Archive of articles - March 2007, page 3

Fico remains most trusted

AS PRIME Minister and chairman of the ruling party Smer, Robert Fico has been reported to be the most trusted politician in Slovakia.

Case study - Machinery sector investment

AVC Čadca is a leading Slovak supplier to the automobile industry and manufacturers of agricultural and construction machinery. Some 90 percent of its production is exported, 80 percent to EU member nations and the rest to the US. In this market segment contracts are signed for three to five years with the understanding that customers get a two to three percent year-on-year reduction in prices. AVC currently employs 512 people.

E.ON may build new nuclear power station

New crown exchange rate a good sign

SLOVAKIA is in a better position to adopt the euro in 2009 now that the European Central Bank has agreed to a new median exchange rate for the crown, economists say.

New independent factoring firm arrives

WHEN someone purchases an unpaid invoice or claim from a company, paying from 60 to 90 percent of its value up front and the rest after the claim is settled, it is called factoring - and it is a growing business in Slovakia.

"The government's biggest problem"

The puzzle of Robert Fico's governance is slowly being pieced together, and is connected to the nature of the administration. Smer is based on a neo-Marxist ideology translated into the EU context, and represents a return to the economic and social thinking of the 1970s.

Slovakia will not float Eurobonds yet

Around Slovakia

Jobless rate down to 9.2 percent in February

Slovakia wants Schengen entry on schedule

INTERIOR Minister Robert Kaliňák has announced that Slovakia will be prepared when the time comes to join the Schengen zone.

Six ways to corrupt

There are half a dozen ways in which defence corruption can manifest itself, according to Mark Pyman of Transparency International UK. "From the point of view of both the importing government and the society trying to see corruption reduced, they are all equally bad."

EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE

As long as it is, quote, 'transparent'...

THE INTERVIEW with Ľubomír Jahnátek was published in the March 21 issue of the Trend business magazine. What follows is an excerpt: it has been verified against the sound recording for accuracy.

Photographer seeks essays reacting to capital's changed landscape

LIKE EVERY GOOD documentarian, photographer Illah van Oijen is fascinated by human interest stories."Holland has a great tradition of documentary photography that uses a sterile, technical style, but focuses on people," the Dutch native said while sipping tea and speaking to The Slovak Spectator. "I'm trying to return to those roots."

Mafia boss resigns from schools commission

SEVERAL months after being nominated to the Education and Culture Commission in the Bratislava suburb of Lamač, a man police regard as the boss of a Mafia group in the capital, Juraj Ondrejčák, resigned from his post.

Three films show glimpse of life during socialism

AS AN AMERICAN coming to Slovakia years after communism ended, I have always been curious about what life was like here then. Were people as desperate for western goods as we heard?

Rate of long-term unemployed remains the same

Minister lied about support for single health insurer

Opposition requests that Jahnátek step down