scenario, consider-
ing the low living standards in
Slovakia compared to the
countries that have been
profiting from the existence of
the EFSF and the fact that Slov-
akia, from its own resources,
has carried out a costly re-
structuring of the banking sec-
tor and consolidation of its
public finances, is undesirable
and indefensible.”
Karpiš added that higher
taxes flowing from the need to
cover the expenses of eurozone
guarantees would decrease
Slovakia’s competitiveness and
of those firms operating in
Slovakia compared to other
new member countries, which
have not yet introduced the
euro and thus also the eco-
nomic growth and the pace
with which Slovakia catches
up with the living standard of
older member countries.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
SaS leader Richard Sulík on the European Stability Mechanism,
a permanent mechanism designed to safeguard the stability of the eurozone
BY LUKÁŠ FILA
Special to the Spectator
NAMING the championship
mascot after testicles (in Brit-
ish slang) was an unconven-
tional move. But “Goooly” was
perhaps not the last surprise
the local organisers of the Ice
Hockey World Champion-
ships have prepared. Here is a
brief list of all the things that
can still go wrong:
1. Ice will melt. The Brat-
islava arena was finished just
weeks ahead of the event.
After early preliminary
matches, players complained
that the stadium was hot.
“The ice was decent maybe for
the first half of the first third;
then it was worse. But guys
said that it was still much bet-
ter than before,” said goalie
Jaroslav Halák a week before
the start of the tournament,
when he played his first
match for the national team.
2. Posters will peel off.
Ever since Slovakia got the
chance to host the event, city
councils, government offi-
cials, and local entrepreneurs
started talking about all the
reconstruction work that
would have to be done. The
“It is basically a fraud [committed] on the taxpayers of the EU.”
Goooly
SLOVAK WORD
OF THE WEEK
result? Dozens of posters and
last-minute graffiti designed
to cover-up the mess.
3. There will be too few
toilets. Bratislava is notorious
for its lack of public re-
strooms. There is already talk
Goooly is anxious to present Slovakia to the world.
OPINION / NEWS
of insufficient sanitary facilit-
ies in the fan zones. Visitors
should remember that
McDonald’s or shopping malls
are always a good option. But
if those are full as well?
4. Theft will thrive. The
fact that even before the start
of the tournament someone
broke into star center Pavol
Demitra’s room in the Bratis-
lava hotel where the Slovak
team is staying was not a good
sign. But many worry that
fans’ wallets will be cleaned
out not only by old-school
thieves but also by taxi
drivers, pub owners and hotel
managers massively over-
charging for their services.
Let’s hope none of these
concerns will materialise.
And the world will not re-
member Slovakia as a country
of goolies.
Photo: SITA
First impressions count
THE ARENAS open on April
29, giving the masses their
ice rink gladiators and some
long-awaited entertainment,
shared euphoria and, for
some, even shared grief. En-
tertainment it is, but the Ice
Hockey World Champion-
ship can also be an import-
ant tool of diplomacy and
international promotion – if
handled skilfully.
Sports do help to tran-
scend cultural differences,
provided the very purpose of
a football match, for in-
stance, is not to provide
shaven-headed men fuelled
by hate an opportunity to let
off steam and lash out at
whatever or whoever is de-
fenceless and easily to hand.
Foreign diplomats, who
could be forgiven for having
grown tired of political
small talk or of trying to ex-
tract any meaningful inter-
pretation from statements
by Slovak politicians who
are themselves less than
sure about what they want
to say, have been relieved to
have the subject of ice
hockey to fall back on.
Diplomats, especially
those whose home countries
have some ice hockey tradi-
tion, now have an escape
route to avoid chatting
about yet another fruitcake
politician announcing the
establishment of yet another
political party.
One story in the Slovak
press on April 28 reported
that “in Russia the champi-
onship is helping to renew a
May 2 – 8, 2011 5
ing Slovakia to their friends for longer than the two
and families – or simply be- weeks of the ice hockey
ing inspired to return be- championship.
cause they liked it here. Such international
But the frail beauty of
wooden churches,
charm of small towns and
the
events always evoke a sud-
den rush of national pride in
politicians and public fig-
the majesty of the Tatra ures, with most of them try-
ing to get a bite of the cake.
There are, of course, the
EDITORIAL
notorious ones who want to
make sure that their “pride”
is more than visible. The
leader of the Slovak National
Party (SNS), Ján Slota, and
Vincent Lukáč, an MP for
the party – a man whose
qualities can be judged ac-
cording to his recent state-
ment that he would stand
behind Slota until the day he
dies since Slota is “a god” for
him – have appeared on bill-
boards all around Bratislava
wearing the outfit of the na-
tional ice hockey team.
Fortunately, most for-
eign visitors will have no
clue about the identity of
these grinning figures, or
the meaning of the slogan
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ (in Slovak) “SNS trusts our
Spectator staff boys”. Fortunately, most for-
eign visitors will also not
give a damn about another
clone of the nationalist SNS
Mountains will not be the that is now emerging, estab-
first thing that a foreign vis- lished by Anna Belousovová,
itor encounters when arriv- Slota’s former colleague and
ing in Bratislava. arch-enemy.
The most run-down They will care very little
parts of the city have been about Slovakia’s politics at
cleaned up or, where it was all and are unlikely to sub-
not possible to obscure the merge themselves in the tor-
decay with billboards and tured details of the selection
plastic or overspray it with of Slovakia’s next general
artistic graffiti, simply left prosecutor or the ruling

LAW: Court case withdrawn direct air link between Brat-

islava and Moscow”. More
specifically, Slovakia’s
alone in the hope that tour-
ists will simply not go there.
The better informed vis-
coalition’s attempt to get it-
self out the latest, related
pickle.
Continued from pg 2 Smer MP Miroslav Číž claims that such an chargé d’affaires to Moscow itors might deliberately seek Of course, the visitors
arrangement is unconstitutional and argues told the daily that the out the forget-me-not sym- are not coming to under-
This is despite the fact that the opposition that during the previous, Smer-led govern- championship is a very good bol awarded to services and stand Slovak politics or to
had supported the share of MPs in parliament- ment, each MP sat on only one committee. Číž argument for this effort by businesses that have comprehend the depth – or
ary committees in a parliamentary vote. said he is ready to file a complaint about the ar- Slovakia. pledged to smile and be perhaps shallowness – of the
While the ruling coalition only has the rangement but admitted that his party does Tourism industry profes- pleasant to customers – national pride and national
support of 79 MPs in parliament, it effectively not see it as a priority at the moment as it sionals say that the event is something which is by no frustrations of Slovaks.
has 83 votes in parliamentary committees, could overshadow actual political topics. a huge chance for this small means guaranteed in Slov- Rather, they are more likely
since five ruling coalition MPs sit on two “I suppose we will get back to that at some central European country to akia, no matter how much to judge Slovakia based
committees. Without such an arrangement point in May,” Číž said, as quoted by the Sme implant its name into the you pay. Locals can only solely on whether the taxi
the coalition would not have a majority in daily. consciousness of hundreds hope that the lessons taxi driver cheats them or
some committees and would be unable to pass of thousands of potential drivers and restaurateurs whether their waiter smiles
some laws through committees to their second By Michaela Terenzani tourists as a result of ice learn from the fair-play or glares at them when they
reading in parliament. with press reports hockey visitors recommend- game will stick with them ask for an extra napkin.

