Archive of articles - January 2000, page 4

Constitutional Court judges take seats

As nine new Constitutional Court judges prepare to take their seats on January 22, law professionals are cautiously predicting an improvement in the quality if not the independence of Slovakia's highest judicial body."From the viewpoint of legal expertise, the new court will be on a high level, and will be an improvement on the outgoing court," said Ernest Valko, who served as chairman of the Czechoslovak Constitutional Court in 1992.Katarína Zavacka, a legal scientist at the Slovak Academy of Science's Institute of State and Law, said that several of the new justices had served as advisors to the former court, while two others had served on legislative committees in parliament for many years. The combined legal experience of the new justices, she said, as well as their international reputations, made the overall bench "not too bad."

Slovak brokerage firms singing the stock market blues

It's quite simply a terrible time to be a stock broker in Slovakia. The situation on the Bratislava Stock Exchange (BSE), in the words of a senior BSE official, is "very, very horrible," with almost zero liquidity and few shares trading hands. Even the country's largest banks, which handle the lion's share of activity in state bonds, are complaining that falling interest rates on state paper threaten to bite into their profits. Small brokerages, meanwhile, say that the year 2000 may be the worst yet.Trading in listed shares fell to 5.2 billion Slovak crowns in 1999 from 14.5 billion in 1998 and 45.4 billion the year before that. The market has continued stagnant in 2000; on Wednesday January 12, no stock was traded and overall turnover fell to $15,900. The official SAX index was unchanged at 78.25, near its all-time low.

US Air Force jets on Slovak skyline

KUCHYŇA: Life in this sleepy western Slovak village (pop. 1,500) is about to get a whole lot noisier. Inhabitants are bracing for two weeks of training exercises this April by US Air Force F-16 Falcons, manoeuvres which will have jets screaming over the rooftops and citizens crying for financial compensation.The training exercise was arranged almost a year ago, when Slovak Deputy Defense Minister Jozef Pivarči and the commander of the US Air Force in Europe, John P. Jumper, signed a deal allowing the American military to use the Kuchyňa Air Base for training its pilots. The agreement was hailed as yet another sign of improving relations between the US and Slovak governments.

Review: Photographs capture harsh village life

Demanding notice just opposite Comenius University in downtown Bratislava is a huge billboard with a black and white photograph of a lonely man walking back to his village after a day in the fields. Passerbys stop in their busy tracks to pause in front of this image, a reflection on 20th century Slovakia's storied village past.More is to be found inside the Slovak Art Union hall next to the billboard, where an exhibition of pictures by photographer Martin Martinček and a 40 minute video paralleling the photos is on display.The photographs, taken in the late 1960s, capture the lives of people who had spent their entire life in their village. These aren't just pictures of ordinary people in rough conditions, but a nostalgic tribute to a generation who faced the harsh elements and lived life fully.

Community Calendar

American Chamber of CommerceInternational Women's Club BratislavaThe Bratislava Hash Harriers

Culture Shock: Strange beasts: A decade of expat teachers

Among all the media 'retrospectives' inspired by the new millenium and the tenth anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, one tale was conspicuously absent: that of the expats who have passed through Slovakia in the past decade. The omission is curious, for how much richer a gallery of oddballs could any writer want?Without doubt, most of the foreigners who have lived and worked in Slovakia for the past 10 years have not been in the least odd, and have contributed handsomely to the investment and intellectual capital the country has amassed since 1989. But given the rather specific emotional attributes of people who exchange home and hearth for lives as expats - self-sufficiency, independence, open-mindedness and a taste for adventure - the foreign community in Slovakia has naturally known more than its fair share of characters.

Tax incentives fail to inspire investors

After the wretched failure of an April, 1999 tax incentive package to lure foreign investors to Slovakia, a new and ostensibly more attractive draft went into effect January 1. Less than two weeks later, however, foreign analysts had begun to voice their disappointment in the new legislation as well, which they said still made it too difficult for companies to qualify for a tax holiday.The critics' main concerns have been that the minimum required capital investment was too high, that a rule regarding goods not made in Slovakia was too vague, and that the foreign to domestic capital ratio for joint ventures was not attractive. The Finance Ministry, meanwhile, has admitted shortcomings in the new draft, but has said that more generous terms might endanger budget revenues.

