NORDIC COUNTRIES:
NORWAY
On sale now
NEWS
New rules for judges
A new law means that
judges will have to apply
for their positions and re-
veal their links to other
people in the judiciary. All
rulings will also be posted
online.
pg 2
Treaty with Hungary?
Slovakia has proposed the
drafting of a bilateral
treaty with Hungary to re-
solve ongoing tensions
over the two countries' cit-
izenship laws.
pg 3
OPINION
The SNS soap opera
Anna Beluosovová's expul-
sion from the Slovak Na-
tional Party is just the latest
round in an apparently in-
terminable personality
clash between her and party
leader Ján Slota.
pg 5
BUSINESS FOCUS
Look north
The Slovak Spectator
speaks with the ambassad-
ors of Norway, Denmark
and Finland about their
countries, economic and
social development, and
links with Slovakia.
pgs 6, 7 and 8
Trading ties
Norway, Denmark and Fin-
land all have strong trade
relationships with Slovakia.
With Europe's economy
now recovering, these look
set to expand.
pgs 6, 7 and 8
CULTURE
Cultural blizzard
A blast from the north is ex-
pected to last well into early
spring in Slovakia – at least
around galleries and
cinemas – as many kinds of
Nordic culture are show-
cased in Slovakia.
pg 10
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€ benchmark as of February 3
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Vol. 17, No. 5
Slovak citizen Anna Knežová-Schönbrunová accepts the award of Righteous Among the Nations from Israeli minis-
ter and general Yossi Peled. For more details, see article on pg 3.
Labour Code's new
contours revealed
A FAIRER law giving more protec-
tion to those who need it the most
is one of the banners under which
the government of Iveta Radičová
unveiled the contours of its
planned changes to the country’s
Labour Code. The centre-right gov-
ernment also said it intends to
make the law more flexible to bet-
ter meet the needs of the economy
while reducing unnecessary bur-
eaucracy.
The stakes are high for
Slovakia’s trade unions. In January
the unions initiated a petition
drive that could lead to a national
Trnka departs, GP job now vacant
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
Spectator staff
THE TERM of Slovakia’s general pro-
secutor, Dobroslav Trnka, elapsed
on February 2. However, a final de-
HUF 269.75
cision on who will fill one of the
JPY 112.46
country’s most powerful positions
PLN 3.91
is still not in sight, with the ruling
USD 1.37
coalition and opposition continuing
to quarrel over the how the next top
prosecutor should be selected.
Trnka has said he might return, but
the ruling coalition led by Iveta
Monday, February 7, 2011 - Sunday, February 13, 2011
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
Spectator staff
referendum. After Radičová
presented the government’s pro-
positions for changes to the code on
January 31, the Confederation of
Trade Unions (KOZ) responded that
it will further discuss the theses
with Radičová and Minister of La-
bour Jozef Mihál on February 10.
Slovakia’s employer associations
Radičová is going to considerable
lengths to ensure that he does not
win re-appointment.
Meanwhile, the largest opposi-
tion party in parliament, Smer,
tried to initiate a specially
summoned session of parliament
on February 2 in order to hold a vote
on the job, but the ruling coalition
blocked the convening of the ses-
sion. In response, Smer leader
Robert Fico and other party mem-
bers unfurled three banners, simu-
lating a protest rally in parliament.
While Smer wants to have the
next prosecutor selected in a secret
ballot and is backing Trnka, the rul-
Photo: TASR
were reserved in their initial re-
sponses and said they wanted to first
have a thorough discussion in-
volving voices from various seg-
ments of society.
Radičová said that the pro-
posed amendments to the Labour
Code are designed to “protect those
who need that protection the
most” while the degree of protec-
tion would depend on an
employee’s qualifications, salary
and the number of years of em-
ployment at a company.
See TALK pg 4
ing coalition parties want a public
vote. To achieve a change in the way
the general prosecutor is chosen,
parliament must amend the law on
prosecution as well as the parlia-
mentary discussion order. This
might mean that a general prosec-
utor will not be chosen until May.
“The prosecution does not stand
or fall on Trnka,” Trnka himself said
on January 29, adding that he was
leaving neither in anger nor sad-
ness. Nevertheless, on February 2
he did let off some steam in a TV in-
terview.
See VOTE pg 2
DENMARK
FINLAND
FOCUS
of this issue
Orbán
visits
Slovakia
Hungarian premier's first
official visit in 12 years
BY MICHAELA TERENZANI
Spectator staff
IF SLOVAKIA and Hungary were to define
their mutual relationship in Facebook
terms, nothing would suit better than the
“it’s complicated” category. Despite that,
elected officials from the two countries
have been visiting each other often in re-
cent months and on January 28 Hungarian
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán made the first
official visit to Slovakia in 12 years.
The official visit did not bring a host of
specific results other than an initialled
agreement to build a natural gas pipeline
between Slovakia and Hungary as part of a
wider plan to boost energy security in
central Europe. Nevertheless, it was
stressed by both countries that the ex-
change was important as it had been 1999
when the last official visit to Slovakia was
made by a Hungarian prime minister. In
fact, that visit was also by Viktor Orbán,
during a previous stint as prime minister.
Banks
See LINKS pg 3
double their
profits
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
BANKS operating in Slovakia reached an
important turning point during 2010. After
a deep drop in profits in 2009 the banking
sector recovered throughout last year and
its end-of-year taxed profits are expected
to reach €513.87 million, according to pre-
liminary data released by the National
Bank of Slovakia (NBS).
“First, this increase is a consequence of
a low comparison base,” Marcel Laznia of
the Slovak Banking Association (SBA) told
The Slovak Spectator. “2009 was the worst
year for corporate entities, including banks,
in recent periods. Under the influence of
negative impacts of the economic decline
on companies and people, profits of the
banking sector more than halved in 2009.”
The taxed profit of the banking sector in
2009 fell 51 percent to €250.1 million, down
from €508.6 million in 2008. In addition to
the impact of the economic crisis, banks’
profits were adversely affected by Slovakia’s
adoption of the euro and the resulting loss
of income from foreign exchange opera-
tions, industry experts said.
See PROFIT pg 11
2 February 7 – 13, 2011
Earthquake felt in southern Slovakia
SOUTHERN Slovakia experi-
enced a minor earthquake on
the evening of January 29.
The epicentre was in Hun-
gary, only 33 kilometres
south-east of Komárno, a
town on the Slovak-Hun-
garian border.
Residents from Dunajská
Streda and Trnava said fur-
niture moved and walls
shook.
According to the US web-
site, earthquake.usgs.gov,
Slovaks leave strife-torn Egypt
SLOVAK travel agency
Kartágo Tours, which spe-
cialises in holiday trips to
Egypt, cancelled two
planned excursions and will
relocate all Slovak tourists
from Egypt by February 5,
the SITA newswire reported.
The move came following
days of increasingly violent
civil unrest centred on the
the capital, Cairo.
On February 1, Kartágo
Tours reported having 60 to
70 Slovak tourists in Egypt.
The Slovak Foreign Ministry
reported that it counted
about 100 tourists altogether
in Egypt in early February,
plus approximately 100 Slov-
ak citizens living in the
country.
Compulsory English gets go ahead
COMPULSORY study of the
English language will re-
main in the amendment to
the School Act as Slovakia’s
parliament decided on Feb-
ruary 1 to reject an objection
raised by President Ivan
Gašparovič.
Gašparovič stated that
the amendment gives pref-
erence to English at the ex-
pense of other languages and
noted that a number of for-
eign ambassadors to Slovakia
expressed disagreement
with the amendment, the
TASR newswire wrote.
Education Minister Eu-
gen Jurzyca responded that
MPs okay amended Language Act
PARLIAMENT overrode Pres-
ident Ivan Gašparovič’s veto
and again passed an amend-
ment to the State Language
Act on February 2. The
amendment drafted by the
Culture Ministry received 78
votes from MPs of the ruling
coalition and will reduce
sanctions for violations of
the law as well as liberalise
some other provisions that
had been adopted during the
term of the previous gov-
ernment.
Parliament did not sup-
port the president’s proposal
to require sanctions for viola-
tions of the law. One member
of parliament abstained in
the tremor occurred at 18:41
and reached a magnitude of
4.2 on the Richter scale.
“I felt the whole living
room moving,” Mária
Hrkľová from Komárno told
the SITA newswire. People
also felt the quake in other
towns and villages in south-
ern Slovakia including Nové
Zámky and Levice.
No injuries or property
damage were reported due to
the earthquake.
“Most of them are in
Cairo and according to the
Slovak representation in
Cairo some 30 citizens were
interested in assistance to
leave the country,” Ľuboš
Schwarzbacher, the
ministry’s spokesperson,
told SITA, adding that the
ministry had no information
that any Slovak citizen had
been injured in the anti-gov-
ernment demonstrations.
The Slovak government
agreed on February 2 to send
a government plane to Egypt
to bring Slovaks home. The
plane flew 45 passengers to
Slovakia on February 3 from
Cairo and Hurghada: 36 Slov-
aks, seven Czechs, one Pole
and one Hungarian.
not counting the EU member
states which use English as
an official language, English
courses are compulsory in
more than half of EU coun-
tries.
Ján Mikolaj, Jurzyca’s
predecessor as education
minister and an MP from the
Slovak National Party (SNS),
said that no other classes in
the current national cur-
riculum are compulsory un-
der the law. He stated that
the amendment smacks of
politics and populism and
added that Slovak schools are
not ready to provide high-
quality English studies.
the voting and 65 MPs voted
against the amendment.
The amendment reduces
the fines to between €50 and
€2,500 and states that the
Culture Ministry will not be
required to issue fines for vi-
olations. Fines can be levied
by the ministry only for viol-
ations that involve commu-
nications related to public
administration or violations
that pose a danger to health,
life, security or property of
citizens.
The amendment to the
State Language Act takes ef-
fect on March 1.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
NEWS
Judiciary to become
a little less cosy
Under the new rules, a
BY MICHAELA five-member commission will
TERENZANI make each selection. The
Spectator staff commission will be appointed
by the president of the court
in question, and drawn from a
JUDICIAL clerks working in database of people nominated
Slovakia’s courts can no by parliament (one member
longer expect guaranteed and on each commission), the na-
largely silent promotion to tional Judicial Council (one
positions as judges, and sit- member), the justice minister
ting judges will have to get (two members) and the judi-
used to much more personal cial council of the respective
information about them be- court (one member).
ing made public, after parlia- Candidates for judicial
ment passed a law on judges positions will be required to
which the government is provide a list of any judges,
presenting as a breakthrough court employees, or employ-
reform in its drive to restore ees of the Justice Ministry
public trust in the judiciary. and all its related organisa-
The opposition, however, is tions to whom they are re-
complaining that the changes lated or with whom they
are unconstitutional. have a close relationship. A
On February 1 parliament similar declaration will also
overrode a presidential veto of Lucia Žitňanská and Štefan Harabin. Photo: TASR be required on a yearly basis
the amended law on judges, from sitting judges.
which was authored by which could help to reform ility of judges for rulings, ac- All documentation about
Justice Minister Lucia the judiciary, open it up to cording to Wilfling “as they candidates, including their
Žitňanská. The amendment public control and increase its will no longer be able to ‘hide’ CVs and their ties to mem-
aims, according to Žitňanská, trustworthiness,” Peter Wil- behind the statement that bers of the selection commis-
to help open up the judiciary fling, a lawyer who cooperates they were overridden by other sion, will be made publicly
to public scrutiny and public with the legal NGO Via Iuris, senate members”. available.
control. It institutes the pub- told The Slovak Spectator. One
lication of all court rulings on of the changes he highlighted Judge selection goes public Minister loses competencies
the internet, cancels discre- is the automatic publication
tionary bonuses for judges of court rulings, a practice As of May 2011, judges “The reform of the judi-
currently awarded by court that Slovak courts still resist. will be appointed to fill va- ciary is one of the most im-
presidents, requires more de- Another change, giving cancies in all courts only via a portant reform steps of the
tailed asset declarations by judges the opportunity to pub- public selection process, as Slovak government,” said
judges, and introduces public lish a dissenting opinion in opposed to the current prac- Prime Minister Iveta
selection procedures for cases where they are out- tice of judicial clerks being Radičová after parliament re-
judges and court presidents. numbered by other members promoted to become judges approved the amendment.
“The amendment con- of the court senate, will in- at district courts without any
tains several positive changes crease the personal responsib- selection procedure. See COURTS pg 5
VOTE: Parliamentary rules may change
Continued from pg 1 secret ballot to vote with the opposition the fall of communism in 1989 with the
Smer party to reselect Trnka. Trnka help of votes from the Christian Demo-
“Tell me something that Prime Min- missed winning by just one vote, and the cratic Movement (KDH) and the Hun-
ister Radičová has done for this nation six coalition MPs’ disloyalty opened the garian Coalition Party (SMK). The SMK
apart from making herself visible at a door to rampant speculation about plots lost all its seats in parliament in the
certain time when as a deputy she hero- to unseat the prime minister. June 2010 general election, but in 2003 it
ically left parliament because of voting On December 7 the ruling coalition was led by Béla Bugár, who is now the
on behalf of someone else,” Trnka told TV parties deliberately executed another chairman of coalition party Most-Híd.
Markíza, in mocking reference to failed vote in order to gain time to Trnka was one of three candidates
Radičová’s decision to resign as an op- change the voting rules to make the se- nominated for the post in 2003, and in
position deputy in 2009 after inadvert- lection process public and recorded. the moments leading up to the vote it
ently voting on behalf of a fellow MP, in Until the new prosecutor is selected was uncertain whether any of them
contravention of parliamentary rules. Ladislav Tichý, Trnka’s deputy, will lead would muster sufficient support in par-
Trnka said that he would run for the the Office of the General Prosecutor. liament. But shortly before the vote,
post again because unlike his critics he Shortly before ending his term Trnka Jirko Malchárek, an MP for the now-de-
has things to offer. Using a somewhat sacked the regional prosecutor in Prešov, funct New Citizens’ Alliance (ANO),
opaque turn of phrase, as his custom, Ján Tyrpák, with the Sme daily reporting withdrew his candidate, Vojtech Ernest,
Trnka said that he had been living in this that the Prosecutors’ Council had not thus boosting the chances of Trnka, who
environment all his life while others discussed the change. was seen as the stronger of the two re-
have switched from being sociologists to The ruling coalition is meanwhile maining candidates.
politicians and then to philosophers and working on changes to the authorities In a secret ballot, which had to be
somewhere else – another apparent ref- of the general prosecutor with one repeated due to technical confusion dur-
erence to the prime minister, and other proposed change being that the occu- ing the first vote, Trnka received 84
coalition politicians with academic pant can serve for only one 7-year term. votes, beating his rival, chief special
backgrounds. This, however, has led to speculation prosecutor Ján Bernát, who received 58
Parliament tried and failed four about whether the change would affect votes.
times last year to select a general pro- Trnka and prevent him from being re- Trnka, a native of the western Slovak
secutor and the vote turned into one of appointed. town of Skalica, finished his legal studies
the ruling coalition’s toughest trials. Radičová says Trnka will be free to in the late 1980s and was soon after-
Radičová expressed strong opposition to apply for the post even if the new pro- wards involved in the investigation of
Trnka’s eventual reselection and said she posal drafted by the coalition is passed. several events surrounding the fall of
would resign if it were to happen. “He was not elected under the new law communism in the former Czechoslov-
Tensions climaxed after the ruling we want to pass, and it won’t be akia in November 1989.
coalition failed in early December to retroactive,” Radičová said, as quoted by Before his selection, Trnka served as
have its candidate Jozef Čentéš selected the TASR newswire. chief military prosecutor and was there-
as general prosecutor after at least six Seven years ago Trnka became the fore assumed not to have close ties to
anonymous coalition deputies used the country’s fifth general prosecutor since any political parties.

