On sale now
Vol. 15, No. 40
NEWS
US politician slams law
Slovakia's State Language Act
came in for another pasting
when former governor of New
York George Pataki called it
'intolerable' during a visit.
pg 2
Inflation still dormant
Consumer prices in Slovakia
had one of their calmest
months ever in September
with core inflation at only 0.6
percent year-on-year.
pg 4
Casino complex planned
Developer TriGranit has an-
nounced plans for a €1.5-
billion, 1.2-million-square-
metre complex in Bratislava.
pg 4
OPINION
Past apparitions
NO-CONFIDENCE motions in
Slovakia’s parliament have
metamorphosed into a tooth-
less act, a sort of political
theatre.
BUSINESS FOCUS
pg 5
New mobile regulations
Slovakia's smallest mobile op-
erator welcomes the
regulator's decision; the big
two say it's not necessary.
pg 6
Slovakia a tech leader
T-Mobile chief executive
Vašina tells The Slovak Spec-
tator that new technologies
often come to Slovakia first.
pg 7
CULTURE
Jazz daily
Another Bratislava Jazz Days
is nearly upon us. This year's
headline act, Dutch saxo-
phonist Candy Dulfer, will
also be playing Košice.
pg 14
Away they went
Howard Swains reviews the
new Sam Mendes film, and
wonders if the main charac-
ters are honest - or just smug.
pg 15
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Monday, October 19, 2009 - Sunday, October 25, 2009
Cabinet pokes
pillar again
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
Spectator staff
IF THERE were such a competition,
Slovakia’s second pension pillar would prob-
ably win the world title and certainly the
central European crown for most frequently
modified pension scheme.
After offering a series of opt-out opportun-
ities to the 1.5 million people who currently
save for their retirements in the privately
managed second pillar of Slovakia’s pension
system, the government has cut the fees that
the pension fund management companies can
charge clients to administer the funds.
See PILLAR pg 2
Slovakia's footballers celebrated in the snow at Chorzow after their 1-0 victory over Poland on October 14 assured the team of
Ruling casts
its first-ever qualification for the World Cup finals, to be held in South Africa next year. Photo: Sme Vladimír Šimíček
doubt on
Slovakia qualifies for plant's future
its first-ever World Cup BY TOM NICHOLSON
Special to the Spectator
IN SLOVAKIA, caveat emptor is more than just
NO ONE ever said it was going to be It was no more than Weiss de- a phrase. Lawyers urge potential investors to
easy, but after putting their exasper- served after masterminding qualific- take extra care when buying real estate, be-
ated supporters through 180 minutes BY HOWARD SWAINS ation from within a group that also cause what is written on a property deed may
of agony in the past week, Slovakia's Special to the Spectator included the Czech Republic, Slove- not be valid. Past clerical or legal errors during
footballers left it until late on a snowy nia, Poland and Northern Ireland, all the sale of a piece of property can result in your
Wednesday night in Poland to finally of whom have previously featured at losing title to it, even if you bought it in good
book their place at next summer’s the World Cup finals. faith. This is precisely what happened to the
World Cup finals in South Africa. “I love these players,” said Slovakia has not been there before producer of Mitická mineral water near
Fighting blizzard conditions and the Slovakia’s Coach Vladimír Weiss after – at least not as an independent na- Trenčín in western Slovakia. On October 14, the
fevered expectations of a nation – not to Wednesday’s victory, earned after a tion – but their record of seven wins Trenčín Regional Court upheld a lower court
mention 11 spirited Polish opponents – third minute own-goal by the Poland from 10 matches in this campaign, decision and awarded the production halls and
Slovakia eventually emerged 1-0 winners in defender Seweryn Gancarczyk. “In including a victory in Prague against the water borehole of the Mitická operation to
Chorzow in the final match of a long quali- these qualifiers we have played well the group favourite, was proof that a Libor Jakšík, a man whose name appeared on a
fying campaign. and had a little bit of luck. Everybody corner has been turned in Slovak list of suspected organised crime figures leaked
It was enough to clinch top spot in made a contribution and we made the football. from the Bratislava police in 2005.
World Cup Qualifying Group Three and earn whole of Slovakia happy. This is a fant-
their place on football’s grandest stage. astic feeling.” See GOAL! pg 3 See WATER pg 13
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BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ masked a still-weary economy. chief analyst with Volksbank, is to consist of intermediation
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11246
2 October 19 – 25, 2009 NEWS / BUSINESS

NEWS in short US politician weighs in

Hungary reports Slovakia to EC
HUNGARY has initiated an in-
fringement procedure against
Slovakia with the European
Commission (EC) for denying
entry to Hungarian President
László Sólyom on August 21,
the Sme daily reported.
The deputy president of
the EC, Jacques Barrot, who is
responsible for the interior
and justice portfolios at the
commission, had earlier given
a written statement to the
Hungarian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, and the Hungarian
government subsequently de-
cided to turn to the EC to in-
quire about Slovakia’s legal
norms and their application,
and a potential violation of
community law by Slovakia,
Sme wrote.
Barrot said afterwards that
he considered the issue of
Slovakia’s denial of entry to
Sólyom a closed case.
“It’s a bilateral issue
between Hungary and Slov-
akia, as I already explained to
the delegations of both coun-
tries when they visited me,”
he said as quoted by Sme.
According to Slovak For-
eign Affairs Minister Miroslav
Lajčák, Slovakia was informed
about the infringement pro-
cedure motion in advance.
“We are ready for the fol-
lowing procedure,” Sme
quoted Lajčák as saying. He
added that all Slovakia’s ar-
guments are relevant.
Lajčák also said the Hun-
garian side had the right to
initiate the infringement pro-
cedure, but the Slovak gov-
ernment had the right to do
what they have done, al-
though “we have never been
happy about it”.
“We do not think that two
neighbouring, allied countries
should communicate in this
way, but I also understand
that pressure is being put on
the Hungarian foreign service
and this is more of a step done
for [Hungary’s] inner-political
order than a step in relation to
Slovakia,” Lajčák said, as
quoted by Sme.
The EC will now request a
statement on the issue from
Slovakia and then, based on
the positions of both countries
concerned, it will take a final
stance. According to Lajčák,
the Hungarian side is attempt-
ing to push the EC into re-
questing a statement from the
European Court of Justice, a
move which must be preceded
by an infringement procedure.
Lajčák also said that Slov-
akia will not face any fine or
sanctions as a result of the in-
fringement procedure, which
is only aimed at harmonising
national legislation with
European law.
on Slovak language law
BY MICHAELA STANKOVÁ
Spectator staff
LAST WEEK witnessed another
protest against Slovakia’s State
Language Law – but this time it
was not in the form of a mass
demonstration, such as the one
which occurred on September 1
in Dunajská Streda. Instead it
came in the form of a single man:
respected US politician George
Pataki. The former governor of
New York, whose family hails
from eastern Hungary, visited
Slovakia in mid-October and
made comments which have
caused some upset to the Slovak
government.
Now an influential figure in
the US Republican Party, Pataki
paid a private visit to the leaders
of the Hungarian Coalition Party
(SMK) in Bratislava on October
12 and took the occasion to ex-
press critical views of the
amended State Language Act,
which has attracted consistent
criticism from the Hungarian-
speaking minority in Slovakia
ever since it was passed by par-
liament in June.
“The amended Slovak lan-
guage law creates danger for the
Hungarian minority in
Slovakia,” Pataki said, as quoted
George Pataki
by the SITA newswire. He called
the law “intolerable”, saying
that it touches not only Slovakia
or the Hungarian minority liv-
ing in the country, but goes to
the essence of human rights as
such. Pataki explained he came
to Slovakia unofficially, as a
private person who is concerned
about human rights.
“The United States will be
very concerned if this language
law doesn’t change,” SITA quoted
Pataki as saying. He also said that
the issue now should not be par-
ticular paragraphs of the act but
rather the overall atmosphere the
law has created.
The Slovak Ministry of For-
eign Affairs did not comment on
Pataki’s statements.
“The question of the language
Photo: SITA
law and its trouble-free imple-
mentation is being solved in the
standard European framework –
with the experts of the High
Commissioner of the Organisa-
tion for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) [Knut Vol-
lebaek], who is internationally
recognised as the highest author-
ity for minority affairs,” Foreign
Ministry spokesperson Peter
Stano told The Slovak Spectator.
Pataki also referred to OSCE
High Commissioner Knut Vol-
lebaek, noting that he had also
called on the Slovak government
to make certain changes, SITA
reported.
In regard to the State Lan-
guage Act, Vollebaek wrote in his
report and also stated later, dur-
ing a visit in Bratislava in
September, that the law was in
accordance with international
standards, but that the process of
implementation would be crucial
in order for it to remain so. The
Slovak government is therefore
preparing implementation
guidelines and will not impose
the sanctions introduced by the
act for not using the state lan-
guage in the required contexts
until the guidelines are ready.
This is expected to occur by the
end of 2009.
Representatives of the Slovak
government have rejected
Pataki’s criticism, some of them
suggesting that he has been mis-
informed about the law by SMK
politicians.
Prime Minister Robert Fico,
for instance, said he considers it
unprofessional and politically in-
correct for a US politician to
comment on Slovakia’s legisla-
tion during a private visit, and
that Pataki’s criticism is only
based on the critical attitude to
the law of the SMK’s leaders, the
TASR newswire reported.
Political analyst Grigorij
Mesežnikov believes that the
fact that a US politician com-
mented on the law only illus-
trates that the amendment was
unnecessary and that is harming
Slovakia’s image abroad.
See LAW pg 13

Opposition floats judiciary proposals

FORMER Justice Minister and
current opposition deputy Lu-
cia Žitňanská has submitted a
draft proposal to parliament’s
constitutional and legislative
committee suggesting ways to
prevent the abuse of disciplin-
ary procedures against judges,
the SITA newswire reported.
According to Žitňanská the
current state of affairs in the
Slovak judiciary is bad, and is
likely to remain so.
“Today's situation, in
which we have taken a kind of
a test, a stress-test under the
leadership of Minister [Štefan]
Harabin, has actually revealed
the weakest points of the
system,” she said as quoted by
SITA.
The draft to prevent the
abuse of disciplinary proceed-
Over 15,000 foreigners work in Slovakia
THERE are around 15,300 for-
eigners working legally in
Slovakia, according to Centre
of Labour, Social Affairs and
Family data from August
2009, the SITA newswire re-
ported.
The biggest group is from
Romania, with 2,600 Ro-
manians working in the
country. The Czech Republic
has the second biggest pres-
ence in the Slovak job market,
with 2,200 nationals.
Hungary and Poland both
have approximately 1,400 cit-
izens working in Slovakia.
Ukraine has the fifth
largest representation, with
1,000 Ukrainians working in
Slovakia.
ings against judges is derived
from an initiative by dissatis-
fied judges. Žitňanská suggests
that only disciplinary courts
should be able to suspend a
judge, and not the justice min-
ister or the Judicial Council.
The Slovak Democratic and
Christian Union (SDKÚ), of
which Žitňanská is a member,
also suggests other changes to
the judiciary, such as a change
in the procedures used to se-
lect people working in the sys-
tem, separation of the posts of
head of the Judicial Council
from the Supreme Court pres-
ident and a change in the rules
to select council members.
“The establishment of a
council for ethics in the judi-
ciary would [also] be a good
step,” Žitňanská said.
One-third of all foreigners
working in Slovakia work in
Bratislava: according to the
data, more than 5,200 foreign-
ers are employed in the city.
Trnava registered 1,200
foreigners in its job market,
followed by Galanta and
Komárno, with 729 and 685
foreigners, respectively.
On the other hand, the
fewest foreign workers were
registered in the districts of
Revúca, Dolný Kubín, Veľký
Krtíš and Brezno. By the end
of August, these districts re-
gistered 21 foreigners in total.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
PILLAR: 'Sophisticated fraud' says PM
Continued from pg 1
However, Prime Minister Robert Fico is
still not happy with the way the pension
fund management companies, which
entered the system as part of the previous,
centre-right government’s pension reforms,
operate and he now plans to produce a new
rule for the second pillar. This rule will
state that that the growth in yields of
privately managed funds must at least
match government-set rises in the state-run
pay-as-you-go pillar.
“Today is the day when the Slovak gov-
ernment has definitely lost all patience with
the pension funds management
companies,” said Fico on October 7, as he
announced the new plan, as quoted by the
TASR newswire. “They were lying when
they lured people into their traps.”
The prime minister described the second
pillar as a “sophisticated fraud” and sugges-
ted that the move would defend the in-
terests of savers.
Finance Minister Ján Počiatek has now
been given several weeks to draft an
amendment to the law on old-age pension
saving.
However, economists say that while the
pay-as-you-go system can be politically in-
fluenced, the private pension pillar in fact
depends on the moves of the economy.
The opposition Slovak Democratic and
Christian Union (SDKÚ) suggested that what
the Fico team now aspires to do is to regulate
global stock markets with a law passed by the
Slovak Parliament.
According to Eugen Jurzyca of the SDKÚ,
this will be just another set of laws that
achieves nothing except attracting media
attention. His colleague Ivan Štefanec said
that now the government is coming to the
point where it will not have the money to
pay pensions from the first pillar and wants
to bring the second pillar closer to the pay-
as-you-go system.
“It is only camouflage, designed to cover
mistakes and the waste of public funds,” said
Štefanec, as quoted by the SITA newswire.
Observers also suggested that if the gov-
ernment manages to force the pension fund
companies to guarantee savers’ gains at the
level of pension valorisation, the way busi-
nesses are run in this segment might change
for good.
On March 11, the Slovak parliament ad-
opted a revision to the law on old-age pen-
sion saving. Beginning on July 1, 2009, the
fixed fee for administration of second pillar
pension funds was cut from 0.065 percent to
0.025 percent of the net monthly value of the
participant’s assets in the fund. It also intro-
duced a new, variable fee, dependent on the
actual yields of the pension funds.
“The government has significantly
changed the motivation of pension fund
management companies,” Radovan Ďurana,
of the Institute of Economic and Social Stud-
ies (INESS) economic think tank, told The
Slovak Spectator. “The calculation of their
revenues from fees is tuned in such a way
that their administrators are motivated to
achieve low revenues with minimal risks.”
According to Ďurana, eventual losses
would significantly affect their business
results so they are motivated to invest only
in relatively safe securities and even term
deposits.
“The system of fees motivates them to
sell securities, which in the case of long-
term investments could bring appropriate
gains for the savers,” Ďurana said.
Ďurana said that the paradox of the
state’s proclaimed desire for privately man-
aged funds to match public fund growth is
that that the government is having to take
on more debt and borrow funds from in-
vestors in order to boost first pillar pensions,
while it is precisely the second pillar pension
fund management companies which are
buying a considerable share of state securit-
ies to fund that debt.
“For example last year the pensions were
valorised [i.e. raised to reflect inflation and
other costs] by 6.95 percent, which is con-
siderably more than the annual appreciation
of growth funds in the pre-crisis period,”
Ďurana said.
Pension fund management companies
said that the government’s interventions
have been endangering their operations as
well as reducing, over the long term, the
value of the pensions of those participating
in the second pillar.
Ivan Barri, the executive director of the
Association of Pension Fund Management
Companies (ADSS), told The Slovak Spectator
in March 2009 that Slovakia was turning in-
to the “cheapest pension savings system in
the world”.
However, Labour Minister Viera
Tomanová has asserted that the March
amendment has not prevented pension fund
management companies from investing in
equities. She said that the legislation has not
had any impact on the investment strategy
of pension fund management companies.
“The fact that pension fund manage-
ment companies have adopted a more cau-
tious approach at present, as their money is
at stake, is in a certain way a disadvantage
for savers, but it is fully the decision of pen-
sion fund management companies,” she
said as quoted by SITA.
Ďurana said that the minister’s state-
ments about the funds’ freedom to invest is
factually correct, but does not paint the
whole picture.
“The pension fund management com-
panies can decide where to invest but they
do so within a frame that the law defines for
them,” Ďurana said. “Since the motivation
of their activities is, understandably, appro-
priate and sustainable profit, and under the
current rules this can be achieved only with
investments with low-yield risk, it is thus
logical that their freedom to invest is signi-
ficantly limited.”

