IN SHORT
SIS has new head
President Andrej Kiska ap-
pointed Anton afrik as the
new head of the Slovak In-
formation Service (SIS) in-
telligence agency. The
nominee of the Slovak Na-
tional Party replaced Jn
Valko who has been at the
helm of SIS since May 2012.
Intruder released
The police released the
Czech man whom they de-
tained after he had intruded
at the Presidential Palace in
late June. He is being in-
vestigated at large and faces
one to five years in prison.
Slovaks abroad decline
The number of people liv-
ing abroad and claiming
Slovak nationality is in de-
cline. The dwindling fig-
ures, however, might not
indicate that the number of
Slovak speakers in foreign
countries is falling as they
report no nationality at all,
said Vladimr Skalsk,
chair of the World Associ-
ation of Slovaks Living
Abroad.
Land buys to change
Slovakia will accept the
critical comments from the
European Commission and
change the rules on for-
eigners acquiring land ad-
opted by former agricul-
ture minister ubomr
Jahntek in 2014. The cur-
rent conditions are dis-
criminatory according to
Brussels.
Success at EURO 2016
Slovakia left the competi-
tion at the EURO 2016
championship after losing
to Germany 0:3.The coun-
try, however, recorded his-
torical success at the EURO
after it advanced to the
round of 16 from the third
place in its B group.
For more news from Slovakia
go to www.spectator.sk.
No-confidence votes postponed
BY MICHAELA TERENZANI
Spectator staff
TWO major no-confidence votes will
loom over the Slovak parliament over
the summer recess after ruling coali-
tion MPs obstructed the opening of
sessions that were meant to include
confidence votes in Interior Minister
Robert Kalik and Prime Minister
Robert Fico.
Parliamentary obstructions are
part of parliamentary democracy too,
Deputy Speaker Andrej Hrniar told
the Sme daily as not enough MPs were
present.
While 76 MPs are required as a
quorum for a parliamentary session to
be opened, the ruling coalition only
Bratislava offered a number of luminous events during the night before the beginning of its EU Council presidency, which
began on July 1.
Completion of Mochovce is closer
BY JANA LIPTKOV
Spectator staff
THE ENERGY generator Slovensk
Elektrrne (SE) is advancing towards
the completion of the third and fourth
units of the nuclear power plant in
Mochovce in southern Slovakia. In late
June it announced completion of con-
struction works at the third unit to be
followed by tests.
We are very pleased to announce
the successful completion of assembly
of the internal elements of unit 3s re-
provided enough MPs to meet the
quorum if all the opposition MPs were
present in the parliament. This was not
the case at any of the four attempts
over the course of two days, July 6 and
July 7.
Both sessions are expected to re-
sume in September. Meanwhile,
however, the opposition has promptly
collected signatures under a new pe-
tition to hold yet another, separate
vote about no confidence in the prime
minister.
The Kalik vote
Kalik was to originally face the
no-confidence vote on the last day of
June. Speaker of Parliament Andrej
Danko of the ruling coalitions Slovak
National Party (SNS) however, suspen-
ded the session indefinitely, arguing
actor, which is the heart of a power
plant, said Nicola Cotugno, Chairman
of the Board of Directors and General
Director of SE.
In the meantime John Clark, after
having worked for almost five years for
the Italian energy concern Enel in Rus-
sia, was appointed to manage the final
works on the third and fourth units of
Mochovce.
While his very clear task here is to
complete Mochovce and transfer it to
operations, he lists the Fukushima
disaster and consequent additional
changes to the project as reasons why
the project was not completed on
time.
Parliamentary obstructions are
part of parliamentary democracy
too. So we decided to make such
an obstruction.
Deputy Parliaments Speaker
Andrej Hrniar
that a banner that the opposition used
during the parliaments session in the
plenum was procured unlawfully.
Danko decided to focus on updat-
ing parliamentary rules first, to clarify
how banners should be used in the
parliament and what clothes MPs
Photo: TASR
Changing the basic design of a
nuclear power plant halfway through
the construction is not a simple task
and it has to be done very accurately
and that takes time, said Clark.