A treaty on citizenship?
BY MICHAELA
TERENZANI
Spectator staff
DESPITE rather frequent meet-
ings between Slovak and Hun-
garian leaders during recent
weeks, the issue of dual cit-
izenship – which has became a
bone of contention in the two
countries’ bilateral relations,
even though governments
changed on both sides of the
Danube during 2010 – still re-
mains unresolved and never
fails to produce strong emo-
tions among both Slovaks and
Hungarians.
The issue arose when, in
almost its first act, the newly-
installed Viktor Orbán gov-
ernment in Budapest
amended Hungary’s legisla-
tion on citizenship, enabling
ethnic Hungarians living in
other countries, including
Slovakia, to relatively easily
acquire Hungarian citizen-
ship. Around 10 percent of
Slovakia’s population is re-
garded as ethnically Hungari-
an. The Slovak government,
then led by Robert Fico, re-
sponded by passing an
amendment to Slovakia’s Cit-
izenship Act specifying that if
any Slovak citizen sought to
obtain the citizenship of an-
other country he or she would
automatically lose their Slov-
ak citizenship.
A bilateral treaty floated
Dual citizenship was dis-
cussed during an official visit
by Prime Minister Orbán to
Slovakia on January 28. At
their meeting Slovak Prime
Minister Iveta Radičová pro-
posed that they pursue a bilat-
eral treaty, similar to the one
that Slovakia has with the
Czech Republic, which would
deal with the conditions for
awarding dual citizenship.
Slovakia said it would submit
a proposed treaty to the inter-
governmental commission for
state citizenship at its mid-
February session.
“It is in the Slovak interest
that citizens who live in Slov-
akia are Slovak citizens, [and]
Righteous Slovaks are named by Israel
ON February 2 another 19 Slovaks were
recognised for helping Jews survive dur-
ing the Holocaust by being awarded the
Righteous Among the Nations title, giv-
en each year by the Israeli government
and the Yad Vashem museum to people
of non-Jewish origin.
January 27, the date in 1945 when the
Auschwitz concentration-extermination
camp was liberated from the Nazis, was
designated International Holocaust Re-
membrance Day by the United Nations.
Each year on this day, the State of Israel
and Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in
Jerusalem award the Righteous Among
the Nations title to those who risked
their lives, freedom and safety in order to
rescue Jews from the threat of death or
deportation without expecting monetary
NEWS February 7 – 13, 2011 3
LINKS: Orbán proposes
new roads, snubs Bugár
Continued from pg 1 plan also involves recon-
which would remove the
struction of bridges across
provision that allows those
The visit was at least in the Ipeľ River.
who acquire the citizenship
part motivated by the start of The Hungarians are also
of another state to be stripped
Hungary’s presidency of the prepared to launch con-
of their Slovak citizenship. At
European Union. Neverthe- struction of roads that
the same time, however, the
less, political analyst Ábel would connect with
cabinet approved a proposal
Ravasz said in an interview Slovakia’s R4 dual carriage-
by the Christian Democratic
with The Slovak Spectator way. After this route is fin-
Movement (KDH) to ban dual
that it was a welcomed de- ished, a dual carriageway
citizenship for police, army,
velopment in bilateral rela- would link Hungary and Po-
intelligence services and se-
tions, pointing out that the land via the eastern Slovak
curity officers. Public offi-
Hungarian and Slovak part- cities of Košice and Prešov,
cials who work with classi-
ners discussed policy issues the SITA newswire reported.
fied documents will also be
such as the gas pipeline and
banned from holding dual cit-
improvements in highway Picky about partners
izenship.
connections during their
Rybář said that it is un-
meeting. After his meetings in
derstandable from the view-
“It remains to be seen if Bratislava, Orbán travelled
The two prime ministers. Photo: T. Somogyi point of the Slovak govern-
these talks will have any dir- to the southern Slovak town
ment that they are trying to
ect effect on policy,” Ravasz of Dunajská Streda where he
that they live, work and build “Orbán has already ex- solve the situation also by
told The Slovak Spectator. He met representatives of the
their relationships with the pressed his belief that the issue amending the law, but an
pointed out that Orbán also non-parliamentary Hun-
state where they live,” of dual citizenship is part of amendment is not enough to
sought to garner some sup- garian Coalition Party
Radičová said, as quoted by the domestic policy – and only part help to improve mutual rela-
port for his country's belea- (SMK). It was his second
SITA newswire. She added that of domestic policy,” Ravasz told tions and solve the problem.
guered media law. meeting with SMK chairman
Orbán told her that his coun- The Slovak Spectator. “It is dif- “The law is a defensive,
Orbán met Slovak Prime József Berényi over the
try would not pursue a cam- ficult to imagine Fidesz one-sided step in any case,”
Minister Iveta Radičová as course of two days as
paign to encourage Slovak cit- [Orbán’s party] taking a step Rybář said. “So it would be
well as President Ivan Berényi had visited Orbán in
izens to seek Hungarian cit- backwards: they are known for preferable, in order to have
Gašparovič and Speaker of Budapest before his trip to
izenship via the amended law. being tough and bold when it stable and predictable rela-
Parliament Richard Sulík Bratislava.
Radičová said it is hard to comes to dealing with interna- tions, to have a bilateral
during his one-day visit. Most-Híd, the party es-
tell when a treaty might be tional issues.” treaty.”
tablished by ethnic-Hun-
signed, as she does not know Political analyst Marek The Slovak parliament is
Gas pipeline link garian renegades from the
how many comments the Rybář of the political science expected to vote on the draft
SMK under the leadership of
Hungarian side will make. She department of Bratislava’s amendment during its cur-
Radičová told the media former SMK chairman Béla
said she believes that a bilater- Comenius University said that rent session, but the outcome
that she and Orbán had Bugár, again remained ‘out
al treaty is the only possible a bilateral treaty would be a is hard to predict, particu-
spoken about Hungary’s new of the game’ even though
solution to the situation. normal solution, citing the one larly because Igor Matovič,
media law, which has attrac- they had requested a meet-
The Hungarian prime min- that exists between Slovakia who leads the Ordinary
ted much domestic and in- ing with Orbán.
ister said that the efforts to and the Czech Republic. People faction within the
ternational criticism, but Most-Híd also had its re-
sign a bilateral treaty on dual “In my view, the intention Freedom and Solidarity (SaS)
she did not reveal any fur- quest to meet Hungarian
citizenship failed during the of a bilateral treaty is accept- caucus, has dismissed the
ther details. President Pál Schmitt re-
previous Slovak government, able for both sides, but obvi- proposed revision. He wants
The agreement to build a buffed when he visited Slov-
but there is no reason why the ously each of them has a differ- to retain the facility to re-
100-kilometre-long gas akia a week earlier.
new Slovak proposal should ent opinion about what its con- move Slovak citizenship from
pipeline between Hungary “They don’t even
not be considered as the atmo- tent should be,” Rybář told The people who obtain the cit-
and Slovakia which will be- answer,” Bugár commented,
sphere is now much better for Slovak Spectator, adding that izenship of other countries if
come part of a more extens- as quoted by the Sme daily.
cooperation, after the change while the Hungarian side they have not lived, worked,
ive pipeline system connect- “They twice ignored us, if
of the government. Orbán ad- wants Slovaks granted Hun- studied or done business
ing all four Visegrad Group you want.”
ded that previous experience garian citizenship to have the there for at least a year, or if
countries with the aim of Ravasz stated that
had shown that the Hungarian right to vote in Hungarian elec- their relatives do not hail
boosting energy security in Orbán’s dealings with Most-
citizenship law “does not come tions, this is unacceptable for from the state in question.
central Europe was one of Híd fall into his strategy in
from the devil” and that ap- the Slovak government because On February 2 Matovič
the specific outcomes of the dealing with Hungarian
plications for Hungarian cit- it would mean that Hungarian said his faction would vote
meeting. minority parties in other
izenship are assessed indi- election campaigns would for an amendment to the cit-
“This is a step that countries throughout the re-
vidually and very strictly. closely affect Slovakia. izenship law proposed by the
means better energy secur- gion.
Political analyst Ábel “From that point of view it’s opposition Smer party, in or-
ity for Slovakia,” Radičová “The Orbán government
Ravasz, however, does not ex- far from guaranteed that Slov- der to encourage coalition
told journalists, as quoted by [dominated by his Fidesz
pect the Hungarian govern- akia and Hungary can agree on leaders to discuss the citizen-
the Reuters newswire. party] has been particularly
ment to sign any such treaty, such a treaty,” Rybář said. ship law with him. Smer's
The Visegrad Group choosy with regard to Hun-
despite the fact that bilateral amendment would allow
countries, which receive garian minority parties in
solutions to minority ques- Coalition divided Slovak citizens to obtain the
most of their natural gas the region, including decid-
tions have plenty of preced- citizenship of a country
from Russia, are keen to di- ing to support one and only
ents in Europe, such as the Meanwhile, the Slovak where they have been re-
versify their gas supply one party in Ukraine and ex-
Austria-Italy or Bosnia-Croa- cabinet has passed a draft re- gistered as a resident for at
sources, build new clusively supporting a
tia agreements. vision of the Citizenship Act least six months.
pipelines, upgrade existing newly-established, third
ones and increase storage Hungarian party in
capacity. Romania,” Ravasz said.
The new pipeline will be
built by a unit of Slovakia’s
dominant gas distributor,
According to Ravasz, the
SMK has been a close part-
ner of Fidesz for several
compensation or other reward. “These people are the light in the SPP – managed by France's years, adding that Orbán’s
The title has been awarded to over dark history of the Holocaust in GDF Suez and Germany's government made its pref-
22,000 people all over the world and there Slovakia,” Ambassador Ben- Zvi said. E.ON which own a 49-per- erence clear during the
are now over 500 Slovak recipients after The stories of those honoured with cent joint stake – and political campaigns before
Israel's ambassador to Slovakia, Alexan- the Righteous Among the Nations award Hungary’s FGSZ transmis- Slovakia’s two elections last
der Ben-Zvi, and Israeli minister and and the Jews they helped to save include sion system operator, the year by supporting SMK and
general Yossi Peled, presented another 19 stories that unfolded sometimes by coin- Reuters newswire reported. its candidates.
Slovaks with the award at a ceremony on cidence which led to ordinary people dis- The prime ministers “Most-Híd is officially
February 2 in Bratislava that was also at- playing often heroic courage and re- also discussed various im- disqualified from Hungarian
tended by President Ivan Gašparovič and sourcefulness – such as the story of the provements in infrastruc- [government] to Hungarian
Prime Minister Iveta Radičová. Čunderlík family from the village of ture. [ethnic party] regional talks
The Slovaks awarded the title, some Horný Jelenec, who met a Jewish woman, Hungary is interested in on the basis that Most-Híd is
of them posthumously, in 2011 were: the Adela Singerová, in the forest holding a building a new bridge over not purely ethnic, but rather
Čunderlík family, Alžbeta Halászová, the baby girl in her arms. The family prom- the Danube River at a “mixed” or “civic” party;
Hubina family, Anna Knežová- ised Singerová to take care of the baby and Komárno and reconstruct- but the real underlying
Schonbrunová, the Medvecký family, they did so until the end of the war. ing 84 roads which at one causes can be found at the
Michal Rázus, the Roček family, the time connected Slovak and level of politics rather than
Slobodník family, the Kúra family and By Michaela Terenzani Hungarian territories, at the level of ideology,”
the Kochláň family. with press reports Orbán said, adding that this Ravasz said.
4 February 7 – 13, 2011
FNM wants to sell heating firms
THE NATIONAL Property Fund
(FNM), Slovakia’s agency that
holds many state assets and
deals with issues of privatisa-
tion, has decided that selling
the country’s six largest cent-
ral heating companies which
it owns to private companies
would be advantageous.
“Immediate proceeds
from the sale are more benefi-
cial from the fiscal point of
view as well as in consolida-
tion of public funds than the
FNM’s long-term position in
companies of only local
importance,” the agency
stated in its analysis of the
economic benefits of retain-
ing ownership and collecting
dividends or selling the heat-
ing companies, the SITA
newswire reported.
The FNM estimated that
the privatisation process
could be completed within a
Slovakia is a ‘moderate innovator’
SLOVAKIA has been categor-
ised as a ‘moderate innovat-
or’ on the Innovation Union
Scoreboard (IUS), a chart as-
sessing the innovation per-
formance of 28 European
states in 2010, the TASR
newswire reported.
Slovakia, which was in
the same category in 2009, is
accompanied by countries
such as Croatia, the Czech
Republic, Greece, Hungary,
Malta, Poland, Portugal,
Spain and Italy. ‘Moderate
innovators’ are ranked third
out of four groups: below
‘innovation leaders’ and
‘innovation followers’ but
ahead of ‘modest innovators'.
Monthly state deficit nearly €18m
THE STATE budget recorded a
€17.74 million deficit in
January 2011, the Finance
Ministry announced on Feb-
ruary 1, as reported by the
TASR newswire.
In the same period last
year, the state recorded a
surplus of €22.81 million.
ČSOB sells its pension fund firm
POŠTOVÁ Banka will acquire
100-percent control over
ČSOB d.s.s., a pension fund
management company pre-
viously owned by ČSOB
bank, the SITA newswire re-
ported.
The value of the transac-
tion was not disclosed and
must still be approved by the
National Bank of Slovakia
and the Antitrust Office. The
transaction and the takeover
process may be completed
within a few months.
ČSOB d.s.s. was estab-
lished as a 100-percent affili-
ate of ČSOB in 2004 in ac-
cordance with Slovakia’s old-
age pension saving law. The
pension fund currently
year if the government ap-
proves the sale of the heating
companies in Bratislava,
Žilina, Martin, Zvolen,
Trnava, and Košice.
The market price of the six
heating companies is estim-
ated at €160 million to €200
million and the FNM said the
sale should be handled
through a bidding process.
Because prices for heat
from the central heating
plants will continue to be
regulated, the FNM stated
that privatisation would not
negatively affect consumers,
adding that private investors
could best secure future in-
vestments in the facilities.
The government will deal
with the recommendation
only after the leaders of the
four parties in the Coalition
Council have discussed it,
SITA wrote.
“The level of innovation
in Slovakia is below the EU
average. Slovakia’s rather
strong side is human re-
sources and output, while
company investment in in-
novations and intellectual
assets are its weaker
spheres,” the report states,
as quoted by TASR.
The report uses various
data provided by Eurostat,
the World Bank and the In-
ternational Monetary Fund,
and factors in 25 indicators
such as the number of re-
gistered patents per capita,
and public and company ex-
penditure on research and
development.
The overall deficit for 2011 is
expected to reach €3.8 bil-
lion. State revenue stood at
€830.38 million in January,
an increase of 3.75 percent
year-on-year. Expenditures
reached €848.11 million, a
9.08 percent jump compared
to January 2010.
serves nearly 94,000 clients
and their savings are inves-
ted in three funds (conser-
vative, balanced and growth
funds) and amounted to al-
most €210 million as of
December 31, 2010.
The purchase of the pen-
sion fund management
company enhances Poštová
Banka’s investment services
portfolio, a bank spokesper-
son said.
The chairman of ČSOB's
board of directors, Daniel
Kollár, said that the pension
management fund was no
longer a strategic business
line for his bank, SITA wrote.
Compiled by Spectator staff
BUSINESS / NEWS
TALK: Unions are ready
to discuss proposals
Continued from pg 1
“The lower the salary and
the lower the position within
the company, the higher the
level of protection for an
employee,” Radičová said, as
quoted by the TASR newswire.
In its official release, the
ministry stated that its pro-
posed Labour Code will be
more family-friendly, giving
both employers and employ-
ees an option to work flexible
hours based on their own
needs. The ministry gave an
example of an employer hav-
ing the opportunity to distrib-
ute tasks linked to one specific
work position among several
employees by creating a
shared position. The possibil-
ity of using parental leave un-
til a child’s 5th year is also on
the ministry’s list of changes.
The government is also
proposing a shorter proba-
tionary period for employees
in lower positions while des-
ignating longer periods for po-
sitions with higher pay. The
proposal provides an employer
with the option of negotiating
a flexible combination of sev-
erance pay and layoff notice
with an employee, while the
minimum notice period would
depend on the number of years
of employment with a firm or
organisation.
The ministry listed five
reasons why it is seeking to
amend the Labour Code, stat-
ing first that the law’s current
form is unfair because it does
not take into consideration the
different status of employees
based on their salary levels or
positions in a firm. The min-
istry stated that a low-level
worker needs more protection
than a top manager who has
decision-making powers. An-
other reason for change, ac-
cording to the ministry, is that
the current law does not re-
flect different life situations
linked with students’ em-
ployment or parents with
small children. It also stated
that some parts of the Labour
Code burden both employees
and employers with redund-
ant bureaucracy.
The ministry said the cur-
rent law lacks flexibility in re-
gards to employees changing
jobs as well as in the possibility
of employees seeking higher
earnings.
The fifth criticism the
ministry offered to the current
code is that it mandates unne-
cessary privileges to public of-
ficials and union representat-
ives at the expense of social
dialogue, collective bargain-
ing and equal representation
of all employees.
Employers want clearer
definitions
Ondrej Matejka, a lawyer
and advisor to the Association
of Employer Unions of Slov-
Trade unions have mounted several protests against changes to the Labour Code.
akia (AZZZ), told The Slovak
Spectator that the proposals by
the government respond to
the challenge of keeping
Slovakia’s economy competit-
ive with economies of other
central and eastern European
countries and would create
conditions to sustain or even
increase employment.
Matejka said he sees the
proposed amendment as a
modern approach to regula-
tion of the labour market but
added that it does not deal
with all the areas he considers
to be problematic. He stated
he is positive about the pro-
spect of more flexible legal
work relationships and redu-
cing employers’ administrat-
ive burden as well as introdu-
cing complete flexibility in
working time.
Matejka noted, however,
that the proposed ways of ter-
minating an employment con-
tract might be conflicting and
said the rationale for stretch-
ing parental leave to five years
needs to be explained suffi-
ciently. He added that it will be
necessary to carefully assess
how the work habits and skills
of a parent on long-term par-
ental leave can be preserved so
that an employer’s operational
regime is not damaged.
Matejka also called for
more exact definitions in the
law for violations of working
discipline or at least clearer
categories such as serious or
less serious violations, noting
that the actual interpretation
of these violations and cat-
egories would be determined
through real-life cases since
many court trials are charged
with assessing these specific
circumstances.
“The absence of these leg-
al definitions is exactly the
reason for the high number of
workplace conflicts that go to
court and their related im-
pact not only on economy but
also on the legal certainty of
the subjects of these
relations,” Matejka told The
Slovak Spectator.
Matejka also suggested
that senates or panels could be
created for resolving such con-
flicts based on a bipartite or
tripartite principle involving
qualified representatives of
employers and employees or
using mediators or through
collective bargaining.
Matejka also urged that
the law should introduce a
specific employment contract
for managers that would per-
mit the highest possible flex-
ibility in working conditions
within the legislative para-
meters and which would, in
particular, deal with abuse of
know-how and trade secrets of
an employer.
Employers also want to see
a widening of the possibility to
use different types of tempor-
ary workers, Matejka said.
Juraj Borgula, vice-presid-
ent of the Federation of Mech-
anical Engineering of the
Slovak Republic, told The
Slovak Spectator that the
government’s propositions
are giving him the impression
that the ministry also intends
to change some of the basic
premises of the Labour Code,
pointing specifically to the
shifting of some matters, such
as working hours or starting or
ending employment relation-
ships, from regulation under
the law to collective or indi-
vidual bargaining.
Borgula added that he con-
siders the proposed defini-
tions regarding the legitimacy
of unions or employee councils
in representing employees to
be problematic.
Unions see problems
Miroslav Gazdík, the pres-
ident of KOZ, said on February 2
that at first sight some of the
proposals evoke “satisfaction”
but when they are considered
more thoroughly they bring “a
smile” and “if one goes into
their details, then certain
concerns”, the SITA newswire
wrote.
Trade unions will now take
some time to analyse the pro-
positions.
"We have submitted the
theses to our economic experts
and analysts, who should ana-
lyse them by next Wednesday,"
Photo:TASR
KOZ spokesman Otto Ewiak
told The Slovak Spectator.
Earlier in January the
trade union confederation an-
nounced a petition drive under
the banner “Preserving the
Rights of Employees” and
claimed that its proposals in
the petition would bring steps
that would ‘humanise’ the
working environment: a
35-hour week – as opposed to
the current 40 hours – without
a reduction in pay as well as an
overall limit on overtime work
of 80 hours per calendar year.
“It is not economically
sustainable,” Radičová said in
response to those demands, as
quoted by the SITA newswire.
“There is a great probability
that shortening the working
week would automatically
mean a reduction of income
from work and we would not
allow that risk.”
Ewiak told The Slovak
Spectator in an earlier inter-
view that the petition was a
response to what unionists
see as the “threat” of large-
scale changes to the current
Labour Code.
On February 1 approxim-
ately 250 people took part in a
protest organised by KOVO
against the proposed changes
to the Labour Code in front of
the Yazaki Wiring Technolo-
gies firm based in Michalovce.
On February 3 one third of
drivers of the Košice public
transport company went on
strike to protest against the
changes in the Labour Code.
The leader of the opposi-
tion Smer party, Robert Fico,
stated that the battle over the
form of a revised Labour Code
is central to his political party.
“This is as important for us
as perhaps abortion is for the
Christian Democrats,” Fico
said on January 9 in an inter-
view with SITA. “We will take
a very principled stand behind
the protection in the form of
the Labour Code and we reject
the interventions that the
rightist government is talking
about today.”
Jana Liptáková
contributed to this report.
 OPINION / NEWS
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
“The news reports that say I eat innocent Slovak
children for breakfast aren’t true.” SNS soap opera reloaded
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stresses during a visit to JÁN Slota and Anna
Bratislava that he wants to have good relations with Slovakia Belousovová buried the
hatchet in 2003 after their
personal vendettas kept both
February 7 – 13, 2011 5
comments to the media. serving up the argument that
Why is Belousovová’s de- the SNS was a better partner
parture worthy of an editorial than others for Smer to pur-
when the SNS is a small op- sue its social objectives.