Minding the gap
Health inequities
need to be dealt
with even during
the economic crisis
BY MICHAELA STANKOVÁ
Spectator staff
HEALTH inequalities and the
economic, social and cultural
factors that cause and influence
them have been one of the
primary concerns of the World
Health Organisation (WHO) for
several years. In an attempt to
marshal more evidence on what
can be done to promote greater
health equity, the WHO set up a
Commission on the Social De-
terminants of Health (CSDH) in
2005. Last year, the Commission
published its report in which the
authors set out a rather ambi-
tious plan to close the gaps in the
quality of health over the course
of one generation.
The CSDH was led by Pro-
fessor Sir Michael Marmot who
has been at the forefront of re-
search into health inequalities
over the past 30 years. His work
has been recognised interna-
tionally as well as in Great Bri-
tain where in 2000 he was
knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
for his work in epidemiology and
research into health inequity. He
is currently conducting a review
of health inequities in the
United Kingdom at the request
of the UK government.
Marmot came to Slovakia to
speak to policy-makers and pub-
lic health experts from 11 coun-
tries of central and eastern
Europe at a conference focused
on analysing the social determ-
inants of health and health in-
equities. The conference was
hosted by the Košice Institute of
Health and Society, a centre of
excellence at the Pavol Jozef
Šafárik University. The Slovak
Spectator spoke to Marmot about
his views on health inequities
and how the global economic
downturn might affect needed
investments to improve health.
TSS: In its report, the CSDH
hopes to close the gap in health
outcomes in the lifespan of one
generation. That sounds
rather ambitious, especially in
the light of the global econom-
ic downturn.
Michael Marmot (MM): The
CSDH has issued a statement
that if there were the political
will and social commitment, we
could make a huge impact on
health inequities in one genera-
tion. Then the question is: will
governments and multinational
organisations make that com-
mitment?
If you ask me whether people
are making it happen on the
scale that it needs to be done, the
answer is clearly not yet. But are
there signs that governments
and others are picking up this
agenda? The answer is yes; gov-
ernments are sending encour-
aging signs that people have
started taking it seriously.
Then the question is what
about this recession? Let me give
you one example of how to put
things into perspective. We said
NEWS
Professor Sir Michael Marmot Photo: Courtesy of CSDH
in the CSDH report that there ployment; it will be unskilled
are one billion people in the people, those with low pay who
world living in slums and that it are already vulnerable who will
would cost $100 billion to up- lose their jobs. So it’s even more
grade the slums. Was that really important to be investing in
a stupid thing to say? Well, at education, in skills develop-
last count we’ve spent about $9 ment. Because it’s not only today
trillion in saving banks, the that we need to invest or determ-
banking system. So for one ine how we’re going to mitigate
the downturn. We should make
it more urgent to realise that
For one ninetieth we’ve got to invest for the future
as well. So the next time – be-
of the money we’ve cause there will be a next time –
spent saving the banking that there is an economic down-
turn, the young people who are
system every urban emerging from these courses
dweller could have clean will have skills, will have proper
education, will be able to find
running water. work; because it’s the relatively
unskilled and those with low
education who are most affected
now by the downturn.
ninetieth of the money we’ve
spent saving the banking sys- TSS: The general assumption
tem every urban dweller could people tend to make is that
have clean running water. So poverty equals poor health.
then you ask, well, with the But the CSDH doesn’t see it as
economic downturn, could we that simple. So what other de-
really do these things? And I terminants affect health and
would say we cannot afford to cause health inequities?
not do them. It’s a matter of how MM: The first thing that we
we want to use our money. And I have to realise is that if we think
think that the fact that there has globally the World Bank defines
been an economic downturn poverty as living on less than
ought to push us to think how to $1.25 a day. People in Europe
do things differently. aren’t poor by that definition.
And yet in parts of Europe, some-
TSS: Why do you think so? times in whole countries like
MM: Because when we look Russia, or in parts of other coun-
at what the economic downturn tries, more people have poorer
will do, it will so much more af- health and shorter life expect-
fect the people who are already ancy than people in many low-
relatively poor and disadvant- income countries. So we need to
aged. It won’t be the people in think about poverty in a differ-
professional jobs who lose em- ent way because in terms of in-
Health inequities do not stem only from poverty. Photo: TASR
October 19 – 25, 2009 3
GOAL! Coach tells
of his pride in team
come even the poorest people in
our northern societies are rich Continued from pg 1 against Slovenia and was sus-
compared with India or Sub- pended for the match. The ball
Saharan Africa, or even the “Several people maybe also seemed to be missing for
poorer parts of Latin America. So didn’t believe in us,” said the television audience – it was
we have to think about poverty Weiss. “But we succeeded. I am frequently lost in the snow –
in a different way. proud of these guys and this but the celebrations from the
Secondly, all the data that I triumph.” Slovakia players were clear
presented show that it’s not just Slovakia went to Poland enough when Marek
the those living in poverty that knowing that only victory Hamšík’s left-wing cross was
have poor health and that would guarantee the place in directed past Poland's goal-
everybody else is okay; rather it South Africa that, one week keeper Jerzy Dudek by the
is a social gradient, it’s degrees ago, had seemed close to a hapless Gancarczyk.
of poverty or deprivation. formality. Needing only a draw That barely settled the
People in the middle have worse to Slovenia at home in Bratis- anxieties, however, and Poland
health than those at the top, but lava on October 10, Slovakia in- laid siege to Slovakia’s goal for
better health than those below stead lost 2-0 and gave the the following 87 minutes. Goal-
them. It goes all the way from Slovenian visitors the chance keeper Ján Mucha made three
top to bottom. So if we focus to pip them at the post. excellent saves and the Slovaks
only on poverty, on lack of food, There had been an atmo- were also indebted to defender
lack of shelter, lack of clean wa- sphere of anxious expectation Zdeno Štrba for two crucial in-
ter, then we miss the whole at the crumbling Tehelné Pole terceptions.
story here in Europe. Because Stadium, hosting its last match Somehow Slovakia held on,
it’s not that sort of problem; it’s before its redevelopment. The and attention now turns to
actually failing to be able to take 25,000 tickets for the match Cape Town on December 4,
your place in society because of had sold out in only four when FIFA, world football’s
a lack of education, for example, minutes, prompting authorit- governing body, makes the
or having little control over ies to erect a big screen in the draw for the 2010 finals to be
your life, having to eat low-cost, city centre for the overspill. played next June and July.
maybe less-healthy food, hav- And although most fans were Slovakia will feature alongside
ing few opportunities to exer- decked out in merchandise Brazil, Germany, Italy, England
cise and little access to green presumptuously celebrating a and Argentina, among other
space. All of those things matter South African expedition for forces of the international
and influence where you are in Slovakia and preparing for a game, in what will be the most
the social hierarchy. party across the country, they watched event in Slovak sport-
went home disappointed and ing history.
TSS: You’ve been researching fearing the worst. Slovenia The stars of Weiss’s young
health inequities for over 30 scored twice in the second half team can now return to their
years now. Has awareness by to keep its own dreams of qual- domestic clubs dotted across
the public and policy-makers ification alive. Europe and work on gaining
changed over this time? Have On Wednesday, with the valuable experience for far
you seen any progress? Slovenia team all but certain to greater tests ahead. Much will
MM: Yes, I think we have. I beat San Marino in their final be expected of the likes of
don’t know how much success qualifying match, Slovak fans Hamšík, who plays for Napoli
we’ve had in public awareness were forced to crowd around in Italy’s Serie A, as well as
and that’s something that really television screens showing the Škrtel and Vladimír Weiss Jr,
needs attention, it requires action from Poland. The team playing in the English Premi-
people who know how to com- was without four first-team er League.
municate well with the public. regulars, including the Slovak “This team has a lot of
But certainly the understanding Player of the Year, the Liver- quality and a bright future,”
of policy-makers in many coun- pool defender Martin Škrtel, said Weiss. “Football is phe-
tries really has changed. For ex- who picked up his second yel- nomenon and I, like they, en-
ample, I’m doing a review in Bri- low card of the campaign joyed it today.”
tain on health inequalities
commissioned by the govern-
ment. I’ve said from the very be-
ginning that there is the social
gradient; it’s not just the poor
health of the worst-off. And
that’s been commissioned by
British policy-makers. And
everybody in Britain who has
any familiarity with the policy
issues around health knows
about these factors. So I think
things have improved, and that’s
important, because knowledge, I
would argue, is key; knowledge
is crucial. We’re not arguing
from some sort of political pre-
judice. This is not a matter of
party politics. It is knowledge
and understanding of what the
evidence is, and it’s crucial.
TSS: Is there a big difference in
this regard between the UK
and other western countries
and countries of central and
eastern Europe?
MM: I think we all need to
work on raising awareness,
whether it’s east, west, north or
south. But I’m quite encouraged
about what I’ve been hearing
about several countries in this
region of Europe which are try-
ing to take action. Just in the last
two months I’ve been in Estonia,
Lithuania, Croatia, and now
here. The fact that I’ve been to
these countries – that somebody
wanted me to come – is already a
statement that the issue is on
somebody’s agenda. But I think Slovakia's Marek Hamšík (left) and Poland's Roger Guerreiro
we all need to work harder. challenge for the ball. Photo: ČTK
4 October 19 – 25, 2009
BUSINESS in short
Casino complex planned for Bratislava
A MULTIFUNCTIONAL enter-
tainment and recreation
project worth €1.5 billion will
be built on the outskirts of Brat-
islava in Jarovce – near both the
Hungarian and Austrian bor-
ders – by the international de-
velopment company TriGranit,
the TASR newswire reported.
The ‘Metropolis’ complex
will be co-financed by
Harrah’s Entertainment Inc.
and will consist of a commer-
cial area, an aqua park, confer-
ence facilities, hotels and
sports arenas as well as casi-
Slovak jobless rate 3rd highest in OECD
THE AUGUST unemployment
rate in Slovakia reached 11.6
percent and was the third
highest within states belong-
ing to the Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and De-
velopment (OECD).
The average unemployment
rate in the OECD countries was
8.5 percent in August, up 0.1
points from July. Compared
with August 2008, it had in-
creased by 0.3 percentage points,
the SITA newswire reported.
Road toll devices to be EU-compatible
ON-BOARD units (OBU) which
road transport companies will
use in the Slovak electronic toll
collection system will also be
compatible with the system of
the planned European Electron-
ic Toll Service. However, full
inter-operability of the e-toll
systems will require agree-
ments to be concluded among
individual EU states. SkyToll,
which will operate the e-toll
system in Slovakia as of Janu-
ary 1, 2010 estimates that this
process will take several years,
the SITA newswire wrote.
SkyToll said that because of
Slovakia’s new satellite-based
e-toll system, the country has a
unique opportunity to particip-
ate in developing a unified elec-
tronic toll system across the
European Union. A satellite
system for toll collection will
be introduced in all EU member
states in the future.
“We welcome the decision
of the EU and perceive it as a
positive step in favour of
transport operators,” said
SkyToll in response to the de-
Euro had little inflationary effect
THE CHANGEOVER to the euro had
only minimal impact on inflation
in Slovakia. According to calcula-
tions of the Finance Ministry’s
Financial Policy Institute (IFP),
the changeover added to inflation
only by 0.18 percentage points,
which conforms to previous ana-
lyses by Slovakia’s central bank.
The National Bank of Slovakia
(NBS) calculated the impact of the
euro changeover on inflation as
being between 0.12 and 0.19 per-
cent, the SITA newswire reported.
The IFP said there were
several attenuating factors dur-
ing the period of Slovakia’s
entry to the eurozone which
eased the impact of the
changeover to a great extent.
nos spread out over 1.2 million
square metres.
“Even in the first phase of
the project (2010-2015) we reck-
on on creating 30,000 jobs, both
long-term as well as tempor-
ary, and strengthening the ser-
vice sector in the Slovak
economy,” said TriGranit board
chairman Gábor Zászlós, as
quoted by TASR.
He added that Metropolis
will not be supported by the
Slovak government in any way
and will not have any direct im-
pact on Slovakia's state budget.
Only Spain (18.9 percent)
and Ireland (12.5 percent) had
higher unemployment rates
than Slovakia. Unemploy-
ment in Slovakia jumped by
0.2 percentage points in Au-
gust and was 1.7 percentage
points higher than August
2008. The OECD report
showed overall unemploy-
ment in the eurozone at 9.6
percent; up 0.1 percent on a
monthly basis and 2 percent
year-on-year.
cision of the European Com-
mission on preparation of an
inter-operability process for
the toll road system in the EU.
“The fact that the satellite e-
toll system in Slovakia will be
among the world’s most tech-
nologically advanced opens
space for us to introduce the e-
toll in other states of the EU.”
The decision, adopted by
the EC on October 6, estab-
lishes the basic technical spe-
cifications and requirements
necessary for implementation
of the European Electronic
Toll Service.
This service is expected to
cover all vehicles up to 3.5
tonnes and as well as vehicles
designed to transport more
than nine passengers (includ-
ing the driver) within three
years. For all other vehicles
the toll system should apply
within five years.
Slovakia’s e-toll system will
be launched on January 1, 2010,
and will cover about 2,000
kilometres of highways and
parallel first class roads.
“These impacts cannot
be unambiguously defined,
but their existence is proven
mainly by the fact that the
changes of prices have been
monitored in a completely
non-standard time full of
uncertainty in the economic
environment,” SITA quoted
the IFP study as saying. “It is
not possible to clearly say
which part of price changes
clearly represented the ef-
fect of rounding up or which
part of price changes was
caused by the economic
crisis.”
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
BUSINESS
Inflation remains dormant - for now
the gradual growth of prices of
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ medications and, in the recent
past, dental services also recor-
Spectator staff
ded fast growth,” Lenko said.
Transportation prices de-
creased the most in September,
CONSUMER prices in Slovakia recording a 6.9 percent year-on-
had one of their calmest months year drop while prices of food
ever in September when core in- and soft beverages dropped by
flation was reported to be only 5.1 percent.
only 0.6 percent year-on-year. “In the area of transporta-
The autumn months should keep tion and food, it is partly the
price increases tamed but market basis effect but inflation was
watchers say November might Prices of alcoholic drinks increased the most in September. Photo: SITA also influenced by a decline in
bring an end in the slowdown in car prices and a seasonal drop in
the growth of consumer prices. Lenko is predicting that the According to Lenko, it is the the prices of vegetables and
The rate of inflation already hit inflation rate should climb moderation in prices of food fruit,” Lenko added.
one record in August when its back to about 1 percent year-on- products and energy which is Consumer prices remained
growth was measured as only 1.3 year during the first quarter of behind the overall slowdown of unchanged between August and
percent year-on-year. next year. inflation in Slovakia, a trend September. In addition, as meas-
Though many market watch- Koršňák thinks along simil- similar for inflation across the ured by the harmonized index of
ers had expected a slow growth in ar lines, suggesting that the European Union. consumer prices (HICP) there has
prices, the September data took year-on-year inflation rate Prices of alcoholic beverages not been a year-on-year change
some by surprise as they had ex- should bottom out in October or and tobacco products increased in prices in Slovakia and, essen-
pected the inflation rate to stand November at 0.5 percent. the most in September, up 8.2 tially, the current rate of infla-
at 0.9 percent year-on-year for “In December, under the in- percent year-on-year while tion is zero, the Statistics Office
the month, according to Ľubomír fluence of the lower comparis- prices in the health sector said on October 15.
Koršňák, an analyst with the on basis we expect a mild accel- jumped by 7.1 percent and prices The Finance Ministry also re-
UniCredit Bank. eration of inflation to 0.8 in the education sector climbed ported in mid-October that the
“As far as the outlook for Oc- percent,” Koršňák wrote. by 5.4 percent. Also, prices of switch to the euro on January 1,
tober is concerned, we expect a As to the factors that would housing, electricity, supplies of 2009 had very little impact on in-
slowdown of the consumer price most significantly impact the natural gas and water advanced flation. The changeover in-
index (CPI) to 0.4 percent year- development of inflation, Len- by 5.2 percent year-on-year and creased the inflation rate only by
on-year, mainly due to the fading ko said that it will be the fading prices in hotels and restaurants 0.18 percentage points, according
impact of the comparison basis impact of the comparison basis moved up by 2.8 percent, accord- to the Finance Ministry’s Insti-
effect,” Martin Lenko, senior ana- effect. ing to Slovakia’s Statistics Office. tute of Financial Policies.
lyst with VÚB Bank, told The “In September 2008, the in- Lenko said the price in- The Finance Ministry’s insti-
Slovak Spectator. “In month-on- crease in the CPI reached 4.5 creases for educational services tute stressed that Slovakia’s
month terms the CPI index percent year-on-year, which reflect seasonal factors attrib- entry to the eurozone was ac-
should grow by only 0.2 percent. was a four-year maximum, cre- uted to the beginning of the companied by a rapid drop in
At the same time, October and ating a high basis for comparis- school year when fees for certain domestic and foreign demand
November should be the months ons this year,” he added. “In language courses and art classes and these factors probably con-
when we expect the end of the early 2010, changes in the regu- are collected. siderably weakened the effect of
recent slowdown in the growth lated energy prices might also “In health care, the high the overall changeover on infla-
of consumer prices.” mix up the cards.” year-on-year growth is caused by tion, the SITA newswire wrote.
MILD: Revival of European demand is key
Continued from pg 1 Other industrial branches also recorded that it generated can hardly be overlooked,”
year-on-year falls but in most cases these Sadovská said. “For example in March,
“Although the base effect of last year's were milder than during the previous month-on-month, car sellers saw their rev-
weaker August did play a role in mediating months of the year, according to Sadovská. enues improve by almost by 50 percent,
the annual decline of the overall figure, the For example the automotive industry as a however year-on-year their revenues still did
encouraging signs of annual growth in an in- whole dipped by only 10.2 percent in August, not reach the levels of previous years.”
creasing number of Slovak industries corrob- she added. According to Sadovská, the bonus has not
orates the view not only of the beneficial in- “Slovak car manufacturers are benefiting significantly affected production of automo-
fluence of eurozone membership for Slovak from their product portfolio, which is well biles at car plants in Slovakia.
business, but also its contribution to a positioned for the ongoing shift of consumer “When buying a car, people usually do
strengthening of the Slovak competitive posi- preferences towards more efficient models,” not distinguish that much in which country
tion within the process of geographic optim- Vaňo said. the car was produced,” said Sadovská.
isation of production capacities of multina- The story of cars If the car-scrapping bonus helped any-
tional corporations,” Vaňo told The Slovak one it was the carmakers which produce
Spectator. About a year ago, news about the limit- smaller and cheaper models. Above all, car
August was certainly kinder to industry ing of production at one of Slovakia’s car- production in Slovakia depends on demand
Europe-wide: industrial production grew 0.9 makers spread; since then there has been from the wider eurozone, she added.
percent month-on-month across the euro- much talk about halted production lines or “Besides, it cannot be excluded that rev-
zone, and by 0.6 percent across the whole forced company holidays along with layoffs, enues were diverted from one segment to
27-nation European Union (EU). In July, in- not only in the car industry but also in other another,” Sadovská said.
dustry grew by 0.2 percent within the euro- industrial branches, Sadovská said, recalling Industry plays a significant role in the
zone, and by 0.3 percent across the whole EU, how the crisis unfolded last year. creation of Slovakia’s GDP; during the past
Eurostat reported. Weakening foreign demand was a major five years its share has always exceeded
Compared to last year, production of factor behind all these developments. one third.
computer, electronic and optical devices grew As for the country’s car industry, Slov-
in August by 67 percent; chemicals by 39.6 akia had become used to growing production The outlooks
percent and pharmaceuticals by 13 percent. in this area, with the automotive and the
Apart from refined oil products and com- machine industries dubbed drivers of eco- “We assume that the weaker basis will
puters, with electronic and optical equip- nomic growth. But these export-oriented continue to soften the fall in industrial pro-
ment, another two industries joined the sectors almost instantly became the duction during the upcoming months of the
trend of benefiting from the more competit- economy’s Achilles’ heel, Sadovská ex- year,” Sadovská told The Slovak Spectator.
ive conditions of eurozone membership: plained. “We will also see what will happen once the
chemicals and pharmaceuticals, Vaňo said. The first year-on-year slump in produc- effect of the car-scrapping bonus, or other
The refining of oil grew by 2.9 percent tion and sale of vehicles hit Slovakia in Octo- anti-crisis measures taken by larger
year-on-year in the first eight months of 2009 ber last year, although the September 2008 European economies, dissipates.”
while the production of computer, electronic numbers had already foretold negative de- Sadovská suggested that results of the
and optical equipment swelled by 36.9 per- velopments, said Sadovská. indicator of economic sentiments also indic-
cent in the January-August period. “Production of cars in September 2008 ate uncertainty regarding the future. A mod-
The chemical industry posted 39.6-per- grew by only 2.4 percent year-on-year while erate decline in the confidence of industry
cent growth in August year-on-year while the the revenues in the segment did not grow by players is mostly being caused by concern
pharmaceutical industry recorded 13-percent more than 2 percent year-on-year,” said about future developments.
year-on-year growth, according to Vaňo. Sadovská. “For the future development of industrial
The year-on-year comparison of produc- Undoubtedly, the car-scrapping bonus production in Slovakia, the key is the revival
tion of vehicles in August 2009, showing a was one of the most significant develop- of demand in European economies –
10.7-percent decline, was also the best result ments during the global economic downturn. Slovakia’s largest customers,” Sadovská said.
this year compared with the year-to-date “In Slovakia the car-scrapping bonus
cumulative decline of 39.2 percent, said Vaňo. took root faster than expected and the frenzy Ján Pallo contributed to the report
 OPINION October 19 – 25, 2009 5
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
“You show up [here], as cowards
who are attacking a woman.”

