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Vol. 17, No. 18 Monday, May 9, 2011 - Sunday, May 15, 2011 of this issue

NEWS
Amnesties challenge
Bin Laden
KDH is proposing a consti-
tutional law to overturn the
so-called Mečiar amnesties,
death means
created by the then acting
president to block investig-
ation of serious crimes al-
extra security
legedly committed in the
mid 1990s. BY MICHAELA TERENZANI
pg 2 Spectator staff

Not fit to fight? CONCERNS about possible revenge by al-

Serious questions are being Qaeda following the death of its leader,
raised, not least by the de- Osama bin Laden, have led to a tighten-
fence minister, about ing of security measures at the top event
Slovakia's ability to equip currently taking place in Bratislava and
its armed forces, and meet Košice – the Ice Hockey World Champi-
its commitments to NATO. onship.
pg 3 Interior Ministry spokesman Gábor
Grendel said that Slovak police would more
closely guard the US Embassy in Bratislava
OPINION as well as members of the US ice hockey
team which was playing in the qualifica-
Little reason to smile Slovakia emerged from the preliminary round of the Ice Hockey World Championship - being held this year, tion round of the tournament in Košice.
Even those who did not vote for the first time, in Bratislava and Košice - with one win (against Slovenia) and two losses (against Germany and
for President Gašparovič Russia, above). The team has progressed to the qualifying round but in order to reach the quarterfinals must over- See ICE pg 3
must have hoped that he come a points disadvantage carried over from the preliminary round and do better in matches against its historic
would at least maintain rival, the Czech Republic, and then Finland and Denmark. Photo: TASR
some dignity for the insti-
tution of the presidency. Commission
BUSINESS FOCUS
pg 5

Harabin critic tapped to scrutinise

tax lease deal
Sourcing ins and outs
The popularity of out-
sourcing rose in Slovakia
during the crisis, as firms
sought to cut costs, but fig-
for NBÚ tob job BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
Spectator staff
ures showing a rise in in-
sourcing suggest that there A STERN critic of Supreme Court munist-era military intelligence
may have been some bad president Štefan Harabin, Peter agency, earlier this year, SaS pro- THE RESIGNATION of Miroslav Mikulčík
Paluda, has been chosen by the rul-
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ posed Ján Stano. But Stano did not from the top post at Slovakia’s Tax Director-
experiences. Spectator staff
pg 6 ing coalition party Freedom and appeal to the other ruling parties ate over a dubious five-year, €6.6-million of-
Solidarity (SaS) as its nominee for the because of his previous involve- fice leasing deal with a firm co-owned by a
top post at Slovakia’s vetting author- Minister Iveta Radičová already ment with the Slovak Information regional official of the ruling Slovak Demo-
Managing facilities ity, the National Security Office backing his nomination. Service (SIS), now the country's cratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) has not
Demand in Slovakia for fa- (NBÚ). Paluda, a Supreme Court Filling the top job at the NBÚ main spy agency, during its period resolved the issue of whether tax offices in
cility management is grow- judge and Slovakia’s former repres- has proved rather a tricky under- under Ivan Lexa, one-time right- Košice will remain in their original sites or
ing, say experts, and one of entative to the European Union’s taking for the ruling coalition. After hand man of controversial former move into a single shared building.
the country's leading uni- judicial watchdog Eurojust, seems facing criticism for its failure to prime minister Vladimír Mečiar. A five-member commission consisting
versities is now offering likely to win approval from other remove František Blanárik, an al- of representatives of the Ministry of Fin-
courses to train profession- ruling coalition parties, with Prime leged former agent for the com- See NBÚ pg 2 ance and the Tax Directorate will now re-
als in the field. view how the directorate proceeded in set-
pg 7 ting up the rental deal. Finance Minister

CULTURE
Ministers fume over Telekom 'no' Ivan Mikloš (SDKÚ) has said he wants to
invite the head of parliament’s finance
committee, Jozef Kollár, of Freedom and
holder not to pay the €258 million in meeting held on April 28 and blocked Solidarity (SaS), to join the commission.
More than a piper BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ dividends demanded by its minority the requested dividend of €258 mil- An analysis that the Tax Directorate
British musician Merlin Spectator staff shareholder, the Slovak state. lion which the Economy Ministry and the SDKÚ has used to defend the rental
Shepherd recently played Deutsche Telekom, which owns said could come from Slovak plan for the Košice tax offices has come
with the Pressburger 51 percent of the shares in Slovak Telekom's “retained earnings and under scrutiny with ruling coalition part-
Klezmer Band in Bratislava. ‘A GOLDEN hen without any ability Telekom, said an offer it had tabled dividends”. ners expressing doubts about its finding
He spoke to The Slovak to lay golden eggs’ is how Slovakia’s was appropriate and that the com- Ministers said there was no reas- that moving all the offices into a shared
Spectator about what play- economy minister described the pany was open to further negoti- on for the refusal. building would be the best option.
ing music means to him. country’s telecoms giant in response ations with the minority sharehold-
pg 11 to a decision by its majority share- er. It outvoted Slovakia at the general See ST pg 4 See TAX pg 9

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GREAT BRITAIN GBP 0.90 USA USD 1.48
SLOVAK BUSINESS DIRECTORY
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2 May 9 – 15, 2011
No instruction to MPs on GP vote
THE SCHEDULED parlia-
mentary vote in May to elect
a new prosecutor general
will be by secret ballot and
MPs from the governing co-
alition will receive no in-
structions on how they
should vote, Prime Minister
Iveta Radičová said on May 3,
the SITA newswire reported.
The vote will conducted
in compliance with a recent
ruling by Slovakia’s Consti-
tutional Court which found
that two such votes in
December last year were un-
constitutional because the
rules of the secret ballot
were violated.
The repeat vote is expec-
ted to be held on the first day
of parliament’s upcoming
session, May 18. The joint
candidate of the governing
coalition parties is Jozef
Čentéš, who will stand
against the previous general
prosecutor, Dobroslav Trnka.
Sme ordered to pay Slota €10,000
THE REGIONAL Court in Žilina
has confirmed a ruling by the
local district court that ordered
the Sme daily to pay €10,000 in
damages to the chairman of
the Slovak National Party
(SNS), Ján Slota, for two art-
icles it published in 2008.
The case involved articles
entitled ‘Slota stole while es-
caping’ and ‘ÚPN: Slota
sacked a store’, the SITA
newswire wrote.
Slovakia ranks 36th in press freedom
AN INTERNATIONAL watch-
dog organisation, Freedom
House, put Slovakia in 36th
place in its annual world
survey of press freedom re-
leased on May 3, World Press
Freedom Day.
During 2010 the organ-
isation assessed whether 196
countries had free and inde-
pendent media. Slovakia
Cocaine worth €6m seized at airport
SLOVAK customs officers
seized a large quantity of co-
caine as it entered Slovakia,
hidden inside stone
statuettes of birds, the TASR
newswire reported on May 2.
On April 29 customs of-
ficers checked an air con-
signment from Brazil to a
Slovak company founded less
than a month earlier.
“The company's chief
executive is a 45-year-old
Slovak citizen who was ar-
rested the same day near the
premises of a shipping com-
pany at Milan Rastislav
Štefánik International Air-
port in Bratislava,” said the
Customs Directorate’s
spokesperson, Miroslava
Slemenská, as quoted by
TASR.
Radičová has stated that if
Trnka is approved by parlia-
ment she will resign as
prime minister.
In a secret ballot in
December, Trnka came with-
in one vote of staying in his
post, which then expired in
February. Because some MPs
from the governing coalition
were concerned that Trnka
might be re-elected in the
secret ballot they took pho-
tos of their ballot papers and
published them to prove
they had not voted for Trnka.
The ruling coalition
passed a bill to change
parliament’s standing orders
to allow for a public, recor-
ded vote to elect the prosec-
utor general. President Ivan
Gašparovič vetoed the legis-
lation and returned it to par-
liament. Nevertheless, the
Constitutional Court’s ruling
means a secret ballot will be
used in the upcoming vote.
The ruling also ordered
Sme to pay Slota’s legal
expenses, apologise to
him, and remove the elec-
tronic version of the art-
icles from its internet site.
Sme wrote that the in-
formation it published
about Slota stealing cars
came from communist-
era secret service files and
had been provided by his
father.
shared 36th place with
Cyprus, Lithuania and Malta.
The Czech Republic placed
26th, Poland 48th, and Hun-
gary, strongly criticised by
Freedom House, was 65th,
the SITA newswire reported.
In 2009, Slovakia ranked
43rd together with Latvia,
Surinam, Taiwan, Trinidad
and Tobago, and Vanuatu.
The consignment offi-
cially declared eight metal
barrels and two wooden
containers with processed
gemstones and products
made of stone.
The shipment did in-
clude stone statuettes but
37 of them were hollowed
out and an X-ray check de-
tected the cocaine – about
32 kilograms in all.
It was estimated that
the volume of seized co-
caine could have provided
about 550,000 doses and
had a street value of about
€5.92 million. Slemenská
said the arrested man could
face life in prison.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
NEWS
KDH tries again to scrap
Mečiar amnesties
ONE OF THE ruling coalition “Even after such a long
parties, the Christian Demo- period it is necessary that
cratic Movement (KDH), is justice is given a chance in
again trying to push through an independent court,”
an initiative to cancel two Lipšic said, as quoted by the
amnesties issued in 1998 by SITA newswire.
Vladimír Mečiar, who was at
the time both prime minister Controversial amnesties
and acting president. Known
as the Mečiar amnesties, Mečiar granted the am-
through them the acting pres- nesties during his brief pres-
ident granted an amnesty to idential incumbency to ab-
the unidentified organisers of solve the unidentified per-
the kidnapping of the son of petrators of the abduction of
the then-president, Michal former President Michal
Kováč. The KDH submitted a Kováč’s son to Austria in
proposed constitutional law 1995. President Kováč was at
to the filing room of parlia- the time engaged in a bitter
ment on April 29. political struggle with
Mečiar; his son was, at the
Parliament to debate the Vladimír Mečiar Photo: Sme - Tomáš Benedikovič time, wanted for questioning
amnesties without HZDS in Germany regarding an al-
ented. Support for the HZDS lated to the kidnapping, leged crime of which he was
The controversies of the fell below 5 percent in last Daniel Lipšic, the KDH’s vice- later cleared.
Mečiar era, especially those of year’s general election and the chair and current interior Investigators believed
his third government in party therefore won no seats minister, told a press briefing that the boss of the country’s
1994-1998, have long been a in parliament for the first time gathered at a memorial cross SIS intelligence service, Ivan
preoccupation of the Christian since its formation. The cur- in the Bratislava district of Lexa, masterminded the kid-
Democrats and they have at- rent government also took up Karlova Ves that marks the napping and Lexa sub-
tempted to cancel his am- the obligation to try and can- spot were Róbert Remiáš was sequently faced several seri-
nesties five times, on the first cel the amnesties in its pro- murdered in 1996. Remiáš ous criminal cases including
occasion in February 2000. But gramme statement. was the key go-between with abduction, sabotage, rob-
this latest attempt is the first The draft law proposes the a leading witness in the case bery, treason, misuse of
to come before a parliament in cancellation of two amnesties of the kidnapping of Michal power and other white-collar
which Mečiar’s party, the granted by Mečiar in 1998 Kováč Jr in 1995. Investiga- crimes, SITA wrote.
Movement for a Democratic that covered the act of abduc- tion of Remiáš’ death was also
Slovakia (HZDS), is not repres- tion itself and other acts re- blocked by the amnesties. See LAW pg 9
NBÚ: Some clearances might be revised
Continued from pg 1 the courtroom, amid domestic and inter- which during its 2010 parliamentary
national concern about the state of the election campaign presented itself as
It was during the Lexa period that the Slovak judicial system and the alleged in- having zero tolerance for former com-
SIS was accused of involvement in nu- timidation of judges, including Paluda, munist agents.
merous criminal activities. who opposed Harabin. Blanárik himself was given a full se-
“We’re convinced that we’re submit- Paluda is also one of four Slovak curity check by the NBÚ in 2006 and was
ting a candidate to our coalition partners judges who lodged a complaint with the cleared to access the highest-level in-
who is an honest person with good repu- European Court of Human Rights in formation, labelled top secret.
tation and is a respectable expert at the Strasbourg challenging the election of Ha- According to communist-era docu-
same time,” said SaS leader Richard Sulík, rabin to the Supreme Court presidency. ments disclosed in 2008, Blanárik
as quoted by the TASR newswire, when Paluda, in a brief interview with worked as an informer for the VKR, the
introducing Paluda on May 3. “He’s a Sme, suggested that he might launch a communist predecessor to today’s Milit-
guarantee that security clearances will legislative initiative to ensure that ary Defence Intelligence (VOS) or Milit-
always be granted in line with the law.” people who deliberately collaborated ary Security Agency, between 1981 and
Paluda, who has a law degree from with the ŠtB communist-era secret police 1989, and reported on at least 10 people,
Bratislava’s Comenius University, are automatically made ineligible to re- Sme reported.
served as prosecutor at the district and ceive security clearance. He also said that Based on legislation currently in
later regional prosecution offices in he might re-evaluate security clearances force, his activities during communism
Banská Bystrica. In 1994, he was appoin- given to people who demonstrably co- would have disqualified Blanárik from
ted a Supreme Court judge and in 2004 he operated with the ŠtB. being installed in such a sensitive posi-
became Slovakia’s representative in tion had the information been dis-
Eurojust, only to be recalled in a power Troubled backgrounds covered prior to his appointment.
struggle in 2007. According to Sme, while in office
Radičová’s spokesman Rado Baťo František Blanárik, who was nomin- Blanárik also approved several security
confirmed to the Sme daily on May 3 that ated by Mečiar’s Movement for a Demo- clearances for former ŠtB agents, includ-
the prime minister considers Paluda a cratic Slovakia (HZDS) when it was part ing Svatopluk Ratuský, who served as
good nominee for the post. So does the of the last government, was, according to secretary of the National Security Coun-
leader of Most-Híd, Béla Bugár, although documents found in communist-era cil under the Fico government. During
Sme reported that he had some reserva- Czechoslovak security archives in the communist regime Ratuský served as
tions about the way Sulík announced the Prague, an informer for the communist- a military border guard whose job it was
nomination via the media before inform- era military intelligence service. He to stop people trying to escape to West-
ing his coalition partners. denied being an informer but resigned ern countries. Under the government of
Paluda is a long-time opponent of Ha- from his job on March 7. His departure Vladimír Mečiar, Ratuský allegedly par-
rabin, another ally of Mečiar who was came on the heels of a series of articles ticipated in the 1995 abduction of the son
elected to lead the Supreme Court under published by the Sme daily highlighting of then-president Michal Kováč.
the previous government. In 2007, Hara- the fact that the ruling centre-right After SaS nominated Stano, the party
bin recalled Paluda from Eurojust. When parties, when in opposition, had been defended the nomination by saying that
Paluda filed a criminal complaint against highly critical of Blanárik’s continued Stano was employed only as a clerk in a
Harabin for abuse of power, Harabin re- presence at the NBÚ following the ori- low-profile department. Stano confirmed
sponded by instituting disciplinary pro- ginal revelations about his past in late that he was a staff member of SIS’s cent-
ceedings against him. Those proceedings 2008, but had not moved to replace him ral analytical section, which he said at
last year attracted representatives from since taking office. that time was involved in protecting the
the embassies of the United States, Great The right to nominate someone to country from the activities of foreign in-
Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark to the NBÚ post lies with the SaS party, telligence services.

