Archive of articles - June 2000, page 5
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Solving contractual disputes
In my article last month I discussed some of the factors which contribute to contractual disputes during a construction project. This month I hope to provide some solutions that a design team can implement to minimise the problems.The main goal is to achieve greater co-ordination between the architects, engineers and cost consultants and between the documentation they produce. The client may appoint an internal or external project manager to oversee, co-ordinate, organise and manage the various consultants appointed to realise the project. This allows the architect, engineers and cost consultants to concentrate on their specific tasks and allows clearer communication between the project team. However, any project manager will have difficulty managing poorly defined design contracts.
Review: Nápoj Lásky: Sensual Italian opera
In his famously lascivious novel, Lady Chatterley's Lover, English storyteller D.H. Lawrence wrote: "Italians are not passionate: passion has deep reserves. They are easily moved and often affectionate, but they rarely have any abiding passions of any sort." In Lawrence's book, when Lady Chatterley goes to Venice she finds adorable, yet frivolous men.It can be said that the works of Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti are the opera world's equivalent of Lawrence's wildly gesticulating Venetians: predictable, buoyant, and concerned far more with sensual pleasure than with profound thought.Not that there's anything wrong with that. The Slovak National Theatre Company is currently performing one of Donizetti's works, Nápoj Lásky (The Elixir of Love), a rendition which proves that performances full of sensual pleasure and short on thinking can still make for a lovely evening.
Under-21 footballers finish fourth, win Olympic berth
Despite a heartbreaking final loss to Spain which snatched the bronze medal from the host nation, Slovakia scored a major triumph in qualifying for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney this September at the the U-21 European Football Championships.Slovakia grabbed fourth place ahead of established European giants such as England, Turkey and the Netherlands, stunning England with a 2-0 victory after defeating Turkey 2-1 and holding the eventual winners and initial favourites, Italy, to a 1-1 draw. Pipped by Italy as winners of their group on goal difference, the Slovaks were denied the chance of meeting the Czech Republic in the final in what would have been a repeat of last month's hockey world championship final. Nonetheless, in beating England and finishing fourth at the tournament, they qualified for the Games.
Profile: Elena Kohútiková
"Your [Slovak] women are excellent. If our men had such women at home they would be very happy."These words, spoken by a foreign delegate during recent OECD admission talks in Paris, have been echoed by hundreds of male visitors to Slovakia over the years. What was unusual about this particular sentiment, however, was that it was inspired by a woman who has played a key role in shaping the Slovak economy for the last seven years - the vice-governor of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS), Elena Kohútiková.Listening to Kohútiková speak for just a few minutes makes it clear she doesn't fit the stereotype of a boring central banker wrapped up in the minutiae of monetary policy. The 47 year-old mother of two moves around her cramped Bratislava office as she talks, gesturing expansively and peppering her observations with laughs and slang expressions.
Interest in SLSP high despite criticism within sector
Despite government claims that a planned international tender at the end of this month for the country's largest bank, Slovenská sporiteľňa (SLSP), has attracted massive international interest, ministers are having to fend off criticism from within the banking community that their privatisation plans have gone awry.The head of Ľudová banka, Jozef Kollár, said June 1 that the government had lost its way with its privatisation programme for banks. "For now it is clear that it is impossible to keep the timetable for privatisation set by the Slovak cabinet," Kollár said.The government last autumn outlined plans for privatising three state-owned banks: Investičná a rozvojová banka (Investment and Development Bank - IRB), SLSP (Slovak Savings Bank) and Všeobecná úverová banka (General Lending Bank - VÚB).
Portuguese expats in Slovakia longing for compatriots
"You want to write an article about the Portuguese community in Slovakia? I didn't even know there was one!" exclaimed Nuno Viana, a 40 year-old Portuguese native from the northern town of Porto.Officially numbering only a handful of natives, the Portuguese community in Slovakia is like that of many other foreign nationals - isolated and estranged, but on the brink of enlargement as Slovakia becomes better known as a travel, work and investment destination.Viana himself arrived in Slovakia in 1998 when his firm sent him to assume his post in the board of directors at Union insurance company. "It was not a deliberate decision to come here, but after some time I've come to like it," he said. "I love the High Tatras, and the beautiful area around Poprad."