Crazy shop the Slovak National Party

BY LUKÁŠ FILA
Special to the Spectator
PARENTS who are starting to
panic over of the sudden
spread of “crazy shops”,
selling synthetic substances
with effects similar to
marijuana or cocaine, should
find it easy to calm down.
Firstly, before the arrival of
crazy shops, buying drugs
was just as easy. No need to
get excited now. And if that
doesn’t work, there are scores
of politicians to keep one
amused with their anti-drugs
rhetoric. “We will do
everything in our power to
put an end to these shops,”
said Bratislava Self-Govern-
ing Region head Pavol Frešo.
Health Minister Ivan Uh-
liarik is preparing new legis-
lation to make it easier to ban
new substances which are
not yet illegal.
Crazy shops have mushroomed in Slovakia after they were banned in Poland.
SLOVAK WORD
OF THE WEEK
You don’t really need a
specialised store to find weed
at the Comenius University
campus in Bratislava, and the
development of new drugs
will always outpace the speed
with which they can be
banned. So perhaps politi-
cians should take the oppor-
tunity and finally also start
thinking about something
which actually might work –
decriminalising drug use.
The supposedly liberal SaS
party proposed the decrimin-
alisation of marijuana use be-
fore last year’s elections, but
gave up on the promise right
at the start of coalition talks.
The fact is that smoking pot is
common, even in conservat-
ive Slovakia, and sanctions
seems to have little visible ef-
fect. What they do mean is
that many kids, who will
grow-up to be law-abiding cit-
izens, end up with a tarnished
criminal record. And that in
search of a “legal” supplement
they visit Crazy Shops, whose
products may be much more
dangerous than home-grown
marijuana. When it comes to
drugs, more emphasis on re-
pression can mean more risk.
Unfortunately, this
concept would strike most
Slovak politicians as rather
crazy.
Photo: Sme - Tomáš Benedikovič
(SNS) and Slota’s short-lived
revenge party, the Real Slov-
ak National Party (PSNS),
from reaching parliament in
2002. They even had a kiss at
a press conference to seal
their alliance in front of tele-
vision cameras and photo-
graphers. Eight years later it
appears as if their unifica-
tion was nothing but a tem-
porary ceasefire while the
party was struggling to crawl
closer to power or actually
began exercising it thanks to
Robert Fico’s notorious de-
cision to invite the SNS to
form a government with him
in 2006.
In 2001 Belousovová, then
using her maiden name
Malíková, acted to suspend
Slota’s membership in the
SNS – setting off a process of
disintegration which gave
birth to two nationalist
parties, with the only differ-
ence between the original and
the clone, or vice versa, being
the intensity of their jingoism
and the pejoratives used to
describe those who were
defined as enemies of the
Slovak nation.
Belousovová blamed Slota
for harming the party’s cred-
ibility with the public. Yet she
underestimated the fact that
what Slota’s opponents and
critics find most appalling
about him is what attracts
many SNS voters and card-
carrying members. Most SNS
members have never dis-
tanced themselves from Slota
and his antics and as political
scientist Miroslav Kusý once
noted: “They are what Slota is
like, and Slota is what they
are like”.
Now in 2011, Slota is kick-
ing Belousovová out of the
SNS, claiming that she has an
unquenchable thirst for
power. Of course, the ar-
ranged expulsion came after
what Slota and his buddies
called grave damage to the
SNS caused by Belousovová’s
position party with national-
ism as its sole fuel? Because
this latest version of tit-for-
Slota and Belousovová
have crossed the boundaries
of human decency many
tat between Slota and times in their quarrels: Slota
said about Belousovová, as
quoted by Sme, that “unsatis-
EDITORIAL
fied women who are unable
to marry or to give birth to a
real Slovak man, find fulfil-
ment in Slovak politics;
however they are still very
far from understanding it”.
Belousovová had called
Slota a drunkard and a brute in
the past, but after the 2003
ceasefire she silently toed the
party line, supporting the man
who several times had called
her “a mad cow”.
They have called each
other so many spiteful names
that one would have thought
that there was no possibility
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ of a civil relationship or even
Spectator staff toleration of each other’s
presence. Yet, their shared
thirst for power was more de-
Belousovová shows again that cisive.
the party lacks any serious What Belousovová did
public policy programme and differently when she chaired
that when it is deprived of the SNS was to refine her
political power – which it ex- rhetoric and offer opinions on
ercised for four years amid a wider range of issues than
clear cases of cronyism and Slota ever did. She also
outrageous scandals at the seemed more acceptable to a
ministries it controlled – open wider political spectrum – but
internal conflict is its only not, of course, to hard-core
modus operandi. SNS voters. The conflict
The recent events also between Belousovová and
show that Slota and Slota has never been over
Belousovová are nothing political principles, Slovak
more than political folk fig- nationalism, enemies of the
ures who are not taken seri- state, or the party's orienta-
ously by more credible polit- tion: both of them kept the
ical leaders. Belousovová last SNS on the far-right fringe,
acquired a mass audience oriented on a very narrow
when she slapped a fellow- agenda.
MP, Igor Matovič of the Free- What this newest chapter
dom and Solidarity party, in in their saga really shows is
the face because he had re- that some politicians cannot
ferred to her as “Anča”. change their very essence. In
Fico, of course, knew the the same way, it is unlikely
character of Slota and that Robert Fico will trans-
Belousovová in 2006 and he form himself and, if given the
was surely aware of the fabric opportunity in the future,
from which SNS is sewn. perhaps after Slota and
Nevertheless, Fico still in- Belousovová have kissed and
vited them for a four-year made up, he would again in-
ruling ride, driven by his own vite the couple onto his polit-
thirst for power, while ical bandwagon.