Minister sounds alarm
over state of the army
BY MICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
SLOVAKIA marked seven
years of NATO membership
this spring in an atmosphere
that was characterised more
by desperation than joy for
the country’s armed forces.
The defence budget has been
cut year after year since 2004,
to the alarm of Slovakia’s sol-
diers and its allies. Now some,
most notably Slovakia’s de-
fence minister, are warning
that a crisis is approaching
and severe cost-cutting
measures – including reduced
participation in foreign mis-
sions – may be necessary.
Given the long-term de-
cline in funding and the de-
clining usability of much of its
military hardware, the De-
fence Ministry launched a
Strategic Defence Review
(SHO) in the autumn of 2010 in
order to get a clear picture of
the state of the armed forces
and work out how to adjust
them to meet current security
threats as well as the financial
capacities of the state.
“This process tries to
identify possible threats, op-
tions and capabilities, and find
a balance between restricted
fiscal capacities and an effect-
ive, functioning, well-
equipped Slovak Armed
Forces,” Samuel Arbe, the ex-
ecutive director of the Centre
for European and North-At-
lantic Relations (CENAA), a
non-governmental think tank
which has been following the
process of strategic evaluation,
told The Slovak Spectator.
The SHO is expected to be
finalised in the summer of
2011 and presented in the
form of a Defence White Book,
but some information has
been already made available.
Disturbing early results
According to the Basic
Findings of the Analytical
Phase of the SHO, which is the
first major output and was
made available in April 2011,
the military technology used
by the armed forces is out-
dated. Over 70 percent of the
Slovak military’s ground-
based technology is in prac-
tice too old to be used, and its
helicopters and MiG-29 super-
sonic jets are fast approaching
their ‘best before’ date. An-
other long-term problem is
the armed forces’ consistent
failure to attract highly-quali-
fied personnel such as health-
care specialists.
This year, 86 percent of
the defence budget will go on
obligatory expenses, i.e. salar-
ies, payroll taxes, energy and
other such outlays, Minister
Ľubomír Galko told a press
conference after presenting
NEWS
The Slovak army's hardware is ageing. Photo: Sme - J. Krošlák
the findings of the analysis. NATO identifies underfunding
Only 14 percent is available for
all other development, includ- Slovakia’s ability to fulfil
ing missions. Foreign opera- its obligations towards NATO
tions absorb 4 to 5 percent of were recently criticised by
the budget. one of the alliance’s most
“If we do not pass a major senior representatives, Frank
strategic decision next year, Boland, the Head of Force
this balance will change to 90 Planning Department of
to 10. And that is in fact NATO Defence Policy and
liquidation,” Galko con- Planning Division, during a
cluded bluntly. visit to Slovakia in February.
But foreign pressure does
Financial malnutrition not seem to have much effect,
Arbe noted, with Slovak gov-
The underfunding of the ernments continuing to ignore
Slovak Armed Forces has led to external requests and remain-
deficits in several areas, ing blind to potential or actual
mainly in terms of military in- threats to Slovakia’s territory.
frastructure and modernisa- Those threats are not exclus-
tion, as well as personnel and ively of a military nature, he
morale, said Ivo Samson, an said, pointing out that natural
analyst with the Slovak For- disasters may also cause civil-
eign Policy Association (SFPA), ian casualties, in which case
another non-governmental the armed forces should be
think tank, in an interview prepared to react.
with The Slovak Spectator. “If the current trend is
Shortly before the sustained, in a couple of years
country’s accession to NATO the Slovak army will perhaps
in March 2004 the Slovak gov- be unable even to fight a
ernment made a ‘gentlemen’s [forest] fire similar to the re-
agreement’ with NATO cent one at Staré Hory, in late
headquarters in which it April 2011,” Arbe said.
pledged that the defence However, Rastislav Káčer,
budget would not drop below the president of the Slovak At-
2 percent of GDP at any point lantic Commission, a non-
in the future. But the Slovak governmental think tank,
Armed Forces leadership ad- and former ambassador of
mits that there now is a huge Slovakia to the USA, insisted
difference between their that, despite its failure to ful-
planned financial resources fil its declared obligations,
and the budgetary reality, as Slovakia remains a full-
the real contribution from fledged NATO member.
the state budget has fallen “And from the legal point
from 1.87 percent of GDP in of view it would remain so,
2002 to an anticipated 1.08 even if we did not have any
percent in 2011. armed forces, like Iceland,”
That amount is not suffi- Káčer told The Slovak Spec-
cient even to maintain the op- tator. Nevertheless, he noted
erational readiness of the that the actual weight of
armed forces, not to mention Slovakia’s voice in the alli-
any investment or modernisa- ance is relatively dependent
tion, Arbe said. Slovak gov- on the country’s ability to
ernments have attempted to stick to its own obligations
explain the falling percentage and fulfil them.
of GDP spent on defence by “We cannot rest assured
pointing to a rise in GDP over- that we can go out for a beer
all, but that excuse is no longer with a cool bunch of friends
valid, he added, since GDP is and there will always be
growing slowly while defence someone else to pay the bill,”
budget cuts remain enormous. Káčer commented.
Slovak soldiers
might come home
One of the things that
helps maintain a positive im-
age for Slovakia among its al-
lies despite the underfunding
of the armed forces is its par-
ticipation in foreign missions.
Slovakia usually contrib-
utes engineers, and there are
units within the Slovak
Armed Forces who are re-
spected as experts in demin-
ing and infrastructure con-
struction. Apart from these,
Slovakia also contributes
guard units and military po-
lice units.
At the moment Slovakia
is participating in three ma-
jor foreign operations: ISAF
in Afghanistan (NATO), UN-
FICYP in Cyprus (UN) and
ALTHEA in Bosnia and
Herzegovina (EU). Apart from
these, Slovak soldiers parti-
cipate in various observer
missions, the Defence Min-
istry told The Slovak Spectat-
or. According to the min-
istry, at the beginning of May
2011 there were 561 Slovak
soldiers serving abroad, of
whom 313 were in Afgh-
anistan, 198 in Cyprus and 45
in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Samson highlighted the
particular importance of
Slovakia’s participation in
the key NATO mission in
Afghanistan.
“But due to limited finan-
cial resources the deploy-
ment of the Slovak contin-
gent in Afghanistan is
provided at the expense of
modernisation and transpar-
ent defence planning, which
makes Slovakia look like a
consumer of collective de-
fence rather than an active
contributor in the eyes of
NATO headquarters,” Samson
told The Slovak Spectator.
Although they benefit
Slovakia’s image, foreign
missions are costly and Min-
ister Galko has already
warned that unless the de-
fence budget is increased
Slovakia will need to end its
participation in some of
them. He has said that the
first soldiers to come home
would probably be those cur-
rently serving in Cyprus, as
the mission there is increas-
ingly costly and in comparis-
on with the other two has a
low effect on the training and
preparedness of soldiers into
the future.
Samson said withdrawal
from Cyprus should be looked
on as a reaction to the insuf-
ficient support currently
provided to Slovak troops tak-
ing part in NATO’s interna-
tional operations.
“If Slovakia wants to
maintain at least a minimum
of its duties towards NATO,
scrapping the UN-led Cyprus
mission is good news,” Sam-
son said.
ICE: US team gets
more protection
Continued from pg 1
“Interior Minister Daniel
Lipšic discussed the matter
by telephone with US Ambas-
sador Theodore Sedgwick,
who welcomed the
information,” Grendel said,
as quoted by the TASR news-
wire, adding that the police
will evaluate the situation as
it develops and adjust meas-
ures to current needs.
Experts on terrorism do
not believe that Slovakia is in
imminent danger of terrorist
attack. But General Andor
Šándor, the former head of
the Czech military intelli-
gence service, did not rule
out the possibility that a rad-
icalised individual might at-
tempt some type of action.
“There might be revenge
on the part of those who will
mourn the loss of their icon,”
Šándor said, as quoted by the
Sme daily.
Guantanamo prisoners
in Slovakia
News of bin Laden’s
death reached Slovakia only a
few days after Britain's Daily
Telegraph published several
dispatches reported to be
from the US Department of
Defense concerning the US
prison in Guantanamo Bay in
Cuba that had been leaked by
the WikiLeaks whistleblow-
ing internet site. The three
former Guantanamo prison-
ers who were transferred to
Slovakia in 2010 were men-
tioned in the documents.
According to the
WikiLeaks documents, two
of the men currently hold-
ing permanent residence
permits in Slovakia had
links with terrorist organ-
isations and one of them
had been reported at one
time to have served as
Osama bin Laden’s personal
bodyguard, Sme reported.
That particular information
was never confirmed or
mentioned further in other
leaked documents. US au-
thorities decided to release
the three men from
Guantanamo last year.
Slovak police will closely watch the US Embassy.
May 9 – 15, 2011 3
Robert Kaliňák, who
served as interior minister
when Slovak authorities
agreed to accept the three
men, stated that the
WikiLeaks information
“gently said, doesn’t corres-
pond with the truth”, Sme
wrote. Sme also wrote that
the current interior minister,
Daniel Lipšic, reiterated that
the former prisoners pose no
security risk to Slovakia.
Reactions from
Slovak officials
Slovakia’s highest gov-
ernment officials reacted
positively to the news of bin
Laden’s death. The Foreign
Affairs Ministry called his
death a very important suc-
cess in the fight against ter-
rorism which it said helps
fulfil efforts to strengthen
global security.
“This news brings not
only satisfaction and a feel-
ing of justice to the families
and close ones of the people
who were victims of terror-
ist attacks planned and ex-
ecuted by al-Qaeda, but it
also represents hope that
the hateful campaign with
the intention to spread
hatred and confrontation
among nations and civilisa-
tions will depart together
with him,” the Foreign Af-
fairs Ministry stated, adding
that as the leader of the al-
Qaeda terrorist network bin
Laden was responsible for
most of the worst terrorist
attacks, including the
September 11, 2001 attacks
in the United States.
Slovak President Ivan
Gašparovič said in his reac-
tion that justice had been
done with the killing of the
al-Qaeda leader but cau-
tioned that the terrorist or-
ganisation lives on and bin
Laden's successor may turn
out to be even more ag-
gressive.
“The true victory will lie
in destroying the al-Qaeda
terrorist network around
the world. This is what we
must all continue to
pursue,” Gašparovič said, as
quoted by TASR.
Photo: Sme
4 May 9 – 15, 2011
Bohunice prepares for EU tests
“JASLOVSKÉ Bohunice meets
safety criteria regarding nat-
ural disasters and accidents
as well as the safety of
citizens,” Prime Minister Iv-
eta Radičová said after visit-
ing the nuclear power plant
on May 3, adding that the fa-
cility fulfils the basic indic-
ators for the stress tests that
all nuclear facilities within
the EU must complete by the
end of 2011, the ČTK news-
wire reported.
Investments of €500
million are planned for the
Jaslovské Bohunice power
plant to increase its safety
margin and secure success
in the EU stress tests, ČTK
added.
A new nuclear plant that
has been planned for the
Austria and Germany open jobs
SLOVAK citizens are now
able to work in Austria and
Germany under the same
conditions as local workers
after the two countries
opened their labour markets
on May 1 to citizens from
central and eastern EU coun-
tries, including Slovakia.
Austria and Germany
were the last two EU coun-
tries to open their labour
markets, after keeping their
doors closed for the maxim-
um period of seven years
after eight CEE countries
joined the EU in 2004.
The SITA newswire
wrote that the action finally
establishes a single EU la-
bour market, allowing labour
resources to move more
smoothly throughout mem-
ber states.
According to data presen-
ted in March by Vladimír
Sirotka, the president of the
Slovak Association of Small
Businesses, 60 percent of
Austrian firms close to its
House and apartment prices fall
THE PRICES of residential
real estate in Slovakia fell in
the first quarter of 2011 by a
countrywide average of 2.5
percent compared to the
same period in 2010, and by
0.47 percent from the final
quarter of 2010, the SITA
newswire reported.
In the fourth quarter of
2010, residential real estate
prices had fallen 2.1 percent
year-on-year and 2.6 percent
from the previous quarter.
The countrywide average
price per square metre for
residential property was
€1,264 in the first quarter,
according to information re-
leased by the National Bank
of Slovakia, which monitors
real estate prices together
with the National Associ-
ation of Real Estate Agencies.
Last year, countrywide
residential real estate prices
same site will be delayed by
at least five years, according
to Slovakia's Nuclear Regu-
latory Authority (ÚJD), be-
cause of a delay in preparing
the feasibility study for the
project and the expected
necessity of establishing
new safety parameters after
the stress tests are com-
pleted at all EU nuclear
power facilities.
The new power plant
would occupy the site
where Slovakia phased out
two older units of the V1
power plant in Jaslovské
Bohunice in western Slov-
akia as a condition for enter-
ing the EU. The ÚJD stated it
does not expect the new fa-
cility to be launched before
2025, ČTK wrote.
borders with Slovenia, Hun-
gary, Slovakia and the Czech
Republic are interested in
hiring employees from these
countries.
Sirotka said the opening
of the Austrian and the Ger-
man labour markets will
help reduce unemployment
in Slovakia, SITA reported.
Austria, facing an aging
population, hopes that the
opening of its labour market
will provide it with a fresh
source of labour and is expec-
ted to try to attract highly-
qualified experts as well as
take steps to legalise illegal
workers in industries like
construction and catering,
according to SITA.
Germany has estimated
that it may see an influx of
150,000 employees from
abroad while Austria is ex-
pecting between 13,000 and
25,000 new workers, primar-
ily in the fields of construc-
tion, mechanical engineer-
ing and services.
fell 3.9 percent in comparis-
on with 2009.
Prices of real estate in Ni-
tra Region increased the
most in the first quarter, by
4.5 percent from the last
quarter of 2010 and reached
an average of €602 per square
metre – which is still the
lowest average price in
Slovakia’s eight regions.
Trnava Region posted the
steepest decline in average
price, at 2.1 percent over the
quarter, to €846 per square
metre. Bratislava Region
continued to have the
highest average price for real
estate in the first quarter, at
€1,694 per square metre for
residential property, regis-
tering a quarterly decline of
1.1 percent.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
BUSINESS
ZSSK cuts train service
on more than 300 routes
annually, compared to ZSSK’s
original plan to reduce pas-
