Pharma cries foul over new bills

SIGNIFICANT savings of up to 200

million are being sought by
Slovakias Health Ministry, and it
is now rolling out legislation to
achieve them. Prices for medica-
ments will be set at the second
lowest price in the European Uni-
on, generic drugs will be widely
prescribed, significant anti-cor-
ruption measures will be intro-
duced, and a loyalty system will be
set up in pharmacies: these are
among the most important meas-
ures that the changes should
bring, the ministry says.
The pharmaceutical industry
has expressed serious concern not
only over some of the changes but
also about the process that the
government of Iveta Radiov has
used to develop them.
The ministry claims that the
draft law on medicaments and
health care aids and the draft law
on extent and conditions of pay-
ments for medicaments, health
aids and dietetic foodstuffs based
on public health insurance will
have a positive impact not only
on patients but on the financial
condition of health insurers as
well.
SeeMEDI pg4
SELECT FOREX RATES
benchmark as of June 16
CANADA CAD 1.39
CZECHREP. CZK 24.29
RUSSIA RUB39.80
GREAT BRITAIN GBP 0.88
HUNGARY HUF 269.20
JAPAN JPY 113.63
POLAND PLN 3.98
USA USD 1.41
NEWS
Oneyear on
OnJune 12, 2010, voters
ejected Smer and its allies
frompower and opened the
way for the current coali-
tion. Howhas the govern-
ment performed since?
pg 2
Breakingaway
Socially-excluded Roma
communities that are home
to poverty and recurrent so-
cial problems could more
easily be separated into in-
dependent villages under a
controversial newInterior
Ministry proposal.
pg 3
OPINION
Thejudges danceon
Judges and and the top pro-
secutor applauding a friend
as he mimics a recent mass
murder: this is not a scene
froma Kusturica film, but a
snapshot of today's Slovak
justice system.
pg 5
BUSINESSFOCUS
Valuingheritage
FrenchAmbassador to
Slovakia Jean-Marie Bruno
tells The Slovak Spectator
he is impressed by the in-
terest shownby Slovak
students inthe French
language.
pg 6
Sharingbest practices
Representatives of French
multinationals withsubsi-
diaries inSlovakia say
ideas canflowinbothdir-
ections, benfiting the local
branchand the whole
group.
pg 7
CULTURE
Theforces of fiction
One of Slovakias most
renowned literary scholars,
Zuzana Malinovsk-
alamonov talks to The
Slovak Spectator about her
newbook and her views on
the role of literature.
pg 11
At asummit of V4 leaders inBratislavaonJune 16, Slovakiapassedthe VisegradGroup's rotatingpresidency tothe
CzechRepublic. Attendingthe summit were (l-r) CzechForeignMinister Karel Schwarzenberg, HungarianPrime
Minister Viktor Orbn, Slovak Prime Minister IvetaRadiovandPolishPrime Minister DonaldTusk. Photo: Reuters
Court ruling leaves a
top state job in limbo
THE CONSTITUTIONAL Court has
added another twist to the increas-
ingly complicated saga of the selec-
tion of Slovakias next general pro-
secutor. It has againblocked the rul-
ing coalitions attempt to allow MPs
to choose the prosecutor by means
of a public vote inparliament.
The court on June 15 issued a
provisional ruling that halts the
validity of a decision by MPs to re-
vise the parliamentary discussion
order, thereby changing the origin-
al, secret method of selecting the
general prosecutor to a public vote
by MPs. The court said the rule
change must be suspended until the
court reaches a verdict over its con-
stitutionality. However, the ruling
did not reinstate the validity of the
previous legislation, which regu-
lated secret ballots, meaning that
there is now no valid process for
filling one of the countrys most
senior jobs.
The ruling coalition has gone to
considerable lengths over the past
six months to change the secret
method of voting previously used by
MPs to select the general prosecutor
into a public vote.
However, the legislation, pro-
duced by the four-party coalitionled
by Iveta Radiov and approved by
parliament, was challenged at the
Constitutional Court by acting gen-
eral prosecutor Ladislav Tich.
Tich got his job by default when
the term of the previous general
prosecutor, Dobroslav Trnka, ex-
pired inFebruary.
SeeVOTEpg2
Vol. 17, No. 24 Monday, June 20, 2011 - Sunday, June 26, 2011
On sale now On sale now
FOCUS
of this issue
FOCUS
of this issue
FRANCE
Life dearer
for Slovaks
AFTER a low level of inflation last year,
when the economic crisis curbed Slovaks
appetite for buying, the rise in prices is
now accelerating. Prices grew by 4.0 per-
cent over the last year to the end of May, an
inflation rate that was last recorded in
Slovakia in2008. Soaring prices for food are
particularly being pinpointedfor blame.
The inflation rate in May and the jump
infood prices prompted former prime min-
ister and current opposition leader Robert
Fico to describe the rate of 4 percent as
breaking through a psychological barrier
and called for a special parliamentary de-
bate and for action to be taken.
SeeFOODpg9
BYJANALIPTKOV
Spectator staff
Warning
sounded for
judiciary
A CONTROVERSIAL decision ending a
15-year old lawsuit involving former Slov-
ak president Michal Kov, the release of a
suspect charged with murder who had
been on the lam for several years, and a
get-together involving judges and the act-
ing general prosecutor where a retired
lawyer mimicked the actions of the mass
murderer in Devnska Nov Ves have again
raised the silhouette of what many call the
murky state of Slovakias judiciary.
[While] respecting the independence of
judicial power as one of the cornerstones of
democracy, the members of the Slovak cab-
inet express deep concerns over the state of
the Slovak judiciary, the cabinet wrote in a
statement released on June 15.
The cabinets statement focuses on two
recent cases: the release fromcustody of Karol
Mello, who is charged with having ordered an
assassination that ended in a double murder;
and a court decision ordering former Slovak
president Michal Kov to apologise to Ivan
Lexa, the former head of Slovakias secret ser-
vice who had been accused of abducting
Kovs son. The cabinet termed both court
decisions as slaps to justice.
SeeJUSTpg5
BYBEATABALOGOV
Spectator staff
BYBEATABALOGOV
Spectator staff
see pages 6-8, 10-11
Te French community in Slovakia
BYMICHAELATERENZANI
Spectator staff
Sadiki sentenced to 22 years in jail
BAKI Sadiki, one of three
menaccused ina particu-
larly serious case of illegal
production, possessionand
trading of narcotics and,
more specifically, of smug-
gling heroinfromTurkey to
Slovakia hiddeninimported
beachslippers, was sen-
tenced inabsentia to 22 years
ina maximumsecurity pris-
onby the Preov District
Court onJune 13, the SITA
newswire reported.
Sadikis co-defendants,
Juraj J. and JnC., who both
pleaded guilty, were sen-
tenced to 15 years eachina
mediumsecurity prisonbe-
cause of their cooperation
withpolice. Lawyers for Sad-
iki and Juraj J. filed appeals
while JnC. has yet to make
a decisionabout anappeal,
SITAwrote.
The trial beganinJanu-
ary, 2011, whenSadikis law-
yer said that he and his client
did not agree withthe
charges and proposed exam-
inationof the evidence. Ac-
cording to the prosecution,
the three menwere mem-
bers of anorganised group
whichin2007 and 2008 traf-
ficked at least 120 kilograms
of heroinfromTurkey to
Slovakia and thendistrib-
uted it onto Poland, Switzer-
land and Italy. The amount
was enoughto produce over
336,000 doses, worthsome
3.35 million.
Inseveral cases, the
drugs are believed to have
beenstored temporarily ina
boarding house inStar
Smokovec inthe HighTatras
where the police seized 10kg
of heroinonSeptember 19,
2008. The drugs are believed
to have beensmuggled via
the Balkans and Sadiki was
accused of being one of those
managing the trade.
Sadiki is a Kosovar Al-
banianwitha Slovak pass-
port who is wanted interna-
tionally and is believed to be
inhiding inKosovo. Sadiki
has also beenreported to
have enjoyed friendly rela-
tions withformer justice
minister and current Su-
preme Court president
tefanHarabin, who has
denied that he and Sadiki
were close.
Convicted WWII minister gets a bust
FOLLOWINGthe unveiling of
a bust of the controversial
foreignminister of the war-
time Slovak State, Ferdinand
uransk, inhis home
townof Rajec, near ilina,
the police have launched a
criminal investigation. It is
alleged that the bust violates
a lawbanning support and
promotionof groups that
aimto suppress fundamental
rights and freedoms, the
SITAnewswire reported.
Most historians agree
uransk was a proponent
of anti-Semitism. He was
sentenced to deathin1947
for his role inthe wartime
regime.
The Slovak Unionof Anti-
Fascist Fighters, the Unionof
JewishCommunities, the
Tilia civic associationand
the Hnutie Humanassoci-
ation, as well as some cit-
izens of Rajec, expressed
their disapproval of the bust
and requested its removal.
The national cultural herit-
age organization, Matica
Slovensk, convened anex-
pert colloquiumto evaluate
uransks activities from
the viewpoint of Slovak his-
tory inthe 20thcentury. The
historians concluded that he
had contributed to the elab-
orationof anti-Jewishlegis-
lation, pushed forward total-
itarianpractices and pro-
moted cooperationwith
Hitlers Germany.
The mayor of Rajec, Jn
Rybrik, stated that when
the municipal council had
approved the bust it did so
after referring to materials
froma conference on
uransk organised by
Matica Slovensk inRajec
in1996.
After public pressure,
council members recom-
mended inFebruary 2011
that the mayor request a
comprehensive expert opin-
iononuransk.
Visegrad leaders meet in Bratislava
THREE prime ministers and
one foreignminister fromthe
Visegrad Group (V4) of coun-
tries met inBratislava on
June 16 at a summit to con-
clude the Slovak presidency
of the group. Slovakia passed
the rotating presidency onto
the CzechRepublic, which
will preside fromJuly 1.
Slovakias Iveta
Radiov, Polands Donald
Tusk, Hungarys Viktor
Orbnand CzechForeign
Minister Karel Schwarzen-
berg evaluated the fulfilment
of the programme of the
Slovak presidency, dealt
withissues related to the EU
membership of the individu-
al countries, and discussed
the topic of Hungarys cur-
rent presidency of the EU.
CzechPrime Minister
Petr Neas decided not to at-
tend the summit due to
widespread strikes inthe
transport industry inhis
country onthe day of the
meeting.
CompiledbySpectator staff
Radiov and coalition
mark one year in office
JUNE 12 marked one year
since the 2010 parliament-
ary elections that sent the
Smer party into opposition
and brought a new govern-
ment composed of four
centre-right parties to
power, led by Slovakias
first-ever woman prime
minister, Iveta Radiov.
We took over Slovakia in
a most difficult situation,
when each [government] sec-
tor was marked with huge in-
debtedness and bad
management, Radiov said
on June 10. She added that her
first year in office had been a
difficult one, affected by the
continuing impacts of the
economic crisis, massive
floods across large parts of
Slovakia last summer and
rising prices for global com-
modities that brought higher
consumer prices in Slovak
stores and petrol stations.
Many citizens had very
high expectations for the in-
coming government: rein-
vigorating the national eco-
nomy, making radical im-
provements in the judicial
system, bringing more
transparency to government,
fighting various forms of en-
demic corruption, and find-
ing some new approaches to
remedy problems in Roma
communities and overcom-
ing what had become a tense
relationship between Hun-
gary and Slovakia.
We have stopped the de-
cline and next year will be
the year of stabilisation,
Radiov stated. On the part
of the government, next year
will not be the year of belt
tightening but the year of
stabilisation.
Robert Fico of the opposi-
tion Smer party called
Radiovs evaluation rub-
ber statements used to cov-
er up the disastrous results of
the one-year rule of the right-
ist cabinet.
People in Slovakia are in
fact getting poorer because
the rise in salaries is lower
than the rise in prices, Fico
said, adding that this was
not the case when he was
prime minister between
2006 and 2010.
SeeONEpg10
BYMICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
VOTE: Another attempt to elect a GP
Continuedfrompg1
The Constitutional Courts decision
allows Tich and Trnka (who was ap-
pointed by Tich as his deputy in Febru-
ary) to effectively retaincontrol of the Of-
fice of the General Prosecutor for an in-
definite period.
In their first responses to the ruling on
June 15, the ruling coalition leaders said
they would respect the courts decision,
while opposition leader Robert Fico de-
scribed the ruling as confirmation of what
he called the ruling coalitions undemo-
cratic and unconstitutional tendencies.
Smer has openly backed Trnkas bid for an-
other seven-year term as general prosec-
utor. By contrast, Prime Minister Radiov
has strongly opposed Trnkas bid, and has
on several occasion stated that she will
resignif Trnka is selected by MPs.
Opinions differ on whether any vote
at all can be held until the Constitutional
Court rules conclusively.
According to the court's provisional
ruling, the next general prosecutor can
be selected by MPs only after it decides
on how they should be allowed to do so.
Court spokeswoman Anna Panurov
said, as quoted by the TASR newswire,
that the decision to halt the validity [of
the legislation] does not renew the valid-
ity of the previous legislative measure.
June17 votetogoaheadinsecret
Speaker of Parliament Richard Sulk
had previously announced that a public
vote for the position, in which coalition
nominee Jozef ent and opposition-
backed Trnka were due to be candidates,
would take place on June 17. Sulk said
explicitly at the time that his call for
candidacies was not intended to pre-
empt the Constitutional Courts decision.
Following the June 15 ruling, Sulk de-
cided to press ahead with the vote on June
17, but by using a secret method. In order
to observe the strange ruling of the Con-
stitutional Court, by which we were
banned fromvoting publicly, the election,
upon the proposal of 15 coalition deputies,
will be secret, he said, as quoted by TASR.
Ballots papers will for the first time be
sealed in envelopes before being cast in a
ballot box, and MPs will use voting booths
similar to those used by citizens in elec-
tions. According to Sulk this will guaran-
tee that no one questions the balloting.
Ahead of the vote, deputies will vote
on a change to the parliamentary discus-
sionorder allowing the use of envelopes.
Commenting on the courts June 15
ruling, Sulk said that it proved the court
was not an independent institution and
that it was taking political orders, the
SITAnewswire reported.
As the Slovak Spectator went to press
late onJune 16, other members of the rul-
ing coalition and legal experts were still
debating whether a valid vote could be
held onJune 17 for the prosecutor's job.
According to Jozef Vozr of the Insti-
tute of State and Law of the Slovak
Academy of Sciences, it cannot be stated
unambiguously how parliament should
proceed now since this is the first such
case in Slovakia, with the courts decision
coming only two days before the vote it-
self. Vozr said, as reported by TASR, that
parliament now has to interpret the situ-
ation since the valid law has lost its valid-
ity and the previous legislation has not
beenrevalidated.
