New highways plan tabled

MORE HIGHWAYS and betterroads have topped the wish-lists of investors and busi-nesses in Slovakia for the pasttwo decades. But despitepromises to build them com-ing from all sides of the polit-ical spectrum over the past 20years, a cross-country high-way linking the western partof the country with the eaststill remains unrealised.

The government of RobertFico, which ended its term in

office in 2010 without deliver-ing on its original highwaypromises, handed the chal-lenge on to the governmentof Iveta Radičová. Minister ofTransport, Construction andRegional Development JánFigeľ has now tabled for in-terdepartmental review aplan for highway and dualcarriageway construction forthe period 2011 to 2014.

The minister says theplan, which among otherthings assumes a completeconnection – with tunnels –between east and west bylate 2016 or early 2017, is real-istic. Ľubomír Palčák, direct-

or of the Žilina-based Trans-port Research Institute(VÚD), says it can be de-livered if the state meets cer-tain conditions, for exampleby allocating more money forhighway construction fromthe state budget.

But Figeľ’s predecessor asminister, Ľubomír Vážny,remains sceptical, arguingthat the government’s ambi-tions do not seem to haveappropriate financial cover-age, while tenders for high-way construction are notproperly prepared.

See ROAD pg 12

SSELECT FOREX RATES€ benchmark as of June 2

CANADA CAD 1.41CZECH REP. CZK 24.53RUSSIA RUB 40.40GREAT BRITAIN GBP 0.88

HUNGARY HUF 265.95JAPAN JPY 116.60POLAND PLN 3.97USA USD 1.45

NEWS

Nationalists splitAnna Belousovová, once themost prominent represent-ative of the Slovak NationalParty (SNS), has left andwill seek to establish a newpolitical party.

pg 2

No more illusionsTransport Minister JánFigeľ spoke to The SlovakSpectator, setting out hisnew plans for highway con-struction, reform of therailways, and leasing of theBratislava Airport.

pg 4

OPINION

Out of the shadowsExposure to diversity stillmakes many Slovaks un-comfortable. Leadingpoliticians could play astronger role in showingthem that they have noreason to fear.

pg 5

BUSINESS FOCUS

The state's role in CSRCorporate social responsib-ility (CSR) is not an alienconcept in Slovakia, but thegovernment is looking tosee how it can nudge theprocess along, using ex-amples from abroad.

pg 6

A law on volunteeringIn a move that NGOs havelong called for, the gov-ernment is considering adraft law on volunteeringthat may clear up some is-sues that have plagued thisarea.

pg 7

CULTURE

Open churchesChurches around Slovakiaopened their doors to curi-ous visitors onthe eveningof May 27. Among themwere several in Trnava,where crowds queued to seesome of the churchs' hiddennooks and crannies.

pg 15

Justice Minister Lucia Žitňanská, speaking in parliament on June 1, urged MPs to vote for a change to the law on pro-secution. Her call was heeded the next day, when the law passed (see story below). Photo: TASR

Prosecutors forced toopen up by new law

IN ORDER to increase public confid-ence in the judiciary it will also benecessary to shine more light on theprosecution process, Justice Minis-ter Lucia Žitňanská argued earlierthis year. The 76 MPs who voted onJune 2 for a revision to the law onprosecution seem to agree. Theyhave helped Žitňanská move onestep closer to her declared goal:bringing more transparency to theprosecution process, while openingit up to greater public control.

The revision requires prosec-utors to publish their decisions onthe internet and also bans the sameperson from performing as general

prosecutor for more than one term.It also means that prosecutors willno longer be appointed by the gen-eral prosecutor but instead bepicked through a public competi-tion by a six-member selectioncommittee consisting of threepeople from the prosecution andthree from parliament, according tothe SITA newswire.

The revision has opponents,for example the opposition Smer

party, which argues that it opensavenues for interference in theprosecution department. Smeralso claims that the legislationhands too much power to thejustice minister.

But the minister rejected theseclaims. “Neither the ministry northe justice minister will, based onthis draft law, have any authoritiesmaking it possible for them to in-terfere in any way in the operationof the prosecution – neither gener-ally in the system, nor in relationto particular cases,” Žitňanská said.

See LAW pg 2

Vol. 17, No. 22 Monday, June 6, 2011 - Sunday, June 12, 2011

FOCUSof this issue

On sale nowOn sale now FOCUSof this issue

CORPORATERESPONSIBILITY

Train strikecauses shortservice halt

TRAIN operators turned their engines offfor one hour at the end of May to expressdisagreement with the state’s plan to sortout the financial crisis affecting thecountry’s struggling railway companies.

The state-owned passenger rail oper-ator branded the May 27 strike, which af-fected about 40 to 50 percent of passengertrains, as ‘an irresponsible act’ and said itlacked clearly formulated demands.

See RAIL pg 11

BY BEATA BALOGOVÁSpectator staff

Walkingwith pride,once again

LESBIAN, gay, bisexual and transgenderpeople, as well as supporters of diversity,planned to gather in Bratislava’s largestsquare on June 4 to demonstrate theirsolidarity and perhaps in some way repu-diate the tumultuous and troubling exper-iences of a year ago when the first Rain-bow Pride Parade was held in Bratislava.

As The Slovak Spectator went topress, the programme for 'the Pride', asSlovaks refer to it, called for opening ce-remonies and speeches in Hviezdosla-vovo Square by the event organisers, sev-eral members of the European Parlia-ment and foreign ambassadors who aresupporting the event.

See LGBT pg 3

BY MICHAELA TERENZANISpectator staff

BY BEATA BALOGOVÁSpectator staff

BY BEATA BALOGOVÁSpectator staff

Smer polls over 47 percent in May

SMER would have receivedthe votes of 47.1 percent ofSlovaks if a parliamentaryelection had been held inearly May, according to apoll carried out by the Fo-cus polling agency, mean-ing that Smer would havebeen able to form a gov-ernment without any co-alition partners.

Following Smer, accord-ing to the poll results,were: the Slovak Democrat-

ic and Christian Union(SDKÚ) on 12.2 percent; theChristian DemocraticMovement (KDH) on 9.5percent; the Slovak Nation-al Party (SNS) on 8.1 per-cent; Most-Híd on 6.1 per-cent; Freedom and Solidar-ity (SaS) on 5.2 percent; theHungarian Coalition Party(SMK) on 4.7 percent; andthe Movement for a Demo-cratic Slovakia (HZDS) on3.4 percent.

Names of border agents released

THE NATION’S Memory Insti-tute (ÚPN) published the com-plete organisational and per-sonnel structure of the unitsinvolved in guarding the bor-ders of communistCzechoslovakia from 1951 to1973, thus completing its on-line overview of the secretpolice’s border unit during theentire period from 1951 to 1989.

“Our research identified100 cadre members of the in-telligence units of the 11thbrigade of the BorderGuards,” Ivan A. Petranský,the director of the ÚPN’sboard, said as quoted by theSITA newswire.

The principal activity ofthese individuals was spyingon people living inCzechoslovakia and prevent-ing them from fleeingabroad, since after 1948 theborders with Germany andAustria were the sites of nu-merous escape attempts.Many who attempted to fleewere shot dead by the borderpolice or killed by landmines.

According to the Smedaily, Milan Lovich, cur-rently an official atSlovakia’s Environment In-spectorate, was a memberof the border unit of thesecret police, the ŠtB.Lovich said he had nocomment, while a spokes-man for the EnvironmentInspectorate, MichalŠtefánek, said Lovich hadthe best qualifications forhis position.

The border betweenCzechoslovakia and Austrianear Bratislava was also‘protected’ by an Austrianpub owner and by Austriancustoms officers who re-ceived money for spyingand delivering persons backto Czechoslovakia, Sme re-ported, writing that a cer-tain Austrian customs of-ficer from Kittsee provided165 pieces of intelligence in-formation at 52 meetingswith the border police andreceived 39,000 Austrianschillings in reward.

Council tries to ban Roma from pubs

THE MUNICIPAL council ofDiakovce in the Nitra regionhas drawn up a list of namesof people it has labelled“problematic Roma citizens”in an attempt to get thembanned from entering localpubs. The council action,which the local mayor ve-toed, came in response to arecent violent incident at apub in the village, the Smedaily reported.

The altercation in thepub involved five local res-idents, age 15 to 50, who al-legedly attacked a 68-year-old customer, leaving himwith head injuries. Whenpolice were called to dealwith the situation, a15-year-old young man poin-ted a gun at them andthreatened to shoot. Fourpersons were charged withdisorderly conduct.

The mayor of Diakovceand local council membersclaim the police mishandledthe intervention and sub-sequently wrote a letter topolice president JaroslavSpišiak to complain aboutwhat they called “unbearable

Roma problems” in the vil-lage, Sme wrote.

“In the evening peopleare afraid to leave theirhomes, it’s normal for[Roma] to carry knives, speakobscene language, and theyare most daring after they’vehad a drink,” an unnamedDiakovce citizen told Sme.

The local council pro-posed to ban some Romafrom local pubs with a de-cree but the mayor, LászlóHajdu, refused to sign it be-cause he believed it violatedhuman rights and insteadrecommended that pubowners hire their own secur-ity service, Sme reported,adding that Hajdu said he isplanning to start projects inthe village aimed at Romainclusion.

“They get €60 [a month];if you had such an income,you would go stealing too,”the mayor told Sme. “It’s easyto say they should go to work,but nobody wants them; thestate has forgotten them.”

Compiled by Spectator staff

from press reports

Nationalist politicianssplit up – again

SLOVAK nationalist politi-cians and their supporterscould be forgiven for experi-encing a spot of déja-vu at themoment. Anna Belousovová,once the most prominentrepresentative of the SlovakNational Party (SNS), has lefther party to establish a newpolitical party based on whatshe called “a non-xenophobicand non-confrontationalpatriotism”.

Her action is an almost ex-act re-run of a previous split inthe party a decade ago, a pois-onous spat which resulted inthe SNS and its splinter partylosing all their seats in par-liament for one election term.A political analyst says he doesnot expect the new party tohave a very bright future.

Belousovová and RudolfPučík, two of the nine mem-bers of SNS's parliamentarycaucus, announced on May24 that they were leaving thecaucus to become independ-ent MPs. They stated theirmembership in the caucusrecently had been only aformality as the caucus hadstopped invitingBelousovová to its sessions

and Pučík only sporadicallyreceived invitations.

The departure of the twoMPs from the SNS caucus pro-voked discussion among somelawyers and parliamentariansabout the future of the SNScaucus in this parliament be-cause the applicable law sayseight MPs are required for cre-ation of a caucus. The Speakerof Parliament, Richard Sulík,announced that he had con-sulted with parliament’s law-yers who had concluded thatthe law does not specifically

authorise the speaker to dis-solve a caucus with less thaneight MPs.

Like Geert Wilders?

Three days after she leftthe SNS caucus, Belousovová,accompanied by Pučík, an-nounced she was starting apetition to found a new polit-ical party named Nation andJustice (NAS). The signaturesof 10,000 Slovak citizens arerequired for a political party tobe legally registered.

Belousovová said she be-lieves it is necessary for a newpolitical party to emerge inSlovakia, one that would bebased on what she called “thecurrent civilised, democratic,non-xenophobic and non-confrontational patriotism”,which she said is representedby newly-emerging move-ments and parties in Europeand beyond: the Tea Partymovement in the US; the TrueFinns party in Finland; theParty of Freedom of GeertWilders in the Netherlands;and nationalist parties in Aus-tria and Switzerland that arecurrently on the rise in theircountries.

“The leaders of the tradi-tional ruling parties and rep-resentatives of the UK, Ger-many and France are rejectinglate-20th-century multicul-turalism and are speaking outloud about the need for newapproaches,” Belousovováalso stated.

Not relevant, analyst says

Political scientist GrigorijMesežnikov does not foresee abright future even if NAS islegally established, believingthat it has little potential tobecome a relevant player onthe Slovak political scene.

See SNS pg 12

BY MICHAELATERENZANISpectator staff

LAW: Vote for GP challenged againContinued from pg 2

She argued that the prosecutionneeds to be under public control, becausea system which is closed in on itself andfunctions without any control mechan-isms cannot function well.

“The goal of the proposal is that theprosecution is no longer a mysterious in-stitution behind those heavy doors; in-stead it allows us to see how prosecutorsare selected and how they reachdecisions,” she said.

Among other things, the revision re-stricts the possibility for so-called negat-ive orders, which in the past have madeit possible for senior prosecutors to ordertheir junior colleagues not to bringcharges or order them not to takesomeone into custody, and has even al-lowed them to completely halt a prosecu-tion. From now on, if top prosecutorstake a case away from a subordinate theywill have to publish a written explana-tion for their decision.

While Žitňanská is confident that thedeputies have approved a good law, PeterMuránsky of the Christian DemocraticMovement (KDH) said that he would signa proposal challenging the law at theConstitutional Court. Muránsky, whofirst criticised the law and then voted forit, said that he would wait for the de-cision of the presidential office. He be-lieves the law might be at odds with theconstitution, SITA reported.

Smer leader Robert Fico accused theruling coalition of politicising the pro-secution in a way which is unpreceden-ted even by the standards of the 1950s. As

an example he cited giving the justiceminister the authority to issue bindingorders in relation to the prosecution.

Acting General Prosecutor LadislavTichý said that he is disappointed by theadoption of the law since in his words theprosecution had “done the maximum topersuade deputies that passing the revi-sion in such a form would not be a goodthing”. Tichý said that it is unpleasantthat the development of the law on pro-secution has been linked to the ongoingprocess of selecting the general prosec-utor, TASR reported.

Bumpy road to open elections

Tichý himself has become closely in-volved in that process. The ruling coali-tion went to considerable lengths overthe past six months to turn the secretmethod of voting previously used by MPsto select the general prosecutor into apublic vote. But Tichý has now lodged achallenge against the public votingmethod with the Constitutional Court, inwhat appears to be another twist in anincreasingly complicated and politicisedsaga. Tichý, who got his job by defaultwhen the previous general prosecutor,Dobroslav Trnka, left office in Februarybefore MPs were able to choose a suc-cessor, has also requested that the courtissue a provisional ruling that would banMPs from holding a public vote.

Speaker of Parliament Richard Sulíkmeanwhile announced that a public votefor the position would nevertheless takeplace, inviting deputies to submit thenames of candidates by June 10 at 20:00.

Sulík was quick to add that his call forcandidacies was not intended to pre-empt the Constitutional Court’s decision.The court assigned the case to a judge onJune 1, meaning that a ruling could takeas little as a week.

“I do not consider the reasons in MrTichý’s proposal to be serious enough tostop us from holding the vote,” Sulíksaid, as quoted by the Sme daily.

Nevertheless, according to Sme, Sulíkhas not ruled out the possibility of asecret ballot, adding that it is still pos-sible to hold the vote in secret if 15 depu-ties request it and parliament backsthem.

Trnka, whose bid to retain his posi-tion has been supported by the opposi-tion Smer party, failed to get enoughsupport in a secret ballot of MPs held onMay 17. The ballot was a re-run of a previ-ous secret vote held in December whichwas ruled unconstitutional by the courtafter a challenge by Trnka.

By rejecting him, MPs apparentlyheeded a threat by Prime Minister IvetaRadičová to resign if Trnka, about whomshe has expressed strong reservations,were to prevail.

Trnka has not announced yet wheth-er he will run again for the post in anopen vote. Fico said that if the vote on thegeneral prosecutor was secret, his Smerparty would run Trnka again as its can-didate. Fico claimed that Sulík had madea mistake in announcing a vote withoutwaiting for the verdict of the Constitu-tional Court, TASR reported.

The candidate of the ruling coalitionis prosecutor Jozef Čentéš.

Belousovová wants to found a new political party. Photo: TASR

2 NEWSJune 6 – 12, 2011

Gay rights still taboofor some Slovaks

THE COLOURS of the rainbowwere due to shine over Bratis-lava on June 4 in the form ofthe Pride march, but theworld had become slightlygreyer for Slovakia’s non-het-erosexuals a few weeks earli-er. It was then that gay peopleliving in Slovakia came veryclose to getting an officialbody, working under the aus-pices of the government, tolook after their interests – butthe initiative to set up a com-mittee to do that ultimatelyfailed. And while politicianstend to use the unprepared-ness of Slovak society as a jus-tification for their timidity,the lesbian, gay, bisexual andtransgender (LGBT) com-munity insists that society is,in fact, ready for somechanges.

In March 2011, the cabinetdissolved several of its advis-ory bodies – the council for na-tional minorities and ethnicgroups, the council for NGOs,for seniors, for disabledpeople, for gender equalityand the committee of minis-ters of children. The agenda ofthese bodies was transferredto a newly-established Councilfor Human Rights, NationalMinorities and Gender Equal-ity. The new council then pro-posed that seven committeesbe created under its auspices,among them a committee onthe rights of non-heterosexualpeople. But while the cabinetagreed to establish the othercommittees, it baulked at theidea of one for gay rights.