Vladimír Mečiar, the HZDS leader, criticises as unchivalrous opposition politicians

Apparitions from the past
seeking to have his nominee, Justice Minister Viera Petríková, dismissed. NO-CONFIDENCE motions in
Slovakia’s parliament have
metamorphosed into a toothless
act, a sort of political theatre
Slovenskooooo where the final scene has been
written long before the actual
performance begins and where
Movement (KDH), one of the eral more weeks. Shady deals
initiators of the no-confidence on which the state lost quite a
motion, said that in about a bit of money are serious
month Slovakia will commem- enough, but sweeping the prob-
orate the 20th anniversary of
the Velvet Revolution but at the
same time society is relapsing
lems surrounding the judiciary
under the carpet might have
more far-reaching con-

SLOVAK WORD
gain. It will help business – ad- any deviation from the script to the times when there was sequences – not only for the
BY LUKÁŠ FILA vertisers are already storming would greatly shock both the “freedom of expression but not judges but also for society and

OF THE WEEK
Special to the Spectator newspapers with requests for
ads on sports pages, travel agen-
cies are booking first flights to
WANT TO root for the Slovaks at Johannesburg, and Slovak foot-
audience and the actors. On Oc- freedom after the act of people’s sense of justice.
tober 15, parliament performed expression”. Fico and his allies keep
the “no-confidence motion” downplaying the seriousness of
play again and while the final the situation and suggest that

next year’s football World Cup?
Lucky for you, the main chants
of fans are not too difficult to
learn, even for a tongue-twisted
foreigner. There is “Slov-
enskooooo! Slovenskooooo!” and
the somewhat more creative
“Slovenskooooo, Slovenskooooo,
hea-yaa, hea-yaa, hea-yaa
Slovensko”, and finally, to the
delight of the national team’s
main sponsor from the automot-
ive industry, “Kia – kia – Slo – va –
kia!”
Despite the fact that football
is the country’s most popular
sport, the country has never
made it to the world or European
Championships. The last time
Slovaks played at the World Cup
was in 1990 as part of the
Czechoslovak team. And so it’s
always been up to the hockey
team to represent the country.
After the split of Czechoslovakia
the Czechs remained in the top
hockey pool, whereas Slovakia
had to work its way up from the
lowest one. Slovaks joined the
elite in 1996 and six years later
won the world hockey champi-
onships, an enormous boost for a
country which usually triumphs
only in individual sports such as
tennis (Hantuchová, Hrbatý),
canoeing (Martikán), shooting
(Gőnci), or swimming
(Moravcová).
However, even hockey is not
really a global phenomenon. The
championships are always a
contest between the “big six” –
Sweden, Canada, the Czech Re-
public, Russia, Finland, and the
United States – plus Slovakia and
the former Soviet republics. In
addition, the prestige of the
event is lessened by the fact that
it takes place annually, not once
in four years like the football
World Cup or the Olympics, and
the best NHL players never at-
ball jerseys are certain to be a
Christmas hit. But perhaps most
of all, it will boost morale. Even
people with no strong national
feeling will surely love to find a
Hamšík, Škrtel, or Mucha shirt
under the Christmas tree.
In a country, where the pat-
riotic feeling and agenda has
been hijacked by crazy extrem-
ists, it is a good thing. In order
to function properly, any soci-
ety needs glue which helps it to
tend, as the play-offs are still stick together. Without a
just taking-off in late April, healthy sense of unity and
when the championship starts. common purpose it becomes
Football is a different matter difficult to combat corruption,
altogether. With the exception cronyism, disregard for the law
of the US, it is the number one and ethics, as well as other ex-
sport in most of the Western pressions of selfishness in pub-
world and in South America and lic life. Yes, the football success
it attracts enormous attention. will be exploited by the current
But international attention government and the dysfunc-
(which we will have to share tional football association. And
with Slovenia whether they, too, yes, it is only sport. But the
make it to South Africa or not consequences of Slovakia’s
given our similar names and al- football success can be far
most identical flags) is not the reaching. It opens a chance for
only benefit the country will a better Slovenskooooo.
Slovakia beat Poland and advanced to the World Cup finals. Photo: ČTK
scene might not be over by the
time the last word of this piece
is written or the last page of this
newspaper is sent to print, the
outcome is quite predictable.
Justice Minister Viera
Petríková will survive; but not
because she warrants being kept
in post to make her shining con-
tribution to justice in Slovakia.
On the contrary, she will survive
because she is a safe bet for mak-
ing no contribution at all. She
got her script from the play’s
director, Vladimír Mečiar, and
she seems to have memorised
her lines well. Petríková won’t
improvise. If she did, she would
likely need to depart the stage
just as some other Movement for
a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS)
ministers had to – as improvisers
who failed to follow Mečiar’s
stage direction well enough.
The way Petríková handled
the case of prominent judge
Jana Dubovcová, who in 2002
was awarded a Transparency In-
ternational Integrity Award for
fighting corruption, suggests
that she is exercising someone
else’s sense of justice or in-
terests, rather than her own or
those bestowed on her by her
ministerial position.
When the chairman of the
District Court in Banská
Bystrica, Ľubomír Bušík pro-
posed a disciplinary action
against Dubovcová for express-
ing her strongly-held personal
opinion that there is decay in
the state of judiciary, Petríková
instantly approved Bušík’s ac-
tion. Then when Bušík with-
drew his proposal under im-
mense public pressure,
Petríková nodded again like a
puppet on a string.
Daniel Lipšic, former justice
minister and deputy chairman
of the Christian Democratic
EDITORIAL
now the parliament is dealing
with Petríková only in response
to a few news articles. Mečiar –
who was the one who brought
Harabin back to the top of the
judiciary – made his own little
contribution to the public de-
bate on Petríková’s recall.
“What is it all about, it’s only
politics. You show up [here], as
cowards who are attacking a
woman,” said the HZDS boss in
response to opposition criticism
of Petríková. And following the
well-rehearsed script, the par-
liamentary debate shortly before
19:00 on October 15 quickly
began turning into a political
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ farce. At least Petríková did not
Spectator staff shout out the notorious threat
made by her predecessor: “You
will go to jail, you bastard!”
It was that statement which
The political opposition, eth- elevated the failed no-confid-
ics watchdog groups and at least ence motion against former
105 judges who signed the peti- Justice Minister Harabin to the
tion called “Five Sentences” put ranks of the most controversial
much of the blame for these de- debates ever held in Slovakia. At
velopments on Supreme Court that time, Lipšic (KDH) and Lu-
President Štefan Harabin. Judges cia Žitňanská (SDKÚ), sought to
have been speaking out clearly have Harabin recalled for what
about what they call the abuse of they said was being on friendly
disciplinary proceedings used to terms with Baki Sadiki, the al-
silence Harabin’s critics. leged boss of a drug gang that
But for Prime Minister operates in Slovakia. Harabin
Robert Fico the testimonies of not only survived that motion,
these 105 judges are not enough but today sits atop Slovakia’s Su-
to start dealing with the condi- preme Court.
tions within the Slovak judi- Nevertheless the sentence
ciary seriously. He did seem “You will go to jail, you bastard”,
rather resolute when it was no which Harabin said to Lipšic, as
longer possible to sweep the broadcast by the TA3 news
mess at the Environment Min- channel, will now remain a
istry under the carpet and he symbol of this peculiar era of
took away the front-door key to Slovakia’s judiciary – a throw-
the Environment Ministry from back to bullying tactics that
the Slovak National Party. Slovaks thought they had per-
His man, Dušan Čaplovič, manently rid themselves of in
has been busy tidying up the 1989. But apparitions from the
environmental house since past still lurk in dark corners,
then and it appears he will have ready to emerge should society
lots more cleaning to do for sev- lose its vigilance.