   

 


     
 

 
      
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6 May 2 – 8, 2011

BUSINESS TRAVEL
Visitors and exhibitors look for BUSINESS FOCUS Next issue:
more value from trade shows

New Hilton hotel opens next to

Bratislava's ice hockey stadium OUTSOURCING

Tapping MICE tourism Institutions involved in tourism

Slovakia is
looking for ways
to attract more
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
SLOVAKIA is an almost ideal
tourist destination: it boasts
every possible natural and his-
torical advantage, if one over-
looks the absence of a coastline.
But the country is currently
failing to tap all its opportunit-
ies and take a bigger bite of the
incentive tourism cake.
“Slovakia has great pro-
spects in incentive tourism,
but this segment has not been
satisfactorily tapped so far,”
Jozef Orgonáš, general secret-
ary of the Association of Trade
and Tourism (ZOCR), told The
Slovak Spectator. “Even Bratis-
lava, which is predestined for
such tourism, does not organ-
ise any special events to sup-
port incentive tourism.”
What organisations and
entities active in tourism in
Slovakia say they lack is better
and more comprehensive
promotion of the country as a
The High Tatras are a great venue for MICE tourism. Photo: Sme
tourist destination. Another
hindrance is the lack of a prop-
er congress centre able to hold,
for example, a congress with
2,000 participants. However,
the range of smaller venues
able to hold events with
300-600 participants has in-
creased over the last few years
as new hotels with conference
facilities have mushroomed in
Bratislava and beyond.
According to Orgonáš, it is
the duty of the Slovak Tourist
Board (SACR) to promote Slov-
akia as a tourist destination. He
told The Slovak Spectator that
its activities have intensified
since the government of Iveta
Radičová replaced the previous
management in the fall of 2010.
“But, since what is at is-
sue is conceptual work and
long-term activities, results
may arrive only in five to ten
years,” said Orgonáš, adding
that SACR has all the precon-
ditions to present Slovakia
positively as a MICE (Meet-
ings, Incentives, Conferences
and Exhibitions) destination.
“It is doing this and we be-
lieve that its activities will
bear fruit very soon.”
On the other hand, he be-
lieves that bigger activity
from regions and hotels with
proper capacities themselves
may help development of
MICE tourism in Slovakia too.
“It is not enough that only
Liptov klaster [a local group-
ing of entities active in tour-
ism], Bratislava Region and
the High Tatras are active,”
said Orgonáš. “Slovakia has
everything that creates tour-
ism except the sea, i.e. caves,
spas, and so on up to MICE
tourism.”
The Slovak
Convention Bureau
To support MICE tourism,
SACR launched the non-profit
Slovak Convention Bureau
(SCB) in October 2010.
“The main aim of the SCB
is to actively promote Slovakia
as a MICE destination, to in-
crease the number of MICE
events held in Slovakia and to
support tourism in the regions
in this way,” Jaroslava
Čujková from the incentive
tourism department at SACR
told The Slovak Spectator.
See SCB pg 8
hk}ly{pzltlu{
-Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional
Development, www.telecom.gov.sk
-Slovak Tourist Board (SACR), www.sacr.sk
-Slovak Convention Bureau, www.slovakconvention.sk
-Slovak Association of Commerce and Tourism,
www.biznis.sk
-Association of Hotels and Restaurants of Slovakia
(ZHR SR), www.zhrsr.sk
-Slovak Association of Travel Agencies, www.sacka.sk
-Association of Tourism (ZCR) – launched in January
2011
-Historic Hotels of Slovakia,
www.historickehotelyslovenska.sk
Exhibition and fair premises
in Slovakia
Agrokomplex-Výstavníctvo Nitra
Fairground area: 143 ha
Total capacity of exhibition halls and open areas (roofed
and open exhibition space): 90,906 m2; including 40,906
m2 of indoor and 50,000 m2 of outdoor exhibition area.
www.agrokomplex.sk
Expo Center, Trenčín
Fairground area: 35,000 m2
Total exhibition area: 17,000 m2; including 7,000 m2 of
indoor and 10,000 m2 of outdoor exhibition area.
www.expocenter.sk
Incheba Expo Bratislava
Total exhibition area: 100,000 m2; including 60,000 m2 of
indoor and 40,000 m2 of outdoor exhibition area.
www.incheba.sk
Hotel Centrum Dom Techniky ZSVTS, Košice
Total indoor exhibition area: 1,800 m2.
www.dtke.sk, www.hotel-centrum.sk
Compiled by Spectator staff

MICE market shows signs of revival

BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
the space where the programme is held,
i.e. it should be large enough and air-con-
TSS: How is usage of technologies,
for example teleconferencing, affect-
i˜–Œ‘ˆ––ê„‘‡
ditioned in the summer, with sufficient ing your business?

Spectator staff
THE ECONOMIC crisis has affected the
organisers of MICE (Meetings, Incentive,
Conferences and Exhibitions) tourism
events, with companies and organisa-
tions now spending a lot longer ponder-
ing whether each conference and meet-
ing is really necessary and how much
they want to invest in holding it. But the
situation is now improving – as Jozef
Deák, executive officer of Congress Mar-
ket, and Katarína Bilá, managing director
of Farmi Profi, told The Slovak Spectator.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS): What are
the latest trends in organising confer-
ences, educational events, meetings
and other MICE tourism events within
Slovakia? Do they differ from abroad?
Jozef Deák (JD): The development in
the business sector has, of course, been
reflected in behaviour of clients. Auster-
ity measures led to limits in terms of
what companies are willing to invest in
such events and this affects not only the
price but also the category of the accom-
modation facility.
Katarína Bilá (KB): Certainly, organ-
ising of such events requires an attract-
ive location within Slovakia, i.e. a hotel
with quality services and good accessib-
ility by car.
With regards to abroad, I do not think
that the trends differ. The stress is laid on
restaurant capacity if the event is linked
to accommodation. All the premises
should be at a proper level – three and
four-star hotels are preferred.
TSS: How has the economic crisis af-
fected the requirements of your cli-
ents?
JD: Put simply, the requirements
changed in the direction of ‘more music
required for less money’. Nevertheless,
requirements remained unchanged as
people like to combine work with a pleas-
ant stay, quality services and accompany-
ing activities.
KB: Clients are increasingly ponder-
ing the intention to hold an event. They
equally analyse costs in more detail. They
are re-assessing a number of projects and
lowering the budgets of official medical
congresses and conferences, for instance.
TSS: What is the current interest in or-
ganising conferences, educational
meetings, and other events within
MICE tourism?
JD: The situation is improving
slightly, with a revival apparent.
Companies are slowly lifting the strict
economic requirements and this trend
is visible in a higher number of com-
pany events organised this year com-
pared to 2010.
KB: Clients are still interested in
such events.
sˆŒ–˜•ˆêo’—ˆ–
JD: I do not see any visible impact
on conference events. This kind of
communication has better justification
in the case of smaller ‘chamber’ events,
which are more expert and highly spe-
cialised meetings.
KB: We do not detect higher in-
terest in such services. But there are
specific events, whose number is not
very high, where there is a requirement
also to hold a teleconference. Mostly
this involves some specialised medical
fields, for example transplant surgery.
TSS: From which sector of business
or society do you register the biggest
interest in your services? Have you
notices any change recently?
JD: Interest is reviving, particu-
larly from pharmaceutical firms and SP90552/1
companies in the banking and finan-
cial sector which have distributors or
representatives across the whole coun-
try. With regards to the changes, com-
petition among business hotels has in-
tensified in terms of their offers and
client care.
KB: Because we specialise in the
medical and health-care sector, we re-
gister most interest from the side of
specialised medical organisations and
pharmaceutical companies. Interest
has decreased, but this could also be
linked to greater competition in this
sector.
SP90551/2

