Archive of articles - July 1996

Matica Slovenská cancels history textbook

Everything had gone smoothly for the publishers and authors of a series of history textbooks for basic schools until one detailing 20th century Slovak history was ready to be printed. In early April, five out of six members of an oversight committee at the Ministry of Education recommended that the book be printed. Despite this, the Ministry of Education announced in July that it would organize a new tender to find a publisher. "As far as I know, this is the first time [since 1989] the ministry has turned down an authorized textbook,'' said Stanislav Madarás, director of the Orbis Pictus Istropolitana publishing house that was to publish book.

Socialist International meets in Bratislava

Ministry of Finance sets prices on medicine

FAR EASTERN ENERGY CRISIS DEEPENS

Police drop Hudek, Lexa case

National Bank muzzles COOP Banka

Companies to pay FNM debts with bonds

Starting in the first week of August, Slovak entrepreneurs and entities that acquired property during Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar's term with as little as a 10 percent down payment will be able to pay back the Fund for National Property (FNM) with bonds distributed during the government's switch from coupon to bond privatization last summer. But while many companies are interested in the scheme, only a handful have been given a license to engage in it. In July, the FNM announced that fourteen physical persons or entities had obtained a license to buy the approximately 3.5 million bonds that citizens got in exchange for their coupon booklets. Rastislav Zbořil, director of the FNM's section for organizing the bond market, said there were 600 companies with debts to the agency.

Yes, we want self-administration

Hysterical reactions from Slovak politicians to the resolution adapted by participants at the Budapest conference "Hungary and Hungarians Living Abroad" reflects the absence of political willingness to seriously solve the legal status of minorities in Slovakia. According to statistics, over 10 percent of the Slovak population are people of Hungarian ethnicity. Altogether, over 14 percent of the population are people who have other than Slovak ethnicity. In a democratic state with the rule of law, it is unthinkable to have a certain group of the population as second-class citizens. Representatives of the dominant nation cannot have privileges over representatives of national minorities.

Ukraine's premier survives car bomb blast

Mečiar vague on remedy for ailing economy

Slovakia's trade deficit is hurting but the government is not indicating what its remedy will be. When the Slovak Statistical Office released its latest report on Slovakia's trade balance on July 23, it showed the trade balance swung another 1.34 billion Sk in the red in June; the half-year total now stands at negative 27 billion Sk ($900 million). The news sounded alarms in the government as officials grappled with how to stop the hemorrhaging in the one leg they've been able to stand strongly on for the last year and a half. Obviously aware of the news before it became public, Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar launched a preemptive strike, giving his analysis on the country's economic situation on July 14.

CHUBAIS REPLACES YEGOROV AS PRESIDENTIAL CHIEF OF STAFF

Cool summer freezes profits

Considering how many cool, cloudy days there were in July this year, chances are many people in Slovakia tuned their TVs to "Baywatch" rather than go swimming themselves. It was the coldest July in decades, according to the Slovak meteorological institute, and while that news depressed spirits nationwide, it also has had a chilling effect on businesses for whom summer is the high season. According to Marián Bohunský, the manager at Zlaté Piesky, the effect of the cool summer has been "horrible." The statistics bear him out. Revenues for the recreational lake on the outskirts of Bratislava are down approximately two-thirds when compared to the same date last year, he said, and average daily attendance has dropped from 3,700 last year to only 1,700 this year.

FNM to carry on despite deal

Energy prices gently rise toward EU standards

Starting August 1, bills received by Slovak households have gone up: the government has finally approved increases in the cost of basic state services, including electricity, gas, water, and radio and television reception. The biggest change comes with electricity prices, which will increase 5 percent for businesses and 10 percent for residential users. The last rise in household electricity fees was in 1991, when they jumped 70 percent from the fully subsidized, pre-1989 prices. Even with that increase, Slovakia's electricity costs have stayed in the cellar. According to Minister of the Economy Ján Ducký, Slovakia has the third lowest energy prices of all EU applicants.

Gore meets reportedly ailing Yeltsin

Kohl's remarks sour Slovakia's supposedly sweet day

It should have been a banner day for Slovakia. A beaming Juraj Schenk, Slovakia's foreign minister, stood at the Hotel Forum on July 19 flanked by European Union (EU) Ambassador to Slovakia Georgios Zavvos and other dignitaries. Lying on a table beside them was an EU questionnaire some 75 centimeters thick, a file of almost 3,000 pages that Slovakia was the first of the 12 associate countries to complete. "I'm happy that we have managed to return the questionnaire before the official deadline," said Schenk. "Slovakia's attempt to integrate into the EU and other [Western] structures is no longer only a declaration."

Slovaks nab gold and bronze in Summer Games debut

Beginning with the opening ceremonies, the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta were historic for Slovakia. On July 19, for the first time ever, a squad of athletes marched into Olympic Stadium behind the Slovak national flag, which was carried by 33-year-old wrestler Jozef Lohyňa, a bronze medal winner for Czechoslovakia in 1988. President Michal Kováč was there, his coat thrown off in the summer evening heat, energetically waving a white handkerchief in greeting the 70 Slovak competitors as they entered the packed stadium.

Bonds in Sk debut on London bourse

Bojnice: A fairy-tale castle from deep Old Europe

The floor was so smooth in the courtyard of Bojnice castle in the hills surrounding the beginning of the Nitra River. It was if Cinderella would glide gracefully out at any moment. Crystal tears of light rain fell slowly from the sky. Up the steps under an arch, a wooden door swung quickly, closing the entrance. The echos of a guide explaining the history of the castle could be heard off the walls. We moved swiftly toward the group's patter of steps, our destination being to intercept their path. Somehow the group disappeared into the castle without a trace and a confusing sense of direction set in. A medieval tapestry of maidens by a river combing their hair had jagged edges and worn corners. The tapestry hung on a wall where the last sounds of the others were heard.