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ senger transport by as much
Spectator staff as 2.2 million kilometres. In
2010, ZSSK passenger trains
travelled a total of 31.1 mil-
THE FIRST days of May saw lion kilometres.
significant changes in passen- ZSSK reduced services
ger railway transport in Slov- partly because it is now re-
akia. Following the adoption of ceiving less money from the
an extensive revitalisation state budget to provide
plan earlier this year, the na- transport services in the
tional passenger railway com- public interest, as well as to
pany, Železničná Spoločnosť find solutions to its loss-
Slovensko (ZSSK), launched making operations. It said
reduced train schedules as of that when deciding on re-
May 1, though the cuts were ductions, it took into consid-
not as extensive as originally eration the economic effi-
planned. These will not be the ciency of individual lines,
only reductions: ZSSK has an- Passenger rail services were cut in Slovakia on May 1. Photo: Sme the number of passengers on
nounced that more will follow them, as well as the need to
in December this year and in over 300 routes, the Sme daily generating the greatest losses. maintain necessary public
March 2012. wrote. ZSSK has either Buzinkay cited services transport routes.
“The actual reduction was shortened lines or reduced the between Fiľakovo and the bor- ZSSK discussed the reduc-
50 percent of the original plan frequency of trains on them. der with Hungary as an ex- tion in train services with
and its effectiveness was The greatest number of ample, saying that the costs of regions and municipalities,
delayed after Prime Minister cuts took place in Trenčín, operating this route were more and said it received mostly
Iveta Radičová entered the Košice and Banská Bystrica than 100 times higher than in- negative responses. Apart
process,” ZSSK spokesperson Regions. Bratislava Region come from fares. He added that from reducing services, ZSSK
Alexander Buzinkay told The was least affected, according the reductions affected routes also plans to raise fares by 5
Slovak Spectator, adding that to Buzinkay. where a bus transport alternat- percent on average as of Au-
the railway transport reduction Some regional trains were ive exists. Where there was no gust this year, and do the
had been turned into a political cancelled, leaving only ex- such alternative, i.e. where same in the following two
issue. Negative reactions from press trains. Passenger ser- people have no other means of years. The company has not
municipalities and regional vices on five lines were with- public transport, ZSSK has confirmed the exact extent
administration had led ZSSK to drawn, of which four were in maintained train services. of fare rises yet, the SITA
soften the cuts, he said. border regions. The reduced services newswire reported.
The changes, which came ZSSK said it had cut the translate into 1.1 million
into effect as of May 1, affect least-used lines which were fewer kilometres travelled See RAIL pg 9
ST: Parent firm 'willing to negotiate'
Continued from pg 1 This offer still stands and Deutsche monopoly it used to be; there is no longer a
Telekom is willing to continue talks with cause for the state to have any part in it.”
Both Economy Minister Juraj Miškov the Slovak government, Braunle said, The proposed sale of the state’s re-
and Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš said adding that the group will not comment maining stake in Slovak Telekom is not a
that Slovakia is entitled to the money. further on internal discussions between new issue. The Slovak cabinet on March
The Economy Ministry owns 34 per- shareholders. 23 reviewed an analysis jointly prepared
cent of the shares; the remaining 15 per- According to Miškov, Slovakia cur- by the Finance Ministry and the FNM
cent is in the hands of Slovakia’s privat- rently needs every spare euro to consol- concerning the eventual sale of the hold-
isation agency, the National Property idate its public finances and clear the ing, perhaps to Deutsche Telekom.
Fund (FNM). debts that the previous government of The FNM stated that the government
The Slovak Telekom made a net profit Robert Fico left behind. would not receive more from dividends
of €120.9 million last year. “Today’s vote has only strengthened than from the actual sale of its ownership
“The representatives of the German my conviction that Deutsche Telekom is stake in Slovak Telekom and said sale of the
shareholders have not explained their abusing its status as the 51-percent 49-percent stake could be completed by the
decision not to pay the dividends,” states shareholder and, at the same time, by autumn of 2012. The state is considering
a memo sent by Miškov’s spokeswoman this attitude it has only confirmed the two options: the first is an international
Daniela Piršelová to The Slovak Spectator. fact that Slovak Telekom is perhaps a tender with all the state’s shares being sold
Miškov considers the situation that golden hen without any ability to lay as a block, giving Deutsche Telekom the
has emerged to be an abuse of the telecom golden eggs,” Miškov said. option to take full ownership. The other
operator’s dominant position, according The minister, who will shortly meet option is to sell the state-owned shares in
to Piršelová. representatives of the telecom concern, the capital market, a process which would
“The attitude of the German share- said he will insist that Deutsche Telekom result in many smaller shareholders.
holder has unpleasantly surprised us and corrects its decision. “That could aid the development of
taken us aback,” said Miškov. “Slovak Finance Minister Mikloš has said he the stock market, as we expect these
Telekom today disposes of enough re- expects the situation to change. But he stocks to be listed on the Bratislava secur-
sources from the profits of previous years added that the company’s failure to pay ities exchange,” Mikloš said earlier this
when it did not pay these [the retained- dividends would not in any way threaten year, as quoted by TASR.
profits as dividends] to its shareholders.” next year’s state budget, the SITA news- For fiscal year 2010, the net profit of
Deutsche Telekom, the majority wire reported. The FNM, which also ob- Slovak Telekom declined by 17 percent year-
owner of Slovak Telekom, says it is inter- jects to the decision of the majority share- on-year to €120.9 million, SITA reported.
ested in negotiating with the Slovak Min- holder, said that it had used all available Slovak Telekom Group achieved over-
istry of Economy. means to pass a proposal to pay dividends all consolidated revenues totalling €934.3
“Deutsche Telekom received, at short at the general shareholder meeting, FNM million. According to a company press re-
notice, a request from the Slovak minis- representative Miroslav Homola told lease, overall revenues fell by 4 percent
ter of economy to enter negotiations on SITA. Mikloš said he is still convinced that year-on-year due to an overall decrease in
the dividends payout,” Sylvia Braunle of the remaining 49-percent stake of Slovak selected service prices in the telecommu-
Deutsche Telekom’s press department Telekom should be privatised. nications market as well as the negative
told The Slovak Spectator. “The negoti- “There are many reasons why those influence of continuing regulation. It said
ations commenced shortly before the an- shares should be privatised,” Mikloš said, the group achieved €393.1 million of earn-
nual General Shareholder Meeting and as quoted by the TASR newswire. “This is ings before interest, tax, depreciation and
Deutsche Telekom made an appropriate one, although it is not so significant. Tele- amortisation (EBITDA), generating oper-
offer during these talks.” communications is no longer the natural ating cash flow of €251.7 million.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
President Ivan Gašparovič to Prime Minister Iveta Radičová. He later explained his lack of
courtesy by saying it was a 'joke', and that he was angry after Slovakia had lost to Russia.
BY LUKÁŠ FILA
Special to the Spectator
SLOVAKIA is unlikely to pro-
duce a globally feared terror-
ist, a saintly pope, or a mar-
riageable monarch. But still,
on occasion, there are people
and projects which can stir in-
ternational interest. In late
April we saw the beginning of
two such endeavours – the Ice
Hockey World Championship,
and Piano. Enough has been
written about hockey, so this
column will focus on the lat-
ter of the two - the plan to get
web users to pay for online
content, using a single access
route to multiple sites.
Before we go any further,
here is a brief warning – the
author of these lines is in the
worst imaginable conflict of
interests. The future of my
employer may depend on the
success of Piano, and I used to
share an office with Tomáš
Bella, the mastermind be-
hind the project. Now that
that’s behind us, let’s focus
on the merits.
The plan to make people
pay for selected services on
the web has naturally met
with some resistance. Forcing
people to pay for something
which has until now been free
is no easy task, although few
can explain just why it is okay
to pay for news at the stand,
but not on the web. And yes,
all publishers would prefer
not to mess with touchy in-
ternet audiences and contin-
ue to give them unrestricted
access. But the numbers just
don’t add up anymore. Slovak
publications never had it
easy. Around 320,000 copies of
dailies were sold on an aver-
age February day. The figure
for the Czech Republic, with
just double the population? 1.1
million. And even the already
“Don’t get in my way!"
Piano
SLOVAK WORD
OF THE WEEK
low numbers keep falling.
Most major newspapers have
seen a 5 to 10-percent decrease
in actual circulation for a good
number of years, although the
final numbers are somewhat
blurred by marketing activit-
ies. Add to that the financial
crisis, which taught compan-
ies that huge advertising
budgets for print are no ne-
cessity, and publishers are in
serious trouble.
Yes, you can always fire
Will Piano encourage web consumers to pay?
OPINION
staff. But most media houses
already function pretty effi-
ciently. The entire domestic
news department in Sme, the
leading opinion paper, has 12
people. That is including edit-
ors. The business desk has six.
The foreign desk five. Includ-
ing its online operation, the
newspaper has somewhere
over a hundred people. Fur-
ther cuts are possible. But can
journalism of at least some
quality survive them?
No one dares to estimate
just how much money Piano
will bring. But it is certainly
worth a try, to bring in at least
some cash and save at least a
few jobs. Much will depend on
how internet users view the
project: as an effort to squeeze
huge profits out of them; or as
a kind request for them to
bear at least some of the costs
involved in preparing the
value they receive. That will
determine whether I shared
an office with a Slovak version
of Mark Zuckerberg. And
whether I too will one day
have my 'bin laden' with
money coming from the web.
Photo: Sme
Not much reason to smile
AT LEAST half of the nation
has low expectations for the
current president of the coun-
try. Very few Slovaks expect
President Ivan Gašparovič to
participate in any meaningful
international discourse, solve
a burning political conflict
with his penetrating wis-
dom or to be a player in con-
siderably refining the
country’s political culture.
But even those who did not
vote for Gašparovič to stay in
Slovakia’s White House for a
second five-year term must
have hoped that he would at
least maintain some dignity
for the institution of the
presidency.
In an incident after the ice
hockey match that Slovakia
lost to Russia, Gašparovič did
his best to bury any such ex-
pectation. “Don’t get in my
way here,” Gašparovič told
Prime Minister Iveta Radičová
as he elbowed in front of an el-
evator at Bratislava’s hockey
stadium, as described by
Radičová’s adviser, Marian
Baláž, to the Sme daily.
When Radičová spontan-
eously objected, Gašparovič’s
reported response was, “I am
angry because we lost”.
Gašparovič’s spokesman was
quick to explain to the media
that the president meant it as a
joke, adding that “it was abso-
lutely witty”. When asked by
Sme whether he plans to apo-
logise, Gašparovič said that the
person who invented the story
should do so. Then First Lady
Silvia Gašparovičová ex-
plained that it was only a “kind
of Canadian joke” and that the
president sometimes does that
to her as well, adding that the
atmosphere is different at a
sporting event. Perhaps such a
rationalisation would have at
least given reason to smile if
the president had elbowed an
old-time buddy who could
have pushed him back.
No one expects politicians
to stop being human; it is only
that they really should work
much harder on developing
better judgment and manners.
Radičová will face a
much more difficult chal-
May 9 – 15, 2011 5
lenge than Gašparovič’s lack party, pushing Radičová ex-
of manners when parlia- istentially close to facing the
ment votes by secret ballot consequences of her words.
on the next general prosec- The parties of the ruling
utor. The Constitutional
Court ruled on April 20 that
the rights of general pro-
coalition have very little in
the way of real guarantees
that four or five of their MPs
secutor Dobroslav Trnka might not be capable of
telling Radičová to “get out
of the way”. Radičová raised
the stakes very high when
EDITORIAL
she hinged her future as
prime minister on Trnka
and now there is no way for
her to go back.
“Will the government
fall?” is being asked more
frequently these days and
even those who profess to
have some faith in MPs’ re-
sponsibility to those who
sent them to parliament –
the voters – are no longer
giving their “no” with re-
sounding certainty.
The prime minister faces
the question: Is it worth
risking the government and
the likely return of Robert
Fico to power over the posi-
tion of general prosecutor?
Trnka made it easier for the
prime minister to argue vig-
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ orously for his departure
Spectator staff when he let off steam in a TV
interview early in 2011 and
made pejorative and derog-
were violated during two atory comments about sev-
parliamentary votes late eral elected officials. Trnka
last year when MPs dis- told a parliamentary com-
closed how they had voted mittee on May 5 that the
by photographing their bal- 38-minute interview had
lots or openly declaring who been manipulatively edited.
they had voted for. The His crude television per-
court invalidated the res- formance could have been a
ults of votes held on Decem- momentary lapse of
ber 2 and December 7. judgement, of course, but
The prime minister, des- the prime minister has
pite the efforts of the ruling even more compelling
coalition to make the forth- reasons to insist that Trnka
coming vote public and re- does not again become gen-
corded, has declared that it eral prosecutor.
will again be secret, based on And hopefully that hand-
the court’s ruling, and that ful of MPs who might still be
MPs will receive no instruc- tempted to vote for him will
tions on how to vote. At the understand that, whatever
same time she restated that they might see as their
she will resign if Trnka re- short-term benefits, such a
turns to one of the most vote will take a heavy toll
powerful positions in the not only on the faith of those
country. The first time she voters who ushered in the
issued this warning at least governing coalition but on
four coalition MPs voted the perception of Slovak
with the opposition Smer politics in general.
   