Visitors look for more
from trade shows
Some specialised
events report a
drop in visitors
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
THE TRADE fair and exhibi-
tion sector now recalls 2008
with some nostalgia as a re-
cord year. But while business
has since dipped, shows and
exhibitions remain a tradi-
tional marketing instrument
for establishing and develop-
ing contacts between compan-
ies and potential clients. Slov-
akia is no exception, though
local conveners of fairs and
trade shows are reporting that
exhibitors as well as visitors
are now focusing more on
costs and on what they can get
from attending a fair.
2008 was a successful year
for companies that organise
trade shows: they reported
sound numbers of exhibitors
as well as visitors, the Trend
economic weekly wrote in
December 2010. But in the first
half of 2009 the global eco-
nomic crisis hit, and the sec-
tor reported a drastic fall in
business in Slovakia and
around the globe. Some fairs
or exhibitions were even can-
celled or had their regularity
reduced. Hopes that 2010
would bring a revival were
vindicated, but only late in the
year. Trend reported that, es-
pecially in the case of fairs de-
signed for the general public,
entertainment has become an
important element and that
visitors arrive at shows to en-
joy the atmosphere and not
only to see products and ser-
vices presented or to collect
information, as they take the
latter for granted.
“Also for us, just as for
most fair and exhibition com-
panies, 2008 was the most
successful year,” Alexander
Rozin Jr from Incheba Expo
Bratislava told the Trend
weekly. “Even though it was
expected that the sector
would revive along with the
economy in 2010, we re-
gistered an increase compared
to the previous year only in
the third quarter; and we did
not get close to the positive
figures from 2008.”
According to Rozin Jr, the
B2B (business-to-business)
fairs and exhibitions sector
was particularly badly af-
fected, while the B2C (busi-
ness-to-consumer) sector,
which is more oriented to-
wards end-customers, fared
better.
This was also the experi-
ence of Viliam Hrudál, direct-
or of the exhibitions depart-
ment at HCDT ZSVTS, the
main organiser of fairs and
exhibitions in Košice.
'Hobby' fairs like flower shows are increasingly popular in Slovakia.
“All our exhibitions [in
eastern Slovakia] have re-
gistered an increase in the
number of exhibitors in spite
of the economic situation,”
Hrudál told The Slovak Spec-
tator. “But in the case of spe-
cialised exhibitions the num-
ber of visitors decreased. Vis-
itors are choosing which ex-
hibition they will visit.”
Hrudál specified that the
complicated situation in
North Africa has affected the
organisation of tourism fairs.
On the other hand, the num-
ber of visitors to ‘hobby’ exhib-
itions has increased.
“‘Hobby’ fairs and exhibi-
tions focusing, for example,
on gardening, hunting, fish-
ing and so on are still
popular,” said Hrudál, adding
that during the last few years
his company has registered
increasing interest from ex-
hibitors abroad. “The personal
contact of the buyer with the
seller is irreplaceable. A lot of
people in our region still don’t
use the internet or don’t trust
internet sales and prefer to
purchase goods directly.”
According to Marek
Baluška, marketing manager
at Agrokomplex-Výstavníctvo
Nitra, current trends include
shortening of fairs and exhibi-
tions as well as their opening
hours, maximum rationalisa-
tion during planning, simpler
and lighter construction ma-
terials, active preparation
from the side of exhibitors,
and usage of all means of
communications both before
and during a fair. He thinks
that these trends do not differ
from those abroad.
“The role of exhibitions
and fairs in Slovakia depends
on their concept,” Baluška
told The Slovak Spectator. “In
the case of events focusing on
the end-user, for example our
furniture fair, the main goal of
most exhibitors is to support
sales, and orders are closed
during the fair. The decision-
BUSINESS FOCUS
making process is quite
simple here – a normal visitor
looks for furniture and at a fair
he compares and orders.”
In the case of B2B events
there are more goals, ex-
plained Baluška, adding that
such an event is the tradition-
al international engineering
fair held in Nitra. This kind of
event provides the opportun-
ity to get new information
about possible solutions to
problems, or to hear about or
view new trends. The de-
cision-making process for
purchase of products or tech-
nologies is more complicated
and usually there are also
more people involved in such
a process. A decision to buy
may be reached as late as sev-
eral months after the fair, ac-
cording to Baluška.
In Nitra they have not re-
gistered any fundamental
changes in requirements
from exhibitors.
“They have to trust the or-
ganisers to attract an adequate
target group of clients,” said
Baluška, who added that pre-
event administration is now
largely conducted by electron-
ic means. “Clients are very de-
liberately choosing only those
fairs and exhibitions that are
high quality from the point of
view of infrastructure, ser-
vices and visit rate.”
The economic crisis has
meant that exhibitors are se-
lecting the events they attend
more carefully according to
quality, said Baluška. They
compare events and choose
only the best ones. Some
companies are judging
whether it is effective for
them to participate at an ex-
hibition each year or whether
it is enough to take part every
second year.
New technologies have
also changed the business.
“The internet helps exhib-
iting companies to sell, saves
costs as it is not necessary to
print so many materials – it is
May 2 – 8, 2011 7
Photo: SITA
enough for the client to show
the price list on a notebook
[computer],” said Baluška.
“The internet, social net-
works, or virtual exhibitions
extend possibilities for com-
munication with target
groups before the fair, during
it, as well as after it. Thus the
communication media are
important, as tools to get re-
action and feedback from ex-
isting as well as potential cli-
ents. Blogs enable specialised
discussions of certain topics.”
Plans for 2011
Agrokomplex expects that
the number of exhibitors and
visitors will remain stable
during 2011. So far this year it
has organised a national pi-
geon exhibition, its furniture
fair, the Agrosalon agriculture
machinery fair and exhibi-
tions covering gardening,
bonsai and products made by
secondary school and con-
struction students.
“This was the most de-
manding spring season in our
history,” said Baluška, adding
that all the events were very
successful. “Along with this
we managed to create a large
congress hall in the K pavilion
and two smaller conference
rooms through which we in-
tend to improve conditions
for exhibitors and visitors. We
are now preparing for the in-
ternational engineering fair
in late May and then
Agrokomplex and the Autos-
alon Nitra car show… At the
end of 2011 we expect to report
3,000 exhibitors and 400,000
visitors.”
In Košice, HCDT ZSVTS be-
lieves that everything de-
pends on the economic situ-
ation in Slovakia.
“We want to try to renew
the tradition of food fairs and
to launch a new fair of a type
so far missing in our region –
with a focus on IT,” said
Hrudál.
SP90551/1
8 May 2 – 8, 2011
SCB: Bureau aims to promote Slovakia
Continued from pg 6
Čujková specified that the
SCB’s goals include carrying
out activities to promote in-
centive tourism in Slovakia,
to create a system to present
and promote Slovakia, and to
support and promote existing
and new incentive tourism
products.
“A precondition for more
effective operation of the SCB
is more significant interest
from relevant subjects in
membership,” Čujková said,
adding that for now the SCB
has 10 members. These in-
clude hotels, travel agencies,
Incheba, the City of Bratis-
lava, and others.
The SCB acts as a central
representative of its members
and conveys the require-
ments of foreign clients to
them. It participates in spe-
cialised fairs, organises famil-
iarisation tours and press
trips, searches for usable con-
tacts and cooperates with in-
ternational associations. It
has is own website and is now