The decision, which someLGBT activists called an act ofhomophobia, was made onMay 11, less than a week beforethe International Day AgainstHomophobia was markedaround the world.

Activist: failure is

'homophobic'

“We perceive it as a polit-ical decision,” said RomanaSchlesinger, an LGBT rightsactivist from the non-gov-ernmental Queer Leaders For-um and a Rainbow Pride or-ganiser, adding that the Chris-tian Democratic Movement(KDH) made clear to all theparticipants in the debate thateither the statute of the newcouncil would be passedwithout the LGBT committeeor it would not be passed at all.

“We regard this commit-tee as being redundant, sincethe human rights issues of allcitizens are dealt with by theGovernment Council for Hu-man Rights, National Minorit-ies and Gender Equality,” KDHspokesperson Matej Kováčtold The Slovak Spectator.

Rudolf Chmel, the DeputyPrime Minister for HumanRights and National Minorit-ies, who proposed the creationof the committee, arguedalong with other supporters ofthe idea that the committeewould bring together repres-entatives of the communityand representatives of all theministries and be a platformfor experts to discuss issues,including related legislation,but also anti-discriminationpractices, educational pro-grammes and data gathering.

“I am convinced that itwould be an advantage for allthose concerned to create aspace for the formulation ofconcrete solutions to improvethe life of the LGBTcommunity,” Martin Poliačik,an MP for the Freedom andSolidarity (SaS) party, told TheSlovak Spectator. His partypresented registered partner-ships as part of its electioncampaign for the 2010 parlia-mentary election, but failed toget them adopted as part ofthe coalition government’sprogramme.

Most-Híd, the party ofDeputy Prime MinisterChmel, considers the non-ex-istence of the committee to bea deviation from the Europeanstandard, “but not an insur-mountable problem thatwould fatally divide the cur-rent ruling coalition”, theparty’s spokesperson NoraCzuczorová said.

Július Kolenič, a boardmember of the Inakosť (Oth-erness) initiative, remarkedthat such a platform wouldcost the state no money, butcould have helped signific-antly to improve the quality oflife of the LGBT community,which constitutes a consider-able portion of the population.

“We regard this to be a

homophobic act by IvetaRadičová’s government, sinceother proposed committeeshad been created,” Koleničsaid, hinting that the LGBTcommunity is the only minor-ity (based on grounds for dis-crimination as defined by theSlovakia's Anti-Discrimina-tion Act) not to be representedwithin the council.

Opinions on LGBT

discrimination vary

“We do not believe thatSlovak citizens are discrimin-ated against in any way basedon their sexual orientation,”KDH’s Kováč said. “If thesepeople suffer violation oftheir basic human rights,they have the possibility toturn to the existinginstitutions.”

Most-Híd spokespersonCzuczorová, however, saidthat the institute of registeredpartnerships, for instance,remains taboo in Slovak soci-ety despite the fact that inneighbouring countries likethe Czech Republic and Hun-gary it has existed for severalyears now.

“We are lagging behindour neighbours in Europeconcerning many legislativesolutions,” SaS MP Poliačikadmitted, listing issues likeinheritance, common owner-ship of property, and access tohealth records in the event ofillness or injury. “All thesethings concern the everydaylife of equal citizens of Slov-akia and we should be dealingwith them.”

Despite the odds, Koleničsaid, support for the LGBTcommunity from the Office ofthe Deputy Prime Minister forHuman Rights and NationalMinorities is now greater thanit was in the past. He citedconferences organised by theoffice and brochures that theyare planning to issue.

“But it’s still too little,” hesaid, adding that the com-munity is less than satisfiedwith the current position ofthe non-heterosexual minor-ity in society, the main fail-

ure being the fact that onlyNGOs are keeping alive publicdiscussion on related topicsthrough events such as theRainbow Pride march or theInakosť Film Festival.

Ready to accept

same-sex love?

Politicians tend to excusetheir lack of action in thesphere of LGBT rights withthe argument that society isnot yet ready to accept somelegislative steps that wouldimprove the rights of non-heterosexual people in Slov-akia. But the LGBT com-munity itself dismisses thisas a false argument, sayingthat society is becoming moreand more open and acceptingof people with other-than-heterosexual orientations.

According to Schlesinger,there has been limited re-cognition by all govern-ments, regardless of theirideological basis, that thereis no room in terms of publicdebate about registered part-nerships of same-sexcouples, for instance, andthat expert discussion needsto be launched first.

“Politicians keep talkingabout the need for public andexpert discussion, but theirdeeds are the exact oppositeof that – as seen from theirrecent decision to not estab-lish the LGBT committeewithin the government’scouncil,” Kolenič agreed,adding that there are partiesin the government unable tofree themselves from the“unjustified, panicked fear oflosing voters”.

Paradoxically, Koleničsaid, most people in Slovakialong ago understood thathuman rights are no threat toanyone and that all people,including LGBT people, havethe right to a dignified life.

Schlesinger also said thatthe community feels a changein the perception of LGBTpeople among the majority,and added that research thatthe Queer Leaders Forumconducted a couple of yearsago showed that more thanhalf of Slovakia’s populationhas nothing against re-gistered partnerships, al-though there were still somenegative sentiments when itcame to the adoption of chil-dren. She put this down to thefact that this issue has beendiscussed for a much shortertime in the public arena.

“The only thing people aremissing is information,”Schlesinger said. “And if theyget the information, theirview of things changes. Ourfeeling is that society is chan-ging and becoming muchmore open not only towardsotherness in sexual orienta-tion but also towards any oth-er differences.”

BY MICHAELATERENZANISpectator staff

Last year's Pride march in Bratislava. Photo: Sme -TIbor Somogy

LGBT: Policereadied for march

Continued from pg 1

The parade has the offi-cial backing of the embassiesof the UK, Norway, Finland,the Netherlands, Ireland,Spain, Switzerland, andFrance.

“We, as members of theinternational community,stand both literally and fig-uratively with parade parti-cipants as they peacefullyassemble to stand up fortheir human rights, andraise awareness of the LGBTcommunity in Slovakia,”reads the joint statementsigned by 20 ambassadors.“Everyone, including LGBTpeople, should be free to en-joy the rights and freedomslaid out in the Universal De-claration of Human Rights. ”

The programme preced-ing the march included sev-eral concerts, headlined bythe well-known and openlylesbian Czech singer-song-writer Aneta Langerová.

Despite fears inspired byviolence at last year’smarch, when anti-gay ex-tremists attempted to dis-rupt the parade, RomanaSchlesinger, one of the or-ganisers, told The SlovakSpectator prior to the marchthat they expected a biggercrowd than last year, whenan estimated 1,000 peopletook part.

“We believe that our al-lies in the straight com-munity will come out ingreater numbers to supportthe Pride,” Schlesinger said.

Tight security measures

Security measures willbe tighter than last year, in-cluding a doubling of thepolice presence to approx-imately 400 officers. The or-ganisers will also not re-lease the exact route of thePride march until just be-fore it begins.

“Three alternative routeshave been planned and thedecision on which to takewill be made right there on

the spot,” Ľubomír An-drassy, the spokesperson ofBratislava Mayor MilanFtáčnik, told the Sme daily.

Unlike last year, the re-cently-elected mayor is tak-ing a lead in the securitymeasures surrounding thePride march. Andrassy saidseveral other events havebeen cancelled in Bratislavaon that day to make surethere will be enough policeofficers on hand to maintainpublic order in the streets.

Mayor Ftáčnik, who waselected to his post in autumn2010, announced that he wasplanning to join the marchas well.

Slovakia’s Deputy PrimeMinister for Human Rightsand National Minorities,Rudolf Chmel, was also re-portedly planning to speakat the Pride, along with Aus-trian MEP Ulrika Lunacekwho attended the gay prideparade last year.

First Pride saw clashes

The first Rainbow Pridegathering took place in Brat-islava on May 22 last year.When several hundred sup-porters of the event gatheredin Hviezdoslavovo Square,around 100 anti-gay protest-ers attacked the gathering bythrowing tear-gas canisters,rocks and eggs at the audi-ence as well as the speakerson the stage.

In response to the at-tacks, the Pride organisersmodified their plans, includ-ing the route of their march.Though the original planwas to parade through thestreets of Bratislava’s OldTown, the Pride participantswound up marching onlyfrom the downtown squareacross the New Bridge thatspans the Danube River to aship anchored on the south-ern bank where they stagedan after-march celebration.

Police arrested 29people following last year’smarch, all of them anti-gayhecklers.

Some Slovaks readied their rainbow colours again. Photo: SITA

3NEWS June 6 – 12, 2011

Cabinet fails toestablish a

committee on therights of LGBT

people

State budget deficit falls, y-o-y

AT THE END of May 2011,Slovakia’s state budget defi-cit was nearly one-quarterless than at the same point ayear ago. According to datapublished by the FinanceMinistry, the budget gapstood at €1.567 billion at theend of May, down 24.6 per-cent year-on-year, the SITAnewswire reported.

In monthly terms, thedeficit grew by €550 million.Behind the improvement ofthe state budget deficit inannual terms was an11.1-percent year-on-year in-crease in total revenues to€4.396 billion, as well as amoderate decrease in ex-penditure of 1.2 percent to€5.964 billion.

The year-on-year increasein state revenues was basedmainly on growth in tax rev-enues, as well as revenuesfrom transfers and grants,according to the ministry.Tax revenues reached €3.187billion by the end of May, up7.6 percent year-on-year, andamounting to 36.3 percent offorecast full-year tax receipts.Corporate income tax reven-ue swelled 60.6 percent to€610.7 million. VAT collectiongrew 1.1 percent year-on-yearto €1.812 billion. Proceedsfrom excise tax declined 2percent in comparison withthe same period in 2010 to€778.6 million, while collec-

tion of withholding tax fell by0.9 percent to €67.5 million.Personal income taxes,which as part of fiscal decent-ralisation end up almost en-tirely in the budgets of localand regional governments,were down by €99.6 millionas of the end of May.

Non-tax revenues werelower compared with thesame period of last year, de-clining 6 percent to €275.4million. However, grants andtransfers posted a significantincrease of 32.6 percent to€933.5 million and revenuesfrom the EU budget rose 38percent to €923.5 million.

On the spending side,expenditure in the first fivemonths fell by 2.1 percentyear-on-year to €5.293 bil-lion. Capital expenditurerose 6.5 percent to €670.8million, SITA reported.

According to the statebudget law adopted by par-liament, the state shouldreceive €13.148 billion inrevenue and spend €16.958billion in 2011. The budgetdeficit is thus forecast to be€3.81 billion. The deficit ofthe general government asa whole, including all pub-lic institutions, not justthe state, should be 4.9percent of GDP. The gov-ernment plans to squeezethe deficit below 3 percentof GDP in 2013.

Confidence in Slovak economy rises

BASED on several positivetrends, Slovakia’s Index ofEconomic Sentiment (IES)increased by 1.2 points inMay to 95.4, returning it tothe level seen in March, thecountry’s Statistics Officeannounced on May 30, asreported by the TASRnewswire.

Improved figures inthree of the IES components– services, industry and con-sumers – helped raise theoverall confidence level inMay. The index was up by 4.9points year-on-year, but re-mained 3.5 points below itslong-term average.

The indicator of confid-ence in construction re-mained unchanged on the

month, at minus 41.5. Therewere some less optimisticexpectations in employmentbut better results for con-sumer demand.

Confidence in industryincreased in the month by 1.6points to 8.3, mainly becauseof positive production figuresthat are expected to emergeover the next three months.After confidence in retail im-proved in April, the indicatorin this sphere fell in May by1.7 to 17 points, still above thelong-term average. Confid-ence in services also went upin monthly terms by 9.7points to reach 35 points inMay. Consumer confidencerose by 5.1 points month-on-month to minus 24.7.

Ministry offers e-vehicle recharges

A NEW charging station forelectric vehicles opened inBratislava at the building ofthe Economy Ministry onMay 31. The following dayMinister Juraj Miškov star-ted using an electric carhimself, the SITA newswirereported.

The ministry’s chargingstation is the first publiccharging station in Bratis-lava and until the end of2011 anyone can use it to re-charge electric vehicles free

of charge, according toSITA.

The first charging stationin Slovakia for electric carsopened in late 2010 in Košice,SITA wrote.

The Economy Ministrystated that electric cars donot represent competitionfor traditional vehicles sincethey can only be used forshorter journeys of up to 150kilometres.

Compiled by Spectator staff

from press reports

No more illusions overhighways, says Figeľ

NUMEROUS illusions havebeen created about highwayconstruction in Slovakia. Sosays Ján Figeľ, who now man-ages an extensive ministerialportfolio including, amongother things, transport, con-struction and regional devel-opment. However, Figeľ saysthat he has now put on the ta-ble a feasible highway planthat does not mislead peopleinto thinking that from limitedpublic resources it is possible tobuild everything in a very shorttime. The Slovak Spectatorspoke to the Minister of Trans-port, Construction and Region-al Development about thecountry’s highway plans, hisapproach to the troubled state-owned railway companies, thechallenges that the capital’sairport faces, and about the pit-falls of public procurement.

The Slovak Spectator (TSS):The Ministry of Transport,Construction and RegionalDevelopment has introducedthe Programme for the Con-struction of Highways andDual Carriageways for 2011 to2014, which sets out somefundamentals for the upcom-ing years. What are thesefundamentals? Will this gov-ernment be able to deliver across-country highway forthe nation during its term?

Ján Figeľ (JF): The cross-country highway betweenBratislava and Košice shouldhave been completed back in2010, if we were to believe thepromises given by the previ-ous government. There havebeen numerous illusions cre-ated around highway con-struction but for this veryreason we had to reassesssome of these approaches afterI took over as minister. Thiswas because the previous gov-ernment based the strategicplans on public-private part-nerships (PPP), which shouldnot be the dominant but rathera supplementary form of fund-ing. Backing out from thismodel, which was overpricedand in some of its provisionseven unconstitutional, I haveto say required some courage.Yet, I consider our four-yearprogramme realistic.

In more specific terms, theplan includes a connectionbetween Žilina and Prešov,which are [D1] sections of thefirst and third packages that,originally, a concessionairehad been expected to build andoperate for 30 years at a lavishprice. In June, the construc-tion of the first of these sec-tions, near Levoča west-wards, will be launched.When compared to the over-priced PPP package, our nego-

tiated price is one third lowerthan the price recommendedin an opinion by a state ex-pert and the nominal valueset out in the call for tendersby the state.

The largest package hasbeen held up by one section,between Hubová andIvachnová, due to environ-mental concerns; we still donot have the consent of theEuropean Union, which is whyit was very important to re-open this package.

The programme assumesthe construction of sections ofthe D1, as well as the D3 high-way in Kysuce and the launchof construction of the D4,which will bypass the capital.It also concerns dual carriage-ways, which are a little cheap-er but at the same time verynecessary for the overall roadnetwork: the finalisation ofthe R1, which will link Trnavaand Banská Bystrica, willmake it the longest uninter-rupted section of dual car-riageway. We will also launchconstruction of the R2, linkingTrenčín and Košice, and sec-tions of the R3 in Orava are alsoplanned. The R4, which willconnect Svidník and Košicewith Poland and Hungary (inthe direction of Miskolc, inHungary), is also on our list,including some additional sec-tions, for example the R5 andR6 heading to the border withthe Czech Republic.

What I consider funda-mentally new is that we plan toextensively invest in the res-toration of first-category roads,which have been neglectedover the past 20 years. Theseroads make up 49-50 percent ofthe transportation network inSlovakia but have been verypoorly taken care of. We areplanning the reconstruction ofalmost 700 kilometres of first-category roads altogether.

TSS: In terms of duration,does your government aim towrap all this up by 2014? Isthis also the timeframe fordelivering a cross-countryhighway link?

JF: Yes, this should becovered during four years,while some sections will takemore time. I am referring tothe tunnel in Višňové nearStrečno, which is the most dif-ficult section, but also a key tothe connection between Žilinaand Prešov, and is of symbolicimportance. We want tolaunch construction at the be-ginning of next year at thelatest, and the time requiredfor construction is estimatedto be 5 years. Thus a completeconnection, with tunnels,between east and west can beexpected by 2016 [turn of 2017],but most of the sections will befinished by 2014.

TSS: However, it will beequally important to securefinancing for the plan. Afteryou took over and cancelledtwo PPP projects for high-way construction, you saidthat the government wouldaim to make more extensiveuse of EU funds for highwayconstruction. How success-ful have you been in ful-filling this ambition?