     
 

 
      
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6 May 9 – 15, 2011

OUTSOURCING
The boom in data centres BUSINESS FOCUS Next issue:
accelerates outsourcing

Discerning trends in ICT out-

sourcing in Slovakia is difficult BANKING & LEASING

Outsourcing up again Companies and organisations in

Businesses in
Slovakia follow
global patterns
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
OUTSOURCING has been a fa-
miliar term in Slovakia for
some time now. Companies
operating here used it during
the crisis to reduce costs and
some saw it as key to their sur-
vival. However, a recent survey
indicates that the experience
might not been entirely satis-
factory for all companies: some
have decided to reverse the
process and return to in-
sourcing. But experts in the
field see renewed interest in
outsourcing from businesses in
Slovakia and note that compan-
ies now approach their out-
sourcing decision-making in a
more sophisticated way.
The Slovak CEO Survey
2011, in which consultancy
firm PwC and Forbes
magazine surveyed 406 top
representatives of companies
operating in Slovakia between
January 18 and March 10
about their views on the Slov-
ak business environment,
found that 29 percent of the
surveyed companies had out-
sourced certain business pro-
cesses or functions over the
past 12 months, while 10.5
percent of the companies had
reversed course and began in-
sourcing previously out-
sourced work.
IT outsourcing is relatively common in Slovakia.
Matúš Jurových, senior
consultant at PwC in Slovakia,
views the 10.5 percent move-
ment to in-sourcing as quite
high. He sees costs, quality of
service, lack of abilities and
funds to secure relations with
the outsourcer and, last but
not least, no further need for
the outsourced services, as
the primary reasons behind
in-sourcing. He added that
this relatively high figure
may also indicate that some
companies were not satisfied
with the quality of services
they received or the price they
paid for the outsourced work.
“Nevertheless, I still see a
trend to outsource business
processes or functions in
Slovakia and [see] that com-
panies are interested in [do-
ing so],” said Jurových, who
based his view on the survey
findings indicating that over
20 percent of the surveyed
companies plan further out-
sourcing while only 6.65 per-
Photo: Reuters
cent plan in-sourcing during
the next 12 months.
In general, many private
companies in Slovakia cur-
rently outsource IT services,
support services, call
centres, legal services, ac-
counting, telemarketing, HR
services and procurement.
Peter Horovčák from De-
loitte in Slovakia told The
Slovak Spectator that out-
sourcing of research and de-
velopment, cloud comput-
ing, and outsourcing of data
centres as well as marketing,
are among the current
trends here.
Experts in the field agreed
that outsourcing develop-
ments in Slovakia do not dif-
fer significantly from other
countries and that, even if
there is some delay here, the
country’s businesses are gen-
erally following global trends.
“The trends in Slovakia
mimic global trends and com-
panies behave in very stand-
ardised ways,” said Jurových,
adding that many of the Slov-
ak companies that can benefit
from outsourcing are daugh-
ter companies of large global
firms for whom outsourcing
is an established practice.
Horovčák agreed that
there is some delay in Slovak
trends, ascribing it generally
to the scope and performance
of Slovakia’s economy. But he
believes another significant
factor is a lower awareness
about outsourcing among
Slovak-based companies:
about the benefits it can bring
and when it is suitable to pur-
sue outsourcing.
Horovčák added that in
Slovakia outsourcing is per-
ceived primarily as finding a
cheaper alternative to intern-
al supply of particular ser-
vices, noting that while out-
sourcing of accounting, some
IT services or legal services is
common in Slovakia, newer
opportunities in outsourcing
have not been fully tapped.
He noted that there are
several reasons for this but be-
lieves the most significant to
be a lower level of competi-
tion between companies in
some economic sectors in
comparison to the USA and
western Europe and therefore
less pressure to increase the
quality of services or reduce
prices, the main benefits of
outsourcing. Horovčák also
pointed out that the relatively
small Slovak market means
there is less demand to draw
in potential suppliers of cer-
tain business functions.
See OUT pg 8
facility management
Slovak Association of Facility Management,
www.safm.sk
Companies:
- AB Facility, www.abfacility.sk
- ISS Facility Services, www.sk.issworld.com
- Reiwag Facility Service SK, ww.reiwag.sk
- Slovclean, www.slovclean.sk
Outsourcing in IT expanded
THE BIGGEST change in the structure of IT services has
occurred in outsourcing, the Trend economic weekly
wrote in June 2010, in a commentary about the ranking
of IT and telecommunications companies in Slovakia
based on company results for 2009. The weekly included
in this segment Košice-based T-Systems Slovakia, which
deals with remote control of IT systems for multinational
clients. It increased its sales in 2009 by almost two thirds,
to €40.7 million. This boosted the importance of
outsourcing within the Slovak IT services sector to the
same level as support for existing applications, even
though there are many fewer providers engaged in
outsourcing. T-Systems accounted for two fifths of the
revenues of the outsourcing segment in 2009, while the
top three companies (Axasoft and Soitron as well as T-
Systems) accounted for as much as 70 percent.
Source: Trend weekly
Penta acquires Czech AB Facility
THE CENTRAL European investment group Penta
Investments acquired the Czech company AB Facility,
one of the three most important suppliers and
integrators of facility management on the Czech market,
the investment group reported in a press release in mid
December. It marked the investment group’s entry into
the facility management market.
“AB Facility represents a suitable platform for entering
the market and building a strategic subject in the
future,” explained Penta’s investment director, Zdeněk
Kubát. “We plan to develop both the company and its
portfolio of services. Penta’s goal is to internally
consolidate the existing holding, add new acquisitions
and finally to consolidate the facility management
market in central Europe.”
Compiled by Spectator staff from press reports

Telecoms companies want to differentiate themselves

BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
TELECOMMUNICATIONS is one sector
which has been particularly affected
by the movement towards out-
sourcing. As customers seek increas-
ingly tailored services, outsourcing
can help telecom operators to differen-
tiate themselves from competitors.
The Slovak Spectator spoke to
Gottfried Madl, who is the Account
Director in Nokia Siemens Networks
(NSN) Slovakia, about the latest trends
and challenges in outsourcing inform-
ation and telecommunications (ICT)
services in Slovakia.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS): What do
you understand by the term out-
sourcing?
Gottfried Madl (GM): Outsourcing
is a very commonly used term and
everybody understands something
different by it. Always when we start
talking to a customer about out-
sourcing or managed services we start
with what he understands by these
terms, what he wants to achieve, what
are his intentions and then we agree
on the terms and stick to them.
We actually understand two terms
– one is managed services (MS), and
the other is outsourcing. Under man-
aged services we mean that we are tak-
ing over service responsibility from
our customer and we manage those
services on behalf of our customers but
we do not transfer headcount. So for
example, we take operation of the
network from our customer, but we do
it with our resources; we do not take
anybody from that organisation into
our organisation.
We use the term outsourcing
when we manage a client’s network
or other part of his business, but also
transfer headcount into our organ-
isation.
Here I would like to stress that no
outsourcing, no managed-services
deal is like any other. Each time it is a
customer-tailored solution, which
needs a lot of engagement from both
sides and a lot of time before finally
concluding the project in terms of de-
fining it and defining the partnership.
TSS: What are the trends in terms of
outsourcing ICT services in Slov-
akia? Could you compare Slovakia
with the rest of the world?
GM: When it comes to services and
to compare what I see here – and all my
colleagues share this opinion with me
– Slovakia is pretty much in the same
state as the rest of Europe. All of those
countries and our customers in Slov-
akia face the same challenges. They
are experiencing pressure basically
from four directions – the market,
technology pressure, how they oper-
ate and financial performance.
With regards to the market, it is
obvious that it is becoming more com-
petitive. Our customers, as well as the
customers of our customers, are chan-
ging in that they do not accept mass
services any more and want to have
individual services tailored for them
only. In terms of technology, we are on
the verge of changing the current
technology for a new one. In opera-
tions, we see a lot of transformation
from a more traditional organisation
into more customer-focused opera-
tions. As for financial performance,
this comes with market pressure.
These are the pressures that our
customers have to live with. To sum
up, all of them want to grow and have
to reduce their costs at the same
time. This is the framework within
which we operate.
TSS: Apart from cost reduction,
what other benefits can ICT out-
sourcing bring to a company?
GM: This is a very good question
because everybody, when thinking
about outsourcing, thinks about cost
reduction. I’m convinced that it’s
much more. Outsourcing of non-crit-
ical services to an outsourcing partner
can bring benefits to the customers in
many areas. The first is a re-focusing
on the customer by outsourcing ser-
vices where it makes no difference to
the end customer who performs these
services; the second is to minimise
risk; and the third is to implement and
launch new technologies.
Returning to the first benefit, we
see that our customers have to focus
more and more on their subscribers.
Actually, outsourcing can help them
here because once telecom compan-
ies have decided what their core
business is and what differentiates
them from the competition they are
ready to talk about outsourcing. We
can help in areas which are essential
in order to provide their services, but
don’t make any difference for them.
The second one is managing
complexity. New technologies are
coming: a trend all over Europe is
that fixed and mobile services are
converging for those where this is
applicable, and this generates
complexity.
See ICT pg 8

