Archive of articles - July 2001, page 5

Hungarians offer know-how for improving Slovakia

Foreign firms spreading nets in Slovak labour market

Slovakia is ever more often becoming a fishing ground for foreign companies seeking to recruit cheap workers to compensate for labour shortages in their own countries.Bratislava's Echo Hotel on June 28 was the scene of the latest recruitment drive. Three mid-management officials from Dublin's Four Seasons Hotel interviewed about 100 Slovaks between the age of 20 and 35, looking for new staff to work for them in Ireland.Such recruitment efforts by western firms are on the rise not only in Slovakia but across the central and eastern European region, human resources experts and firms involved in mediating work abroad said after the Four Seasons event.

SP monopoly law returned to parliament

School: Plea for simplified foreign residence procedures

Katarína Kudláčová is managing director at The Caledonian School, a language school founded in 1999, and which currently employs 40 teachers, 30 of whom are foreigners. The Slovak Spectator spoke to Kudláčová July 2 about problems related to employing foreign nationals in Slovakia.The Slovak Spectator (TSS): Your school has recently advertised for a new job position - coordinator of the foreign teachers' office. Why did you feel that this position was necessary?Katarína Kudláčová (KK): Until recently we employed about six teachers, but after expanding we now have over 40, the majority of whom are foreigners. These people must be secured with official papers allowing them to work. This involves a lot of administrative work, such as organising visas, obtaining official work permit papers and so on.

Bank: Motivation precious commodity

Tatra banka, Slovakia's most profitable bank, has opened nine new branches in Slovakia this year and is looking for employees in 30 different departments. In a sector that pays the highest wages on the Slovak labour market, Tatra banka recently launched a high-profile advertising campaign for new staff. The Slovak Spectator spoke to Tatra banka HR director Ľudmila Hadarová.The Slovak Spectator (TSS): Your bank is the most profitable on the Slovak market, and of all banks, it should have little problem attracting job candidates. Why did you think you needed the campaign?Ľudmila Hadarová (ĽH): While previous campaigns had been successful, we needed new, quality people to work at our bank. Such a campaign is maybe not that usual for many firms in the country, but we see it as a combination of meeting a recruitment aim and making use of a marketing tool. It's a sort of an image event.

Self-employment still tough for expats

While foreigners who want to live and work in Slovakia are technically allowed to set up small businesses as self-employed people (živnostníci), only a few have done so since the first licences were issued nine years ago.The reason, say labour experts, is that setting oneself up in business in Slovakia remains difficult and expensive - particularly for foreigners who lack the language and cultural skills to negotiate the barriers.Nor is this situation likely to change fast. Despite a June 14 revision to the Law on Small Businesses, making it compatible with similar legislation in the European Union, officials who drew up the amendments have said that they don't expect a rush of foreigners requesting a business licence (živnostenský list).

Čičmany: Embroidered Slovak culture

Tucked neatly into the forested hills of northern Slovakia's Strážovské vrchy mountains is Čičmany, the first town in the world to be declared a Reserve of Folk Architecture. A small village with less than 400 inhabitants, the mountain town is well-known for its wooden houses adorned with unique hand-painted designs.The history of the attractive embellishments is rooted in a need to be discreet. In the late 13th century, the Tartars were charging through Slovakia, forcing local villagers - including the Čič family, whence the town's name is derived - to seek sanctuary in the mountains. They found refuge in this remote mountain valley and, cut off from the rest of the world by its surrounding peaks, settled into a traditionally ethnic Slovak lifestyle, meaning that the women wove embroidery and clothes, and the men farmed the land and herded sheep and cows.Having become quite skilled at embroidering, the women eventually decided to decorate their wooden homes' exteriors with the same designs. Today, the symbols - including arrows, clovers, crosses, hearts and various animals - cover the mainly two-storey cottages.