JF: Numerous sectionshave been included in the pro-gramme up to the eastern bor-der, while the volume of fin-ances stands at €5 billion, andmost of this should belaunched within this term butwill also continue in the yearsafter 2014. The basic source isthe European Union budgetaryframework for 2007 to 2013, inwhich, for example, we hadincluded for highway con-struction, again due to the in-correct approach of the previ-ous government, some not-very-well-prepared projects;thus, the drawing of funds hadbeen very weak. Currently weare in the fifth year of the7-year budget for drawingfunding from the EU Opera-tional Programme for Trans-portation, which is nowroughly 20-percent drawn.Thus we have the core of thework ahead of us with muchless time remaining, but I con-sider this a key responsibility:to be able to use the EU fund-

ing in times of crisis and in acountry which has extensiveenvironmental and infrastruc-ture deficits.

From the 2007-2013budgetary period, we still have€700 million for highway con-struction, but within thisamount are also included re-sources for railways and first-category roads, while the totalamount of money allocated fortransportation stands at €3.2billion. Intensive negotiationson the 2014-2020 budget areexpected next year and we arealready counting on assistancefor financing longer sections,the so-called line construction,so that we do not cover onlyshorter stretches but canplunge into construction andstrategies that last longer than3-4 years. After all, the con-struction of a tunnel lastslonger than one term of a gov-ernment, thus it is logical tolink periods together.

Then there is also the fin-ancing from the state budget,which will co-cover someprojects, and in some other in-stances construction will beentirely covered from the statebudget, since the state budgetshould reflect the priorities ofthe country and transporta-tion is one of the priorities ofthe current ruling coalition.

Another important form offinancing is the European In-vestment Bank (EIB), thelargest bank on the continent,in which Slovakia is a share-holder: our country has an act-ive loan open for large projectsof up to €1.3 billion. Some con-struction we would cover fromthis loan and then sub-sequently have re-financedfrom EU funds.

The electronic highway tollsystem serves as anothersource of financing, and itslaunch was planned in such away that highway users con-tribute to the maintenance andoperation but also the con-struction of roads. We are nowmodifying the system so that itis not loss-making but, on thecontrary, generates profits.

Highway bonds will be an-other source, and the revisionto the law on the pension sav-ing system already assumesthis option, within which theso-called pension fund man-agement companies, or DSS,will be given the opportunityto invest in highways throughstate bonds.

Last but not least, there arethe PPP projects, and we havealready started discussing thisform of financing in the case ofthe D4 bypass of Bratislava,which, also thanks to thehighway toll, could have beendifferently tuned, with morebalance in terms of the distri-bution of risks between theconcessionaire and the state.

See JF pg 11

BY BEATA BALOGOVÁSpectator staff

Minister Ján Figeľ Photo: Sme

4 BUSINESS / NEWSJune 6 – 12, 2011

Hrádza

NOT THE government office,not parliament, and defin-itely not the presidentialpalace. The one place in Brat-islava where you can meetanyone who is anyone is theDanube levee (hrádza). It washere that Supreme Courtchief Štefan Harabin was bik-ing when Vladimír Mečiarcalled in 2006 to offer him thepost of justice minister. Itwas here that former primeminister Robert Fico wasphotographed rollerbladingwith his alleged lover. It washere, on his morning jogs,that attorney generalDobroslav Trnka used to find“funny smelling plasticbottles”, supposedly left be-hind by reckless“environmentalists”, withwhom he had long-lastinglegal disputes. And whereTrnka himself was last weekcaught driving, using a spe-cial permit which he says heneeds to do his job but manysuspect he uses just to bypassthe morning traffic jams. Andit is here that Fico has nowbeen filmed parking in a no-entry zone.

But there is also anotherplace, where you’ll meet manyof the same people as on thelevee – the ConstitutionalCourt. It is not rare for top ju-dicial bodies to have a big in-fluence on policy. But thecourt in Košice is exceptionalin two ways – to the extent towhich it gets involved in polit-ical issues, and in the unpre-dictability of its decisions.

Let’s not deal with thecases of the late 1990s, whenthe court had to rule on theconstitutionality of throwingan MP out of parliament, or ofprime minister VladimírMečiar’s amnesties, withwhich he shielded members

of the secret service from pro-secution for the kidnapping ofpresident Michal Kováč’s son.There are plenty of examplesin its more recent history.

Two key pieces of Fico’slegislation were a ban onprofits for health insurers,and a law enabling the con-struction of highways to be-gin on private property evenbefore the land in questionhad been properly expropri-ated. Both went before thecourt. Neither of the cases wasdecided while Fico was inpower, keeping private in-vestors and real estate ownerswaiting for years before fi-nally learning that theirrights had been violated.

In a much criticised de-cision, the court said the ex-istence of the Special Court,set up to fight the most seri-ous forms of crime, wasagainst the constitution, giv-ing a huge victory to then-minister Harabin, a promin-ent opponent of the special-ised judiciary. Now, the Con-stitutional Court is gettingheavily involved in the elec-tion of the new general pro-secutor. It first told parlia-ment to hold another round ofsecret voting, and will nowdecide whether the coalitioncan make such votes public. Ifit rules it cannot, there will befurther secret votes, whichcould in the end bring downthe government.

The key problem with thecourt is that a majority of itsjudges were appointed underthe Fico government, manyhave close ties to Harabin,and they do not always placetheir respect for the lawabove the particular interestsof their friends in politics.That is why it often fails to bea functioning element in thesystem of checks and bal-ances. And serves as a leveeagainst justice.

Stepping from the shadowsEXPOSURE to diversity stillmakes many Slovaks uncom-fortable. The concept of oth-erness remains a challengefor those who differ from themajority but also for those inthe majority who refuse toaccept that sameness anduniformity are an illusion fedto them by people who wantto exercise exclusive controlover others’ lives.

It is still not always easyand natural in Slovakia tospeak a language differentfrom what the majority un-derstands and expects tohear, to nourish cultural tra-ditions dissimilar from thosevalued by the majority, tohave a skin colour darker thanwhat is predominantly seen,or to accept something otherthan the male-female part-nerships traditionally recog-nised by the country’s laws.

This is why people of adifferent nationality, cul-ture, skin colour or sexualorientation always carefullywatch the responses of themajority to festivals that cel-ebrate diversity. For ex-ample, the way a society re-sponds to a gay pride paradecan transmit clear signals tomany others about how ma-ture and ready a society is toaccept and interact with thisidea of otherness.

Last year Slovakia madeits first attempt to ‘host’ aRainbow Pride event de-signed to celebrate people’sauthentic identities, regard-less of their sexual orienta-tion or gender identity. Theevent’s parade had to becalled off not because of a lackof participants, but becauseof the aggressive behaviour ofhundreds of skinheads as-sembled in side streets alongthe planned route. The organ-isers clearly stated that theparticipants in last year’sparade were not given ad-equate police protection.

Perhaps if there had beenmore top Slovak politiciansshowing their support forRainbow Pride and for theideals of diversity, then thepolice would have had more

incentive to carefully watchfor those shaven-headed pro-vocateurs seeking a chance todisseminate hate againstanyone displaying a sign ofhaving a more open mind.

Those who expect thatthis year’s Rainbow Prideevent will find much morefiery support among Slovakpoliticians might find theyare wrong. Among those whowill certainly be there,however, are many diplo-mats from countries thatwalk miles ahead of Slovakiain recognising and nourish-ing diversity.

“We, as members of theinternational community,stand both literally and fig-uratively with parade parti-cipants as they peacefully as-semble to stand up for theirhuman rights, and raiseawareness of the LGBT com-munity in Slovakia,” statesan open letter prepared byambassadors and diplomats,urging that everyone, includ-ing LGBT people, should en-joy the rights and freedomsset out in the Universal De-claration of Human Rights.

The diplomats state thatthey celebrate the contribu-tions made by LGBT com-munities in their home societ-ies and “salute the efforts ofthe Slovak authorities in en-

suring LGBT rights are protec-ted here”.

Some Slovaks still fail tounderstand that LGBT personsand those who support theirrights are not coming togeth-er to have a joyous, early-summer party but are march-ing to draw attention to thefact that they are here and ex-pect that Slovak society willprogress as well in its abilityto see and hear them. Seeingand hearing those at RainbowPride would be a good starttowards finding acceptablelegislative measures to pro-tect their rights and sanctiontheir partnerships.

And these citizens do de-serve dignified attention in-stead of narrow-minded re-sponses from politicians wholive in dark, imaginary caveswhere in the gloom even theshadows of people have thesame shapes and colours.

Many in the majority saythey do not mind “them” – aslong as they do not ask formore than just tolerance. Aswell, the discourse is oftenpunctuated by talking about“their” issues which mightmarginally concern “us” be-cause we are declaring “our”openness to universal hu-man rights and thus cannotignore “them”. But then toomany politicians find thatthere are more urgent socialissues to address at this mo-ment – and it seems this willbe their mantra for sometime to come.

Some say Slovakia is notyet ready to accept the idea ofotherness, but might beready in a decade or two,pointing to other countrieswhich indeed did need towalk a long way to eventuallyreach more open societies.But others rightly say politi-cians in Slovakia couldprovide some encourage-ment that can help societymake that walk a bit fasterand with more confidence –so that another generationdoes not grow up only livingin the shadows, not eventhinking about adding theirown colours to the rainbow.

5OPINION

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I am cautious about it on principle.”

SDKÚ MP Pavol Kubovič, after being asked whether he will observe a new rule on nottalking on the phone in the main chamber of parliament, despite being spotted doing so.

SLOVAK WORDOF THE WEEK

EDITORIAL

BY BEATA BALOGOVÁSpectator staff

BY LUKÁŠ FILASpecial to the Spectator

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June 6 – 12, 2011

Where only prosecutors fear to tread (or drive). Photo: Sme

Building better CSRwith government help

WHEN discussing governmentresponsibility, it is impossiblenot to mention transparentprocurement processes whichuse public resources wiselyand encourage environment-friendly products and techno-logies. But another importantgovernment responsibility ismaking sure businesses andpublic offices obey the law andalso keep to the principles thatare promised in their officialdocuments and reports. Gov-ernments in some countrieshave dozens of years of experi-ence in this latter responsibil-ity and in some cases havecrystallised the concepts intolegislation or into acceptedbest practices.

How governments shouldsupport corporate social re-sponsibility (CSR) was the topicof a panel discussion held at the8th international conferenceon corporate responsibility or-ganised by the Pontis Founda-tion and the Business LeadersForum in Bratislava on May 12.

The discussion featured adistinguished panel consistingof Trine Skymoen, Ambassadorof Norway, Daphne Bergsma,Ambassador of the Nether-lands, Anita Hugau, Ambas-sador of Denmark and AndrewPittam, Deputy Head of Mis-

sion of the UK to Slovakia. Eachpresented the policies and ini-tiatives through which theirgovernments are supportingcorporate social responsibility.Slovakia, represented by Eco-nomy Minister Juraj Miškov,had an opportunity to seek in-spiration and encouragement,as the traditions of CSR inNorway, Denmark, the Neth-erlands and the United King-dom are much older and betterestablished.

“Slovakia supports all theprocesses which have a posit-ive impact on economic

growth,” Minister Miškov saidin his opening speech to theconference. “This is also de-clared in the National Pro-gramme of Reforms adopted bythe Slovak cabinet on April 20.Our programme supports thegoals of the Lisbon strategy andthe Europe 2020 strategy whoseaim is to secure economicgrowth in a sustainable wayduring the post-crisis period,as well as create new jobs.”

At the conference Miškovintroduced an example of con-crete support for corporate so-cial responsibility in Slovakia.

“In cooperation with theregional office of the UN Devel-opment Programme in Bratis-lava, the University of Eco-nomics in Bratislava, and otherpartners a project to supportcorporate social responsibilityin Slovakia was launchedwhich will result also in thedraft of a National Strategy ofSupport for Corporate SocialResponsibility,” said Miškov,adding that apart from thedraft it will also provide mon-itoring and evaluation of cor-porate social responsibilityin Slovakia.

See CSR pg 9

Year of Volunteering in Slovakia

THE EUROPEAN Year of Volunteering (EYV) 2011, whichthe European Commission ceremonially launched onDecember 2 last year, is designed to celebrate thecommitment of millions of people in Europe who work intheir communities during their free time without beingpaid. Their efforts and those of the many thousands ofvolunteering organisations make a huge difference topeople’s lives in countless ways. The EYV is also achallenge to those who do not currently volunteer.In Slovakia the national coordinator of activities duringthe EYV is Iuventa, the Slovak institute of youth, whichtogether with NGOs and public administrationinstitutions participated in the creation of the EYVnational programme. The Education Ministry is alsoactively supporting the EYV.As part of the EYV, a national campaign is taking place inSlovakia to promote the principles and benefits ofvolunteering among the general public and inspirediscussion about volunteering. There will also be aresearch effort. As Alžbeta Mračková, the executivedirector of C.A.R.D.O., the National Volunteer Centre,explained to The Slovak Spectator, C.A.R.D.O. is carryingout two surveys on volunteering in Slovakia becausetheir most current information dates back to 2006. In thefirst survey they want to map out how many volunteersthere are in Slovakia and their motives as well as toexamine the barriers to volunteering, and in the secondsurvey they will monitor the situation of volunteercentres and get information about what they could dobetter. The results of both surveys should be released atthe end of 2011, when the European Year of Volunteeringwill culminate. At the same time, awards forvolunteering will also be announced. To mark the EYVthe third year of the day of volunteering will be extendedto a two-day event taking place on September 23 and 24.Currently, a photo exhibition on volunteering is touringSlovakia. Twelve winning photos selected from a total of74 are currently being exhibited in Banská Bystrica underthe title Volunteering through a Camera.

For more information, see http://erd.dobrovolnictvo.sk/,a website dedicated to the European Year of Volunteering

2011 in Slovakia

'Our Town' volunteering event

OUR Town, or Naše Mesto, the biggest corporatevolunteering event in Slovakia, will take place on June17 and 18 in Bratislava, Žilina and Košice, and willspread this year also to Galanta, Hlohovec and SpišskáNová Ves, the Pontis Foundation, one of the organisers ofthe event wrote on its website. As part of the EuropeanYear of Volunteering, the Pontis Foundation and theEngage group of companies have set a target of getting atleast 4,000 volunteers out onto the streets of Bratislava,Žilina, Košice and other towns. Apart from manual skills,they are also willing to use employees' experience inlegislation, marketing, computers or personnel tobroaden the knowledge of people working in NGOs.The Our Town event is a follow-up to previous successfulvolunteer events branded Our Bratislava, Our Žilina andOur Košice. In total more than 5,000 employees from 60companies worked 18,589 hours, representing 10man-years of work in these events. The value of suchwork was valued at almost €80,000.

For more information, see www.nasemesto.sk, thewebsite of the Naše Mesto corporate volunteering event.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Some organisations active in CSRand philanthropy in Slovakia

- Business Leaders Forum, www.blf.sk- C.A.R.D.O., www.dobrovolnictvo.sk- Centrum Dobrovoľníctva / Centre for Volunteering,www.centrumdobrovolnictva.sk- Fórum donorov / Slovak Donors' Forum,www.donorsforum.sk- Komunitná Nadácia Bratislavy / CommunityFoundation of Bratislava, www.knb.sk- Panet, www.panet.sk- Pontis Foundation, www.nadaciapontis.sk

BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁSpectator staff

(From left) Ambassadors Trine Skymoen, Anita Hugau andDaphne Bergsma at the conference. Photo: Courtesy of Pontis

Firms learn sustainability is good business

EVEN though corporate responsibility andsustainability are not completely foreignconcepts in Slovakia in 2011, many compan-ies in Slovakia are still just learning howimplementing the principles of corporateresponsibility can bring better businessvalues and entrepreneurial success.Primarily it is the Slovak branches of inter-national companies, motivated by theirparent companies, that have adapted cor-porate strategies to local conditions andimplemented corporate responsibility pro-grammes. The Slovak Spectator spoke toBeata Hlavčáková, the programme directorof the Pontis Foundation and the director ofthe Business Leaders Forum, about whatshe sees as being the current trends in theseareas in Slovakia.

The Slovak Spectator (TSS): What are thecurrent trends in corporate responsibil-ity and what challenges does theconcept face here in Slovakia?

Beata Hlavčáková (BH): The currentchange in corporate responsibility is thatrepresentatives of international companiesare beginning to realise very clearly thatthis topic matters to them. More than 90percent of CEOs even consider sustainabil-ity to be important or very important for thesuccess of their company; this awarenessresults from a study conducted by Accen-ture and the UN Global Compact. A generaltrend is that directors of companies arestarting to perceive sustainability as an op-portunity for creation of values and entre-preneurial success and are beginning to im-plement the concept into their core busi-ness activities.