Stop the presses - Slovakia gets lucky

BY TOM NICHOLSON
Special to the Spectator
PART of being a young and small
country is that your major sports
achievements get dissected for
what they say about the national
psyche. Slovakia's qualifying for
the football World Cup with an
improbable away-from-home
victory against Poland on Octo-
ber 14 was one of those mo-
ments.
The last time this country
celebrated a sports triumph of
equal calibre was in 2002, follow-
ing Peter Bondra's late goal
against Russia to win the World
Hockey Championships. That
victory was reported (by this pa-
per at least) to represent the real
birth of the modern Slovak na-
tion as a confident, forward-
looking country. OK, maybe we
overdid the post-game fizz.
This one is different, al-
though no less significant. Qual-
ifying for the World Cup on the
strength of so many fortunate
breaks undermines the common
belief that Slovak sports teams,
and perhaps the country as a
whole, have been cursed with
unrelenting bad luck: that where
others succeed with skill and
good fortune, equally talented
Slovakia always gets tripped up
by prejudiced referees, an unfair
schedule, rotten weather or bad
bounces.
One victory, even one as un-
deserved as the 1-0 squeaker over
Poland, will not change these at-
titudes, for they are deeply held.
But it does remove the grounds
for them, and that’s a good start.
Poland deserved to win the
match. They controlled the play
all game, they had at least half a
dozen solid scoring chances, in-
cluding an open net and a shot
off the crossbar, and they were
playing at home against a
stressed Slovak side whose best
players were sidelined because
of yellow card suspensions
(those referees again!). But in-
stead of winning and sending
Slovakia into the playoffs for a
qualifying berth, where they
likely would have lost, Poland
handed their opponents an own-
goal in the third minute, and
then muffed every chance the
Slovaks coughed up in return.
To put this in context,
Slovakia's sports history since
1993 is replete with tough
breaks. During this year’s foot-
ball qualifiers a tying goal away
against Slovenia was disallowed,
while a late goal by the Czechs in
Bratislava spoiled a victory.
Both cost the team points
that would have made
Wednesday’s game irrelevant.
There was also the humiliating
Slovak collapse at home to Slov-
enia on October 10 when even a
tie would have wrapped things
up. Bad luck all round, lads.
Or hark back to the 2005
World Cup qualifiers, when Slov-
akia advanced to the playoff
round against Spain, and was
whipped 5-1 in Madrid. Again, a
biased referee allowed an offside
goal to put Spain up 2-0, and then
he ejected Coach Dušan Galus
when he complained. Typical.
Nor is the conspiracy con-
fined to football. At the 2002
Winter Olympics, Slovakia was
required to play a preliminary
set before the main round, dur-
ing which the NHL refused to
release the country’s profes-
sional hockey players to the na-
tional team. Slovakia lost to
Germany and Austria and then
tied lowly Latvia, finishing at
the bottom of its group and out
of the tournament before the
Olympics even began.
See CUP pg 13
JÁN PALLO - Publisher
EDITORIAL
BEATA BALOGOVÁ - Editor - In - Chief
JAMES THOMSON - Assistant Editor
DONALD SPATZ - Assistant Editor
JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ - Staff Writer
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6 October 19 – 25, 2009

BUSINESS FOCUS

TELECOMMUNICATIONS
CEO of a leading mobile
operator talks to the Spectator

Slovakia enters EU optical CAREERS &

network top ten HUMAN RESOURCES

New mobile regulations Institutions and organisations in the

telecommunications sector in Slovakia

The Ministry of Transport, Postal Services and

come into effect Telecommunications

Minister: Ľubomír Vážny
www.telecom.gov.sk

Telecommunications Office (TÚ SR)

Slovakia’s three
operators disagree
on their impact
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
COMPETITION in the Slovak
mobile telephone market re-
mains vigorous. Two mobile op-
erators, Orange Slovensko and T-
Mobile Slovensko, continue to
dominate the market and the
smallest and newest operator,
Telefónica O2 Slovakia is en-
deavouring to slice as big as pos-
sible piece from the overall cake
by advocating more regulation
in certain areas.
“Regulation of the market is
not needed when there are no
barriers to healthy
competition,” René Parák,
spokesperson for Telefónica O2
Slovakia told The Slovak Spec-
Good price? New regulations could cut the cost of a call.
tator. “But it is necessary if such
barriers exist and the free mar-
ket is not effective. In regards to
the themes we have recently ini-
tiated, for example call termina-
tion rates, it is a fact that Slov-
akia is significantly lagging be-
hind other countries of the
European Union. We are asking
for nothing more than the
European standard of regulation
Photo: SITA
in Slovakia; clear rules of the
game and fair conditions for all
market players,” said Parák.
The biggest mobile operat-
or in Slovakia, Orange Slov-
ensko, perceives further regu-
lation as an unhealthy meas-
ure and thinks that any effort
towards additional regulation
is unprecedented interference
in the market.
“We are convinced that any
regulation deforms the market in
a significant way and endangers
a healthy competitive
environment,” Richard Fides of
Orange Slovensko said in re-
sponse to regulatory measures
recently adopted by the European
Commission and Slovakia’s Tele-
communications Office (TÚ).
“Without any regulation we re-
duced prices of data roaming by
over 80 percent and in 2008 alone
the price for a call decreased by
almost 12 percent under the in-
fluence of competition.”
Termination rates
The TÚ, the country’s tele-
communications market regu-
lator, has required all three Slov-
ak mobile operators to apply
cost-based call termination
rates, the rates paid by mobile
companies to each other when
their customers call from one
network to another one.
See RATES pg 10
TÚ SR is Slovakia’s regulatory and pricing authority for
the electronic communications sector.
Chair: Ladislav Mikuš
www.teleoff.gov.sk
Association of Internet Providers (API)
www.api.six.sk
Association of Telecommunications Operators (ATO)
www.ato.sk
Telecom companies in Slovakia
Dial Telecom – www.dial.sk
Digi Slovakia – www.digislovakia.sk
Energotel – www.energotel.sk
GTS Slovakia – www.gts.sk
Orange Slovensko – www.orange.sk
Satro - www.satro.sk
Slovak Telekom - www.slovaktelekom.sk
Slovanet – www.slovanet.sk
Swan – www.swan.sk
Telefónica O2 Slovakia – www.sk.o2.com
T-Mobile Slovensko – www.t-mobile.sk
UPC Broadband Slovakia – www.upc.sk
Vizada Networks – www.vizada.com
Železničné telekomunikácie – www.zt.sk
Source: www.etrend.sk and Book of Lists 2009
Compiled by Spectator staff

ADVERTISEMENT

Slovak Telekom protects business of companies in its Data Centres

Every company using an information system running on one or more
servers needs to appropriately house this equipment. Companies
have different views in how to solve the placement of servers and
other technologies (disc arrays, tape libraries, IP phone systems,
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ranging from using a free office or storage room as the so-called
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There is a reliable way to solve these problems in housing your ICT
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the space through construction and secure entry to this space with At T-Com we can adapt to the requirements and needs of a client
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power supply, cooling, etc.) to the extent necessary for providing
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own facilities: primarily rental of capacities on disc arrays and
magnetic tapes. We can simply rent capacity on our disc arrays or
in our tape library but we can also solve more complex problems
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Apart from our own know-how, we also cooperate intensively with
renowned suppliers of both hardware and software who are among
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analysis of requirements, resulting in a comprehensive ICT solution
that integrates their requirements and the existing environment with
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T-Com is a leading provider of comprehensive ICT solutions, proven
by clients’ projects implemented in the secure rooms of T-Com’s
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The basic advantages for our client from the services provided in
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operation of the DCs. Solutions provided to end-users by T-Com can
30529

slovak telecom.indd 1 14.10.2009 13:37


Slovakia among the leaders in mobile
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
Spectator staff
MILAN Vašina is a strong believer
in mobile. He has always worked
in the mobile business and
thanks to new technologies he
envisions a future when every-
one will have their own little per-
sonal notebook which they will
no longer need to share with the
whole family. The Slovak Spec-
tator spoke to Vašina, the CEO of
T-Mobile Slovensko, about chal-
lenges facing the telecommunic-
ations sector, government regu-
lations, customer preferences,
unique aspects of the central
European market and also about
only partially-explored areas
where mobile technologies might
soon take the lead.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS):
What are the greatest chal-
lenges that the global economic
downturn brought to the tele-
com sector? Which are the chal-
lenges that could have been
here anyway even without the
impacts of the crisis?
Milan Vašina (MV): The crisis
has certainly already appeared
thanks to the changed behaviour
of customers. I cannot say that
we are a sector which has not
been affected. However, for the
mobile telecom sector there have
been couple of significant
changes this year and it is im-
portant to separate these. The
market will slow down and it will
not grow as a whole because in
the past it had always been grow-
ing. One of the two basic factors
behind this is the crisis: custom-
ers tend to control their spending
more and thus both residential
and business customers are be-
coming more careful. They are
travelling less and thus spending
less money on roaming, often as a
consequence of the crisis. But the
second aspect affecting the mar-
ket which has strengthened in
2009 is regulation: both interna-
tionally within the EU – the so-
called roaming regulation – and
also domestic measures such as
regulation of termination rates.
So if we talk about a certain
stagnation or fall of demand in
the market, we estimate that
two- thirds is due to regulation
and only the rest is the impact of
the crisis or scepticism among
our customers.
TSS: Why is the telecom sec-
tor “blessed” with so many
regulations?
MV: Some economic sectors
have an impact on every single
customer and if we talk about a
very high penetration, then prac-
tically every person has some
kind of contact with this product
and this sector, which also
means that we cannot avoid this
type of regulatory influence.
I personally think that regu-
lation should solve negative
tendencies within the market;
when customers’ rights are being
violated. I do not think this ap-
plies to the telecom market
where there is very tough com-
petition, which in itself creates
quite strong regulation. The Slov-
ak market is very competitive
due to the fact that there are
three operators. It actually was
the case even when there were
Milan Vašina, CEO of T-Mobile Slovensko
only two main players. Whether
one looks at the signal coverage,
the quality of services or the net-
works or customer care and non-
stop free info lines – these ele-
ments were brought to the cus-
tomer thanks to the competition
and not because of regulation.
If regulation is not thought-
ful it might have a contrary effect
and limit the investment abilities
of the firms in any particular
branch; and mobile communica-
tion is a very demanding invest-
ment environment. This invest-
ment is especially important for
customers because they can just
say they want more pre-paid
minutes for less money and in re-
sponse to such a demand, the op-
erator must develop its capacit-
ies. Some would also say: you
have covered 98 or 99 percent of
the population and then you no
longer really need to invest. But
the contrary is true. Customers
are increasing their volume of
calls and if they call only 10-15
minutes more than in past, you
have to significantly increase the
available capacities so that the
operations work normally.
TSS: Telecom sector watchers
suggest that customers will
have a tendency to move from
the trendiest technologies to-
wards ones with a more ac-
ceptable price. What could such
a trend bring for mobile oper-
ators? Could that bring some
slowdown in developing new
technologies?
MV: I think it won’t. In the
past when the penetration of
mobile phones was lower there
was already a group of people
driven by the passion for new
technologies, the so-called early
adopters. This group is actually
not shrinking, and even with
close to 100 percent penetration
you still have 30 percent of the
customers who are fans of ad-
vanced technologies and the re-
mainder wants to use their
phones for basic services. I am
confident that there will always
be the group of technical geeks.
Besides, you also have a
whole generation of users who
have been growing up with their
mobile phones and have already
adapted to the changing techno-
logies. Then you still have a
group which will never really
BUSINESS FOCUS
Photo: Courtesy of T-Mobile Slovensko
have a mobile phone. You have
people who were 30 when they
went mobile and today they are
about 45; they have been growing
up with the mobile phone and
they will use the new services
and not only those initiated by a
mobile operator. Thanks to this
environment, there will be open
platforms for a huge number of
applications. And these won’t be
viewed as separate revolutionary
technologies, but rather creating
wider use of online services, data,
and community services. We
have created text messages, pre-
paid cards, GPRS, EDGE; these
were all technological influences
which have moved the sector’s
development ahead.
My theory is that technolo-
gies have their justification – but
at the right time. If you look at
3G, the technology was invented
long ago but had to wait before it
was implemented. The same goes
for the iPhone: the operators
waited for the moment when
they felt that it would be well-re-
ceived by the market.
TSS: There are some very spe-
cific groups of customers on
the market such as seniors,
children and physically-dis-
abled people. Are you trying to
focus on these groups as well?
MV: Certainly, we have in
mind seniors and children but it
does not happen in the form of
special technologies, but rather
special devices for these groups.
We have provided phones for
older people, with larger buttons
and displays. With children it is
more complicated because they
want the same phone as their
older siblings. As far as disabled
people are concerned, we have
special services; beginning eight
years ago we started special tar-
iffs for the hearing impaired be-
cause we knew that since the
customer could not use voice ser-
vices they could still send text
messages or today, emails. We
also have trained our staff and
today we have about 80 sales
people who can handle sign lan-
guage. In fact, we also have
launched a project called “Look-
ing for another sense” for hear-
ing-impaired businessmen so
that we can help them integrate
into society: it is still about
communication.
TSS: Which are the unexplored
areas where mobile technology
might be used in the future?
MV: The possibilities of mo-
bile technologies are almost lim-
itless because at the same time it
is a very personal item: you can
communicate, store your photos
and your contacts there. In the
future it can be your bank card,
your purse or even a sort of ID
card. Today, at many places you
can check-in with your phone.
Since everyone has one, the pos-
sibilities are immense. Besides,
you have an overarching net-
work which helps you wherever
you are. Of course, the services
will be shifted in the future from
today’s use of voice and text mes-
sages towards data applications
and I think this will happen not
only in terms of content and en-
tertainment but also in simplify-
ing life.
There is still another aspect,
the change in value: so far, as op-
erators, we have been bringing
our services and now we will be
offering an environment where
new applications are coming,
and there you need strong co-
operation with other firms
which are providing these ser-
vices and you have to find inter-
linking and balance.
TSS: T-Mobile is now part of the
service through which public
transportation customers can
buy bus and tram tickets using
their phones.
MV: These are popular ser-
vices and people have learned
how to use them. There are sim-
ilar services in the Czech Repub-
lic. I often travel to Prague and I
am using it because it is simple.
Yet, it shows how the possibilit-
ies of using a mobile phone are
widening. Almost everyone has a
mobile phone and therefore this
service is accessible to almost
every passenger using public
transportation. There are certain
types of micro-payments, lotter-
ies and similar entertainment
services. I do think that soon
more and more options will be
added, thanks also to changed le-
gislation in this area.
TSS: What are the specifics of
the Slovak telecom market
when compared with other
European countries?
MV: In the past we didn’t
have such deep penetration by
fixed lines as western countries
did, so when mobile phones be-
came available people who did
not have fixed lines reached en
masse for mobile services. I am
confident that the Visegrad Four
countries have a much better per-
formance within the mobile
market than many western coun-
tries. Today most voice commu-
nication goes through mobile
networks, which is of key im-
portance. This has created strong
competition and in terms of price
levels, coverage or services we
are, in fact, ahead of many west-
ern markets. Customers are often
not aware of the good signal cov-
erage we have in Slovakia despite
it being so hilly. In other coun-
tries, France or the UK, there are
gaps in signal coverage because
the percentage of voice calls
transmitted via mobile services is
lower than via fixed lines.
It also is interesting that
Slovakia has been home to many
pilot projects and this creates a
huge advantage for the market.
We have the highest percentage
of customers who are using data
services such as GPRS or 3G. It is
visible that people are using a far
larger portfolio of services. New,
advanced technologies do not
come later to Slovakia: on the
contrary. In technologies like 3G
or EDGE, we were among the first
in Europe within our group.
TSS: The Slovak market has
three mobile operators. Is it
now saturated?
MV: The market must always
determine what potential it
renders to how many players be-
cause the development of a mo-
bile network and everything
around it is demanding. In my
opinion, the Slovak market is
saturated and three operators are
the maximum which we can
have here. If you look at devel-
opments in Austria, the Nether-
lands, England where many
small operators first emerged and
then consolidation came – this is
because of the need for continu-
ous investments. Many might
not be aware of the need for con-
tinuous investments because
they see the large number of cus-
tomers; but a huge share of the
revenue flows back as invest-
ments. Slovakia has three large
players and this makes sense giv-
en the size and the potential of
the market.
TSS: There is a tendency to-
wards mergers between large
mobile operators. What fuels
this and what impact does it
have on the market?
MV: Yes, in Austria T-Mobile
merged with Telering and in
Great Britain Orange and T-Mo-
bile also merged. The same thing
happened in the Netherlands
where T-Mobile bought Orange:
it is exactly a consolidation in the
market as such. But when we talk
about integration from the
shareholders’ point of view and
whether they are interested in
consolidating their companies,
then there is a different issue.
They must consider what step
makes sense towards the cus-
tomer, the market and the
company’s competitiveness.
Then there is the economic as-
pect in which operators must
consider whether they can have a
October 19 – 25, 2009 7
more effective solution together
than what they had as two firms.
We have been cooperating with
Slovak Telekom for a long time
and we share many services with
the fixed network and we
strongly cooperate also in the
area of our call centres in order to
provide better services. If this
merger trend continues, it is be-
cause of these reasons.
TSS: There is always much talk
about the lack of bridges
between academia and the
business community and that
schools often fail to produce
graduates who are immedi-
ately ready to take up jobs and
perform well. How do you view
this in the telecom sector?
MV: We are actually trying to
come up with solutions. We co-
operate with schools and stu-
dents and we are providing our
new employees with an inde-
pendent training programme so
that they are ready for the posi-
tion they were selected for. Based
on my experience, I have been
stressing that cooperation with
schools and attracting young,
talented people is crucial. We had
young technicians who came to
the firm at around the age of 18
and they have grown into top ex-
perts who work for the whole
Deutsche Telekom group. True, at
the schools they cannot access
the latest technologies so easily.
But if we go deeper in this discus-
sion, in terms of investments in-
to research and development in
the central and eastern European
region, then it is greatly underes-
timated. It is a key factor for the
development of the market: in-
vestments in science and keeping
the best brains at home.
TSS: What are the challenges
that telecom firms might face
in the future?
MV: It is perhaps shifting the
customers from classical services
towards data services and man-
aging all that. The second key
factor will be the effectiveness of
the firms in the future because of
the pressure on prices and regu-
lation. Then there will also be
new technologies.
I am a strong believer in mo-
bile. I have always worked in the
mobile business and I think that
new technologies will further
impact the lives of mobile users.
Perhaps soon everyone will have
their own little personal note-
book which they will no longer
share with the whole family.
TSS: Do you remember your
first mobile phone?
MV: Of course. I worked for a
firm as an intern and I received a
briefcase that contained my first
mobile phone. It was heavy when
you carried it around. You did not
make calls; you only waited for
someone to call you. Though it
was great excitement at that
time, today it projects a very
funny image – people running
around with their briefcases.
And this really shows how
revolutionary the developments
have been in our segment in just
15 years. The firms which have
been providing these services
have been through immense in-
ternal change. They grew very
fast and had to make a lot of
technological adjustments be-
cause they had to adapt very
quickly to new situations.
8 October 19 – 25, 2009 BUSINESS FOCUS
Companies with optical
networks in Slovakia
Slovak Telekom – Over the last two years the company has
made its optical network available to more than 240,000 households
and plans to increase this significantly. For now, the optical net-
Optical networks bring
work is available in 12 Slovak towns: Banská Bystrica, Bratislava,
Zvolen, Nitra, Trenčín, Žilina, Košice, Michalovce, Prešov, Poprad
and – most recently connected – Stupava and Senica. Before the
crisis the company allocated €66.4 million to the construction of its
optical network and the crisis has left this budget unaffected.
Slovakia into EU top ten
Orange Slovensko – It started building its network in 2001. It is Significant growth etration of optical networks,”
now available to over 285,000 households in 14 towns across Slov- Richard Fides, Orange Slovensko
akia. Orange says the number of customers using services on its op- expected as users spokesperson told The Slovak
tical network now exceeds 30,000. The company is continuing to ex- seek greater Spectator, noting that he does
tend its network, with Stupava and Senica to be connected in the not see the share of customers
near future. bandwidth using optical networks as low at
UPC Broadband Slovakia – This cable operator entered the Slov- all. “This is new technology and
ak market in 1996. To begin with it used hybrid fibre coaxial cables we expect its more significant
and later started to also build an optical network. It currently oper- arrival only along with more
ates optical cables in 20 cities. BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ growth in the demand from
Energotel – This company was set up with an aim to secure tele- Spectator staff users for more bandwidth,” he
communications and data services especially for its parent compan- said. “Thanks to current building
ies: electricity producer Slovenské Elektrárne; regional energy dis- of the optical network, we will be
tributors ZSE, SSE and VSE; gas utility SPP; and Transpetrol. Ener- DURING the past few years Slov- prepared for this situation.”
gotel provides services across a network with a total length of over akia has witnessed a fast acceler- Slovak Telekom sees several
3,500 km which actually spans the whole territory of Slovakia. ation in the development of op- factors influencing the relat-
Železničné Telekomunikácie Bratislava – The railway com- tical networks, enabling some ively low use of optical networks
pany ŽSR started building optical lines as early as the middle of the Slovaks to use the best technolo- George Smith, a pioneer in fibre otics, and two other scientists won right now.
1990s along some stretches of railway. Later, Železničné gies and services. The operators the Nobel Prize for Physics this year. Photo: Reuters “One of them is that optical
Telekomunikácie Bratislava was launched by the railway company of optical networks confirm a networks in Slovakia have been
with the intention of using the existing telecommunication and IT palpable demand for their ser- built only recently over a short
infrastructure of ŽSR. Its optical network of 1,200 kilometres covers vices and it is propelling them to ity of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband communication ser- period of time and many cus-
a significant portion of Slovakia. The southern backbone links Brat- extend their networks and en- connections. vices over direct optic connec- tomers have not yet had enough
islava with Čierna nad Tisou and a northern backbone connecting hance their services. Slovakia Slovakia, a first time entrant tions to their homes via fibre-to- time to respond to the new tech-
Bratislava with Kosice via Žilina is currently under construction. has now been listed among the in the top ten, landed in ninth the-home (FTTH) or to commer- nologies and services yet,” Janka
Slovanet – Last year the company invested extensively in its top 10 countries in the European place, replacing Italy which fell cial buildings via fibre-to-the- Burdová, spokesperson of Slovak
network with continued construction as well as the acquisition of Union in the penetration of op- from the list. Larger countries building (FTTB). Telekom told The Slovak Spec-
local operators. 15,500 clients currently use its services via the op- tical networks. like France, Germany and the According to these criteria, tator. “T-Com has covered over
tical network and another 6,000 via hybrid services. The FTTH Council Europe, an UK have not yet broken into the Slovakia had 54,000 subscrip- 240,000 households with the op-
Swan – Swan launched construction of its optical infrastruc- industry organisation with a list. The penetration rate in tions to FTTH or FTTB connec- tical network during less than
ture in 2001. It is now about 300 kilometres long, of which over 100 mission to accelerate the avail- Slovakia was at 2.5 percent in tions in June 2009. two years.”
km covers Bratislava. This year it plans to complete investment of ability of fibre-based, ultra high- June, the same as in the Nether- Slovakia’s optical networks’ Slovanet also perceives the
€5 million in extending the existing optical backbone network. speed access networks to con- lands. Sweden tops the ranking operators see these figures in a figures as sound and the sale of
GTS Slovakia – This company started to use its own optical sumers and businesses pub- at 10.9 percent. very positive light and expect services on the optical infra-
network after it acquired Quadia DCT in late 2006. Since then it has lished a ranking in early The ranking, which is part of further growth in use of the op- structure to be reflective of the
doubled its length to 140 kilometres of optical fibres within Bratis- September showing which FTTH’s Market Panorama study, tical networks in the near future. current situation in Slovakia.
lava. It focuses mainly on corporate clients. European Union countries are shows the percentage of homes “We are pleased that Slovakia
Source: Infoware magazine and companies leading the way in the availabil- and businesses that receive is in the top countries in the pen- See FIBRE pg 10

