Chris Togneri - author - page 12 - The Slovak Spectator

Slovaks embrace debit card tech

While banknotes have become a relic of the past for many western consumers, plastic still invokes curious glances from domestic shopkeepers in Slovakia. With wide-spread proliferation of debit and credit cards matching the West still seemingly years away, "put it on my credit card" is not an expression one here can expect to hear anytime soon.According to local stores, banks and credit card companies, however, the trend is shifting as customers have begun to request the non-traditional forms of payment in dramatically increasing numbers, especially debit cards. But while debit card usage increased last year as much as four-fold, the credit card boom that struck America and western Europe over a decade ago still has a long way to go.

Chris Togneri

Mochovce fate unclear

The critical financial situation of Slovenskť Elektrárne (SE) may result in the discontinuation of construction on the third and fourth units of Mochovce nuclear power plant. Although no official statements have yet been made, TASR news agency reported that Slovak Economy Minister Ĺudovít Černák has already stated that the blocks would not be completed.SE has received grants worth upwards of 14 billion crowns in order to finish the construction, but Černák told SITA that stopping investment into the plant would save money and thus keep SE from either increasing gas prices or drawing funds directly from the state budget. His new proposal is to sell the incomplete blocks to a company, who would then find a way to compensate for the losses.

Chris Togneri

Despite concerns, state breaks promise to close Bohunice

On the thirteenth anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe April 26, the Slovak government broke its 1994 promise to shut down operations of the Russian-designed Jaslovské Bohunice V1 nuclear power plant by the year 2000, instead announcing that the plant would receive safety measure upgrades aimed at increasing the plant's life-span indefinitely.The decision sparked uproars of protest from various groups who said that the government's unwillingness to honour the past agreement creates an image of Slovakia as an unstable state, while others warned that keeping the plant open could endanger the country's European Union aspirations.Robert Žitňanský, adviser to Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy Ivan Mikloš, told Reuters that the oldest reactor, V1, would be phased out at some point but that there were now no specific plans for the closure of the V2 reactor.

Chris Togneri

Environmentalist Huba: "Not enough concrete results"

Scientist Mikuláš Huba has been active in the Slovak environmental protection movement since 1975. A Comenius University graduate, he was the chairman of the Slovak Union of Nature and Landscape Protectors from 1990 to 1993 and chaired the Environment and Natural Protection Committee of the Slovak National Council from 1990 to 1992. Along with being involved in a number of prestigious international environmentally oriented organisations, including the United Nations' Commission on Sustainable Development Core Expert Group for Sustainability Indicators, he is the president of the Slovak Society for Sustainable Living, a position he has held since 1993.Wearing sandals and speaking in a low, soft voice, Huba bemoaned environmental policy under the administration of former Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar, which he said caused the sector to take major steps backwards.

Chris Togneri

ST's OnLine Start cut down by ministry

In a definative finale to a two-and-a-half month long debate over Slovak Telecom's cut-rate Internet access service, the Slovak Telecom Ministry demaded that the state-run telephone company discontinue its fledgling OnLine Start service by April 20.Ministry officials cited possible security concerns and monopoly abuse allegations as the reason for the shut-down. ST representatives, meanwhile, complained that the government had succumbed to unjustified pressure from the the Association of Private Internet Providers (API), a newly-formed Slovak group.Launched on February 1, OnLine Start was an Internet service provided by telecom monopoly Slovenské Telekomunikácie (ST) which allowed subscribers to log onto the Internet under one universal password for only the advertised cost of a local telephone connection.

Chris Togneri

Women targetted by sex crime

In early 1999, a complaint was filed with the Bratislava police which charged a man was driving around the city "trouser-less." According to the police, as the offender piloted his car around town, he shouted for women to look at him, and invited them into his car to give them a lift. While doing this, he masturbated.According to the head of the investigation department of the Bratislava police, the incident is the only one of its kind to take place so far in 1999. But social scientists said the frequency of such acts is actually increasing, and blame the low police figure on the failure of women to report such crimes. Stories from numerous Slovak women also seem to indicate that sexual crimes such as exposure, frotteurism, obscene telephone calls and public masturbation are happening more often and in a more brazen manner, even if the police have no record of their occurrence.

Chris Togneri

Women advised to fight back

While the victims of sexual crimes often feel powerless to fight back, there are a few things they can do to try to battle the problem, Slovak police said.Reporting the crime is an important first step. Women should also try to remember the exact appearance of the culprit, so the police can create a sketch and try to identify him, said the head of the Bratislava Investigative Department, who asked that his name be withheld.If the police manage to apprehend the suspect, first-time offenders face a fine and repeat offenders could face a maximum sentence of three years in prison, he said.