Demand for facility
management grows
More
professionals
wanted;
STU responds
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
GOOD facility management
is seen as a vital service that
can make a significant con-
tribution to a company’s per-
formance. Its proper execu-
tion allows a company to fo-
cus better on its core business
and improve its competit-
iveness without worrying
about ancillary matters con-
cerning its facilities.
“The indisputable benefit of
facility management is its syn-
ergic effect in the area of sup-
port activities,” Viera
Somorová from the Faculty of
Civil Engineering of the Slovak
University of Technology in
Bratislava, and also the presid-
ent of the Slovak Association of
Facility Management, told The
Slovak Spectator. “Another be-
nefit of use of the facility man-
agement method in a company
is the opportunity for top man-
agement to focus on their core
business while support activit-
ies are managed by the facility
management department.”
Facility management is
more rooted in the countries of
western Europe than in Slov-
akia; even the Czech Republic
made strides in this field much
earlier than Slovakia. Never-
theless, Slovakia is now catch-
ing up with western trends.
“The delay can be seen in
some way also by the [later]
launch of an organisation clus-
tering facility management
companies,” Andrea Szabová,
property manager at Cushman
& Wakefield in Slovakia and a
member of the Slovak Associ-
ation of Facility Management,
told The Slovak Spectator,
adding that while the Czech
branch of the International
Facility Management Associ-
ation, IFMA CZ, was launched
in 1999 and became an IFMA
Facility management is more than just cleaning.
aspects adapted to the Slovak
market, Szabová said, noting
that more and more compan-
ies are currently deciding to
outsource their facility
management functions so
they can focus better on their
core business.
Somorová added that
managers of companies in
Slovakia are realising the be-
nefits that can come from im-
plementation of professional
facility management. She said
that several years ago facility
management was only used
primarily for the in-sourced
management of buildings;
but that now, with the arrival
of foreign firms, outsourcing
of selected facility services is
also beginning to be imple-
mented in Slovakia.
Outsourcing of facility sup-
port services may bring com-
panies benefits such as reduc-
tion and optimisation of costs,
Somorová and Szabová said.
These can include savings on
salaries when a building owner
does not need to employ spe-
cialised workers, only pays for
actual work time and is not re-
quired to deal with matters
such as holidays, sick leave and
other benefits that are required
for internal workers.
Another potential benefit,
Somorová added, is better-
quality management of sup-
port services as the external
company providing out-
sourced services has a pool of
qualified and knowledgeable
workers and the outsourcing
BUSINESS FOCUS
Photo: Sme
that a company suffers to its
property. The liability of an in-
ternal employee is limited by
law but the provider of facility
management services is fully
responsible for damages,
Somorová said. She added that
outsourcing of ancillary sup-
port activities can result in
freeing property space which
an owner could choose to rent.
But Somorová pointed out
that a company needs to be
aware that it takes some time
until a provider of facility
management services can
fully perform its duties and
that a contractual agreement
is more complicated when it is
supplemented by a service
level agreement – which must
be precisely formulated and
agreed by the parties.
“The benefits of out-
sourcing the management of
support activities prevail over
the disadvantages and thus
management of support activ-
ities in the form of outsourcing
is more and more sought by
companies,” said Somorová.
Somorová noted that her
association often hears opin-
ions in Slovakia that out-
sourcing of support services
failed to bring the desired ef-
fects but believes the problem
stems not from outsourcing
itself but in less-than-ad-
equate preparation by an or-
ganisation for implementa-
tion of outsourcing.
“The basic mistake of an
organisation is an effort to out-
source support activities as
“The standard in its
second part precisely informs
what such an agreement
should contain, including
measurement and supervi-
sion of the quality of provided
services,” said Somorová. “It
is a mistake when an organ-
isation that wants to out-
source these activities does
not apply this standard.”
Somorová sees another
problem in tenders in which
the lowest offered price is ac-
cepted while the quality of the
provided services is not fully
considered.
Facility management
courses
The Faculty of Civil Engin-
eering of Slovak University of
Technology (STU) in Bratis-
lava has responded to the need
to train more facility man-
agement experts by offering
post-graduate courses on fa-
cility management.
Somorová explained that
her faculty was encountering
requests from providers of fa-
cility management services to
‘supply’ facility managers who
had mastered all the required
knowledge so that after taking
a position and gaining prac-
tical experience they would be
able to work as professional fa-
cility managers.
The Faculty of Civil Engin-
eering was already teaching,
in other master's degree study
programmes, subjects closely
related to facility manage-
ment, so to offer a complete
education in facility man-
agement it was only necessary
to integrate these disciplines
under ‘a single roof’ and that
this is now happening in
phases. Somorová said the
first step was to provide stu-
dents with the opportunity to
gain thorough knowledge of
facility management via post-
graduate studies.
STU's Faculty of Civil En-
gineering was the first in
Slovakia to offer a post-gradu-
ate study programme in Facil-
ity Management, during the
2009-2010 academic year, and
this programme has contin-
ued in the current academic
May 9 – 15, 2011 7
Experts see more
ICT outsourcing
IT IS difficult to clearly dis-
cern current trends in out-
sourcing in the information
and communications techno-
sourcing with a similar scope
in neighbouring countries
only with difficulty”.
Budinský thinks out-
logy (ICT) sector since in sourcing is a tool that can help
some areas Slovakia lags be- local companies “re-start after
hind other countries of the the crisis” and hopes to see
world but in others the coun- more outsourcing in Slovakia
try is at the forefront. in the near future. He particu-
“The reality is that for the larly views the financial and
last five years only a very low telecommunication sectors
number of really ‘big’ out- as areas where outsourcing
sourcing contracts were can grow here and added that
clinched,” Gustáv Budinský, his association “believes that
the executive manager of the within some time somebody
IT Association of Slovakia will be brave enough to also
(ITAS), told The Slovak Spec- enter outsourcing of busi-
tator, adding that the crisis ness processes”.
was partly behind this but the ITAS views cloud comput-
maturity of the ICT market ing as a welcome extension of
was a more significant factor. outsourcing rather than as an
ICT providers in Slovakia alternative to outsourcing,
currently offer all the services Budinský said, adding that it
involved in IT infrastructure provides thus-far unseen ca-
outsourcing or IT application pacity opportunities for busi-
outsourcing, Budinský said, nesses and other clients.
noting that the only excep- Budinský does not view
tion here is the outsourcing of reduction of costs as the only
business processes – a step positive outcome of out-
which is happening almost sourcing, stating that when
exclusively among foreign outsourcing works well,
projects in Slovakia. apart from a lower price, it
Budinský said that, so far, brings a more flexible rela-
simpler kinds outsourcing, tionship between costs and
such as outsourcing IT infra- scope of service, meaning
structure or IT applications, that costs are not fixed and
has prevailed here while other can flexibly change with
parts of the world have a demand and that costs do not
much broader definition for grow linearly when service
the term outsourcing. volume increases.
Budinský said this is some- “We also should not forget
what paradoxical in that at one of the most important
least two companies in Slov- features of outsourcing and
akia use so-called complex that is the reduction of risk,”
outsourcing that is commonly Budinský added.
used in other parts of the
world but “you will find out- By Jana Liptáková
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*+(+! $&% 
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++
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member in 2000, the first at- contract gives the client the quickly as possible without year, Somorová stated, adding 
++ $-+)$%#
tempt to launch a Slovak opportunity to check the per- proper preparation for that it is divided into five sec- !
++ ++
branch of the IFMA came only
+++
+ +
+++
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in 2007. However, that first or-
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ganisation was not a success
and later disappeared. In 2009,
the Slovak Association of Fa-
cility Management was foun-
ded and became a member of
Euro FM (the European Facil-
ity Management Network) in
its first year.
International companies
that provide facility manage-
ment services keep arriving in
Slovakia and bring along new
trends and extend the scope of
services available to property
owners. This is why Slovakia
can take good systems ap-
proaches from abroad and add
formed activities and evaluate
them according to agreed-
upon indicators.
Moreover, she said, it is
possible for a company to save
on investment costs as it does
not need to use its capital for
services that are outsourced,
for example for IT equipment
or car fleets, when the pro-
viders of these services bear
that responsibility. The ex-
pert also noted that a com-
pany can better track the de-
tails of the services based on
invoices and analyse the costs
of individual activities.
Outsourcing can also bring
better coverage for damages
outsourcing,” said Somorová.
“[In these cases] the project
fails to secure outsourcing that
firmly establishes the quality
of provided services and par-
ticularly their supervision.”
Definitions of terms and
standards for facility man-
agement were developed by
the European Committee for
Standardisation in 2006. The
Slovak Standards Institute es-
tablished these as national
standards and issued an
identical text translation un-
der the title STN EN 15221 Facil-
ity Management. The national
standards have been in force
since 2007.
tions with an initial section %
(
called Facility Management, 
followed by Energy Manage- '''! #($
ment, Quality Management
SP90511/2
Systems, Maintenance of
Buildings and Management of
Human Resources.
“The possibility to study
facility management has been IT
met with exceptional
interest,” said Somorová, ’˜—–’˜•†ˆêITꚌ—‹ê˜– NATEK (Slovakia)
adding that 80 students have Address: Grösslingova 4
attended the programme. ºêuh{lrꖘ““’•—–ꏈ„‡ˆ•– 811 09 Bratislava
Œ‘ê—‹ˆê’“—ŒŒ„—Œ’‘ê’‰ Contacts: +421 2 52 62 1977
“Due to the high interest we —‹ˆŒ•êp{ꖒ˜•†Œ‘Šê“„‘–ê workitwithus_contact@natek.sk
are preparing workshops, Œ‘êjˆ‘—•„êl˜•’“ˆê¹
within the post-graduate
studies, as a continuation for nationalities I 8 countries I
I 27 nationalities I 8 countries I 350 consultants I 27 nationalities I 8 countries
I 350 consultants I 27
graduates in which their prob- ‘„—ˆŽ­ˆ˜
‘„—ˆŽ­ˆ˜
lems in praxis can be solved.” ‘„—ˆŽ­ˆ˜
SP90458/2
8 May 9 – 15, 2011 BUSINESS FOCUS

OUT: Agreeing on terms is essential

Continued from pg 6
So even though a company
may be interested in out-
sourcing some processes or
functions, it may be unable to
find a suitable external supplier.
Horovčák pointed out a
paradox with regards to out-
sourcing: when considering
outsourcing, companies are
very concerned about data
leaks and the potential loss of
their know-how. But Horovčák
said global statistics show that
internal employees are more of
a threat in terms of leaks and
fraudulent behaviour than
outside service providers.
Jurových believes that
watching costs and reducing
them when possible remain
the strongest motivation for
companies to outsource.
“Another factor that speaks
to the benefit of outsourcing is
the structure of costs,” said
Jurových, adding that compan-
ies are sometimes better able to
predict and manage costs from
outsourced services.
Another factor that leads a
company to outsource in-
cludes the opportunity to focus
better on its core business
while still having access to the
required pool of specialists: a
company does not need to have
specialists on staff for func-
tions outside its core business
as this becomes the responsib-
ility of the external supplier,
Jurových said.
Horovčák said that out-
sourcing should not always be
perceived as only finding a
cheaper alternative for a par-
ticular service in comparison
to internal sourcing because in
some cases outsourcing may be
the best solution in terms of
the relationship between price
and quality, even if it is not ne-
cessarily the cheapest.
“Especially during the
crisis companies opted for out-
sourcing in order to save,” said
Horovčák, who thinks the
crisis forced companies to “get
back to earth” and start think-
ing about their business pro-
cesses in a more rational way.
“The trend in terms of the
interest of companies in out-
sourcing is sinusoidal,” said
Horovčák specifying that
“Five to six years ago there
was a boom in outsourcing
when many companies were
enthusiastically hoping for
greater flexibility in their core
business, [seeking] lower
costs and getting rid of sup-
port processes. Then it went
down a bit because the com-
panies realised that the whole
process of outsourcing is not
easy and that it requires
agreeing on a number of tech-
nical details, etc. The crisis
has brought another way as
companies wanted to focus on
their core business.”
Horovčák sees an upward
trend now, but said the ap-
proach of many companies is
more sophisticated and well
thought-out.
Shared service centres
Shared service centres
(SSCs) can be viewed as a kind
of outsourcing, according to
Jurových.
“This means that a com-
pany does not place an order
with an external supplier for a
certain service but creates an
entity, for example at a region-
al level, which then provides
this service,” Jurových said,
adding that the service is
provided on the basis of a so-
called service level agreement
between the shared service
centre and the company order-
ing the service within the
group of companies. He used as
an example an insurance
company with branches
across Europe, which may
create a SSC to provide finan-
cial and accounting services
to all its branches. This could
also be desirable when out-
sourcing to an external com-
pany may be unacceptable
due to security risks, or when
a company does not want to
lose absolute control over a
process or service – a potential
problem in outsourcing.
Horovčák confirmed that
there is a trend towards creat-
ing SSCs, adding that Slovakia
is already home to such
centres, which have been
moved here from western
Europe by companies such as
Johnson Controls, Dell, IBM,
Kraft Foods and Lenovo.
While companies do not
generally outsource key pro-
cesses and functions,
Jurových thinks “it is possible
to move some key processes in-
to shared service centres, but
this process is much more dif-
ficult and demanding than
outsourcing of support
services” and that this differs
from company to company.
Jurových regards the trend
toward SSCs as having poten-
tial and expects that more will
be developed in Slovakia.
Experts stress that prepar-
ing a solid, properly-worded
service level agreement with
clearly measurable criteria is
the basic fundamental for as-
suring quality outsourced
services.
Milan Gajdoš, manager of
performance and technology
at KPMG in Slovakia, stated
that companies should not
underestimate the importance
of carefully preparing the
contract’s contents.
“If left only to lawyers the
contract might be perfect from
the legal point of view but a
catastrophe from the long-
term operational point of
view,” Gajdoš told The Slovak
Spectator. “[A poor] contract is
among the top reasons in
Slovakia and central and east-
ern Europe for overall out-
sourcing failure.”
FOCUS short
Illuminate and enlighten
THE BOOM in data centres
is helping to accelerate out-
sourcing services. This is
the opinion of experts active
in the data-centre sector,
who add that better know-
ledge and more information
is the key to higher usage of
their services.
“[It is necessary] for
people at least to know that
something like this exists,”
Michal Majerčík, the director
general of CNC, said in June,
as quoted by the Trend
weekly. He added that it is
hopeless to expect company
managers to get information
about data centres and the
services they provide from
their IT experts because such
people are afraid they might
lose jobs, even though this
need not be true.
Miroslav Strečanský of
Swan said he believes that it
is necessary to explain to
company managers that an
internal IT solution costs
them the same as out-
sourcing it, but when they
opt for the latter they get
significantly higher value.
Vladimír Dóša, project
manager at Datahouse, was
quoted as saying he regards
the boom in data centres as
good promotion. According
to him, this is why he wel-
comes competition: “Clients
look at data centres in a dif-
ferent way when there is
only one [compared to] when
they are more data centres.”
He believes that company
managers trust outsourcing
more when they see that this
business model is thriving.
Dušan Mesár, executive
officer of Dial, highlighted
that it is necessary as part of
the message to communicate
to clients how data centres
are protected. According to
him, clients already know
that data-centre operators
are able to offer internet
connectivity, stable temper-
ature and humidity. But it is
necessary to convince them
that operators are also able to
provide physical security.
“It is necessary to help
clients overcome concerns
that their data may be stolen
or abused,” said Mesár.
He pointed to a range of
solutions for physical secur-
ity in data centres: from fin-
gerprint scanners upon
entry, to camera systems and
movement detectors, to
lockable cages for servers.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports

hk}ly{pzltlu{

ICT: Making a strategic matrix

LESS
Continued from pg 6
Internally in an organisa-
tion you need to manage from
With outsourced mobile to fixed, from fixed to
GM: Our main clients op-
erate in the fixed and mobile
networks, but we also serve
utilities, for example. If you
take a look at the lifecycle of
step and start thinking about
outsourcing.
At the moment I don’t see
that the future operation of
networks will stop making any