COURTS: Chief justice cries foul

Continued from pg 2
“Therefore I regard the
passing of this amendment as
an important step towards
restoring trust in the institu-
tion of the Slovak Republic,
and mainly trust in its
judiciary,” Radičová said.
She pointed out that
Justice Minister Žitňanská
gave up some of her powers in
favour of the reform. The min-
ister will no longer have the
authority to decide about
temporary suspension of
judges; that power now passes
to disciplinary senates, the
Justice Ministry reported.
“We went for a new ap-
proach, which started off with
telling the truth about the
state of judiciary, by propos-
ing changes in favour of the
ordinary participants in court
proceedings, and by fighting
cronyism in the selection of
new judges,” Žitňanská said,
adding that judging from the
strong reactions the passing
of the amendment has pro-
voked, “we have touched a
sensitive spot for [opposition
party] Smer, [former prime
minister Vladimír] Mečiar and
[Supreme Court President
Štefan] Harabin”.
However, Peter Wilfling
pointed to at least one provi-
sion which he regards as prob-
lematic. It allows the justice
minister to dismiss the pres-
ident of a court for any reason,
and denies the judge in ques-
tion the opportunity to re-
quire an investigation into
whether his or her dismissal
was lawful.
Strong reactions
Harabin dubbed the law
“the worst possible solution
for the judiciary”, and said
he was very disappointed
about the fact that he was
not allowed to speak in the
debate about the amend-
ment in parliament.
Harabin was particularly
opposed to the newly-intro-
duced selection process for
judges and said that there is
nothing wrong with the fact
that the children of judges
follow in the footsteps of
their parents and enter the
same profession. Harabin
himself has a son who cur-
rently works as a judicial
clerk.
“I invite Žitňanská to
test my son [to see] whether
he is professionally weak,”
Harabin said, as quoted by
the Sme daily. “I dare to say
that he is on a better profes-
sional level than Žitňanská.”
Žitňanská maintains
that judicial clerks should
not have guaranteed future
positions as judges and that
they should be submitted to
a selection process and face
open competition.
Opposition MP Róbert
Madej, who is also Smer’s
shadow justice minister,
said the ruling coalition is
attempting to win political
control over the judiciary.
He believes the amendment
is unconstitutional and
plans to file a complaint
with the Constitutional
Court, the TASR newswire
reported.
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EDITORIAL
B E ATA B AL O G OVÁ - Editor - In - Chief
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6 February 7 – 13, 2011

BUSINESS FOCUS

NORWAY
Next issue:

INVESTMENT GROUPS

Bringing everyone inside Norway: General facts

Head of state: King Harald V

BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
Spectator staff
INCLUSION is one of the
words that surfaces often dur-
ing discussion with Trine
Skymoen whenever she is
asked to talk about the best
traditions of her homeland.
The Norwegian ambassador to
Slovakia says that Norway is
able to sit atop various human
development indices because
the Nordic social model is
characterised by pulling all
people inside society and leav-
ing very few outside of its em-
brace. She believes that
gender equality in Norway, for
example, did not just happen –
that the government as well
as Norwegian women and
men had to work hard to
achieve this aspect of social
inclusion.
The Slovak Spectator
spoke to Ambassador Sky-
moen about gender equality,
social dialogue, the recent vis-
it of the Norwegian royal
couple to Slovakia, and
Norway’s support to preserve
European cultural heritage, as
well as about the significance
of Norwegian Bjornstjerne
Martinius Bjornson, the 1903
Nobel laureate in literature,
who passionately supported
cultural independence for
Slovaks in 1907 and 1908.
Ambassador Trine Skymoen
access to society are happier
than people who feel left out.
The Nordic social welfare
model itself is characterised
by pulling all people inside
and leaving very few behind.
But both our social welfare
system and our gender equal-
ity are the result of political
will. These things do not just
happen. Someone has to make
them happen and in Norway
this political will to change
was shared by consecutive
Photo: Courtesy of RNE
ing but on the other hand we
also focus on getting more
balance in the family sphere;
but those are issues that the
state cannot decide for famil-
ies. For example, families
have one year of paid parental
leave and 12 weeks are re-
served for men. However, if
the father does not take his 12
weeks, it does not go to the
mother. It is important that
there are male role models
who actually take this leave;
Štiavnica. Why does Norway
support these activities?
TS: Together with Iceland
and Liechtenstein, Norway is
providing €80 million to Slov-
akia for the upcoming period
to spend on sectors which are
important for the country as
well as to Norway. Slovakia
has a rich cultural heritage so
we do support its preserva-
tion. By preserving the wed-
ding palace in Bytča or the
Executioner’s Flat in Košice or
the Reduta in Bratislava we
are preserving European his-
tory as well. The restoration of
a historical water mill in Veľké
Teriakovce was an initiative
by two women, a mother and
daughter, from a small village
near Rimavská Sobota. Now
the restored building serves
as the local heritage museum.
It did impress me that this
was a local initiative; the
women had the idea for the
project and applied for the
grant because they wanted to
have the mill preserved. It is
one of those small local
projects that make a differ-
ence in the community while
retaining an important part of
their history.
I have tried to visit all the
places where my country is
involved but we have 100 in-
dividual projects, including
environmental, cultural her-
itage and also renewable en-
Form of government: Parliamentary democracy
Capital: Oslo
Total area: 385,199 square kilometres
Population: 4.8 million
Official languages: Norwegian (Bokmal and Nynorsk);
in some districts Sámi is also an official language
Currency: Norwegian krone
Source: www.norway.sk
Norwegian institutions in Slovakia
Royal Norwegian Embassy
www.norway.sk
Norwegian Ambassador to Slovakia: Trine Skymoen
Some Norwegian companies in
Slovakia
Slovalco, Žiar nad Hronom, www.slovalco.sk
- a producer of aluminium and aluminium products
Det Norske Veritas, Bratislava, www.dnv.sk
- a provider of risk management services
Kongsberg Automotive, Vráble,
www.kongsbergautomotive.com
- a producer of gearshifters and other car components
Eltek Valere, Liptovský Hrádok, www.eltekvalere.com
- a developer of energy systems for telecoms and industry
Timms, Trenčín, www.timms.no
- a producer of premium quality ropes
Compiled by Spectator staff
Norway shares its

The Slovak Spectator (TSS):

According to a UN ranking,
Norway is the world's top
country in measures of qual-
ity of life. How has Norway
achieved this?
Trine Skymoen (TS): I
suppose it is the high standard
of living, good education, a
low unemployment rate and
steady economic growth that
has helped Norway to climb
that high on the UN’s Human
Development Index. Another
reason is that the wealth of
the country is accessible to the
widest possible group of
people. The Nordic model fo-
cuses on decreasing inequalit-
ies and sharing the country’s
wealth, which I do not mean
only in the material sense of
the word.
TSS: Norway has progressed
significantly in gender
equality and presumably
this is also part of the Nordic
model of sharing. How has
this happened?
TS: To have a high stand-
ard of living it is important
that men and women are able
to equally access education
and work opportunities –
which mean equal access as
part of society. And of course
people who have equivalent
governments.
Of course, both the social
welfare model and gender
equality call for an active ap-
proach. State policies are de-
signed in a way to make it pos-
sible for both women and men
to work and raise a family. By
law all children have a right to
attend kindergartens; the
state does not pay for them
but it makes sure that parents
who want to have both work
and family have the means to
achieve that. This is one of the
reasons why Norway has one
of the highest rates of
women’s participation in the
labour force. We have quotas
that suggest that political
parties should have 40 per-
cent women on their candid-
ate lists to ensure women in
local governments and the
boards of publicly-listed com-
panies must have 40 percent
women. So the quotas help
women to get there. It was
very often the case that com-
panies would say, ‘we want
women in our company but
we cannot find them’ or they
have argued that women
aren’t willing to take up high-
er positions. If a company
must have women, they will
find qualified women.
On one hand we focus on
women so that they are able to
participate on the same foot-
in Norway we have many ex-
amples of men, for instance
ministers in our government,
who are on parental leave.
Also, this is not something
that only rich countries can
afford because this also in-
volves the necessity of using
the potential of 50 percent of
the population – women.
Again, it is a matter of in-
clusion and social dialogue.
We have a very strong system
of social dialogue that works
at different levels which has
contributed to the Norwegian
economic success. For ex-
ample, tripartite dialogue
between the government,
employers and trade unions
works quite effectively and
the three parties are able to
work out compromise de-
cisions on important issues.
When we design a pension re-
form, we know that it has to
be made in a way that it lasts
beyond the next election or
beyond the next leader of the
trade unions.
TSS: Through grants from
the Norwegian Financial
Mechanism and the EEA Fin-
ancial Mechanism your
country is actively helping
Slovakia to preserve its cul-
tural heritage, such as
works of art in our old min-
ing town of Banská
ergy efforts, and it would be
hardly possible to see them all.
TSS: A business delegation
accompanied the Norwegian
royal couple during their re-
cent visit to Slovakia. What
was the business focus?
Where is the greatest poten-
tial for cooperation?
TS: It was a rather large
business delegation, includ-
ing 70 people. It shows that
Norwegian businesses are in-
terested and perhaps more
than a bit curious about Slov-
akia and its market. It in-
volved different business
areas: from tunnel construc-
tion up to renewable energy,
the mapping industry and
also companies interested in
social responsibility. They
represented quite a broad
spectrum of the Norwegian
economy. What is most im-
portant for Norwegian in-
vestors, or for any investor for
that matter, is a stable busi-
ness environment with no
tolerance for corruption and a
well-functioning judiciary so
that you can trust that your
investment would be handled
in a fair way. We also held a
seminar on corporate social
responsibility that touched
on these general issues.
See TS pg 10
CSR know-how
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ
Spectator staff
SLOVAKIA, a small country in
the middle of Europe, is being
eyed from several angles by
businesses from Norway, a
Nordic country which is not a
member of the EU.
“Economic cooperation
between Norway and Slov-
akia is limited, but steadily
growing,” Torgal Stahl, the
first secretary of the Royal
Norwegian Embassy in Brat-
islava, told The Slovak Spec-
tator. “Trade between Slov-
akia and Norway amounts to
about €325 million, with the
vast majority being Slovak
products exported to
Norway.”
Total Norwegian invest-
ments in Slovakia come to
about €166 million, Timea
Nemesová from the foreign
direct investment section of
the Slovak Investment and
Trade Development Agency
(SARIO) told The Slovak Spec-
tator. Of this amount, €133
million has been invested in
industrial facilities that have
created approximately 2,000
jobs. Nemesová added that
between 2002 and 2010
SARIO successfully cooper-
ated on several Norwegian
investment projects in the
textile and electro-technical
industries which created
nearly 300 jobs.
Stahl sees the Norwegian
and EEA Financial Mechan-
isms to be the most import-
ant pillars of the cooperation
with Slovakia. Through these
mechanisms Norway, Ice-
land and Liechtenstein have
contributed more than €70
million to various projects in
Slovakia during the period
from 2004 to 2009.
“The contribution will
increase to €80 million for
the next five-year period and
the Norwegian contribution
to these grants is 97.5 per-
cent of the total
contribution,” said Stahl.
“The grants not only con-
tribute to reduction of social
and economic disparities in
Slovakia but have also con-
tributed to strengthening
cooperation between the
two countries, as many of
the projects supported by
the grants have Norwegian
partners.”
See OSLO pg 9