This also increases the price tag of
the whole project. When SE launched
the project back in 2008, costs were
calculated at 2.8 billion. Now the
budget is 4.6 billion and this is not the
final sum yet.
The latest SEs plan for Mochovce is
to put the third unit in operation in 2017
and the fourth unit one year later.
To read the interview with John Clark,
please go to pg 4.
should be wearing for parliamentary
sessions.
The suspended session was then re-
convened for July 6 but was postponed
again with 81 coalition votes, this time
to the September session, based on a
proposal by Danko. He used several of
the international activities of parlia-
ment connected with Slovakias pres-
idency of the EU Council in his argu-
ments.
The opposition slammed his de-
cision shouting, Shame! Shame! and
suggested the parliamentary man-
dates and immunity committee
should discipline Danko for the sus-
pension of the session. The committee
met and refused this course of action
on that same day, the TASR newswire
reported.
See VOTE pg 2
Candidates
for judges
refused
again
IN A REPEATED motion, President
Andrej Kiska refused to fill three Con-
stitutional Court vacancies by reject-
ing all five hopefuls: Eva Fulcov,
Juraj Sopoliga, Miroslav uri, Jana
Lakov and Mojmr Mamojka.
Requirements for Constitutional
Court judges highly exceed regular
requirements that apply to general
courts in terms of expertise and so-
cietal acceptance, Kiska claimed.
These requirements cannot be
met by applicants who prior to se-
curing their nomination have never,
for instance, displayed interest in
constitutional law, protection of
constitutionality and fundamental
rights and freedoms whether in
their professional history, or in aca-
demic environment, Kiska argued,
as quoted by the TASR newswire.
At the moment, the Court is not
fully staffed, as its 13-member senate
still lacks three judges. Thus, the
number of candidates for constitu-
tional judges elected by the ruling
Smer party whom Kiska refused to
appoint has increased to seven, the
Sme daily wrote.
The Constitutional Court already
once told the president that he is
breaching the constitution by such
actions. I had expected that he will
not repeat such a mistake twice,
head of the constitutional-legal com-
mittee of parliament Rbert Madej
(Smer) commented.
In 2014, Kiska rejected five out of
six candidates for three Constitu-
tional Court judge vacancies, who
were green-lighted by the parlia-
ment.
Compiled by Spectator staff
2 July 11 24, 2016 NEWS

Pursuit of better education lingers
TEACHERS fighting for bet-
ter conditions in education
returned to the streets on
July 1, the same day as Slov-
akia kicked off its presidency
over the EU Council.
Their aim to approach
the Reduta building, where
the official ceremony was
held was, however,
thwarted by another event.
The protest in Bratislava
was to draw attention to the
promises breached by
politicians, lack of adequate
salaries for teachers and re-
commendations from both
the European Commission
and the Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) in
education that have been
largely ignored.
A crowd of approxim-
ately 500 discontented
teachers gathered in Bratis-
lava.
On the occasion of
Slovakias taking up the
presidency of the Council of
the EU wed like to point out
to our government but also
to the governments of other
EU-member states once
again that something isnt
right here, said Branislav
Koan of the Initiative of
Slovak Teachers (ISU), as
quoted by the TASR news-
wire.
Koan believes that the
government has ignored
calls by the EC and OECD to
increase financial alloca-
tions for education.
The teachers originally
intended to gather close to
the Reduta building in
downtown Bratislava where
the opening ceremonies took
place, but a small company
that publishes the hunting
magazine Lovu Zdar marred
their efforts. It had an-
nounced meetings at almost
all the large public spaces in
the surrounding area, the
Sme daily wrote.
The magazine staff did
not seem to be aware of the
meetings, nor did anyone
appear in the squares booked
for this event between 8:00
and 19:00, Sme reported.