WORRIES
mobile, you need to create new
services, and actually how we
can contribute here with out-
sourcing is that we can lend
payroll and accounting our customers the benefit of
our worldwide experience,
which we have generated
from our scale, i.e. about 300
management services con-
tracts and outsourcing con-
tracts around the world, and
14,000 people transferred
“Dare to invest in a knowledge partner, worldwide from our custom-
ers into our organisation.
so that you can enjoy your passion for business” And then there is another
Bart Waterloos, partner VGD point – introducing new tech-
nologies. I can give an ex-
ample – building of LTE, also
Gain more insight, take better decisions, less taxes sometimes called the fourth
and more pro¿t ,t all stars with a healthy ¿nancial generation in mobile com-
management and the right knowledge of structures and munication. To build an LTE
taxation $t VGD we want to support entrepreneurs in
network, there is no differ-
their ambition to develop their company, to structure it
and to let it grow More than just the offering of services,
ence to your end customer
we act as a sounding board for entrepreneurs small or whether you do it on your
large By investing in professional services you increase own or you let another com-
the chances of success for your business and you will pany build it for you. This is
at all times be able to enjoy your passion for business something which can be out-
Make time for a meeting face to face and experience sourced via the kind of service
how we can create also for you space to run a successful
we call build, operate and
business
transfer. So we provide the
service to build a complete
)or a VGD of¿ce in your area, consult wwwvgdeu network, we operate it for a
certain time, and transfer it
tax > audit > accountancy > payroll > tax > audit > accountancy > payroll > tax > audit back to the customer.
Slovakia > Czech republic > Belgium > Germany > Poland > Luxemburg > Hungary > Bulgaria
TSS: In which sectors is
Nokia Siemens Networks
Slovakia active within out-
sourcing and what services
do you provide?
SP90507/2
an operator’s business this
consists of designing, build-
ing, operating, maintaining
and optimising the network
for fixed and mobile networks.
We address all of these areas.
Clients can get the most bene-
fit from it if you address all
five areas, something which is
called end-to-end out-
sourcing. However, we have
projects around the world
where we address one of these
five areas.
TSS: Where do you see the
future of outsourcing of ICT
services? Might it be that in
the future telecom operators
will focus only on marketing
and sales and the whole op-
eration and development of
their networks will be out-
sourced?
GM: It’s hard to say now
how far telecom companies
will go. We are currently at a
stage where I would say every
operator has to think about
what his core competence is
and where it can differentiate
itself from the competition.
Each company has to make a
strategic matrix, which says:
this I need to make on my own
because this makes a differ-
ence; and this doesn’t make a
difference and I can give it
away. Once the company has
that, it can take the second
further difference: I believe
there will be still some parts
operated by our customers. But
I could be proved wrong. Nev-
ertheless, I truly believe that
we will see a lot of movement
in the next one or two years in
areas where operators espe-
cially will make up their
minds, and will make de-
cisions on what is strategic to
them, where they can make a
difference in the competition
and which parts they can out-
source without harming their
competitive advantage.
With regards to the space
for future growth, Nokia
Siemens Networks is continu-
ously analysing key perform-
ance indicators (KPIs) like edu-
cation level, cost of employees,
inflation, political stability and
other factors, for all European
countries. And while doing
these analyses for a lot of coun-
tries inside as well as outside
Europe, we found that Slovakia
is a quite interesting country
for providing services from
Slovakia to other countries, be-
cause for all those major KPIs it
looks really good. So we are cur-
rently analysing whether to es-
tablish in Slovakia something
more in terms of delivering
services to other countries.
To read the whole interview,
please go to www.spectator.sk

RAIL: Private competitor gears up
Continued from pg 4
The railway operator is also
reducing its labour force. In
total it plans to lay off 621 em-
ployees out of a total labour force
of 5,000 over three years, accord-
ing to the revitalisation plan.
The delayed adoption of
the plan and the lower-than-
planned reduction in service
means that ZSSK has not fully
observed its scheme to cut
staff. Pavel Kravec, ZSSK’s dir-
ector general, told the Pravda
daily that the company is now
cancelling 322 positions, of
which 170 were already va-
cant. Of the remainder, 80
people will get scheduled or
early retirement and 70 people
will lose their jobs.
Kravec added that in
December ZSSK will reduce
passenger services by an addi-
tional 0.5 million kilometres
annually, and by another 0.3
million kilometres in March
2012. He did not specify which
routes would be affected, but
part of the cuts will coincide
with the introduction of a new
route by private railway oper-
ator RegioJet in southern
Slovakia from March 2012.
Harmonising public transport
In Slovakia mass public
transport is provided by the
state-owned ZSSK and by re-
gional bus companies. The lat-
ter have been partly privatised,
with the National Property
Fund remaining the part-own-
NEWS / BUSINESS
A new firm will offer public rail services from 2012. Photo: Sme
er, but the government of Iveta Slovak Spectator, said his im-
Radičová is pondering privat- pression of the current state of
isation of the remaining stakes. public mass transport is that
The state subsidises mass pub- instead of coordinated and in-
lic transport either by rail or tegrated operation of railway
road. To get a proper picture of and bus transport systems, the
how effectively this support – two operate in competition. He
either from the state budget or based his observations on
from the budgets of regional VÚD’s initial findings. His in-
governments – is used, the Min- stitute has already mapped out
istry of Transport, Construc- railway transport flows but has
tion and Regional Development had problems doing the same
has ordered an analysis from for bus transport.
the Žilina-based Transport Re- “SAD companies [operators
search Institute (VÚD). This is of public scheduled bus trans-
intended to give a picture about port], as private companies, do
passenger flows on both trains not want to provide us with
and buses. data about their passenger
Originally, VÚD was sup- numbers, and self-governing
posed to deliver the analysis by regions claim that the con-
the end of April. But after bus tracts they have signed with
companies and regional gov- SAD companies prevent them
ernments refused to give VÚD from providing information to
the necessary information, third parties,” said Palčák.
the deadline was extended. VÚD has obtained data
VÚD director Ľubomír about bus transport only in
Palčák, in comments to The Žilina Region. Based on these,
only 22 percent of passenger
rail capacity in the region (be-
fore this month’s changes) was
used; in the case of bus trans-
port the figure was 33 percent.
“Even though nobody ex-
pects these to be used at 100
percent, these are still low
numbers,” said Palčák, who
said he welcomes efforts to bet-
ter coordinate bus and train
lines in order to prevent over-
lap and for them to act in a co-
ordinated way, rather than as
rivals. He said he would also
welcome it if more passengers
moved from cars onto trains
and buses and thus reduced
road traffic.
Private rail operator
In April, RegioJet, a subsi-
diary of the Czech firm Student
Agency, showed Slovak travel-
lers what they can expect when
it officially starts operation on
the Bratislava-Komárno route
next March.
Regiojet will operate the
route with the help of a state
subsidy. Slovakia will pay it
approximately €7.1 million per
year for operation of the route,
about €1.3 million less than
ZSSK currently receives, ac-
cording to Sme.
While people who took
part in the April trial wel-
comed the comfort of the
train, they expressed concern
about fares. RegioJet promises
that the ordinary fare should
be no higher than that now
charged by ZSSK.
TAX: Controversy
abates to a simmer
Continued from pg 1
The deadline for submit-
ting bids to lease a building
where the tax offices could
eventually move has been
extended from May 10 to the
end of the month. The com-
mission will evaluate these
bids as well.
“It is important that the
commission makes the right
decision so that we can ad-
vance a little bit,” said Igor
Krnáč, who was charged
with leading the Tax Direct-
orate following the resigna-
tion of Mikulčík, as quoted
by the SITA newswire.
Mikloš has hinted that
the commission might ulti-
mately conclude that the tax
offices will not move into a
shared building.
The original leasing
controversy
The original case, which
prompted significant ten-
sion within the ruling coali-
tion last month, was brought
to the media’s attention by
opposition leader Robert Fico
on April 11, when he presen-
ted the Tax Directorate’s de-
cision to rent office space in
Košice from Nitra Invest, a
company owned by a region-
al SDKÚ official, as a tale of
party cronyism. He alleged
that some of the money from
the deal would end up in the
SDKÚ’s accounts, though he
presented no evidence to
May 9 – 15, 2011 9
ernment over which such a
shade is hanging.” Mikulčík
resigned the same day.
The analysis
The ruling coalition ori-
ginally said that political re-
sponsibility for the office
leasing case lay with the
SDKÚ.
However, in late April,
the other coalition parties
asked to see the analysis
that the Tax Directorate had
elaborated and which the
SDKÚ had used in its de-
fence of the rental plan. The
analysis advocates the op-
tion of moving into a shared
building, as opposed to in-
vesting in the reconstruc-
tion of its existing facilities.
Kollár said that, among
other things, the projected
€5.5-million cost of recon-
struction of the existing
buildings was not verifiable,
and added that the analysis
was elaborated for only a
5-year period. Kollár argued
that the costs of reconstruc-
tion should not have been
included as a cost item in the
year in which it was incurred
but should have been re-cal-
culated over a period of 20
years, with a 5-percent an-
nual amortisation rate, the
Sme daily reported.
Mikulčík rehabilitated?
Mikloš has meanwhile
picked Mikulčík to serve as