Review: Old Town gallery hosts works of Mail Box #1 creator

Top Pick: European Folk Art - Festival of Obsolescent Historical Crafts

Craftsmen from all over Slovakia and some European countries (including Poland, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Italy) will gather in the historical centre of northern Slovakia's Kežmarok for the three-day European Folk Art festival. Blacksmiths, wood carvers, weavers, ginger-bread makers, goldsmiths, shoemakers and stonecutters will demonstrate the step-by-step processes they employ in creating their traditional handicrafts.The festival, now in its 11th year, will open at 13:00 on Friday, July 13, with a theatrical fencer's show in which the swordsmen will attempt to gain access to the town centre's Hlavné námestie (Main Square) and Hradné námestie (Castle Square), where the more than 200 skilled craftsmen will be situated.

Swine Fever outbreak; over 600 pigs killed

Slovakia moves into EU lead pack

Slovakia June 27 became only the second of 12 European Union candidate countries to close pre-accession legislative 'chapters' on free movement of capital and labour after negotiations in Stockholm with Sweden, the outgoing EU president country.The talks brought to 19 the number of chapters Slovakia has closed in the EU's acquis communautaire (a document laying out the legislative changes new members have to make in 29 areas), while all 10 remaining chapters have now been opened. Chief EU negotiator for Slovakia Ján Figeľ said that the country was now firmly among the leading candidates for entry into the Union."This confirms that we have reached a level where we can be compared with other [candidate] countries," he said.

Tourists: Fewer but richer?

Tourists are spending more in Slovakia, but arriving in smaller numbers, according to data released at the end of June by the central bank.The bank's figures, which compared the first four months of 2001 to the same period last year, showed that total revenues from tourism climbed 15.3% in January to April 2001 over 2000, to 6.45 billion Slovak crowns (a rise of 3.8% in US dollars to $135.4 million). However, 8% fewer tourists arrived in Slovakia during this time, bringing arrivals down to 6.95 million people.Various reasons have been advanced for the mixed results, including changing tourism patterns (a rise in shoppers versus sightseers, and in Westerners against tourists from former communist states), as well as insufficient investment into developing the industry.

Pre-election party engines revving

Parliamentary elections may be over a year away, but Slovakia's political parties have already launched an unofficial pre-election campaign that has seen government and opposition leaders criss-crossing the country and scoring prominent media appearances.Vladimír Mečiar, head of the opposition Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) party, has been featured ever more regularly on public stations STV and SRo radio. Mention of his name jumped from 359 Slovak media reports in April 2001 to 465 in May and 561 in June, according to the Slovakia Online media search engine. Mečiar's party has topped the polls since narrowly winning September 1998 elections, but being unable to form a government.

Reform deal: Eight self-ruling regions

The greatest barrier to reforming Slovakia's system of public administration was removed July 4 when parliament voted by a solid majority to create eight new self-governing regions.The draft Law on Higher Territorial Units, as the reform is known, was supported by 112 members of parliament in the 150-seat legislature; only 27 voted against.Having created the new self-governing regions, parliament also gave them the power to elect governments in the Law on Elections to Self-Governing Regions (supported by 105 MPs). All that remains now is to equip the new regions with fund-raising powers, competencies and assets, for which bills are gradually making their way to the legislature.

How to get a business licence (živnostenský list) in Slovakia

1. A foreigner goes to the tradesman's department (živnostenské oddelenie) at the district office (živnostenský úrad) where he or she wants to register, and files a request for a živnostenský list. The applicant must be over 18, have a valid passport and a clean criminal record in both his or her native country and Slovakia.2. The local živnostenský úrad issues a document confirming receipt of the request, which then has to be taken to the district department of the border and aliens police where the foreigner files a request for a long-term permit to run a business in Slovakia.

Trnava to launch park after BMW rejection

Community Corner

Californian philosopher in BratislavaBritish Chamber of Commerce debateThree-day Folklore festival under PoľanaSlovak movies with English subtitlesHaydn Quartet in PiešťanyStatue exhibition in the Old TownSunday concert in the Presidential GardenAustrian Culture Forum exhibitionGoethe Institute photo exhibitionFrench Institute exhibition

Quote of the Week

"They never were interested in justice, and still aren't today. What else can you expect from communists? As long as these Mečiar amnesties remain valid, it will give all these Pontius Pilates in our courts an excuse to wash their hands andnot convict criminals."

Kidnapping charges against Ivan Lexa dropped