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30528

OR PR slovak spectator 281,5x178.indd 1 8.10.2009 14:27:46

 BUSINESS FOCUS October 19 – 25, 2009 9

30528

OR ftth gitara 281,5x360 ENG.indd 1 8.10.2009 17:17:29

10 October 19 – 25, 2009 BUSINESS FOCUS

FIBRE: Network backbone is here now

Continued from pg 8
“Moreover, many optical
networks are overlapping in
Slovakia and thus customers can
select from more than one oper-
ator in some localities and they
naturally use services from only
one,” Slavomír Benko, PR man-
ager of Slovanet, told The Slovak
Spectator.
In some localities new optic-
al networks have been opera-
tional for only the last few
months and it takes a certain
time before customers switch
either because they are currently
using a different technology for
their internet services or they
are bound by contracts with a
certain service provider for a
fixed period of time, Benko said.
Demands are changing
Operators expect that use of
optical networks will increase
sharply in Slovakia. They say
the demand for more sophistic-
ated services can be felt as cus-
tomers in Slovakia have become
very demanding and want to
have modern technologies and
services.
“Nowadays, the usage of the
internet differs significantly
from the way it was used in the
recent past,” Benko said. “A few
years ago it served households
mostly for communication via
e-mails or chats and for an oc-
casional search for
information.”
Now, Benko said, people
want to watch videos in HD qual-
ity, upload films or music, or
watch TV on the internet and
these require high-capacity con-
nections. But construction of op-
tical networks is financially de-
manding and it presently pays off
only in localities with a sufficient
number of potential customers,
according to Benko of Slovanet.
Nowadays, the usage of the
internet differs significantly
from the way it was used in
the recent past. A few years
ago it served households
mostly for communication
via e-mails or chats and for
an occasional search for
information.
Slavomír Benko
Slovak Telekom sees invest-
ment in optical networks as an
investment for the future when
services can be offered which are
not even known yet.
“It happened exactly this
way with metallic cables,” said
Burdová, adding that the lines
were laid decades ago to serve
telephone calls. “Today people
can surf on the internet and
watch TV via them, things that
the people who approved this
investment did not even dream
about.”
The operators believe that
further development of services
provided via the internet and
more and more content will
stimulate bigger demand for
connections to optical networks.
“We see as an important mo-
tivation for citizens the possibil-
ity to communicate via the in-
ternet with state offices, the so-
called e-Government,” said
Burdová. “Electronic commu-
nications will simplify, speed up
and make more inexpensive
dealing with official issues. For
existing internet users the pos-
sibility to surf sites with multi-
media content with more com-
fort is a motivation to switch to
an optical network. Users of
‘optics’ can also enjoy all the ad-
vantages of Magio digital TV, for
example by watching TV pro-
grammes in HD quality on more
television sets.”
Future investments
Július Šiška, manager of the
Information Security Services
department at KPMG in Slovakia
sees two aspects of the invest-
ment into optical networks.
“One is the backbone net-
works of large-capacity pro-
viders of broadband internet and
the second is the so-called ‘last
mile’ leading to households built
in the form of optical
Waiting to connect: 'optics' will boost internet speeds.
connections,” Šiška told The
Slovak Spectator.
An extensive backbone net-
work exists in Slovakia, owned
by various companies including
T-Com, Orange, ŽSR, and Ener-
gotel, according to Šiška.
Development of optical net-
works is expensive but they are
likely to grow alongside the ar-
rival of new mobile technolo-
gies. These may include LTE
(Long Term Evolution), which is
the last step toward the 4th gen-
eration (4G) of radio technolo-
gies designed to increase the ca-
pacity and speed of mobile tele-
phone networks. This techno-
logy will enable a fast connec-
tion for customers of mobile op-
erators, where a highly per-
Photo: AP
meable optical network is a ne-
cessary precondition for data
flows between base stations for
mobile coverage and provision
of e-Government services to the
population at central points.
Šiška said funds from the
European Union might be avail-
able for such a purpose.
“In the case of construction
of the ‘last mile’ it is necessary to
condition building of the net-
work on sufficient demand and
the economic effectiveness of
such an investment,” said Šiška.
The overall penetration of
broadband internet in Slovakia is
9.6 percent, compared with the
EU average of 21.7 percent, ac-
cording to a survey by the
European Commission’s COCOM
undertaken in July 2008. These
include not only optical net-
works but also other network
technologies with speeds ex-
ceeding 144 Kbit/s.
Optical networks are valu-
able for services such as digital
television (in HD or standard
quality), high-speed data trans-
fers, and video services (for ex-
ample video-doctor or video-dia-
logues) and similar new offer-
ings for consumers.
But providers must develop
these types of services in ad-
vance and make them attractive
so that people decide it is worth
paying for high speed optical
connections.
“It is possible to expect a
commercial demand in densely
populated areas, especially in
towns where an investment for a
short stretch leads to connection
of several households in one
block of apartments,” said Šiška.
Most rural areas fall into the
category of so-called ‘white
places’ without any access to
broadband internet. In these
localities a return on investment
for last-mile connections is ex-
pected only after the number of
customers exceeds 600, but this
may depend on the price of the
service, according to Šiška,
adding that even then a return
on investment ranges between
15 and 20 years and that is pos-
sible only for large operators. Or
he said there is a need for assist-
ance in the form of financial
contributions from EU funds.

ADVERTISEMENT

RATES: Regulation criticised

Continued from pg 6
The rulings were issued in
September but have not yet
taken effect and the operators
can still appeal them. The regu-
lator also ruled that all three
mobile operators were signific-
ant operators in the market.
On July 31 the regulator had
issued a preliminary decision
capping the termination rates.
Beginning August 1, Orange
Slovensko and T-Mobile Slov-
ensko could charge Telefónica
O2 Slovakia only up to €0.0792
per minute while Telefónica O2
Slovakia could charge its com-
petitors up to €0.0925 per
minute. The maximum termin-
ation rate charged by Orange
and T-Mobile to each other was
set at €0.083 per minute.
“The reason for the asym-
metry of €0.0133 per minute to
the benefit of Telefónica O2
Slovakia is because of its later
arrival in the Slovak market and
hence its smaller market share,”
Roman Vavro, the spokesperson
for the Telecommunications Of-
fice told The Slovak Spectator.
He cited an EC recommendation
on the Regulatory Treatment of
Fixed and Mobile Termination
Rates dated May 7, 2009, as au-
thorising asymmetry as an ac-
ceptable manner of favouring a
new market entrant for a lim-
ited time period.
The regulator hopes its regu-
latory action, along with effect-
ive competition in the mobile
telephone market, will further
decrease inter-company ter-
mination rates.
Telefónica O2 Slovakia is the
newest mobile operator, having
entered the Slovak market in
2006. At the end of June 2009 it
had 417,000 customers, and ac-
cording to the SITA newswire,
Telefónica O2 welcomed the
capping of termination rates by
the regulatory office.
According to Parák, asym-
metrical pricing is a standard
tool of regulation which has
been used in most EU member
states. This was the first case in
which the TÚ expressed its
opinion as to what asymmetry
is adequate based on the condi-
tions of the Slovak market, he
said. O2 assumes that this will
be only a preliminary solution
and that the TÚ will soon issue a
more permanent method for
calculation of rates, a cost-based
model, which will permit calcu-
lation of maximum termination
rates for individual operators
over a forthcoming time period.
“In a market with domin-
ant players the asymmetric
model will help to develop a
more competitive environ-
ment, from which customers
profit the most,” said Parák.
“Our priority is cost-oriented
termination rates, also in this
case of asymmetry.”
Orange Slovensko, the
largest mobile operator in Slov-
akia with about 2.9 million cus-
tomers, had expected such a de-
cision but points out that this
has occurred two and half of
years after O2 started providing
services in Slovakia.
“We appreciate the fact that
the Telecommunications Office
evaluated conditions in the
Slovak electronic communica-
tions market as being equal,”
said Fides. “On this basis all mo-
bile operators should be regu-
lated equally. We firmly believe
that the office will consistently
convey this into an early re-
moval of any enduring anom-
alies in termination rates
between mobile networks.”
T-Mobile Slovensko, num-
ber two on the Slovak market
with about 2.3 million clients,
does not think the capping of
rates was necessary at all.
“After reviewing the ruling
we still hold the opinion that
such a provision is not neces-
sary because the declared goals
could be reached not only
through cost-demanding regu-
lation but also through volun-
tary and optimal reduction of
termination rates,” said
Gargulár. “T-Mobile has con-
tinually supported such volun-
tary and optimal reduction. A
decision about our next steps
has not been made.”
Number portability
New rules for telephone
number portability took effect
on September 1. The Telecom-
munication Office reduced the
time period for telecom operat-
ors to transfer a customer’s
telephone number to another
operator to a maximum of five
working days, as it is the aver-
age in the EU. This measure is of
the greatest importance to
Telefónica O2 Slovakia. As the
most recent and smallest oper-
ator in Slovakia, the company
has limited space from which to
recruit totally new customers.
To read a longer version of this
article, visit www.spectator.sk
Outbound telephony – an effective
tool for telemarketing
Contact centres in Slovakia have recent-
ly gone through a period of innovation and
changes. However, technology is a crucial
part of contact centres, and its potential is
not yet fully appreciated in Slovakia. The
equipment of most contact centres is based
on service platforms, which represented the
biggest investment at the time they were
launched. With the development of telemar-
keting and changes in the business environ-
ment, new and innovative technologies have
given new orientation to the market resul-
ting in more opportunities to effectively use
contact centres. In times of economic crisis,
factors like effectiveness, return on invest-
ment or profitability are in focus, and new
technologies, implemented via professional
outbound campaigns, are a way to achieve
them. Outbound campaigns have rarely been
used in the Slovak market so far, in spite
of their indisputable advantages and succes-
ses confirmed in all markets. Outbound is
oriented towards measurable, real revenues
and profit; it improves communication with
clients, leading to retention and client satis-
faction; it creates and use the existing client
database, which represents a long-term as-
set of the company; and it results in use of
agents more effectively.
The success of outbound campaigns de-
pends on the effective use of existing hu-
man resources. Modern modules, like e.g.
the ELSBETH Telemarketing Center, allow
an increase up to 100 percent of outbound
calls compared to their predecessors at a
professional level. The preparation of cam-
paigns is quick and simple, without any
need to deploy specialised IT staff, and thus
offers the chance to react flexibly to the mar-
ket situation. Perfect real-time overview of
the activities of all agents enables non-stop
control and monitoring based on detailed
statistics. Modern modules use also various
“coaching” tools, by which it is possible to
continually improve the skills and perfor-
mance of agents. Another, very important,
aspect of new technologies is their readiness
for legislative changes affecting telemarke-
ting in most European countries, e.g. bans of
unwanted or refused calls, or the obligation
to display the caller’s number. The processes
of contact centres using modern communi-
cation modules have not been affected by
these legislative changes - on the contrary,
they resulted in competitive advantages.
The question remains why, with the abo-
ve-mentioned advantages and benefits, out-
bound campaigns are not used in Slovakia
to a greater degree. A frequent, but faulty
prejudice is the supposed high investment
and complexity of implementation. Howe-
ver, if outbound campaigns are correctly
and professionally implemented in the to-
tal sales strategy, the RoI is as short as 6 to
10 months, same time the effectiveness of
a contact centre will be increased same time
by dozens of percentage points. Moreover
Implementation of these new communica-
tion modules is very simple and applicable to
all existing systems.
SP90088/1