LAW: Constitutional route proposed back up this claim. Mikulčík,

who as tax chief had ap-
proved the deal, immediately
an adviser on his project to
unify tax collection, but
neither the details of his
Continued from pg 2 requires a three-fifth majority of 90 votes of Even if the SNS caucus were to vote in responded that the contract status at the ministry nor his
the 150 in parliament. Thus, some opposi- favour of the KDH draft law, however, it was completely in line with eventual pay are yet known,
Lexa was accused of allegedly order- tion MPs would need to join the ruling would still need to be supported from applicable laws and would Sme reported.
ing the murder of Remiáš. He was alleged coalition’s 79 supporters for the law to pass. some MPs from the largest opposition save the state money. On Political analyst Juraj
to have done this to prevent witnesses The Slovak National Party (SNS), a co- party, Smer, in order to be passed. April 15, Nitra Invest an- Marušiak interpreted Mikloš’
testifying about Kováč Jr’s abduction to alition partner of HZDS in 1994-1998 and However, Fico, the party’s leader, has nounced that it was with- move as a message to
Austria in 1995. again under former prime minister publicly opposed the cancellation of the drawing from the contract, Radičová that he will con-
However, Lexa was ultimately shielded Robert Fico in 2006-2010, might support amnesties, arguing that from a legal stating that it did not want tinue to do as he pleases.
from the most serious charges against him the draft law. SNS leader Ján Slota has point of view they are irrevocable, even any further suspicions to af- “The appointment of
by the Mečiar amnesties. These were re- said he supports the cancellation of the though they are immoral. He has re- fect its name. Mikulčík to the post of ad-
voked by Mečiar’s successor as acting pres- Mečiar amnesties. peatedly said that anyone who attempts Prime Minister Iveta viser is a negative gesture
ident, Mikuláš Dzurinda, but after Lexa’s “Personally I voted against cancelling to cancel the amnesties should return his Radičová and Mikloš, both towards Radičová,” said
subsequent detention, the European Court the amnesties in the past, because we were or her diploma of law, the TASR news- members of the SDKÚ, later Marušiak, as quoted by the
of Human Rights in 2008 ruled in Lexa’s fa- coalition partners,” Slota said, as quoted by wire reported. clashed head-to-head over TASR newswire. “The fin-
vour, effectively reversing the revocation SITA. “But I have never been convinced the fate of Mikulčík, with ance minister is letting
and re-imposing the amnesties. that it was all clean... And if nobody has a By Michaela Terenzani Radičová calling on Radičová know by this
To pass a constitutional law, however, problem, then let things be investigated.” with press reports Mikulčík to resign and move that he doesn’t agree
Mikloš, who had appointed with the stance that she
C LASSIFIEDS
him, saying he saw no reas- took in the case of the
REAL ESTATE REAL ESTATE on for the tax chief to go. Košice rental deal.”
The stand-off raised con- The selection of advisers
Family Home
NEW.....for..... RENT: For Sale in Bernolakovo cerns among the other rul- is fully within the compet-
• 1-2-room apartments – Vajnorská, • L-shaped living, dining, kitchen ing coalition parties and ence of individual ministers,
Ružinov, Karlova Ves... • 5 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms + WC prompted speculation about Radičová said after a Coali-
• 3-4-room apartments – Drotárska, • House 260m² + Garage 49 m² + Lot 5.4a a possible power struggle tion Council session on May
downtown, Ružinov,Koliba, Bôrik... • 6 years old
• family houses – Koliba, Bôrik • Sprinkler system, automatic gate within the SDKÚ. On April 2. Mikulčík is expected to
area, Polus area, Horský park, • Custom-built with 40cm block 19 SDKÚ leaders appeared to serve as an adviser on
Ružinov... • Located in beautiful new subdivision agree that Slovakia’s public- UNITAS, a €22-million tax
• Near golf course
madison@nextra.sk, 0905 659156, • 279,900 € finance watchdog, the Su- unification project being un-
www.madison.sk Call 0904-363-747 preme Audit Office (NKÚ), dertaken by IBM. On May 4
C 3655 C 3677 C 3673 would decide his fate via an Sme reported that the Fin-
REAL ESTATE audit of the deal. ance Ministry has not dis-
ENGLISH LANGUAGE WORSHIP However, on April 20, closed a list of sub-contract-
Rent: Bratislava International Church Radičová was late arriving ors to the project. Slovak me-
at a regular session of cabin- dia speculated that the firm
new house, Bratislava III, Sundays, 9:30 at historic Small Lutheran Church
et and confirmed that her CSC Computer Sciences,
located in a quiet street, with Take your (Maly evanjelicky kostol) in central Bratislava
tardiness was related to where Mikulčík has in the
(near Hodzovo namestie); on Lycejna at
6 rooms, 3 bathrooms,
garage for 2 cars, garden
chance intersection with Panenska 26/28. Mikulčík’s continued pres- past served as an authorised
and place your Children's Sunday School provided. ence. Asked if she had representative, was among
with grill. classified advertisement.
For information call: Everyone Welcome. threatened to resign over them. Mikloš said that it is
Price: 1800 EUR + E 02 / 59 233 311, the affair, she stated: “I the business of the main
Information at 02-5443-3263
0903 234 999, 0903 471 999 or e-mail: Web Site: www.bratislavainternationalchurch.org have unambiguously said supplier to choose sub-con-
marta.fukasova@spectator.sk
C 3675 C 3573
that I will not lead a gov- tractors, Sme wrote.
10 May 9 – 15, 2011
Nitra’s street of many names
THIS postcard from 1922
shows the oldest street
through Nitra. Originally it
led to the so-
called Turkish
Gate, one of the
town’s medieval
gates.
HISTORY TALKS
Today, the
buildings on the left side of
the postcard no longer stand,
having been replaced by the
Prior department store, the
Orbis House of Culture and
the Všeobecná Úverová
Banka (VÚB) building.
In the background, with
its façade facing the street, is
The Night of Museums
IN THE SEVENTH year of a
Europe-wide event, the doors
of museums and galleries in
Slovakia will stay open late
into the night on Saturday,
May 14. Institutions in 49
Slovak cities, towns and vil-
lages are taking part in the
Night of Museums and Gal-
leries, as the event is known.
In some venues, the ‘night’
starts early, with pro-
grammes for children in the
morning. On May 14 visitors
can pay just once and then
visit as many participating
museums as they wish.
Moreover, most of the insti-
tutions have prepared special
programmes, often lasting
until midnight.
In the capital, Bratislava
Castle dedicated this year’s
Night to the 200th an-
niversary of a huge fire
which destroyed most of the
structure and the settlement
beneath it in 1811: at 15:00
and 18:00 fire fighters from
Bratislava will simulate the
Great Fire and present fire-
extinguishing technologies.
Weather updates and forecasts from across Slovakia
can now be found at www.spectator.sk.
In cooperation with the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute
the Tatra Hotel, built in 1887
on the site of a former town
pub.
The street in the postcard
has had several names and all
of them, in a way, reflected a
certain era.
The oldest street name is
simply Dlhá (Long) and obvi-
ously comes from a time
when street nomenclature
was not yet affected by polit-
At 11:00 and 20:00, lectures
tour will inform members of
the public about the most re-
cent research and findings at
the castle. At 10:00 and 13:00,
there will be tours for famil-
ies with children.
Other local institutions
participating in the event in-
clude the Slovak National
Gallery, which will offer a
host of programmes: puppet
theatre at 11:00; a theatre
performance for children at
15:00; creative workshops
from 14:00; lecture tours in
the afternoon (in Slovak
only); concerts of historical
and contemporary music at
15:30 and 18:00 respectively;
a concert by Slovak group
Longital at 19:30; a carnival of
loud unspoken words at
21:30; and a screening of
‘prohibited’ and ‘harmful’
films. The event will culmin-
ate at 22:00 when visitors
will be able to visit the hid-
den niches of the SNG with
the general manager, taking
a magic tour of the gallery
with torches (places must be
CULTURE
ics. Vilmos Tóth, the head of
the local government, and an
interior minister for some
time, gave his name
to the street at the
end of the 19th cen-
tury.
The street then
bore the name of
President Masaryk during the
First Czechoslovak Republic,
was renamed for Lenin dur-
ing communism, and is today
assigned the name Štefánik
in honour of one of the
founders of Czechoslovakia.
By Branislav Chovan
booked in advance). A host of
other museums and galleries
have taken up this idea, one
of the newcomers being the
ÚĽUV Gallery of folk art.
Among the venues in
other towns and castles,
Modrý Kameň castle is offer-
ing an interactive “Dragon”
tour for children, with the
Tracking a Dragon exhibi-
tion, scenes from the
‘everyday life’ of dragons, a
puppet performance, anim-
ated cartoon and lecture. At
Spiš Castle, the Revived Le-
gends tours will take place
until midnight. The Slovak
National Museum in Martin
will be visited by the King
himself, who will give visit-
ors, especially younger ones,
a chance to become a squire
for one night: after they
prove their skills and know-
ledge, he will appoint them
members of the lesser gentry
(‘zeman’). For information
about other venues, visit
www.muzeum.sk, www.
snm.sk and www.sng.sk.
Compiled by Spectator staff
Western SLOVAKIA
Bratislava
l DOG SHOW: Spring
Duodanube 2011 – A dog show
that is a qualifier for Crufts,
this event brings hundreds of
dogs of all breeds, including
some from countries like Is-
rael, Thailand and Finland.
Starts: May 14-15, 10:00-
17:00; Incheba Expo, Vieden-ská
cesta 2. Admission for visitors:
€0.50-€2. Tel: 0911/148- 050;
www. springduodanube.sk.
Bratislava
l LIVE MUSIC: Canaan Sirens
– As part of the Nu Faces pro-
gramme introducing new-
comers on the scene, impro-
visers Canaan Sirens will just
use drums and guitar to create
an ambient free jazz sound.
Starts: May 10, 21:00; Nu
Spirit Club, Šafárikovo Square
7. Admission: free. More info:
www.nuspirit.sk.
Bratislava
l EXHIBITION: Nonkonform
(A) a Barak architekti (SK) –
This exhibition, on the occa-
sion of the opening of the
ARCHA Centre, by an Austrian
(Nonkonform) and a Slovak
(Barak Architekti) architec-
tural studio shows their in-
novative professional meth-
ods and perceptions.
Open: 10:00-16:00 on
weekdays until May 20;
Austrian Cultural Forum,
Zelená 7. Admission: free.
Tel: 02/5464-1337;
www.rakusko.eu/sk/kultura.
Bratislava
l EXHIBITION: No Comment –
A comprehensive exhibition
of newspaper photographs
and cartoons entered for the
Journalism Award 2010 con-
test, showing not just the
winners picked by an interna-
tional jury, but many other
works. They reflect political
and social events in Slovakia
and worldwide (e.g. in Haiti).
Open: weekdays 10:00-
17:00 until May 31; Open Gal-
lery, Baštová 5. Admission:
free. Tel: 02/5441-3316.
Bratislava
l EXHIBITION: Obraz archi-
tektúry v grafike / Architec-
ture in the Graphic Art of the
16th-18th Centuries - About
160 works from Slovak mu-
seums and galleries present
architecture from theoretical
tracts through period views of
the constructions of the past
THE COMBINED exhibition of political cartoons by US cartoon-
ist Daryl Cagle and Slovakia’s ‘Shooty’ is touring the country and
being displayed at outdoor sites. It is currently at Divadelné
Square in Martin until May 13. Co-organised by the US Embassy
and Euforion, it has already been shown in several Slovak cities
and towns; after Martin, it continues to Trenčín, Kremnica and
Nitra. For more information, visit www.zdruzenie.euforion.sk.
Photo: Elections by Shooty - Courtesy of Euforion
N A M E
Monday Tuesday
Roland Viktória
May 9 May 10
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)
EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE
THE SECOND year of the Slovak Food Festival will bring the
most successful elements from last year – presentations by top
chefs on a stage, kiosks by different restaurants and cuisines, as
well as tasting of wines, coffees and cheeses – but also a new
feature: presentation of culinary traditions typical for individual
regions of Slovakia. The SFF takes place at Bratislava Castle over
the weekend of May 13-15. There is no admission fee; visitors are
instead expected to buy ‘food vouchers’ worth €6-€12 and
choose what to spend them on. For more information, visit
www.slovakfoodfestival.sk. Photo: Courtesy of SFF
and the present, to works of until May 29; Stredoslovenské
the Baroque period. Múzeum, SNP Square 4. Ad-
Open: Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00 mission: €0.50-€2. Tel: 048/
until May 29; Slovak National 4125-897; www.stredoslovens
Gallery, Esterházy Palace, Ľ.
Štúr Square 4. Admission:
€1.70-€3.50. Tel: 02/5443-4587,
kemuzeum.sk.
Martin
02/5443- 2081-2; www.sng.sk. l MUSEUM: Noc múzeí a
galérií 2011 – The Night of Mu-
Šahy seums and Galleries started
l LIVE MUSIC: Papajam Pokec seven years ago in France and
Tour – The popular band Papa- has since become a popular
jam visits Slovak clubs and Europe-wide event. The Slov-
halls on its Pokec Tour, and ak National Museum also
play tracks from its debut al- takes part in this project and
bum ‘No. 1’. all its museums will be open
Starts: May 14; Club Un- until midnight and free for all
derground, SNP 2. Admission: visitors.
€4. More info: www.club- Starts: May 14; Ethno-
underground.sk; graphical Museum, Andrej
www.papajam.sk. Kmeť Museum, Museum of
Central SLOVAKIA
Slovak Villages, Martin Benka
Museum, Karol Plicka Mu-
seum, Museum of Czech Cul-
Banská Bystrica ture in Slovakia and Museum
l EXHIBITION/MUSEUM: of Roma Culture in Slovakia.
Písané a tlačené na Admission: free. More info:
banskobystrický spôsob / Writ- www.snm.sk;
ten and printed in the Banská www. muzeum.sk.
Bystrica Way – This rather in-
timate exhibition shows the Eastern SLOVAKIA
role of this town in the devel-
opment of books and their cul- Prešov
ture in Slovakia and in the l JAZZ MUSIC: Laco Deczi &
whole central European region. Celula New York – The le-
Open: Mon-Fri 8:00-16:00; gendary jazz musician brings
Sun 10:00-12:00, 13:00-17:00 Brian Charette on keyboards,
Nob Kinukawa on bass and
Vaico Deczi on drums to per-
form in a popular local club.
Starts: May 9, 20:00;
Bizarre Club, Prostějovská
37/A. Tel: 0905/677-015;
www.bizarre.sk.
Košice
l TRADITIONAL MUSIC:
Sefardské piesne / Sephardic
Songs – The Košice Musical
Spring brings a host of pro-
grammes, including the tradi-
tional music of Sephardic
Jews performed by La Roza En-
florese troupe from Belgium.
Starts: May 11, 19:00; Sem-
inary Church of St Anthony of
Padua, Hlavná 81. Admission:
€2-€5. Tel: 055/6224-509;
www.sfk.sk.
By Zuzana Vilikovská
D A Y M A Y 2 0 1 1
Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
BlaÏena Pankrác Servác Bonifác Îofia
Sofia
May 11 May 12 May 13 May 14 May 15