Danes living a green life
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
Spectator staff
ANITA Hugau is a proponent
of the ‘green Danish fairytale’:
her homeland is geared to-
wards using renewable en-
ergy and ‘cleantech’ techno-
logies. Yet the ambassador of
Denmark is pleased that the
stories of Danish fairytale au-
thor Hans Christian Andersen
resonate with many Slovaks
and is impressed that three
different theatres in Bratis-
lava are staging different in-
terpretations of the Snow
Queen this winter.
The Slovak Spectator
spoke to Ambassador Hugau
about the interest of foreign
workers in Denmark, English-
language knowledge there,
the European currency, the
Danish tradition of Folke-
hojskole, as well as about cul-
tural bridges between the two
nations.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS):
According to a 2010 New
York Times article, the
people of Copenhagen not
only talk about a green life-
style, but actually live it –
and the city was ranked fifth
among 31 cities it recom-
mended visiting. Is this so-
called green lifestyle also
characteristic of other
places in Denmark?
Anita Hugau (AH): Yes – of
course. It’s a widespread and
national phenomenon. The
bicycle is the preferred means
of transportation in most cit-
ies, including of course the
bigger cities. In the majority
of newly built residential
areas in the suburbs you will
find very energy efficient
houses, even so-called “zero
energy houses”. I can even
mention my favourite island
in Denmark, Samsoe, where
the total energy consumption
comes from renewable
sources. Sustainable trash
management has also spread
nationally. Just to mention a
few examples.
TSS: Denmark was the first
country to implement en-
vironmental legislation and
established the first envir-
onment ministry. Today,
Denmark claims to be among
the world’s leaders in
“cleantech” technologies
and the country is very
much geared towards using
renewable energy sources,
especially wind power.
What factors have determ-
ined the country’s progress
in this area?
AH: Denmark has man-
aged to combine solid econom-
Ambassador Anita Hugau
ic growth with an ambitious
and effective effort within
climate change and environ-
mental protection. How? This
has been made possible due to
many factors as a concerted ef-
fort and dialogue between a
broad range of actors: a vision-
ary and innovative private sec-
tor, strong and constructive
grassroots, courageous politi-
cians, ambitious and hard-
working civil servants, etc.
TSS: According to the Den-
mark Update website, des-
pite the recent financial
crisis and higher unem-
ployment rates, the number
of foreign workers in Den-
mark remains approxim-
ately the same. What are the
reasons behind Denmark
remaining popular for for-
eign workers?
AH: Denmark has a very
strong welfare state including
high standards in the schools
and universities; and not to
forget the good services with-
in the health-care sector. That
might be an attraction.
Moreover we have a very
strong labour market with
high level of standards in the
social sphere, the so-called
“flexicurity” model. Denmark
is an open society for foreign
workers in different sectors,
e.g. in the construction sector
and in health care.
BUSINESS FOCUS
DENMARK
Photo: Courtesy of Anita Hugau
TSS: There is a unique Dan-
ish tradition called Folke-
hojskole which is a specific
educational institution for
young people aged between
19 and 25. What is special
about these schools and
why has this tradition sur-
vived for over 150 years?
AH: The Folkehojskole is
really a Danish phenomenon.
Historically the Folke-
hojskole has been vital to
general enlightening and
education in Denmark. At the
very same time it has taught
people social tolerance and to
feel responsible for the soci-
ety. The Folkehojskole has
played a very important role
in achieving social cohesion
in Denmark.
TSS: At Slovak schools Eng-
lish will soon become a
mandatory subject. What is
the experience of Denmark
with teaching foreign lan-
guages, especially English?
AH: Denmark is a minor
country – like Slovakia.
Hardly anyone outside Den-
mark speaks Danish. As a con-
sequence we have to learn
foreign languages. Foreign
trade, travelling and exchan-
ging cultures are vital for
Denmark and the Danes. We
couldn’t manage on such a
broad level without a gener-
ally high level in English and
other languages. Concerning
the English language we start
already in the fourth grade, at
10-11 years old.
TSS: In a September 2000
referendum Danes rejected
the replacement of the
Danish krone by the euro.
What is the current stance
in Denmark towards the
single European currency?
What has Slovakia’s adop-
tion of the euro meant for
potential Danish investors
in Slovakia?
AH: Currently Danish
membership of the eurozone
is not high on the political
agenda. No doubt the Danish
government would have pre-
ferred another referendum
on the Danish euro opt-out.
However the government
has had to acknowledge that
the current combination of
parties in the Folketinget,
the Danish parliament, made
a majority vote in favour of a
referendum impossible. The
next general election for par-
liament will take place on
November 12 at the latest.
Hence the next government
and the combination of
parties in the parliament de-
pend on this forthcoming
election and of course on
Danish voters.
For the time being we are
much more concerned about
the whole economic situ-
ation in Europe and meas-
ures to improve it, not least
developments within the
eurozone. As you may know,
Denmark will hold the EU
presidency in the first half of
2012. That might be a catalyst
for new discussions about
Danish membership in the
eurozone.
The majority of the cur-
rent Danish investors in Slov-
akia invested here even before
Slovakia adopted the euro. I
personally believe that the
Danish interest in investing
in Slovakia is influenced by
several other factors and that
the euro is today just one of
these factors. Moreover the
Danish currency, the krone, is
pegged to the euro via the
European Union’s exchange
rate mechanism.
TSS: Is the Slovak business
environment an attractive
investment environment
for Danish companies?
Where do you see some more
potential for cooperation?
AH: Slovakia still offers
cheap and qualified labour
with a central market posi-
tion. Denmark provides high-
tech industrial solutions and
agricultural know-how.
See AH pg 9
February 7 – 13, 2011 7
Denmark: General facts
Head of state: Queen Margrethe II
Form of government: Parliamentary democracy
Capital: Copenhagen
Total area: 43,094 square kilometres
Population: 5.5 million
Official language: Danish
Currency: Danish krone
Source: www.denmark.dk
Danish institutions in Slovakia
Embassy of Denmark
www.ambbratislava.um.dk
Ambassador of Denmark to Slovakia: Anita Hugau
Some Danish companies in Slovakia
Danfoss Slovensko, Zlaté Moravce,
www.danfoss.com/Slovakia
- produces components and systems for refrigeration, air
conditioning, heating, and industrial automation
Dan-Slovakia Agrar, Nový Dvor (near Veľký Meder),
www.dsa.sk
- an agricultural company specialising in pig, dairy and
crop production
Datatherm, Teplička nad Váhom, www.datatherm.sk
- produces computer control systems, measurement and
regulation technologies and heating technologies
Ecco, Martin, www.ecco.com
- a manufacturer of brand-name footwear
Marius Pedersen, Trenčín, www.mariuspedersen.sk
- environmental and waste disposal services
Velux, Partizánske, www.velux.sk
- a producer of roof windows with a production plant,
Partizánske Building Components-SK
Compiled by Spectator staff
Danish firms
across Slovakia
tator. “Economic cooperation
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ is being carried out especially
Spectator staff on the basis of direct contacts
between companies, profes-
sional associations and
DENMARK belongs among chambers of commerce.”
the countries that are medi- She praised the coopera-
um-to-large business part- tion received from the Dan-
ners with Slovakia. Danish ish-Slovak business-to-busi-
investors in Slovakia do busi- ness association, whose
ness primarily in various in- members are Danish busi-
dustrial branches as well as nesspeople with operations
the service sector and have in Slovakia.
made investments in eastern According to preliminary
as well as western Slovakia. data from Slovakia’s Statistics
Though Danish investors are Office, goods imported from
operating successfully in Denmark between January
Slovakia, the Danish ambas- and October 2010 were worth
sador noted that certain as- €158.8 million, making up 0.4
pects of the Slovak business percent of Slovakia’s total
environment are seen as bur- imports. Exports to Denmark
eaucratic and inflexible in amounted to €266.9 million
comparison to the require- in the same period and made
ments in Denmark. up 0.7 percent of Slovakia’s
“Slovak-Danish relations total exports. The flow of for-
are not burdened with any eign direct investment from
unresolved questions,” Timea Denmark to Slovakia in 2009
Nemesová from the foreign was about €70.4 million based
direct investments section of on data from the National
the Slovak Investment and Bank of Slovakia.
Trade Development Agency
(SARIO) told The Slovak Spec- See DANES pg 9
8 February 7 – 13, 2011
Innovation as way of life
BY BEATA BALOGOVÁ
Spectator staff
JUKKA Leino very much
hopes that the grand finale of
the Ice Hockey World Cham-
pionship on May 15 in Bratis-
lava will feature a match
between Slovakia and his
homeland Finland. The
Finnish ambassador sees
many more bridges between
the two countries than
merely ice hockey, saying, for
example, that Finland’s
Turku, which is currently a
European capital of culture, is
sharing its experiences with
Košice as it prepares to as-
sume that title in 2013.
The Slovak Spectator spoke
with Ambassador Leino about
Finland’s ability to pursue in-
novation as well as Finns' good
eye for design. Both are integ-
ral parts of the Finnish style of
life as are high educational
achievement, concern for the
environment and, of course,
ice hockey.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS):
Last year, the Finnish par-
liament approved construc-
tion of two new nuclear
power plants. What is the
role of nuclear energy in the
country’s energy security
plan? Fossil fuels accounted
for more than half of
Finland’s energy use in 2009
so how is the government
addressing this issue?
Jukka Leino (JL): Some 15
years ago there was an anti-
nuclear power movement in
Finland but gradually the atti-
tude has changed as Finland
has been trying to diversify its
energy resources. One of the
arguments was: why should
we buy electricity generated
by nuclear plants in Russia
when we can build our own
nuclear power plants? We now
have two units in Olkiluoto
and two in Loviisa, altogether
four units, while one unit has
been under construction for
many years. In summer 2010
the government approved the
construction of two more
units. However, it might take
many years until these units
are finished and they start
producing electricity. One of
our motivations was to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions so
that energy production is
cleaner. Of course, we have
some other sources of energy
such as woodchips, a bio-fuel;
we are also using heat-pumps
and wind power and we are
making plans to utilise wind
power even more intensively.
TSS: Your embassy states in
one of its introductory doc-
Ambassador Jukka Leino
uments that Finns are very
much intertwined with
design and that it is part of
everyday Finnish life. Why
is this?
JL: We are a design nation
and our design work has a long
history and a very strong tradi-
tion within society. Why and
how? That’s a good question. I
think it is part of the Nordic or
Scandinavian culture: all the
Scandinavian countries put
emphasis on design. Design is
part of everyday life and it has
always been so in Finland. It
penetrates all the fields: glass,
architecture, furniture, even
such everyday things such as
scissors; they’re all carefully
designed. We just recently ex-
hibited some examples of
Finnish design here in Bratis-
lava at the Ministry of Culture,
which hosted an exhibition of
Finnish glass. We tried to
bring a glimpse of Finnish
design to Slovakia. Indeed,
Helsinki has been designated
the world design capital in
2012, which will be a very im-
portant event.
TSS: Has the business poten-
tial between Finland and
Slovakia been fully ex-
plored? Which areas are open
to further cooperation?
JL: There are about 25
Finnish companies in Slov-
akia. These are mostly small or
medium-sized businesses but
some larger businesses as well
have been considering coming
to Slovakia. Nevertheless, the
business potential has not
been fully used. We need to do
more to make Slovakia known
in Finland and also to make
Finland better known here in
Slovakia. Of course, the em-
bassy cannot create economic
activities – but it can always
try to get the right people to
create something, to initiate
economic activities; we can
help create the groundwork
for potential partners to meet.
One of the fields which might
BUSINESS FOCUS
FINLAND
Photo: Jana Liptáková
be interesting for Finnish-
Slovak cooperation is in envir-
onmental technologies. An-
other aspect that links Slov-
akia and Finland is forests and
for that reason production of
all kinds of forestry equipment
could be interesting. The area
of renewable energies is also
one of the fields offering a lot
of potential for business. Since
Slovakia is interested in devel-
oping a knowledge-based so-
ciety, Finland – as a know-
ledge-based, innovative soci-
ety – can share its know-how.
TSS: Finland’s Turku, along
with Tallinn in Estonia, be-
came a European Capital of
Culture for 2011. What do
you expect this will bring to
Finland? What experiences
can Finland share with
Slovakia's Košice when it
holds this title in 2013?
JL: Turku and Tallinn are
the European cultural capitals
for this year. This is one of the
biggest cultural events ever in
Finland. Turku is the old cap-
ital of the country and in a way
it is the nest of cultural life in
Finland. We are expecting
hundreds of thousands of for-
eign visitors and two million
participants for various
events. There will be about 120
big programmes but also
many smaller ones and almost
every day will bring some kind
of cultural surprise. Since
Košice will take over as a cul-
tural capital in 2013, we have
already created a bridge
between Košice and Turku
and there was a visitor from
the Košice organisers who
was in touch with the organ-
isers from Turku to share ex-
periences. Turku’s message,
after all, is that culture does
good and it improves
everyone’s emotional and
physical well-being.
TSS: According to a news re-
port, Finns have been rais-
ing money for charity by los-
ing weight and the money
has gone to teachers’ educa-
tion in Nepal. Why was there
such a massive response to
an initiative like this?
JL: Many Finns grew fatter
because of an unhealthy life
style and unhealthy food. But
there has been a shift in Fin-
land. Finns are now more in-
clined to switch from strong
alcohol to wine or lighter
drinks while they are also be-
ing advised to eat healthier
food, more fish and veget-
ables. The idea you described
came from a wealthy Finnish
man who said that he would
put €10 million on the table
and would pay €30 for each
kilo that Finns lost. Lots of
people went on a diet and al-
most 15,000 people, 3,000 men
and 12,000 women, joined the
programme called Fat for Lit-
eracy. The men lost 13,000
kilos and the women 35,000
kilos. The sum they were to be
paid for their weight loss went
to Nepal to train teachers who
teach students how to read. It
is true that the businessman
promised €10 million and he
only had to send €1.4 million,
but the Finnish people got
healthier and the Nepalese
more literate and it was defin-
itely a win-win situation.
TSS: The European Commis-
sion has again ranked Fin-
land among the leading in-
novators in the EU. How is
Finland able to repeatedly
accomplish this?
JL: It’s a basic require-
ment. If you want to be a well-
developed country, you must
invest in research and innova-
tion. So we have put a lot of
emphasis on these aspects.
We have created a national
innovation strategy and there
is a special commission led by
the prime minister that is
dealing with the innovation
agenda. The strategy for
2011-2015 has just been passed.
An effective and high-level
education system, which in-
spires people to use their tal-
ents, to be creative and innov-
ative, and even a bit crazy, are
behind this innovation policy.
Students at a certain stage of
their education have a chance
to show whether they have
talents, then they are suppor-
ted and are given the oppor-
tunity to continue their edu-
cation in a way that builds
their talents. What I would
name as specific in the
Finnish way of thinking is
that when something unex-
pected happens, Finns can
very quickly create an altern-
ative solution. We always
have a plan B.
See JL pg 11
Finland: General facts
Head of state: President Tarja Halonen
Form of government: Parliamentary democracy
Capital: Helsinki
Total area: 338,424 square kilometres
Population: 5.4 million
Official languages: Finnish (spoken by 91 percent of
population), Swedish (5.4 percent). Sámi is the mother
tongue of about 1,700 people who are descendants of the
indigenous Sámi people of northern Lapland
Currency: euro
Source: www.finland.fi
Finnish institutions in Slovakia
Embassy of Finland
www.finlandembassy.sk
Ambassador of Finland to Slovakia: Jukka Leino
Some Finnish companies in Slovakia
Metsä Tissue, Žilina, www.metsatissue.com
- a leading paper tissue supplier to households and
large-scale consumers in Europe
Ruukki Slovakia, Bratislava, www.ruukki.sk
- a producer of metal components and integrated
building systems
TIKKURILA Slovakia, Martin-Priekopa,
www.tikkurila.sk
- sells Tikkurila paint company products in Slovakia
Peikko, Kráľová nad Váhom, www.peikko.sk
- a family-owned company that pioneered a fastening
technology for concrete structures
Lindström, Trnava, www.lindstrom.sk
- one of Europe’s leading textile service companies
Finnforest Slovensko, Bratislava, www.finnforest.sk
- Finnforest Corporation is one of the major global
companies in wood processing
Compiled by Spectator staff
Finnish firms plan
more investment
According to Slovakia’s
BY JANA LIPTÁKOVÁ Foreign Affairs Ministry
Spectator staff there are about 20 Finnish
companies currently oper-
ating in Slovakia with signi-
TRADE and economic coopera- ficant participation of
tion between Slovakia and Fin- Finnish capital, as well as
land is not far-reaching but in- five Finnish organisational
terest by Finnish companies units.
has been gradually increasing Surový and Franeková
since producing in Slovakia is wrote that Finnish in-
seen as an important interme- vestors are particularly act-
diate step in several Finnish ive in the electro-technical
companies' exports. and construction indus-
“Established companies tries, in processing metals,
later gradually ‘draw’ other in telecommunications
companies to Slovakia, which networks, and in mining
are attracted especially by our and logistics systems.
qualified labour, advantage- Finnish investments ac-
ous geographical position celerated between 2006 and
and the neighbouring mar- 2008 when companies like
kets of central and eastern Peikko Group, Lindström,
Europe,” Dalibor Surový and Ojala Yhtymä, YIT Reding
Jana Franeková from the for- and organisational units of
eign direct investments sec- YIT-YIT Construction Ltd.
tion at the Slovak Investment Finland and Cramo-Technil-
and Trade Development ine established operations
Agency (SARIO) wrote in a in Slovakia.
short analysis prepared for
The Slovak Spectator. See RUUKKI pg 10
 BUSINESS FOCUS February 7 – 13, 2011 9
OSLO: Royal visit boosted knowledge AH: A perfect mix
Continued from pg 6