preparing promotional ma-
terials.
According to SACR re-
search, no universal model for
such an organisation exists,
but experience shows that en-
tities operating in incentive
tourism directly or indirectly
as suppliers are strongly in-
terested in the functioning of
such organisations. The SCB’s
model of operation is based on
clustering the finances of
private entities and the re-
sources of municipal, region-
al and state budgets.
So far the SCB has parti-
cipated in a number of exhibi-
tions and fairs focusing on
MICE tourism in the Czech
Republic and Great Britain –
where it attended the most
prestigious business-to-busi-
ness fair, WTM, in London –
as well in Spain and Germany.
It wants to continue in such
activities in the coming
hk}ly{pzltlu{
months as well as to use its
website to convey informa-
tion about unique aspects of
Slovakia’s MICE offering.
Pavol Kašuba, the secret-
ary general of the Association
of Hotels and Restaurants of
Slovakia (ZHR SR), thinks that
it is too early to assess the
activities of the SCB. But he
believes that, apart from the
absence of a proper congress
centre, Bratislava as well as
the rest of Slovakia lacks an
adequate range of leisure
activities and that this is
where Bratislava and Slovakia
lag behind popular incentive
destinations like Vienna,
Prague and Budapest.
Čujková agrees, saying
that in order to become an at-
tractive and competitive con-
gress and MICE destination
Slovakia needs to build spe-
cialised congress centres, im-
prove infrastructure, focus on
details and constantly in-
crease its quality of service.
Here she pointed to develop-
ment projects which are in
the pipeline, for example the
project to construct a special-
ised congress centre in
Košice, which is the number
two MICE destination after
Bratislava. In the capital, ac-
cording to her, the newly re-
constructed ice hockey stadi-
um may also serve for some
congress events.
“Of course, the capital,
Bratislava, has the best condi-
tions for development of
MICE, followed by Košice and
the High Tatras mountain
region,” said Čujková. “Over
recent years new hotels of the
highest categories have also
been built outside Bratislava,
for example in the High
Tatras, Košice, Žilina and
Trnava. The latter are also in-
teresting for incentive tour-
ism as it is possible to link
MICE events and tourist
attractions.”
For smaller events, sem-
inars and training courses she
BUSINESS FOCUS
sees historical and spa towns
or centres in the mountains
as being ideal.
“For the time being the
bigger stress in incentive
tourism is being laid on the
uniqueness of programmes
that include culture, enter-
tainment, family-oriented
elements, an individual ap-
proach to dining and to selec-
tion of quality restaurants,
private visits to attractions,
shops and museums,” said
Čujková. “All these Slovakia
can offer.”
With regards to accom-
modation capacities Orgonáš
said that even though there
may be some regional differ-
ences, in general Slovakia has
more capacity than it actually
needs and that it has
everything from pensions up
to five-star hotels.
Orgonáš believes that
satellite events held in Slov-
akia and accompanying
events in Vienna would help
to develop tourism in Slov-
akia, but it would be better to
draw congresses and MICE
events directly to Slovakia.
Čujková added that such
satellite congress events have
already been held in Bratis-
lava, for example last year’s
International Press Institute
congress.
“Neighbouring cities and
countries with developed in-
frastructure and facilities be-
long among the strong play-
ers in incentive tourism,”
said Čujková. “Slovakia faces
a difficult task to change the
traditional flows of events.”
Historical venues
While Slovakia still does
not have a full-size congress
centre, it is full of historical
buildings which no longer
serve their original purposes.
Many of them have been
turned into hotels and cultur-
al sites which lure visitors
with their unique atmo-
sphere, something that no
new building can offer. Walls
which ‘breathe’ history
provide added value and can
create a pleasant environ-
ment with a positive effect on
the final results of business
meetings, educational
events, company celebra-
tions, conferences and so on.
Thanks to these, interest in
holding MICE events in his-
toric buildings is high.
“To hold a successful
event, conference or training
session requires a stress on
details, which is exactly what
historic hotels provide,”
Michal Čuridlo, secretary
general of the Association of
Historic Hotels of Slovakia
(HHS), which clusters nine
hotels located in castles,
mansions and historic build-
ings in Slovakia, told The
Slovak Spectator.
The historic hotels differ
in size as well as amenities
and not all of them have large
conference halls at their dis-
posal. According to Čuridlo,
instead they have small or
medium-sized convention
premises. This factor is often
balanced by the possibility of
extending an event into adja-
cent historical gardens and
parks.
With regards to their cli-
entele, historical hotels are a
desired venue for a wide port-
folio of customers ranging
from pharmaceutical com-
panies to car importers, and
Čuridlo does not see any sec-
toral limitations.
“The interest in present-
ing companies at a high level
and in an original way is
high,” he said, adding that in
the case of companies with
foreign capital it is possible to
see a difference in interest be-
cause historic hotels abroad
have a greater tradition than
in Slovakia and thus company
managers are more inclined
to select a historic hotel as a
venue for such an event.
FOCUS shorts
Destination manager wanted
BRATISLAVA City Council is
inviting applications for the
post of head of its tourism
and destination manage-
ment department. Those in-
terested in the job can apply
by May 2, Ľubomír An-
drassy, spokesperson of
Bratislava Mayor Milan
Agrokomplex boss fired
AGRICULTURE Minister Zsolt
Simon sacked Ľubomír Mar-
tinka as head of Agrokom-
plex, one of the three biggest
fair and exhibition premises
in Slovakia in early April.
While Simon says that he did
so because Martinka had not
fulfilled his tasks, the former
Agrokomplex boss said polit-
ics were behind his dismissal,
the Sme daily wrote.
Martinka led Agrokom-
plex-Výstavníctvo Nitra, the
state-owned convener of fairs
and tradeshows focusing on
agriculture, for just over
three months. Sme reported
that he planned to lay off four
employees and claimed to
have uncovered some legal
New Hilton opens in Bratislava
BRATISLAVA got another
conference venue in late
April with the opening of a
new DoubleTree by Hilton
hotel in Bratislava. It is loc-
ated just next to the re-
vamped stadium that hosts
the Ice Hockey World Cham-
pionship. The hotel is cur-
rently hosting Slovak nation-
al team players who, along
with their Czech peers, are
the first guests of the four-
star hotel. The hotel is a
project by businessman Juraj
Široký's Tehelné Pole firm
Ftáčnik told the TASR
newswire. The head of the
department of tourism and
destination management
will deal with creation of
projects and programmes in
the segment of tourism and
destination management
for the city council.
violations.
Simon told the agricul-
tural weekly Roľnícke Noviny
earlier in April that
Agrokomplex under Martinka
“took a bad direction”.
The new director of
Agrokomplex should emerge
from a competition for which
candidates could apply up to
April 27. Jozef Bučka is cur-
rently the organisation’s act-
ing head. Martinka replaced
Miloslav Pisár, who had been
appointed by the previous
government, after winning a
selection competition for the
post in late 2010. He did not
meet the formal education
requirements, but is a teacher
by profession.
and started as an illegal struc-
ture after construction began
without the necessary per-
mits, according to the Sme
daily. Rudolf Kusý, the mayor
of Bratislava’s Nové Mesto
district, told Sme that this in-
fringement resulted in the
investor being fined €45,000.
The hotel has 120 rooms
and what it claims is the
capital’s biggest conference
room, at 600 square metres.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
21374
 NEWS May 2 – 8, 2011 9