Making a connection
Telemarketing's
time has come,
say operators in
Slovakia
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
TELEMARKETING is not a very
widely used marketing tech-
nique in Slovakia. People still of-
ten connect it with badly conduc-
ted campaigns from the late 1990s
and early 2000s. But the situation
is improving and more people
now accept their being offered
goods or services via telephone.
The economic crisis is forcing
companies to cut costs and
search for more effective ways of
marketing, but is also providing
them with new chances to im-
prove their operations and com-
munication with customers.
“Public opinion about tele-
marketing has been influenced
in Slovakia by the first campaigns
conducted at the end of the 1990s
and the beginning of the 2000s,”
Viera Sandtnerová, CEO of High-
Tech-Marketing SK, a company
providing hardware and software
solutions to telemarketing com-
panies, told The Slovak Spectator.
“Poorly prepared and badly con-
ducted campaigns by some com-
panies created the impression
that telemarketing consists of ir-
ritating calls to unsystematically
ADVERTISEMENT
Enter the world
of data centres
281x178.indd 1
Cheaper than door-to-door sales: a call centre.
selected persons without their
permission, to force on them
products or services. Such cam-
paigns are always doomed to
failure.”
Due to such experiences,
telemarketing activities in Slov-
akia were limited only to passive
telemarketing in the form of in-
bound communication, i.e. con-
tact and call centres, according to
Sandtnerová.
Peter Ďumbala, sales and ac-
count manager at Linea Directa
Communication, believes that
telemarketing is now becoming a
more frequently used commu-
nication channel in Slovakia.
BUSINESS FOCUS
“During the current period
more and more companies have
start using telemarketing as
their direct marketing instru-
ment and thus people more often
encounter it in normal life,”
Ďumbala told The Slovak Spec-
tator. “In most cases, Slovaks
perceive telemarketing in a pos-
itive way. There is a small differ-
ence in target groups, and we
know from our experiences that
communication with the b2c
[business to consumer] target
group is easier and the rate of
calls made is higher when com-
pared to the b2b [business to
business] group.”
Photo: TASR
Beyond the border of Slov-
akia telemarketing is much more
developed. Several countries in
the European Union have adop-
ted legislation related to tele-
marketing in order to prevent
companies from making un-
wanted telemarketing calls and
to protect end users from har-
assment, according to
Sandtnerová.
Companies abroad and their
clients regard modern tele-
marketing as an important and
effective way of communication
and customer care.
See CALL pg 12
FOCUS short
Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile to merge
TWO major telecom companies
operating in Slovakia, fixed-
line operator Slovak Telekom
and mobile operator T-Mobile
Slovensko plan to merge next
year. T-Mobile Slovensko is cur-
rently a wholly-owned subsidi-
ary of Slovak Telekom, which is
controlled by Deutsche
Telekom. The merger plans
were announced on October 15.
“We are convinced that
through integration of the two
companies we will form a mod-
ern telecommunications oper-
ator that will be able to react to
all requirements of the market
in a more comprehensive and
effective way,” President and
Chairman of Slovak Telekom's
Board of Directors Miroslav
Majoroš said, as quoted by the
SITA newswire.
The merger of the two oper-
ators is in line with the strategy
of the parent company
Deutsche Telekom, which an-
nounced plans to integrate its
fixed and mobile services divi-
sions last year.
“The project of integration
is of a long-term nature, it con-
sists of many other partial
projects, e.g. harmonisation of
processes, interconnection of
all information systems en-
abling a comprehensive view of
the customer,” the press re-
lease stated.
Along with its traditional
telecommunication services,
T-Com also provides
comprehensive ICT solutions
in our data centres. T-Com’s data
centres offer unique premises
and professional services to
assure our customers of a reliable
ICT platform which protects their
business activities.
www.t-com.sk
October 19 – 25, 2009 11
Both companies obtained
approval from their sharehold-
ers to launch preparatory
works for integration. An ini-
tial analysis already carried out
identified no obstacles that
would prevent the legal merger
of both companies.
Based on the experience of
other companies that have un-
dergone a similar process,
Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile
expect their full integration to
be finished within two years
from its start date.
Slovak Telekom is a
member of the multinational
Deutsche Telekom group.
The Slovak Telekom Group
comprises the parent firm,
Slovak Telekom, and its affil-
iates T-Mobile Slovensko,
Telekom Sec, Zoznam, and
Zoznam Mobile.
Deutsche Telekom, based
in Germany, is a majority
shareholder of Slovak Telekom,
controlling 51 percent of the
company. The Slovak Economy
Ministry holds 34 percent and
Slovakia’s National Property
Fund the remaining 15 percent.
T-Mobile Slovensko is a
subsidiary of Slovak Telekom,
which owns a 100-percent
share in the business.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
30529
14.10.2009 13:35
12 October 19 – 25, 2009 BUSINESS FOCUS
Companies involved in
telemarketing in Slovakia CALL: Telemarketing boost expected
Linea Directa Communication, www.linea-directa.eu
-the company focuses on telemarketing with the stress on sales. Continued from pg 11 people older than roughly 35 at which the target group can be case this has meant positive in-
It also offers market research and client satisfaction as well as years instead buy various insur- reached by phone, or the return on fluences.
mystery calling, services in direct e-mailing, SMS marketing “In Slovakia, contact centres ance products via telemarketing. investment,” said Ďumbala. “Dur- “During the current period
and services focused on databases. for large companies started to re- ing sale campaigns operators are of economic downturn, de-
cover several years ago,” recalled Why telemarketing? able to get additional information mand for new opportunities to
High-Tech-Marketing SK, www.callink.at Sandtnerová. “The increasing about the target group, and with sell has been increasing,” said
-the company has been operating in Slovakia for over 15 years. It number of contacts with cus- Telemarketing brings a range the help of these results to prepare Ďumbala.
provides IT and telecommunications solutions for processing tomers, competition and know- of benefits compared to other further actions by the company He had expected a steeper
and archiving of data. It also provides voice and data how from parent or sister com- marketing strategies. and its marketing activities.” increase in activities linked to
communication. Since 2007 it has been a member of itCampus. panies called for telemarketing Sandtnerová sees it as a personal, external call centres since out-
activities, but the intensity and but on the other hand measurable, More telemarketing sourcing is an attractive solu-
First Media, www.firstmedia.sk quality of outbound campaigns, way of communicating with cus- expected in Slovakia tion for companies when costs
Hermes DM, www.hermesdm.sk except for some bright excep- tomers. Moreover, it is cost-effect- are being cut. But in some
iLeo/DMMS, www.ileo.sk tions, is still incomparable to ive when for the same cost as one Since telemarketing is un- companies the development
Lion Teleservices SK, www.teleperformance.sk foreign companies’.” visit by a salesperson – €220 on derdeveloped in Slovakia, com- has gone in the opposite direc-
Luna Corporation, www.lunacorp.sk The experience of Linea Dir- average – as many as 30 or more panies involved in the business tion, as they move outsourced
Made In..., www.madein.sk ecta Communication appears to customers can be contacted by predict significant development. activities back to their employ-
One Call, www.onecall.sk confirm that people in the West phone via a call centre, according “Slovakia is just waiting for ees to avoid staff reductions
are more open to telemarketing. to Sandtnerová. Contrary to other the main boom, even though it is during the crisis. Other com-
Compiled by Spectator staff “Based on our experiences in marketing tools, for example TV necessary to say that compared panies, which have used tele-
projects not only in Slovakia or and radio spots or print advert- with previous years the increase marketing only to a small ex-
central and eastern Europe, but ising, the results are immediately in telemarketing is tent to date, have decided to re-

FOCUS short
Regulator determines compensation
THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Office of the Slovak Republic
has decided about the amount
of compensation for losses in
providing universal service for
the years 2005 to 2006 for
Slovakia’s dominant fixed-line
operator, Slovak Telekom (ST).
But the regulator did not ap-
prove the full sum requested
by ST. The Telecommunica-
tions Office adjusted a part of
the costs and did not include
some services among those
whose net costs should be
compensated, the SITA news-
wire wrote.
ST spokesperson Jana
Burdová stated that the com-
pany is analysing the decision.
ST demanded compensa-
tion of €37.51 million for 2005
for losses related to provision of
universal service but the regu-
lator acknowledged only €15.67
million. For 2006 ST requested
€41.29 million and the Tele-
communication Office ap-
proved €10.61 million.
Compiled by Spectator staff
also for partners from western
Europe and overseas, we know
that telemarketing is a common
part of everyday life and people
in western countries are more
open to it,” said Ďumbala. “Cus-
tomers [there] would rather buy
products and services via phone
without the need to go some-
where, compared to the habit
common in Slovakia, where cus-
tomers prefer personal contact
and the fact that they can try the
product or service in question.”
But this trend is starting to
change in Slovakia too and many
financial, telecommunications
or IT companies sell their
products by telemarketing. Linea
Directa Communication’s exper-
ience is that for example, young
people buy more telecommunic-
ations and IT products while
visible.
“Telemarketing is not a one-
way communication like, for ex-
ample, a letter because a phone
call generates a real dialogue,”
said Sandtnerová. “The customer
can ask a question and he or she
will get an answer immediately.”
Referring to outbound tele-
marketing, which involves direct
sales and promotion of a
company's products or services,
Sandtnerová highlighted its abil-
ity to transfer information quickly
and directly to the person at
which it is aimed.
Ďumbala highlighted the
exact measurability of tele-
marketing.
“During a specific campaign
we are able to find out precisely
the interest in products and ser-
vices in percentage terms, the rate
considerable,” said Ďumbala.
“Abroad, especially in western
countries, telemarketing is a
driving force for many compan-
ies and investments in some
cases even exceeds the budgets
allocated for classical marketing
like TV, radio or print.”
Ďumbala sees strong poten-
tial in the sphere of active tele-
marketing, because companies
are aware that they need to
communicate more intensively
with their clients on a daily
basis. He adds that many com-
panies do not fully use their ex-
isting databases.
Crisis as a stimulus
Telemarketing, like all other
business sectors, has been af-
fected by the crisis. But in its
inforce this area.
“In general we can speak
about an increase, but to a smal-
ler extent than was expected
before the crisis.”
Sandtnerová confirmed that
companies have found they
need to intensify their contacts
with existing customers and
that High-Tech-Marketing SK
has experienced increased in-
terest in its products from com-
panies with contact centres.
Ďumbala also sees growing
usage in a combination of direct
mail, e-mail, or text messages
in connection with follow-up.
“A frequent phenomenon is
the joining of various forms of
telemarketing, for example a
market survey linked with the
additional sale of a product or
vice versa,” said Ďumbala.

