Archive of articles - June 2000, page 4

Slovak forests facing uncertain future

Slovakia's picturesque national parks and nature reserves are among Europe's most impressive; indeed, with forests covering over 40% of the nation's total area, Slovakia is the fourth most wooded country in Europe.But the country's trees are a prime example that strength does not necessarily come in numbers. Maintaining a healthy forest is an uphill battle, as environmentalists say that economic interests outwiegh environmental concerns, while irresponsible Slovak firms and citizens further the molestation of the land."There is currently an intense exploitation of Slovakia's forests occurring," said Mikuláš Huba, president of the environmental non-government organisation Society for Sustainable Living. "The forests are now consequently suffering from poor health."

Self-effacing Canadians almost invisible in Slovakia

While there may be as many as 600 Canadians living and working in Slovakia, according to official estimates, one would quite simply never know it. And that, according to many Canadian expats, is just as it should be."For me, the worst thing would be sitting in a café and having someone point and say 'look, there's a bunch of Canadians'," said Daniel Soska, an account manager for Toronto-based telecom firm Nortel Networks. "I don't feel the need to assert myself with my own [national] group."Soska, 32, was born in Bratislava but emigrated to Canada in 1968; he has visited Slovakia almost every year since 1987, and moved here full time last September. Like many Canadian expats, he has blended in with the Slovak environment and makes no effort to seek out the company of his compatriots.

Gavorník abroad: Improving poor English

Štefan Gavorník, the former head of the FNM privatisation agency charged with taking a 17 million Slovak crown bribe to grease a privatisation deal while in office under the Mečiar government, has succeeded where hundreds of ordinary Slovaks have failed. Having been issued a visa by the British Embassy in Bratislava, he is - apparently - happily studying English at a course in Great Britain. He intends - he swears - to return to Slovakia to face any charges against him.The Slovak Spectator certainly doesn't intend to lecture the British Embassy on how to conduct its business. But given the many current and former politicians and state officials now facing charges for fraud and abuse of power, it would help the cause of justice in Slovakia if foreign embassies could resist the powerful arguments of men like Gavorník to be allowed to improve their language skills beyond the reach of the law.

Business Briefs

Vincent Pillar appointed SE general directorSPP: Privatisation plans moving forwardPoštová banka stake to go to state at par value

Review: BIS Tour: Facts a-plenty

The history of Bratislava is one of three distinct cultures sharing a single city. At times the Hungarians, Austrians, and Slovaks lived together peacefully, while at others they elbowed for supremacy. Walking through the Old Town nowadays, it's hard to imagine that for hundreds of years Slovak was Bratislava's third language, a tongue unrecognised in official matters although spoken by a large, underprivileged class.Bratislava's English sightseeing tour - organised by the Bratislava Information Service (BIS) and running weekdays throughout the summer - reflects much of the city's tumultuous past. Dynasties come and go, religions wax and wane, artists live and die, all in the span of one hour.

News Briefs

Social Democrats move towards SOP mergerSHV says Slovak respect for human rights risingFico proposes social benefit cuts as fix for Roma problem

This Week

Markíza TV licence again cast in doubt

The future of Slovakia's most popular television station, the privately owned TV Markíza, is once again in serious doubt. On the same day that a broadcast watchdog announced the station might lose its license for past infractions, police announced an important court document submitted by current Markíza executive director Pavol Rusko in his fight to keep his license from another challenger was a forgery.The fact that both announcements were made within hours of each other on June 6 was no coincidence, according to Rusko, who claimed that "certain political groups" were out to secure the station for their own interests. Whatever the case, the fact that Rusko's court file contained a forgery made him freshly vulnerable to such pressures, media experts said.The recent furore began on June 6 when Peter Juráš, the head of the licence committee of the Slovak Council for Radio and TV Broadcasting (RRTV), announced an internal audit stretching back several years had found Markíza guilty of "several dozen infractions" which would require the imposition of heavy fines. "Under these conditions, the Council is required, not just able, to take the station's license," he told a press conference.

Busines Briefs

Whirlpool brings forward plant expansion plansNBS begins quoting 12-month reference ratesSlovak Telecom privatisation may mean job cutsSlovak Rail has 476 million crown profit for Jan-AprilTatra banka shareholders agree on bondsST to dump Poštová banka stake soon

Community Calendar

International Women's Club in BratislavaAustrian EmbassyInternational Chambers of Commerce SlovakiaItalian Embassy - Film Festival

Street musicians flourishing on city streets

Street musicians are much like plants. They burst onto streetcorners at the beginning of spring, sink roots into their sidewalk spots throughout the summer and autumn, and all but disappear during winter. For city officials and residents, some musicians are as welcome as flowers on a patch of grass, while others are more like weeds disturbing the rhythm of urban life.Since the establisment of independent Slovakia in 1993, Bratislava has grown in size and colour - and so too has its population of street musicians, a phenomenon most city officials and citizens view with delight. "Over the past eight years there has been a tremendous increase in the number of street musicians," said Milan Vajda, spokesman for the Old Town district of Bratislava. "Aside from a few problems with those who are more like beggars, it's wonderful for the city."