Pressure mounts as
protests continue
BY ROMAN CUPRIK
Spectator staff
AS ORGANISERS of the July 4
protests calling on Interior
Minister Robert Kalik to
resign looked at Freedom
Square in Bratislava, they
worried that the issue would
not be interesting enough to
persuade people to come. It
would be uncomfortable to
stand in the heat and the
square does not provide much
shade.
When my buddies and I
started to build the podium at
16:00 we were thinking
whether this was the right
day, Ordinary People and In-
dependent Personalities
(OaNO) MP Jozef Viskupi
said at the beginning of his
speech.
Some 2,000 to 3,000 people
were listening to him which
means that the protest still People want Interior Minister Robert Kalik to leave his post. Photo: Sme
lacks mass appeal, but that the
numbers did not fall in com- and Freedom and Solidarity front of the Bonaparte apart- high. The confessed links
parison with the previous (SaS), and they are pushing for ment complex where Fico lives. between Kalik and
protest on June 26. Moreover, Kalik to resign for allegedly I have to admit that Im Baternk motivate people to
the opposition for the first time covering up tax fraud in- surprised by those numbers, attend, according to political
organised a simultaneous volving businessman Ladislav Focus polling agency head marketer Radovan Choleva. He
protest in Koice which drew a Baternk. They also want Martin Slosiarik told The Slov- added that opposition parties
similar number of people. Prime Minister Robert Fico to ak Spectator. also managed to sell their
The protests were organ- resign for covering Kaliks New disclosures in the protests to people.
ised for a third Monday in a row role in this case. The first Baternk case have helped
by opposition parties OaNO protest was held on June 20 in keep the protest numbers See RALLY pg 9

VOTE: Opposition slams obstructions

Education is not in good shape, teachers say.
EU leaders should overcome fear
LEADERS of the European
Unions member states have
to come up with substantial
answers to the loss of confid-
ence in the EU by European
citizens. Otherwise, it would
lead to the rise of populism,
said Slovak Prime Minister
Robert Fico in his July 6
speech to mark the start of
Slovakia presidency of the
EU Council in the European
Parliament.
It is necessary to over-
come the fear of political
leaders, but also that of the
people, which triggers sep-
aratist forces, contributes to
fragmentation and shakes
the EUs institutional basis
and European values and
ideals, Fico added.
People demand new
trust, he said, as quoted by
the EU Observer website,
adding that the EU cannot
only focus on crisis manage-
ment.
During the informal
summit of 27 leaders in Brat-
Photo: TASR
islava scheduled for Septem-
ber 16 they will have to dis-
cuss the long-term vision for
the EU, Fico continued. He
warned against a business as
usual statement coming out
of the Bratislava summit,
which would only prove the
eurosceptics right.
The EU needs to be more
flexible, more responsive to
diversity, and it should get rid
of the stamp of elitism and be
more understandable for cit-
izens, who perceive it as di-
vorced from their reality and
everyday problems, Fico went
on. The UK vote was a con-
firmation of this, he added.
Despite the pro-EU
speech by Fico, the leader of
the conservative European
Peoples Party group Manfred
Weber in a following debate
reminded the house that
there was a tone of populism
in the recent Slovak elec-
tions.
Compiled by Spectator staff
Continued from pg 1
The vote, now to take place in
September, would have been the second
no-confidence vote that Kalik faced in
the course of a month. The opposition
already tried to remove the minister in a
vote on June 7 over his alleged connec-
tions and deals with businessman Ladis-
lav Baternk, but failed.
You are aiming to destruct the Slov-
ak presidency, Fico said on June 30 in
parliament, as quoted by Sme, and again
accused the opposition of spreading the
politics of hate.
Raid at Baternks
Kaliks case pertains to the excess-
ive VAT refunds granted to Baternks
firm BL-202 which bought and sold sev-
en apartments in the Five Star Residence
complex. Baternk reportedly bought
them for 12 million. The company then
applied for a VAT refund of 2 million and
the state paid it out, despite suspicions
that the transaction was fictitious. The
state later paid an additional 6 million in
VAT refunds and saw no reason to verify
them.