The priority sectors agreed

upon by the two countries for
grants over the next five years
are environmental protection
and management, climate
change and renewable energy,
carbon capture and storage,
research and scholarship, pro-
tecting cultural heritage, and
promotion of decent work and
tripartite dialogue, Stahl told
The Slovak Spectator.
“These priority sectors
correspond with priority areas
of both the Slovak and the
Norwegian governments and
some are sectors where Nor-
way is in the lead,” said Stahl.
“This gives prospects for fur-
ther cooperation between the
two countries. The business
seminar held in connection
with the Norwegian state visit
to Slovakia in October 2010
had corporate social respons-
ibility [CSR] as the main topic
and this is also an area for fur-
ther cooperation.”
When King Harald and
Queen Sonja of Norway visited
Slovakia last October they
were accompanied by a large
delegation of representatives
from Norwegian businesses
and other institutions. Stahl
believes this was a clear indic-
ation of significant interest
among Norwegians in doing
business in Slovakia. In addi-
tion to the main topic of CSR,
meetings were held to discuss
possible cooperation on re-
newable energy sources as well
as tunnel building, defence
and mapping technologies.
Stahl believes that even
though both the Norwegian
and the Slovak economies were
affected by the economic crisis,
businesses in both countries
seem to be recovering.
“When considering Slov-
akia as an area for invest-
King Harald V and Queen Sonja visiting Slovakia.
ments, the country’s unique
position in central Europe, its
stability, and well-educated
workforce are the main
factors that are assessed,” said
Stahl. “Some Norwegian com-
panies established in Slovakia
are in the process of expand-
ing or are considering doing
so. There are also signals that
more Norwegian companies
are considering Slovakia as an
interesting market.”
There are around a dozen
Norwegian companies with
operations in Slovakia with a
total of about 2,500 employees.
The biggest of these are:
Kongsberg Automotive, loc-
ated in Vráble, which serves
the automotive industry; Slov-
alco which produces alumini-
um in Žiar nad Hronom and is
majority-owned by Norsk Hy-
dro; Sapa Profily, also in Žiar
nad Hronom, which produces
aluminium profiles; Eltek
Valere in Liptovský Hrádok,
producing energy systems for
Photo: ČTK
telecoms; Blomquist Trucking
in Žiar nad Hronom; and
Timms, a manufacturer of
rope, in Trenčín.
“Norwegian businessmen
are generally assessing in-
vestment conditions in Slov-
akia at a good level,” said
Nemesová. “Most established
companies have not had any
significant problems and have
not encountered any business
obstacles. However, some of
them have pointed out a cer-
tain level of corruption.”
Stahl agreed with that
statement and added that, like
other international compan-
ies, Norwegian firms are con-
cerned that the investment
environment in Slovakia is
negatively tainted with cor-
ruption and with an uncertain
situation in the judiciary.
“The fact that the new
Slovak government has put the
fight against corruption and
improving the situation in the
judiciary on the top of their
political agenda is considered
positive and we are looking
forward to seeing the results of
this work,” said Stahl.
Slovakia seeks
Norwegian firms
Slovakia already has very
well-established relations and
well-developed cooperation
with Norwegian investors,
SARIO said, adding that it has
organised many activities
with the aim of intensifying
trade and investment cooper-
ation between the two coun-
tries. SARIO highlighted the
Norwegian-Slovak Commer-
cial Forum held in Oslo in
June last year that was organ-
ised by the Slovak Embassy in
Norway and the German-
Norwegian Chamber of Com-
merce of Oslo which focused
on supporting Slovak products
in Norway and simultan-
eously drawing more Norwe-
gian investments to Slovakia.
It was followed by a Norwegi-
an business mission visiting
Prešov on November 25, or-
ganised by the Prešov Self-
Governing Region and the
Slovak Embassy in Norway.
During the Norwegian
royal visit in October, SARIO
presented Slovakia as an ideal
destination for foreign in-
vestors at an event held in
Bratislava called Get Together
that was organised by
SARIO’s counterpart, Innova-
tion Norway.
SARIO does not have any
specific activities focused on
Norway in its current pipeline
but it is considering future
events in Nordic countries.
“SARIO will also continue
to actively strengthen mutual
cooperation between the two
countries in the future,”
Nemesová told The Slovak
Spectator.
for cooperation
Continued from pg 7
This is a perfect mix for
cooperation between com-
panies from our countries.
With increasing purchasing
power in Slovakia it will also
be easier to sell high-quality
Danish products.
TSS: Culture is one of the
best vehicles for commu-
nicating values and build-
ing bridges between coun-
tries. What aspects of Slov-
ak culture are or could be of
interest to a Danish audi-
ence and vice versa?
AH: The many pictur-
esque towns with historical
squares and centres, in some
cases combined with mediev-
al castles, are among some of
the main cultural attractions
in Slovakia. Also, the moun-
tainous areas with the many
hiking paths in beautiful nat-
ural settings offer an attract-
ive alternative to the rather
flat geography of Denmark. In
recent years we have noticed
that a cruise on the Danube
between Vienna and Bratis-
lava is becoming increasingly
popular for city goers among
the Danish audience.
Denmark offers thou-
sands of kilometres of at-
tractive sandy beaches to an
audience from a landlocked
country like Slovakia. On av-
erage, no Dane is more than
50 kilometres from the
ocean. The sea is so clean
that it is even possible to
swim in the harbour in the
centre of Copenhagen, where
several areas have been es-
pecially prepared for swim-
ming. Add to this 12,000
kilometres of biking routes,
which are safe for children
and ideal for family holidays.
In terms of cultural activ-
I am equally pleased to
see that many film festivals
in Slovakia are screening
movies by contemporary
Danish filmmakers. The up-
coming Nordfest Film Fest-
ival in Kino Nostalgia from
February 11 till March 2 is,
based on the interest of the
Slovak audience last year, a
good example.
In terms of cultural activ-
ities, the Embassy of Den-
mark in general strives to
support events that can
either generate or maintain
awareness about Danish cul-
ture among the Slovak audi-
ence: the annual film fest-
ivals, Danish artists visiting
Slovakia, etc. Efforts are be-
ing made to support an open
and varied programme for
the benefit of as many people
as possible in Slovakia.
TSS: In 2007, the
Kierkegaard Society in
Slovakia was established in
the town of Šaľa. What do
such societies mean for co-
operation between nations?
AH: Shortly after my ar-
rival in Slovakia in Septem-
ber 2010 I was invited to Šaľa
to an international confer-
ence on the Danish philo-
sopher Soren Aaby
Kierkegaard, and I was very
pleased to experience the en-
thusiasm for Kierkegaard
among the Kierkegaard Soci-
ety in Slovakia.
From my postings as
ambassador to other parts of
the world I know that issues
addressed by Kierkegaard
have an international ap-
peal, which can connect so-
cieties and nations. The con-
ference was a clear illustra-
tion of this, as participants
from as far as the Americas
gathered for two days dis-

