Archive of articles - June 2002, page 5

What a piece of work

HAMLET, one of the most staged performances ever in theatre, will be presented twice to the Slovak public in late June, with the prince of Denmark losing his mirth both in a regular theatre as well as on the cobblestones of a western Slovak town.The double billing is not an accident, but is the fruit of two simultaneous theatre festivals called EuroThalia and Cibulák which will run in Slovakia in the last week of June only 15 kilometres apart. A handful of international thespians will perform both recent and classic plays in the capital and on the streets of the nearby wine region town Pezinok.

Slovakia confident after EU accession progress report

DESPITE a recent European Parliament resolution stressing that Slovakia must work particularly hard to fight corruption and defend minority rights, the country's Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Mária Kadlečíková, remains confident that Slovakia's entry into the European Union is irreversible.The Deputy PM was speaking on June 14 at a press conference following the delivery of the European Parliament's regular country report on Slovakia's EU integration progress. The report will be the basis for the EU's key evaluation of Slovakia's readiness for entry, which is expected to be released in October this year."Slovakia has done so much that integration is basically irreversible," Kadlečíková said.

Schuster "powers" debunked by experts

PRESIDENT Rudolf Schuster should bone up on the constitution before promising to use his "powers" to influence the formation of the next government, legal experts say.On a trip to the US and Canada in early June, Schuster gave western diplomats and government leaders a promise he has often repeated - that in the country's upcoming September elections he will use his constitutional powers to help create a cabinet that will not jeopardise Slovakia's western integration aims.Western diplomats have repeatedly said that the return to power of Vladimír Mečiar, the authoritarian leader of the country's most popular opposition party Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), would put a halt to Slovakia's Nato entry bid. Schuster's promise, thus, implies that he could somehow prevent Mečiar from returning to government.

ST monopoly to end in 2003

Reader feedback: Slovakia could learn from UK telecom experience

Top Pick: Meditating on the 20th century

IT IS STILL rare in Slovakia that a museum is founded by art lovers and connoisseurs, its works drawn from private collections. But such is the achievement of the recently opened Milan Dobeš Museum, which is named after one of the most significant Slovak 'constructivist' artists."Friends and admirers of Dobeš's art decided to pull those of his works they owned out of their houses and open them up to the public," said Katarína Hubová, director of the museum, which sits in Bratislava's historical core in a burgher's house built in the 14th century."At first they treated it as a bit of fun, but later, after we collected over 200 works, the dream of establishing a museum became a reality."

Reader feedback: Hot, but not gay

GDP growth rate sparks worries

WHILE Slovakia continues to outpace western countries in economic growth, analysts say that the factors behind the increase are not going to lift the country's living standards in the long term, but instead achieve the opposite.While gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3.9 per cent to Sk244.8 billion in the first quarter of 2002 from the same period a year ago, analysts were heavily critical of the structure of the growth, saying that high consumption and low inflation were not conducive to stable economic expansion.The main problem, say experts, is that the state is spending far too much.

Schuster says he might run again

Around Slovakia

Fiat gathering sets Guinness recordAlleged mob boss dies in car crashRoe deer fawn escapes death by mowingThief photographed in the actJewish museum complains about public events

NBS strikes again

Scandal engulfs SDKÚ party

LIKE A DOWNBOUND train, a public procurement scandal has plunged Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda's ruling SDKÚ party into deep political trouble three months before national elections.While many facts in the case remain unclear, the scandal surrounds a tender commission at the Železničná spoločnosť (ŽSSK) state railways firm that was led by the prime minister's brother Miroslav, a section chief at the company.The commission, formed in 2000 to select a supplier for 35 new light motorised locomotives, last year chose a bid by the Swiss Stadler AG Bussnang and the Slovak ŽOS Vrútky that was over Sk820 million more expensive than a competing offer, according to the Supreme Audit Office state watchdog.

OECD reminds Slovakia of long road

June 18 was tax freedom day

Construction sector despairs of revival

DESPITE strong general economy growth pegged at four per cent this year, the construction sector in Slovakia has still not picked up from its dramatic production drop in 1999, and builders say they need financial support to bring the sector back to prominence in the national economy.Annual production in the Slovak construction industry fell below 4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) last year, far below data in European Union countries, where construction accounts for 8 to 12 per cent of GDP. The number of employees in the sector has steadily fallen from 250,000 in 1990 to 122,000 this year.The reason, say sector players, is cuts in state investment and a general decline in local purchasing power under the reformist 1998-2002 Mikuláš Dzurinda government.

Cibulák: From pig fat to Hamlet

INSPIRED by the French tradition of performing theatre plays on town streets, a group of amateurs from the western Slovak town of Pezinok first organised a meeting of local theatre ensembles in 1987. None of the participants could have guessed their efforts would result in a festival of both local and international importance."We followed the French example where every town, large and small, has its own living theatre tradition," said Rastislav Kuttner from the Fairy-Tale civic association that is organising the local two-day Cibulák festival in Pezinok.

Review: Latest Hallström film no newfie joke

THERE ARE few real storytellers left in Hollywood, but Swedish director Lasse Hallström is definitely one of them.Hallström's two previous projects were adaptations of literary works for the big screen: John Irving's novel The Cider House Rules (Zásady muštárne) and Chocolat (Čokoláda) by Joanne Harris, also a major best-seller.His new movie The Shipping News (Pobrežné správy) is no departure from the tradition. Based on the Pulitzer-prize winning novel of the same title by E. Annie Proulx, it tells the story of the unhappy Quoyle (Kevin Spacey) who after the death of his wife (Cate Blanchett) leaves his old life behind and moves to a small fishing town in Newfoundland where his family originally came from.

Slovak who dreamed of united Europe returns home

MILAN Hodža, a Slovak statesman from the early 20th century whom many rank among the fathers of the European Union, is finally coming home. In a ceremony that will see his remains buried in his homeland this week, Slovak and international figures will remember Hodža as a European Union visionary and a passionate opponent of nationalism.While relatively unknown to many modern Slovaks, politicians and state officials around the world consider Hodža (1878-1944) as the most significant Slovak personality of his time. Having held the highest state functions in his own country, Hodža later won enormous international credit for his vision of a post-war European alignment - today known as the European Union.

Tourism boosters envy foreign promotion budgets

DESPITE the large number of natural beauties and cheap services the country offers, Slovakia is still far from being flooded with tourists spending holiday money and boosting the economy.The problem, say experts, is that Slovakia remains a relatively unknown destination abroad. Insufficient state money for tourism promotion means that foreigners ignore Slovakia for better known destinations in neighbouring countries."Tourism is underestimated by the government in Slovakia. No one perceives it as an industry, as opposed to most other countries where tourism is second in importance behind the car industry. Slovakia has a gift from God - a lot of attractions, which it cannot use," said Ivana Magátova, head of the state-run Slovak Tourism Agency (SACR).