ICE: Championship starts hk}ly{pzltlu{

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SP90256/12

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(near Hodzovo namestie); on Lycejna at
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44 x 41 mm
1/24 page
44 x 87 mm
1/ 12 page
91,5 x 87 mm
Children's Sunday School provided. and place your
classified advertisement.
91,5 x 41 mm € 100
Everyone Welcome. For information call: € 25 € 50
Information at 02-5443-3263 02 / 59 233 311,
Web Site: www.bratislavainternationalchurch.org or e-mail:
marta.fukasova@spectator.sk
or
C 3634 C 3573
10 May 2 – 8, 2011 CULTURE

Sweet product of the East Western SLOVAKIA

THIS precious postcard, dat-
ing back to before World War
I, depicts the bee-
The beekeeping tradition
goes back to the Middle Ages:
Bratislava
l TANGO MUSIC: Koncert Trio
Tango – This concert by Ursula
EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE
Fiedler (vocals and violin),
Thomas Kirsten (cello) and
Christian Heitler (piano and
arrangements) comes with
works reflecting early Mod-
ernism in music. “Tango
Nuevo” by Astor Piazolla will
be performed with works by
Silesian late-Romantic com-
poser Conrad Ansorge.
Starts: May 5, 18:00; Moz-
art Hall of the Austrian Em-
bassy, Ventúrska 10. Admis-
sion: free. Tel: 02/5930-1533;
www.rakusko.eu.
Bratislava
l CONTEMPORARY DANCE:
GASP 3 – The dance-rhythmic-
al show prepared by the Slovak A TRADITIONAL spring exhibition of naive art is currently tak-
Dance Theatre / Slovenské di- ing place at the Typo & Ars Gallery, Roľnícka 349 in the Vajnory
duty was to supply their lords vadlo tanca bears the typical district of Bratislava. It is dedicated to Slovak artists from the
with honey. traces of choreographer Ján mainly Slovak village of Kovačica in the Vojvodina region of Ser-
In the 12th cen- Ďurovčík, this time including bia, and ranges from older masters like Zuzana Chalupová and