Technology galloping forward

Computing-related technologies are really galloping forward at incredible speed. In the old days we were flabbergasted by floppy disks with a capacity of 180 kilobytes and today even the standard CD-ROM with 650 megabytes seems to be insufficient, even though its capacity is approximately 3600 times bigger. Just to illustrate the point: One CD disk can store over 360,000 A4 standard pages of text.From the point of view of the form and technology of recording we have disk, semiconductor and tape media. Nowadays the one that is used most is probably the CD-ROM, which can be found almost everywhere. You see it supplementing printed periodicals, used as a standard software distribution medium, advertising tool, etc. It is also the most widely used medium for audio recordings.Fortunately there are alternatives to the CD-ROM in spite of its ostensible universality. New ways of saving information had to be found especially in connection with digitalisation of certain traditional media. Classical photography, filmmaking and audio recording were areas which "suffered most" from digitalisation. You will probably know the alternative standards' names: ZIP, JAZZ, MO, MD, DVD, Flash-ROM, DV, Mini-DV, Digital-8, and others.

Developing the employee link

There is a positive link between developing employees and the overall performance of an organisation. It derives from the assumption that an educated, highly skilled workforce has a better predisposition to efficiency than one which lacks skills and knowledge.In Slovakia, while there is a relatively high skill level of people graduating from schools (whether high schools or universities), organisations understand the importance of training and the further education of their employees.Training and development is not and should not be the sole responsibility of the employee - it has been (and it should be) considered a joint effort of both partners in the employment relationship. However, the topic needs further, deeper consideration. Too often there is a system or a concept of training missing. A system, which will be a support tool to the organisation's human resource strategy and subsequent business strategy, a concept of development which would be linked with other human resource activities within the particular organisation.

This Week

Patients paying price of poor hospital care

Daniela Gondová (38) lives in one of the concrete blocks of flats deep in the Bratislava district of Petržalka. A former secondary school teacher of French, she has spent the last five years at home since the birth of her daughter, Tatianka, who suffered severe health complications during her delivery. While most children can walk unassisted at 13 to 15 months of age, Tatianka likely never will. Her brain activity is limited and she has only recently begun communicating with her mum by forming barely discernable sounds such as 'ma-ma'.Gondová has suffered every mother's worst nightmare. After a normal pregnancy, Tatianka was expected to be a healthy baby girl. But on Thursday March 16, 1995, something went wrong. Now Gondová is left with the frustrating belief that her permanently brain-damaged daughter would today be leading a normal life if only her gynaecologist had been present during what turned out to be a complicated delivery.

First Portuguese FDI to open doors

A landmark Portuguese investment is set to open the floodgates for more FDI from European states looking to move into Slovakia, and has government officials anticipating significant interest from more Portuguese firms.The $5 million investment by cork-manufacturer Suberus into a plant in western Slovakia's Trenčín (which company officials said came with one eye on the Austrian wine-manufacturing industry) is the first direct Potuguese investment into Slovakia. With trade between the two states at a low level - both imports from and exports to Portugal accounted for 0.1% of Slovak trade last year - the investment is the first step on the road to boosting that figure, and, perhaps more importantly, luring more Portuguese investment."Of course every investment is very positive, but especially the first investment from a particular country is vital because it makes it more possible for other companies to come here from that country," Ivan Mikloš, Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy, told The Slovak Spectator on June 5.

Waste Law to clean up Slovakia

When Environment Minister Lázsló Miklós recently confessed that his country faced a tall order in fulfilling the chapter on environment in the acquis communautaire, Slovakia's national programme for adopting European Union legislation, few environmental observers were surprised. Slovakia, the minister said, lacked the resources and the know-how to raise its national environmental standards to those of its western European counterparts.Garbage, and what to do with it, is a typical problem confronting the Environment Ministry: Slovakia generates too much waste, and does not recycle enough by Western standards. According to ministry statistics, the average Slovak in 1998 produced 322.6 kilograms of garbage, of which only 7.8 kilograms (2.4%) was recycled.

Top Pick: KAUKLIAR - International Mime Festival

With its origin coming from German roots, the word Kaukliar means a person that does seemingly impossible things: an illusionist, magician or conjurer. Bratislava's fifth annual Kaukliar Mime Festival follows the traditions of its German ancestor Gaukler with the aim of bridging differences between western and eastern cultures - all with the help of a bunch of mimes.Established and organised by Aréna theatre director Milan Sládek - the Slovak man-mime among mime-boys - the festival also hopes to monitor the latest development in mime developments while showing the subtle differences between different nations' mime techniques.Also this year, Slovakia will host a traditional Japanese theatre and its presentation of the oldest theatrical form known to modern man.

Ján Čarnogurský: One flew over the cuckoo's nest

One of Slovakia's least popular politicians, Justice Minister Ján Čarnogurský, announced last weekend that he would not run again for the chairmanship of his party, the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH). Addressing a silent press conference on June 4, Čarnogurský needed only two minutes to read his statement, after which he simply stood up and left - closing the door on a colourful chapter in the country's political life.The departure of a man whose party enjoys barely 3% voter support would not merit more than brief comment execpt for one reason: Čarnogurský's rise, fall and self-effacement proves how much Slovakia's political scene has matured in the past decade.A lawyer by profession, Čarnogurský was always at his best when defying someone or something. He spent several months in jail under the communists for sedition, earning moral credit that put him at the fore of the Government of National Unity in 1989, and that kept him at the helm of the Christian Democrats since their founding in 1990.