TSS: Do trends differ in Slovakia fromthose abroad? Did trends change underthe influence of the economic crisis?

BH: The distinctness of the perceptionof corporate responsibility and sustainab-ility in Slovakia lies exactly here. Sincethe concept is not widespread in Slovakiaand is not highly demanded by clients orcustomers, representatives of firms inSlovakia right now see only the costs ofimplementation. Even though we alreadyhave companies in Slovakia which haveimplemented programmes of corporateresponsibility or sustainability, only afew of them systematically use its poten-tial as a tool for searching for new marketopportunities. But there are some suchcompanies.

The impacts of the crisis on corporateresponsibility hit at several levels. Somecompanies achieved positive economic-environmental synergies by implement-ing saving modes and programmes withless consumption of materials and energy.A less-positive impact was on the socialarea where cuts in the number of employ-ees often negatively affected the work-lifebalance of remaining employees who hadto take over the duties of those personswho were made redundant. And not allcompanies managed to maintain consist-ency in their values during the layoff pro-cess, and that had a negative impact onemployees’ motivation. On the otherhand, there was a positive development inthe area of community activities whenstrategic partnerships and programmescrystallised.

TSS: Which factors affect companies inSlovakia when they decide to apply theprinciples of corporate responsibility?

BH: Slovak companies that are motiv-ated by their international parent compan-ies and adapt the corporate strategies tolocal conditions are primarily the ones im-plementing corporate responsibility prin-ciples here. A survey conducted as part ofthe ReSmeS project showed that competit-iveness and the requirements of the marketare the main motivators for implementa-tion of corporate responsibility amongsmall and medium-sized companies.

BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁSpectator staff

6

ITALY

Next issue:BUSINESS FOCUS

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Some companies onlysee the costs rather

than the benefits

Four foreigndiplomats

describe theircountries’initiatives

June 6 – 12, 2011

Leaving a visible andlasting CSR footprint

A law on volunteeringis in the pipeline

Via Bona Slovakia awards for 2010

THE PONTIS Foundation distributed its Via Bona Slovakiaawards for the 11th time to publicly recognise companiesand entrepreneurs supporting corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) and corporate philanthropy inSlovakia at a ceremony in mid April. Awards were givenin 10 categories this year to reflect the broaderdevelopment of CSR and corporate philanthropyactivities in Slovakia. In addition to the two Main Awards– traditionally given to a large corporation and to a smallor medium-sized enterprise – the other eight awardswere designed to recognise outstanding work in specifictypes of CSR and corporate philanthropy.

Main awards:- The Main Award for Large Corporations for acomprehensive approach to CSR went to OrangeSlovensko. Pontis wrote that the mobile operator’sstrategy for corporate social responsibility is based onseveral programmes: it supports the Návrat non-profitorganisation which assists children in coming to familiesfrom institutional care; it is active in the environmentalfield; and it is the only telecommunications business inSlovakia to create the position of independentombudsman for its clients.- The Main Award for Small and Medium-SizedEnterprises for a comprehensive approach to CSRwent to Nera Networks-Liptovský Hrádok, which focuseson three pillars – people, planet and profit – and its mainpriority is its employees. “If we treat people in a decentway then we can have people give 100 percent of theirlabour force every day,“ said Peter Stenberg, CEO of thecompany.- Honourable mention went to Martin Štrba, themanager of the online bookshop Martinus.sk. Pontiswrote that this online bookshop has become the mostpopular and the highest quality online bookshop thanksto Štrba’s straightforward approach towards employeesand fairness towards customers.

Corporate social responsibility:- The winner of the Green Award for an environment-related project was Envi-Pak company. The company wasrecognised for its direct support of recycling in more than800 towns and villages in Slovakia.- The Award for a Responsible Approach to Employeeswas won by Orion Nova for its project of supportedemployment for young people who have grown up inorphanages.- Tatra Banka received the Award for SociallyResponsible Market Operations for its Talking ATMsproject which enables blind customers to handle ATMtransactions without any third-party assistance or theneed to disclose their PIN code.- GlaxoSmithKline company received an HonourableMention for adopting measures and standards toincrease transparency in the pharmaceutical industry.- An Honourable Mention for a responsible approach toemployees went to Embraco Slovakia for its exemplaryapproach to its employees during last year's floods.

Corporate philanthropy:- The Award for Long-Term Positive Corporate Impacton society and the surrounding community was given toEmbraco Slovakia for its project enhancing thedepartment for newborns at the hospital in Spišská NováVes over the past 12 years.- The evaluation committee granted the Award forCourage to Support a Difficult Issue to the CreativeDepartment company for its pro bono preparation of anadvertising campaign called ‘Age Concerns Us’.- The Award for Employee Engagement in VolunteerActivities went to RWE IT Slovakia for the change of itscorporate team-building activities from sports tovolunteering for the Dorka family crisis centre.

Source: Via Bona

Compiled by Spectator staff

Leaving a CSR footprint

IN MID April the Pontis Found-ation distributed its Via BonaSlovakia Awards to publicly re-cognise companies and entre-preneurs which had supportedcorporate social responsibility(CSR) and corporate philan-thropy in Slovakia. Four com-panies were shortlisted for themain award for large corpora-tions for their comprehensiveapproach to CSR, from whichthe jury selected Orange Slov-ensko as the winner for 2010.

The Slovak Spectator spokewith representatives of thefour shortlisted companies,specificallywith Ivica Hricová,media relations coordinator atOrange Slovensko, ZuzanaSehnalová, spokesperson ofPwC in Slovakia, AndrejGargulák, spokesperson ofSlovak Telekom, and OldřiškaLuptáková from Prvá StavebnáSporiteľňa about their com-panies’ CSR activities and theirsources of inspiration.

The Slovak Spectator (TSS):Which are the key areas ofCSR in your company?

Ivica Hricová (IH): Theprimary key areas for CSR with-in Orange Slovensko includecharity and philanthropy, sup-port to education, environ-mental protection and man-agement, responsible market-ing and the development andsatisfaction of employees.

Zuzana Sehnalová (ZS):CSR for us is the way we integ-rate social, environmental, andeconomic concerns into ourvalues, culture, decision-mak-ing and operations in an ac-countable and transparentmanner, and in the way we es-tablish better practices withinthe firm, create wealth and im-prove society. We want to un-derstand well what CSR foot-

print we leave; we want to un-derstand our impacts on keyareas and have the chance toinfluence them.

Regarding the approach ofPwC to CSR, it stems from ourCSR strategy in which we di-vided our key areas into fourquadrants: community, mar-ketplace, workplace and envir-onment. We also pay great at-tention to questions of ethics inbusiness.

Andrej Gargulák (AG): Wefollow the slogan that ‘Eachgood deed helps’. We con-stantly look for opportunitiesto create conditions that willhelp improve the lives of thosewho need our help. Along withthis we are trying to create amotivating environment forour employees, reliable and af-fordable products, and servicesfor clients so they can appraisethe advantages of moderntechnologies in their workinglives as well as their privatelives. We pursue a fair andtransparent approach to oursubcontractors and trade part-ners and last but not least wereduce environmental risksfrom our business. Corporatephilanthropy also plays an es-pecially important role.

Oldřiška Luptáková (OL):Prvá Stavebná Sporiteľňa (PSS)supports, in particular, human-itarian, housing and publicprojects. Support for humanit-arian projects is especiallyabout helping individuals whohave found themselves in a dif-ficult health or social situation.Within our humanitarianprojects we have already sup-ported legal entities such ashealth facilities, orphanages,and other social facilities. PSSalso traditionally supports theLeague against Cancer and thePlamienok children’s hospice,just to mention two. Last yearPSS also helped those hit byheavy flooding.

Within our support forhousing, PSS finances projectseach year to enhance the qual-ity of the housing stock. Thismeans that we support public-ation of specialised literature,holding of conferences andtrainings as well as projectslinked with protection of cul-tural monuments. Our supportfor public projects focuses es-pecially on culture and sport.

TSS: What are some specificways that your companypursues CSR?

IH: To give some ex-amples of concrete activities,I can list education, environ-mental protection, charityand philanthropy, respons-ible marketing, and develop-ment and satisfaction of em-ployees. Within educationand under the project Chil-dren and Modern Commu-nications Technologies weelevate awareness aboutrisks stemming from use ofmobile phones and the in-ternet by children. OrangeSlovensko also supports de-velopment of non-traditionaland innovative forms of edu-cation at schools. We alsorun an educational portal,www.oskole.sk, containinginformation about subjectstaught at the second degreeof the basic schools as well asat secondary schools. Thecontent is created by teach-ers themselves and is presen-ted using modern and inter-active methods.

Within the environment-al area we support e-commu-nication and reduction of en-ergy usage, collection of non-functional telephones, batter-ies and outfits, environment-al management of subcon-tractors and others. Our char-ity and philanthropy area in-cludes activities carried outvia the company’s OrangeFoundation, long-term part-nerships with organisations,mobile financial collections,raising money via mobilephone collections and so on.

We address the matter ofresponsible marketing via aunique project having a tele-coms ombudsman to speak forthe rights of our clients. Ouremployees can attend a num-ber of training courses andlectures as well as sportsactivities and social pro-grammes within our pro-gramme area for developmentand satisfaction of employees.

See SURVEY pg 10

Employees often come up with their own ideas for CSR activit-ies, like cleaning up around Bratislava bus station. Photo: Sme

7BUSINESS FOCUS June 6 – 12, 2011

BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁSpectator staff

Law on volunteering is in the pipeline

SLOVAKIA is one of the few countries inEurope which does not have a law deal-ing with the issues involved in volun-teering. While other countries with dif-ferent traditions may not face any prob-lems in this area, Slovak organisationswhich seek volunteers have been askingfor such a law for several years, asSlovakia’s labour offices have some-times viewed volunteers as illegal work-ers and organisations using volunteershave had problems determining exactlyhow to account for peripheral costs in-volved with volunteer activities. It nowseems that a law may be adopted inSlovakia during the European Year ofVolunteering, as newly-drafted legisla-tion is now undergoing thegovernment’s internal approval proced-ure and it is expected to go to parliamentlater this year.

“The benefit of the law for us will bethat we will finally have a definition ofwho a volunteer is,” Alžbeta Mračková,the executive director of C.A.R.D.O.,Slovakia’s National Volunteer Centre, toldThe Slovak Spectator, adding that her or-ganisation helped initiate preparation ofthe proposed legislation.

Alžbeta Brozmanová Gregorová fromthe Volunteering Centre in BanskáBystrica, who was also active in draftingthe bill, said she believes that the law couldhelp create the conditions to elevate thestatus of volunteers in the eyes of the pub-lic and broaden opportunities for volunteerwork in various kinds of organisations.

Discussions about the need for a vo-lunteering law in Slovakia date back to atleast 2002 and efforts to move legislationforward intensified as part of the run up tothe parliamentary election in June 2010.

“We wrote to all relevant politicalparties,” said Mračková, adding that JanaŽitňanská, an MP from the ChristianDemocratic Movement (KDH), was one ofthe persons who responded to herorganisation’s call.

Žitňanská initiated a working groupwhich prepared a first draft of a law onvolunteering and invited representat-ives of NGOs with tangible experienceworking with volunteers in Slovakia orabroad to cooperate and add their ideas.

The draft legislation was submittedby the Interior Ministry for interde-partmental review, which wrapped outon May 18 and parliament is expectedto approve the bill some time in late2011 to mark the end of the EuropeanYear of Volunteering.

“The main reason leading to initi-ation of the law on volunteering was todefine volunteering as a generally ac-knowledged activity carried out bypeople in the public interest,”Žitňanská told The Slovak Spectator,adding that the law should also clearlydefine a volunteer as a person who,without desire for a reward and on thebasis of his or her own personal de-cision, provides a service to the benefitof a third party.

See DRAFT pg 10

BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁSpectator staff

Pavol Lančarič, general director of Orange Slovensko, ac-cepts a Via Bona Main Award. Photo: Courtesy of Pontis

8 ADVERTISEMENT

30535

The Recently, media out-lets have reported widely on the most well-known of the projects within ENERGY FOR LIFE: Gypsy Spirit, which fo-cuses on supporting the active efforts of all those who partici-pate in improving the situation of Roma in Slovakia. Awarding good examples, evaluating, but also reminding people of the importance of developing personality, has struck a chord both in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. Awards in five ca-tegories: Non-governmental organisation, Company- busi-ness, Extra-school educational activities, Personality and Act of the year, were again awar-ded during a gala evening at the City Theatre of P.O. Hviez-doslav in Bratislava.

The second – but for Bra-tislava inhabitants probably the best-known project that is assisted by Slovenské elektrár-ne within the Energy for Life project is the support for the non-profit organisation Depaul Slovensko. The Shelter of St Vincent De Paul is the first low-threshold shelter for the home-less established in the Slovak capital, and thanks to the sup-port of Slovenské elektrárne it continues to operate and offer services to the long-term ho-meless who are not able, due to their situation, to fulfil the re-quirements of existing shelters and dormitories. This low-key project has attracted attention across the whole Enel Group, and further cooperation will also be supported by the Enel Cuore Foundation. Thanks to a big investment which will be announced in the upcoming weeks, Bratislava will be able to secure much better conditi-ons for this social group.

Protection of the environ-ment is among the greatest challenges and spheres within the corporate social responsi-bility activities of most com-panies in Slovakia. Slovenské elektrárne introduced their programme ENERGY FOR NATURE several years ago. Activities implemented within this programme protect and cultivate the environment in which we live. The previous-ly-mentioned reduction of emissions and waste produc-tion, as well as a contribution towards an increase in the share of renewable sources in the production of power, is part of this. Apart from these investment activities, the com-pany, within its environmental strategy, continues to develop partnerships with Slovak na-tional parks and supports the development of biodiversity. 2010 was marked by efforts to preserve birds of prey – the Golden Eagle and the Lesser Spotted Eagle. Other activities aimed to support the now-s-parse population of Tatra Mar-mots and Chamoix, and the Brown Trout. The most popu-lar projects in the High Tatras included the installation of photovoltaic panels at Téry’s Chalet and Zbojnícka (Bandit) Chalet. A novelty in 2011 is an analysis of the potential use of water for power production at Brnčalka Chalet.

ENERGY FOR EDUCATI-ON develops cooperation with schools and universities in Slo-vakia, the goal being to evoke interest among young talents not only in studying techno-logy at colleges and universi-ties, but also in working in the energy sector.

Each year, Slovenské elek-trárne allocate the Aurel Stodola awards and provide financial gifts for the best Bachelor’s, Master’s and po-st-graduate theses focused on energy. For several years, an entertainment-educatio-nal project by the Enel Group has been bringing interesting issues connected with ener-gy, science, technology and

a sustainable environment to elementary and seconda-ry schools in many countries within the project known under the title Play Energy. The competition promotes knowledge about the world of energy and urges young peo-ple of all ages to discover the world of electric power and science. Students from Italy, Bulgaria, Chile, Costa Rica, Greece, Guatemala, Panama, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and the United States are presented with the challen-ge of using their creative and designer skills. They come up with effective proposals for improving the quality of life and promoting the rational use of electric power in the places where they live, as well as creating energy efficiency models and savings to the be-nefit of the environment and the whole of society.

Slovenské elektrárne, wi-thin their long-term program-

mes of collaboration with academia, e.g. in Slovakia with the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV), Slovak Uni-versity of Technology, and fo-reign and specialised institu-tions, try to support scientific development in the sphere of energy. Examples include dis-cussion at the level of the Enel Group about international cooperation on research pro-

grammes, or the first steps of Slovenské elektrárne towards founding a competency cen-tre in cooperation with SAV.

ENERGY FOR CULTURE includes projects supporting cultural events and various genres of art, from music of different types (classical – Zlaté husle, jazz – Bratislava Jazz Days, folklore – Folklore Festival Východná), through theatre (Andrej Bagar Thea-tre in Nitra, Radošina Naive Theatre, Virtual Theatre in Trenčín), to less traditional forms of art like the Kremnica Gagy festival of humour and satire. Slovenské elektrárne also support the spread of Italian culture and traditions in Slovakia through the Dolce Vitaj festival, but they also ex-port the best of Slovak cultu-re to Italy. Within Energy for Culture, Slovenské elektrárne cooperate with the whole ran-ge of important cultural insti-

tutions – the Slovak Culture Ministry, the Slovak National Gallery, the National Culture Centre, and many others.

In May, Slovenské elektrár-ne were the general partner of the international festival of modern circus Cirku l’Art which was presented for the first time in Slovakia. The Me-dical Garden in Bratislava was transformed into a showg-round for new top performers from Austria, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium and the Czech Republic. This refres-hing event has enjoyed great popularity in several Euro-pean metropolises, and was undoubtedly a big success in the Slovak capital too.