house of beekeeper
Lajos Retzman.
He kept bees in
the village of Bačka
in the Zemplín re-
gion and was photographed
standing by his bee-house
with his family.
In Slovakia, beekeeping
was frequent near mining
towns, as well as in eastern
regions.
Nitra Theatre Festival aims
to honour its volunteers
Many volunteers helped the festival. Were you among them?
THIS YEAR the Divadelná Ni-
tra Theatre Festival is celeb-
rating its 20th anniversary
and over the years it has
drawn on the help of more
than 120 volunteers every
year. With 2011 being the
European Year of Volunteer-
ing, festival organisers are
asking all people who have
volunteered for various jobs
in previous years to contact
them via their webpage,
www.nitrafest.sk, and check
whether their name is on the
list of volunteers.
If not, one can easily com-
Weather updates and forecasts from across Slovakia
can now be found at www.spectator.sk.
HISTORY TALKS
as early as in the 10th to 11th
centuries, extensive produc-
tion of honey has been con-
firmed on the territories in-
habited by Slavs. In the medi-
eval royal and ducal courts
there were servants whose
plete a simple form and then
be listed in the festival’s
forthcoming publication en-
titled 20 rokov dobrovoľníctva
na Divadelnej Nitre (Twenty
Years of Volunteering at the
Nitra Theatre Festival) which
will highlight past years of
the festival and, by naming
them, pay tribute to all the vo-
lunteers who have helped.
The authors of the pub-
lication not only want to
thank the volunteers for
their past cooperation but
also publicise the value of vo-
lunteering, which helps the
tury, trade in honey
began and it is inter-
esting that it was
mostly exported
from the eastern part
of Europe to western Europe.
Until the 19th century, honey
was the only sweetener avail-
able and only members of the
upper classes could afford to
include it in their diet.
By Branislav Chovan
Photo: Collavino, Courtesy of DN
festival and the cultural mi-
lieu of any community – as
well as giving personal satis-
faction to volunteers.
The authors noted that
volunteer work can build
young people’s willingness to
help their communities,
draw them closer to cultural
life and promote volunteer-
ing as a tool of personal devel-
opment. The EC designated
2011 as the European Year of
Volunteering.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
a combination of classical and
less traditional forms, a touch
of humour and folklore.
Starts: May 5, 19:00; Hei-
neken Tower Stage. Admis-
sion: €16-€19. Tel: 02/5293-
3321; www.ticketportal.sk.
Bratislava
l CLASSICAL
Jubilujúci velikáni hudby /
Great Musicians Celebrating
Anniversaries – The Opera of
the Slovak National Theatre
has prepared a special concert
commemorating the an-
niversaries of some renowned
central European composers:
Ján Cikker, Gustav Mahler and
Antonín Dvořák. The cast in-
cludes, among others, A.
Kohútková, P. Mikuláš and
Ilya Silchukov (Belarus).
Starts: May 6, 19:00; SND
new building, Pribinova 17.
Admission: €3-€10. Tel: 02/
2047-2299; www.snd.sk.
Bratislava
l EXHIBITION: Lentilky – This
exhibition offers a thorough
view of the small-format
works of Dávid Baffi. Small
formats, known as Lentilky (a
Slovak brand of chocolate
sweets similar to Smarties or
M&Ms), are combination of
studies, essays and archives
documenting the research
process.
Open: Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri
8:00-19:00, Wed 12:00-19:00
until May 13; Artotéka, City
Library, Kapucínska 1. Admis-
The United States Air Forces in Europe Band gives a series of
concerts in Slovakia in the beginning of May. It will perform on
May 7 at 19:00 in the Štiavničky Sports Hall in Banská Bystrica.
Tickets can be purchased through the Information Centre in SNP
Square 1 (tel. 048/4155-085).
Monday Tuesday
Îigmund Galina
May 2 May 3
Ján Kňazovic, to contemporary oil paintings. The exhibition In-
sita z Kovačice is open daily until May 22, but please contact the
owner/manager at 0903/477-074 or check www.typoars.sk to
confirm opening hours.
sion: free. Tel: 02/5443-3244 – 6;
www.mestskakniznica.sk.
MUSIC: Nitra
l GASTRONOMY: Akadémia
kávy - zdravá káva / Academy
of Coffee - Healthy Coffee – For
anyone wanting to learn more
about choosing, preparing and
serving coffee, the Academy of
Coffee offers lessons, work-
shops and tasting sessions.
Starts: May 7, 13:00-17:00;
Coffee Shop, Mostná 7. Admis-
sion: €45 (including snack and
tasting of coffee). Tel: 02/5293
-3321; www.ticketportal.sk.
Trnava
l THAI BOXING: Hanuman
Cup 9 - A series of professional
Thai boxing matches under K1
rules culminate in a duel
between Slovakia's Michal
Halada and Ukrainian Cup
winner Ivan Schevchenko.
Starts: May 6, 19:00; Town
Sports Hall, Rybnikova 15.
Admission: €10 (in advance)
or €13 (on the door). Tel:
02/ 5293-3321, 0905/647-192;
www. ticketportal.sk, www.
hanumancup.sk.
Central SLOVAKIA
Banská Bystrica
l OPERA: Eugen Suchoň -
Photo: Courtesy of US Embassy
N A M E D A Y M A Y
Wednesday Thursday
Florián Lesana
Lesia
May 4 May 5
Photo: Courtesy of TAG
Krútňava / The Whirlpool – The
most performed opera by a
Slovak composer is based on
Milo Urban’s short novel. The
story of love and hatred ending
in a drama of consciousness is
set in a folk environment after
World War I.
Starts: May 3, 19:00; Sta–
te Opera, Národná 11. Admis-
sion: €4-€6. Tel: 048/
2457- 123-4, 048/2457-120;
www. stateopera.sk.
Martin
l CIRCUS: In front of the HM
Tesco Turiec, circus perform-
ances will be offered for free
during the whole weekend, in-
cluding acrobats, a magician,
juggler, clown, and more.
Starts: May 6 (14:00, 15:30
and 17:00), May 7 and May 8
(10:30, 14:00 and 16:00), shop-
ping centre Turiec 1. Admis-
sion: free. More info:
www.kamdomesta.sk.
Eastern SLOVAKIA
Vranov nad Topľou
l LIVE MUSIC: IMT Smile Ak-
ustik Tour 2011 – Very popular
Slovak bands have set off on an
“unplugged” tour, introducing
young and emerging musi-
cians like Xindl X, Samo
Tomeček, LeRa, Peter
Červenka, and Noc a deň.
Starts: May 5, 19:00; EKG
Night Club, U Boženy Něm-
covej 1134. Admission: €12.
Tel: 0907/256-274; 02/5293-3321;
www.ticketportal.sk.
Košice
l LIVE MUSIC & DJS: DAT Polit-
ics + The Uniques + Chunk-Foo
Fighters – The French elec-
troglitch band DAT Politics has
joined forces with two Slovak
groups, the post-punk The
Uniques and DJs Chunk-Foo
Fighters who are breathing
fresh air into the electro-house
and bass-line scene.
Starts: May 6, 22:00;
Kasárne Kulturpark, Kuku-
čínova 2. Admission: €8
(in advance) or €10 (on
the door). Tel: 055/6854-299;
www. kulturpark.sk.
By Zuzana Vilikovská
2 0 1 1
Friday Saturday Sunday
Hermína Monika Ingrida
May 6 May 7 May 8

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,
In cooperation with the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute such as chocolates or flowers, and to wish them Všetko najlepšie k meninám (Happy name day)
 CULTURE May 2 – 8, 2011 11