Secret counsel nixes Schmögnerová post
Feeling wanted but bitterly disappointed, Finance Minister Brigita Schmögnerová waxed philosophical over a recent decision by two senior government colleagues not to allow her to take an important foreign posting."After the famous Slovak writer Laco Novomeský was released from prison, he responded to the question of whether he'd been disappointed by saying that 'disappointment does not accurately describe my feelings'," the Finance Minister said.Schmögnerová's melancholy was the result of her having missed out on the chance to become Executive Director of the European Economic Commission (EEC), a posting which analysts said would have been the most prestigious ever given to a Slovak. But the honour is not to be, since Slovak Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda and Foreign Affairs Minister Eduard Kukan decided not to inform Schmögnerová of the EEC's interest because, they reasoned, she was simply too important a cabinet member for the government to lose.
Kováč Jr. post: 'moral compensation'
The lengthy Michal Kováč Jr. saga may finally have reached its denouement. After being violently kidnapped in 1996 and smuggled across the border to Austria where he was dumped in front of a local police station, compensation for the act has come in the form of a diplomatic posting for the former Slovak president's son.On May 11 Foreign Affairs Minister Eduard Kukan appointed Kováč Jr. to the position of third secretary at the Slovak Embassy in India, where he will work as a consular officer. Although no official date has yet been set, Kováč Jr. is expected to assume his position sometime in the autumn.The decision brought criticism from the opposition Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and the Slovak National Party (SNS), both of whom said the appointment was another non-transparent act by the ruling government and the Foreign Ministry.
Pulp and paper industry booming
Slovakia's booming pulp and paper industry is moving ahead of other domestic industrial sectors in the country. Impressive growth figures for the last few years underscore the important investments in the sector that have kept Slovak firms on a competitive footing with their western counterparts.Figures released at the end of May by the Pulp and Paper Research Institute (VÚCP) have shown that 70% of the industry's expected 700,000 tons of pulp and paper production for this year will be exported, the main buyers being supermarket chains in the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria and Germany.VÚCP director Štefan Bohačík said investment was also beckoning, with high-level talks underway with the US firm International Paper and Sweden's Stora Enso.
News Briefs
One in four Slovak Roma live in a gypsy villageMoravčík warns Bratislava city debt will bring cutsČarnogurský gives up candidacy for KDH top spotFarmers appeal for government aid as drought bitesRoman Kováč remains as SDK caucus chairman
Letters to the editor
Improving higher education not as simple as it looksGo Slovakia!Beautiful Bratislava needs volunteers
Around Slovakia
Pilot crashes at Children's Day Air ShowLocal mayor beaten up in bar fightAlcoholic husband murders wife in her sleepHungry bears kill five mountain sheepNitsch's Theatre of Orgy and Mysteries banned in RužinovHidden camera catches 'hardcore party'
Review: Live Fire lacks spark, lost in post-modernism
"Once upon a time there was, well, nothing much to speak of."With this bathetic flourish Lajos Grendel ends his first novel, Live Fire - a sarcastic take on history and almost everything else under the sun. But while Grendel may not have intended it, his concluding line sums up perfectly the author's own first attempt at prose.Grendel might well argue that this is exactly the point. Live Fire is more of a series of essays than a novel, and sets out to prove that fiction is incapable of reflecting life; instead, the book suggests, history is a far better vehicle for portraying humanity. But the ambitious project misses the target, leaving the reader stranded in a messy plot burdened with platitudes and hollow confessions.
Beer: Keeping social traditions alive
Rasťo, 30, is an amateur mountaineer and a member of Slovakia's diplomatic corps. After a four-hour run last year through the country's Mala Fatra mountains, he sniffed out a tiny pub in a sleepy highland village. "Get a load of this," he laughed, his eyes alight with mischievous humour: "The beer here is only nine crowns a pint!"Rasťo's delight is understandable. In a country where consumer prices have risen almost 20% in the last year, it is remarkable that Slovak beer - arguably one of the best in the world - is still available in some pubs for less than 25 cents. It's even more remarkable that breweries have allowed their product to remain so cheap - the average profit margin on a pint in this country is 2 cents, compared to 90 cents in Australia.
Local brewers still sour on Heineken
Four months after receiving the go-ahead from the Anti-Monopoly Office watchdog to purchase Slovakia's Martiner and Gemer breweries, Dutch beer giant Heineken is still facing accusations from locak competitors of unfair market concentration. But with official approval and an already solid Slovak presence from its ownership of popular brands Zlatý Bažant and Corgoň, Heineken's massive 40% market share does not appear to be going flat any time soon.Western Slovak brewery Topvar, of Topoľčany, late in May filed a complaint in the Supreme Court asking judges to reexamine the monopoly office's decision on the merger. While the court has not yet handed down a decision, both Heineken and the Anti-Monopoly Office have maintained that the deal was fair and complied with all Slovak regulations and anti-trust laws, in addition to falling in line with those set out in western countries.