An important project, lite-rally the most visible in the Žilina region, is that to pro-vide new lighting for Orava Castle, made possible by Slovenské elektrárne in coo-peration with Žilina Region. The old lighting, dating back to 1970s, was completely replaced, meaning that the second-most-visited castle in Slovakia is now lit by 83 lamps. Thus, the dominant historical monument in Ora-va has been included among those monuments which are lit in a modern way, like the Colosseum in Rome, Berlin‘s Brandenburg Gate, the Presi-dential Palace in Warsaw and Prague Castle.

ENERGY FOR SPORT will bring another novelty this year. Dni športu bez bariér / Days of Sport without Bar-riers was founded thanks to the inspiration of Slovenské

elektrárne’s mother compa-ny, Enel, which supports the National Paralympics Day in Italy. In Janko Kráľ Park in Pe-tržalka on June 22, Slovenské elektrárne together with Slo-vak Association of Disabled Athletes and Bratislava City will enable non-disabled chil-dren to try sports in which di-sabled athletes – children and adults alike – compete.

Last year, Slovenské elekt-rárne became the partner of the Slovak Volleyball Fede-ration. This young, dynamic and aesthetic sport attracts an ever growing number of active players, fans and sup-porters. It is the third most-watched team sport in Slova-kia. By supporting the Slovak Volleyball Federation, Sloven-ské elektrárne want to secure better conditions for the deve-lopment of the sport, so that the national team, individual teams and, especially, young players have enough space, opportunities and resources to develop their talents.

This year, Slovenské elek-trárne present the jubilee year of the cycle race Okolo Slovenska / Tour of Slovakia, the first leg of which begins on June 4. The race is also an excellent means to present the beauty of Slovakia, as individual legs pass Bojnice Castle, through Čičmany, Rajec and many other pictu-resque places. More than 15 teams and 120 racers will complete the race, with the eighth leg on June 11 in Ga-bčíkovo. The hydro power plant and the waterworks at Gabčíkovo will on that day host members of the public from far around within the Open Plant series of events. Via Open Plant, Slovenské elektrárne allow people to look behind the scenes at the daily work of energy industry employees.

This year, you can visit the nuclear power plants at Mochovce (on May 21) and Jaslovské Bohunice (June 18), the hydro power plants at Liptovská Mara (May 28) and Gabčíkovo (June 11), and the thermal power plants at Nováky (June 4) and Voja-ny (June 25). Don’t hesitate – come and draw the energy!

Five Energies for the country We connect the world of power plants with the surrounding world

Increasing energy efficiency, reducing the production of carbon-dioxide emissions and waste, securing the energy independen-ce of Slovakia by finishing the two blocks of Mochovce nuclear power plant, modernisation of classical power plants – all these are well-known issues connected to power producer Slovenské elektrárne. Slovenské elektrárne, as the most important pro-ducer of electricity in Slovakia, are implementing, aside from their trading activities, a long-term, deliberate and planned pro-gramme of corporate social responsibility called Energy for the Country. Briefly summarised, Energy for the Country follows us everywhere. It reflects a policy of social but also environmental responsibility of the company. A number of activities is included within five basic spheres. Each activity is given a specific ener-gy: energy for environment, energy for life, energy for education, energy for culture, or energy for sport.

Energy for education: NPP Mochovce Simulator Training Room Project Zlaté husle was also supported by Slovenské elektrárne

June 6 – 12, 2011

CSR: Four diplomats share their countries' experiencesContinued from pg 6

Miškov stated that support to CSRis not an isolated issue of just one min-istry but an issue for the whole gov-ernment and he sees in it a parallelwith development of the business en-vironment and its improvement.

“I see a huge similarity,” Miškovsaid. “As in the business environment,which is and should be the matter forthe whole government, support forCSR should also be a matter for thewhole government. CSR does nottouch only one ministry just as thebusiness environment does not touchonly the Ministry of Economy. Theministry can be a guarantor and co-ordinator of the whole process but it isimportant to involve other ministriesas well as the whole government inthis process.”

Miškov stated that as Slovak soci-ety and the Slovak economy develop,corporate social responsibility willimprove as well, adding that he is con-vinced that in five years Slovakia willhave companies that are much moresocially responsible.

Examples from abroad

Even though Norway, the Nether-lands, Denmark and the UK all havewell-established programmes to sup-port CSR, their individual strategiesand programme names are somewhatdifferent. Norway has, among otherinitiatives, its White Paper on CSR;the Netherlands has what it calls itsGreen Deal; Denmark has the ActionPlan; and the UK has a minister forCSR as well as a CSR Academy.

“Why is CSR such a high priorityfor the Norwegian government?”asked Skymoen rhetorically. “BecauseCSR makes sense politically and mor-ally and because it is good for business.In a modern global economy, CSRgives companies a competitive ad-vantage and we want our companiesto have that advantage.”

Norway’s White Paper publishedin 2009 states the government’s clearcommitment to promote and imple-ment CSR and defines three key areasfor government action: implementingCSR in the government’s own initiat-ives; transferring society’s expecta-

tions to Norwegian companies andhelping them through advice andguidance; and developing and influ-encing the CSR framework interna-tionally as well as nationally.

“The government’s approach is tostrengthen guidance and advisorymeasures towards companies,” saidSkymoen, adding that since corpora-tions operate in an arena of interna-tional trade, their responsibilityshould also be monitored on a mul-tinational level. “That is why theNorwegian government has based itsstrategy on the OECD guidelines formultinational enterprises. The coun-trywide discussion on roles and re-sponsibilities of corporations in oursociety resulted two years ago in theWhite Paper that arms the Norwegi-an government, as one of the first inthe world, with a comprehensive CSRpolicy. This policy directly stimulatesand influences companies’ CSRstrategies and integrates them intothe core of their businesses.”

In Norway, companies seekingpublic projects, are strongly encour-aged to develop clear ethicalguidelines.

“Before picking a potential sup-plier, the government office watchesclosely how these guidelines are metin practice,” said Skymoen. “Theyfollow the Action Plan for Environ-mental and Social Responsibility inPublic Procurement, drafted pre-cisely for this purpose. State com-panies and companies with state in-vestments must also make their eth-ical guidelines publicly known.”

Skymoen also presented the waythat assets are managed in Norway’sGovernment Pension Fund Global asan example of how the governmentencourages CSR.

“Our experience is that when allstakeholders – governments, busi-ness, employees and NGOs – work to-gether, we succeed in pushing theCSR agenda forward,” Skymoen said.

Ambassador Bergsma of theNetherlands used as an exampletwo kinds of environmental impactreports that her governmentlaunched in 1999.

She explained that in the Neth-erlands each company must preparean environmental impact analysis

before starting any business. For ex-ample if a company wants to startproducing steel, if one wants tobuild a nuclear power station or if acompany wants to build dikes,which are very important in pre-venting flood waters in her country,an environmental impact analysismust be prepared. But she addedthat an environmental impact ana-lysis must be prepared also forprojects such as a golf course or alarge farm, which she called factoryfarming. The ambassador said thepurpose of these analyses is to knowthe environmental effects that thestart of any business can have.

“So, it is the responsibility of thecompany that wants to start this kindof activity to do the analysis, to sum-marise what can be the negative en-vironmental results and they mustalso indicate what could be more en-vironmentally-friendly alternatives,”Bergsma stated. “And in this sensethe whole public is a participant inthis discussion and based on all theinformation the government will orwill not give this particular companypermission to start at all.”

Once a company is active it is ob-liged to submit a report each year onthe environmental effects of its busi-ness, Bergsma added. This require-ment is obligatory for all large com-panies and the government monitorswhether the company has reallystuck to all the rules and regulations.

Bergsma also discussed a newDutch initiative which started earlierthis year called a ‘Green Deal’ whichcan be struck between the govern-ment on one hand and either citizensor companies on the other hand.

“This Green Deal is very down toearth and about very pragmaticsolutions,” said Bergsma, adding thatits goal is better use of existing know-ledge about smart and sustainable useof energy.

Bergsma pointed out that 85 per-cent of the citizens of the Netherlandsbelieve it is important that compan-ies follow CSR principles.

“About half of these people areeven willing to pay more forproducts that are produced by suchcompanies,” said Bergsma. “So it isreally a growth market and in that

sense I would say from the econom-ic point of view CSR is really anopportunity.”

Anita Hugau of Denmarkprovided interesting examples ofjoint work undertaken by the gov-ernment and the corporate sector indeveloping the country’s action planfor corporate social responsibilityadopted in May 2008, as well as aprogramme known as the ClimateCompass which helps companies todevelop strategies for preventingclimate change.

Hugau stressed that since the ac-tion plan was produced in coopera-tion with Danish industries, it en-joys a broad consensus. It encouragesDanish businesses to undertake so-cial responsibility, for example, byincluding climate-change issues intheir individual CSR strategies.

The Climate Compass was de-veloped by a partnership involvingthe Confederation of Danish Indus-tries and the Danish Ministry of Eco-nomy and Business Affairs.

“It is a web-based tool that tar-gets businesses in all sectors lookingto reduce their CO2 emissions,” saidHugau, adding that now companiescan go on the internet to get neces-sary information. “Online, busi-nesses can prepare a climate strategyand get advice on how to reduce CO2emissions.”

The Climate Compass alsoprovides examples of beneficialmeasures and offers tools for com-municating and reporting thesemeasures. Companies can also shareexperiences and learn how otherbusinesses are including climate is-sues in their CSR strategies, Hugausaid, adding that this is just one ofseveral tools that the governmenthas developed in close cooperationwith the corporate sector.

The United Kingdom is one ofonly a few countries that have aminister for corporate responsibil-ity. Andrew Pittam explained thatthe post was established about 10years ago.

The umbrella agency in the UKresponsible for CSR is the Depart-ment for Business, Innovation andSkills (BIS), which is similar to theSlovak Ministry of Economy.

Pittam explained that BIS de-velops policy and sets the frame-work for the rest of the govern-ment. Other government depart-ments have responsibility for CSRin their own areas.

CSR is not imposed from onhigh by the UK government, Pit-tam said, and the concept is alreadya reality for many large and smallbusinesses which work throughorganisations like Business in theCommunity (BITC).

Pittam provided informationabout one of the most recent initi-atives undertaken by the UK gov-ernment in collaboration withBITC called ‘Every Business Com-mits’. Its purpose is to help busi-nesses understand how they canact responsibly by giving themclear examples of how they canmake a difference in five priorityareas: supporting communities;improving quality of life; improv-ing skills and creating jobs; protect-ing the environment; and support-ing SMEs.

“This is a kind of a contractbetween the government and abusiness,” said Pittam, adding thatunder this contract the govern-ment will reduce regulation andobstacles to businesses and simpli-fy taxes and then expects thesebusinesses to think about what ac-tions they can take to contribute tothe wider societies in which theyexist.”

According to Pittam, ‘EveryBusiness Commits’ aims to shapebusinesses’ contribution to thegovernment’s broader agenda toempower communities, encouragesocial action and responsibility anddecentralise public services, knownin the UK as ‘The Big Society’.

The United Kingdom also has aCSR Academy that was establishedby the government in 2007 andlater transferred to the responsibil-ities of BITC.

“The CSR Academy was set upwith two simple aims – firstly, toprovide advice for companies onany CSR issues and secondly toprovide training to businessesseeking to develop their CSRpotential,” Pittam stated.

9BUSINESS FOCUS

Quality health care and healthy people are our goals

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Its princi-ples and approach to business are directed towards improving peo-ple’s health and quality of life and in each of its activities it strives to fulfil this goal by focusing on the patient’s interest and accom-modating his or her needs. This is reflected as well in our ethical standards in research and deve-lopment, standards which are crucial in protecting participants in clinical studies, ensuring qua-lity research, and maximising the advantages and minimising the risks of products made by GSK. When submitting applications for

approval of new products to regu-latory bodies, the highest ethical standards are also important to GSK, along with transparency and gaining the trust of patients and doctors in our research pro-grammes and products.

Via Bona Slovakia award for ethical enterprise

The core business of GSK is re-search and development of new medicines which improve the quality of health care and give pa-tients hope for a longer and fruit-ful life. Our company also sup-ports doctors in their education and professional development. For its responsible business ope-

rations in 2010, GlaxoSmithKline received a Via Bona Honourable Mention award “for applying measures and standards to in-crease transparency in the phar-maceutical industry”. Via Bona Slovakia awards are given annually by the Pontis Foundati-on and its evaluation committee consists of representatives of companies, public administration, me-dia and non-profit organisations in Slovakia.

Social responsibility is part of our business

In addition to support for edu-cation of doctors and the develo-pment of new, quality medicines, GSK shows social responsibility

towards disadvantaged groups by helping those who need help the most and supporting fields in which visible changes can be achieved. Eve-ry year GSK strives to demolish barriers and

to fully integrate health-impaired or socially-disadvantaged people

into society over the long term by bestowing financial grants throu-gh our GSK Fund, with each grant being transparently awarded by an independent committee.

GSK employees regularly engage in philanthropic activities and par-ticipate in various volunteer pro-jects. Recently they raised funds to help the municipality of Nižná Myšľa recover from serious floo-ding and they organised a collecti-on of items for Roma children to help them improve their lives and living conditions.

GSK and its employees always try to abide by the motto “Reach out your hand and you will get a whole heart back” and they regu-larly assist persons who are reli-ant on the help of others, for wha-tever reason. GSK is a member of the Slovak Donors’ Forum and the Club of Corporate Donors and we would like to encourage other companies and organisations to support the ideas of volunteering and social responsibility.

GlaxoSmithKline company (GSK) ranks among the leaders in the pharmaceutical industry and its primary goal is to support health: it improves the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. In its business activities, GSK maintains strict ethical standards and it was recently given an important award in Slovakia for its ethical and responsible approach to business.

ADVERTISEMENT

SP90578/1

June 6 – 12, 2011

SURVEY: Employee involvement is keyContinued from pg 7

ZS: With our general ap-proach we are trying to openvarious CSR themes and bringthe attention of our employ-ees to them. We do not caretoo much how many charityfinancial or non-financial col-lections we carry out or howmany hours we devote to probono services or volunteering.Of course, these are also im-portant activities whose res-ults can have an immediatepositive benefit. But we rathercare for long-term effect andleaving our CSR footprint. Wewant to bring up future lead-ers who care for their envir-onment and surroundings.We want the PwC mark to beconnected with ethical andtransparent operation in themarket.

To be more specific, inMarch 2010 we launched thePwC Endowment Fund ad-ministered by the PontisFoundation. This is our owninitiative to support the rightthings in our surroundings.Money pooled in the fund is allused for grants within theemployee grant programmeHelping Hand. The precondi-tion to submit a grant applica-tion is a recommendation onthe part of a PwC employee.This enables us to securetransparent use of funds aswell as to support projectswhich otherwise could be notcarried out.

AG: Slovak Telekom (ST)has been active in supportingthe community of the deaf toease their integration into so-ciety for a ninth year now.During a project called theSeventh Sense, seven well-known personalities assumedthe role of a deaf person invarious life situations withthe help of sign language. Forthe fourth time ST also held alearning programme for deafpeople who want to start abusiness, just to mention afew programmes.

Via our endowment fundST supports contemporary art,use of modern technologies bydisadvantaged groups and in-novations in education. STuses its communicationstechnologies and know-howfor development of philan-thropy in Slovakia as well. It isalso active in protection ofchildren using the internet.

Within corporate philan-thropy ST has introduced sev-eral new activities: it was oneof the first firms in Slovakia tomotivate its employees to notonly donate blood but also bonemarrow; ST also planted 600trees in the High Tatras to re-place those swept away by thewindstorms; and we rewardedcreative teachers using moderninformation-communicationstechnologies when teaching.

OL: Support for projects isnot a one-man decision. InPSS, we have a humanitariancommission that regularlymeets and an advisory board tothe fund, which assesses therequests for help that the bankreceives. Each applicant is in-formed about the decision onhis or her application, whilethe final decision is taken bythe PSS board of directors.

TSS: What are your inspira-tions for CSR in general as

well as for individual CSRactivities? Do your employ-ees come forward with pro-posals?

IH: We regularly carry outsurveys and evaluate anyareas that show up as deficientor as having problems. Thenwe try to direct all our supportand the whole palette of activ-ities exactly into these areas.Thanks to our long experiencewe can target our help very ef-fectively. Also the employeesthemselves can contribute toimprovement in any of theseareas, either by a good idea butalso by their own activities. Tosupport their engagement weannually open our specialisedemployee grant programme,which enables them to comeup with a sound idea, carry outany activities either to helppeople, enhance their sur-roundings or start any otheractivities into which, apartfrom money, they also donatetheir own time.