Veronese masterpiece visits Bratislava

Bratislava City
Gallery continues
to bring top art
to Bratislava
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
EVEN the best reproduction
cannot replace the emotional
experience of viewing an ori-
ginal masterpiece of art. That
is why people keep visiting
art galleries rather than ad-
miring works of art only in
books or on the internet.
Now, Bratislavans have a rare
opportunity to see a signific-
ant work of art from the late
Italian Renaissance at the
Bratislava City Gallery (GMB):
Portrait of a Man by Paolo
Veronese.
On the occasion of the
150th anniversary of the uni-
fication of Italy and the 50th
anniversary of the GMB, the
Palatine Gallery of Florence
loaned this masterpiece to
the GMB. The exhibition is
another success flowing from
the fruitful cooperation
between the Italian Cultural
Institute in Bratislava and
the gallery.
“I’m very glad that curat-
or Anna Bisceglia has brought
Paolo Veronese: Portrait of a Man
us this astonishing painting,”
said Ivan Jančár, GMB’s dir-
ector, at the ceremonial open-
ing of the exhibition on April
15. “This masterpiece is one of
the top works the Palatine
Gallery has in its collections.”
Photo: Courtesy of GMB
The masterpiece is by
Paolo Cagliari (Caliari), an
Italian Renaissance artist
who later became known as
‘Paolo Veronese’ after his
birthplace in Verona. The
painting dates back to
1560-1565, the period when
Italian Mannerism art,
which evolved during the
later years of the Italian High
Renaissance, was in its full
bloom. This was toward the
end of the Renaissance and
the beginning of the natural-
ism movement of the 17th
century. Veronese, along
with Titian and Tintoretto, is
one of the pre-eminent
painters of the Venetian
Renaissance.
The identity of the man
in the painting has never
been absolutely confirmed
even though many art critics
have identified him as
Daniele Barbaro, a Venetian
aristocrat.
“Even though many
doubt this identity, we be-
lieve and are convinced even
today that the painting de-
picts this extraordinary
personality,” said Bisceglia,
describing Veronese’s excep-
tional technical abilities
demonstrated by the paint-
ing. “When looking at the
painting, you see that the
artwork is created from just
three colours: white, black
and flesh colour. Veronese’s
use of light is also very im-
portant. It comes from the
back and in this way it cre-
ates a monumental architec-
tonic structure for the work,
from which the portrait of
the man emerges.”
hk}ly{pzltlu{
The portrait is painted in
such a way that the man’s gaze
follows the viewer when look-
ing at the painting from either
side. As Bisceglia explained to
The Slovak Spectator, this is
something that people can ex-
perience when seeing a great
painting, one in which the
artist knows how to create this
perspective and in which the
subject of the portrait is
brought to life.
The painting was pur-
chased by Leopoldo de’ Medici,
an Italian cardinal, scholar and
patron of the arts, about one
hundred years after Veronese
painted it. Bisceglia explained
that de’ Medici commissioned
a beautiful and richly decor-
ated frame for the painting
between 1650 and 1660. For this
occasion the Italian gallery
loaned the painting in its his-
torical frame, something that
is usually not done for security
reasons.
Top artworks at GMB
This is not the first time
GMB has shown just a single
piece of Italian art in an ex-
hibit. Three years ago, it ex-
hibited a treasured panting
by Tintoretto, Christ and the
Woman Taken in Adultery.
Jančár believes that such solo
exhibitions are significant.
“This is of great import-
ance because such exclusive
works come to Slovakia only
once in decades,” Jančár told
The Slovak Spectator. “One
excellent painting alone can
be better than a good exhibi-
tion. This painting may give
visitors an impetus to get to
know more about Veronese or
the Renaissance. It is an as-
tonishing emotional experi-
ence to see this painting. It
was so even for me, though I
have visited many art galler-
ies around the world.”
According to Jančár, the
insurance of the painting also
proves its rareness.
"The painting is insured
for the sum of €15 million,
which is the 30-year budget of
our gallery," said Jančár as
quoted by TASR. "This is the
highest insurance for a piece
of art ever brought to Slov-
akia."
Jančár said Bratislavans
can look forward to more ex-
hilarating solo shows.
“In October we will bring
another great painting, this
one by Italian artist
Bassano,” Jančár said.
What: Paolo Veronese: Por-
trait of a Man
Where: GMB, Mirbach
Palace, Františkánske Square 11
When: Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00,
until June 30
Tickets: €3.50 (for all the ex-
hibitions in Mirbach Palace)
www.gmb.sk

Artworks from waste bottles

IN HIS first solo exhibition, Slovak artist Karol
Karolčík presents his works created from
waste materials. Visitors can see his artwork at
the BCPB Gallery, Vysoká 17 in Bratislava, from
April 18 to May 8. The artist symbolically and
optimistically called his show “How I Have
Not Stopped Believing in Dreams”.
“Most often I use plastic bottles. They have
beautiful fractures – that is what is interesting
for me about them,” the young artist told the
TASR newswire, adding that he likes plastic
bottles because they are the cheapest and best
material available. But he is not happy that
produce waste, we also have to reduce it,” the
artist said.
I]ZHadkV`HeZXiVidgÄhigVkZa\j^YZ
Apart from three polyester objects, The
Walking Lady, Red Figurine and Blue Figurine,
several of his paintings are in the show – the
biggest one being All Together with a Package
of Measures, 171 x 140 centimetres in size,
made by combined techniques on waste wood.
“I like to analyse human nature, to show
people the mirror image,” the artist said, char-
acterising his works.
Karol Karolčík was born in Bratislava in
1978, studied at the Comprehensive Secondary

0
they lie everywhere and pollute the natural School of Scenic Arts and since 1997 has been a

€ 6p.e5r
environment. freelance artist.
“It is a very durable material, with a long He has received awards in Italy and has
lifespan. It is not able to decompose by itself so also restored several cultural monuments in

copy
I recycle it at least in this way. We cannot just Slovakia and abroad.