'I don’t play instruments,
I play music'
BY ZUZANA VILIKOVSKÁ
& JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
KLEZMER, the traditional
eastern European Jewish, pre-
vailingly instrumental, style
of music, is quite well known
and accepted in Slovakia, as it
was once part of the local mu-
sical scene. It has recently en-
joyed a revival in interest
thanks to the Pressburger
Klezmer Band. Now and then,
the troupe invites other musi-
cians, foreign as well as local,
to join it. The group also in-
cludes short lessons in Jewish-
style dance in its perform-
ances. On April 9, at Klub Za
Zrkadlom, British clarinettist,
multi-instrumentalist and
composer Merlin Shepherd
briefly joined their ranks and
offered a joint performance. In
summer, he should return to
Slovakia to the renowned Po-
hoda open-air music festival.
Merlin Shepherd has played
with numerous musicians and
groups from all over the world,
has two bands that carry his
name (Merlin Shepherd
Kapelye and Merlin Shepherd
Quartet) and, together with his
wife Polina, has undertaken
the task of restoring the back-
ground sound-track and ori-
ginal style of music to accom-
pany silent movies via the
Light and Sound Cinematic
Duo. After the Bratislava con-
cert, The Slovak Spectator
spoke with Merlin Shepherd
about his music.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS):
What was your route to
klezmer music?
Merlin Shepherd (MS): I
started my musical life when I
was four years old and I was
taught the block flute recorder
which is what children very
often start with. And when I
was seven years old, I wanted
to play the clarinet. I heard it
because my dad is a great fan of
classical music, and I loved it.
They got some advice through
the teacher of my eldest broth-
er, who said that the clarinet
was too heavy and that my
teeth would not be fully
formed, because the mouth-
piece was too hard for a seven-
year-old child. He recommen-
ded I started with the flute
and, if I persevered, I could
move on to the clarinet. So I
started playing flute, although
it was not my preferred in-
strument. By thirteen I did all
the flute grades and I was very
good at it; I played in the Na-
tional Youth Orchestra, lead-
ing the flute section. But at
that time I stopped enjoying
playing flute; which is normal
at that age. Either you grow
with the music, or you pick
rock guitar – which is what I
did. I taught myself guitar,
Merlin Shepherd perfoming in Bratislava.
mandolin, and when I was
nineteen, I decided I wanted to
play saxophone. I played tenor
sax at first, and then soprano.
At college I studied saxophone
as my first instrument. Then I
got a job playing sax for a show
at the National Theatre in Lon-
don, and at that time I was
probably twenty-six. After this
job finished, I got another job
at the National Theatre. The
composer was an old friend
who I had worked with years
before and he wanted me to be
the music director of the show,
but he needed me to play clari-
net. I agreed and we had some
ten weeks of rehearsal, so I
bought myself a clarinet and
practised whenever possible.
As soon as I got the clarinet, I
thought: “This is what I
wanted to do, and now I’ve
been offered a job doing it.” By
the end of those ten weeks I
could play the clarinet. And
I’ve been looking for all differ-
ent kinds of music. Even when
still playing sax, I tried many
musical styles, including jazz,
exploratory experimental mu-
sic, and I was searching for the
kind of music which would
really speak to me – it defin-
itely wasn’t classical flute, and
it wasn’t jazz sax. And then I
heard some klezmer on the ra-
dio and I thought “Well, I am
Jewish, my family is from
eastern Europe – this is what I
should be doing.” It immedi-
ately spoke to me and I started
doing it, copied every record-
ing I was able to find, listening
to it, and making it my own. It
makes sense to play music that
comes from my own culture.
The way to klezmer clarinet
was a big circle, but that’s OK,
because I learned a lot of other
things on the way. But I don’t
just play klezmer, I also play
some eastern styles: Turkish,
Greek, I play some Serbian,
Macedonian.
TSS: How did you come to
play with Pressburger
Klezmer Band?
MS: We had a gig with
Frank [London’s] band, with
the Brass All-Stars in Slovakia,
about nine years ago. First
they played, then it was our
CULTURE
turn, and then we all played
together. We have stayed in
touch ever since. Whenever
we come to Vienna or Prague,
they come and listen to us. We
just stayed friends. The
klezmer community, the in-
ternational world of klezmer,
is very small. Most people
playing klezmer – it’s like six
degrees of separation. You al-
ways know somebody who has
been in every band, you get to
know people in festivals,
when touring...
TSS: Did you play a special
clarinet?
MS: The small one is a C-
clarinet, which is much more
traditional for klezmer music;
and the bigger is a G-clarinet,
which is a Turkish clarinet.
And the fingering system is
not a European one, it’s an
earlier system. It’s got fewer
keys, so it’s more difficult to
play, but it’s the right instru-
ment for the style. And I
learned to play it by myself.
When people meet a mu-
sician, they often ask: “What
do you play?” And I say
“Music”. Actually, it’s not
about the instrument, it’s
about music. You can have
music, develop technique,
and specific skills for a specif-
ic set of muscles, but if you
don’t have music inside you, it
does not matter how many
muscles you develop, it won’t
work. So it’s actually about
playing music. Most really
good musicians can play other
instruments – apart from
their “main one” – as well. Be-
cause they are not playing in-
struments, they are playing
music. Even if they don’t play
them perfectly, they can make
a coherent tune. I can, for ex-
ample, play bass or guitar and
I can accompany klezmer
without thinking about it. I
am not a great guitarist, and I
am certainly not a great
bassist, but I can manage. I
know the music, I know the
chords, and I have the basic
technique. I enjoy it almost as
much as playing clarinet.
TSS: It seems that clarinet
is decisive for the mood
Photo: Jana Liptáková
and atmosphere of
klezmer.
MS: I am not sure I agree.
Clarinet has only been used in
klezmer music for about 150
years; and as klezmer is prob-
ably 500 years old, if not older,
this is really a short period.
Until about 1860 it was for-
bidden for Jews to play loud
instruments. They played
classical music, but not their
own music on their own, loud
instruments. That meant cla-
rinet, that meant brass, that
meant percussion. So they
were confined to play cym-
balo, cello, violin, flute; no
drums, no clarinet. And I
think it was Tsar Alexander
who emancipated Jews, al-
lowing them to play loud in-
struments. So clarinet only
became evolved in klezmer
music in approximately 1860.
And now it has become the
very sound of klezmer – but
before that, it was the violin.
You can get as much expres-
sion from a violin, easily, as
you get from a clarinet; it is
just that a clarinet is louder.
And when it came to record-
ing, in the early days the cla-
rinet was an easier instru-
ment to record, because it was
louder. Klezmer is essentially
wedding music – and wed-
dings were mostly held out-
doors, and so 150 years ago,
when clarinet was allowed, if
you imagine 200 people dan-
cing outdoors, it was an easier
instrument to carry the
sound. So clarinet took over
from violin, although it’s not
a better instrument.
TSS: How did you find the
Bratislava audience?
MS: Very responsive. I
only wished more people had
danced. But those who
danced, danced for quite a
long time – half an hour
maybe, or even more. Samo
(Alexander, a member of the
PKB) wrote me an email wor-
rying about whether there
would be enough pieces for a
concert maybe of an hour
and a quarter or so. And it
ended up being an hour and
45 minutes which is long
enough, for me.
E-Slovak for
foreigners
BY MICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
ALTHOUGH learning the
Slovak language is not usually
necessary for those who want
to enhance their career pro-
spects or seek business oppor-
tunities, many people have a
reason and desire to learn the
language that some have
called the “cleanest” of all
Slavic languages. A new, free
online course may help these
motivated individuals reach
their goal.
The www.slovake.eu
website was officially
launched on March 13 and its
level A1 Slovak Online course
has been available since April
27. The course is free and
provides registered users ac-
cess to course exercises, a dic-
tionary and detailed grammar
notes as well as various games
to practice the language in a
less serious way.
In addition to Slovak, the
website is available to
learners in five other lan-
guages: English, German, Pol-
ish, Lithuanian and Esper-
anto. The project’s coordinat-
or, Edukacia@Internet (E@I)
civic association, has experi-
ence of providing online lan-
guage courses: since 2002 it
has offered the world’s largest
internet portal for learners of
Esperanto, www.lernu.net,
which operates in 30 lan-
guages and has nearly 100,000
registered users.
The A1 Slovak Online
course has generated quite a
bit of interest after its launch
was reported in the domestic
media. On the day E@I held a
press conference to launch
the course over 5,000 people
visited the website. As of April
30 the site had 390 registered
users and the project had
about 500 fans on Facebook.
From Esperanto to Slovak
“Our experience with
teaching Esperanto inspired
us to try a similar project for
national languages too,” Peter
Baláž of E@I told The Slovak
Spectator. He admitted,
however, that personal
motives also drove him to
pursue the project: his
Lithuanian girlfriend had
found it nearly impossible to
learn Slovak in her homeland.
Her situation illustrates
the likely target groups for
the online Slovak course: for-
eigners living in Slovakia or
tied to Slovakia in some other
way; people living in border
regions; ethnic Slovaks living
abroad who want to learn or
brush-up on their native lan-
guage; and tourists with the
desire to learn the basics of
the language before visiting
Slovakia.
The coordinators plan to
include more exercises on
the website and also hope to
May 9 – 15, 2011 11
develop intermediate and
advanced courses if finances
permit. An A2 level course
should appear on the web-
site soon.
“We’ve got a lot of plans
but they depend on the
finances,” Baláž said, listing
the group’s intention to
launch B1 and B2 level
courses, add new games, ex-
ercises and virtual lessons
with a lecturer, as well as to
include new language muta-
tions on the website.
Foreigners who have at-
tended Slovak language
courses have often said that
learning Slovak is quite diffi-
cult. Nevertheless, Baláž be-
lieves it is possible to learn
the language while working
independently online.
“It’s a question of
motivation,” Baláž said,
while admitting that there is
a difference between online
learning of Esperanto and
Slovak as he noted that Es-
peranto is designed to be
simple and logical and is
therefore easier to learn via
the internet.
“But that doesn’t mean
that it is impossible to learn
national languages in this
way as well,” Baláž said. “It
just takes longer.”
Still an unexplored area
Good-quality online lan-
guage courses are quite rare,
according to Baláž.
“It’s also a bit sad that
states don’t support these
things too, especially in the
case of less-used languages,”
Baláž said, adding that “edu-
cation, foreign affairs, and
culture ministries should
care about the promotion
and teaching of their own
language”.
He told The Slovak Spec-
tator that 75 percent of the
costs of the association’s
project were covered by a
grant from the European
Commission.
The budget for the
project is assured until Oc-
tober 2011. Then the co-
ordinators will seek new
financing possibilities, pos-
sibly advertising on the
website, sponsorship or oth-
er kinds of institutional
support.
Baláž told The Slovak
Spectator that his associ-
ation intends to create web-
sites with similar online
language courses, saying
that E@I has filed a project
proposal with the European
Commission for online
learning of German and that
Czech and Polish sites are
under consideration as well.
Baláž added that the
technical side of an online
learning project is not very
difficult after the issues of
financing are resolved.
“It’s more of a question
of enthusiasm, abilities and
finances,” Baláž said. “When
these three are joined, a
good project can be born.”
12 May 9 – 15, 2011
Easter celebrated
in Slovak prisons
EASTER weekend in Slovakia
was celebrated by those
serving time in the country’s
prisons. On Good Friday, Bar-
tolomej Juhás, a vicar from
the Ordinariate of the Armed
Forces and Armed Corps of
Slovakia, which supervises
prison chaplains, laid down
on the earth in the courtyard
at Bratislava’s Palace of
Justice, the biggest detention
facility in the country, to
show his humility in opening
the traditional Easter cere-
monies for the prisoners.
Along with the prison
chaplain, Ľuboš Kaščák,
Juhás commemorated the
agony and death of Jesus
Christ as three prisoners per-
formed traditional Easter
hymns.
“Together with others,
they considered how they
could alleviate the pain they
caused themselves and to
others,” the chancellor of the
Ordinariate, Tibor Ujlacký,
told the SITA newswire.
Easter services in the
Palace of Justice continued
with a Saturday Easter vigil
and Easter Sunday and
Monday services in the pris-
on chapel. Deans and chap-
lains in all other prisons and
detention centres in Slov-
hk}ly{pzltlu{
HOW MANY HOUSES AND FLATS ARE THERE?
Do you know how many of us are there, where and how we live? Your answers may also help to create a portrait of our country,
its inhabitants, housing standard and the housing stock as well. Data provided to the census are legally protected and will
be used for statistical purposes only. The census do not ask for names, surnames, or birth number of a citizen. It will not be
possible to identify anybody through the database. Census Takers are legally bound by a duty of confidentiality which lasts
even after the end of the census.
NOW ALSO AVAILABLE ONLINE > www.scitanie2011.sk
AROUND SLOVAKIA compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
akia also prepared religious
activities for inmates, in-
cluding the sacrament of re-
conciliation, worship of the
Way of the Cross, Easter ad-
orations, pilgrimages, cat-
echesis sessions, screenings
of movies, concerts and
theatre performances, lec-
tures and discussions, and
rosary praying.
In addition to religious
activities prisoners were
offered sports, games and cul-
tural events focused on Easter
traditions.
Peter Bubla, spokesman
for the Justice Ministry, told
the TASR newswire that “on
Good Friday, White Saturday
and Easter Sunday, inmates
were able to participate in re-
ligious feasts” and added that
the inmates also took part in
quizzes, lectures and discus-
sion about the holidays.
Prisoners’ meals were ad-
justed for the holidays. “Tra-
ditional meals from potatoes,
spinach, boiled eggs, mutton,
poultry, and pork were
cooked. On Easter Friday,
fasting-day meals are made,”
Bubla said.
Of the 10,647 prisoners in
Slovakia, 9,131 have been sen-
tenced by courts and 1,516 are
in custody awaiting trial.
FEATURE
No complaining: Skalka's 'Carnival on Snow'.
Skalka's slopes host
50th ‘Carnival on Snow’
VISITORS to
1
the slopes of
Skalka Moun-
tain, nearby
Kremnica,
experienced
an Easter Sunday full of
laughter, masquerade masks
and good humour. The 50th
year of the mountain’s tradi-
tional 'Carnival on Snow' called
simply Veľkonočné vajce (East-
er Egg) attracted a huge crowd,
the TASR newswire reported.
The first event dates back to
1962 when an unofficial ski
competition took place on
Skalka. The winner of that first
competition was the late
Ľudovít Fusko whose brother
Ladislav, nicknamed Aťo, has
now participated in more than
40 editions of Veľkonočné vajce.
“In the beginning it was
only an unofficial giant slalom
and the secretary of the ski
club, Michal Žiarny, distributed
prizes. One cake represented
third place, another cake was
for second place and the third
cake was for first prize. Later,
for two years, there was an offi-
cial slalom and only the fourth
year brought the masked
slalom,” Fusko told TASR.
The town of Kremnica has
supported the event over the
years and it is seen as the
community’s farewell to the
snow-covered slopes.
Apart from wearing masks
down the slope, another entry
condition is that one ski must
be at least twice as long as the
competitor’s foot. No entry fees
are charged to competitors or
those who just watch. A
competitor’s time in finishing
the race is not important and
the main thing is to cover the
Photo: Sme - Ján Krošlák
prepared track from its begin-
ning to the end, TASR wrote.
Several things were for-
bidden on the mountain on
Easter Sunday: polluting the
air with dull comments, beg-
ging for signatures, envying
the winners, spitting on the
host, entering the marked off
zone, being too serious, sun-
bathing 'bottomless', gossip-
ing about the jury and com-
plaining in any way. The “bill-
board of rules” also warned
that the event could be quite
risky for those without a sense
of humour or prone to feeling
insulted.
In addition to the competi-
tion itself visitors could enjoy
music from the Minciar brass
orchestra, sample various
snacks, and taste pieces of a
huge cake distributed among
the crowd.
21 may 2011
ANSWERS TO
OUR FUTURE
Fiľakovo
festival
A TRADI-
2
TIONAL folk-
lore festival
called Palóc
Easter at-
tracted 1,200
visitors to its sixth mani-
festation at Fiľakovo Castle
in southern Slovakia. Here,
visitors were able to learn
how to use various methods
to decorate eggs, make
leather bracelets, enamel
jewellery, mint coins or
bake traditional millers’
cakes or honey cakes. Young
boys and girls competed for
either the title of ‘Most
Skilled Lad’ or ‘Most Skilled
Blossom’ of the festival.
Palócs are an ethnic group
in this region and some of
their ancestors’ traditions
and skills have been pre-
served to this day.
Franciscan monks con-
secrated Easter meals at the
festival, as is also the tradi-
tion in other locales in
Slovakia. Two folklore
troops, Búzavirág from
Rožňava and Ilosai from
Veľká Ida, performed along
with Gergely Agócs and the
Fonó Zenekar band from
Budapest. Éva Korpás and
her group presented music
for children. Visitors could
view an ethnographic ex-
hibition called Folk Art of
the Novohrad Region in the
Bebék bastion of the castle.
The head of the castle’s
museum, Attila Agócs, told
the TASR newswire that
the festival aims to hand
over old folklore traditions
to young Palócs. The prin-
cipal organiser was the Pro
Gaudio company.
C3678