Archive of articles - March 1999, page 3

Quote of the Week

Advertisers not yet prepared to expand business to the internet

The winter of 1997 was a turning point in the history of Slovak media - the leading daily Pravda became the first newspaper in the country to launch an electronic version of its content on the Internet.This event simultaneously opened new vistas for Slovak advertisers. Curiously, however, advertising interest in presenting products on the Internet is still low."The Internet isn't yet able to approach as large a group of people as are classical forms of media," said Eva Babitzová, executive director of the Slovak Board of Advertisers, adding that advertising agencies remain to be convinced of the benefits of Internet commercials.

Rudolf Schuster - Call it a day, Mr. Mayor

Košice mayor Rudolf Schuster looks set to become Slovakia's first popularly elected president. He was also once a member of the central committee of the Czechoslovak Communist party, and was chairman of the last communist parliament. Should this be held against him?Ten years after the end of communism, deciding what role former communist functionaries should play in Slovak political life is still fraught with uncertainties.

UK Ambassador: 'I can't ask' Y2K questions for Slovakia

David Lyscom, the British Ambassador to Slovakia, does not look like a bearer of bad tidings. Tall, slim and energetic, Lyscom is a career diplomat who has served in Ottawa, Bonn, Vienna and Riyadh.But to many Slovak firms and state officials, the message that Lyscom has brought to Slovakia may be unwelcome news indeed. For the British diplomat is an expert on the "millenium bug" problem, and says that Slovak state and private firms may not be taking preparations for January 1, 2000 seriously enough.Before being appointed as Ambassador to Slovakia in October 1998, Lyscom served as the head of the Foreign Office's Environment, Science and Energy Department, where he studied the effects that the millenium bug would have on the British economy.

Slovaks sigh as NATO expands

Despite encouragement from his neighbours and western leaders that it would soon be his country's turn, Slovak Defence Minister Pavol Kanis watched the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary join NATO on March 12 with bittersweet feelings."We are a little sad," he said after meeting the Czech Parliamentary Delegation for Security and Defence, "to see where Slovakia could have been had we just pursued a policy of common sense and decency."Kanis' regrets seemed fitting on a day when NATO officials reiterated that Slovakia, though on the right path, was "not ready" for membership. In speeches delivered at the enlargement ceremony in Independence, Missouri, NATO leaders added that they planned to lend a firm hand to Slovakia in the coming years to help it along the NATO road. But they offered no guarantee of when the next round of NATO enlargement would be.

Seminars aim to raise Y2K awareness

Millennium bug fever has struck Slovakia, but computer analysts are not sure that the country is sufficiently prepared to survive the disease.On March 25, Bank Austria Creditanstalt will hold a seminar on Slovakia's preparation for the millennium bug, also known as Y2K. The seminar will close a week in which the millennium bug was pushed to the forefront of the nation's business agenda.On March 18, The American Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia held a millenium bug business breakfast featuring invited speakers from Oracle, Compaq and Arthur Andersen. The British Embassy, in coordination with the Slovak Statistical Office, was to follow Am Cham's panel with a millennium bug seminar on March 23.

Floods drench Eastern Slovakia

Two weeks of heavy flooding in the Košice region of Slovakia has damaged hundreds of homes and soaked more than 100,000 hectares of agricultural land, causing millions of crowns of damage, Interior Ministry officials reported last week.The heavy floods are the latest natural disaster to hit regions which struggled with heavy snowfall this winter and have still not recovered from a major flood in the fall of 1998. Due to the flooding of wells, hundreds of people are without clean drinking water."It's just been one catastrophe after another," said Dr. Viera Navková of the state health institution in Michalovce.

Russian debt quarrel leaves cabinet tainted

3s.jpg####photo: Marek Velček - SME## The Slovak government has said it wants to stop accepting weapons from Russia as payment on a $1.2 billion debt that the former Soviet country owes to Slovakia. Indeed, the cabinet has said it wants to remove the taint of corruption and profiteering from the debt-settlement process, and to make all deals with Russia transparent.The task of restoring public faith in the debt settlement process was handed to a joint Slovak-Russian Commission, which met on March 17 to 18 in Bratislava to agree on both the volumes and content of goods that would be imported from Russia in repayment of the debt.But even as the commission sat, fresh allegations of corruption flared. A letter written in February by Finance Minister Brigita Schmögnerová to her Russian counterpart, Mikhail Zadornov, and then leaked to the media, has been flourished by critics of the process as proof that money and partisan interests still govern how the debt is settled.

