Archive of articles - July 1999

Tougher criminal code passes parliament

Soon, offering a bribe in Slovakia will officially be a crime.On July 6, the Slovak parliament passed a wide-ranging amendment to the Criminal Code designed mainly to help the government crack down on economic and organized crime. The amendment, which will make the Slovak legal system more acceptable to its EU neighbours, also defined new crimes, making offering a bribe and possessing child pornography illegal for the first time in Slovakia's history.The amendment, which will take effect on September 1, makes important changes in three main areas of the Criminal Code. The first change establishes a special agency charged with helping uncover organised crime activities through infiltration into criminal groups. Agents will be permitted by law to offer bribes to help to reveal corruption. To avoid internal abuses, the law also sets limits on an agent's powers, warning that his impunity will be forfeit if his actions cause a more serious crime than that which he was investigating; for example, if he causes death to another person.

Pharmacies stage full-day strike to protest non-payment

Complaining that they are not getting paid for the medicines they distribute, Slovak pharmacists around the country staged a protest strike on Tuesday, July 6 by refusing to open their shops for the entire day.The co-ordinated effort shut down all but six pharmacies in Bratislava and all in Trenčín and Nové Zamky. It followed a similar effort one year ago in which pharmacies closed for an hour to protest habitual non-payment by both state and private medical insurance companies."Pharmacies are facing huge arrears from health insurance companies and the state," read an official declaration issued by the Slovak Pharmacists Chamber (SLeK). "The closure of drugstores is not directed against patients, and in fact, it is no longer even a protest. It is a message to the people in responsible positions who are able to grasp the fact that Slovak pharmacies have reached the end of their ropes," it said.

Hungarian language bill defeated

The last condition for Slovakia's return to the vanguard of countries queuing for EU acceptance - the passage of a minority language law - has proven the most trying of all.For over a week at the beginning of July, parliament debated two versions of the long-awaited Law on the Use of Minority Languages. The defeat on July 6 of the proposal advanced by the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) left only one bill in the running for approval before parliament broke for the summer on July 9.The latter proposal, a watered-down version of the tougher Hungarian bill, was likely to be passed by parliament without the support of the Hungarians, SMK leader Béla Bugár told The Slovak Spectator at press time on July 8.

Slovak Telecom profit down for 3rd consecutive year

Community Grapevine

British Council supports summer arts

Horizon brokerage house is building a media empire

Claims of health insurers climbed to 13 billion Sk last year

Eurobond issue may be increased again

Swiss insurance firm to enter Slovak market

Košice: Queen of the east boasts multi-cultural splendour

Slovakia is filled with interesting travel destinations. Read about them all in Spectacular Slovakia, The Slovak Spectator's free travel guide. Call us for more details.Košice may be way out in the east, only a day's train ride from Kiev, but Slovakia's second largest city should not be missed. Slovaks, Hungarians, and a large Gypsy population lend an exotic air to the rapidly revitalizing town. Fifty years ago, the town was asleep in slow decay, until the building of the East Slovak Iron Works (VSŽ) brought it back to life economically.

Corruption watchdog itches to help cabinet repair image

Transparency International, a German non-profit watchdog dedicated to curbing corruption around the world, is finding Slovakia a difficult nut to crack. Officials with Transparency's Slovak affiliate, which was launched in September 1998, say that the Slovak cabinet has shown little interest in using the group to monitor privatisation deals.Emilia Sičaková, the president of Transparency International Slovakia (TIS), says that she has identified several ways in which corruption could be eliminated from public tenders on sales of state property. In the nine months that TIS has been active in Slovakia, however, the Slovak cabinet has called on their services only once - to oversee the sale of a stake in state telecom monopoly ST by the first quarter of 2000.

Lawyer Ernest Valko: "Why am I now the bad guy?"

Ernest Valko used to be a fast friend of the current government. A prominent Bratislava lawyer who specialises in constitutional cases, Valko represented the then-opposition SDK party in almost every important legal challenge it mounted under the former government of Vladimír Mečiar. It was Valko, for example, who defended the SDK against an attempt to have the party declared ineligible to contest last September's elections. It was Valko, too, who helped Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda modify the controversial amnesties issued in March 1998 by acting President Mečiar.

Baseball team takes ninth in Prague tournament

A disappointing ninth-place finish at a recent international baseball tournament should not be taken as the true standard of Slovak baseball, according to the nation's players and coaches.The head coach of the Slovak team, Juraj Bunta, said that while he was disappointed with the final outcome of the June 23-27 "Prague Baseball Week" tournament, he was pleased with the play of his young team. With the help of more American coaches and additional funding for proper equipment, he said, the Slovaks would soon be beating teams they are now losing to in close games.

MUSIC REVIEW: Tiny-town Slovak jazz fest surprisingly good

Jazz. You never really know what to expect when you hear that word. Blues? Swing? Big-band? Mind-blowing expertise? Mediocrity? This is especially true in Central Europe, thousands of miles from jazz's origins, and even more so when the venue for the sounds is a small, Slovak agricultural village of just over a thousand inhabitants.So it was a surprise that the people who came to the Sixth Annual Jazz festival in the quiet southern Slovak town of Domadice found various styles of jazz to chose from, from funk to fusion, straight-forward standards, and a whole lot of blues. Best of all, the music, which filled the streets of the town June 25-26, was played competently-- and occasionally even brilliantly-- by some of the best jazz musicians in Slovakia.

Budget spending restraints continue

MEMO media project monitors coverage of the Kosovo crisis

Resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic

The Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic in Košice, in a council composed of Chairman JUDr. Tibor Šafárik and members JUDr. Ján Klučka and JUDr. Viera Mrázová, at a closed-door session on June 28, 1999 after discussing the proposal of a group of 37 parliamentary deputies, represented by Tibor Cabaj [HZDS], that the court give an interpretation of Article 102, paragraph 1, subsection i) of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic, renders the following

Galleries

Ardan Gallery. 'Female nudes'. This gallery near the Presidential Palace exhbits and sells portraits of female nudes done by Slovak painters. Lermontovova 14, Tel.: 393 235. Open Tues.-Sat., 16:00-19:00.'Leonardo - Painter and Inventor '. The exhibition describes the Renaissance life and work of Italian painter and scientist Leonardo da Vinci. Panská 41, Tel. 54 43 13 14. Open daily except Mon., 10:00-18:00.Medium Gallery --'Adolf Frohner - First People-First Love-First Death'. This gallery, run by the Academy of Fine Arts, introduces contemporary works by a well-known Austrian painter. Organised in co -operation with the Austrian Culture Centre. Hviezdoslavovo námestie 18, Tel.: 54 43 53 34. Open Mon.-Fri., 10:00-17:00, Sat. 10:00-16:00. Ends July 27.

Slovak ČSOB stake attracts EBRD