ZS: At PwC it is preciselyour people who arrive withideas for CSR activities. Wealso have an internal CSR team– a group of volunteers fromthe ranks of our employeeswho have shown an interest inactively participating in ourCSR activities. We meet once amonth to assess past CSR

activities and to plan newones. Our CSR team featuresemployees from the consult-ant position up to directors, allof whom come with their owninitiatives and help to carrythem out and all this is beyondtheir normal working timeand duties.

AG: We carry out our CSRactivities and projects in linewith the CSR strategy and pil-lars of our parent company,Deutsche Telekom. Moreoverwe follow the slogan: ‘Talk tothose to whom you are help-ing so that you can betterhelp’. This is how our cooper-ation with the deaf com-munity was born and de-veloped even though theycannot use all our services.

As a telecoms operator weprovide modern ITC servicesand thus our goal is to helpwhere information and accessto it enables improvement inquality of life.

Employees also give us in-spiration for help via the em-ployee grant programme ‘Wehelp the community’.

OL: PSS is a successfulbank over the long term. Be-cause our operation is localisedin Slovakia only, we decided toreturn a portion of our successto Slovakia’s citizens and sup-port those who are thrownupon the help of others. PSStakes inspiration especiallyfrom applications from legalentities as well as individualswho need help, but also in re-sponse to what is happening atthe moment, for example helpto people hit by the floods andcontributions for the survivorsof the soldiers who died duringtheir return from the missionin Kosovo. In this respect,activities initiated by employ-ees are much less numerous.Usually these include one-offcontributions for purchase ofteaching tools or to help peoplein a difficult life situation.

To read the rest of this survey,please go to www.spectator.sk

Learning sign language. Photo: Courtesy of Pontis Foundation

10 BUSINESS FOCUS

DRAFT: Law couldcome by year-end

Continued from pg 7

Mračková said such alaw will help prevent situ-ations when volunteers areviewed as illegal workers,noting that this hashappened several times insocial facilities and seniorcentres during checks by la-bour inspectors. Moreover,she said the new legislationwill enable organisations toproperly include the peri-pheral costs they encounterwhen using volunteers intotheir financial accounting.

She noted that this iscurrently a problem becausevolunteers are not con-sidered to be employees ormembers of the organisa-tion they volunteer to help.

Volunteer organisationshave also asked that thenew legislation resolve theissue of how to include vo-lunteered time into the re-quirements for qualifyingfor an old-age pension inSlovakia. Currently, volun-teer work is not recognisedin any way under the statepension scheme, the organ-isations said.

The new legislationshould also clarify the mat-ter of formal agreementswhich cover the basis onwhich volunteers providevolunteer assistance.

The draft law does notdeal with financial supporton the part of the state gov-ernment for volunteeringand both Mračková andBrozmanová Gregorová viewthis as a problem.

“A large and a signific-ant area which has notmade it to the draft law isfinancial support for volun-teering and volunteeringcentres,” said BrozmanováGregorová. “I perceive thisas one of the basic precondi-tions for development of vo-

lunteering in future years.”Mračková said that the

law on volunteering in theCzech Republic covered cer-tain state subsidies.

Mračková noted thatduring drafting of the pro-posed law, wording was in-cluded that would oblige anorganisation to have third-party liability insurance andan accident insurance policyfor each person volunteer-ing for the organisation inSlovakia or abroad.

She said she agreed withthe latter requirement butsaid the obligation to havethese insurance policies forvolunteers within Slovakiawould end volunteeringprogrammes here becauseorganisations would nothave sufficient funds to doso. She said she hoped thismatter would be resolvedduring the government’sapproval process.

Waiting for the final version

Slovak volunteers andvolunteer organisationsmust wait for the final ver-sion of the legislation butare hopeful that it will turnout to be more about facilit-ating the work of volunteersand will not have the oppos-ite effect. Mračková em-phasised that her organisa-tion certainly does not wanta law that limits volunteerorganisations or puts newor expanded administrativeburdens on them.

“There are experiencesfrom other countries wherea law on volunteering wasinitiated but completely dif-ferent concepts thatburdened organisationswere adopted,” Mračkovásaid, adding that “volunteer-ing is so spontaneous thatsome areas should be notaddressed by a law at all.”

Transport company to aid workshop for the disabled

The money will be used to fi-nance the re-opening of the café Radnička, once a popular Brati-slava meeting place for artists and tourists and well-remembered for its amiable service. The plan is for the café to open this summer. It will employ six disabled persons as well as two professional wai-ters to serve as supervisors.

Gebrüder Weiss has also agre-ed to underwrite some of the cost of the café’s well-known drink list. Before it was closed, many of its more famous patrons were honored with beverages offered

in their names. The list included actors Július Satinský, Milka Vá-šáryová, Štefan Skrúcaný, or mu-sicians Beáta Dubasová and Vašo Patejdl. These concoctions de-lighted customers but unfortuna-tely were so expensive to make that little profit came from them.

Markus Jelleschitz of Gebrüder Weiss Slovensko was excited by the plans.

“Our company supports various communities and leisure activities aimed at improving the prospects the mentally disabled. I was elec-

trified by the idea of a protected workplace in downtown Bratisla-va where we could aid the han-dicapped by simply ordering tea or coffee from them. I personally have experienced the wonderful fe-eling that comes when you can see

disabled persons accomplishing meaningful work. Gebrüder Weiss plans to actively support such pro-grams in the future, be they trai-nings or by employing the disabled with catering services at various receptions and social events.”

Gebrüder Weiss also actively supports the Radnička’s mar-kets that are organized every September in the Primatial Square. The company’s plan is to not only to present the work of the disabled, but to also urge employers to hire them to work in the various venues. Through the years, the Radnička markets have given the opportunity to many young people to present their crafts, get involved in competitions and to show their talents and skills.

Gebrüder Weiss has 137 bran-ches around the world, with more than 300 transport lines and 250,000 square metres of storage space. Annually, it transports almost 7.6 milli-on consignments, handled by 4,500 employees. In recent years its investments into mo-dern information technologies represent more than €100 mil-lion. The company is over 500 years old.

Gebrüder Weiss, one of the leading transport companies in central and eastern Europe plans to initiate a project in Slovakia called 1 cent z každej zásielky / One Cent for each consignment aimed at supporting a protected workshop for mentally disabled people to help integrate them into so-ciety. Based on the company’s statistics, the total volume of their consignments transported will amount to €700,000; out of which €7,000 will go to this project.

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SP90575/1

June 6 – 12, 2011

RAIL: 5,000 jobs to go as Slovakia's railways are revitalisedContinued from pg 1

The Federation of TrainOperators of Slovakia (SF) saidthe strike was a success. Nev-ertheless, the railway com-pany is now calculating thedamage and says it mightsubmit the bill to the union.

Altogether, 92 passengertrains across Slovakia joinedthe strike, representing ap-proximately 40-50 percent ofall trains in operation at thetime. None of the 30 cargotrains which also joined thestrike blocked the operation ofpassenger services, said thecommunications departmentof infrastructure operatorŽeleznice Slovenskej Repub-liky (ŽSR) in a media release.The Bratislava-DunajskáStreda-Komárno line, whereall trains joined the strike,was the most heavily affected,while Košice got off lightest,with no strike-related delaysreported in and aroundSlovakia’s second city.

Minister of Transport,Construction and RegionalDevelopment Ján Figeľ said onMay 27 that he regretted thatthe striking train operatorswere taking their own cus-tomers hostage.

“I consider this neithercorrect nor fair,” said Figeľ, asquoted by the SITA newswire.

The strike took placebetween 14:50 and 15:50; thestrike plan assumed that eachtrain dispatched before 14:50would stop at the next stationand leave only after the strikehad ended.

Peter Dubovský, thespokesman for the SF strikecommittee, said the actionhad been successful.

“The employer managed tooperate some trains but since itwas only a one-hour- longstrike, the maths is clear that inthe event of a longer strike theshare of running trains wouldhave visibly dropped since theemployer had at its disposalonly a limited number of strikebreakers,” Dubovský told TheSlovak Spectator. “Our goal,after all, wasn’t to paralyse thetransport system and causechaos but to show that we arehere, since we started to get thefeeling that we have been over-looked by the management ofthe company.”

But Alexander Buzinkay,spokesman for ŽelezničnáSpoločnosť Slovensko (ZSSK), thepassenger rail service operator,said the strike demonstrated theneed to address issues that therailways have begun graduallydealing with as part of the re-vitalisation of the sector.

“The strike was an irre-sponsible act, which moreover

lacked sense and clearly for-mulated demands,” Buzinkaytold The Slovak Spectator,adding that it caused damageswhich the company has notyet calculated.

Buzinkay added that“worse than material damageis the moral damage, such asreducing the credibility ofthe railways”. He stated therailways might considerseeking recovery of damagesvia the courts.

The union claimed thatrailway management exertedpressure on employees to“thwart the strike”.

Dubovský says that man-agers forced train operators tosign statements on participa-tion in the strike and he

quoted ZSSK general directorPavel Kravec as saying “thestatements should serve forthe purpose of futureconfrontation”. According toDubovský, this statement wasbehind the departure of thestrike committee from talks aswell as the immediate termin-ation of the talks, which hesaid “were marred by the com-pany management’s efforts toavert the strike”.

But Buzinkay said ZSSKmanagement had taken sev-eral measures to preventlosses and secure services, in-cluding, among others, tryingto find out who planned tojoin the strike. He stressedthat this had happened on avoluntary basis.

He also stressed that ZSSKwould not change its commu-nication with train operatorsfollowing the strike, providingthey continue to perform theirworking duties.

Kravec told the Sme dailythat the programme of revital-isation of the railway sector,already approved by the cab-inet, was consulted during so-called roundtables with theleadership of the SF union.

In connection with the re-vitalisation of the Slovak rail-ways the SF demanded that inthe shortest possible time a le-gislative framework be adop-ted for all the businesses oper-ating in railway transport,along with a definition of howtheir activities will be mon-itored. Most importantly,checks to observe the technic-al criteria of railway cars andthe organisation of the work-ing hours of employees are inquestion, the federation'swebpage said.

The revitalisation planwas designed in part to stemthe massive losses made bythe railway companies overrecent years. The programmeforesees the redundancywithin three years of 5,000out of the 31,000 workers cur-rently employed, accordingto a Transport Ministry me-dia release. The ministry is

also set to pick a strategicpartner for rail freight oper-ator ZSSK Cargo, with an in-ternational tender to pur-chase 66 percent of the com-pany due by June 2012.

The union federation ob-jects to the planned sale of thetwo-thirds share of Cargo, tooccur once the financial con-dition of the firm has im-proved. They argue that thestate should preserve Cargoas a national and strategicrailway carrier after its fin-ances have stabilised.

Slovakia’s original state-owned railway company,Železnice Slovenskej Repub-liky (ŽSR), was once among thecountry’s biggest non-finan-cial companies. ŽSR was latersplit up into the current rail-way network operator (whichretained the ŽSR name) andtransport company ŽSSK.

ZSSK Cargo was created inJanuary 2005, when the statebroke ŽSSK into two joint-stock companies: ZSSK forpassenger transport and ZSSKCargo for cargo transporta-tion. The reason for the movewas that the cargo business,which at that time was profit-able, was being used to fundthe company’s passengertransport services, a cross-subsidy that European Unionrules do not allow.

Some trains stopped for an hour on May 27. Photo: TASR

JF: We need to put Bratislava Airport on the radar of investorsContinued from pg 4

I consider these sources of finan-cing to be very important in terms ofdiversification, so that we do not re-main dependent on a single source,because such dependence is vulner-able to abuse. If the state shows that itis dependent only on what one partneroffers in the form of a PPP, then thepartner will certainly submit the billfor that. PPP is one form, but it must betransparently prepared and must use agood tendering process; this means nomega-packages that regular firmscannot even consider, but appropriatetenders where the ability to competemeans a good price as well as condi-tions advantageous to the state. This iswhat we want to apply.

TSS: Your department is also facingthe challenge of dealing with thestate-owned railway companies,which have been on the verge offinancial collapse. So far, plannedlayoffs seem to be the most widelydiscussed aspect. What cure areyou applying to the firms?

JF: As for the healing process, lay-offs have never been the primary andmain solution but it is part of the op-timisation of employment on therailways because they cannot be somekind of social company. In a competit-ive environment they need vitality,and employment issues are linked tothis. However, the decisive changeswe have made include changes to themanagements, which previously ac-ted like leeches, sucking assets out ofthe firms and pushing them into un-believably red numbers.

Reshuffling the managements,tuning new rules for public procure-ment, contracts, returning out-sourcing back to firms where this was

reasonable, electronic auctions –which started in the railways and willapply across the whole departmentwithin a year and a half – has broughtover €50 million in savings throughnew tender procedures and reassess-ment of disadvantageous contractsalone.

Then we have faced a depressingimage: empty railways and packedroads. This is also because the Slovakfees per kilometre for cargo transportby rail have been among the highestin the European Union. We changedthis as of January 1, along with othermeasures by which the state has cre-ated a predictable contractual envir-onment and through which we aregetting to a position where the statewill pay for what obligations it hastaken on and the firms will deliverwhat they have promised to deliver.

I expect the railway companieswithin two years to get into a balancedeconomic condition. Yet this is a pro-cess which includes both short-termand long-term solutions. Certainly,layoffs were not the ultimate goal andcannot be the sole tool, but they arepart of the optimisation process.

TSS: The state has also had the ambi-tion to open up cargo transporterZSSK Cargo to a strategic investor.In what stage are preparations forthis move?

JF: Cargo is starting to report pos-itive operational results, which onlyconfirms its ability to be healed and Iconsider this the first condition forseeking a partner since, you know,who would take a feeble bride? Only aspeculator would. This is why wewant to get Cargo into better shape. Atthe same time, it is clear that only afirm that has relationships, business,goods and services can be a winner.

Railway transportation, like energy,for example, needs to have links, forexample north-south or west-eastconnections, so that we are importantfor European or internationalstrategies. Keeping this in mind, wewill prepare concrete steps in the ho-rizon of the summer of 2012 for a stra-tegic partnership. The governmentagreed on a level of 66 percent whichdoes not mean privatisation, butrather joining capital in such a waythat a wider new partnership withadded value emerges.

TSS: Bratislava’s Milan RastislavŠtefánik International Airport hasalso been opened up for strategicpartnership. How far has the stategot in this process? What shouldthis move bring for the airport?

JF: I am now working on the firstphase of the process, which is select-ing an advisor for the concession forthe airport. In cooperation with an ex-perienced partner we will define thebasic goals, rules and parameters ofsuch an international tender, whichwill be approved by the cabinet, andthen in the third phase, based on thistender, the concessionaire agreementwill be elaborated. For Bratislava Air-port this should bring a revival of in-vestment and a balanced relationship,which will be both advantageous forthe concessionaire, who will naturallyexpect to profit from the investment,but also advantageous for the state,which in my opinion should not giveaway strategic infrastructure, but in-corporate it into its goals and inten-tions. The developments are alreadyencouraging; for example, this yearthere will be many more flights fromBratislava in both cargo and passengertransportation. The fact thatrenowned aviation firms are coming

here is a very good signal in terms ofbusiness but also politics when itcomes to considering the concession.There are many airports which remainin the shadow but we need to put Brat-islava on the radar of investors.

TSS: A recently completedEuropean Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)investigation into the project toreconstruct Milan RastislavŠtefánik Airport between 2005 and2008 found faulty procurementand unjustified expenditure. Whatare the consequences for the state?

JF: The controversy over the air-port is part of the legacy from a periodwhen procurement was often con-ducted in a non-transparent manner,incompatible with European Unionlaws and practices. Now, it is import-ant to explain who was and who re-mains responsible for the failings.

OLAF recommended that theEuropean Commission recover €3.9million of the EU funding involved. Itis up to the commission how it de-cides, but OLAF is an institution withhigh credibility and its reports are verysensitively perceived. If it happens,Slovakia will have to refund the moneypaid by the EU. On the other hand I amconvinced that Slovakia needs mod-ernisation to ensure that the country’sair transport, and its transport infra-structure in general, remains safe andcomfortable. The department will con-tinue with existing work to complete anew terminal while learning the les-son that the work needs to be donewith strict observance of quality aswell as compatibility with the law.Today we are assessing investment in-tentions and the use of EU funds in amuch stricter way so that later we donot face any suspicions of fraud or oth-er doubts. The new terminal should be

finished by June 2012, boosting theairport’s capacity.

We are now settling these olddebts, which are a very sad legacy,but I believe that it is a sort of learn-ing process for society, and that wewill not again attempt to financeprojects in many ‘different’ ways be-cause then we will pay the bill.