The leader of coalition party Most-
Hd, Bla Bugr, said that the ruling coali-
tionshould proceed withthe secret ballot.
This is no longer normal, that on the
one hand the opposition and on the other
hand the General Prosecutors Office and
the Constitutional Court are fighting
against the ruling coalition, Bugr said,
as quoted by TASR. We have the strength
to elect [the general prosecutor] normally
in a secret ballot and not to take into con-
sideration claims that someone is spread-
ing about efforts to bribe some [deputies].
ent, the candidate of the ruling co-
alition, had in a surprise move pulled out
of a secret ballot held on May 17, saying
that it had been linked to allegations of
MPs being blackmailed and bribed and that
he did not want to be part of it any more.
The vote, in which Trnka was the only
candidate, ended inconclusively after
Trnka failed to receive the votes of more
than half the MPs present. ent has
since said that he is ready to run in a future
secret ballot, according to the Sme daily.
SDK deputy Tom Galbav said he
acknowledges the courts authority to
halt the validity of the law, but finds it
strange that the court has decided that
the old legislation is not valid either. He
said this could produce a dangerous pre-
cedent for the future, possibly resulting in
legislative chaos.
Opponents of a public vote to choose
the next general prosecutor presented
the courts interim decision as a victory
for their point of view.
The decision has confirmed undemo-
cratic and unconstitutional tendencies on
the part of the ruling coalition, which ag-
gressively and unfairly wants to change
the rules of the game for the election of
general prosecutor, said Erik Tom, dir-
ector of the press department of Ficos
Smer party.
Sulk has also turned to the Constitu-
tional Court. On June 7 he asked it to re-
ject Tichs petition on the grounds that
Tich, as acting general prosecutor, is
not entitled to submit motions to the
court. According to parliaments lawyers,
only the general prosecutor is entitled to
approachthe Constitutional Court.
Currently, Slovakia has no general
prosecutor, Sulk said in parliament on
Tuesday, June 7, as quoted by SITA. "The
first deputy does not have the competen-
cies according to the constitution that
the general prosecutor has as a constitu-
tional official.
Complications around the secret
ballot emerged after the ruling coali-
tion failed on December 2, 2010, to get
ent selected as general prosecutor
after at least six coalition deputies used
the anonymity of the secret ballot to
vote with the opposition Smer party in
favour of Trnka.
Trnka missed out on reselection by
just one vote on that occasion, and the
disloyalty of the rogue coalition MPs
opened the door to speculation about a
plot to unseat the prime minister, who
had promised to resign if Trnka were
chosen.
Leaders of the governingcoalitionone year ago. Photo: Sme
2
NEWS
June 20 26, 2011
Concern over proposal
to let villages split
MANY socially-excluded Roma
communities that are home to
poverty, frustration and recur-
rent social problems could
more easily be separated into
independent villages. That is
one possible scenario that hu-
man rights activists say could
flow from an amendment pro-
posed by the Interior Ministry
that would make it easier for
groups of citizens to take ac-
tion to subdivide their muni-
cipalities.
Interior Minister Daniel
Lipic was first reported to
have mentioned his intention
to seek modification of the law
on municipalities during a vis-
it in October 2010 to ehra, a
village that lies near Spi
Castle. Non-Roma residents of
ehra have been complaining
about actions taken by the
mayor and the local council,
which is composed primarily
of Roma citizens.
Today its a problem of
ehra, in five years it can be a
problemof dozens of other vil-
lages in Slovakia, Lipic said
at that time, promising to
propose an amendment to the
lawin2011.
The Interior Ministry has
nowfollowed through on this
promise and in early June
2011 submitted a draft
amendment to the law on
municipalities for interde-
partmental review, sched-
uled to runthroughJune 21.
The amendment would
change the rules that cur-
rently require a minimum of
3,500 residents to petition for
subdivision of a municipality.
Instead, residents who seek to
separate from a municipality
must prove that the mayor and
local council are violating
financial discipline and thus
are negatively influencing ful-
filment of the needs of the
municipalitys inhabitants,
the ministry wrote.
The change is being pro-
posed in the interest of the
rights of the inhabitants, the
ministrys statement contin-
ued. The current conditions
for dividing a municipality
are too limiting, particularly
in relation to cases in which
divisionof a village would bet-
ter ensure the rightful needs
of its inhabitants.
According to the draft
amendment, which would
become effective in January
2012, the part of a municipal-
ity that seeks to break away
must first submit a petition
with the signatures of at least
30 percent of the total number
of residents and then a refer-
endum would be held only in
that part of the municipality
seeking separate status.
Thesituationinehra
The village of ehra, with
some 2,000 residents, has
three distinct parts the cent-
ral part and two outer parts,
Hodkovce and Drevenk,
which are about two to three
kilometres from each other.
The Nov ehra civic associ-
ation has been active for two
year; its efforts are directed at
dividing the central part and
the Hodkovce part from
Drevenk, a Roma community
where about two-thirds of the
residents of ehra live.
The inhabitants of the
central part of ehra, through
the civic association Nov
ehra, have complaints not
only against the mayor, who
we believe to be incompetent
for his post, but also against
the actual functioning of the
municipal office, Milo
Pacovsk, the head of Nov
ehra, told The Slovak Spec-
tator. His biggest complaint
was the uneven division of
public resources among the
three parts of the village.
Pacovsk said the resid-
ents of Drevenk have had a
majority on the local council
for two consecutive terms and
accused them of using all the
municipalitys finances to ful-
fil only their needs such as
paying for housing and main-
taining low-standard flats. The
association has also frequently
voiced concerns that the local
council has disregarded peti-
tions submitted by residents
not living in Drevenk, has
forgiven debts that Drevenk
residents owe onrent and elec-
tricity, and has passed big bo-
nuses for the mayor.
In response, the office of
the governments plenipoten-
tiary for Roma communities
asked the Supreme Audit Of-
fice (NK) to conduct a review
of municipal finances in
ehra, the offices spokesper-
son, Iveta Duchoov, told
The Slovak Spectator. She ad-
ded that since last Novembers
municipal elections ehra has
a new mayor, Ivan Miigr,
who has an interest in being
more responsible than his pre-
decessors and in cooperating
with the non-Roma inhabit-
ants in the administration of
public affairs as well.
In an interview with The
Slovak Spectator Miigr said
that if the ministrys draft
amendment is passed and
ehra is divided it would come
as a surprise to both Roma and
non-Roma citizens.
Weve been together all
these years and now not
anymore? he said. Thats just
not right.
But the Nov ehra associ-
ation says residents of the
central part of the village wel-
come the draft amendment
that could enable them to
break away.
We will do everything so
that our citizens are not pre-
vented from exercising their
right to self-government and
we will make maximum ef-
forts to divide the village in
line with the law, Pacovsk
told The Slovak Spectator.
Proxysays it is badsolution
Human rights activists
and the governments pleni-
potentiary for Roma com-
munities say they will op-
pose any such efforts, stating
that the amendment drafted
by the Interior Ministry is
not a solution to the real
problems of people living in
places like ehra.
I admit that non-Roma
residents living in these loca-
tions are the main victims of
the long-term negligence of
Roma problems, Laco Oravec,
the programme director of the
Milan imeka Foundation,
told The Slovak Spectator.
They are people to feel em-
pathy for, but listening to
their calls which lead to erect-
ing walls or to dividing vil-
lages is a road to hell and be-
trays total resignation from
any further efforts to search
for newsolutions.
The governments proxy
believes that the real purpose
behind the draft amendment is
to enable certain parts of mu-
nicipalities to separate from
areas inhabited by Roma cit-
izens and considers it at odds
with the declared aim of the
government to integrate Roma
communities into society.
Duchoov said this is one of
the objections that the proxys
office will submit during the
interdepartmental review.
The Association of Towns
and Villages of Slovakia
(ZMOS) is also reviewing the
draft law and has stated that
the amendment would not
solve the real problems facing
many villages, such as hunger,
poverty and social exclusion in
a part or parts of a community.
The proposed change
would keep a basic problem
open the fact that the divi-
sion of a village doesnt guar-
antee any increase in financial
and economic responsibility,
ZMOS spokesperson Michal
Kalik told The Slovak Spec-
tator, adding that some new
municipalities that might be
created on the basis of the
amendment could be gov-
erned by those who had
caused the municipalitys un-
favourable economic situation
before being subdivided.
The governments proxy
also argues along similar
lines, saying that some of the
newly-emerging municipalit-
ies might be dysfunctional,
which may in turn have a
very negative impact on mar-
ginalised Roma communities
that, as Duchoov stated,
when classified as socially-
excluded communities, are
extraordinarily dependent on
the effective fulfilling of the
municipal tasks by the
municipality.
Pacovsk of the Nov
ehra association believes
that residents in both muni-
cipalities that have been sep-
arated from each other would
benefit fromsucha division.
They will thus have a
real possibility to influence
the happenings in their own
respective municipalities,
he stated, adding that it could
help such local governments
to function better and even
straighten out problematic
relations between groups of
citizens.
ZMOS, the governments
proxy and human rights activ-
ists are warning that if this
amendment is passed, de-
mands to divide villages, like in
ehra, could spread to numer-
ous other municipalities, even
though there are currently no
specific examples of villages
with similar situations which
might attempt to subdivide.
Several years ago such
tendencies occurred in
Bystrany [also in the Spi re-
gion] but the situation has
since calmed, Duchoov said.
BYMICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
ARomacommunity ineasternSlovakia. Photo: TASR
Fighting school
segregation
SEGREGATEDclasses and
regular, unjustified place-
ment of Roma childrenin
special schools are often
cited reasons for the poor
educationof childrenfrom
socially-disadvantaged
Roma communities. Experts
who gathered inBratislava
inearly June to attend the
third transnational work-
shop onthe EU-funded
project called AGood Start
stated that the roots of the
educational problemamong
Roma childrengo far deeper
and needed to be attacked at
the pre-school level.
AGood Start is a multi-
country early care and edu-
cationproject coordinated
by the Roma EducationFund
(REF), aninternational NGO,
that is assisting over 4,000
Roma and non-Roma chil-
drenand their parents or
caregivers inSlovakia, Ro-
mania, Macedonia and Hun-
gary, four countries where
many Roma fall far behind
other childrenineducation-
al achievement.
Insufficient facilities for
pre-school programmes are
believed to be among the
principal problems inSlov-
akia and REF reports note
that more thanhalf of Roma
childrenare not enrolled in
any kind of early childhood
education.
The Slovak Spectator
spoke to Semsi Sainov, REFs
senior programme officer
currently incharge of man-
aging REFs Slovak, Czech
and Romaniancountry port-
folios. He was previously in
charge of managing REFs
westernBalkans portfolio.
The SlovakSpectator (TSS):
Are there manydifferences
betweenthe countries you
workedinpreviouslyand
Slovakia, your current as-
signment?
Semsi Sainov(SS): Yes,
many. First of all, the level
of commitment of the Slov-
ak government is less. While
insome other countries the
governments are much
more committed, some rep-
resentatives of the Slovak
government are only now
starting to admit that they
should do something. Are-
cent study by the World
Bank has shownthat if the
Slovak government doesnt
integrate Roma childrenin-
to the educationsystemthe
country will thenface huge
problems that will come
back as a boomerang inthe
formof anunqualified and
unskilled labour force. That
will be a problemparticu-
larly inconjunctionwith
the birthrate, whichis
muchhigher among the
Roma population.
TSS: Has anything changed
inthese fewmonths that
youhave beenworking in
Slovakia? What have you
definedas the mainprob-
lems?
SS: The biggest problem
is segregationitself. When
we speak of segregation,
thenwe speak of low-quality
educationbecause the
standards for the curricula
[insegregated classes] are
very poor and thats the end
for the children. Those chil-
drenare actually persecuted;
I cansay its evena crime.
If youlook at the propor-
tionof Roma childrenand
non-Roma childreninspe-
cial schools, youwill see that
over 60 percent of the chil-
dreninthese schools are
Roma. So there must be
something very wrong inthe
testing system. The testing
systemmust be abolished.
There is also a need for [qual-
ification] criteria for people
who work inthe special
schools as there are no ethic-
al or moral norms for the
commissions that deal with
the entrance testing for en-
rolment inelementary edu-
cation. Imnot against spe-
cial schools; they are needed
but only for those who are
handicapped and not for kids
who are not.
Those Roma childrenare
not handicapped but they
are still sent there. And then
there is a lawsaying that
those who are ina special
school are to be retested
againafter some time. But
once they are inthose
schools its very difficult to
re-categorise themand in-
volve theminmainstream
educationbecause it takes a
lot of money and effort. After
three years, its very difficult
to transfer theminto main-
streameducation.
Therefore, its very im-
portant for these childrento
get a pre-school education.
Its not only about the lan-
guage barrier; its also about
socialisationbecause they
are ghettoised.
For instance, last week
we visited one Roma ghetto
and they wanted to showus
good practices. But whenI
sawit I thought: if this is
good practice, what thenis
bad practice? Because the
truthis that those children
are totally segregated. They
have a community centre, a
small barracks whichlooks
like jail. And the nearest
elementary school is one and
a half kilometres fromthere.
So why arent they integ-
rated there? Theres the big
questionmark.
SeeSTARTpg10
3 June 20 26, 2011
NEWS
BYMICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
A Good Start
seeks to include
Roma children in
pre-school
education
Some worry the
idea could further
isolate Roma
Amazon to create 200 jobs in capital
AMAZON, the well-known
online bookstore and market
place, confirmed onJune 14
that it plans to opena seller
support centre inBratislava.
The investment is expected
to bring more than200 new
jobs to Slovakias capital by
the end of 2012.
The centre, Amazons
first inSlovakia, should cov-
er anarea of about 2,200
square metres. The unit will
supplement existing centres
inGermany and Ireland, and
will deliver business-to-
business support to clients
who use Amazons websites
to sell their products. With
over 2 millionof these mer-
chants around the world,
items sold via third-party
sellers represent over 30 per-
cent of all orders placed via
Amazonwebsites, the com-
pany reported.
Economy Minister Juraj
Mikov announced that the
company will receive no in-
vestment incentives or sup-
port fromthe government,
since the centre will be loc-
ated inBratislava Region,
whichis not included inthe
governments systemof sup-
port for investments.
We are very glad that
suchaninvestor is coming,
without any support,
Mikov said, as quoted by the
TASRnewswire.
Amazonis currently re-
cruiting full-time seller sup-
port associates and listing
specialists withGermanor
Englishfluency.
562,000 cars made in Slovakia in 2010
AUTOMAKERS inSlovakia
manufactured 562,000 cars
in2010, up 21 percent year-
on-year. The sectors sales
revenue increased, too, go-
ing up by 35.7 percent to
13.903 billion, and is slowly
approaching the pre-crisis
level seenin2008, the SITA
newswire reported.
