Archive of articles - October 2012, page 14
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A reminder of Slovakia’s dark past
"GO AND LIVE." Imagine the strength it would take for a parent to have to utter these words to his or her four-year-old child, knowing that they are about to part ways forever before setting out on a journey of no return. The father of Judith Mannheimer said these very words to her as he was boarding a train bound for Poland, the last transport of Jews dispatched from Slovakia to Auschwitz. Judith did obey him; she went and lived. And now, many decades later, she is here to tell her story.
The Night in Cave introduced bats as likeable animals
Visitors taking part in the Night of Bats, on September 12, got the chance to meet bats up close and get to know them as useful and likeable animals. The event took place, as in previous years, in the Jasovská Cave, not far from Košice.
Open for modern theatre
“OPEN FOR Everything” was not just the title of the opening piece at the Divadelná Nitra international theatre festival, but also a description of the festival’s audiences: from dance/body theatre, through screenings and multi-media, to “documentary theatre” and research, the plays performed between September 21 and 26 offered anything but classical drama.
Quote of the week
“It is part of an MP’s equipment. This is some kind of discrimination.”
Slovakia to make first ESM payment
SLOVAKIA will send cash to the European bailout mechanism as early as this month since the country must pay its first two cash instalments, worth almost €264 million, into the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) by October 12.
Harnessing the sun
THERE are now photovoltaic power stations with an aggregate installed capacity of 512 MW operating in Slovakia. Last year they generated 310 GWh of electricity, about 1.1 percent of the electricity produced nationwide, the Economy Ministry reported in early September, the SITA newswire wrote.
The green source of wealth
LOOKING at the Bratislava Castle hill and surrounding slopes in this 1914 postcard we can see that many things look different from how they do today. Firstly, the castle was still a ruin; its reconstruction was to come several decades later. Many Bratislavans did not take the city’s dominant landmark seriously and called it “a bed turned upside down”.
Air Show was not marred even by clouds
More than 10,000 people came to watch the Slovak International Air Fest (SAIF) 2012 on the weekend of September 1 and 2 in Sliač. Almost one hundred planes and helicopters from 14 countries lured visitors, and on the Sunday, September 2, the weather improved to show its nicer side, the TASR newswire wrote.
Freedom Cycling Bridge beat Chuck Norris in the end
In the end, Slovak regional officials rejected the results of an online poll asking what name locals would prefer for the new pedestrian and cycling bridge near Bratislava. The “Chuck Norris Bridge” received more than 12,000 popular votes but regional representatives finally, on September 21, approved the name “Freedom Cycling Bridge”. The Bratislava region agreed on this name together with their Austrian counterparts, the SITA newswire wrote.
New law to change allocation scheme governing emissions allowances
FROM 2013 onwards the system for allocating greenhouse gas emissions allowances will significantly change in European Union countries to reflect new EU-wide harmonised rules. Under this new system the majority of allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) will no longer be allocated for free. Slovakia is adopting the change through a brand new law on the auctioning of greenhouse gas emissions quotas. The Slovak cabinet interrupted the discussion of its draft bill, however, due to some still-unresolved issues, one of which pertains to how the money obtained in this way will be used. The government will deal with the bill in a fast-track legislative proceeding so that it will become effective as of January 1, 2013.
Countrywide Events
Western SLOVAKIA
Alcohol to be sent back
SLOVAKIA will continue to enforce its ban on Czech alcohol and return to the Czech Republic approximately 150 trucks containing two million bottles of alcohol imported from its western neighbour, in an effort to rid the country of potentially dangerous liquor. The Slovak government halted the import of Czech spirits with more than 20 percent alcohol content on September 18, after its neighbour reported more than 20 deaths from methanol-laced alcohol.
SPP share for sale
FOR NOW Energetický a Průmyslový Holding (EPH) is the only company to have expressed an interest in purchasing the 49-percent stake in Slovak natural gas utility SPP currently held jointly by Germany’s E.ON Ruhrgas and Frances’ GDF Suez, the Hospodárske Noviny financial daily reported on September 21.
LGBT community gets a committee
THE LESBIAN, gay, bisexual, and transgender community (LGBT) will be represented within the government by an official body – a committee under the government’s Council for Human Rights, National Minorities, and Gender Equality. The creation of the committee was passed by Robert Fico’s cabinet at its session on October 3, the SITA newswire reported.
Slovakia to stick with nuclear power
WHILE some countries have resolved to abandon nuclear energy, Slovakia is planning to develop it further. Economy Minister Tomáš Malatinský told an international conference, Secure Energy Supply (SES) 2012, which took place in late September in Bratislava, that Slovakia would focus on the development of nuclear energy and sources of renewable energy over the coming years.
13 percent of Slovaks near poverty
AS MANY as 700,000 Slovaks, or 13 percent of the population, were living in or on the verge of poverty in 2011, according to an EU-SILC (Statistics on Income and Living Conditions) survey carried out by the Slovak Statistics Office and released on October 2. It defined the risk of poverty as an income of €315 a month for a one-member household.
‘The lessons of the Holocaust must be remembered’
“I WILL never know my mother’s favorite color, my father’s favorite dish, or what kind of music my parents liked. I will never know how they relaxed in the evenings or whether they went to the theater. Did they enjoy reading? What were their political beliefs? Did they adore the ballet as I do? Did they enjoy sports as I do? Did they love art and have a talent for it, as I seem to?”In her recent book, A Candle in the Heart, Judith Alter Kallman voices these questions that would trouble any children who lost their parents at an early age. Kallman’s loss was not uncommon during her childhood in wartime Slovakia and later in Nazi-occupied Hungary. Her parents and two siblings were among the six million Jews killed in Europe, including hundreds of thousands of young children. Kallman, however, lived to tell her story. The Slovak Spectator spoke to her via e-mail about her book and the message it carries.
Electricity markets couple
MARKET coupling was successfully launched on September 11 to handle the allocation of the daily cross-border electricity and transmission capacities in and between the Czech, Slovak and Hungarian market areas through a price coupling mechanism. This method allows simultaneous use of the order books of the three countries’ day-ahead electricity markets, including available daily cross-border capacities on both the Czech-Slovak and Slovak-Hungarian borders. The current two-step process on the Slovak-Hungarian border – daily explicit cross-border capacity auctions followed by trading of power on local exchanges – were thus replaced by the simpler and more efficient process of market coupling, Slovak grid operator SEPS reported on its website.
90-year-old Karmažin attacks the current world record in conducting
A long-time leader of the choir Zvon (Bell) in Sereď, Viliam Karmažin, is probably the longest serving conductor in the world. Even aged 90, he stands behind the conducting podium and gives concerts with the choir at various occasions, the TASR newswire wrote.
Slovnaft plans major layoffs
ECONOMIC sentiment in Slovakia continued falling for the fourth consecutive month in September, when it reached 87.8 points, one point lower than the previous month and the lowest rate since March 2010, the SITA newswire reported.
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