In further development, the assist-
ant of opposition MP Jozef Rajtr of Free-
dom and Solidarity (SaS), Filip Rybani,
took documents from the Tatra Banka
bank which show that 260,000 arrived to
Kaliks account from the B.A. Haus
company, a firm operated by Baternk
until October 2013. Similar payments ar-
rived also to account of former transport
minister Jn Poiatek who left politics in
mid April.
Later still the media reported that also
former defence minister Martin Glv and
two prosecutors assigned to deal with the
Rybani case lived in apartments in a
building owned by Baternk on Tupho authorised by Danko to lead the session,
street in Bratislava.
One day before the no-confidence vote
session was opened, the police raided
Baternks premises in Bratislava. The
opposition and some commentators have
suggested this could have been timed to
calm the public outrage before the no-
confidence vote.
Fico to face vote
After the session on Kalik was first Baternk scandal. The poll was conduc-
suspended on June 30, the opposition
promptly collected enough signatures
under its petition to hold a no-confidence
vote in the prime minister too.
The opposition SaS and OaNO ar-
gue that with his attitude to the
Baternk case and his refusal to dis-
miss Kalik, Fico legitimises corrupt
behaviour. They also pointed out that the
prime minister still lives in a flat owned
by Baternk.
That session was originally sched-
uled for July 6, to start before the re-
convened Kalik-related one, but was
postponed first for the day after, and later
for September, after a controversy arose
between two deputy parliaments speak-
ers, Sies Hrniar and the opposition SaS opposite and 16.6 percent do not know.
Lucia uri Nicholsonov.
At the second attempt on July 7, with
Nicholsonov as presiding speaker she
began the session without counting the
attendance through the voting device.
She argued that there were more than 76
MPs present in the plenum, based on the
attendance list. Later she suspended the
session until one hour later, while
Hrniar, who claims that he was the one
suspended the session indefinitely.
Ousting Kalik
Meanwhile, the opposition contin-
ues organising protests in the streets of
Bratislava and Koice and public opinion
appears to be unfavourable to Kalik too.
Almost half of the respondents in a Polis
polling agencys telephone poll believe
Kalik should resign because of the
ted for the SITA newswire between June
25 and July 1 on a sample of 1,433 re-
spondents and asked Do you think Robert
Kalik should resign because of the
Baternk scandal?
Of those polled, 49 percent answered
Yes, 28.2 percent think that Kalik
should not resign, and 22.8 percent did not
know.
The poll also asked people whether
Fico should resign. In this case, 34.9 per-
cent were for his resignation, 44.5 per-
cent were against and another 20.6 per-
cent did not know. In addition, 74.4 per-
cent of respondents think that the police
and prosecutorial bodies are under polit-
ical influence, while 9 percent claim the
In the case of the investigation of the
Baternk scandal, 53.5 percent of re-
spondents believe it has come under the
influence of government, while 24.3 per-
cent do not believe it and 22.2 could not
decide, SITA wrote.
www.spectator.sk
Governments 100 days:
No concrete changes yet
BY MICHAELA
TERENZANI & RADKA
MINARECHOV
Spectator staff
NO-CONFIDENCE votes, street
protests, final preparations for
Slovakias first-ever EU Coun-
cil presidency, and the prime
minister operated on. Only few
governments have had such a
variety of difficulties to deal
with during their first hun-
dred days in office as the third
government of Robert Fico.
The coalition parties Smer,
Slovak National Party (SNS),
Most-Hd, and Sie together
control 81 MPs in the parlia-
ment of 150. Originally there
were three more MPs from Sie
and one more from Most-Hd,
who however left over dis-
agreement with their parties
joining the ruling coalition in
its present composition.
A rough start
The very way the cabinet
emerged could be perceived as
problematic. Most-Hd and
Sie joined Smer and SNS to
form the ruling coalition. They
provoked remorse among
some of their voters, and to
some extent also surprise
among observers. None of the
parties that have in the past
profiled themselves as opposi-
tion to Smer have actually
joined Smer in government
until now.