The head of Slovakias
Automotive Industry Associ-
ation(ZAP), Jozef Uhrk, said
at a news conference onJune
15 that last years data clearly
showthat the Slovak auto-
mobile industry has caught
its breathagainafter two dif-
ficult years, SITAwrote.
Slovakia has nowre-
takenthe worlds top posi-
tioninterms of cars manu-
factured per thousand inhab-
itants: its 103.4 vehicles over-
took the CzechRepublics
101.5 vehicles last year.
However, employment in
the automotive industry in
Slovakia is rising slower than
sales, owing to higher labour
productivity. Last year, the
industry employed 69,800
people, up 2.6 percent year-
on-year. Uhrk said that the
total headcount should re-
turnto 75,000 people this
year.
The automotive
industrys share of Slovak in-
dustry overall was 37 percent
last year, down0.8 percent-
age points from2009. In
2010, newcar imports
totalled 71,000, down21.5
percent year-on-year. The
import of used cars fell too,
going down16 percent to
66,000 vehicles.
600km of main roads to be repaired
RECONSTRUCTIONof some
600 kilometres of first-cat-
egory roads and 40 bridges
that are currently inpoor
conditionwill be launched in
Slovakia in2011. Overall
costs are planned to reach
over 140 millioninthree
separate packages, the SITA
newswire reported.
Afirst tender for recon-
structionwork has already
beencompleted; two others
are currently inprogress.
Initial work stemming from
the first contract is sched-
uled to start shortly; work on
the others should beginin
the autumnand finishat the
end of 2012. Alarge propor-
tionof the reconstruction
work will take place ineast-
ernSlovakia, Transport Min-
ister JnFige said inPreov
onJune 13, SITAreported.
According to Fige, over
half of all traffic inSlovakia
uses first-category roads but
very little public money has
beenspent ontheir main-
tenance over the last 20
years. The ministry intends
to finance the newrecon-
structionprojects fromEU
structural funds.
The first project will fo-
cus onbringing specific
roads up to moderntechnical
standards; the second should
focus oneliminating safety
risks onroads inKoice and
Preov Regions, as well as re-
constructing some 500 kilo-
metres of roads; and the
third project is to modernise
and reconstruct bridges on
these roads.
Fige explained that one
of the cabinets goals is to
narrowregional differences,
and said that road construc-
tioncould help to achieve
this. He used as anexample
the fact that Bratislava
Regions GDP per capita is
230 percent of the national
average, while Preov Re-
gion, whichhas an18.5-per-
cent unemployment rate,
has GDP per capita at 58.7
percent of Slovakia's average.
CompiledbySpectator staff
frompress reports
MEDI: Industry says process was faulty
Continuedfrompg1
The Health Ministry ex-
pects that setting prices at
the second lowest level in
the European Union could
save 75 million in the first
year after the laws adoption
and that prescription of ef-
fective ingredients instead of
brand-name drugs might
save around 50 million for
both the patients as well as
health insurers.
The package of anti-cor-
ruption measures will ban
pharmaceutical firms sales
representatives from visiting
doctors during office hours,
while physicians will not be
allowed to accept money or
material gifts from them.
Members of the drugs cat-
egorisation commission will
have to openly declare any
conflicts of interest, while all
statements made by each
member of the commission
will be published, the Health
Ministry wrote in a memo
provided to The Slovak Spec-
tator.
The ministry had origin-
ally wanted to introduce
these changes by amending
the law on extent of health-
care cover from public health
insurance, but the ministry,
following a recommendation
by the Legislative Council of
the Government, finally
submitted not a draft revi-
sion but a proposed new law,
the SITA newswire reported.
Parliament is expected to
discuss the new legislation
at its June session.
I believe that parlia-
mentary deputies will not
yield to lobbying by pharma-
ceutical companies which
has been immense, and not
only on the ministry but also
on Prime Minister Iveta
Radiov and that both
laws will go through
parliament, Health Minis-
ter Ivan Uhliarik said.
The industry says that
despite its efforts for ra-
tional changes to the word-
ing of the law what they
called important comments
by pharmaceutical industry
representatives have not
been accepted.
The discourse sharpened
after Radiov reported hav-
ing received a letter written
by seven ambassadors to
Slovakia in which the diplo-
mats expressed their con-
cerns over the preparation of
the legislation. Radiov de-
scribed the letter as lobbying.
Objections of the industry
Representatives of the
pharmaceutical industry
said on June 9 that they are
disturbed by the proceedings
of the Health Ministry, the
Legislative Council of the
Government and the gov-
ernment itself.
The Health Ministry
circumvented the standard
legislative process when
shaping the new law [on ex-
tent and conditions of pay-
ments for medicaments,
health aids and dietetic
foodstuffs based on public
health insurance] read the
statement released by the
pharmaceutical companies.
The Association of Suppli-
ers of Medicaments and
Health Care Products (ADL),
the Association of Generics
Producers (GENAS) and the
Slovak Association of Re-
search-Based Pharmaceutical
Companies (SAFS) said that
the draft of the new law,
which was submitted to cab-
inet, had not been subjected
to proper review.
They said the text of the
draft includes some parts of
the draft revision to the law
on extent of health-care cover
which the associations com-
mented on in March this
year. They concede that the
new draft law refers to the
comments they submitted on
the draft revision the min-
istry had previously been
working on.
However, an essential
part of the new draft law
submitted to cabinet is differ-
ent, both in terms of content
and form, when compared to
the earlier proposed revision
to the law on the extent of
health-care cover to which
the associations attached
their comments, the pharma-
ceutical firms argue.
The associations claim
that proceeding in such a way
disturbs the legal certainty of
Slovakias citizens; they say
they consider it a violation of
transparently communicated
and discussed conditions and
an avoidance of valid legislat-
ive rules, according to their
statement.
Monika Laanov of GEN-
AS told The Slovak Spectator
that her association as well as
other professional associations
had not been invited [to parti-
cipate in] the preparation
phase of the law on medica-
ments and health care aids.
Ministry: Theywereinvolved
But the Ministry of Health
disagrees that the pharma-
ceutical industry has not been
sufficiently involved.
We reject any state-
ments about insufficient dia-
logue between the ministry
and the pharmaceutical in-
dustry during the prepara-
tion of the legislation, the
ministry's spokeswoman,
Katarna Zollerov, told The
Slovak Spectator.
According to Zollerov,
the ministry held several
meetings with representat-
ives of the pharmaceutical
industry at which the min-
istry presented its position
and invited industry repres-
entatives to submit their
proposals. The Health Min-
istry obtained from all the
professional bodies sufficient
factual documentation on
their opinions and Zollerov
stressed that a significant
part of these were included
in the proposed laws.
Zollerov also said that
both laws have been through
the standard review process,
during which relevant com-
ments submitted by the
pharmaceutical industry
were considered.
As for the change in form
from a revision to a new law,
Zollerov said that consider-
ing the scale of the proposed
changes, the Legislative
Council recommended sub-
mitting the changes as a re-
drafted law.
The content of the sub-
mitted law, which has been
through the regular review
procedure, has not changed,
Zollerov said. Thus, the ac-
cusations of representatives
of pharmaceutical companies
are unjustified.
However, Laanov also
objected that it is unclear
from the draft law how gen-
eric substitution will be
handled at pharmacies, since
the physician will indicate
on the prescription both the
effective substance as well as
the trade name.
We worry that the pa-
tient will have to search for
his or her medicament in
different pharmacies,
Laanov said.
According to her, the
obligatory referencing of
drugs to the second lowest
price within the EU will cer-
tainly threaten the availabil-
ity of some medicaments in
pharmacies and might propel
what she called medicament
tourism by patients.
The pharmaceutical firms
claim that if the prices of
medicaments in Slovakia are
set at the second cheapest
level in the European Union,
a large percentage of medic-
ament supplies will be expor-
ted as a result.
The ministry has called
the industry claims about a
possible future lack of certain
kind of medicaments a myth,
with Uhliarik claiming that
multinational concerns such
as the pharmaceutical firms
would never allow what he
called the cannibalisation of
the market in Europe and
would supply to Slovakia
only as many medicaments
as are necessary and
thereby prevent them from
being bought up and then
sold elsewhere, for example
to Austria.
Uhliarik said that the
pharmaceutical industry is
using the media to manipu-
late patients with untrue
and deceptive myths only
to protect their business in-
terests.
Theletter
Radiov said she con-
siders the letter from foreign
ambassadors concerning the
new law agreed by the gov-
ernment to be a continuation
of the misleading lobbying by
large pharmaceutical com-
panies, according to an offi-
cial statement by the Slovak
Government Office.
The embassies involved
refused to publish the letter,
but in it they reiterated in-
dustry concerns that phar-
maceutical companies
comments had not been con-
sidered during the develop-
ment of the legislation, the
Sme daily reported.
The most significant
principle of both draft laws
is the significant increase in
transparency and account-
ability in Slovak health
care, Radiov said in her
response to the ambassadors
on June 13.
The aim of the reform is
to reduce medication prices
for patients and use the saved
resources to improve the
quality of health care
provided to patients in Slov-
akia, the statement read,
adding that if the reform
passes, prices for drugs
should drop to the second
lowest level within the EU.
At the same time, the
bills are designed to help curb
the wasting of public re-
sources and reduce the risks
of corruption and conflicts of
interests when regulating
and prescribing drugs, ac-
cording to Radiov.
Without such changes,
it is impossible to make
health care more accessible,
said Radiov. Too much
money is getting lost within
health care without bringing
any benefits to patients, and
the government will stop
this waste.
The prices of prescriptiondrugs are at stake. Photo: Sme
4
BUSINESS / NEWS
June 20 26, 2011
r
IF THERE is one thing people
tend to remember, its a good
party (r). And in Slovakia,
parties define entire political
eras. Before the 1998 general
election Prime Minister
Vladimr Meiar organised a
grandiose meeting for his fans
in Trnava. Ten special trains
and tens of buses brought
20,000 enthusiastic supporters
to a football stadium, where
the partys 150 candidates for
the election were announced.
The fun part was that not even
the nominees themselves
knew beforehand who would
make it onto the list. There
were planes flying overhead,
there was music, even Meiar
sang to the tune of I have no
car, I have no motorbike. The
entire essence of Meiarism
was captured in this one event
the megalomania, the author-
itarianism, the secrecy, the
money Meiar had to throw
around.
The night after the 2006
elections, when Smer celeb-
rated its victory, they let
journalists stand outside,
doors protected by bodyguards
with short hair, broad
shoulders and black suits. The
party was a sign of things to
come arrogance, disregard for
those with other opinions, and
shady characters controlling
access to the halls of power.
A rather different scene
came four years later, when the
SDKs Iveta Radiov told an
excited SaS boss Richard Sulk,
drunk on a sense of election
victory and eager to get Ficos
coalition out of power, to hold
the balloons and wait. All of
that in front of TV cameras. A
sense of relief over the political
change, more openness in pub-
lic life, and strange communic-
ation habits within the coali-
tionhave all remained.
Now comes news of an-
other r, which illustrates
the times we are living in. Su-
preme Court judges, attor-
neys, law teachers, and the
man now in charge of the
prosecutors office, meeting
in the Bonanno pub, running
around dressed as the mass
murderer fromDevnska Nov
Ves and calling each other
Your Honour and Your
Imbecility and giving each
other Justice Oscars.
Yes, this is how the Slovak
justice system works. The re-
cent fight for the post of gen-
eral prosecutor is important.
But we are a long way from
radical change. The people
from the Supreme Court, the
Constitutional Court, and
even within the prosecutors
office itself are not going
anywhere. They have created
their own world and breaking
their ties is not something
that can be accomplished in a
year. Or perhaps even a dec-
ade. Even if the coalition now
elects its candidate for general
prosecutor, the wild party in
the judiciary is far fromover.
Festivity of decadence
A RETIRED lawyer wearing
blue ear defenders and hold-
ing an imitation assault rifle
entertains four judges of the
Supreme Court, a law pro-
fessor, a top prosecutor and
two other judges by mimick-
ing a mass murderer who had
only days earlier killed seven
people during a shooting
spree in Devnska Nov Ves.
His guests laugh and then
someone dances with a sculp-
ture of Justitia, the Roman
goddess of justice, at a bar
named after a notorious
mafia family.
This scene is not from a
movie by Emir Kusturica,
whose anti-heroes often in-
dulge in festivities of decad-
ence, dancing and drinking,
and sometimes shooting, as
though there is no tomorrow.
The protagonists are real and
they make real-life decisions
that affect real peoples lives.
The murderer, ubomr Har-
man, who wore similar blue
ear defenders while he con-
ducted his killing spree, was
real as well and his victims are
dead, for real.
The private party, which
at least one of those present
implied was none of the public
or medias business, was
thrown only a couple of weeks
after the massacre last year.
The participants failed to un-
derstand that they do not stop
being judges, lawprofessors or
lawyers once they leave their
offices, courts or lecture
theatres. This party, which
they called a meeting of
friends from the Justice Oscar
Association, serves as the per-
fect metaphor for the lack of
integrity of some members of
Slovakias judiciary. It has
emerged that the party in the
video was not the first time
that the Oscar Association
met and had some good
times. After seeing the video
footage, published by the
Cas.sk website, one seriously
doubts that any Oscar of
justice could be awarded to
some of the attendants; in-
stead, maybe only an Oscar for
the best performance to fur-
ther deepen the publics
doubts about the state of the
countrys judiciary.
Justice Minister Lucia
itnansk has ordered an in-
vestigation of the gathering.
The Sme daily on June 16 poin-
ted out another good reason to
look into the Oscars: the
video shows a Supreme Court
judge who is currently under
investigation on suspicion of
corruption enjoying himself
along with the acting general
prosecutor whose job it is to
investigate him. He was later
pulled fromthe case.
While it might seem that
reports about problems within
the judiciary grew more fre-
quent around the June 15 ec-
lipse of the moon, lunar cycles
have nothing to do with this.
This is about generations of
judges who have for too long
been ensconced in their courts
and lack any real capacity for
self-reflection.
Another drop was added to
the cup of bitterness by a dis-
trict court in Bratislava which
ruled that former president
Michal Kov must apologise
to one-time spy boss Ivan Lexa
and pay him 3,319 in com-
pensation for statements in
which he linked Lexa to the
abduction of his son, Michal
Kov Jr, when he himself was
president and under intense
pressure from Lexas mentor,
then-prime minister Vladimr
Meiar. The abduction and its
aftermath was the most trau-
matising case of the mid-
nineties, evoking serious con-
cerns within the international
community about the state of
democracy in Slovakia.