Chris Togneri

Slovakia awaits Kosovo refugees, wins NATO gratitude

Slovakia has readied its camps and prepared housing for the 500 ethnic Albanian refugees it expects to stream in from the war-torn Kosovo region. Now all the country has to do is wait.Though more than 770,000 refugees have already fled Kosovo, many carrying terrible stories of murder and the destruction of their homes and villages, Slovakia has not yet been sent any refugees from the crisis. Slovak officials say they are waiting for the International Organisation of Migration in Geneva and the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) to decide when the refugees will arrive.According to UN officials, one cause of the delay is a desire to keep the refugees in the Balkans so that they will more easily be able to return to Kosovo. But they also said that organising the transfer is a difficult process and that they are working on the problem.

Chris Togneri

Ready or not, auto hi-tech is here

Cars, once used only as a means of transportation, are rapidly evolving into a complete technological entertainment and computer system. What started out with AM radio has escalated into CD systems, car phones and anti-police radar. Now, according to a collection of western companies, the newest toys for cars are satellite-operated navigation systems and televisions.While Škoda and analysts insist that the new technology is a western fad, saying that Slovaks will neither desire it nor be able to afford it, western car producers say that they believe the advancements are the next step in automotive transportation technology and add that some consumers have had no problem shelling out up to 400,000 Sk ($10,000) for computerised extras."We sell quite a few navigation systems," said Mercedes-Benz representative Lucia Mišíková. "They're great- they help us sell cars and they are especially good for people who travel to Austria a lot. People who buy bigger cars usually won't buy them without a navigation system."

Chris Togneri

Compaq claims Digital merger now resulting in higher sales

The 1998 merger of Digital and Compaq, two of the largest global information technology (IT) companies, was expected to bolster Compaq's already firm grasp of the largest computer hardware and software sales share on the Slovak market.Instead, disappointing results in 1998 desktop, laptop and server sales cut Compaq's once dominant position on the Slovak market nearly in half with IBM Slovakia dramatically filled the gap. In February, Compaq officials said that the statistics were a reflection of the Slovak economy and insisted that sales would begin to pick up in the near future."We are hoping that the acquisition will spur higher revenues than were produced by the formerly independent companies," said Jozef Jurkovič, sales and marketing manager of Compaq Slovakia. "We hope that in this case, one plus one equals three."

Chris Togneri

Microsoft asks state for piracy crackdown

International computer software titan Microsoft says that European software piracy accounts for billions of dollars in lost revenues every year. Citing Slovakia as a major haven for offenders, Microsoft has declared its intentions to crack down on the acts of "robbery" here and is calling on the Slovak government for assistance.Marketing manager for Microsoft Slovakia, Juraj Belvončík, said that "between thirty and fifty percent" of all computer systems in Slovakia currently operate under illegal systems and added that he believed the problem could be broken down into three causes.

Chris Togneri

Telecom ministry propels two major projects forward

After the September, 1998 elections, the Telecom Ministry underscored that its two biggest tasks were finding a strategic foreign investor for the state-run Telecom monopoly Slovenské Telekomunikácie (ST) and awarding a third mobile phone tender for the GSM 1800 frequency.While both projects have encountered obstacles, the Ministry said that new developments have occurred and that both are expected to be resolved without additional delay. In fact, according to Stanislav Vanek, the Telecom Ministry Regulatory Department Director, both issues are expected to be concluded before the start of the new millennium."The GSM tender will be decided this month," Vanek said. "And we hope to announce the strategic foreign partner for ST as early as November."

Chris Togneri

Daewoo shoots for market share with new model

Korean car maker Daewoo has released a small and inexpensive new model - the Matiz - which it hopes will help the firm break Czech car-maker Škoda's stranglehold on top spot on the Slovak auto market. Although Škoda sells over three times as many cars as does Daewoo, its nearest competitor, the Korean manufacturer hopes the Matiz will catch the eye of the cost-conscious Slovak consumer.Of the almost 70,000 cars sold in Slovakia in 1998, Škoda accounted for over 32,000, giving the company a commanding 42.2% of the market. Daewoo finished a distant second with a 12.3% share, representing under 10,000 units.