Finance Ministry axes state slush funds

Slovakia took its first painful step towards reforming public finances in January with the politically sensitive cancellation of a majority of state funds. The cuts were announced during a January 3 press conference by Finance Minister Brigita Schmögnerová, and aim to meet one of the European Union's 'Copenhagen criteria' for membership - control of state budgetary spending.The cuts effectively terminate eight out of 12 existing state funds in the first quarter of 2000. Although the move will not bring great savings, it represents the first in a series of expenditure reductions planned by the government for this year.Analysts welcomed the plan, one which they had been demanding for over a year, but officials with the funds and the ministries which administer them warned that the government would now be unable to meet the targets in its programme for 2000.

Slovakia losing patience with Roma

Slovakia is slowly becoming a less xenophobic country, with the passage last year of a minority languages law and the presence of Hungarian minority political representatives in the government. But as the recently renewed exodus of Slovak Romanies has shown, there's still plenty of work to be done before questions of ethnicity are dealt with rationally.According to press information, a Czech Airlines plane took 73 Slovak Romanies to Helsinki, Finland on December 31, 1999. More Slovak Romanies have been arriving since then to apply for asylum, and the Finnish government was to decide on January 13 whether to re-apply a visa restriction for Slovaks.

Letters to the editor

No better choice than Dzurinda

Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda has aged visibly during his 14 months in power. His once-long hair has been shorn and has greyed heavily. His eyes, which during the heady election campaign of 1998 seemed lit by ambition, are now ringed with exhaustion.Dzurinda's weary mien tells an eloquent tale of the battles he has fought as prime minister. While succeeding in his goal of bringing Slovakia into the orbit of western alliances such as the European Union and NATO, he has been less effective on the domestic political front, and has been harshly criticised for his failure to bring order to the warring factions within his own party, the Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK).

Slovak Cuisine

Malý Františkáni $Pod Baštou $$ Prašná Bašta $$Brit Restaurant $$

LAST WORD

Zuzana Horčíková, head of the Tariff Services department of the Bratislava City Transport Office, spoke with The Slovak Spectator on January 13 to explain the changes effective January 1 to the public transport system in the capital.The Slovak Spectator (TSS): Fares for tickets have been changed, and a new system introduced whereby travellers can use one ticket to combine rides on different buses and trams. Why the changes?

Top Pick: Three-day film festival showcases European beauty

Friday January 21 - Sunday January 23An excellent array of films meant to showcase the wonders of European cities and countryside comes to Bratislava in a three-day film festival, Tourfilm 2000, our pick of the week. The event is touted as the third annual film festival looking at tourism and travel movies, but also has a few films that take a look at what cities might look like in the future.Most of the films glorify their subject, but we still recommend checking out an enchanting romantic look at Paris by famous French film makers including Jean-Luc Goddard showing at the Mladosť cinema on Saturday at 18, and to bask in Prague's glory in the film Life in Prague, also at Mladosť cinema but on Friday at 18.

Corporate Briefs

Telekom Austria a serious bidder for Slovak TelecomSCP Ružomberok sales hit 8 billion Sk in 1999

Review: Global Report in a class of its own

It's early December, and Grigorij Mesežnikov is on the phone to America. "Yes, Zorka," he says soothingly, "I'll make sure the changes are made." Several seconds pass, and his knuckles whiten around the receiver. "Yes," he repeats, "I'll make sure."This scene was replayed countless times at the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) think tank at the end of last year. Mesežnikov, as IVO President, was committed to produce the english-language version of the country's only reliable almanac - the Global Report on the State of Society - before Christmas.The authors of the book's 20 chapters, however, all had the right to approve the changes made to their work, which had passed through the hands of up to five editors, translators and proofreaders. A trial of patience any way you slice it.

Letters to the editor

Top Pick: Mimes express our hopes and fears of 21st Century

A wonderfully choreographed modern dance performance by actors of Aréna Theatre, Bratislava's mime studio, puts to movement the hopes and fears of the coming 21st century. Directed by the famous Slovak mime Milan Sládek and showcased in the beautiful old theatre near the Petrzalka football stadium the premiere show of 2000 is called "Labyrinth MM - End and Beginning".The collection of acts is part of Project 2000 which has brought young people from cities all over Europe including Dresden, Lyon and others. In the show the Slovak actors give a reinterpretation of Gustav Flaubert's novel "Temptation of St.Anton", and features short acts asking the questions like "Who We Are, Where We Come From and Where We Are Going".

Business Briefs

NBS sets inflation target at 4.5% to 5.8% for 2000Cabinet to settle state debts from ČSOB sale proceedsFinMin plans 500 million EUR in Eurobonds for 2000J. P. Morgan wins advisory tender for Slovak bank salesBudget deficit goal kept, analysts point to public sector2000 trade deficit projected at 20 billion crowns