This verdict mocks Kov,
who has been waiting for res-
olution for 15 years, suggest-
ing see, you should have re-
mained silent as so many
others have done.
Those responsible for the
abduction of Kov Jr to Aus-
tria in 1995 are shielded by
amnesties that Meiar granted
after assuming presidential
powers for a brief period in
1998. A law which could scrap
the amnesties and allow the
proper closure of this traumat-
ising case is now in its second
reading in parliament.
But, unfortunately, scrap-
ping the amnesties will not by
itself be enough if future cases
end up in hands of the same
judges responsible for the de-
pressing litany of notorious
rulings that Slovakias courts
have long-produced and
which would definitely win
anti-Oscars in many categor-
ies. Just recently Karol Mello,
accused of organising a mafia
hit which resulted in the
murder of a woman and a
young boy in 2004, was re-
leased because of a procedural
error made by the Bratislava I
District Court. For an accused
double-murderer to be re-
leased is unusual enough, but
Mello has a record of flight: he
was on the run for several
years before being arrested in
Poland last year. The courts
decision to release him has
turned what should have been
a serious criminal case into a
political hot potato.
In response to these devel-
opments, Prime Minister Iveta
Radiov on June 15 expressed
serious concerns about the
state of the judiciary and said
that the previous few days had
brought decisions that promp-
ted serious doubts about the
real independence of some rep-
resentatives of the judiciary.
The honorary president of
the International Association
of Judges, Gnter Woratsch,
wrote in a report on the state
of the Slovak judicial system
that the president of the Su-
preme Court, tefan Harabin,
is still influencing the system
in an unfavourable way, the
Sme daily reported. Yet Hara-
bin is unlikely to quit his judi-
cial throne he is also the
chairman of Slovakias Judi-
cial Council any time soon.
He is equally unlikely to exper-
ience any epiphany about how
to manage the judiciary.
Lets just hope that
itansk will manage to keep
some of the promises she has
made, including wider public
oversight of what happens be-
hind the closed doors of the
countrys judiciary and ad-
dressing the perceived short-
fall in judicial integrity and its
consequences. Otherwise,
Slovakia faces more festivities
of decadence, and on a much
bigger scale than the recent
party of the Oscars.
5
OPINION/ NEWS
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
These attacks provoke a deformed view ... and reflect populist steps by poli-
ticians who themselves participate in real alcoholic and even narco-parties.
The judges who appeared in a video of a private party leaked in mid-June react to
criticismof their behaviour. They provided no evidence to back their claims.
SLOVAK WORD
OF THE WEEK
EDITORIAL
BYBEATABALOGOV
Spectator staff
BYLUK FILA
Special to the Spectator
June 20 26, 2011
JUST: Black marks for judges
Continuedfrompg1
The cabinet also stated
that recent court decisions
show that judges who had
made these decisions are not
independent from outside
pressures. The cabinet state-
ment concluded that it re-
spects the independence of the
judiciary but added that still
there are situations when it is
not possible to keep silent, in
the interest of decent judges
and, first of all, in the interest
of citizens.
Kov vs Lexa
The Kov ruling pro-
voked much public outcry
after a district court in Bratis-
lava ordered former Slovak
president Michal Kov to
apologise to Lexa, the former
head of the Slovak secret ser-
vice (SIS), as well as to pay
compensation of 3,319 to
him because of statements
Kov had made about the ab-
duction of his son, Michal
Kov Jr.
Kov told the Sme daily
that he would appeal the ver-
dict to a higher court even
though he did not expect the
verdict would be overturned.
One may give this a faint
smile, but it also characterises
the situation in our judiciary,
with decisions made differ-
ently from what common
sense would expect, Kov
said, as quoted by Sme.
That case dates back 15
years and concerns the abduc-
tion of the presidents son to
Austria in 1995. The SIS, under
Lexas control, was suspected
of organising the abduction
but that was never fully in-
vestigated because former
prime minister Vladimr
Meiar granted a blanket am-
nesty regarding the abduction
when he briefly served as act-
ing president in March 1998,
after Kovs term had ended.
A proposal to terminate the so-
called Meiar amnesties is cur-
rently before parliament,
tabled by MPs from the Chris-
tian Democratic Movement
(KDH). It must garner the sup-
port of 90 MPs to be passed.
Mellogoes free
The Bratislava Regional
Court released Karol Mello, an
alleged underworld boss ac-
cused of two murders, from
pre-trial custody on May 19
after it concluded that the
court of first instance had not
fulfilled the legal require-
ments set by the Penal Code to
continue to deprive him of his
personal freedom. Mello is ac-
cused of a 2004 double murder
in the village of Most pri Brat-
islave. After being a fugitive
for several years, Polish police
arrested him near the city of
Krakow in October 2010 where
he had been living under a
false identity. Justice Minister
Lucia itansk has filed an
extraordinary appeal against
the ruling of the Bratislava Re-
gional Court involving Mello,
asking that the Supreme Court
overturn the courts ruling,
the SITAnewswire reported.
Thejudges party
A video released on Slovak
media in mid June added a few
more black marks to the image
of the Slovak judiciary. The
video recorded a get-together
of seven judges including four
from the Supreme Court, a re-
tired lawyer, the acting gener-
al prosecutor and a law pro-
fessor in a bar in Rajeck Tep-
lice in autumn 2010. The
judges, the professor and act-
ing general prosecutor Ladis-
lav Tich are seen making fun
of the August 2010 massacre in
Devnska Nov Ves while the
retired lawyer, wearing blue
ear defenders and holding an
imitation assault rifle, enter-
tains the guests by mimicking
the murderer, who killed sev-
en people during a shooting
spree.
The Sme daily wrote that
in addition to Tich, Supreme
Court judge tefan Michalk
was among the participants,
suggesting that they are on
friendly terms. Michalk is un-
der investigation for suspected
corruption and it is the
prosecutors office, under
Tich, which will decide
whether to proceed with the
case against Michalk. The
prosecutor's office later an-
nounced that Tich would be
takenoff the Michalk case.
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BUSINESS FOCUS
FRANCE
Valuing cultural and
artistic heritage
THE TRADITION of a very so-
cial management style with-
in French companies and a
very unique way of life must
surely be of interest to Slov-
aks that mingle with French
citizens who have settled
here, says Jean-Marie Bruno,
the French ambassador to
Slovakia, who added that he
is quite gratified and im-
pressed by the interest
shown by Slovak students in
the Frenchlanguage.
In an interview with The
Slovak Spectator, Bruno said
that Slovakia and France
share the same desire in
valuing their cultural and
artistic heritage as well in
supporting artistic creativity
and that these shared values
make communication
between the nations and
their citizens much easier.
Ambassador Bruno also
offered his sage opinions
about energy security and
nuclear safety, the signific-
ance of the Visegrad Four
within the European Union,
and the importance of build-
ing cultural and social ties
between smaller towns and
cities of Slovakia and France.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS):
As the Visegrad Group cel-
ebrates its 20th an-
niversary the French Insti-
tute for Research in Social
Sciences (CERES) has co-or-
ganised a conference de-
voted to this occasion.
What is the importance of
the Visegrad Group (V4) for
France and what in your
opinion is the significance
of the region as it relates to
the EuropeanUnion?
Jean-Marie Bruno (JMB):
First of all I wish to applaud
the Slovak presidency [of the
V4] for the great effort and
work put into organising such
a successful event. It reflected
perfectly the notable work
which has been done
throughout the entirety of its
mandate. Moreover, it was a
great honour for the French
Embassy in Slovakia to be able
to host the opening session of
that conference in our
embassys premises.
Indeed, the Visegrad
Group is a very important and
essential collaboration
between four EU member
states in central and eastern
Europe, not only for France
but for the whole Union.
Strong and dynamic regional
cooperation is also a way to
ensure a fruitful and thriving
Europe. The strong relation-
ship that France shares with
Slovakia is thus extended to-
wards the other members of
the V4, allowing an easier and
more productive exchange of
economy, culture and ideas
between France and the east-
ernEuropeancountries.
SeeJMBpg8
BYBEATABALOGOV
Spectator staff
Jean-Marie Bruno Photo: Courtesyof ParlamentnKurier
French firms sink deep and wide roots in Slovakia
FRANCE Telecom, PSA Peugeot
Citron, Gefco, EDF, Faurecia. These
are just a few of the major French
companies that have established
large holdings in Slovakia, building
new production facilities involving
investments of millions of euros and
employing tens of thousands of Slov-
aks. The first French investors may
havearrivedinSlovakiaseekinglower
wage costs but this has not been the
primary reasonfor some time. French
investors now cite the importance of
Slovakia in the heart of Europe, its
qualified labour force and the adop-
tion of the euro in 2009 as the more
significant reasons for conducting
business here.
France is a significant partner of
Slovakiaintradeandbusiness, Lenka
Korchanov, executive director of the
French-Slovak Chamber of Commerce
(FSOK), told The Slovak Spectator. It
holds third position for Slovakias ex-
ports and unofficially it tops the in-
vestment ranking [in Slovakia] since
most investment transfers by French
companies came via financial houses
outsideFrance.
Richard Drer, spokesperson for
the Slovak Investment and Trade De-
velopment Agency (SARIO), con-
firmed the strong position of French
investors inSlovakia.
French investors first arrived in
Slovakia in1990, Drer told The Slov-
ak Spectator, adding that at the be-
ginning these were small invest-
ments in the machinery and food in-
dustries. Bigger investments started
after 1991.
These included the acquisition of
Chemlon Humenn by Rhne-
Poulenc and investments by Dalkia,
France Telecom Globtel, Carrefour
and Dexia, a bank. Other significant
investments from that period in-
cluded Plastic Omnium, Bacou-Dalloz
and the investment by Natixis
Banques Populaires inudovBanka.
Beginning in 2000, French com-
panies have invested more than 5
billioninSlovakia according to Drer,
who specified that these invest-
ments included those of Gaz de
France, France Telecom, PSAPeugeot
Citron, EDF and another 300 com-
panies. During the past few years,
additional French investors arrived,
such as Valeo and Faurecia, direct
subcontractors of PSA Peugeot
Citron, Arcelor, Areva-Framatome,
Marionnaud, Gefco, Air Liquide,
Total, HutchinsonandVinci.
Direct foreign investments from
France into Slovakia are proof of per-
manently sustainable relations in
that investments in the case of giants
such as PSA, Gaz de France and Faure-
cia are estimated to extend at least 25
to30years, Drer said.
According to Korchanov, the
kinds of investments made by French
companies have changed signific-
antlyover thelast fiveyears.
In 1990 investors who arrived in
Slovakia were driven particularly by
reduction of costs by moving produc-
tion to Slovakia, said Korchanov.
Some of these companies have
already left Slovakia. But during the
last few years investors who came to
Slovakia wanted to opennewmarkets
and acknowledge the advantageous
geographical position of the country
andtheeducational level of Slovaks.
Korchanov estimated the num-
ber of French companies operating in
Slovakia at up to 400, adding that it is
difficult to count them clearly as
many French firms were established
here via Dutchintermediaries. Never-
theless, she added that between 2002
and 2007 France was the second
biggest investor in Slovakia. During
the economic downturn the flow of
new investments slowed, she said,
but added that this was not a problem
that onlySlovakiafaced.
The crisis didnot completely halt
the inflow of new investors; it only
curbed it, Korchanov said. Com-
panies that canbetter establishthem-
selves in Slovakia than at home are
still arriving.
Korchanov said French investors
acclaim the high qualifications of
their Slovakemployees but addedthat
they would also welcome better en-
forceability of laws and more reform
of theeducationsystem.
The French-Slovak Chamber of
Commerce does not believe any of its
member companies are currently
planning to relocate their invest-
ments outsideSlovakia.
This is because Slovakias [eco-
nomic] positionduringthe crisis was
good when compared with neigh-
bouring countries, Korchanov
said. The euro, which puts Slovakia
at an advantage in comparison with
other countries, is a significant sta-
bilisingfactor.
Newinvestment opportunities
SARIO assisted 19 French com-
panies to establish themselves in
Slovakia between 2002 and 2010 and
these investments amounted to 833
millionand createdalmost 7,000 jobs.
SARIO is currently collaborating on
three French investment projects
that may bring investments of 25
million from companies involved
with the automotive industry, logist-
ics and recycling of batteries and
couldcreate380newjobs.
The automotive industry will
remain the dominant sector but we
expect that also other sectors of in-
dustryandservices will be interesting
for French investors, Drer said.
France is alsoreadytocooperate with
Slovakia inbuilding roads and we also
have regular interest in commercial-
investment cooperation in the area of
environmental protection. Within
inter-regional cooperation, Slovakia
offers French investors space in in-
dustrial parks and various commer-
cial activities in the fields of drinking
water treatment, waste water puri-
fication, municipal waste disposal
and geothermal resources for indus-
trial and healing purposes. Opportun-
ities withintourismareunlimited.
Korchanov added that French
companies are particularly interested
in heating plants and other aspects of
the energy industry as well as cooper-
ation within the Allegro project, a
part of the EuropeanSustainable Nuc-
lear Industrial Initiative established
within the Strategic Energy Techno-
logyplan(SET).
SeeTRADEpg10
BYJANALIPTKOV
Spectator staff
6
France: General facts
Political system: republic
Capital: Paris
Total area: 550,000 square kilometres
Population: about 62 million
Official language: French
Currency: euro
Source: TheFrenchEmbassy
Institutions of France in Slovakia
The FrenchEmbassyto Slovakia
Ambassador: Jean-Marie Bruno
www.france.sk
The French-SlovakChamber of Commerce
www.fsok.sk
The FrenchInstitute inBratislava
www.ifb.sk
Some companies with French
capital in Slovakia
Alcatel-Lucent, www.alcatel-lucent.sk
AXA, www.axa.sk
BCTorsion, www.dirickx.sk
Bongrain(Milex, Liptovsk Mliekare),
www.bongrain-slovensko.sk
Capgemini, www.sk.capgemini.com
CestyNitra, www.cestynitra.sk
Coface Slovakia, www.coface.sk
Dalkia, www.dalkia.sk
Danone, www.danone.sk
Eurovia SK, www.eurovia.sk
Faurecia Slovakia, www.faurecia.com
Gefco Slovakia, www.gefco.sk
Mazars, www.mazars.sk
Orange Slovensko, www.orange.sk
PSAPeugeot Citron, http://psa-slovakia.sk/
Stredoslovensk Energetika (SSE), www.sse.sk
Synergie, www.synergie.sk
CompiledbySpectator staff
The French
ambassador to
Slovakia shares
his wide-ranging
opinions
June 20 26, 2011
PSAto build newcar
model in Trnava
AXAlaunches banking
services in Slovakia
Faurecia adds 700 jobs in Koice
THE FIFTHbiggest producer
of car components inthe
world, Faurecia, plans to ex-
pand its productioninSlov-
akia. The Hospodrske Nov-
iny daily wrote inmid April
that Faurecia had started re-
cruiting anadditional 700
workers for its plant in
Koice and its labour force
would growfrom330 to more
than1,000 workers. The
company is increasing its
employment force because it
is launching newareas of
production.
