Archive of articles - August 1999, page 9

Investigations of Lexa and Krajči continue

Slovakia's top police investigator is determined to press ahead with prosecutions of those involved in high-level crimes committed during the reign of former Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar. The decision has infuriated the political opposition, which claims that a high court ruling from June 28 prohibits investigation of the marred 1997 NATO referendum and the 1995 kidnapping of the former President's son.The Mečiar government's handling of the two cases drew widespread criticism from western diplomats, and was one of the main reasons that Slovakia was dropped from the group of front-runner countries for entrance into NATO and the EU.

Law on the Use of Minority Languages

The Slovak parliament, in accordance with the Slovak Constitution and the various international agreements to which the Slovak Republic is a signatory, respecting the protection and development of the basic human rights and freedoms of Slovak citizens who belong to national minorities... has agreed to the following law:1. Each citizen of the Slovak Republic who belongs to a national minority has the right to use, apart from the state language, the language of his national minority (hereafter only 'minority language'). The purpose of this law is to establish the rules for use of minority languages also in official state contacts.

The Bratislava skinny on swimming: Choose pools with care

Summer just invites you to cool down in a pool or a lake. But the question is where to go in Bratislava? There are lots of swimming holes around, but if you choose randomly you run the risk of ending up in a place which is either crowded with people or boring for the kids. Below is a quick insider's guide to some of the major and lesser known Slovak pools and lakes around Bratislava, almost all of which can be reached quickly by public transportation or in an hour or less by bike from the town center.

President Schuster grants amnesties to mark his inauguration

Economy Minister Černák: "We have had some shocks"

When Trnava entrepreneur Vladimír Poór sold a 45.9% stake in Slovak gas storage company Nafta Gbely to American energy giant Cinergy on June 22, he may have known that the government would be furious.He could hardly have anticipated, however, the whirlwind of scandal and rumour which the sale unleashed. Poór has now been charged with fraud, while the top brass of the FNM state privatisation agency have been fired by the cabinet (pending parliamentary approval), and Economy Minister Ľudovít Černák has come under intense criticism for his handling of the case.

US Steel bid disappoints VSŽ and cabinet

The Slovak government has said it will likely open talks with other investors interested in bidding for a capital entry into troubled eastern Slovak steelmaker VSŽ. The cabinet said it had been disappointed with the amount offered for a stake in VSŽ by American steelmaker US Steel, which held negotiations with its Slovak counterparts in London from July 6-7.Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Ivan Mikloš told the SITA news agency on July 13 that after talks with senior VSŽ officials, the government would "probably" now court other investors. Mikloš did not elaborate what other companies might be interested in a capital entry into VSŽ.

Nafta Gbely shares still lost in confusion

The future of the 45.9% stake in lucrative gas storage firm Nafta Gbely remains as murky as ever. The company which now has the shares on its account, Czech investment bank IPB-All, says it acquired the stake as an intermediary for American energy giant Cinergy. Cinergy officials at the company's base in Cincinnati, Ohio, however, say that they have "neither a formal nor an informal agreement" with IPB-All, but that they are performing due diligence on Nafta Gbely in cooperation with their Czech partner.Meanwhile, the Slovak government tasked Economy Minister Ľudovít Černák with coming to an out-of-court settlement with "the current owner" of the Nafta shares. Černák is due to deliver a progress report on negotiations at the beginning of August.

Slovaks travelling less often

The crisis in Kosovo was the main cause of a 33 percent year-on-year decrease of Slovaks vacationing abroad for the period of January through May, said Jana Kozubová, Secretary General of the Slovak Travel Agencies Association (SACK).According to the Ministry of Economy's March "Bulletin of Tourism", the most popular international travel destination for Slovaks is Croatia at 20.8% followed by Greece (14.8%), Italy (14.2%), the Czech Republic (8.2%), Hungary (7.9%) and Spain (7.3%). Kozubová said that Croatia's close proximity to the fighting in Yugoslavia led to the cancellation of many trips to Croatia as well as Turkey.In June, however, travel agencies recorded a surge in demand for Croatian holidays, which they attribute to the end of NATO's bombing campaign. According to Pavol Komora, Satur travel agency director and member of the Slovak Club of Tour Operators, if sales continue to increase, travel agencies could reach levels as high as 75% to 80 % of last year's totals.

The government's report card: C- with a downward trend

The emergency room of Bratislava's sprawling Kramáre Hospital was empty last Monday night. Instead of the usual crowd of anxious walking wounded, a single cleaning lady mopped her way down a silent corridor.Slovakia is a country on holiday at the moment, and none of its citizens are keeping a lower profile than the nation's politicians. Like exhausted schoolchildren, deputies scattered to the winds as the bell rang to end the last parliamentary session on July 10, and will not reassemble until September.Foreign investors, economic analysts and the media have already begun the weary task of compiling report cards on the government's first eight months in power, and the results are not encouraging.

New NBS Governor promises tight monetary policy

Cabinet allots nearly 99 million crowns to flood-affected regions

June inflation at 7.1% year-on-year

Cabinet fails to approve concept for economic development

Pressure builds for cabinet shuffle

Former Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar made a dramatic return to political centre stage on July 13 with two announcements: first, that the current government would not survive its full four-year term in office, and second, that his party, the opposition HZDS, had already held "unofficial" discussions with two government parties about cooperating politically following pre-term elections.Mečiar's statements were immediately refuted by politicians from the government parties mentioned - the Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ) and the Party of Civic Reconciliation (SOP) - but doubts regarding the political future of the current ruling coalition remain nevertheless.

Foreign visitors to Slovakia down in 1999

When the new government took office at the end of last October, it pledged to increase tourism. But to date, no additional state money has been pumped into the sector, leaving Slovakia with a mixed bag of tourism statistics - increased tourism revenue but a decrease in foreigner visits.Between January and April 1999, the number of foreigners arriving in Slovakia was down 10.9% from last year to approximately 7.5 million people, according to the Slovak Statistical Office. However, revenues generated through tourism increased by 41%.Tourism representatives called the money influx deceptive, saying it was a result of inflated prices and an abnormally long winter ski season.

Kosovo refugees in Slovakia are starting to return home

Culture Shock: Deodorant-shy Slovaks are slow to change

Lots of Slovaks say that they can distinguish an American in a crowd very easily. "Almost every American wears a backward cap, shorts, a backpack, white socks, drinks Coke and eats hamburgers," say Slovaks when you ask them to describe a 'common' American. Yes, the description's partially right, I agree. However, what if a Slovak wears the same clothing, drinks the same soda and eats the same food as the American?One could say that what really makes them different is their different languages. That's right. But in Slovakia, there is something even better, a tell-tale distinguishing mark which works even at night. It's a smell. A bad smell. A bad armpit smell of many Slovak men and women over 30 years of age, which strengthens during summer and becomes a bit less dominant as winter comes.

Community Grapevine

Peace Corps in Slovakia

Letter to the Editor: Slovakia no more corrupt than anywhere else