DANES: Investments in eastern Slovakia ities in Slovakia, I am very

Continued from pg 7
The Slovak Foreign Affairs Ministry
has estimated that the aggregate direct
investment by Danish firms in Slovakia
at the end of 2009 was about €155 million,
coming via approximately 60 companies.
Danish companies are welcomed as
investors in Slovakia particularly because
they have diversified their investments
across the country and have not only
concentrated in western Slovakia. Un-
omedical in Michalovce, Tytex in
Humenné, Gluz & Jensen in Prešov,
Knudsen Plast in Vranov nad Topľou, and
Blika in Trebišov are examples of invest-
ments in eastern regions of Slovakia.
Nemesová also stressed that this Danish
diversification is not only geographic but
also in terms of product types.
Nemesová listed the most important
Danish investments in Slovakia as fo-
cused in the machine and furniture in-
dustries, environmentally-friendly col-
lection and disposal of waste, plastics
processing, and development of ecologic-
al farming methods.
Velux completed the first phase of
construction of its plant for production
of roof windows and other components
in Partizánske in 2009 and under the
name Partizánske Building Components
has become the biggest Danish investor
in Slovakia. Other important companies
with Danish capital operating in Slov-
akia include Danfoss, which makes elec-
tric engines, and Danfoss Compressors
making compressors, both in Zlaté
Moravce; Marius Pedersen in Trenčín
which collects and disposes of waste;
Dan-Slovakia Agrar in Veľký Meder, act-
ive in agriculture; Icopal in Štúrovo
which produces insulation materials;
and Ecco Slovakia, a name-brand foot-
wear manufacturer in Martin.
SARIO assisted in 20 completed in-
vestment projects originating in Den-
mark between 2002 and 2010 and these
created almost 3,000 jobs. Nemesová said
the main factors motivating Danish
businesses when deciding about their
investments are stable economic and
political conditions, a highly-qualified
and motivated labour force, the quality of
infrastructure and the country’s geo-
graphic location.
“A positive signal from the side of es-
tablished Danish companies is also the
fact that many of these companies are
now planning an expansion,” said
Nemesová. “Most investments have gone
into the textile, chemical and wood-pro-
cessing industries. There were also some
investments into the machine and auto-
motive industries as well as the service
sector and other industrial segments.”
pleased to see that stories of
the Danish fairytale writer
cussing the issue of ethics –
the theme of the conference.
At the expert level, the in-
With regards to the interest of Dan- Hans Christian Andersen are terest in Kierkegaard has
ish businesses in investing in Slovakia dear to so many Slovaks. It also generated an interest in
and the impacts of the global financial has impressed me that three the Danish language as some
and economic crisis, Anita Hugau, the different theatres in Bratis- experts have found it at-
Danish ambassador to Slovakia, told The lava are staging different in- tractive to study the original
Slovak Spectator that Danish companies, terpretations of the Snow Danish texts written by
which for the most part are small and Queen this winter. Kierkegaard.
medium-sized, have become more re-
luctant to directly invest and prefer the
possibility of outsourcing.
“However, we have noted the interest
of a Danish company deciding to build or
invest in a manufacturing unit in
Slovakia,” Ambassador Hugau told The
Slovak Spectator.
Danish companies perceive certain
conditions within the Slovak business
environment as bureaucratic and with
larger administrative burdens in compar-
ison with Danish standards for foreign
direct investment, the ambassador said.
“For instance, labour legislation [in
Slovakia] is very disadvantageous for
employers compared to Denmark. We
also pay attention to corruption and
problems within the judiciary,” she
stated, adding that “I am impressed by
the intentions of the present coalition
government of Iveta Radičová. But we
have to say that changing laws alone
does not make it – it will not be enough.
What is needed is simply a change in the Ambassador Anita Hugau and Roman Králik (right), head of
mindset of Slovak society.” the Kierkegaard Society in Slovakia. Photo: Courtesy of RK
10 February 7 – 13, 2011
Northern cultural
blizzard to hit Bratislava
2011 calendar is
full of Nordic
events
BY DOMINIKA
UHRÍKOVÁ
Spectator staff
FROSTS and snowfalls are ex-
pected to last well into early
spring in Slovakia, particularly
in the vicinity of cinemas, gal-
leries and other cultural ven-
ues, and this particular blizzard
of culture will be especially ap-
preciated by enthusiasts and
sponsors of Nordic culture.
The first cultural
snowstorm to hit Bratislava in
the upcoming days will be
Nordfest, the annual film fest-
ival showcasing the best of cur-
rent Scandinavian cinema. Or-
ganised by the Stoptime agency
and supported by the Finnish,
Norwegian and Danish em-
bassies in Slovakia, the event
will start on February 11 and
continue through March 2.
As many as 16 movies in all
will be screened at the Nostal-
gia Film Club, one of the most
popular art-house cinemas in
the country.
These include four Slovak
pre-premieres, including A
Somewhat Gentle Man, a 2010
Norwegian comedy directed by
Hans Petter Moland that was
nominated for a Golden Bear at
the 60th Berlinale, and Reyk-
javik Whale Watching Mas-
sacre, Icelandic director Júlíus
Kemp’s 2009 horror film about a
group of shipwrecked whale
watchers.
Cinemagoers can also look
forward to seeing the award-
winning Videocracy by Swedish-
Italian Erik Gandini about Silvio
Berlusconi’s hold on the Italian
media as well as Daniel
Alfredson’s renderings of two
parts of the bestselling Swedish
Millennium Trilogy, and Mam-
moth, by acclaimed Swedish dir-
ector Lukas Moodysson.
While their themes and
genres are varied, the movies
presented at Nordfest this year
share many features, said
cinema theorist Peter Gavalier,
who has been in charge of the
festival’s programme.
“Scandinavian cinema often
addresses the issue of human
isolation in the modern world,
which is also the case of most
pieces we have chosen for this
edition,” he told The Slovak
Spectator.
As Gavalier further ex-
plained, contemporary Nordic
cinema occupies a very particu-
lar position within the
European film scene.
“It is characterised by an
authentic, far-from-trivial, yet
accessible style, able to explore
universal themes through a
wide variety of genres,” he said.
Gael García Bernal in Mammoth.
Lenka Krajčíková, market-
ing manager at Stoptime, ad-
ded that though Nordic films
are rather complex and there-
fore popular mainly among
film connoisseurs, the com-
mon stereotype that they are
all sad and gloomy is not to be
trusted.
“Scandinavians do have a
great sense of humour, partic-
ularly at unexpected
moments,” she remarked.
“And Slovaks obviously appre-
ciate the atmosphere of Nordic
movies, as the turnout at the
previous editions of Nordfest
was always very high.”
Indeed, more than 2,200
people attended the festival in
2010, with some screenings
having drawn more than 300
viewers.
Krajčíková said she hoped
that the upcoming fourth edi-
tion, which features six more
films than the previous one,
will be even more successful.
“Nothing encourages us
more than seeing a fully
crowded cinema,” she stated.
Agenda looks promising
It seems that this enthusi-
asm for Nordic culture is not a
short-term fluctuation of cli-
mate: cultural programmes
focused on Scandinavia have
been multiplying and
everything suggests they will
continue to do so.
Torgal Stahl, first secret-
ary at the Norwegian Embassy
in Bratislava, said that Norway
has been trying to increase the
presence of his country’s cul-
ture in Slovakia.
It was with this aim in
mind that the embassy re-
cently prepared, for example, a
series of events in 2010 to
commemorate the centennial
of the death of Bjornstjerne
Bjornson, a famous Nobel Prize
winning writer and political
activist as well as two per-
formances by Jan Garbarek, a
world-famous jazz musician.
However, the highlight in
2010 was undoubtedly the
Norwegian royal state visit to
Slovakia, said Stahl.
“Their Majesties and the
presidential couple attended
several cultural events, in-
cluding the opening of an ex-
BUSINESS FOCUS
Photo: Courtesy of Stoptime
hibition about Bjornson,” he
told The Slovak Spectator.
Other major events in-
cluded a Norwegian-Slovak art
workshop in Banská Štiavnica
and Norway’s participation in
Slovakia’s 2010 Socha a objekt
(Sculpture and Object) exhibi-
tion.
“Norway was actually the
principal exhibitor, with 13
Norwegian authors showing
their works in Bratislava,”
Stahl stated.
In the upcoming period,
the embassy is planning to
foster co-operation between
Slovakia’s ÚĽUV folklore mu-
seum and its Norwegian coun-
terpart, with a special focus on
traditional costumes. In addi-
tion, more artists will be in-
vited to take part in the next
edition of Sculpture and Object
to be held in July and August,
and further projects about
Bjornson might be developed.
Finally, the end of 2011 will
be marked by an exhibition on
Norwegian arts and crafts that
will take place in Bratislava.
Aleksi Vakkuri, counsellor
and deputy head of mission at
the Embassy of Finland, said
that the Finnish diplomatic
bureau also tries “to promote
and facilitate cultural co-oper-
ation between Finland and
Slovakia in any way we can”,
adding that due to limited re-
sources, the Finnish embassy
primarily supports existing
initiatives.
Thus, in the past few
months, the Finnish embassy
has, among other things, sup-
ported the One World interna-
tional documentary film fest-
ival, the Inakosť (Otherness)
gay and lesbian film festival,
the New Drama theatre festiv-
al, and the International Fest-
ival of New Puppet Theatre for
Children and Adults.
Vakkuri said that one of
the events that enjoyed the
biggest success last year was
an exhibition entitled “Fire
and Ice: the Finnish Glass
Design Made in Murano”.
Co-organised with the
Slovak Ministry of Culture, the
exhibition featured design
items obtained from the
Finnish Glass Museum as well
as from private collections,
and “turned out to be very
popular and drew many
visitors”, the counsellor re-
marked.
In the next few months,
the embassy will focus its at-
tention on the forthcoming
Ice Hockey World Champion-
ship and its side events,
Vakkuri added.
“Naturally, we will not
neglect other cultural pro-
grammes, but let us hope that
the biggest Finnish-Slovak
event in 2011 will be the one
scheduled on Sunday, May 15
[the gold medal game],” he
somewhat jokingly told The
Slovak Spectator.
In the meantime, those in-
terested can, for instance, ad-
mire Finnish landscapes as
seen by the Austrian photo-
grapher Gerlinde Miesenböck.
Her large-scale photographs
are being showcased at
Bratislava’s Central European
House of Photography until
February 27.
Informal links thrive, too
But diplomats are not alone
in fostering contacts between
Slovaks and the peoples of
Scandinavia; informal net-
works have emerged as well.
A good example is the
Kierkegaard Society in Slov-
akia, established in 2007 by
Roman Králik, an associate
professor and philosopher, to
honour the famous Danish
philosopher’s legacy.
Over the course of its short
existence, the Kierkegaard So-
ciety, based in the western
Slovak town of Šaľa, has co-
operated with some of the
world’s most prestigious re-
search centres and colleges,
including the University of
Toronto, Baylor University
and the American Academy of
Religion, and regularly co-or-
ganises international confer-
ences on Soren Kierkegaard’s
philosophy.
Moreover, Králik started
the project called Acta
Kierkegaardiana, the aim of
which is to produce a ten-
volume series of studies deal-
ing with Kierkegaard’s philo-
sophical thought. So far, four
volumes have been published
as part of the project.
“Our international success
is both a commitment and a
motivation for our future
activities,” Králik told The
Slovak Spectator, adding that
in 2011 alone, four new books
on Kierkegaard will be pub-
lished by his organisation.
“I was delighted to see how
devoted Mr Králik and his team
are to Kierkegaard’s work, and I
will certainly support their
publication plans,” Anita
Hugau, the new Danish am-
bassador to Slovakia, said dur-
ing a visit to Šaľa.
To read an extended
version of this article,
please visit www.spectator.sk
RUUKKI: Firm
plans expansion
Continued from pg 8
Surový and Franeková
listed among the most im-
portant Finnish companies
operating in Slovakia Cramo
SK, Alfaram, Finnforest Slov-
ensko, Ixonos Slovakia,
Metsa Tissue Slovakia -
Tento, Nokia Slovakia,
Ramirent - OTS Bratislava,
Ruukki Slovakia, Terichem,
Vitabalans SK, Itella Inform-
ation, Lindström, Uniters
Slovakia, GMV Invest, UPM-
Kymmene Slovakia, Schet-
elig CE and others.
With regards to burdens
that Finnish investors face
when developing their busi-
ness activities in Slovakia,
Surový and Franeková wrote
that Finnish investors per-
ceive the two countries as
having very similar condi-
tions for doing business but
that Finns expressed con-
cerns about time-consuming
bureaucracy as well as limit-
ations among the labour
force because of the small
size of the Slovak market.
New projects announced
In January Ruukki an-
nounced expansion plans for
its plant in Holíč. It plans to
start operation of a new
automated surface treat-
ment line during the first
TS: Bjornson still
inspires us today
Continued from pg 6
TSS: What do you consider
the most important out-
come of the royal couple’s
visit to Slovakia?
TS: What royal visits do
is create opportunity and
open the ground for Nor-
wegian businesses to get to
know Slovakia and vice
versa, for Slovak businesses
to get to know our busi-
nesses.
Then it is up to them
whether something comes
out of these commercial con-
tacts. As for the royal
couple’s impressions, they
were very impressed with
what they saw. When I was
packing for Christmas and
watching Norwegian televi-
sion I realised that I had
never before heard so much
information about Slovakia
on a Norwegian channel.
His Majesty also men-
tioned his trip to Slovakia
in his New Year’s speech as
well as mentioning the im-
portance of Bjornson for
the country.
A memorandum of un-
derstanding was also
signed during the visit to
define priorities for the use
of EEA/Norway grants for
the upcoming period: cli-
mate change, flood preven-
tion, domestic violence,
quarter of 2012, the SITA
newswire wrote. The €6-mil-
lion project is now in a pre-
paratory phase.
“Installation of the
automatic varnishing line is
an important part of the
company’s strategy in the
region of central and east-
ern Europe,” said Jozef
Mišurec, the director of
Ruukki Slovakia. “It will ex-
tend the production oppor-
tunities of our company in a
fundamental way.”
Ruukki, which supplies
metal-based components,
systems and integrated sys-
tems to the construction and
engineering industries, star-
ted producing cabins in Holič
earlier last year.
Trade statistics
The Slovak-Finnish
trade balance is positive for
Slovakia.
According to preliminary
data from Slovakia’s Statist-
ics Office, goods worth €36.4
million were imported from
Finland between January
and October 2010, making up
0.1 percent of Slovakia’s total
imports.
Exports to Finland
amounted to €104.7 million
and 0.3 percent of Slovakia’s
total exports during the
same period.
and continuing to preserve
cultural heritage are among
the priorities. We will also
continue our scholarship
programme and maintain
cooperation over cross-bor-
der issues.
TSS: Tell us about Bjorn-
stjerne Martinius Bjornson
and what he has meant to
relations between Norway
and Slovakia?
TS: Bjornson was a Nobel
Prize laureate in literature
and also a political activist
and part of his activism 100
years ago was advocacy for
Slovaks’ right to their own
identity, language and cul-
ture. He fought for nations’
right to self-identity and
what he stood for back then
should inspire us even
today. There is a Norwegian
word to describe him:
buldrebasse – meaning a big
man with an impressive
character and when he star-
ted speaking people were
compelled to listen.
As he was a well-known
writer he used this platform
to advocate his political
work. He and his personality
resonated strongly
throughout the royal visit
and I think that even people
in Norway rediscovered
some aspects of his remark-
able life’s work.
 BUSINESS FOCUS / BUSINESS February 7 – 13, 2011 11
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JL: Looking forward to hockey matches JOB OFFERS

Continued from pg 8
TSS: Is the Ice Hockey World
Championship a chance to
promote some tourism links
between Slovakia and Fin-
land?
JL: We are very much
looking forward to April and
May. I have heard that the
tickets for Bratislava are
already sold out and these
were bought first by Slovaks,
then Czechs and thirdly by
Finns. We indeed are expect-
ing hundreds, maybe thou-
sands of tourists from Finland
to follow the matches and I
hope that on May 15 the final
match will be between Fin-
land and Slovakia.
As for tourism, I have seen
more Finnish tourists coming
to Slovakia and their aware-
ness of Slovakia as a tourist
destination is stronger. The
Slovak embassy organised a
Slovak tourism day in Hel-
sinki and it was immensely
popular. What might attract
the Finns? It’s of course the
history, the cultural heritage
of the region and the moun-
tains. Bratislava’s Old Town is
a piece of art. And when Finns
come to Vienna or Budapest
they need to be told that Brat-
islava is close by too. When I
ask Slovaks who have already
visited Finland why they
picked the country, they tell
me that their trip focused on
the whole of Scandinavia, in-
cluding also Denmark and
Sweden and that they took a
boat from Stockholm to Hel-
sinki or Turku. We have a lot
of natural beauty to offer
while Helsinki is a rich cul-
tural capital.
TSS: Culture does work as
one of the best bridges
between countries. What
are the most notable cultur-
al projects organised or sup-
ported by your embassy that
have helped Slovaks to bet-
ter understand Finland?
JL: The annual theatre
festival in Bratislava was de-
voted to Finnish theatre,
which was a big challenge. In
all fields of culture you have
several levels of challenges
when you bring in foreign
art, but theatre is maybe one
of the most challenging
forms of culture to offer, with
a different language and dif-
ferent culture.
The event was a big suc-
cess and I think we created a
lot of connections with the
Slovak theatre community.
In Finland we had an ex-
hibition of Slovak glass design
and at the end of last year we
had an exhibition of Finnish
glass design by two very fam-
ous Finnish designers here in
Bratislava. Then we also have
a very interesting phe-
nomenon: four or five Finnish
singers are studying and hav-
ing their master courses un-
der Slovak Professor Eva
Blahová. She travels regularly
to Finland and to Turku and
we organised a big concert
here last year where the stu-
dents performed.
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Languages: English - advanced and Slovak - advanced
Client Satisfaction Advisor - Nordic
IBM International Services Centre s.r.o. (IT), Bratislava
Min. education: University education (Bachelor‘s degree)
Languages: English - advanced
Market research specialist
Pivovary Topvar (Other areas), Bratislava
Min. education: University education (Bachelor‘s degree)
Languages: English - advanced
Senior Software Engineer
NESS KDC, s.r.o. (Information Technology), Košice
Min. education: University education (Bachelor‘s degree)
Languages: English - advanced
Technical Accountant - German speaking
Swiss Re Business Services (Slovakia) s.r.o. (Shared Service Centers),
Bratislava
Min. education: University education (Bachelor‘s degree)
Languages: English - advanced or German - intermediate