We planits beginning
for this summer, Nora
Baov, HRdirector of Faure-
cia Slovakia told the daily.
Faurecia, based inNan-
terre, France, has five other
productionplants inSlov-
akia as well as the Koice fa-
cility: inBratislava, Lozorno,
ilina, Trnava and Hlohovec.
CompiledbySpectator staff
AXA begins Slovak banking services
THE SLOVAKsubsidiary of
AXABank Europe launched
commercial operations in
early April whenit beganof-
fering savings accounts to
Slovak customers as it has
beendoing inthe CzechRe-
public since early 2010. The
bank started its technical pre-
parationfor offering accounts
inSlovakia inOctober 2010,
the SITAnewswire wrote.
AXA Bank Europe offers
retail loans and mortgages in
some countries but it does
not plan to offer these
products in Slovakia at the
current time. Petr Skok, CEO
of AXA Bank Europe in Slov-
akia said the bank would in-
troduce only savings ac-
counts in the first phase of
its operations here.
AXABank Europe is part
of the AXAGroup based in
Paris, a leading global brand
ininsurance, investment
services and banking.
AXAGroups CEOfor
Slovakia and the CzechRe-
public, DuanDoliak, spe-
cified that inits first year of
operationinthe CzechRe-
public it had captured al-
most 1 percent of the mar-
ket inthat country and that
it had the ambitionto reach
a market share of over 5
percent withinfive years.
Doliak admitted that it
would be unrealistic for
AXABank Europe to reach
the same market share as
giant banks but said this is
not its aim.
The Slovak subsidiary of
AXABank Europe will use
the internet as its principle
means of communication
withcustomers. The bank
was enrolled inSlovakias
Commercial Register on
December 1, 2009 and the
National Bank of Slovakia
issued a banking licence on
October 6, 2010.
PSA to build newmodel in Trnava
INMIDApril, Frenchauto-
maker PSAPeugeot Citron
confirmed aninvestment of
over 120 millioninproduc-
tionof a newcar model inits
Trnava plant that will in-
crease the labour force there
by almost 900. The Trnava
assembly plant plans to start
a third shift as early as spring
2012 and gradually increase
productionto the full annual
capacity of 300,000 vehicles,
the company stated inits
press release.
Philippe Varin, the pres-
ident of PSAPeugeot Citron,
announced the news after
meeting Prime Minister Iv-
eta Radiov and Education
Minister EugenJurzyca in
Trnava onApril 11. This will
be the third model assembled
inthe Trnava plant inits
short history, following the
companys success withthe
Peugeot 207 and C3 Picasso
models. No details about the
third model to be assembled
inTrnava were released.
Onone hand the in-
vestment indicates the full
maturity of the plant and its
labour force withinthe PSA
Peugeot Citrongroup and
onthe other hand it is also a
confirmationof the stra-
tegic character of our in-
vestment inSlovakia with
the planned gradual in-
crease inthe effectiveness of
the already existing
capacities, said Varin, as
quoted inthe press release.
Varinand Jurzyca signed
a memorandumfor coopera-
tionbetweenthe Education
Ministry and PSAPeugeot
Citroninthe area of sec-
ondary education.
The assembly plant in
Trnava is one of the most
modernwithinthe PSA
Peugeot Citrongroup. The
initial investment, an-
nounced nJanuary 2003,
totalled 700 millionbefore
productionbegan.
In2006 the plant began
making the Peugeot 207; pro-
ductionof the CitronC3 Pi-
casso, assembled exclusively
inSlovakia, started during
the first quarter of 2009. In-
vestment inproductionof
the second model amounted
to 100 million.
The plant currently as-
sembles about 870 cars a
day and shipped over
187,000 cars in2010.
PSAcurrently employs
about 3,000 people inSlov-
akia.
Sharing best practices
BEING a branch of a multina-
tional company allows for ex-
change of experience and
knowledge in both directions,
andthe enrichment of those on
both sides of the exchange. For
multinational companies, hav-
ing subsidiaries in countries
the size of Slovakia means hav-
ing a market where they can
test either the latest technolo-
gies or new approaches to cli-
ents. The Slovak Spectator
spoke toDenis Renard, director
general of Gefco Slovakia; Ivan
Golian, deputy director general
and director of the information
technology and network de-
partment at Orange Slovensko;
Peter Tth, spokesperson of
Orange Slovensko; and Pierre
Chazerain, CEO of
Stredoslovensk Energetika
(SSE), about sharing best prac-
tices with their parent com-
panies as well as plans for
forthcomingyears.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS):
What businessmodelsor best
practices from your parent
company have you adopted
inSlovakia?
Denis Renard (DR): Gefco
designs, integrates and oper-
ates innovative, robust logist-
ics solutions aimed at a clien-
tele of international manufac-
turers. This statement was ap-
plied within all Gefco subsidi-
aries, includingGefcoSlovakia.
We set up all services which
Gefco provides to its clients:
Overland Network Solution
road transport, Overseas air
and sea freight, Logistics Solu-
tions, GefBoxSystem man-
agement of returnable boxes,
Automotive distribution and
preparation of new vehicles
and Customs Expertise. Since
our beginnings in Slovakia we
have implemented our opera-
tional standards and we mon-
itor our performance regularly.
Weprofit fromexpertisewhich
we gained from Just in Time
(JIT) and Just in Sequence (JIS)
logistics provided for our cus-
tomer PSA. And, last but not
least, I would like to mention
the implementation of our
policy Management through
quality. This is a set of coher-
ent actions, tools and object-
ives implemented by every
manager for controlling and
coordinating their groups
qualityperformance.
TSS: Do you know of any
business models, best prac-
tices or any other positive
experiences which your par-
ent company or other affili-
ates have adopted from your
company?
DR: There were many best
practices which were taken up
bythecompany. I will mention
just some of them, for instance
our SMS follow-up system,
which helps us to manage our
car fleet and be well informed
about all our trucks. Thenthere
was a very successful project
which was launched under the
name Milkruns standard-
ised transports developed in
Slovakia and successfully ap-
plied withinthe Gefco network
and of course our local team
developed very strong know-
how in JIT/JIS deliveries as
well as the know-how which
we gained in the cross-dock
situated in the Trnava PSA
plant.
Ivan Golian: Affiliation to
FranceTelecom(FT) group, one
of the biggest telecom com-
panies worldwide, provides
innumerable benefits for both
sides in terms of transfer of
know-howandexperience. We
exchange experience in both
directions veryoftenandwe in
Slovakia are able to enrich this
withour ownexpertise, which
then may be used in other
branches.
Such two-way exchange
happens very often in the
technological field, where
Slovakia, with regards to its
human resources, local know-
how and geographical loca-
tion, serves for the testing of
new technologies, as was the
case for example with FTTH
(fibre-to-the-home) broadband
access or 3G/HSPA, which is a
mobile broadband access
technology.
Transfer of know-how es-
peciallyinqualitycontrol and
development of networks
happens via so-calledtechno-
logy skill centres and net-
work operations skills
centres. Technology skill
centres are located mostly in
France and ensure the defini-
tion of the technological
strategy of the FT group, and
selection and testing of facil-
ities or various software ver-
sions(SWreleases).
Another example is the
model of management for
corporatesocial responsibility
(CSR). Even though the CSR
strategy has been developed
for the local needs of the Slov-
ak market, the parent com-
pany provided the methodo-
logy for CSRindicators report-
ing and monitoring. At the
global level coordinated steps
are taken by the branches in
the fields of child protection
and filtering. Simultaneously,
Orange in Slovakia serves as
an inspiration for the way we
protect the young fromaccess
to inappropriate content at
theWAPportal.
On the other hand, Slov-
akia is a source of several in-
novations and processes which
were successfully exported to
other countries in the group or
implemented at the global
level. At the global level the ex-
change of knowledge is man-
aged via a so-called best prac-
tices sharing programme.
Within this, for example, an
innovation developed by Or-
ange in Slovakia, the Salespad
interactive sales aid, is cur-
rently being implemented in
other branches of FT.
The technological centre of
Orange in Bansk Bystrica has
also developed technologies for
end-to-end testing of selected
voice and data services, which
was consecutively implemen-
ted intens of branches of the FT
group around the globe. Anoth-
er example is the technological
supervision of quality of ser-
vice, which our technological
centre currently carries out for
OrangeArmenia.
In the non-technological
segment we can cite as an ex-
ample the concept of the tele-
com ombudsman, which ori-
ginated in Slovakia. Our parent
company is interested in im-
plementationof a similar insti-
tutioninother markets.
Pierre Chazerain (PCH):
EDF entered Stredoslovensk
Energetika (SSE) as a strategic
partner in 2002 and brought
certain know-how. SSE has
simultaneously integrated into
the EDF group and together
they apply their strategic plans
for specific years. These reflect
the philosophy of the EDF
group, adjusted to the Slovak
market environment and par-
ticular SSEneeds.
Indeed, with the entrance
of our strategic partner we fol-
low current trends in modern-
isation in areas such as techno-
logy, management, commerce
and marketing, and finance;
we regularly share best prac-
tises in production on one
hand, but on the other also in
the fieldof operations andbasic
maintenance, where in emer-
gencysituations wehaveestab-
lished cooperation with EDF
Hungary.
The market opened fully in
2007 and before then we had no
experience with competition
and an open market, which is
not the case for EDF operating
worldwide. WithEDF being our
shareholder, we can explore
more in the areas of current
trends in renewables (existing
examples are investment
project in photovoltaic, small
hydroelectric plants, bio-
mass), energy efficiency,
smart grids (intelligence in
the network and interactive
exchange of data between
producers, distributors and
consumers), electric E-mobil-
ity, etc, not only in terms of
know-how and experience,
but also based on smooth co-
operation with our common
partners or affiliates in the
EDF group. We are also profit-
ing from EDF Research and
Development experience in
finding various alternative re-
sources, drawing from many
pilot projects worldwide.
TSS: What are the plans of
your company in terms of in-
vestments and development
over the next one or two
yearsinSlovakia?
DR: Gefco Slovakia has an
ambitious but not unattainable
goal, which is to achieve
turnover of over 100 millionin
2012. At the same time we want
to continue inour development
and plan to extend our logistics
surfaces by 5,000 square metres
in order to accompany the de-
velopment of our clients.
Last year we opened a new
logistics warehouse in Kech-
nec and therefore we plan to
accelerate our development in
eastern Slovakia. Along with
all our activities Gefco wants
to be an environmentally-
friendly company, and that is
why we are working more and
more on our multimodal
projects, which bring not just
cost savings to our customers
but also reduce CO2 emissions.
Peter Tth: Orange is cur-
rently the most successful
telecom company in Slovakia
and our ambition is to rein-
force this position and build
trust amongst our clients with
the quality and reliability of
our networks and their ser-
vices, as well as by invest-
ments innewtechnologies. For
example, this year Orange is
investing in its networks al-
most 40 percent more thanlast
year. These investments go,
among other areas, into en-
hancement of capacity and the
speedof mobiledataservices.
PCH: Stating our develop-
ment for one or twoyears could
be very short-term-oriented
and we are certainly creating
our strategic plan for a longer
perspective, which means a
10-year horizon. Definitely,
one of our objectives is to be-
come a customer-friendly
company, providing the
highest quality service to its
customers in Slovakia. Of
course, we aim to improve our
efficiency by means of the ser-
vices provided; we also intend
to continue in providing added
value for new and current SSE
operations by ensuring profes-
sional, highly transparent and
efficient services.
To read the whole survey,
please go to www.spectator.sk
BYJANALIPTKOV
Spectator staff
GefcoSlovakiais amajor logistics firm. Photo: Courtesyof Gefco
7
BUSINESS FOCUS
FOCUS shorts
June 20 26, 2011
JMB: Nuclear energy is a field of
mutual interest and real expertise
Continuedfrompg6
The work already accomplished
and the goals which have been
achieved by the Visegrad Group are
commendable and such motivation
and determination could be an ex-
ample for other European states. In-
deed, having managed to be part of
the European Union, NATO, WTO,
the Council of Europe and many oth-
er associations and organisations,
these four countries, Slovakia, the
Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland
have already proven themselves
more than once within the eyes of
the EU and all of its other member
states. Yet they persist in continuing
to work together in order to achieve
even more. That is exactly what the
EU stands for: confident cooperation
for thesakeof our peoples.
TSS: PrimeMinister Iveta Radiov
met with the French minister for
industry, energy and digital eco-
nomy, Eric Besson, in Prague
where among other things they
addressed the issues of energy se-
curity and nuclear energy. Minis-
ter Besson suggested that Slovakia
and France have similar goals in
the area of nuclear energy. What,
in your opinion, are these shared
goals?
JMB: More than half of Slovak
electricity is of nuclear origin and
this proportion reaches roughly 80
percent in France. The acceptance of
this decarbonised source of energy is
strong in both populations.
However, the issue of safety in this
field is fundamental and an accident
such as that of Fukushima ought to
motivate us to reinforce this aspect
once more: this is precisely what is
happening at the moment with the
socalledstress tests.
Let me remind you that in
Fukushima it was the massive
tsunami that was to blame. Even
though no tsunamis threaten the
nuclear plants of both our countries,
this accident forces us to ask
ourselves what can and should be
done to improve and strengthen our
safety systems. Quickly restoring the
cooling system of a nuclear plant ap-
pears to have become a critical factor
and methods for securing the sys-
tems for restoration must also be
studied. One should also not forget
humanrisk (including terrorist acts).
Slovakia and France are fully agree-
ingontheseissues.
TSS: Bansk Bystrica Region has
been maintaining significant ties
with France, especially with the
townof Saint-Etienne. What arethe
concrete forms of this partnership
andhowcanthesecontributetothe
two nations learning more about
eachothers culture?
JMB: French-Slovak cooperation
depends on about twenty active part-
nerships between regions and cities
as well as French and Slovak state
ministries. Each partnership comes
with its own specificity but the
projects that are being undertaken
are mainly based on the sharing of
experiences and good practices and
touch on various fields: education,
culture, youth, tourism, urban devel-
opment, researchandinnovation.
For the Embassy of Slovakia in
France as well as for the French Em-
bassy in Slovakia, encouragement
in bringing together local com-
munities and local governments is
another way of building the Europe
of citizens.