TSS: Your predecessor, now SmerMP Ľubomír Vážny, has filed a mo-tion with the Public ProcurementAuthority to check whether yourdepartment has observed publicprocurement rules in concludingcontracts with three suppliers.Meanwhile, you have also startedchecking on previous deals.

JF: I consider his statements to befalse. We have been checking dealsconcluded in the past, but also currentones – because if we made procure-ment rules stricter we did so not [toimprove] our image but to make theuse of public funds more economical.Where I saw that unjustified pro-curement was at issue, I took action.

I believe that people will be able todecide and make a judgment based onactions not statements. I am restatingthat in the case of large constructionprojects we will be responsible andsave funds. I came here with this logicand thus I also frequently face differ-ent attacks because, of course, certainfinancial interests are linked to these.These [financial interests] often at-tack politics or influence it wherethere is a lack of transparency, whichis very bad even in today’s Europe. ForSlovakia, the question arises where dowe belong and what path will we take:the path of collapsing Greece; or ofthose vital countries such as Finlandor Denmark which show that it is pos-sible to manage countries differently.

11BUSINESS June 6 – 12, 2011

12 June 6 – 12, 2011

ROADS: Tapping many funding sourcesContinued from pg 1

“Our intention is not tocreate the illusion that with alimited amount of public fin-ances we can build everythingin a very short time,” Figeľsaid in an official statement.“We want to offer the publicreal dates for starting and fin-ishing particular sections.”

Among the scheme’s pri-orities remains the comple-tion of the D1 highway con-nection between Bratislavaand Košice, specifically themissing sections betweenŽilina and Prešov. The com-pletion of most of the missing75-kilometre section fromDubná Skala to Svinia is real-istic by the end of 2014 and allof it by 2015, the ministry said.

However, completion ofthe Turany-Hubová sectionmight stretch beyond thatdate as the European Commis-sion requires further assess-ment of the environmentalimpact on the NATURA 2000territory, and without EC ap-proval it will not be possible toproceed, the ministry said.

The programme expectsthe launch of construction ofthe most difficult section ofthe D1, the Višňové tunnelnear Žilina, at the beginningof 2012, which it says could becompleted by late 2016 or early2017. Construction of the tun-nel is the main element delay-ing completion of the entirecross-country D1.

Another ambition is tostart construction of most ofthe missing sections of the D3highway connecting Žilinawith the Slovak-Polish border.Preparation of the most im-portant sections of this routehas been blocked by legal andownership disputes, accord-ing to the ministry. The pro-gramme also places high im-portance on key sections ofthe R7 dual carriageway con-necting Bratislava withLučenec via Dunajská Streda,Nové Zámky and Veľký Krtíš,and on the D4 Bratislava by-pass, which should ease theburden on the capital’s exist-ing road system.

The Transport Ministrywants to obtain funding fromEuropean funds, the state

budget, loans from theEuropean Investment Bank,revenues from the highwaytoll system, as well as fromhighway bonds. The mainsources of money will be EUfunds allocated under the2007-2013 financing periodand the state budget.

“In my opinion it is a planwhich could be realistic,providing certain conditionsare met; as the materialpoints out, [these conditions]are that there will be someadditional funds allocatedfrom the state budget in theupcoming years,” Palčák toldThe Slovak Spectator.

The second very import-ant aspect, according toPalčák, is that the tenders areperformed in the plannedtime without any extra com-plications.

“I would note, though,that no government to datehas managed since the estab-lishment of an independentSlovakia to meet the obliga-tions they defined – regardlessof whether this happened dueto political or economicreasons,” Palčák said.

If this government man-ages to build 130 kilometres ofhighways and dual carriage-ways and launch their opera-tion by the end of 2014 itwould be very good for thecountry, Palčák said, referringto analyses by his institutewhich suggest that since 1993,when Slovakia became inde-pendent, only 12 kilometres of

highway and 9 kilometres ofdual carriageway have beenbuilt each year on average. If130 kilometres are completedin four years that would be anexcellent result, Palčák said.

“Of course, I could ima-gine an even higher numberof kilometres, but I think wecan be happy even with this ifit is completed,” Palčák added.

As for financing for theprojects, Palčák said that thegovernment made a politicaldecision to cancel the first andthird public-private partner-ship (PPP) packages and decidedto rely more on financingthrough European Union funds.

“The fact is that eachmethod of financing has itspluses and minuses and I re-gard it as a political decisionwhich the government wasentitled to take,” Palčák said.“I personally think that it isgood that they did not com-pletely abandon PPP projectsand that sections of the futureD4 and R7, where in the futureintense traffic is expected, aresuitable for this form to be ap-plied there.”

Based on the ministry’snew programme, former min-ister Vážny’s concluded thatafter halting the PPP projectsdesigned under his govern-ment, and pausing highwayconstruction overall, the gov-ernment has focused onprojects which are not readyfor public procurement. Hetold The Slovak Spectator thatprojects such as the R2 in Žiar

nad Hronom and the D3 inŽilina, Strážov-Žilina andBrodno are prepared, but thedepartment has not securedenough money for them.

According to Vážny, overthe past year the project pre-parations have stagnated,commenting that since theday the government changedthe projects have barelymoved forward.

“If we are talking aboutthe assumed hand-over ofhighways [for use], the realist-ic plan of Figeľ is to hand over,by 2014, 5.2 kilometres of theD1 highway in half-profile,”Vážny said, referring to a half-way stage of construction inwhich one carriageway isopened as a regular road firstwhile construction of the oth-er carriageway continues. Heargued that Figeľ’s figure of130 kilometres of highways tobe completed is incorrect be-cause it includes 52 kilometresof the R1 dual carriagewaythat he said is the result of asuccessful PPP project by hisgovernment.

As for the reasons why hisgovernment failed to finishthe highway connectionbetween Bratislava andKošice, Vážny referred to whathe called stagnation in high-way construction from 1998until 2006, when the Fico gov-ernment took office. Due tothe lack of traditional re-sources for financing and theexhausted credit capacity ofthe National Highway Com-pany, the government wantedto use, along with traditionalmeans, PPP projects to pro-gress construction of thehighways by 2010 and,without tunnels, even com-mence operation of large partsof the three routes which wereintended to be funded via PPPpackages.

“Unfortunately due to theworld economic and financialcrisis, which caused a lack ofliquidity in the financingbanks, only the 2nd packageprogressed to its financialclose; it is now 80-percentstarted and 46 kilometres of itshould be finished by October,with an additional 6 kilo-metres being completed in Ju-ly 2012,” Vážny said.

The transport minister says his plan is realistic. Photo: TASR

SNS: Belousovová leavesContinued from pg 2

“They could harvest a per-cent or so if they started nowvery intensively buildingtheir structures and promot-ing the party,” Mesežnikovtold The Slovak Spectator. Buthe added that sinceBelousovová is not a new facein Slovak politics and is well-known for her style of politicsand her opinions, he doubts ifthere is a real chance for theparty to be a key player in theSlovak party system.

Mesežnikov also sugges-ted that many of the peoplenow around Belousovovárepresent no real alternativeto the SNS since these indi-viduals supported SNSchairman Ján Slota on all is-sues in the past.

“It’s all the same all thetime, radical nationalism andthe Hungarian card, so thereis no room for any alternat-ive, although [Belousovováand Pučík] now presentthemselves as those who de-sire more decent nationalistpolitics,” Mesežnikov said.“But they had an opportunityto do that in the party theywere a part of and nothinglike that ever occurred.”

Mesežnikov added thatthe main reason for the con-flict between Belousovováand Slota is not differingopinions, because they wereusually of one mind on keyissues, but rather an ongoingpower struggle within theparty and the subsequent ac-cusations made by each ofthem that led Belousovová tobreak away.

Belousovová, the firstvice-chair of the SNS untillast year, was expelled fromthe party on February 2 thisyear, with all 14 members ofthe SNS presidium backingwhat they called a disciplin-ary action against her “fordamaging the name and theinterests of the SNS”.

Belousovová ran for thepost of SNS chair against Slotain September 2010, followingthe party’s poor showing inthe 2010 general election inwhich it came close to losingits seats in parliament. In hercampaign to become leader

she criticised the scandalsthat dogged the SNS during itstime in government between2006 and 2010. The SNS con-gress did not elect her and in-stead stripped her of the vice-chair position. She was thenstripped of all other posts sheheld and was not included onthe party’s list of candidatesfor the municipal elections inNovember 2010.

Belousovová and Slotahave had a troubled relation-ship for many years. The SNSentered the 2002 general elec-tion divided between groupsled by the two individuals andfailed to reach parliament as aresult. At that time it wasSlota who broke away fromthe party, which had been ledby Belousovová (néeMalíková) from 2001 to 2003.

Slota visits Roma

While Belousovová star-ted a petition drive to estab-lish her new party, SNS headSlota paid a visit to a Romacommunity in Podskalka,near Humenné, an unusualstep for him as he has beenquoted several times in thepast expressing anti-Romastatements.

“I am convinced thatwe’ve got a lot of sympath-isers here among theseGypsies,” Slota stated in an in-terview with the Sme dailyduring his visit to the Romacommunity.

Sme wrote that Slota saidhe believed Roma culture en-riches Slovak culture, addingthat “by no means do I havexenophobic or racist viewstowards the Gypsycommunity” and that hisparty wants to help Roma beincluded in a society-widediscourse in Slovakia.

“He did it out of speculat-ive reasons,” Mesežnikovcommented about Slota’s vis-it. “This party has offered somany ‘solutions’ for Romaproblems that it can only beperceived as a sort of folklore.It’s a typical example of a sortof mimicry. I believe thisparty is well known for thefact that its representativesoften have made anti-Romastatements.”

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BUSINESS / NEWS

Sky Run II held atinverted pyramid

AFTER the2010 premiereof Bratislava’sSky Run – Behv obalkoch(Running in

the Clouds) – the follow-upfor 2011 was held in the in-verted pyramid of the SlovakRadio building on May 20and 21. Long-distance run-ners tested their abilitiesand endurance on the roofof the distinctive building,40 metres above groundlevel. The aim was to breaklast year’s record for thetotal number of metres runin 12- and 24-hour competi-tions as well as to promoterunning in general, includ-ing its extreme form knownas ultra-running.

Four Czech runners tookpart this year, including last

year’s 100-km Czech cham-pion, Jarda Bohdal. Threewomen also ran in the12-hour discipline. Fans ofrunning were enthralled bythe unusual venue: the livebroadcast audience reachedvia the internet exceeded8,000 people.

A single lap around thepyramid’s roof is 226 metres.The 24-hour run started onthe morning of May 20 andthe 12-hour run started laterthat evening. The event’s or-ganisers hope to graduallyspread the idea of “runningin the clouds” to other citiesin Slovakia and Europe. Lastautumn, a run was held onthe roof of a shoppingcentre in the Czech Repub-lic, Jozef Rajchl of the or-ganising committee, toldthe SITA newswire.

Sky runners on the roof of the Slovak Radio building inBratislava. Photo: SITA

Slovak Post's Žilina Synodstamp voted Europe’s best

A SLOVAK stamp de-picting the Žilina Syn-od was named grandchampion in a compet-ition to find the mostbeautiful engravedpostage stamp issuedin the European Union– the Grand Prix de’lArt Philatique. Thestamp was issued lastyear for the synod’s400th anniversary cel-ebration. A jury of ex-perts chose the Slovakstamp from among 138submissions at thecompetition in Brus-sels on April 29. Secondplace went to a Spanishstamp while an Italianstamp took third place.

The Žilina Synodpostage stamp has anominal value of €1.10and 85,000 were is-sued, the TASR news-wire wrote. Its designdepicts 17th centurylife – as the meeting ofthe Žilina Synod tookplace in 1610 under theauspices of the Hun-garian Palatine, CountJuraj Turzo of Betlan-ovce, who was a pro-ponent of reform with-in the EvangelicalChurch of the Augs-burg Confession.

The stamp showsthe image of a paint-ing that Turzo com-missioned for hiscastle’s chapel inOrava; the painting iscurrently housed in anEvangelical church inNecpaly. A uniquelate-Renaissance altar

in that church inNecpaly, called Specu-lum Justifications,dates back to 1611 andwas painted by PaulJuvenel Sr based on anolder graphic designedby Nuremberg en-graver Jost Amman.The complicated com-position visualises keyissues of faith, includ-ing interpreting a sin-ner being excused inGod’s eyes as viewedby the AugsburgEvangelical church.

The stamp’s en-graver, MartinČinovský, told a pressconference on May 16that his engraving task

was quite difficult.“This was joint workwith Dušan Kállay,who designed theartistic form of the al-tar painting. When Ifirst saw the design, Igot scared as I hadnever done such a de-tailed engraving in my20 years of work. Ittook me severalmonths – I had tosqueeze six to eightlines in every singlemillimetre,” Činovskýsaid.He added that thistype of hand-madestamp, unlike off-setstamps or other prin-ted ones, is impossibleto counterfeit.

Kállay said thestamp is a small butmonumental piece ofart in which the en-graver could not makeany mistakes. “Ichose an altar paint-ing with numerousdetails. There are al-most 40 figures andalso a period depic-tion of Žilina. I haveto appreciate the ex-cellent engraving byMartin Činovský,”Kállay stated. Art his-torian Ľuboslav Mozatold TASR that thestamp is not just apersonal artistic suc-cess for Činovský andKállay but also forSlovak culture as itconfirms the highlevel of the country’sstamp production.

The Žilina Synodwas held betweenMarch 28 and 30 in1610, the Sme dailywrote. It was the firstsynod of the Evangel-ical Church on the ter-ritory of today’s Slov-akia and the gatheringpassed the first lawsthat created an inde-pendent religious or-ganisation of Evangel-ical Protestants in Up-per Hungary while atthe same time it wasthe first institutional-ised acknowledgementof the Slovak characterof this part of GreaterHungary, Sme wrote,noting that for thisreason it was a crucialmilestone for Slovaks.

Trnava’s water tower is illuminatedTHE 50-metre-tallwater towerbuilding thatlooms overTrnava, is

now illuminated. The TrnavaWater Company – TAVOS – fin-ished the work required forthe night-time lighting of thiswell-known work by architectEmil Belluš, which is a na-tional technological monu-ment, in May .

Illumination of the build-ing and water tower concludedrenovations begun last yearthat modified the building’sexterior and changed the col-our of its facade. Eight lamps il-luminate the water towerfrom four locations beneaththe structure and the effect isaugmented by additionallights inside.

“We will use white light toilluminate the tower but the

intention is to light the watertank itself with a blue shade,”Marek Gálik, the head of TA-VOS, told the trnava-live.skwebsite before the lightingwas switched on.

Several tourist sites inTrnava, such as the towntower, St John the BaptistCathedral and St Nicolaus Ba-silica have been illuminated atnight for several years.

Construction of theVodáreň (Water Tower) star-ted in the 1940s and it was putinto operation in 1954. It holds1,200 cubic metres of water inits eight-metre-high tank.For the first time in 50 years,the tower was made access-ible to the public last year andresidents discovered a beauti-ful view of the whole townfrom its top.

Another well-known workby Belluš is the ColonnadeBridge in Piešťany.

Tank withhearts

A FORMERRed Armytank fromWorld WarII sitting inan open-air

museum in a park near theMonument of the SlovakNational Uprising (SNP) inBanská Bystrica wasspray-painted with pinkhearts in the late eveningof May 7, the SITA news-wire reported.

“The damage commit-ted through this action onthe tank has not been calcu-lated yet. The police are in-vestigating this as a mis-demeanour involving pro-perty,” Mária Faltániová,the Banská Bystrica policespokesperson, told SITA.

The unknown artistsalso hung woollen balls onthe displayed armamentsand barbed wire in additionto adding the new decora-tions to the tank. They leftsome posters in the parkstating that their exhibi-tion was called “Bum GameOver” and was directedagainst war and violence,the TASR newswire wrote.

1

2

3

AROUND SLOVAKIAcompiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports

13FEATURE June 6 – 12, 2011

The winner. Photo: Courtesy of Slovak Post

Trnava landmark: the city's water tower. Photo: SITA

Not so red now. Photo: TASR

Károlyi Castle’s ancient glory

IN THIS postcard dating backto the 1920s, you see thecastle of Count Károlyi inSlovenský Meder, knowntoday as Palárikovo.

As the town’sowners, the Károlyishad the castle builtsometime around1740. It served mainlyas a hunting lodgewhere the nobles of-ten welcomed guests. Theone-storey castle was builtwith a U-shaped floor planand its façade bears the coatof arms of the original own-ers to this day.

