Archive of articles - April 2002, page 5

DMD Holding management changed

Cabinet may avoid budget changes

US Congress reacts in Roma journalist case

Vandals destroy Jewish graves

Hungarian opposition wins elections

HZDS re-elects Mečiar

Sovereignty bill fails by two votes

Letter to the Editor: Austria no axis member

EC warns Slovakia of current account deficit

STV debt continues to rise

Left bloc to form in May

FOUR LEFT-wing parties have agreed to form a political bloc in the run-up to the September parliamentary elections.The Slovak Workers Party (SRS), Labour and Development Party (SPR), the Slovak Left Unity (JSĽ), and the Slovak Revival Movement (SHO) signed the agreement on April 13. None of the parties had more than one per cent voter support.The bloc's name and leadership will be decided at a May 11 founding convention.

Letter to the Editor: Let the voters decide

Quote of the Week

UPC cable case taken to President Schuster

CABLE provider UPC's continuing refusal to meet the demands of a Slovak market regulator was the topic of a meeting between President Rudolf Schuster and the Slovak Association of Consumers.In the April 15 meeting, Association head Julius Koval called UPC pricing "the most urgent problem in consumer protection", and complained of the inability of state regulatory bodies to enforce price regulations set last year.

Tender for new jets in July

September 15 deadline for EU laws

Sapard funding announced

Energy distributors attract 10 binding offers

THE PRIVATISATION of Slovakia's electricity distribution sector entered its final phase in mid-April with the submission of 10 binding offers for 49 per cent stakes in the country's three regional distributors - Western Slovak Power (ZSE), Central Slovak Power (SSE) and Eastern Slovak Power (VSE).The restructuring and eventual privatisation of the Slovak energy sector, a project launched in 1998, first separated the three distribution companies from the main state electricity producer, Slovenské elektrárne (SE), and then planned to sell off both distributors and at least chunks of SE itself.

Home not so sweet

"NO OTHER language irritates Slovaks like Hungarian," says Tamás Szarka, 37, the vocalist and violinist of the Ghymes band (pronounced gee-mesh) from the southern Slovak town of Galanta.Szarka should know - Ghymes' music has Hungarian lyrics, and has met little popularity among the ethnic Slovak majority.The reason, he says, is history. Slovaks lived under Hungarian domination for almost a millennium, during which time use of the Hungarian language was enforced and Slovak independence efforts were quashed. The wounds of history says Szarka, have taken a long time to heal, and still breed dislike for the Hungarian language among Slovaks.