Chris Togneri

Highway programme braked

German supermodel Claudia Schiffer visited Slovakia last September to cut the ribbon on a new stretch of highway. The visit was probably her last - funding cuts and sober planning will reduce the pace of Slovak highway construction to a crawl over the next fifteen years.The highway construction programme launched by former Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar in 1996 sought to create two new freeways across the country - one running north-south, between Poland and Bratislava, and one east-west linking the Czech Republic and the Ukraine. At a total cost of 229 billion Slovak crowns ($5.5 billion), the project was to add 400 kilometers of new roads and to be finished by the year 2005.

Chris Togneri

Jirko Malchárek - "Pettiest things" cause problems

At 32 years of age, Jirko Malchárek is one of the youngest members of parliament in Slovakia. And as a race car driver in the Porsche super car series, one level below Formula 1, he is certainly one of the most unusual.Malchárek is a deputy for the Party of Civic Reconciliation, having being elected to parliament in September, 1998 national elections. He also has an automobile show on the private station TV Markíza, in which he gives basic driving tips to viewers.The Slovak Spectator caught up with Malchárek in the corridors of parliament on March 30.

Chris Togneri

Bratislava Autosalon, April 13-18: "Fun but ineffective"

Over 100,000 people are expected to visit Autosalon, an automotive exhibition that kicks off on April 13 and runs for five days at the Incheba exhibition centre in Bratislava. Fully 153 exhibitors from 31 different car companies will be displaying their new models at the show, and while they do not expect to sell many cars, they do expect to have a good time.Mercedes-Benz Bratislava and Toyota Tsusho Slovakia are two of the largest exhibitors at this year's Autosalon - Mercedes has secured 950 square metres of space while Toyota has booked over 500 square metres. Both firms said that Incheba's asking price, starting at 800 Slovak crowns per square metre, had caused them to weigh the virtues of participating in Autosalon very carefully."We paid close to 800,000 crowns ($20,000) for the exhibition space we rented this year," said Mercedes-Benz Bratislava Director Július Šabo. "It's very expensive, especially when you consider that few, if any, actual car sales result from such exhibitions."

Chris Togneri

ST OnLine Start protest put on hold

A protest launched by private Internet providers against state telecom provider Slovenské Telekomunikácie (ST) has been called off - for the time being. Both the providers and the ministry itself warn that the protest will resume if ST does not strictly adhere to the terms of a settlement reached over a week ago.ST, the Association of Internet Providers (API), Telecom Ministry representatives and the anti-monopoly office met on March 17 in an attempt to hash out a satisfactory settlement for all sides involved in the dispute over ST's Internet service "OnLine Start," which had been launched on February 1.

Chris Togneri

API begins petition drive to strip ST of monopoly

The Association of Internet Providers (API) has said that a "temporary agreement" reached with the state run Slovenské Telekomunikácie (ST) over an Internet access squabble has not even begun to address the larger dispute between the bodies. In fact, API representatives say, private Internet providers will continue their protest against ST and even attempt to strip the state provider of its monopoly in a national referendum.During a March 17 meeting attended by ST, the API, the Telecom Ministry and the Anti-Monopoly Office, the API agreed immediately to discontinue its protest against ST's Internet access service "OnLine Start" on two conditions - that ST take steps to address security issues and balance Internet access prices for ST and non-ST customers, and that these measures be completed by the end of March.

Chris Togneri

UK Ambassador: 'I can't ask' Y2K questions for Slovakia

David Lyscom, the British Ambassador to Slovakia, does not look like a bearer of bad tidings. Tall, slim and energetic, Lyscom is a career diplomat who has served in Ottawa, Bonn, Vienna and Riyadh.But to many Slovak firms and state officials, the message that Lyscom has brought to Slovakia may be unwelcome news indeed. For the British diplomat is an expert on the "millenium bug" problem, and says that Slovak state and private firms may not be taking preparations for January 1, 2000 seriously enough.Before being appointed as Ambassador to Slovakia in October 1998, Lyscom served as the head of the Foreign Office's Environment, Science and Energy Department, where he studied the effects that the millenium bug would have on the British economy.

Chris Togneri

Seminars aim to raise Y2K awareness

Millennium bug fever has struck Slovakia, but computer analysts are not sure that the country is sufficiently prepared to survive the disease.On March 25, Bank Austria Creditanstalt will hold a seminar on Slovakia's preparation for the millennium bug, also known as Y2K. The seminar will close a week in which the millennium bug was pushed to the forefront of the nation's business agenda.On March 18, The American Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia held a millenium bug business breakfast featuring invited speakers from Oracle, Compaq and Arthur Andersen. The British Embassy, in coordination with the Slovak Statistical Office, was to follow Am Cham's panel with a millennium bug seminar on March 23.

Chris Togneri

List of author's articles, page 12