Archive of articles - December 2011, page 2
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Danubiana to become Slovakia’s national museum of modern art
Slovakia will have its own national museum of modern art by 2014 by expanding the Danubiana Museum of Modern Art in Čunovo, near Bratislava, said Culture Minister Daniel Krajcer a press conference on December 19, the TASR newswire reported. Krajcer said the new institution should become a venue for fine and visual art exhibitions, a library and documentary centre. The project will be overseen by the Slovak Centre of Visual Art, a civic association that will be financed by the Danubiana Museum and the Culture Ministry. The ministry has secured €7 million from the state budget for the project. Earlier reports noted that the Danubiana was in serious financial trouble and probably would not survive without state support.
Survey on foreigners’ perception of nations ranks Slovakia 38th out of 50 countries
An international survey developed by a national branding expert, Simon Anholt, conducted in 2011 in which people's perceptions of foreign countries were assessed, resulted in Slovakia finishing 38th out of 50 countries, the TASR newswire reported. The head of the Slovak Tourism Agency (SACR), Peter Belinský, told TASR that around 20,000 people evaluated individual countries in a survey focused on the image and reputation of various nations.
Radičová offered opportunity to teach at Oxford University
Outgoing Prime Minister Iveta Radičová has been offered the opportunity to teach some courses at Oxford University where she plans to spend at least one semester, the Plus Jeden Deň daily reported.
Slovglass files for bankruptcy and lays off employees
The Slovglass glass-making company in Poltár in Banská Bystrica Region will dismiss about 390 people as its management asked the district court in Banská Bystrica to announce the bankruptcy of the company. The layoffs will increase the unemployment rate in Poltár district to 27 percent, the TASR newswire reported on December 18.
Doctors end their strike alert
The Doctors’ Trade Unions Association (LOZ) ended its strike alert on December 16 after President Ivan Gašparovič signed the amendment to the law on health-care providers that fulfils the basic demands of the doctors, the TASR newswire reported.
OECD and NBS see better economic growth in 2012 than the Finance Ministry
The Financial Policy Institute (IFP), working under the Finance Ministry, has prepared an analysis in which it included various scenarios for Slovakia’s economic growth for next year and its effects on the state budget deficit, the SITA newswire reported on December 16.
Poll shows Ordinary People party would make it to parliament
If parliamentary elections had been held at the end of November, the party of Ordinary People and Independent Personalities chaired by Igor Matovič would have made it to the parliament, according to a poll conducted by the Focus polling agency. The poll, made by special request from public-service broadcaster Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS), was conducted between November 29 and December 6 and involved 1,048 respondents, the TASR newswire reported.
Václav Havel, Czechoslovakia's first post-communist president, dies
THOUSANDS of people gathered in the streets of Prague and other Czech cities to grieve the death of dissident-turned-president Václav Havel on December 18. News of his death also provoked widespread reactions among the Slovak public, and among Slovakia's leading political and cultural figures, many of whom were close friends of Havel.
How Havel changed my life
IT WAS a frigid evening during the first week of January 1990, as I walked through the heart of Bratislava’s Old Town with my grandfather. A man made an announcement from the top step outside the Jesuit church, and the small crowd that had assembled was buzzing. Even by the heady standards of those days immediately after the Velvet Revolution, this throng was noticeably excited.
May: The top business stories of 2011
New gas power plant opens. A combined-cycle, gas-fired power plant in Malženice in Trnava Region opens on May 1. The plant can produce 3 billion kWh of electricity per year. Construction took 26 months with a total investment of €400 million, the largest power plant built by E.ON in Slovakia in recent years.
Teamsters show off their horses
JANUARY
NBS predicts slower GDP growth
THE NATIONAL Bank of Slovakia (NBS), Slovakia’s central bank, has made a major change in its prediction for economic growth in Slovakia for 2012. While its previous prediction was for growth in gross domestic product (GDP) of 3.8 percent, the most recent prognosis forecasts growth of only 2.3 percent, the SITA newswire wrote on December 13.
What a difference a year makes
IF 2011 has taught us one thing, it is that nothing should be ever taken for granted in politics. Anyone who thought twelve months ago that the country was set to walk the road of common, everyday politics, free of major turbulence given that it had a pro-reform centre-right government with four ruling parties who claimed to share each other’s values, has had a rude awakening.
December: The top business stories of 2011
Slovnaft invests in new technologies. The Slovnaft refinery and petrochemical company, a subsidiary of MOL, announces plans to invest €300 million in plastics production technologies to bolster its competitiveness and improve pollution control by adding a new production line that can make nearly 30 kinds of polyethylene. The project will start in 2012 and be completed in 2015.
Corruption still in focus
Throughout 2011 the cabinet of Iveta Radičová continued to emphasise its efforts to fight corruption and bring more transparency into the public sphere. Since January 2011, all Slovak state, regional and municipal offices have been required to publish their contracts, paid invoices and purchase orders online. The publication of this information, designed to show how government entities spend public money, has already helped the media to uncover questionable spending at some Slovak ministries and state-run companies. Many observers say the law’s potential to reduce corrupt dealings in government is comparable to the passage of Slovakia’s law on public access to information in 2000.
Minister sacked over wiretapping scandal
Wiretapping of journalists’ telephone calls by the Defence Ministry’s counterintelligence arm cost the defence minister, Ľubomír Galko, his job in late November. However, as the wiretapping scandal, which involved the Military Defence Intelligence (VOS), unfolded the public learned that one of the journalists monitored on Galko’s watch was also wiretapped when the ministry was controlled by a nominee of the Smer party back in 2007.
'There is a split; it is likely to deepen'
THE DEVIL will be in the detail of the European agreement, produced at a crunch summit in Brussels on December 8-9, that consenting parties are expected to sign in March, suggests Vladimír Bilčík, a political scientist specialising in European issues at the Slovak Foreign Policy Association. The Slovak Spectator spoke to Bilčík about the summit and its aftermath.
Dear readers
This is the last issue of The Slovak Spectator for 2011, which gives us the opportunity to thank all our readers for their loyalty during the year. We are about to wrap up a very challenging year, during which our journalists reported on the closely watched bailout vote that ultimately brought down the government of Iveta Radičová, the departure of the defence minister over a wiretapping scandal, and the adoption of legislation designed to bring more transparency to the judicial and prosecution systems, among many other subjects.
Quote of the week
“They expect a mega-success, and they expect they will not need anyone, because they are headed by a mega-brain that can manage everything, control everything, and offer a solution to everything.”
MPs pick new guardian of rights
A FORMER judge and recipient of a civic courage award, Jana Dubovcová, has waited almost a decade to become Slovakia’s public guardian of rights – a job which she describes as the one she has always wanted. After her first unsuccessful bid in 2002, Dubovcová was finally elected on December 13, 2011, to replace Pavel Kandráč, whose second term in the role of ombudsman will expire in late March 2012. While the centre-right parties said Dubovcová was a good choice for the top job at the Office of the Public Defender of Rights, the largest opposition party, Smer, called the move a “very bad pick”.
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- A mayor resigns over €2.7 million fraud scandal at town hall
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- He designed Gatwick. But this is his masterpiece
- Fico praises China and Vietnam as models, says liberal democracy has failed
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- 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 ›