ADVERTISEMENT

SP90073/1

WATER: 'Clerical error'
Continued from pg 1
Jakšík, a former policeman
who left the force in 1993, owns a
93-percent stake in the Minerál-
Invod firm. His company was
struck from the Commercial Re-
gister in 1996 by a judge who
ruled it had not been registered
properly. At the time Minerál-In-
vod owned the land under the
current Mitická plant as well as
the framework of a building it
was erecting there.
Even though the property
changed hands several times
after Jakšík's company was an-
nulled, the Trenčín court ruled its
title to these assets never lapsed.
So when Jakšík achieved the un-
likely feat of reviving his com-
pany in 2004, he was in line to re-
cover the Mitická land and build-
ings, even though the new owner
had paid millions of euros for
them.
"If someone steals your bi-
cycle, it makes no difference if he
puts an expensive seat on it," said
Marián Košut, a Bratislava lawyer
representing Minerál-Invod.
Lost investment
Jakšík's title had been con-
tested by Mitická's current own-
ers, Trenčianske Minerálne Vody
(TCM), controlled by business-
man Slavomír Hatina through
his Slovintegra holding firm.
TCM paid over Sk400 million
(€13.28 million at 2009 exchange
rates) for the Mitická operation
in 2003, and has since invested
further millions in upgrades and
maintenance.
Last year a court ruled that
the land under the Mitická build-
ings belonged to Jakšík; now it
has lost the factory as well.
"This decision means the
loss of a €13-million investment
and uncertainty for the 50
people who work at the bottling
plant," said Tomáš Kurtanský, a
Slovintegra representative. "It
also sends a very bad message to
investors."
Corporate Lazarus
It appears that the message
in the Mitická case is not that
unscrupulous speculators can hi-
jack viable operations, but that
the Slovak legal system cannot
guarantee ownership rights.
Minerál-Invod was founded
in 1992 as a joint operation
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What will the new owners of the Mitická plant do with it?
between the Trenčianske Mitice
municipality and a shadowy fig-
ure named Viliam Khandl, who
reportedly now lives abroad. The
two contributed the land and
Khandl took a Sk24 million loan
from the Slovenská Sporiteľňa
bank. Work began tentatively on
a borehole and production hall,
but ceased after Khandl failed to
make payments on the loan. The
town finally secured the
company's retirement in 1996
after a judge ruled that a signa-
ture was missing from its ori-
ginal application to be entered in
the Commercial Register.
Two years later, the town of
Trenčianske Mitice asked the
land registry office in Trenčín to
give it title to the land and build-
ings "given that we are the ori-
ginal owner". Even though the
law requires company assets to
go through liquidation or bank-
ruptcy before title can be reas-
signed, the land registry office
did what the town asked. In 2007
a court ruled that this had been a
mistake, as "Minerál-Invod was
their sole owner".
The town sold the land and
assets for Sk4 million in 2000 to
the Slovenský Hodváb firm,
which began work on the
borehole and bottling plant in
earnest.
At the same time, Jakšík
suddenly showed an interest in
his moribund company.
Through a lawyer he argued
that the court which had can-
celled its registry had not de-
livered its decision by registered
mail to the correct address,
meaning that he had not been
informed. The court agreed to
send the notice again, giving
Jakšík a new 15-day period in
which to appeal.
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NEWS / OPINION
Photo: Sme
In the appeal, Jakšík argued
that the mistake in
Minerál-Invod's original registry
application was due to a clerical
error by a public notary, and that
he should be given another
chance to register properly. The
court accepted his argument,
and on June 1, 2004 – three
months after Slovintegra had
paid hundreds of millions of
crowns for Mitická – Minerál-In-
vod was again entered in the
business register. The company
immediately filed a suit to de-
termine ownership of the
Mitická operation.
"We did a regular due dili-
gence process, but when we
bought the company we were
unaware that any other com-
pany had a claim on the prop-
erty," said Kurtanský.
Legal precedent
Jakšík's lawyer argued before
the court that because Minerál-
Invod had begun building its
halls before the firm was abol-
ished, the current buildings still
belong to Jakšík, regardless of
how much money the current
owner had invested.
Košut cited a decision by the
Czech Supreme Court, which
had ruled in 2002 that a building
is considered to exist for legal
purposes "at the moment the
layout of the first above-ground
storey is clearly visible". The
lawyer submitted pictures show-
ing that Minerál-Invod had erec-
ted pillars and cross-beams on
the factory building before 1996.
"From this moment, at
which ownership ties to the
structure are consolidated, all
later construction work becomes
irrelevant to the issue of title,
RELIGIOUS SERVICES
ENGLISH LANGUAGE WORSHIP
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Sundays, 9:30 at historic
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Children's Sunday School provided.
Everyone Welcome.
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Take you chance
and place your
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For info call: 02 / 59 233 311,
or e-mail:
marta.fukasova@spectator.sk
even if the money invested far
exceeds the expenditure on the
original structure," read the Su-
preme Court ruling.
Trenčín judge Alena
Radičová agreed with this argu-
ment, although given the im-
portance of the case for owner-
ship rights case law in Slovakia,
she allowed Slovintegra to ap-
peal her ruling to the Slovak Su-
preme Court. "This matter is of
fundamental legal significance,
as it involves matters that Slovak
judicature has to date not con-
fronted," she said.
Uncertain future
It was not immediately clear
what the new owners intended
to do with the property. Libor
Jakšík was out of the country
and unavailable for comment,
while Minerál-Invod board
member Jaroslav Doktor said
they intended to develop the site
and increase production.
Minerál-Invod does not have a
licence to produce mineral wa-
ter.
"Of course we're worried
about employment," said Dušan
Rozemberg, the mayor of
Trenčianske Mitice, the vilage of
750 where the Mitická plant is
located. "This is a company that
was founded in 2004, under what
pretence I don't know, and I
have no idea what they intend to
do"
Company reports in the Col-
lection of Records at the Com-
mercial Register show that TCM
recorded annual turnover of
about €6 million in 2006 and
2007, while Minerál-Invod
showed no activity. The Mitická
operation also recorded losses of
€4 to €8 million every year since
2004, which Slovintegra ascribed
to a very competitive market.
Hatina said he was able to com-
pensate for the losses with
profits from other companies in
his group. It is not known
whether the new owners will
have the same patience or deep
pockets to continue producing
Mitická.
Minerál-Invod lawyer Košut
said they would be negotiating
with the Hatina family. "It's true
that we only built the basic
structures, and that they made
the major investments, and will
have to be compensated. Negoti-
ation will be tough, but I'm sure
we'll reach an agreement."
SPECTACULAR SLOVAKIA
The Slovak Spectator’s travel guide
Contact: The Rock s.r.o, Lazaretská 12, 811 08 Bratislava,
Slovak Republic, tel: +421 (0)2 59 233 300, fax: +421 (0)2 59 233 319,
e-mail: circulation@spectator.sk, or spectator@spectator.sk
LAW: Comments during
visit provoke objections
Continued from pg 2
“The representatives of the
current government don’t real-
ise that these very unfortunate
steps can bring negative effects
for the country,” Mesežnikov
told The Slovak Spectator.
“Not all of Pataki’s state-
ments have been formulated
with a knowledge of the situ-
ation around the language law,
but we cannot doubt the legit-
imacy of his statements and his
right to express his opinion on
what is happening in Slovakia,”
Mesežnikov said. “Pataki is an
important American politician
and the USA is our ally, we are
together in NATO, and it’s a
democratic country which
honours the same values as
Slovakia, so any attempts to
doubt Pataki’s right to give
statements on these issues are
inappropriate.”
Pataki did not say whether
the US Congress would also ad-
dress the Slovak language act.
According to Mesežnikov, the
US Congress deals with signi-
ficant events or problems of
other countries, but despite the
fact that the Slovak Language
Act represents a sore spot in re-
lations it is not so bad that it
will provoke negative official
statements from the USA.
“I don’t believe we are in a
situation that would make the
US Congress react in this way,
but the fact is that the amend-
ment is very unfortunate and
from the very beginning it car-
ried the risk that the govern-
CUP: No complaints
Continued from pg 5
The country was clearly the
target of an international con-
spiracy to eliminate competi-
tion for more powerful coun-
tries like the US.
If this sense of victimisa-
tion were confined to sport, it
would remain an amusing na-
tional quirk, this dark mutter-
ing after yet another debacle.
But it affects the way many
Slovaks see the world as well.
Such as that Hungary has
designs on a chunk of Slovak
territory and is being abetted
by a strong Hungarian lobby in
Washington and Brussels. Or
BE THE FIRST
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October 19 – 25, 2009 13
ment would not be able to de-
fend the law,” Mesežnikov said.
Fico said in his reaction that
the government “has always
managed to defend the law in
international forums and there
is no need to change any of its
provisions,” the TASR newswire
reported.
The visit by Pataki was not
the only initiative by the SMK
that provoked anger from ruling
coalition circles. SMK leaders
have invited the leader of
Hungary’s Fidesz opposition
party, Viktor Orbán, to the
party’s congress on October 17,
SITA reported.
“He will participate in the
congress as the deputy chair-
man of the European People's
Party (EPP) which groups depu-
ties from the SMK and Fidesz in
the European Parliament,” an
SMK spokesperson told SITA.
Orbán is known for his con-
troversial statements. He most
recently outraged the Slovak
government and parts of the
opposition in the run-up to this
year’s European Parliament
elections when he stated that
the election would decide how
many deputies in Brussels
would represent Hungarians
living in the Carpathian Basin.
Mesežnikov commented on
the invitation to Orbán by say-
ing that there is a certain de-
gree of provocation in it, but
the fact is that Fidesz and SMK
are political partners, and both
members of the EPP, and there
is no reason why Orbán should
not attend their congress.
that US President Barack
Obama’s decision to cancel the
central European missile shield
plan amounts to an abandon-
ment of Slovakia.
“I love these players,” said a
weeping Slovak coach Vladimír
Weiss after the country’s his-
toric qualification for a World
Cup. How unusual, that a major
test of Slovak mettle should be
accompanied by the best of luck
and tears of joy. How odd that
Slovakia’s luck should prove
good while neighbours Poland,
Hungary and (best of all) the
Czechs look enviously on. It’s
enough – or it should be – to
make one think.
1. Prices of classified ad s
(according to no. of words)
● Up to 20 words - € 10 (Sk301.26)
● Up to 50 words - € 20 (Sk602.52)
● Up to 70 words - € 30 (Sk903.78)
● Up to 100 words - € 40 (Sk1,200.04)
● Up to 150 words - € 60 (Sk1,807.56)
Ad dition al op tio ns
● Logo or picture insertion
●
+ € 7 (Sk210.88)
Bold or capital bold letters
+ € 0.3/word (Sk9.04)
● Box + € 3 (Sk90.38)
●
Box with shading + € 7 (Sk210.88)
2. Prices for business classified
ads (according to size):
1/48 p ag e (43 x 44 mm)
€ 25 (Sk753.15)
4 p a g e (43 x 92 mm)
1 / 24
or (91 x 43 mm)
€ 50 (Sk1,506.3)
1/12 p ag e (91 x 92 mm)
€ 100 (Sk3,012.60)
F requ ency disco unts:
● 3x - 10x 5%
● 11x - 19x 7,5%
● 20x and more 15%
NOT E: Prices do not include value
added tax (VAT 19%)!
€1 = Sk30.1260
14 October 19 – 25, 2009 CULTURE
Western SLOVAKIA

The reaper of the heights Bratislava

l FESTIVAL: New Minorities EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE
Week – Film screenings, exhibi-

HISTORY TALKS tions, concerts, workshops and

IT IS a pity that warnings such as the one on this
postcard no longer appear. The Grim Reaper ex-
changed his traditional scythe for a piton, prob-
ably to be better equipped for a hike in the High
Tatras. The sportsmanlike Grim Reaper is not
only urging the rock climber to be careful but also
tries to show him how little time might be left in
this world.
The postcard was issued in 1933 for quite pro-
saic reasons: its authors wanted to warn that
Slovak mountains were claiming more and more
victims. Before 1871, only eight ill-fated hikers
had found death in the Tatras while as many as 57
died in the period between 1871 and 1918.
This was, of course, the result of a rapid in-
crease in tourism as Slovakia’s mountains began
to attract visitors from all around the region in
the closing decades of the 19th century. And
many of those visitors preferred to depart from
the safe tourist track.
Lack of experience and bad hiking equipment
were among the most common causes of tra-
gedies. In addition, careless hikers often overes-
timated their skills or forgot that weather condi-
tions can very quickly become dangerous in the
mountains. Over the last century not so much has
changed: the causes of hiking tragedies remain
about the same.
A symbolic cemetery was built at the tarn of
Popradské pleso in 1940 to commemorate all those
who had not returned from a hike in the Tatras.
ADVERTISEMENT
In this charming but sad place, among dozens of
wooden crosses and giant rocks, no gravestones
are to be found. Only a simple inscription wel-
comes the visitors: “A memorial for the dead, a
warning for the living.”
By Branislav Chovan
much more are included in the
programme of the 4th edition of
WORKS by one of the
most noted 20th cen-
this multicultural festival organ- tury Slovak painters,
ised by the Milan Šimečka Koloman Sokol, who
Foundation. spent most of his life
Runs: October 19-25. Admis- in exile in Mexico and
sion: €2 - €5. A4 Zero Space, SNP the United States, are
Square 12. Tel: 0915/794-942, on show in Bratis-
www.a4.sk. lava until October 25.
Even though small in
Bratislava size and less well-
l DANCE: In the Rhythm of known, the 25 paint-
Flamenco – Choreographer Viera ings, found by chance
Masaryková and her Andalucia in the artist’s closet
dance ensemble change the by his son, are con-
chilling autumn evening into a sidered to be some of
hot summer-night fiesta. his best pieces of
Starts: October 23, 19:00. Ad- modern graphic art.
mission: €8. Bratislava Puppet Originally, the collec-
Theatre, Dunajská 36. Tel: 0908/ tion was not sup-
625-281, www.babkovedivadlo.sk. posed to be seen by
Sokol’s admirers: it
Bratislava was hidden in a car-
l HORSE RACE: Autumn Grand ton box labeled
Prix & October Grand Prix – simply cuadros
Horse race enthusiasts have the (Spanish for paint-
last chance this year to spend an ings). Now, six years after his death, they are available at the Pálffy
afternoon cheering their noble Palace at Panská 19 daily except Mondays. Admission is €3.32. For fur-
four-legged favourites, as two ther details, call 02/5443- 1556 or go to www.gmb.sk.
prestigious competitions close Photo: Courtesy to GMB
the current season.
Starts: October 25, 12:00.
Admission: €1.40. Petržalka (Old Bakery Shop), Rázusova 2. multi-octave voice, performs
Racecourse, Starohájska 29. Tel: Tel: 0905/702-971, some of the best-known gypsy
02/624 11 504, www.zavodisko.sk. www.katarinaknechtova.com. songs, accompanied with Ruska
Roma and Alexander Dašek’s
Bratislava Pezinok Gypsy Music ensembles.
l LIVE MUSIC: The Backwards – l EXHIBITION: Three From Starts: October 19, 20:00. Ad-
The Beatles are back – or at least One Region – A presentation of mission: €12. Europa Culture
their best-known hits are – paintings by Ondrej Šteberl, Centre, Námestie slobody 3. Tel :
thanks to one of the most popular Jozef Lackovič and Dana 048/4112-297, www.gypsymusic.sk.
cover bands in the country. Poláková, local naive artists
Starts: October 25, 19:00. Ad- from three different genera- Žilina
mission: €12 - €14. Nová Scéna tions. l SHOW: MyART: Who’s Frank?
Theatre, Živnostenská 1. Tel: Open: Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00, – This “decadently empty, avant-
02/2048-8500, www.nova-scena.sk. until January 10, 2010. Admis- garde, egocentric cabaret”, as its
sion: €1.70. Naive Art Gallery, author, young Slovak artist Mil-
Nitra Cajlanská 255. Tel: 033/6404-035, an Loviška, characterised his
l LIVE MUSIC: Zodiac Tour – www.sng.sk. new dance show, questions the
Katarína Knechtová, former lead values of the modern consumer
singer of Peha, a popular Slovak Central SLOVAKIA society.
band, sets out on tour around Starts: October 24, 20:00.

Enhancing
Slovakia to promote her first solo Banská Bystrica Admission: €3.50. The Stanica
album. l LIVE MUSIC: Gypsy Fire – Sisa Žilina-Záriečie Culture Centre,
Starts: October 22, 20:00. Sklovská, Slovak pop diva fam- Závodská Cesta 3. Tel.:

Performance
Admission: €7. Stará pekáreň ous especially for her powerful 041/5623-564, www.stanica.sk.

Eastern SLOVAKIA

Culture Košice
in New Times l CLASSICAL MUSIC: Czech-
Slovak Chamber Duo – Pianist
Zuzana Berešová and violinist
Pavel Burdych give a chamber
SPONSORED BY concert featuring various clas-
sical music compositions within
the Czech Culture Days festival.
Starts: October 21, 18:00.
Admission: voluntary contribu-
tion. Vojtech Löffler Museum,
Alžbetina 20. Tel: 055/6231-801,
www.czechcentres.cz.