The partnership between the cit-
ies of Bansk Bystrica and of Saint
Etienne, the main city of Loire local
government, is an interesting one. It
parallels the long-lasting partner-
ship and cooperation between the
Loire local government and its coun-
terpart, the Regional government of
Bansk Bystrica. This partnership
has been influenced by cultural ex-
changes, notably between the Mu-
seumof ModernArts of Saint Etienne
and the Central Slovak Gallery of
Bansk Bystrica.
In October, Bansk Bystrica will
host the 2011 edition of the French-
Slovak decentralisation days. It is an
important moment on our bilateral
agenda and the chosen themes this
year are culture andeducation.
We will also seek to establish and
maintain strong bonds between
Koice and Marseilles. The choice of
these two cities to be European Cap-
itals of Culture in 2013 allows France
and Slovakia to plan ambitious
projects on the topics of cultural and
intellectual exchanges.
TSS: Slovakia has in recent years
been the destination of several
large French investments. Does
the presence of French businesses
bring a greater appreciation
among people in the towns where
the French companies are located?
Are they now more familiar with
French culture in the broader
senseof theword?
JMB: French people are not very
numerous in Slovakia (around 1200)
and their presence is not really vis-
ible. On the other hand, there is a
clear trend in French companies to
entrust more and more responsibil-
ity to Slovak executives once they
have been accustomed to French
management habits. Nevertheless,
we believe that French companies
brought something to the cities
where they settled, not only jobs, in-
vestments andlocal taxes.
TSS: For many French-speaking
persons being a Francophone
means muchmore thanjust speak-
ing French. In your experience is
there an intense interest in the
French language in Slovakia and
what do you perceive as indicators
of that interest? Are there particu-
lar initiatives to promote French
languageamongstudents?
JMB: I have the feeling that in-
terest in the French language is not
decreasing in Slovakia, though we
would obviously wish for a higher
number of Francophones. With a
total of 25,000 individuals studying
French in the Slovak educational
system, French is being taught in
roughly one high school out of three
throughout the country. As a matter
of fact, 15 high schools have chosen
to set up reinforced French
language sections and have in-
creased the weekly number of hours
that French is taught. Finally, five
bilingual French-Slovak sections
which have been established in four
high schools which, because of the
excellent reputation of these sec-
tions, have become the pride of our
bilateral cooperation in the educa-
tional sphere. Nor have universities
been overlooked: there are six
French departments and five Fran-
cophone courses of studies. The in-
terest that Slovak students have
shown for our language and culture
is verygratifying.
The French language still holds a
significant place in the economic
worldas well as withinEuropeanand
international relations, especially in
the legal and diplomatic sphere.
French has always been regarded as
an international communication
tool and this is still true within the
European Union. However, the most
convincing and important argument
for learning French, which is by the
way valid for all languages, is that in
todays world, it isnt sufficient to
learn only one foreign language. In
global competition, multilingualism
is no longer just an asset but has be-
come a must.
The promotion of our language
has developed through different
means. In the educational field, the
initiatives taken are numerous: one
can note the presence of about
twenty Frenchlecturers, the promo-
tion of our DELF-DALF certificates,
donations of French handbooks,
support to scholar exchanges,
grants for students, help for the con-
tinuing education of teachers not
only in Slovakia but also through
professional training in France. In
other words, the Institut franais
and the Alliances franaises in Slov-
akia offer French classes and organ-
ise cultural events aiming at pro-
moting the intercultural dialogue
betweenour countries.
TSS: Slovakia holds observer status
in the International Organisation
of the Francophonie. What does it
mean for a country to hold observ-
er status inthis organization?
JMB: Fifty-six full members and
19 observers currently constitute
the Organisation Internationale de
la Francophonie (OIF). One can
therefore see that the Francophonie
has gained meaning and value
within the eyes of numerous states.
Not speaking French as an official
language does not hinder a country
from becoming a member. Indeed,
what is significant is the import-
ance of the French language within
the country and the way it is used.
Slovakia has been an observer since
2002 and has actively participated
in all the summits to which it has
been invited. OIF has nowbecome a
recognized international political
organisation, focusing on promo-
tionof democracy, good governance
andcultural diversity.
Being anobserver grants a coun-
try the possibility to attend official
Francophonie meetings. However,
an observer cannot participate in
committees and work groups where
more substantial workis done.
This year, the Francophonie has
been celebrated throughout Slov-
akia. The festivities in Bratislava
ended with the 13th edition of the
International Francophone Film
Festival inBratislava(FIFFBA).
OIF also supports the teaching
of French language within Slovak
institutions. Since the programme's
inception in 2006, about 200 Slovak
officials have been taught French
each year, most of them from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well
as other ministries.
As anobserver country, Slovakia
thus plays a significant role when
having to promote the French lan-
guage within the European institu-
tions.
TSS: Slovakia has already absorbed
some considerable French invest-
ments. What areas of Slovakias
economy offer interesting oppor-
tunities for cooperation between
the countries? Where do you see
thelargest potential?
JMB: The most visible and clear
investment is that of PSA and its
automobile subcontractors. Never-
theless, almost 400 French firms are
established in Slovakia. These com-
panies employ over 35,000 people
representing cumulated invest-
ments of over 4 billion. Some of
these businesses have resulted from
participation in privatisation, but
many others are ground-upcreations
and they are now present in sectors
as diverse as gas distribution
(SPP/GdFSuez), telecommunications
(Orange), public works (Vinci), urban
heating (Dalkia), electrical power
(SSE/EDF), urban services (Veolia),
pharmaceuticals (Sanofi Aventis,
Servier), dairy (Bongrain, Senoble),
andmanyothers.
New opportunities exist in nu-
merous sectors. The next round of
privatisations might offer the possib-
ility of witnessing more French in-
vestments in Slovakia. The nuclear
sector where both of our countries
have developed a real expertise could
be a new field of cooperation. Part-
nerships could also be developed in
the fields of mechanics and the
plastics industry. Nonetheless, it is
by multiplying direct contacts
between companies that new areas
of cooperationcanemerge.
TSS: What aspects of French cul-
ture are the most appealing for
Slovaks based on your experience
here? What are the most signific-
ant cultural events your embassy
has underwritten or planned for
therest of theyear?
JMB: Slovakia and France both
share the same will to value their
cultural and artistic heritage as well
as to support artistic creativity.
These shared goals make it easier for
our cultural institutions and artists
tomeet.
Indeed, one just needs to look at
what has been going on in the past
two years. Whether it is the per-
formance of musical works by
Hummel played by bi-national mu-
sical ensembles, the celebration of
the 20th anniversary of the Month
of Photography, the enthusiastic
welcoming received in Paris to the
exhibition of Gothic Slovak art or
even more, the appearance of young
Slovak photographers in Paris-
Photo, it all comes to show just how
important and real the dialogue
betweenSlovakia andFrance is.
I also wish to highlight three
important partnerships: the Slovak
National Gallery, which has forged
strong links with the Museumof the
Middle Ages (Paris), the Central
European House of Photography
working since the early 90s with the
EuropeanHouse of PhotographyPar-
is, and also the City Gallery of Bratis-
lava which exchanges with the con-
temporaryart fair of Montrouge.
But BHS, Divadeln Nitra, Jazz
Days, the Days of Architecture and
Design also regularly welcome
French representatives. Moreover,
Schools of Fine Arts multiply ex-
changes: in itself VVU has 5
ERASMUS partnerships with
France and not only sends Slovak
art students to Nancy, Strasbourg
and Nantes but also receives
Frenchstudents.
For the future, the participation
of Tramway, the contemporary art
network in Paris at the second edi-
tion of the annual Bratislava Art
Festival in September and the clos-
ingof the 20thDivadeln Nitra fest-
ival by a French play, are the two
closest coming events. Ahead of us
we will have the combination of
Marseille and Koice as the
European Capitals of Culture in
2013 whichwill hopefully enable us
to expand our bilateral relations
around issues which have become
essential to our contemporary so-
cieties: howto experience diversity
and dialogue among cultures; how
culture can contribute to the reviv-
al of a city; and howcitizens can get
involved.
Ambassador Brunomeets university students. Photo: FrenchEmbassy
8
BUSINESS FOCUS
June 20 26, 2011
ONE: Analyst hails change in politics
Continuedfrompg2
Numbers coming from
various opinion polls indic-
ate that voters who suppor-
ted the four centre-right
parties which came together
to form Slovakias governing
coalition are not completely
satisfied with their perform-
ance inoffice.
Smers popularity in polls
has been rising, with over 47
percent of the respondents in
a May poll conducted by the
Focus agency saying they
would vote for Smer. The
polling numbers for the four
parties of the coalition the
Slovak Democratic and Chris-
tian Union (SDK), Freedom
and Solidarity (SaS), the Chris-
tian Democratic Movement
(KDH) and Most-Hd have
beenfalling or are just stable.
Some political observers
believe that overly-high ex-
pectations might be partially
behind the general disap-
pointment among those who
votedfor the four parties.
Some of the voters for the
ruling parties perhaps arent
very happy because their ex-
pectations exceeded reality,
political scientist Grigorij
Mesenikov of the Institute
for Public Affairs (IVO) told
The Slovak Spectator, explain-
ing that sucha development is
quite common after a signific-
ant political change takes
place ina country.
Darina Malov, the head
of the political sciences de-
partment of Comenius
Universitys Philosophy
Faculty, agreed that voters
expectations were high and
very diverse among those
who voted for the ruling coali-
tion parties, theorising that
presumably part of the ruling
coalitions electorate voted for
one of the four parties because
of strong right-wing opinions
and that these voters had ex-
pected more changes to
strengthen the role of the
market economy.
If they did have these ex-
pectations, its clear they can-
not be very satisfied now,
Malov told The Slovak Spec-
tator. She said critics on the
right believe the state's aus-
terity measures do not go far
enough and that the govern-
ment apparatus is still
enormous and devours too
muchinpublic funds.
She also said that what may
have motivated most voters
was an expectation that the
state of justice in Slovakia
would be improved and a new
government would at least deal
withcorruptioninpolitics.
In this respect some of
the governments measures
have been successful, but all
these partial measures get
somewhat suppressed in the
political communication by
citizens everyday problems,
mainly rising prices, Malov
said. That is something that
concerns all citizens, not only
those who voted for this
government.
Even with some general-
ised scepticism about the
governments performance,
magnified by the coalitions
failure to settle internal dis-
putes about candidates for
important public posts such
as general prosecutor and the
head of the countrys security-
vetting authority, which
some observers see as devast-
ating to the governments im-
age, Mesenikov is more pos-
itive and believes that the
government has met the ex-
pectations for change.
A change took place in the
country, Mesenikov said.
This country is at the moment
led by a grouping of standard
democratic forces, the argu-
mentation [of politicians] has
changed, there is less con-
frontation and less aggressive-
ness [in political communica-
tion], and consolidationof pub-
lic finances was launched, he
said as he listed what he views
as the positive aspects of the
change ingovernment.
The measures passed by
the Radiov government in
its first year that are most of-
ten praised include a require-
ment that public bodies pub-
lish all contracts online, and
enactment of several changes
in the judicial system such as
the amended laws on judges
and public prosecutors of-
fices. Observers of the Slovak
political scene also include
the anti-corruption and
transparency measures intro-
duced by the Defence Ministry
as significant pluses for the
current government.
Nationalismstill abugaboo
Changed laws that ended
their parliamentary journey
with various kinds of com-
promises, perhaps provoking
disappointment among some
voters for the coalition
parties, include several initi-
atives involving the rights of
minorities, such as the State
Language Act and the law on
minority languages.
[Ethnic] Hungarian cit-
izens were expecting fast
remedies but the truth is that
for Slovak voters this is not a
priority, Mesenikov said.
The failure to amend or modify
what he called nationalist rel-
ics from the previous gov-
ernment is caused by the
parties fear of losing ethnic
Slovak voters.
Slovak parties, even the
centre-right, more democratic
ones, believe that the more na-
tionalist and less welcoming
they are towards the Hungari-
an minority, the higher their
support will be among the
electorate, Mesenikov stated,
adding that he did not believe
this is actually the case.
[The ruling parties] are
hypnotised by the opposition,
which criticises them for being
too friendly towards the [eth-
nic] Hungarians and towards
Budapest, Mesenikov opined.
Will thegovernment last?
Despite Ficos assurances to
his supporters that Smer will
not let the government contin-
ue to pursue what he calls
harmful policies until the end
of the election term in 2014,
most political analysts are san-
guine about the governments
ability to remain in power until
the next election.
Malov, however, believes
that the government will have
a difficult time withstanding
various political pressures as
well as dealing with its some-
what unpredictable support in
parliament and the controver-
sial nature of some of the co-
alitionMPs.
This ruling coalition
sticks together mainly because
of its negative attitude towards
the opposition, Malov said. I
believe in the optimistic vari-
ant for the government that
they will complete the term.
Mesenikov strongly dis-
agreed with the argument
that the governing parties are
held together solely by their
opposition to Fico and that
they would remain together
only to prevent himfromtak-
ing power again.
One only needs to com-
pare the programme state-
ments of the current gov-
ernment and the Fico gov-
ernment. They are worlds
apart, Mesenikov said.
They [the current coalition
parties] are held together by
the principal view of what
democracy is, how politics
should be done, on economic,
social and minority policies,
and on relations with neigh-
bouring countries. They are
held together by their in-
terest in promoting a differ-
ent political style.
IvetaRadiovvisitingNinMya, amunicipality which
experiencedsevere landslides after floodingin2010. Photo: TASR
FOOD: Big price jump
Continuedfrompg1
The cabinet has to say
something because it has so
far only contributed to the
increase inprices, Fico said,
as quoted by the SITAnews-
wire onJune 13. He called on
the ruling coalitionparties to
debate the increase inprices
rather thanthe selectionof
the next general prosecutor.
According to Ficos Smer
party, the 4-percent inflation
rate confirms that Slovakia
has anineffective govern-
ment that is taking the
wrong path.
The government of Iveta
Radiov cited influences
beyond its control as being
behind the current growthin
consumer prices, particu-
larly poor global harvests
that have put pressure on
food prices as well as rises in
the price of crude oil and re-
lated products.
Maybe only the Smer
chairmanis able to order the
weather and hedge prices of
crude oil, MartinJaro,
spokespersonfor Finance
Minister IvanMiklo, said in
response to Ficos statements,
as quoted by the TASRnews-
wire. Jaro added that the
governments policies were
necessary to revitalise
Slovakias economy he cited
as anexample what he called
the Fico tax, the increase in
the value added tax from19
percent to 20 percent, adding
that the VAT increase had
contributed very little to
higher consumer prices.
What a real social gov-
ernment does is create condi-
tions so that people canfind
jobs more easily, secure regu-
lar income and also, thanks to
this, canmore easily deal
withinflation, said Jaro,
adding that inthese terms
developments have beenbet-
ter thanexpected: during the
first quarter of 2011 he said
33,000 newjobs were created.