SAP CO-PS Consultant

Accenture, s.r.o. (Information Technology), Bratislava

PROFIT: Reserves for bad loans are cut Min. education: University education (Bachelor‘s degree)
Languages: English - advanced

Continued from pg 1
The banking sector increased its
2010 taxed profit levels by 105 percent,
or by €263.7 million compared with
2009 and profits even exceeded the
level of €508.6 million reached in 2008.
However, the sector’s profits still
lagged behind those recorded for 2006
and 2007, at €590 million and €575.2
million respectively, the NBS reported.
Laznia cited improvement in eco-
nomic conditions in 2010 as being re-
sponsible for the first increase in
banks’ profitability over the past four
years, pointing specifically to two im-
portant factors: an increase in new
loans, particularly among households,
and fewer failed or failing loans.
Laznia said the volume of new
housing loans grew by almost 43 per-
cent in 2010, exceeding the volume of
housing loans in the pre-crisis year of
2008, and that similar-volume in-
creases were registered for other con-
sumer loans which also surpassed the
levels of 2008. The volume of new cor-
porate loans also increased in 2010, by
almost 20 percent.
The second factor that positively af-
fected the 2010 results was a reduction
in the number of failed or failing loans
which was reflected in banks lowering
their reserves for bad or non-perform-
ing loans, Laznia said. NBS reported
banks’ reserves for bad loans decreased
by 19.7 percent, or €93 million, in 2010.
Slovak banks did well in 2010. Photo: Sme
Net fees and commission income,
which increased by 1.5 percent, or €46
million, in 2010 to a level of €450 million,
as well as a 3-percent reduction in operat-
ing costs also contributed to the banks’
better profitability.
The NBS reported that its prelimin-
ary figures showed that net interest in-
come in 2010 reached €1.68 billion, up 7.5
percent, or €117 million, from the previ-
ous year due to the growth in the volume
of loans.
Slovakia’s largest bank, Slovenská
Sporiteľňa (SLSP), a member of the Erste
Group, registered growth last year and it
has estimated that its better revenues
and lower costs will be reflected in
double-digit growth in operating profit.
“With regards to the decrease in costs
of risk, the positive trend reported over
the first nine months of 2010 should also
be mirrored in the full-year results,” said
Štefan Máj, the deputy chairman of
SLSP’s board of directors, as cited by the
SITA newswire.
Slovenská Sporiteľňa’s consolidated
taxed profit for the first nine months of
2010 was €95 million, an increase of 138
percent from the same period in 2009.
Another major bank operating in
Slovakia, VÚB, a member of the Intesa
Sanpaolo international banking group, is
also optimistic about 2010, expecting its
taxed profit to reach around €150 mil-
lion. But this would represent only a
moderate increase of 3 percent compared
with 2009, the SITA newswire wrote in
early January.
Róbert Kubinský, the director of
VÚB’s department for planning and con-
trolling told SITA it was possible to detect
a certain revival in the Slovak economy in
2010 that was reflected in a notable in-
crease in deposits as well as loans.
“Interest income and fees paid to the
bank increased hand-in-hand,” Kubinský
said. “Since we simultaneously managed
to decrease operating costs as well as the
costs of risk compared with 2009, growth
in profit is only a logical outcome of this.”
Kubinský added that the world
economic crisis highlighted even more
the necessity for banks to do business
in an effective, responsible and trans-
parent way.
Group Internal Network Designer
Orange Slovensko, a.s. (Telecommunications), Bratislava
Min. education: University education (Bachelor‘s degree)
Languages: English - advanced
Engineer for Technical Solution Center
ON Semiconductor Slovakia, a.s. (Electrical Engineering), Piešťany
Min. education: University education (Bachelor‘s degree)
Languages: English - advanced
Java developer
SORS Technology s.r.o. (Information Technology), Košice
Min. education: University education (Bachelor‘s degree)
Languages: English - advanced
Business Development Manager
DHL Logistics Slovakia spol.s.r.o. (Transport, logistics), Bratislava
Min. education: University education (Bachelor‘s degree)
Languages: English - advanced
Solution Designer for cloud computing
T-Systems Slovakia s.r.o. (Information Technology), Košice
Min. education: University education (Bachelor‘s degree)
Languages: English - advanced or German - intermediate
Embedded Hardware Design Engineer
ADIXEIN LIMITED (Electrical Engineering), Trenčín region
Min. education: University education (Bachelor‘s degree)
Languages: English - advanced or Slovak - expert (interpreting)
Legal Expert - Contracts
ZUNO BANK AG (Banking, finance), Bratislava
Min. education: University education (Bachelor‘s degree)
Languages: English - advanced
Any interesting job offers
listed above? Find out
more at www.profesia.sk
SP90256/7

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or
C 3573
12 February 7 – 13, 2011
A spinner from Spiš
HISTORY TALKS
AS LATE as the 1950s in some regions of
Slovakia you could still see women spinning
textiles, as shown in this postcard. The lady
is married (as she wears a headscarf) and
comes from the municipality of Plavnica, in
the Šariš region.
Spinning meant making thread by
twisting several thinner strands together.
They were then used for lace, for stitching
and for sewing. According to tradition,
women went to “spinning parties” from
November 1 until the Carnival, or Shrove,
period called fašiangy in Slovak. Women
spun together and thus “spinning parties”
were considered a social occasion. Usually,
women and girls gathered to do this work,
segregated from men. Girls tended to take
part from the age of 14 or 15; they were thus
also considered adults from this age.
For the girls, these parties were a good
chance to meet boys. For two days in the
week, on Tuesdays and on Thursdays,
young men were allowed to come and
watch the girls. During these meetings,
they often played games with romantic as well as civil authorities tried to prohibit
overtones. Later in the evenings, the com- these meetings from the 16th till the 19th
pany usually danced and sometimes the century.
youths even slept in the house that hosted
the spinning parties. Predictably, religious
ADVERTISEMENT
Anna
Netrebko
G r a n di o s e h ig h lig ht
of the ball season
in S lovakia!
P r e s t i g i o u s c u l t u r a l e v e n t w i t h t h e w o r l d s t a r s o f o p e r a!
Tickets available at:
SND Box offices and www.ticketportal.sk
HOTLINE: +421 2 204 72 297
General partner: Main partners:
Partners:
SP 90250/6
In cooperation with the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute
CULTURE
Western SLOVAKIA
Bratislava
l THAI BOXING: Hanuman
Cup 7 – A professional Thai
boxing competition organised
by the Hanuman Gym and the
Bratislava Club of Thai Boxing.
Starts: February 13, 17:00;
DK Zrkadlový háj, Rovni-
ankova 3. Admission: €10. Tel:
02/6383-6764; www.kzp.sk.
Bratislava
l CLASSICAL MUSIC: Moyze-
sovci v galérii - The Moyzes
Quartet give their first con-
certs from the cycle Music and
Paintings in the Slovak Na-
tional Gallery, this time play-
ing Posledné kvartetá / The
Last Quartets, the final string
quartets: The Fourth String
Quartet in B Major by J. L.
Bella, the Third Quartet in B
Major by J. Brahms, as well as
the Quintet for Clarinet and
Two Violins, Viola and Cello by
C. M. von Weber.
Starts: February 8, 19:00;
Vodné kasárne / Water Bar-
racks, SNG, Rázusovo nábrežie
2. Admission: €5. Tel: 02/2047-
5233; www.filharm.sk.
Bratislava
l ICE HOCKEY: Slovakia Cup –
This ice hockey tournament, a
dress-rehearsal for the World
This postcard dates from the 1940s. Championship being held
By Branislav Chovan later in Bratislava and Košice,
will see the national teams of
Belarus, Switzerland, Ger-
many and Slovakia face off
against each other in four
matches over two days.
Starts: February 11-12,
13:00 and 17:00; renovated O.
Nepela winter sports stadium.
Admission: €15 for both
matches on each of the days.
Tel: 02/5293-3321; www.ticket-
portal.sk.
Bratislava
l EXHIBITION: Grand prix
architektů 2010 – An exhibi-
Erwin
tion showing not just the win-
ners of the Czech Architecture
Prize for 2010, chosen by an in-
Schrott
ternational jury, but all 71
works that were entered for it.
Open: Mon-Fri 10:00-16:00
until February 13; Design Fac-
tory, Bottova 2. Admission:
free. Tel: 02/5020-1717; www.
www.snd.sk
designfactory.sk.
Bratislava-Vajnory
l EXHIBITION: 15 rokov galérie
2011, 7pm
March 5th,
lding of SND
The new bui
Most popular and glamorous diva, operatic soprano
A n n a N e t r e b ko
Great operatic bass-baritone IN THE Czech Centre in Rázusova 13 in Košice, the exhibition
Erwin Schrott Česká republika - rozprávková krajina hradov a zámkov / The
Organizers: Slovak National Theatre
in cooperation with the organizer
Czech Republic - Fairytale Country of Castles and Mansions of-
A prominent operatic tenor of Crystal Wing
José Cura fers models of the most famous Czech castles complete with a
Crystal
Wing photographic exhibition of the monuments recorded on the
UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list. Until February 18, visitors
can admire the exhibits for free on Mondays through Thursdays
Media partners:
from 8:30 to 12:00 and from 13:30 to 16:30, and on Fridays from
8:30 to 13:00. For more information, please call 055/6231-801-2,
or visit www.czechcentres.cz/kosice.
N A M E
Monday Tuesday
Weather updates and forecasts from across Slovakia Vanda Zoja
Lejla
can now be found at www.spectator.sk.
February 7 February 8
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 2. REPREZENTAČNÝ ple(b)s na bitúnku / 2nd Representat-
ive Ball (Plebs) at the Slaughterhouse is a masquerade ball by the
Elledanse dance theatre and school. The programme includes
Zlatý meniskus dance united, Credance, elledanse, Hot marin-
ades acrobats and much more. It takes place on Friday, February
11, at 20:00 in the T & D House in Miletičova 17/B in Bratislava, for
€9.90. For more information, please visit www.elledanse.sk.
Typo & Ars – 15 Years of the
Typo & Ars Gallery – This gal-
lery celebrates its first 15 years
by showing a review of works
by its founders: Viera Čepcová
– jewels; and Peter Čepec – oil
paintings and enamels.
Open: Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00
(but please call ahead to ar-
range a visit) until February
20; Typo & Ars, Roľnícka 349.
Admission: free. Tel: 0903/
477-074; www.typoars.sk.
Nitra
l EXHIBITION: Ver mi, nie
dvermi! - Viliam Slaminka –
This young Slovak artist, who
graduated from the Academy
of Fine Arts in 2010, draws in-
spiration from comic strips,
pop culture and movies.
Open: Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00
until March 20; Galéria mla-
dých - Nitrianska galéria,
Župné námestie 3. Admission:
€0.50-€0.70. Tel: 037/6579-
641-3; www.nitrianska-
galeria.sk.
Central SLOVAKIA
Banská Bystrica
l LIVE MUSIC: Inekafe Tour
2011 – The first tour through
clubs after six years by this
popular Slovak band stems
from a single concert that
Photo: TASR
D A Y F E B R U A R Y
Wednesday Thursday
Zdenko Gabriela
February 9 February 10
Photo: Courtesy of Elledanse
turned into an enormous suc-
cess.
Starts: February 8, 20:00;
Spoločenská sála of the Eu-
ropa Cultural Centre, Nám.
Slobody 3. Admission: €15. Tel:
02/5293-3321; www.ticket-
portal.sk.
Rimavská Sobota
l EXHIBITION: Súčasní ar-
chitekti z Rimavskej Soboty /
Contemporary Architects
from Rimavská Sobota – This
exhibition offers a selection of
works by five young local nat-
ives: E. Klaubert, M. Kolár, J.
Várady, J. Fazekašová and K.
Szabó. Their hometown is the
point of origin and joining
point for all of them.
Open: Mon-Sat 9:00-17:00
until February 28; Mestská
galéria, Hlavné námestie 5.
Admission: €0.70. Tel: 047/
5624-351; www.warhol.sk/
mgrs.
Eastern SLOVAKIA
Poprad
l EXHIBITION: Ako to v zime
dakedy bolo / How it Once
Used to Be in Winter – This ex-
hibition documents former
working habits in winter, the
traditions of the “Witches’
Days” and also presents folk-
lore clothing.
Open: Tue-Fri 9:00-16:00,
Sat-Sun 12:00-16:00 until Feb-
ruary 20; Podtatranské mú-
zeum, Vajanského 72/4. Ad-
mission: €1-€2. Tel: 052/7721
-874; www.muzeumpp.sk.
Kežmarok
l EXHIBITION: Dotyk anjela /
The Touch of an Angel - Eva
Mišáková-Ábelová – The
catchy title of this exhibition
stems from a painting of the
same name by Mišáková-
Ábelová, who presents her
works for the second time in
this gallery. Since then, she
has enhanced her original
themes, techniques and
choice of colour.
Open: Tue-Fri 12:00-18:00,
Sat 10:00-13:00 until February
17; galéria U anjela, Starý trh
53. Admission: free. Tel:
052/4522-153; www.galeria-
unajela.sk.
By Zuzana Vilikovská
2 0 1 1
Friday Saturday Sunday
Dezider Perla Arpád
February 11 February 12 February 13