Archive of articles - April 1999, page 2

Slovakia awaits Kosovo refugees, wins NATO gratitude

Slovakia has readied its camps and prepared housing for the 500 ethnic Albanian refugees it expects to stream in from the war-torn Kosovo region. Now all the country has to do is wait.Though more than 770,000 refugees have already fled Kosovo, many carrying terrible stories of murder and the destruction of their homes and villages, Slovakia has not yet been sent any refugees from the crisis. Slovak officials say they are waiting for the International Organisation of Migration in Geneva and the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) to decide when the refugees will arrive.According to UN officials, one cause of the delay is a desire to keep the refugees in the Balkans so that they will more easily be able to return to Kosovo. But they also said that organising the transfer is a difficult process and that they are working on the problem.

Finance Ministry wary of rising company debt

Slovak Finance Minister Brigita Schmögnerová said on April 18 that short-term company debt backed by the government could put fresh strain on 1999 spending as ministers seek to slash the budget deficit to half of 1998 levels.Schmögnerová told Reuters in an interview that many short-term, government-backed credits taken by companies for investment should be repaid this year and in 2000."This is private debt but part of this private debt is government-guaranteed. It could have a direct implication for the state budget," Schmögnerová said during the annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which she was attending in London.

Unemployment rise spurs welfare reform

Slovakia's unemployment rate in March set a new record of 17.6%, and Labour Office officials say they expect the figure to rise over 20% before the end of the year. The government, meanwhile, has announced cuts to the nation's unemployment benefits scheme, saying that Slovakia will not meet its 1999 budget targets if the burden on social welfare is not eased.Figures released by the Slovak Statistical Office on April 20 showed that the total number of unemployed people as a fraction of the workforce had jumped to 17.6% from 17.4% in February and 16.4% in January. The average rate for 1998 was 13.9%.In the 1999 state budget, the Slovak government promised to keep unemployment under 15%, but analysts and state officials now say that figure may be exceeded by a wide margin.

Tire maker Matador reports 1998 after-tax profit of 85 million crowns

Public health insurer VsZP ends 1998 2.1 billion crowns in red

Jacobs Suchard Figaro nets 873, 000 crowns last year

Around Slovakia

Teacher-killer given six yearsBBC celebrates sixty years in SlovakiaBridge repairs snarl trafficTiso's death anniversary celebratedSri Lankan immigrants carry dead across border

NGO's call for more government decentralisation

SOP's Schuster: "It's in my blood to be non-partisan"

Rudolf Schuster is considered by pollsters and many political observers to be the favourite to win Slovakia's first direct presidential elections, which are set for May 15. Schuster faces nine other candidates, but has one distinct advantage over the competition - he is the official candidate supported by the nation's four-party coalition government.Three parties trying to form a coalition government last October agreed to support Schuster for president in return for Schuster's promise to join the government with his Party for Civic Reconciliation (SOP). After the deal was done and the coalition agreement signed, much grumbling was heard from government deputies, who asked why the choice of president - meant to be given to citizens in a direct ballot - had been a matter of backroom political bargaining.

Farmers disappointed with protest blockade

A nation-wide protest of farmers against excessive food imports, called for noon on April 16, fizzled when fewer than expected farmers turned out to blockade Slovak border crossings.The farmers were protesting against excessive imports of food and agricultural products to Slovakia. They maintain that almost 73% of food consumed in Slovakia is imported, and argue that excessive imports lower the economic power of farmers and their ability to ward off foreign competition.Farmers blame the situation on the low agricultural subsidies provided by the government in comparison with other countries, making Slovak products more expensive. They accuse the cabinet of showing no interest in supporting the export of Slovak farm products to European markets.

HZDS on verge of radical reform

In its first big step towards regrouping after being voted out of government in last September's elections, Slovakia's largest political entity - the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia - has elected a new leadership and has begun to redefine its role on the Slovak political scene.But the Movement, known in Slovakia for years simply as "the HZDS," is ringed around with doubters, political observers who argue that the HZDS is too divided and still too burdened with notorious personalities to be capable of functioning as a standard political party.At a weekend conference on April 17 and 18, the HZDS confirmed its chairman, former Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar, as leader of the movement.

Education Ministry wants to decentralise school administration

Quote of the Week

Presidential hopeful Schuster to meet top representatives of Poland

Economist Magazine to host round table

Ready or not, auto hi-tech is here

Cars, once used only as a means of transportation, are rapidly evolving into a complete technological entertainment and computer system. What started out with AM radio has escalated into CD systems, car phones and anti-police radar. Now, according to a collection of western companies, the newest toys for cars are satellite-operated navigation systems and televisions.While Škoda and analysts insist that the new technology is a western fad, saying that Slovaks will neither desire it nor be able to afford it, western car producers say that they believe the advancements are the next step in automotive transportation technology and add that some consumers have had no problem shelling out up to 400,000 Sk ($10,000) for computerised extras."We sell quite a few navigation systems," said Mercedes-Benz representative Lucia Mišíková. "They're great- they help us sell cars and they are especially good for people who travel to Austria a lot. People who buy bigger cars usually won't buy them without a navigation system."

Morril Marston new head of US Military Liaison Team in Slovakia

Danish firm eyes ST buy

Danish telecoms operator Tele Danmark, (TLD.CO) is considering entering the upcoming tender for the privatisation of Slovak Telecom later this year, Torben Holm, Tele Danmark International senior vice president, said in an interview.The company will also try to strenghten its holdings in emerging Europe by competing for a GSM 1800 mobile licence in the Czech Republic, the senior executive said on Tuesday.Tele Danmark is already active in Polish mobile operator Polkomtel and sees synergies in a possible acquisition of the Slovak fixed line monopoly Slovak Telecom, whose privatisation is planned for later this year.

Household gas prices may see drastic price increase