Nafta Gbely deal revised

Total assets of Slovak banking sector exceeded 800 billion Sk in 1998

Slovak firms show uneven Y2K preparedness

International and domestic criticism of Slovakia's level of readiness to face the Y2K millennium bug has been sharp. The Slovak Spectator asked three Slovak firms - telecom provider EuroTel, the central bank (NBS) and Internet service provider Infolot Inc. - to explain their millennium bug strategies, and found that each had a different level of knowledge and concern about Y2K.On March 18, the American Chamber of Commerce held a Y2K seminar with invited speakers from Oracle, Compaq and Arthur Andersen. The seminar outlined the standard international strategies that Slovak companies should apply to their millennium bug preparations.

War of words goes on at Slovak Railways

A full strike at Slovak Railways (ŽSR) is growing ever closer. The massive firm's trade unions say they are ready to walk out on March 29 if their wage demands are not met, and created a central strike committee on March 15 to back up their demands.The demands of the workers prompted ŽSR director Andrej Egyed to write an open letter explaining that the railway's current financial situation does not allow the ŽRS to give workers a bigger wage increase than management presented in early March during failed negotiations over the 1999 collective agreement. Egyed appealed to employees to be patient.

Mochovce readies for Y2K

With their massive cooling towers rising over the horizon, nuclear power plants like Slovakia's Mochovce are the stuff 'millennium bug' doomsday scenarios are made of. But international and domestic observers say years of solid preparation by Slovakia's nuclear sector should prevent any systems failures as the clock strikes the year 2000.The country's two nuclear facilities, in fact, appear to be in line with international norms for nuclear facility "Y2K" readiness. Work being done at Mochovce to update the computer systems began in 1997 and should be finished by June, plant managers said.The millennium bug problem is one that affects computer chips that have outdated time components in them. Unable to recognize the '00' notation for the year 2000, computers and electronic devices containing these chips are widely expected to fail as the date changes to January 1, 2000, wreaking havoc on tranport, telecom and banking sectors.

Security concerns surround OnLine Start

Private Internet providers say that security is their main concern with the OnLine Start Internet access offered by state-owned telecom monopoly Slovenské Telekomunikácie (ST)."There are serious security problems with OnLine Start," said Stanislav Stowasser, general director of provider Global Network Services. "Under the law, you are not allowed to offer anonymous access to subscribers. OnLine Start is anonymous."Stowasser, who is a member of an Internet provider group named API that is protesting the ST service, explained that OnLine Start uses one universal user name and password, which allows any user to surf the net unidentified.

ST accused of abusing monopoly over Internet access Internet providers say OnLine Start is forcing them out of business

After four weeks, a protest launched by Slovak Internet providers against state-owned Slovenské Telekomunikácie (ST) remains unresolved. The Internet connection service offered by ST, the providers say, abuses the state firm's telecom monopoly to force other providers out of business."This is a war between Slovak Telecom and private Internet providers," said Stanislav Stowasser, director of Internet provider Global Network Services and a member of the Association of Internet Providers (API).API was formed on February 25 to protest the "Slovak Telecom OnLine Start," the ST Internet service which allows subscribers to log onto the Internet without identification for the cost of a local telephone connection - about 5 cents per 90 seconds. Private Internet providers normally charge a flat monthly rate of around $12.

Landmark state bond attracts 3.6 billion Sk in bids

Russia continues to wield influence

Since 1989, the Slovak political elite has been claiming their foreign orientation is towards Europe and western alliances such as NATO. Ten years after the fall of communism in former Czechoslovakia, however, Slovakia's path westward continues to be blurred by a significant Russian influence on the country's economic and political development.Some of the ties, such as the 1.2 billion dollar chain of the Russian debt to Slovakia, are remnants of communist days. Others blossomed during the 1994-1998 government of Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar, who signed a wide range of defence and civil contracts with the former superpower, political analysts said.

The Slovak Constitution- Article 78

1) No member shall be prosecuted either during the term of office or at any other time for his or her vote in the National Council of the Slovak Republic or its committees. The members are subject to disciplinary powers of the National Council of the Slovak Republic for any statement made in the National Council of the Slovak Republic or its committees while holding mandates.2) No member shall be prosecuted, sanctioned by any disciplinary measure or held in pre-trial detention without the approval of the National Council of the Slovak Republic. Unless such approval is granted by the National Council of the Slovak Republic, the prosecution or the disciplinary measure shall be excluded.

Deputy Prime Minister Mikloš sees 1999 GDP under target