Community Calendar
International Women's Club in BratislavaAustrian EmbassyHash Run
VSŽ deal pays OECD dividends
A US about-face on its support for Slovakia's entry to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), less than 24 hours after a crucial strategic investment deal was given the go-ahead, left both US and Slovak government officials robustly denying that Slovakia was prostituting its top firms to buy its way into western organisations.Shareholders' approval of a Memorandum of Understanding on the sale of the eastern Slovak steel maker VSŽ Košice to Pittsburg-based steel giant US Steel on May 25 was followed on the following morning by an announcement from US Chargé d'Affaires in Slovakia, Douglas Hengel, spelling out US support for the OECD entry.
Letters to the editor
Matica should give up search for enemies
SDĽ fights retreating battle
With his boyish good looks and engaging grin, 27 year-old Braňo Ondruš looks like the answer to a dying political party's prayers. Having decided to run for the vice-chairmanship of his ruling coalition Democratic Left Party (SDĽ) at its July 8 national congress, Ondruš leads a new generation of young SDĽ politicians seeking to redefine the socialist party's platform and boost its voter support. And yet, despite having studied political science at Bratislava's prestigious Comenius University and having spent time at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Ondruš supports a hardline wing of the SDĽ under party chairman Jozef Migaš that has recently been associated with clientelism and accused of destabilising the Slovak government - behaviour Ondruš himself says he abhors.
...all cut from the same mould?
We Americans stick out in a European crowd. Even though I'm from the States and even though it frustrates me to no end when I'm 'outed' at first glance, I've come to accept this truth. How can I argue when I too can immediately spot my own kind?I've studied the phenomenon enough to know that it's not a few identifiable things, but an overall unrestrained way of movement, dress and behaviour. We Americans, as the expression goes, have no shame. Having been raised with expectations of being cowboys, movie stars, or captains of industry, the most desperate failure in American society is to not stand out.For those of us Americans interested in Euro-assimilation, perhaps the most difficult habit to overcome is learning to not shout in public - I, actually, had to learn that I was shouting in the first place. Even after much hard work, I still occasionally regress: While waiting in line at a bank, for example, I'll turn to a friend and start telling a story. Five minutes later, emerging from whatever tale I had plunged into, I look up to find a tense, reddened face nervously avoiding my eyes. Once again I've embarrassed someone terribly with my volume.
- Slovak female triathlete shatters barriers with historic win at Himalayan event
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- Convicted of multiple murders, Slovakia’s mafia boss seeks release from prison
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- Slovakia loses another EV model to Spain as Stellantis chooses Zaragoza over Trnava
- News digest: Prosecutor seeks jail for NBS Governor Kažimír as his political support wanes
- UK appoints Bilal Zahid as new ambassador to Slovakia
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Slovakia loses another EV model to Spain as Stellantis chooses Zaragoza over Trnava
- News digest: Prosecutor seeks jail for NBS Governor Kažimír as his political support wanes
- Convicted of multiple murders, Slovakia’s mafia boss seeks release from prison
- Slovak female triathlete shatters barriers with historic win at Himalayan event
- News digest: Fico’s bloc wants to save money by restricting electoral access
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- 3 free things to do in Bratislava in the next seven days
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners
- Digital Jarvis is real now. He is coming for your to-do list
- The Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- The disinformation scene has become a tool of media capture
- Maria Theresa on the banks of Bratislava
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- A mayor resigns over €2.7 million fraud scandal at town hall
- He designed Gatwick. But this is his masterpiece
- Fico praises China and Vietnam as models, says liberal democracy has failed
- News digest: Violent gang in Bratislava is under arrest
- The Kremlin’s security agency has a Russian contractor in Slovakia - no one has noticed
- The compass points to Kúty, and people are starting to follow
- News digest: Prosecutor seeks jail for NBS Governor Kažimír as his political support wanes
- Slovakia loses another EV model to Spain as Stellantis chooses Zaragoza over Trnava
- Slovak female triathlete shatters barriers with historic win at Himalayan event
- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- News digest: Fico’s bloc wants to save money by restricting electoral access
- Slovakia plans to restrict access to new medicines amid funding shortfall
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners More articles ›
