Archive of articles - August 1998, page 4

Samsonite's first year in Slovakia

After a full year of production, world-wide luggage giant Samsonite officially inaugurated and opened its plant in Šamorín, a town in southern Slovakia. Company managers said they believed the Slovak site would further develop and expand in coming years, while town officials welcomed Samsonite's presence, saying the firm lends their town a new, more European character."The Šamorín production plant will become a main player in the Samsonite softside organization," said Marc Matton, Samsonite Europe's vice president and managing director for Softside Products, at the official inauguration of Šamorín factory on June 16. Matton added that the plant will be able to keep this promise because of the company's faith in its employees and the plant's economically strategic location.

HZDS petition to prevent energy sector privatization

The two elderly women collecting signatures at a booth on Bratislava's SNP Square were eager to explain why they were touting a petition to ban the privatization of state energy companies. "If we keep these companies in state hands, the prices of gas will not triple like in the Czech Republic, when they sold off their gas company to foreigners," explained one of the women, wiping the perspiration from her brow.The petition, aimed at preventing the privatization of six state-owned gas and electricity suppliers, was launched by the Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar's ruling HZDS party on July 24 and continued through August 10.Party officials said they hoped to tap popular sentiment. "The aim of the petition is to collect 350,000 signatures," said Sergej Kozlík, Slovak vice-premier and official spokesman for the petition. "I think it is a positive move which should attract citizens, and we are confident that there will be enough signatures by August 10."

By hook but not crook: Foreign scrutiny forces HZDS to rely on campaigning alone

Not so long ago, Slovak political analysts were telling anyone who would listen that Vladimír Mečiar and the HZDS had two choices regarding the September elections - they had either to win or to manipulate the results of the vote. Losing was not an option, in part because it would mean that Mečiar could no longer protect his friends and supporters from political retribution.Foreign observers stationed in Slovakia bought this line, for the most part, and began to pay very close attention to what was happening in Parliament. The new national and municipal election laws and the disposition of presidential powers came under a microscope, and generated endless communiqués and finger-wagging from foreign governments.

Peter Cardarelli hits Bratislava

Summer is one of the most interesting seasons in Bratislava because of all the concerts and theater performances taking place in cafés and restaurant gardens. Some of the hottest of these concerts are being staged by Peter Cardarelli, a US jazz musician on the staff of the Applied Music Faculty at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Currently living in Bratislava, Cardarelli has made many appearances in Slovakia, but still considers the US as his musical home base. Apart from his current Jazz Quartet, he has opened for Kool and the Gang, B.B.King, Maynard Ferguson and many other groups over the years.In 1992 Cardarelli visited Slovakia for the first time to see his Slovak wife's family, and began to play his sax on the Slovak stage. During 1997, he began to play regularly with Slovak and Czech musicians, among whom were well-known names like vocalist Peter Lipa, pianist Gabriel Joná, bassist Juraj Griglák, guitarist Juraj Burian and drummer Dodo Šošoka.

What's Happening in Bratislava

Agrokomplex '98 celebrates 25th

A wide community of agricultural enterprises will attend Agrokomplex '98, the 25th annual international agricultural fair, held from August 13 to 20 in Nitra, Slovakia's agricultural capital. Companies representing all facets of the agricultural industry, from heavy equipment manufacturers to wine, beer and food producers, will attend this year's event."About 650 exhibitors representing 1,500 companies from 23 countries will attend this year," said Ivan Tomka, Agrokomplex representative. "One-third of the exhibitors are from abroad." Tomka added that the exhibition will span 148.5 hectares, housing 45,000 sheltered and 150,000 non-sheltered stands.

Voter education programs becoming increasingly partisan

Six weeks before parliamentary elections, efforts to persuade Slovak citizens to use their right to vote have intensified. Various organizations, most of them sponsored by non-governmental groups, have produced voter education programs designed to increase voter awareness. But several of these groups have been accused of trying to shape people's political convictions as well as heighten their awareness.One of the most high-profile non-government organizations (NGOs) running a voter education program in Slovakia is Nadácia pre občiansku spoločnosť (NOS), an international partner of The Foundation for a Civil Society.

One month rate falls below 10% for first time in 2 years

Escaping the city in Bratislava's Forest Park

Summer living in Bratislava is not without its small trials. Mornings to work on airless trams whose fastened windows are fiercely guarded by old ladies who fear a chill. Days spent cooped up in half-empty offices while the rest of the world is off drinking iced margaritas on the beach. Evenings competing with red-faced revellers for room to drink a blood-warm pint.But only a short bus ride away, life retains its appeal.Almost invisible in the deep afternoon shade, a deer pulls contentedly at a shrub until it is startled into sudden flight by a passing hiker. The animal's quivering white tail is quickly beyond sight.

Foreign investors bail out Slovak sugar industry

Two German and French sugar companies arrived in the nick of time on July 30 to rescuscitate the moribund Slovak sugar refining industry, which has been mired in financial woes for the past two years. Along with a Slovak investor, the foreign buyers announced at a press conference they had combined to create a joint enterprise named Word. Aiming for a 40 percent share of Slovakia's sugar market, Word has been welcomed by industry experts but has attracted the attention of the Slovak anti-monopoly office.The Slovak sugar industry has long been plagued by an inefficient production process and has more recently suffered from a massive sugar surplus on the domestic market. The country's eight refiners lost more than 500 million crowns ($14 million) in 1997, and faced a 70,000 ton excess supply of sugar at the beginning of 1998. Robert Straka, executive director of the Slovak Sugar Refining Society (SCS), said that "in the long term, there is no way all eight refineries in Slovakia can survive."

Košice Underground Goes Public

The remains of the old town fortess beneath Košice's main square were opened to the public on July 17, even as construction work continues to complete the museum facilities.When the city broke ground on Hlavná ulica to lay new gas and electrical lines in May 1996, they discovered surprisingly extensive remins of the old city. The astounded construction team stepped aside as part of the main square became a two-year archaelogical dig, revealing over 500 years of Košice history. Although only a regional crafts center in the early Middle Ages, Košice grew to be an important military fortress and a key element in the anti-Turkish defence line.

Budget deficit soars to 8.9 billion Sk

National debt hits $2,000 per capita

Waters leave racist residue in Jarovnice

Twenty-eight fewer homes now stand on the muddy plot of land known to locals as "Gypsy Town." Jarovnice's Romany borough also has 42 fewer inhabitants, victims of last month's flash floods in eastern Slovakia. But the damage and the deaths, which included 28 Romany children, have divided the village's Slovak and Romany communities and thrust race relations back into the spotlight."Some people in Jarovnice said the flood should have come at night instead of in the afternoon: it would have taken all the gypsies away," said Maria Kropuchová, a 25-year resident of Jarovnice. "But you can't talk like that: what if tomorrow we are in the same position?"