Prešov
A BIG dose of oldies has been prepared for the pop music audience in l FESTIVAL: Jazz Prešov – An
Bratislava. After their successful tour of Slovakia, ABBA Stars, a well- international line-up of jazz mu-
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 known cover band from Prague, arrives in the capital on October 24 sicians including Paul Zauner’s
Radisson Blu Carlton Hotel with a three-hour show featuring the greatest hits of the popular Blue Brass and Christian
Swedish foursome who stopped performing in 1982. This time, McBride Trio gig in Slovakia’s
however, the Czech singers will not be alone: they have invited the third largest city.
“original” Boney M, another chart-hitting group from Germany, to Runs: October 21-22. Admis-
Attendance fee for American Chamber members is 200 EUR, for non-members share the stage with them. Baby Do You Wanna Bum?, Daddy Cool or sion: €5 (one-day ticket). PKO
240 EUR, including VAT. Additional people registered from the same company will Sunny are a few of the singles they will offer their fans. The concert Čierny Orol, Hlavná 50. Tel:
receive a 15% discount. The registration form is available on www.amcham.sk starts at 19:00 at the Sibamac Arena at Príkopova 6 and tickets cost 0903/603-309, www.jazzpresov.sk.
between €14.90 and €35. For more information, call 02/4342-6758 or
90107 visit www.megakoncert.sk. Photo: Courtesy of ABBA Stars By Dominika Uhríková

N A M E D A Y O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Weather updates and forecasts from across Slovakia Kristián Vendelín Ur‰uºa Sergej Alojzia Kvetoslava Aurel
can now be found at www.spectator.sk.
October 19 October 20 October 21 October 22 October 23 October 24 October 25

In cooperation with the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute A Slovak’s name day (meniny) is as important as his or her birthday. It is traditional to present friends or co-workers with a small gift,
such as chocolates or flowers, and to wish them Všetko najlepšie k meninám (Happy name day)
 CULTURE October 19 – 25, 2009 15
Jazz Days line-up
is full of stars
American keyboardist Scott
BY DOMINIKA UHRÍKOVÁ Kinsey and Slovak musician
Spectator staff Oskar Rózsa.
Saturday evening will host,
among others, American singer
and guitarist Terry Callier, his
WHEN Slovakia was still in the compatriot, bassist Christian
iron grip of communism, mu- McBride and Maria Joao, a suc-
sicians from all around the cessful Portuguese singer.
globe, including the most The biggest highlight of
“rotten” capitalist countries this year’s BJD is the Sunday
such as the USA, were already performance by Candy Dulfer,
coming to take part in Bratis- famed Dutch saxophonist,
lava Jazz Days (BJD). And while who has co-operated with
dramatic changes have taken stars such as Prince, Pink
place on the political stage, the Floyd and the Eurythmics.
festival seems to have hardly The 40-year-old diva started
changed: after a third of a cen- to play the saxophone at the
tury, it still offers the best of age of 6 and she founded her
the world’s jazz. first band, Funky Stuff, which
The jubilee 35th edition of will also accompany her to
the oldest and the biggest mu- Slovakia, when she was only 14.
Along with leads John Krasinski (left) and Maya Rudolph (right), Catherine O’Hara (right) stars in Away We Go. Photo: Official web site sic event in the country will be Since then, she has released 10
held at Bratislava’s Culture albums with mostly funk and
and Leisure Park (PKO) smooth jazz pieces. Her ap-

Away We Go between October 23 and 25 and

HOWARD SWAINS
Special to the Spectator
Film review
Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: John Krasinski, Maya
Rudolph, Catherine O'Hara
TO PARAPHRASE Chekhov’s ad-
age of storytelling: a gun intro-
duced in the first act must be
fired by the end of the third. A
similar rule seems to apply in
the land of cinematic whimsy,
where a baby conceived during
the narrative must be brought
squawking to life by the time the
credits roll. This basic premise of
American indie – favoured by
Knocked Up, Juno, Waitress,
among others – permits some
heaving, sweating close-ups of
the leading lady in labour and a
bucket-load of maternity-ward
japery from the dad. But most
importantly, a birth is also a
convenient bookend: the deliv-
ery of a new life is as emphatic a
signal of journey’s conclusion as
the fatal shooting of that gun.
The lack of a birth scene in
Away We Go, directed by Sam
Mendes from a script by the
will feature a rich programme
of concerts by Slovak and for-
eign artists.
“We have prepared an ex-
pearance will follow a unique
concert by the BJD Superband,
a 17-member ensemble of Slov-
ak jazz stars created specially
for the festival.
husband/wife team of Dave their free-spirited approach also them insufferably smug. “No tremely varied mixture of cur- As has been a tradition in
Eggers and Vendela Vida, is only has a recognisable brighter side: one is as in love as us,” they rently prevailing styles and recent years, music festival-go-
one way in which this modest “We’re completely untethered, tentatively agree, seeming sur- genres so that the audiences ers from other Slovak cities will
ditty upends our expectations. Burt. This is a dream scenario.” prised. But the assertion is at gain a complete overview of also get the opportunity to see
The film’s opening scene shows After learning that Burt’s least as much in self-satisfac- the latest developments in the some musicians from the BJD’s
Burt (John Krasinski) determin- parents (read: potential tion as it is in self-doubt. international jazz music scene line-up playing live. The ac-
ing that his partner Verona babysitters) intend to emigrate These are rare leads around in just three days,” said Peter companying concerts will be
(Maya Rudolph) is pregnant, and to Belgium and miss the first which to build a feature film, Lipa, well-known Slovak musi- held in Komárno, Žilina and
the film’s timeline runs almost two years of their grandchild’s and there are characters more cian and co-organiser of BJD. Košice, and the eastern Slovak
completely through her cycle. life, Burt and Verona leave their deserving of our attention and Every evening, a series of metropolis will even be hon-
But we never do get to see the in- ramshackle base in Colorado sympathy on every street in the five concerts will be staged. On oured by a visit from Candy
fant. The narrative halts short of and head out on an episodic world. Their “problems” in- Friday, renowned American Dulfer herself on October 24.
the dash to the hospital, and tour of friends and relatives clude the fact that they have drummer Steve Gadd and his
thus a cliché is swerved. across North America to decide none, and they even fear the guests will crown the music For more information about
This is doubly remarkable where next to call home. (Burt baby’s pulse may be too mellow marathon following the per- Bratislava Jazz Days, visit
because Away We Go is also a is some kind of insurance because of the lack of conflict in formances by, for example, www.bjd.sk.
road movie, wending gently to- salesman, and can continue to its parents.
wards such a natural, if breath- work on the road.) But although we may not
less, end. But from the outset, Their associates are a dis- instantly love our heroes in
the film is less concerned with parate bunch of 30 to Away We Go, as perhaps we are
the battle to bring the child into 50-somethings and we veer, meant to, we do believe in their
the world than with the parents’ sometimes uneasily, from the love for one another, which is a
belated quest to understand the fringes of credibility to the very grand thing to observe. It is also
type of place it is entering. They middle of Middle America. On a feat of Eggers’ and Vida’s nat-
seek to test their values and pre- one trip, we visit caricature uralistic writing and Mendes’
occupations as well as overcome New Age hippies railing against unobtrusive direction. Krasin-
some hang-ups and modest the evils of push-chairs, but ski and Rudolph achieve a kind
anxieties. The film follows Burt then we are charmed by sensit- of modernist, bohemian chem-
and Verona’s search for reassur- ive foster parents unable to de- istry, founded on comfort rather
ance that their unaffected com- liver a child of their own. than sparking with lust.
mon sense should not feel as un- Burt and Verona might be We could have done without
common as it does. touched and moved by all the the winsome soundtrack to
“We’re 34 … and we don’t right prompts, but they are also make such an obvious virtue of
even have this basic stuff not averse to issuing judgment this understatement. But ditch-
figured out,” says Verona, on others’ failings. Some audi- ing that too might have been a
adding by way of evidence: “We ences will adore their simple diversion too far from a well-
have a cardboard window.” But honesty, but others will find trodden norm. Candy Dulfer will headline Bratislava Jazz Days. Photo: TASR

from Wednesday October 14 - Wednesday October 21

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs /premiere (in Slovak) D A 7 1:40 10:40 12:40 13:40 14:40 15:40 16:40 18:40 Happy go Lucky S I 12 2:10 11:50* 14:10 20:10
Two Lovers / premiere S I 12 2:00 12:30 17:10 19:30 21:50 Knowing S I 12 2:10 11:40* 14:20 16:50 19:20 21:50
The Final Destination 3D / premiere S I 18 1:40 11:30 17:40 19:40 21:40 The Secret Moonacre S I 12 1:43 12:10* 14:30
Coco avant Chanel / premiere S I 15 2:00 11:20 13:50 16:10 18:30 20:50 District 9 S I 15 2:10 10:30* 12:50* 15:30 17:50 20:20
Inglourious Basterds S I 15 2:45 20:40 The Accidental Husband S I 15 1:40 12:20* 14:50 17:00 19:00 21:20
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (in Slovak) D A U 1:50 11:00* 15:00 Jáno‰ík OV I 15 2:40 12:00* 15:00 18:00 21:00
G-Force (in Slovak) D A 7 1:40 14:00 16:00 18:10 Orphan S I 15 2:15 10:50* 13:00* 19:50
Taking Woodstock S I 15 1:40 16:30 18:50
Normal OV I 18 1:45 11:10 21:20
Wrestler OV I 15 2:05 15:20 17:30
The Ugly Truth S 12 1:40 16:20 18:20 20:30 Notes: *Screenings on Saturday and Sunday only S - Subtitles, OV - Original Version, D - Dubbing, U - Universal (Suitable for all ages)
I
SP90061/6

from Wednesday October 14 - Wednesday October 21

Two Lovers / premiere S I 12 2:00 13:10 17:50 20:10 G-Force D A 7 1:40 11:00 12:40 14:40 16:40
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs /premiere (in Slovak) D A 7 1:40 12:20 13:20 14:20 15:20 16:20 17:20
Coco avant Chanel / premiere S I 15 2:00 12:50 15:10 17:40 20:00
The Final Destination 3D / premiere S I 18 1:40 18:20 20:20
Taking Woodstock S I 15 1:40 15:40
Knowing S I 12 2:10 13:00 15:30 18:40 21:10
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (in Slovak) D AU 1:50 14:30
The Accidental Husband S I 15 1:45 12:30 16:30 18:30 20:30
The Ugly Truth S I 12 1:40 11:20 19:20 21:20
Inglourious Basterds S I 15 2:45 18:00 21:00 Notes: *Screenings on Saturday and Sunday only S - Subtitles OV - Original Version
District 9 S I 15 2:10 12:10 14:40 17:10 19:40 21:50 D - Dubbing U - Universal (Suitable for all ages)
SP90060/6
16 October 19 – 25, 2009
University of Humanity
AN EDUCATION
1
project for stu-
dents with men-
tal disabilities
who live in
Homes of Social
Services (DSS) in Trnava Region
opened in October in Zavar and
has been dubbed the University
of Humanity.
Five times this year and
then for the next five years, a
community of undergraduates
of similar intellectual levels
will meet to learn healthy life-
styles and fitness, natural sci-
ences and gastronomy.
“Our project is aimed at in-
creasing their personal pride,”
the head of DSS Humánum in
Zavar, Anna Pavlovičová, told
the TASR newswire.
The first day resembled the
opening of a university year
with academic robes, a stu-
Students at their first day at the University of Humanity.Photo: SITA
ADVERTISEMENT
For more information go to
www.petitshop.sme.sk or www.sfu.sk.
Petit Press, a.s., Lazaretská 12
811 08 Bratislava
Call centrum: (02) 5923 3411
e-mail: petitshop@sme.sk
Now you too can experience the best
Slovak movies of the 1960s!
AROUND SLOVAKIA compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
dents’ anthem, medals, and
even a swearing-in ceremony.
“I am happy here, as we
will learn a lot,” Anna from a
DSS in Jahodná said.
Students started the morn-
ing learning about a healthy
diet and food preparation. In
the afternoon, some of the stu-
dents meditated in a teahouse
while others listened to lec-
tures and made posters about
health and fitness.
“This is our first com-
munity but we would like to
expand the project to all of
Slovakia,” Pavlovičová said.
DSS Humánum is a detached
workplace of the Faculty of
Medicine and Social Work at
Trnava Unviersity.
"Humanity is the highest
principle of life; and everybody
has a right to it,” Pavlovičová
told TASR.
The SME daily & the Slovak Film Institute present a special DVD offer:
SLOVAK MOVIES OF THE 1960S II
Every Monday, starting September 25, you can buy a DVD from the newsstand nearest you featuring
a famous Slovak movie with English subtitles for only € 3,29 (Sk 99).
FEATURE
Ancient Greece comes to Trenčín, in the form of a replica bireme.
Replica of ancient Greek
bireme ship sails into Trenčín
INHABITANTS
2
and visitors to
Trenčín can now
imagine they are
in ancient Greece.
On October 3, on the beach of a
nearby river island, a replica of
an ancient Greek ship arrived.
The boat was made by craftsmen
in the Moravian town of Přerov.
A replica military rowing boat, it
was commissioned by members
of the Wandering Knights his-
torical fencing group who plan
to give rides to tourists in the
unusual vessel on the River Váh.
The ship will also act as a float-
ing museum.
"It is a battleship of ancient
Greece, from the period about
500 years before Christ. It will
look exactly like battleships did
on distant expeditions at that
time. We are also preparing
educational voyages for the
public,” Jaroslav Matejka of the
Realised with financial support from the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republik
Name: ........
...................................................................................................................... E-mail: ............................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Address: .....
Cell phone: ................................................................................................. Phone: ............................................................................................................................
F I want to order the whole DVD edition – 11 movies for € 32,45 (Sk 979)*. The order will be delivered in two packages of 5 DVDs.
F I want to order following movies. Price of one DVD is € 2,95 (Sk 89)*.
Select movie
movies: 1. F
* The price do
does not include postage. Postage will be calculated according to the price list of Slovak post office.
Machanka
cooking
contest
ON OCTOBER 3,
3
in the Svidník
amphitheatre
in eastern
Slovakia, eight
teams competed in a competi-
tion to cook the best
machanka, a traditional
Ruthenian meal made of
mushrooms.
Ruthenians are a stateless
ethnic minority who live on
the territories of several
countries, including Slovakia.
Photo: TASR Ruthenians have their own
language, culture, folklore,
and also traditions, which in-
clude a specific cuisine.
The competition was
won by the Miga family,
from Vyšný Orlík, whose
family members cooked up
10 litres of mushroom soup
Wandering Knights told the of the planned two months, it
for the jury to taste. The
ČTK newswire. He said in the took three months to finish. reason why such a volume of
future the ship could also sail You have to permanently look soup was needed was that
down the Danube River as far as after a wooden vessel but if you the jury consisted of all the
the Black Sea. take proper care, it can outlast event's participants.
The boat is 17 metres long, 3.6 even an iron or fibre-glass The event, entitled
metres wide and its mast towers ship,” said Radim Zapletal, Ruthenians on the Roof of
eight metres above the deck. Its who constructed the vessel to- Europe Make Machanka,
sail is 40 metres square and the gether with his helpers. Sing, Dance and Play, was
ship holds 20 rowers on each His Přerov workshop has organised by the civic asso-
side. It cost more than €30,000. made about three dozen histor- ciation We Protect the Re-
The vessel is named Hyper- ical ships, some of which have gion Below Dukla.
borea, i.e. Country of the North- appeared in Hollywood movies. As its chairman Milan
ern Wind. Greek bireme ships – Matejka told the SITA newswire Cocuľa told the TASR news-
so called due to the two rows of that they did not have any writ- wire, every team brought its
oars on each side – were used in ten documents from when bi- own recipe and ingredients,
wars between the Greeks and the remes were originally made, so while one group of fisher-
Persians in about 480 BC. they had to use artistic depic- men tried a very non-tradi-
Craftsmen in Přerov put all tions and the help of historians tional and unorthodox fish
their efforts into the project for and military strategists to recre- machanka.
three months during the sum- ate the ancient ship. He believes The civic association or-
mer holidays and were only re- such vessels could have travelled ganises events all year round
cently able to test the vessel in on Slovak rivers, especially the to preserve Ruthenian folk
the Orava reservoir. Danube and its tributaries at traditions and also to protect
“This ship was quite labori- that time along the 'Amber Road' the rich natural and historical
ous in terms of details. Instead of central Europe. sites of the region.
LIST OF MOVIES:
1. Skalní v ofsajde Soccer fans - coming September 25
2. Kým sa skončí táto noc Before tonight is over - coming October 2
3. Šerif za mrežami The sheriff behind bars - coming October 9
4. Zvony pre bosých The bells toll for barefooted - coming October 16
5. Majster kat Master executioner - coming October 23
6. Panna zázračnica The wonder-maid - coming October 30
7. Živý bič The living scourge - coming November 6
8. Tri dcéry Three daughters - coming November 13
9. Zmluva s diablom A pact with the devil - coming November 20
10. Vtáčkovia, siroty a blázni Birdies, orphans and fools - coming November 27
11. November 1989 očami slovenských dokumentaristov As seen by Slovak documakers - coming November 2
Date and place: ............................................................
2. F 3. F 4. F 5. F 6. F 7. F 8. F 9. F 10. F 11. F
Signature: ..................................................................
SP90036/1