Archive of articles - April 1999, page 7

No champagne toasts as 1999 budget passed

In December 1997, then-Finance Minister Sergej Kozlík celebrated the approval of the 1998 state budget with a champagne toast for parliament's 150 deputies.Over one year later, the 1999 state budget draft was approved in parliament without fanfare and without champagne. Not only does the new document contain funding cuts for most ministries and state programmes, it also presages other economic austerity measures that will have to be adopted by the government if the budget's fiscal targets for 1999 are to be met."Maybe we'll have a reason to toast with champagne when the next budget is approved," said Finance Minister Brigita Schmögnerová, the principal architect of the 1999 draft. "That one could be a little more satifying," she told the daily Sme a few minutes after 91 of 150 deputies voted in favour of the budget on March 26.

Czechs, Slovaks dispute farm trade

A recent meeting between the Czech and Slovak Agriculture Ministers ended without concrete agreement in the dispute over the trade in farm products between the two countries. However, both sides have scheduled additional meetings and say they expect the squabble over pork, beer and sugar imports to be resolved amicably.Delegations led by Czech Agriculture Minister Jan Fencl and his Slovak counterpart Pavel Koncoš met in the Czech town of Brno on March 26 for talks that lasted until late evening. The main issues covered were quotas recently imposed by the governments of the two countries on agricultural imports.In early March, the Czech Republic imposed import quotas on refined sugar from Slovakia, and set a limit for imports of Slovak pork at 3,500 tons annually. The Slovak government responded on March 24 by limiting imports of Czech beer to 200,000 hectolitres (hl) annually, down from 532,000 hl last year.

NATO air strikes turn Slovaks into doubting Thomases

NATO's military and political leaders are keeping a brave face, but they have surely been taken aback by the wave of European public opposition to the alliance's air strikes against Yugoslavia and the province of Kosovo. NATO's claims that Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic is practicing genocide against the Albanians of Kosovo may work on domestic audiences, but it has had particularly small impact in central Europe, where cultural sympathy lies with the Serbs and past experience breeds suspicion of military alliances.Mobs have pelted US embassies with eggs and insults in capitals across the continent, including Prague, where Czechs - NATO members for less than two weeks before air strikes began - have been venting their disappointment with their new alliance brethren.

1998 current account deficit hits 72.6 billion crowns - central bank

Around Slovakia

Landslide near Domaša reservoirBold ravens seek to dethrone the king of birdsIllegal border crossing of Yugoslav citizens

Bratislava Autosalon, April 13-18: "Fun but ineffective"

Over 100,000 people are expected to visit Autosalon, an automotive exhibition that kicks off on April 13 and runs for five days at the Incheba exhibition centre in Bratislava. Fully 153 exhibitors from 31 different car companies will be displaying their new models at the show, and while they do not expect to sell many cars, they do expect to have a good time.Mercedes-Benz Bratislava and Toyota Tsusho Slovakia are two of the largest exhibitors at this year's Autosalon - Mercedes has secured 950 square metres of space while Toyota has booked over 500 square metres. Both firms said that Incheba's asking price, starting at 800 Slovak crowns per square metre, had caused them to weigh the virtues of participating in Autosalon very carefully."We paid close to 800,000 crowns ($20,000) for the exhibition space we rented this year," said Mercedes-Benz Bratislava Director Július Šabo. "It's very expensive, especially when you consider that few, if any, actual car sales result from such exhibitions."

Quote of the Week

Mafia mass killings inspire fear and anger among Slovaks

On March 25, at about 19:00, three masked men entered the Fontana restaurant in the southern Slovak town of Dunajská Streda and opened fire on the customers, killing 10 people. The gruesome mass murder was the largest in Slovak history.According to Jaroslav Ivor, director of the Interior Ministry's investigation section, all victims had ties to the Slovak criminal underworld. "I can confirm that all persons who were shot were related to one of the victims, Tibor P. [Tibor Pápay], said to be the boss of the Dunajská Streda underworld," he said, adding that all victims had "colourful criminal records."

VSŽ says it is back on track, having secured stand still agreement from creditors

Mafia murders since 1995

* July 6, 1995 - A bomb explodes in a car parked on Štefaniková Street in Bratislava, killing Vladimír Daniš and his brother Jozef. One of the dead was reputed to be a Bratislava underworld boss.* February 6, 1997 - Unknown armed culprits shoot dead Miroslav Sýkora, an alleged underworld boss, close to Bratislava's Holiday Inn hotel.* April 16, 1997 - A bomb explodes in a car parked in the Bratislava suburb of Petržalka, killing underworld figure Peter Križanovič, known as Duran.

Finance Ministry appoints lead managers for Eurobond