The year-on-year growth
inconsumer prices acceler-
ated fromAprils 3.7 percent
to 4.0 percent inMay. Com-
pared withApril, prices in
May grewby 0.3 percent, a de-
crease fromthe March-to-
April rate of 0.4 percent, the
Statistics Office announced
onJune 13. After the lowest
inflationrate inSlovakias re-
cent history in2010, at 1 per-
cent, due partly to a steep fall
inconsumer spending be-
cause of the economic crisis,
inflationary pressures are in-
creasing once again.
The May figure did not
come as a big surprise for
bank analysts, who had pre-
dicted higher price levels
this year.
Life started getting more
expensive, at a rate of 4 per-
cent [a year], for Slovaks as
early as May, a bit earlier
thanoriginally expected, Eva
Sadovsk, ananalyst with
Potov Banka told The Slovak
Spectator. But we would not
call 4 percent a psychological
barrier since we were expect-
ing that this level would be
reached this year and we ex-
pect growthof consumer
prices at a similar level to
continue for the whole year.
The Hospodrske Noviny
daily pointed out that Slovaks
last experienced passing this
psychological barrier inlate
2008, during the government
of Robert Fico and wrote that
he had takenno actionto curb
inflationat the time.
The commodities that in-
creased most inprice year-
on-year inMay were food and
non-alcoholic beverages, in-
creasing by 7.4 percent. Prices
for transportationfollowed,
with6.3-percent growth,
while the price of housing
and various forms of energy
went up by 4.4 percent year-
on-year.
These price increases are
having a painful effect on
Slovak households because
Sadovsk pointed out that
Slovak households spend the
largest amount eachmonth
onfood and housing and
Slovak families also spend
significant sums ontrans-
portation.
These groups of goods
will become more expensive
this year and thus also affect
most of our household
budgets, said Sadovsk,
adding that compared with
April Slovaks also paid more
for clothes and footwear.
Clothes and footwear are
also more expensive ona
year-on-year comparative
basis, nowfor the second
consecutive month. After two
years of decreasing prices for
clothes and footwear, anin-
crease inprices for these
goods was registered for the
first time inApril.
Sadovsk sees the auster-
ity measures of the Radiov
government as partially lying
behind the growthinprices
this year as well as higher
regulated prices introduced at
the start of the year, but said
that the rises were mainly
due to to changes incommod-
ity prices onworld markets.
Prices inthe year-on-
year comparisonwere higher
not only for crude oil but also
for many agricultural com-
modities, whichwere higher
by tens of percentage points,
affecting especially prices for
food, said Sadovsk, adding
that the price of cotton,
whichaffects the price of
clothes and footwear, surged
to anall-time high.
Other economists also ex-
pect continued growthin
consumer prices. According
to Potov Banka and Uni-
Credit Bank Slovakia, the au-
tumnmonths will bring fur-
ther accelerationininflation.
The growthinprices will
continue to depend ondevel-
opments onglobal commod-
ity markets, Sadovsk said.
But a questionmark also
hangs over the approval of
higher regulated prices, for
example, for natural gas. An-
other rise inthese prices
might increase inflationto
higher thancurrently expec-
ted levels. For nowwe expect
annual average inflationto be
from3.9 to 4.0 percent.
CLASSIFIEDS
Frequency di scount s:
3x - 10x 5%
11x - 19x 7,5%
20x and more 15%
NOTE:
Prices do not include value added tax
(VAT 19%)!
DEADLINE: Wednesday, 12:00,
for publication that week; otherwise,
the advert will be published the
following Friday.
FOR MORE I NFORMATION:
email:
marta.fukasova@spectator.sk
tel: +421 2 59 233-311
fax: +421 2 59 233-319
or write:
The Slovak Spectator, Lazaretsk 12
811 08 Bratislava, Slovak ia.
1/48 page
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C 3573
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C 3655
9
NEWS / BUSINESS
June 20 26, 2011
TRADE: Positive
Continuedfrompg6
She said the implementa-
tionplanfor 2010-2012 in-
cludes the launchof a consor-
tiumof central European
countries inwhichSlovakia
will be represented by VJE,
followed by a wider European
consortium. VJE is a
privately-owned engineering
company based inTrnava that
is active inthe fields of nuclear
and conventional power gen-
eration. It evolved froma
formerly state-owned nuclear
researchinstitute.
SARIOhas continued
presenting Slovakia inFrance
as a country hungry for new
investments.
SARIOattended a semin-
ar inFrance about the auto-
motive industry incentral
Europe at the beginning of
2011, Drer said. The aimof
the seminar was to introduce
the automotive sectors in
Slovakia, the CzechRepublic
and Hungary and particularly
to discuss opportunities for
further cooperationinthe
fields of subcontractors and
investments. Frenchcompan-
ies are being pushed to reduce
costs and Slovakia shows up as
a natural choice. Eventhough
Slovakia is gradually losing its
comparative advantage in
terms of wage costs, it enjoys
a great advantage inits excel-
lent locationinterms of dis-
tribution, services and infra-
structure, lower tax rates and
still slightly lower compar-
able costs.
If a Frenchcompany
wants to maintaincompetit-
iveness inthe globalised eco-
nomy, Slovakia incentral
Europe is one of the solutions,
Drer stated.
Tradebalance
Slovakia has enjoyed a pos-
itive trade balance withFrance
inrecent years
France is seventhinim-
ports [to Slovakia] and is the
third biggest export partner of
Slovakia, Korchanov said.
Slovakias most important
export commodities to France
are motor vehicles, their com-
ponents and accessories, elec-
trical goods and apparatus,
nuclear technology, boilers,
and various kinds of
machinery.
Slovakia imported goods
worth482 millionfrom
France inthe first three
months of 2011 while exports
fromSlovakia to France were
962 million. For all of 2010,
imports fromFrance were half
the level of Slovakias exports
withimports fromFrance
reaching 1.7 billionand ex-
ports to France reaching 3.4
billion, according to the Stat-
istics Office.
To read the rest of this
article, please go to
www.spectator.sk
START: NGOs can't do it
alone
Continuedfrompg3
Then they have a mayor who was saying
that theyve been working with the Roma for
20 years and that they are very committed.
They were telling us stories about housing.
But housing is also implemented very incor-
rectly. For instance, they built several houses
there with one room, but if you check how
much they spent on that house per one
square metre, its much more expensive than
the market price. They could have built
houses downtown with that amount of
money. And on top of it, the ghetto is in an
industrial zone and that means landowner-
ship issues are not resolved. And that means
that in one year these buildings could be
demolished. So this means a lot of money
was spent for nothing. The system has to be
aware of these problems and deal with them.
But when you raise the issue of segregation
there is a self-defence mechanism and
people start saying No, according to the
policy they are all equal; but if you go to the
field youll see that its not like that.
TSS: The Slovak government now admits
there is segregation?
SS: Yes. With the previous government
we were trying to cooperate as much as pos-
sible but it was very difficult. Now at least
the government admits that there is segrega-
tion and that its an issue to be dealt with.
They also agreed that its not only about the
pre-school programmes but also about the
transition between elementary and second-
ary education the drop-out rate at that time
is really high.
It requires a comprehensive approach.
You cannot deal only with education if em-
ployment and housing problems are not
dealt with. If Roma are settled on the out-
skirts of the city many of them have prob-
lems with transport, for instance.
Of course we are open to cooperate, to sup-
port the education system, to exchange our
experience from other countries, but the edu-
cation system is an institutional problem and
not a problem of the non-governmental
sphere. So the initiatives in which the gov-
ernment is saying that community centres
should become a substitute for pre-school edu-
cation for these children are wrong. If its not
institutionalised we again have a problem be-
cause they will have segregated community
centres. And community centres cannot sub-
stitute for pre-school because there are no con-
ditions, no staff, no teachers, etc. This should
be solved institutionally in the education sys-
tem and the NGOs can only provide support.
TSS: During the workshop you had a strong
exchange of opinions about having a zero
grade for children from socially-disadvant-
aged communities. Can you share your
views about this?
SS: The zero grade class was actually a
temporary solution that was applied within
the PHARE programme as a transitional solu-
tion for disadvantaged children. As an idea its
good. But if you visit the existing zero grades
you will see that most of them are segregated.
Again, Roma children are in a majority there
because they are socially disadvantaged. But if
you actually check how many of those children
who are attending zero grades are later en-
rolled in mainstream education and how many
of them are enrolled in special schools, the
percentage is about 40 percent or even more.
So I think this is not a solution. Maybe as a
transitional solution it worked, but not as a
permanent solution because again something
is wrong if you still have more than 40 percent
of children enrolled in special education.
10
NEWS / FOCUS
Norway leads in gender equality
DURING her meeting with
students of the Business
Academy in Levice, the Nor-
wegian ambassador to Slov-
akia, Trine Skymoen, shows
a photo taken at a March
meeting of European leaders
and notes that on the snap-
shot only five out of 31 offi-
cials are women. The next
snapshot features the Nor-
wegian government in 1986,
in which half of the officials
are women.
Skymoen goes on to say
that gender equality is benefi-
cial for businesses as well as
for the economic competit-
iveness of a country. She be-
lieves that gender equality is
achievable when there is
enough political will and that
this issue, in one way or an-
other, concerns everyone.
A country does not fall
apart when 50 percent of its
leaders are women, Skymoen
said adding that in her home-
land publicly listed compan-
ies are required to have at
least 40 percent women on
the boards of directors, 40
percent of deputies in parlia-
ment are women and out of
the seven political parties in
the Norwegian parliament,
five are led by women.
"There are areas of life
where society needs a push to
change traditional patterns,
even if those patterns do not
benefit either gender," said
Skymoen who met the stu-
dents as part of the Bringing
the World to the Classroom
project developed by The
Slovak Spectator, several for-
eign embassies in Slovakia
and Sugarbooks, a distributor
of textbooks.
Students of the Business
Academy, who also operate a
human rights club at the
school, had done their
homework as well, includ-
ing conducting interviews
with various people in
Levice to ask their opinions
about the position of women
inSlovak society.
Gender equality, as Sky-
moen explained, is an essen-
tial part of the Scandinavian
model and is at the very heart
of society there. Eighty per-
cent of Norwegian women
participate in the labour
force, one of the highest rates
in the world.
But its not just for the
sake of women being given
the opportunity to work,
said Skymoen. It is import-
ant also for economic growth.
When you have more people
working, you take in more
taxes and governments can
provide more services, in-
cluding day-care facilities for
kids, which enable more wo-
mento work.
One of the students asked
why it happens that some-
times when males and fe-
males work in similar posi-
tions that the females earn
less than the males.
Skymoen answered that
one way to explain the wage
gap is that women tradition-
ally work in sectors where
there is lower pay: teachers
and social workers are not
paid as well as some jobs in
industry. But then she noted
that surveys show that there
are often differences in remu-
neration when women and
men do exactly the same jobs,
adding that this is something
that should not happen in
democratic societies.
In an essay written before
the meeting, Luk
Hornek, one of the stu-
dents, wondered why people
are often surprised when
they see a woman in a high
political position such as the
European Parliament. He
wrote that it seemed strange
to him that this is would be
surprising, adding that he be-
lieves that this is an indica-
tion that there is still a gap
between public declarations
and real life.
The organisers of the
event noted that perhaps one
day many of these students
would be decision-makers or
running their own businesses
and that they will then be
able to make their own con-
tributions to creating a truly
gender-equal society.
BYBEATABALOGOV
Spectator staff
Trine SkymoenwithLevice students. Photo: Martinamatlkov
June 20 26, 2011
hk}ly{pzltlu{
70372
Independence Day Celebration
TICKETS ON SALE at the AmCham ofce!
Hotel Crowne Plaza, Hodovo nm. 2, 1
st
oor
www.amcham.sk, Tel: (+421-2) 5464 0534
Members (in advance) 20,- EUR
Children (2 12 years) 5,- EUR
Non-Members (in advance) 25,- EUR
At the gate for all adults 30,- EUR
ELTFORUM held
in Bratislava
ACONFERENCE for English-
language teachers, the ELT-
FORUM, was held for the first
time inSlovakia, presented by
the Faculty of Physical Educa-
tionand Sports at Comenius
University inBratislava on
June 10-11. For that one week-
end it was the place to be for
English-language teachers
working inSlovakia.
The two-day conference
consisted of a plenary session
delivered by experts special-
ising inteaching English.
The list of speakers fea-
tured eminent specialists
suchas the June 10 speaker,
Michael Swan, who teaches
Englishand writes reference
materials. His many publica-
tions include Practical Eng-
lishUsage (Oxford University
Press) and, withCatherine
Walter, the Cambridge Eng-
lishCourse series and the new
Oxford EnglishGrammar
Course. Simultaneously, vari-
ous workshops focusing onis-
sues that reflect the current
needs of Englishteachers
working inSlovakia were
held.
The organising commit-
tee of the conference con-
sisted of the BritishCouncil in
Slovakia, the publishing
houses of Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, Macmillan, Ex-
press Publishing and Oxford
University Press and the As-
sociationof Language Schools
of the Slovak Republic.
That association, founded
inSeptember 2010, holds as
its mainaimto create a group
of the best language schools
inSlovakia and to provide fur-
ther educationinthe field of
teaching foreignlanguages.
The associationwelcomes
applications by newmem-
bers. Membership inthe asso-
ciationis based primarily on
having achieved qualifica-
tions inteaching foreignlan-
guages.
CompiledbySpectator staff
Unveiling the forces of
contemporary fiction
ONE OF Slovakias most
renowned literary scholars,
Zuzana Malinovsk-
alamonov, associate pro-
fessor at Preov University, has
devoted her career to the cul-
tures and literatures of French-
speaking countries. Her study
of contemporary French-lan-
guage fiction, Puissances du
romanesque (The Forces of Fic-
tion), was recently published
by Blaise Pascal University in
Clermont-Ferrand, France, and
was warmly received at the
Frankfurt Book Fair. The Slovak
Spectator talked with
Malinovsk-alamonov at the
launch of her book in Bratis-
lava.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS):
Where does your passion for
literature spring from?
Zuzana Malinovsk-
alamonov (ZM): Even as a
child, I was a bookworm; my
parents had to drag me away
from books. My favourite pas-
time was lying on a deckchair
in our garden, reading and eat-
ing I actually almost became
obese at that time. Among the
first books I read were Aesops
Fables and Balzacs Droll Stor-
ies, which are full of passages
that shouldnt be read by kids,
and I dont have to explain to
you that these were the ones I
was most interested in. Yet
when I was older, I didnt im-
mediately decide to study lit-
erature: I considered studying
more practical matters, per-
haps exact sciences. When I
finally enrolled in university
to study French and German, I
knew from the start I would
focus on literature, because
language does not necessarily
involve the study of literature,
but literature necessarily in-
volves the study of language.