In 1866, the family hadthe castle rebuilt in a neo-

Renaissance style. One of theforemost architects of thisstyle, Mikuláš Ybl, wascommissioned to prepare thedesign. The architect tried to

imitate the Renaissancestyle in both form and con-tent. In the past the castlehad 90 rooms full of pre-cious furniture and paint-ings by world-famousartists. But as with mostother mansions and castles

in Slovakia, almost none ofthe furnishings or artworkhave been preserved.

The Károlyi family im-migrated to Austria during

World War II andthe castle was un-occupied. After thedeparture of theSoviet Red Armylawless chaos en-sued for posses-

sion of the precious furnish-ings and much was stolen,while other pieces weredestroyed. Only two largepaintings by artists of theDutch school remain.

By Branislav Chovan

WesternSLOVAKIA

Bratislaval LIVE MUSIC: Čechomor -Místečko – The popular Czech-Moravian band playing amixture of re-made folkloretunes, rock and their ownpieces, will present their latestalbum, Místečko, on whichseveral foreign musicians per-formed (e.g. Garry Leonard andTony Levin). The title song,Místečko, was composed bySlovak Ivan Tásler.

Starts: June 10, 20:00; Ate-liér Babylon, SNP Square 14/Kolárska 3. Admission: €10-€15. Tel: 02/5293-3321, www.atelierbabylon.sk, www.ticketportal.sk.

Bratislaval OPEN FACTORY: Open Fact-ory / Otvorená elektráreň –Power producer SlovenskéElektrárne organises a series ofOpen Days for the public to visitvarious power plants. Contactthe Enel group (owner of SE) inadvance to arrange a visit.

Starts: June 11, from 10:00;Gabčíkovo hydo-power plant.Admission: free (after ar-rangement in advance). Email:veronika.cicova@enel.com.More info: www.seas.sk.

Bratislaval EXHIBITION: Utópie 70. a 80.rokov v kresbách a projektochJ. Bahnu, A. Gürtlera a F.Kalesného / Utopias of the1970s and 1980s in the draw-ings and designs of J. Banha, A.Gürtler and F. Kalesný.

Open: On weekdays 11:00-17:00 until June 17; Galériaarchitektúry SAS, Balassa Pa-lace, Panská 15. Admission:free. Tel: 02/5443-1078; www.sasarch.sk.

Bratislaval EXHIBITION: Umeniereštaurovania II / The Art ofRestoring II – This exhibitionpresents the work of theChamber of Restorers of vari-ous precious items formingthe gems of Slovak culturalheritage between the years2000 and 2010.

Open: Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00until June 19; Mirbach Palaceof the Bratislava City Gallery,Františkánske Square 11. Ad-mission: €2-€4. Tel: 02/5443-1556-8; www.gmb.sk.

Nitral EXHIBITION: Manuál pre

dokonalého diváka / Hand-book for a Perfect Visitor – Thisexhibition, comprising worksby P. Barenyi, E. Devečková,M. Sedlačíková, and V.Šramatyová, explores theconnection between gallery asexhibition space and visitor aspreceptor and observer.

Open: Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00until June 19; Nitrianskagaléria, Župné Square 3.Admission: €0.35-€0.70.Tel: 037/6579 - 641/2/3; www.nitrianskagaleria.sk.

CentralSLOVAKIA

BanskáBystrical ROMA/ETHNO MUSIC:Bohémiens - Novodobá CinkaPanna / The ContemporaryCinka Panna – The band plays amixture of Roma music withhints of ethno, soft jazz,Balkan rhythms and moderninfluences. The primáška – thefirst violinist in traditionalfolk music, and this time a fe-male one – is Barbora Boto-šová, granddaughter of lateRoma soloist and band leaderJán Berky Mrenica Sr.

Starts: June 7, 19:00; CityHall, SNP Square 1. Admission:€4-€6. Tel: 048/4155-085;www.kissbb.sk, www. pkobb.sk.

Zvolenl HIKING: 1. ročník pivno-turistického pochodu ŠarišZvolenská 12tka / The 1st Yearof the Beer-Hiking MarchŠariš: the Zvolen 12 – The light-hearted tour named after abeer (Šariš) will encouragepeople to combine two popularactivities. The band (NeverBack), historical fencingshows and Oriental dancers(VirFortis), and RockFor bandwill enliven activities after-wards.

Starts: June 11, 9:00 atdopravné ihrisko (traffic-sim-ulating playground) underZvolen Castle, from 16:00 therewill be cultural programme.Admission for not registered:€1. More info: www.kamdomesta.sk.

EasternSLOVAKIA

Michalovcel FOLKLORE: Lúčnica -Mladosť a krása / Youth andBeauty – Another evening ofthe successful programmeshown by renowned folkloreensemble Lúčnica, combiningolder hits with new arrange-ments.

Starts: June 6, 19:00; TownCultural Centre, Námestieosloboditeľov 25. Admission:€11. Tel: 02/5293-3321, www.ticketportal.sk.

Košicel JAZZ MUSIC: Bratislavskéjazzové dni v Košiciach-Jar2011 / Bratislava Jazz Days inKošice-Spring 2011 – Theseries of jazz concerts willthis time bring Slovak femalemusicians Hanka Gregušováwith band and KatkaKoščová; and the Matt Biancoformation from UK. All ofthem bring a vivid, pop-bor-dering type of jazz that com-prises other kinds of music aswell.

Starts: June 10, 19:00, In-finiti Arena, Pri jazdiarni 1.Admission: €14-€16 (on the dayof the concert). Tel: 02/5293-3321, www.ticketportal.sk.

By Zuzana Vilikovská

EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE

THE KOMORNÉ dni Johanna Nepomuka Hummela / ChamberDays of J. N. Hummel series will be completed with a concertplayed by The Pressburger Hummel Ensemble (M. Štefko,founder, piano; R. Mareček, violin; T. Cseh, viola; and V.Verbovská, cello) performing works by Hummel, Franz Liszt andGustav Mahler. The concert takes place on June 9 at 18:00 in theMozart Hall of the Austrian Embassy, Ventúrska 10, Bratislava.Admission is free. For more info, please visitwww.hummel-festival.sk.

Photo:CourtesyoftheSlovakPhilharmonic

OZVENY hradných múrov / Echoes of Castle Walls is a festival ofbagpipe music from medieval times to the present day. It ismeant to link the Barbakan castle in Banská Bystrica and thecastle of Slovenská Ľupča (and several venues like SlovenskáĽupča's pub, local churches, etc.) between Friday, June 10, andSunday, June 12. Apart from Slovak musicians, British, Scottish,Polish and Czech pipers will attend. For more information, pleasevisit ozveny.m-arq-sk. Photo: Bagpipe Carnival Malá Lehota, Sme

14 CULTURE

I n c o o p e r a t i o n w i t h t h e S l o v a k H y d r o m e t e o r o l o g i c a l I n s t i t u t e

Weather updates and forecasts from across Slovakiacan now be found at www.spectator.sk.

A Slovak’s name day (meniny) is as important as his or her birthday. It is traditional to present friends or co-workers with a small gift, such as chocolates or flowers, and to wish them Všetko najlepšie k meninám (Happy name day)

N A M E D A Y J U N E 2 0 1 1

Monday

Norbert

June 6

Tuesday

Róbert

June 7

Wednesday

Medard

June 8

Thursday

Stanislava

June 9

Friday

Margaréta

June 10

Saturday

Dobroslava

June 11

Sunday

Zlatko

June 12

Chinese dance in BratislavaSLOVAKIA seems to be open-ing up more and more to dif-ferent foreign, and even exot-ic, cultures. On May 7 and 8,the Shen Yun PerformingArts ensemble from NewYork brought classicalChinese dance to the Slovakcapital after three years, fol-lowing up a previous visit toSlovakia in 2008.

The Shen Yun ensemblecomprises three troupes thatusually tour the world simul-taneously. Founded in 2006 inNew York, it strives to reviveand spread ancient Chineseculture, which dates back asmuch as 5,000 years, combin-ing it with modern visionsand influences. The Bratis-lava show was the final per-formance of a European tourthat lasted for two and a halfmonths.

Shen Yun prepares a com-pletely new programme eachyear, and this latest oneoffered both ethnically-in-spired music and dance fromvarious regions of China, thetraditional dances of ethnicminorities, along with clas-sical Chinese dance accom-panied by live music combin-ing Western and traditionalAsian instruments. Theensemble’s composers, cho-reographers and art directorsdraw inspiration and inform-

ation for their work from theancient Chinese culture thathas been preserved in detail tothis day in literature, paint-ings and other forms of art,Leeshai Lemish, presenter ofthe programme, told The Slov-ak Spectator. He added thatthe individual pieces are ex-plained and introduced beforethe start of each performance,so that audiences in Europeand America without any cul-tural and historical groundingin Chinese dance can under-stand the plot and the mes-sage. Although rich in settingsand costumes, the pieces fo-cus on stories and mythology.

Chinese classical dance isa very old art form with spe-cific postures, movementsand techniques that mightseem to viewers like they are

derived from gymnastics andacrobatics. But in fact it is theother way round: classicalChinese dance is older, with ahistory that goes back thou-sands of years. The closingpart of the European tour, thetwo performances in theSlovak National Theatre inBratislava, were greeted withwarm response and pro-longed applause.

By Zuzana Vilikovská

June 6 – 12, 2011

HISTORY TALKS

Photos: Courtesy of Shen Yun Performing Arts, all rights reserved.

Fostering creativity in Slovakdesign and architecture

OFFERING a new and unusualway of looking at the buildingswe walk past and the objects weuse every day was the principalobjective of Design and Archi-tecture Days (DAAD), thesecond edition of which tookplace in Bratislava betweenMay 24 and 29.

The festival – the only oneof its kind in Slovakia – fea-tured a programme of exhibi-tions, workshops, lectures,panel discussions, concertsand parties, each aimed atimproving the public’s per-ception of architecture anddesign in all their forms.

“In Slovakia, these twoterms have had rather negat-ive connotations, principallybecause of the recent influx ofdevelopers and the numerousscandals related to construc-tion and land sales that havebeen regularly hitting theheadlines,” Tatiana Kollárová,architect and co-organiser ofDAAD, told The Slovak Spec-tator.

Her colleague, architectand journalist Broňa Tarnócy,agreed.

“Slovaks tend to view archi-tecture with indifference or ig-nore it altogether, not realisingthat it is our environment thatis at stake,” she said. “Some-times, I have the impressionthat people either do not knowthat change is possible or theysimply do not care.”

Another reason for thecreation of the first festival in2010 was that even thoughsimilar events are relativelycommon in most majorEuropean cities, Slovakia hadno such platform where ar-chitects and laypersons couldexchange ideas.

“Our hope is that by ex-posing people to first-rateproducts and by involvingthem in a dialogue about qual-ity in architecture, we willmake them consciously seekbeauty in their surroundings,which in turn will encourageauthorities and developers tofoster creativity,” saidKollárová.

To this end, Kollárová,Tarnócy and their colleague,architect Štefan Polakovič,decided to launch an eventwhere academic classicaldesign and architecturewould intermingle with theirmore “profane” counterpartsin order to attract the widestpossible audience.

Thus, this year’s DAADfeatured not only “serious”presentations showcasingworks by some of the mostrenowned Slovak and foreigndesigners, but also work-shops for children; not only around table discussion aboutarchitecture developments inthe capital with Bratislava’smayor Milan Ftáčnik, but alsoafter-hours parties wheredesign talk was punctuatedby rock music.

Since DAAD also serves asa platform for introducingnew trends in architecturethroughout Europe, severalnoted artists were invited tolecture and present theirworks at the festival. Theseincluded designer EricJourdan and architectÉdouard François fromFrance, Dutch architectsHanspeter Oester and Tanja

Buijs, and Nasir Mazhar, asuccessful UK-basedheadgear designer who hascreated hats for such stars asMadonna and Lady Gaga.

In addition, a large screenwas erected in the city centre,which presented the best ofSlovak and foreign design allday during the entire festival.Well-known architecturehouses such as LAN Architec-ture, ECDM or AMID.cero9 allgave presentations at DAAD.

“Our priority was to pro-mote those examples of do-mestic architecture that areof excellent quality and bringthem into juxtaposition withforeign ones, in order to provethat Slovakia does boast somebeautiful buildings whichenhance their setting in apleasing, functional and lo-gical way,” remarkedTarnócy.

Also, dozens of localdesign studios, furniture re-tailers and boutiques madetheir showrooms available tothe public, turning Bratislavainto one large exhibitionspace. Some companies evenprepared their own sideevents, such as a workshopon how to create art out ofempty cans.

“We are particularly gladthat so many businessesjoined in our efforts to edu-cate people and incite them tolook at the world through theeyes of an artist,” statedKollárová, adding that this“domino effect” was exactlywhat she and her colleagueswanted to achieve.

“We do not want DAAD tobe a one-off event that will beabout us having fun for fivedays a year,” she told TheSlovak Spectator. “We want itto leave behind a messagethat will remain, the messagebeing that to be creativemeans to be human.”

BY DOMINIKAUHRÍKOVÁ

Spectator staff

Slovakia’s churches opentheir doors - and crypts

A CHURCH is a place of wor-ship. Or at least that is thenarrow understanding ofwhat a church should be –quite widespread amongSlovakia’s prevailingly Ro-man Catholic believers. Tomelt the ice that freezes somepeople whenever they enter achurch, many churchesacross Slovakia took part inthe first-ever Night ofChurches, an event thatopened the doors of smallchurches as well as thecountry’s biggest cathedrals,including their hiddencorners, to music, dance, artsand discussions.

The idea of Slovakia’sNight of Churches was in-spired by Austrian churcheswhich have been openingtheir doors for such eventssince 2005. It was firstplanned only for the Trnavadiocese in Slovakia but theidea spread quickly to nearlyall parts of the country anddozens of churches particip-ated on the evening of May 27.

The Cathedral of St Johnthe Baptist in Trnava, alsoknown as the UniversityChurch, was at the heart ofthe night, which began at18:00 with the tolling of thechurch bells, followed by anecumenical prayer by mem-bers of the Ecumenical Coun-cil of Churches in Slovakia.

The programme lasteduntil midnight and offered amixture of activitiesthroughout Trnava. In thecathedral itself, knowledge-hungry visitors could takepart in a guided tour or enjoya concert by one of Trnava’smost-eminent jazz groups,the H Projekt; participate in adiscussion about restorationof the church and then listento a concert by a Pop Idol-winner turned jazz singer.

Michal Žitňanský, whoworks as a Trnava tour guideand gave the evening guidedtour of the cathedral, said inan interview with The Slov-ak Spectator that it was aspecial experience for himto speak to the packedchurch at that rather un-usual time of the eveningand that he was pleasedwith the atmosphere.

“When I came here I ex-pected a dark cathedral withdim lights but there were alot of children, everybodywas merry and jabberingcould be heard everywhere,”he said, adding that he feltthe church was really aliveon that night.

“Beside the fact that itstill serves as a place of wor-ship, which I believe is al-pha and omega for a church– something that givessense to its existence, it wasalso open to people whomight come here only veryrarely and despite that theycould enjoy everything itoffers,” Žitňanský said. Hebelieves the Night ofChurches definitely fulfilledits aim – to open churches tothe people, adding that thiswas aided by the excellentselection of guests who par-ticipated in the programme,such as Maroš Kuffa, a priestfrom Žakovce who leads aspecial programme for the

homeless, who was invitedfor a discussion in one ofTrnava’s smaller churches.

“I have found so manythings here that I wish thenight lasted for two or threedays because one evening isnot enough to see all thethings I’d like to see,”Žitňanský said as he headedoff to see the crypts ofTrnava’s churches thatwere open for the night andto attend a lecture by MaxKašparú, a deacon and psy-chologist.

Despite the rainy andstormy weather, numerousgroups of people could beseen running from churchto church in Trnava on thatFriday night – and to seeplaces that are not nor-mally accessible to ordinaryfolk. These included St Nic-olas Basilica’s tower, thenewly-opened crypts andan ossuary – basilica staffreported people queuing forover 20 minutes just tomake it inside its doors andaround 1,000 people werereported to have climbed itstower. The Cathedral of StJohn the Baptist was re-portedly visited by as manyas 1,600 people over thecourse of the evening andhundreds of others visitedsmaller churches withinthe city and in villageswithin the diocese.

15June 6 – 12, 2011CULTURE

An evening guided tour of one of Trnava's churches.Photo: Emanuele Terenzani

A report fromTrnava on thefirst Night of

Churches

Design andArchitecture Days

take place inBratislava

BY MICHAELATERENZANISpectator staff

Jazz in Trnava Cathedral performed by H Projekt. Photo: Emanuele Terenzani

An architectural gem highlighted Slovak design possibilities at DAAD. Photo: Courtesy of DAAD

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June 6 – 12, 2011