Chinese dance in Bratislava

IN ADDITION to “Western-style” dance with its
multiple forms there are several “exotic” dance
styles that are rarely seen by central European
or Slovak audiences. They include Chinese
dance, with its two main forms: ethnic or folk
dance and classical dance. Ethnic or folk dance
refers to the different regional and ethnic styles
that have been passed down through the cen-
turies. Classical Chinese dance is different and
on May 7 and 8, a renowned ensemble, Shen
Yun Performing Arts, will show off this dance
form in Bratislava.
Performances by the Shen Yun troupe
primarily comprise classical Chinese dance that
requires extensive training. It basically carries
the essence of Chinese cultural expression in its
movements, postures and aesthetics. In its early
years, classical Chinese dance was passed down
primarily through the imperial court and as part
of ancient theatre, according to the ensemble’s
website, www.shenyunperformingarts.org.
In modern times, its training was system-
atised to include elements like barre and
centre work. This dance has three combined
main components: form, bearing and tech-
nique. In addition to presenting classical
Chinese dance, Shen Yun will offer ethnic and
folklore dances from northern parts of China,
as far as Mongolia, and from southern parts of
Yunnan province. One of the performance’s
organisers, Marek Tatarko, told the SITA
newswire, “The dances which draw from IgVkZahidg^Zhhijcc^c\e]didh
more than twenty dynasties and fifty ethnic
groups revive ancient legends about famous
characters and heroes and also current stories
###Vjc^fjZ\^[i[dgndjg[g^ZcYh!
from recent China.”
Shen Yun, which was founded in New York,
Xa^ZcihVcYWjh^cZhheVgicZgh
has performed at numerous prestigious stages
and now comes to the new building of the Slov-
ak National Theatre in Bratislava. ;dgbdgZ^c[dgbVi^dck^h^illl#heZXiVidg#h`$egdYjXih
Compiled by Spectator staff
dgXdciVXidjgX^gXjaVi^dcYZeVgibZci/ )'&'*.'(((%%!X^gXjaVi^dc5heZXiVidg#h`
12 May 2 – 8, 2011
Region pays €1m
for Warhol prints
AMONG the
1
world's lead-
ing modern
artists, Andy
Warhol is per-
haps closest to
Slovak hearts: his parents
moved to America from from
the village of Miková near the
town of Medzilaborce in east-
ern Slovakia. The Andy War-
hol Museum in Medzilaborce
was founded only two years
after the first Warhol mu-
seum in Pittsburgh, the SITA
newswire wrote. But the
Medzilaborce museum and a
set of Warhol prints are now at
the core of a political dispute.
The museum borrowed a
set of 26 Warhol prints out of a
total of 30 in a series from a
private collector, Eugen
Gališin. The set is titled Ten
Portrayals of Jews of the 20th
century which Gališin re-
ceived from Warhol’s brother
under the condition that he
lend the set to the museum for
20 years. Now, however,
Gališin has offered to sell
them to the museum for an
asking price of €1 million. The
museum is owned by the
Prešov Region government
and the regional parliament
failed to approve a deal to pur-
chase the prints in February
by a single vote. In mid April, a
second vote was held that was
approved by 30 representat-
ives, with 23 against and 4 ab-
stentions.
The discussion before the
vote was long and turbulent
with primarily right-wing
parliamentarians speaking
against the deal, arguing that
the price was too high. The
chairman of the right-wing
caucus, Juraj Hurný, told SITA
that the price was unilaterally
set by the owner of the prints
and that the commission au-
thorised to approve the deal
had no information about
prices of comparable Warhol
works. Hurný added that his
caucus made inquiries about
the price for other Warhol
prints of the series and had re-
Medzilaborce's Andy Warhol Museum. Photo: Jana Liptáková
AROUND SLOVAKIA compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
ceived two other offers, one
from the Barbara Gillman Gal-
lery in Florida (€138,000 for
the complete portfolio) and
also one from Coskum Fine Art
in London (€170,000) but that
these were for so-called “main
prints”. The “author’s prints”,
those offered by Gališin, are
estimated to be worth around
€400,000, SITA wrote.
Parliamentarians from
the Smer and Movement for a
Democratic Slovakia (HZDS)
parties are the main pro-
ponents of consummating the
deal with Gališin and have ar-
gued that these particular
prints are signed and foliated
by Warhol himself. The pres-
ident of Prešov Region, Peter
Chudík, pressed hard for the
purchase, arguing that the
works signed by Warhol are
held in higher esteem and
would improve the museum’s
reputation, the TASR news-
wire wrote.
In February some mem-
bers of the regional parlia-
ment, among them Štefan
Kužma of the Slovak Demo-
cratic and Christian Union
(SDKÚ), proposed the cancel-
lation of the deal in order to
seek more information about
the current market value of
Warhol’s works so that as
many as possible could be
bought for €1 million.
Part of the recently ap-
proved deal with Gališin, as
adopted by the Prešov Region
parliament, is for the private
collector to lend an additional
27 Warhol works to the mu-
seum.
But the deal's opponents
are not happy. “We find the
price exaggerated,” said
Hurný, as quoted by TASR.
“We will file a motion with the
Prosecutor’s Office to invest-
igate the economy and man-
agement of public finances by
the regional representatives.
And we will also file a motion
with the Public Procurement
Office to look into whether all
necessary requirements were
fulfilled here.”
FEATURE
STU's Istrobot competition, a warm-up for international matches.
Slovak-made robot wins
international competition
A SLOVAK university team of
robotics experts repeated a
previous victory and claimed
another gold medal at the Ro-
botchallenge international
competition held in Vienna,
Richard Balogh of the Slovak
University of Technology in
Bratislava (STU) told the TASR
newswire.
“Moreover, secondary
school students from Liptovský
Mikuláš joined us and brought
home some more medals from
this renowned international
event,” Balogh said.
Jozef Škultéty, Michal
Beňo, Ján Maláč and Peter
Mihál were the designers of
the winning robot, called
J2MP #99, that beat competit-
ors from across Europe. “They
managed to beat their com-
petitors again in the most
demanding discipline – in
‘Puck Collect’,” Balogh said.
Košice mayor baptises zoo animals
AN INTEREST-
2
ING event took
place at the
Košice Zoo on
March 19 as
Mayor Richard
Raši and his family ceremoni-
ally baptised five animals re-
cently born at the zoo. A new
llama was baptised by Raši
himself and the mayor’s wife
and three daughters baptised
four Cameroon sheep and
Pygmy goats. The zoo com-
bined the symbolic baptising,
in which godparents became
sponsors of the animals, with
a welcome to spring.
The traditions of spring
were evident in a performance
by the Štrbianček Children’s
Folklore Ensemble from
Tatranská Štrba as well as
demonstrations of trained
birds of prey by the Falconers
of St Bavon from Banská
Štiavnica.
This year the winning
Slovak team re-designed
mechanical aspects of their
robot, using more effective
motors and replacing some
plastic parts with metal ones.
“The robot became much
faster and it was generally
more resistant to hits by
rivals,” said Škultéty, one of
the designers and a graduate
from STU’s Faculty of Elec-
trical Engineering and In-
formation Technology.
Altogether 18 teams from
nine European countries
competed in this particular
category. Balogh said the
technical quality of the robots
this year improved dramatic-
ally compared to last year.
In a new category called
LegoSumo, students from a
secondary school in
Liptovský Mikuláš placed
first and second.
Erich Kočner, the director
of Košice Zoo, was pleased that
spring was welcomed in such
an exceptional way this year.
“Our zoo has been breeding
llamas since 1997 when we
bought a breeding couple from
the zoo of Spišská Nová Ves.
We enjoyed the birth of the
first offspring in 2001. It was a
female – coincidentally she is
the mother of the newest off-
spring – a female born on Au-
gust 18, 2010. The father came
to Košice from Bojnice Zoo in
April 2008. Our llamas are a
domesticated form of guanaco
llama (Lama guanicoe), a
camelid that comes from Latin
America where it is bred
mainly for its fur and milk.
Košice Zoo has bred 10 domest-
icated llamas so far. We have
been breeding Cameroon
sheep and Pygmy goats since
the zoo was founded,” Kočner
told the TASR newswire.
Photo: Új Szó, Tibor Somogyi
“Their robots managed to
push robotic wrestlers from
Britain, Ireland and Ro-
mania out of the ring,” Ba-
logh reported. A final medal
brought home to Slovakia
was captured by Ján Bačík of
the Prometheus project for
autonomous control of mod-
el helicopters. Slovaks
placed second in the overall
competition behind teams
from Poland.
The eighth year of the
Robotchallenge competi-
tion was held over the last
weekend of March at the
Austrian Academy of Sci-
ences and Slovak-designed
robots competed in several
categories including
‘Driving the Line’, the Le-
goSumo contest as well as in
puck collecting. More than
1,000 robots were involved
in the competition.
A furry llama enchants a child at Košice Zoo.
Brehy's
tradition
A PUB in the
3
village of
Brehy in
Banská
Bystrica Re-
gion will
remain decorated with a
1.5-metre whip woven from
willow branches until East-
er 2012. These kinds of
whips are used on Easter
Monday to symbolically
‘whip’ Slovak women and
girls – in one of the
country’s strangest tradi-
tions, at least to foreigners.
The whip to be displayed in
the local pub won a compet-
ition on April 16 as the
longest whip made this
year in Brehy.
“In our village a big
whip used to be woven be-
fore Easter and on Easter
Sunday young lads went
around the houses in the vil-
lage and asked girls for
braids. The whip was then
hung in the pub and stayed
there until the next Easter.
That was our tradition,”
Mária Fialová, one of the or-
ganisers, told the TASR
newswire.
She added that the win-
ning whip this year is not
very long. “This year the
willow tree lost its blooms
very quickly and the
branches were hard so the
whip is relatively short,”
she said. In addition to the
competition for the longest
whip, local artisans presen-
ted other traditional crafts.
Aficionados of pottery,
hand-decorated Easter eggs,
wreaths and willow whips
could admire these hand-
crafts as well as feast on tra-
ditional home-made meals.
Photo: SITA