TSS: Under communism
Western languages were not
emphasised. Was it difficult
for you to pursue your activ-
ityafter graduation?
ZM: Yes, indeed it was,
but at the beginning, at least, I
was lucky enough to have
bosses who tolerated what I
did, provided I remained si-
lent. However, in the early
1980s, our French Language
Department in Preov like
many others was dissolved
literally overnight, because the
authorities suddenly con-
sidered it useless to support
products of the decayed bour-
geois morality any longer. For
teachers of German, it was
slightly easier, because this
was also the language of a
communist country, but the
teachers of the other Western
languages were then experien-
cing difficult times. Therefore,
I hesitated for a while to switch
from French to German, which
would have allowed me to stay
in Preov, but in the end I
found a job as a French-lan-
guage teacher and translator in
Koice, my hometown, and
didnt return to Preov until
after the revolution.
TSS: Why have you remained
so faithful to Frenchculture?
ZM: When I was young,
we used to speak three lan-
guages at home Slovak, Hun-
garian and German. But I was
always attracted to the freer
spirit of Romance cultures,
perhaps because it contrasted
with German-like punctuality
and precision. Today,
however, I am glad I had the
possibility to develop some
sense for order and organisa-
tion so typical of Germanic na-
tions, because it balances well
with the relaxed French style.
Still, I am not sure where I be-
long, since in spite of my in-
clination to the latter, my
daughter would probably tell
you Im a terrible stickler for
perfection.
TSS: Howwould youdescribe
the current situation in
Slovakacademia?
ZM: University teaching
implies scientific research.
Unfortunately though, re-
search today is more often
more feigned than real. One of
the problems is that teachers
are evaluated according to cri-
teria that do not correspond to
reality. For example, we are
required to contribute to pro-
fessional journals, while no
professional journal focusing
on the theory of literature ex-
ists inSlovakia. Or else, we are
required to have a certain
number of external citations,
but this is more difficult in
some domains of research
than in others, so many
teachers try to get these cita-
tions artificially. What is
worse, nobody is interested in
quality it is the quantity that
is taken into account. But I
guess this is a reflection of
what is happening within our
entire society.
TSS: At the launch of Puis-
sances du romanesque you
said there had been a sort of
wrath behind your decision
to write the book...
ZM: Yes, there was a
strong feeling of wrath and
discontent, because Id heard
many people asking me what
the point is in reading literat-
ure and why we dont teach
something more useful. So I
asked myself the same ques-
tion. There is, of course, noth-
ing very original about my en-
terprise; this debate has exis-
ted ever since people started
writing. My aim, however,
was to talk about literature us-
ing a lively language that
could be understood by any-
body, a student as well as a
university professor, and by
choosing interesting authors
possibly encouraging even
those who are not so enthusi-
astic about literature to start
reading.
TSS: In your book you write
that an exterior point of
view in literary criticism,
like in anthropology, allows
a critical perspective, but at
the same time represents a
risk. In what ways is it an
advantage and in what ways
a disadvantage to analyse
French literature from a dis-
tance?
ZM: The advantage is that
I wasnt emotionally involved:
I didnt have to be afraid that
Id offend someone, because I
didnt know most of these au-
thors personally and they
didnt know me. I focused ex-
clusively on the texts I ana-
lysed, and not on how they
had been received by the read-
ership or whether they had
provoked a scandal after they
came out. So I think this per-
spective enabled me not to be
biased. The disadvantage is
that it was much more diffi-
cult to obtain the necessary
sources than it would have
been if I had lived in France.
And then there was this in-
credible loneliness and uncer-
tainty being almost the only
one to deal with contemporary
French fiction in Slovakia,
there were very few people
with whom I could discuss my
findings.
TSS: One cannot but end this
interview by asking you a
question you have been ask-
ing yourself throughout
your career: what is literat-
ure for?
ZM: Literature doesnt
change the world: thats the
role of science and techno-
logy. But literature changes
your perspective of the world.
Also, it evokes emotion; it
makes you notice things you
hadnt noticed before; it
makes the world a more beau-
tiful place to live; and, last but
not least, it instructs. If liter-
ature manages to do all this
simultaneously and incon-
spicuously, then I think it jus-
tifies its existence.
BYDOMINIKA
UHRKOV
Spectator staff
ZuzanaMalinovsk-alamonov Photo: Luk Jirouek
11
CULTURE / FOCUS
June 20 26, 2011
Materials for teaching
English. Photo: SME
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y
elezn studnikas spa
THIS COLOURIZED postcard
from 1916 shows Ferdinands
spa located within the
grounds of Bratislava's
elezn
studnika.
The original
spa building was
constructed next
to an alkaline fer-
rous spring
whose chemical properties
were first analysed in 1826.
Soon after, Bratislava burgh-
er Jozef Pergameny received
permission to build a bath-
house near the spring. The di-
ligent burgher was not idle
for long and as early as 1830
Ferdinands spa marked its
first successful social season.
Interest in staying in this en-
joyable environment was
very strong and in 1844 the
spa was rebuilt as a hotel.
In the following decades,
the somewhat ostentatious
building saw many visitors,
as elezn studnika be-
longed among the most pop-
ular sites for meetings of the
nobility of the Hungarian
Kingdom as well as for daily
visits by rich Bratislavans.
Its popularity can be seen in
the fact that a regular trol-
leybus line that led to the
hotel was built between 1909
and 1915 .
Civilisation,
however, marched
on and the spring
dried up because
changes to the areas
brook as well as oth-
er construction in
the area drained the ground-
water. The dearth of new
spring water soon influenced
the fate of Ferdinands spa
and hotel with its gradual de-
cline beginning in the 1960s
leading to it being demol-
ished in1970.
ByBranislavChovan
HISTORY TALKS
WesternSLOVAKIA
Bratislava
MODERN DANCE: Made in
Slovakia An evening of three
modern choreographies,
made by Igor Holov, Jn
evk and rka Ondriov to
various musical pieces, from
Mozart to modern
pop/rock/avant-gardemusic.
Starts: June 25-26, 19:00;
the historical building of the
Slovak National Theatre,
Hviezdoslavovo Square. Ad-
mission: 5-7. Tel: 02/2047-2
298; www.snd.sk.
Bratislava
l LIVE MUSIC: Hochspan-
nung! The Uniques (SK) +
Heavy Feet (UK), Mickey The
Kid (CZ) &Michael Priest The
Slovak progressive band The
Uniques return from Berlin to
join forces with other per-
formers and give a unique
concert.
Starts: June 24, 20:00;
Dunaj Culture Centre, Ned-
balova 3. Admission: 6 (7
after 23:00). Tel: 0902/166-409;
www.kcdunaj.sk.
Bratislava
l EXHIBITION: Cena galrie
NOVA: Sklo 2011 / The NOVA
GalleryAward: Glass 2011 The
3rd year of a competition for
artists working with glass, or-
ganised by this gallery, fo-
cuses on 20 finalists from
among 70 participants from
Slovakia and the CzechRepub-
lic. The exhibition will be held
intheMediumGallery.
Open: Tue, Thur
12:00-19:00, Mon, Wed, Fri,
Sat-Sun 10:00-17:00 until July
2; Medium Gallery, VVU,
Hviezdoslavovo Square 18.
Admission: free. Tel: 02/
5942-8570; www.vsvu.sk/galer
ia_medium.
Bratislava
l EXHIBITION: Ako sa
uchovva pominutenos /
How the Magic is Preserved
The Theatre Institute, to-
gether with the Slovak Na-
tional Museum, presents a
vast collectionof posters, bul-
letins, photos and props inan
effort to grasp the elusive es-
sence of theatre in the 50
years of the institutes exist-
ence.
Open: Tue-Sun 9:00-17:00
until July 10; SNMmain build-
ing, Vajanskho nbr. 2. Ad-
mission: 2-3.50. Tel: 02/
2049-1247; www.snm.sk.
Malacky
l MUSIC FESTIVAL: Festival
Mlyn/Mill Festival The tradi-
tional open-air music festival
has beendividedintoPop-rock
Friday and Country Saturday
this year, offering performers
like David Koller, Nedvd
Brothers, Petra ernock, Iv-
etaBartoov, andothers.
Starts: June 24-25; Ka-
menn Mlyn. Admission: 18.
Tel: 02/5293-3321; www.
ticketportal.sk.
Central SLOVAKIA
Zvolen
l OPERA: XXXVIII. Zmock
hry zvolensk / The 38th
Zvolen Castle Plays This
popular festival combining
opera and an open-air atmo-
sphere at Zvolen Castle brings
a host of events, among them
the classical L Elissir dAmore
/ Love Potion by G. Donizetti,
conductedby Igor Bulla, direc-
ted by Lenka Horinkov and
performed by the artists of the
State Opera of Bansk
Bystrica. This classical opera
of Italian Bel Canto is very
popular due to its light and
playful character.
Starts: June 23, 20:00;
courtyard of Zvolen Castle.
Admission: 7-10. Tel: 048
/2457-123-4; www.stateopera
.sk; www.zhz.sk.
Fiakovo
l HISTORICAL CASTLE
FEAST: XII. Fiakovsk
historick hradn hry / The
12th Fiakovo Castle Games
The event consists of an inter-
national competition in arch-
ery, a commemorative con-
cert for the last castles
warden Istvn Kohry II, a
fair featuring traditional
crafts, a festival of local food,
Oriental dancers, games for
both children and adults, and
muchmore.
Starts: June 25-26,
10:00-midnight. More info:
www.filakovo.sk.
EasternSLOVAKIA
Preov
l FOLKLORE: Folklrny
Preov 2011 / The Folklore
Preov 2011 The local Matica
Slovensk and PKO Leisure-
and Culture Park organise the
7thyear of the festival present-
ing folk ensembles and groups
from the ari region, within
the Preov Cultural Summer
series. Other events include
dance groups, local pop and
rockperformers, andmore.
Starts: June 23, 16:00;
stage in front of udov ban-
ka. Admission: free. Tel: 051/
7723-741; www.pkopresov.sk.
SpiskNovVes
l EXHIBITION: Priestor 2011 /
Space 2011 This exhibition
presents artworks by graduat-
ing students of the Secondary
Professional Forestry School
in Spisk Nova Ves, who spe-
cialised in design and pro-
cessingof wood.
Open: Mon-Fri 8:00-16:00,
Sat 8:00-12:00 until June 30;
Galria umelcov Spia, Zimn
46. Admission: 0.50-1. Tel:
053/4464-710; www.gus.sk.
ByZuzanaVilikovsk
EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE
World-famous guitarist Jeff Beck (who played with The Yard-
birds and recently received three Grammys) comes to Bratislava
on June 24 to give a concert as part of Spring Jazz Days. Hot Pants
Road Club, a hot new Austrian band and the Slovak band Sto
mch are also on the bill. Tickets for the concert (starting at
19:00) cost 30 to 45 and can be obtained through
www.ticketportal.sk. Photo: Courtesyof BJD
The Aero-motovkend, a two-day air showat PopradAirport on
June 25-26 will open the summer season in the High Tatras. The
show promises the Flying Bulls acrobatic squadron, Hungarian
pilot and acrobatics champion Pter Besenyei, and some fine
historic aeroplanes. Tickets cost 5-8 and can be purchased
only on-site. For more information, please visit
www.aeromotovikend.sk. Photo: FlyingBulls, TK
12
CULTURE
Weather updates and forecasts from across Slovakia
can be found at www.spectator.sk/weather.
A Slovaks name day (meniny) is as important as his or her birthday. It is traditional to present friends or co-workers with a small gift,
such as chocolates or flowers, and to wish them Vetko najlepie k meninm (Happy name day)
N A M E D A Y J U N E 2 0 1 1
Monday
Valria
June 20
Tuesday
Alojz
June 21
Wednesday
Paulna
June 22
Thursday
Sidnia
June 23
Friday
Jn
June 24
Saturday
Tade
Olvia
June 25
Sunday
Adrina
June 26
Slovart celebrates 20 years
SLOVART, one of Slovakias
largest publishing houses,
whichalso has branches inPo-
land and the Czech Republic,
celebrated its 20th an-
niversary in early June. From
its humble beginnings in 1991
Slovart has developed into a
prominent and respected pub-
lishing house covering many
genres from childrens books
and fiction by both Slovak and
foreign authors to encyclo-
paedias andart books.
Even though we have a
feeling that we have not
changed, the world around us
keeps changing; people are
maturing as well as the book
market, Juraj Heger, Slovarts
director, told The Slovak Spec-
tator when reviewing the
companys 20-year history,
adding that in some respects
the Slovak book market is still
lagging behind other coun-
tries. Twenty years ago was a
golden period when anybody
who was able to print a nice
book was able to sell a lot of
copies. This period was very
quickly replaced with a period
when it was possible to print
and still sell huge numbers of
books but it was difficult to get
paid for them. And then when
that situation improved a bit,
a problem started in selling
books because at that moment
there was a shortage of good
bookshops. Today, we theoret-
ically have just enough of
everything but there are so
many books that actually each
has a problem in reaching its
audience.
Heger added that today it
is much more difficult for a
book to break through than
it was before, adding that on
the other hand, when we are
lucky then the good book
really breaks through and
reaches much farther than at
any time before.
In addition to books pub-
lished in Slovak, Czech and
Polish, Slovart publishes Eng-
lish-language books, either
English versions of original
Slovak books or Slovak-Eng-
lish bilingual versions. These
are mostly books about Slovak
visual arts, photography, ar-
chitecture and so forth, and in
this way the publishing house
spreads knowledge about
Slovak culture. Heger said the
book of illustrations by Czech
painter and illustrator Adolf
Born was among Slovarts
biggest success stories, as
global sales of the book were
more than1,000 copies.
In Taiwan alone about
300 copies were sold and inthe
case of suchanexpensive book
this is a success, Heger said,
adding that people were
queuing for two hours to get
the book autographed by the
author.
In deciding which Slovak
books Slovart should publish
in the English language,
Heger said it is usually a gut
feeling about whether a cer-
tainbook would be interesting
to foreignreaders.
Slovart does not publish
Slovak fiction in English as it
does not see any commercial
sense in doing so even though
publishing a book in English
can spell success for the au-
thor.
For example, editors or
publishers in other countries
who are not able to read the
book in its original language
canread it and decide whether
it could be interesting for their
market, Heger said. Rivers of
Babylon by Peter Pianek was
sold in six other countries
after it was published in Eng-
lish."
ByJanaLiptkov
To read the whole article,
please go to www.spectator.sk
June 20 26, 2011