This has had fatal con-
sequences for the junior coali-
tion party Sie of Radoslav
Prochzka, which has lost
three of its MPs and a large
portion of its membership over
disagreement with joining the
Smer-led government. Even
the remaining leaders of the
party have experienced dis-
cord and by the time the 100
days of the government had
passed on July 1, Prochzka
had lost both his closest col-
laborators, Miroslav Beblav
and Andrej Hrniar (in two
separate developments). Ob-
servers of the local political
scene deem the party practic-
ally dead now.
The start of the govern-
ments term was marked by
the alarming health condition
of Prime Minister Robert Fico,
who actually had heart sur-
gery shortly after the govern-
ment was formed. Only days
after his surgery, the parlia-
ments speaker and head of ju-
nior ruling SNS, Andrej Danko,
also underwent surgery at the
oncologic institute.
And finally, one of the
governments key ministers,
Interior Minister Robert
Kalik, has faced accusa-
tions of being linked to a ma-
jor VAT fraud scandal.
The Baternk case has after the minister introduces
proved more than just a short-
lived episode and there is still
Coalition leaders sign their agreement. They didnt know they were in for a rough start. Photo: Sme
considerable pressure from the
opposition as well as the third
sector and citizens in the
streets for the minister to step
down. Kalik faced a no-
confidence vote in the parlia-
ment during the first 100 days,
and another parliamentary
session with the same pur-
pose started on June 30, but
was suspended.
No concrete changes yet
Education and health care
were highlighted among the
most problematic sectors dur-
ing the election campaign, and
any government that emerged
from the election would be
under pressure to make those
two areas its priorities.
Filling the post of the
health minister has been in-
deed the most challenging in
the cabinet. In the end, the de-
cision was left to the senior
coalition party Smer, which
chose to fill it with a non-
partisan candidate, a skilled
manager and former head of
the state postal company,
Tom Drucker.
The minister has been
dealing mainly with person-
nel changes so far, and pa-
tients have not felt any real
change yet, the Sme daily
wrote in its analysis. The
Health-Care Surveillance
Authority (DZS) head
Monika Painkov and her
deputy Martin Senk, who
had been linked to the major
cronyism suspicions in
health care, were removed
from their posts. Overpriced
tenders, the main source of
corruption scandals in the
sector, should be prevented
equipped, and to restore the
centralised procurement of
health-care technology, ex-
NEWS
pected to start in July, as re-
ported by Sme.
No concrete steps that
would change circumstances
for patients in Slovak hospit-
als and ambulances have been
put in place yet. The ministry
is still planning to propose
new waiting times for surger-
ies, and changes in fees, both
planned to be proposed by the
end of this year.
In education, despite sev-
eral protests and also a gener-
al strike which took place at the
beginning of 2016, signific-
antly changing the course of
the pre-election campaign,
teachers have not seen their
demands met 100 days after the
new government took over.
The teachers, for example,
called for higher salaries
which are currently much
lower than the average of oth-
er professions requiring uni-
versity education. Though the
parliament already approved
and the president signed the
law increasing their salaries by
6 percent as of September 1, the
sums requested by the teach-
ers representatives are much
higher.
The salaries in education
between the years 2016-2020
will increase by a total of 31.3
percent, on which it will al-
locate altogether 1.084 bil-
lion from the state budget, ac-
cording to the Education Min-
istrys statement provided to
The Slovak Spectator.
Higher salaries, however,
are not the only request of
teachers representatives.
They also call for increasing
the funds for education by
some 400 million annually,
so all schools can be well-
constructive and factual,
old rules concerning the cred-
it system which allows teach-
ers to increase their wages via
various bonuses.
In response to the current
state, the teachers celeb-
rated the first 100 days of new
government with a protest in
Bratislava on July 1.
A tired government?
The opposition slammed
the government for its per-
formance during the initial
100 days of its term, labeling it
tragic and claiming that the
darkness of Meiarism has
returned to Slovakia, the TASR
newswire reported.
Beblav, who left Sie after
it joined the coalition with
Smer, sees the government as
drained of any energy.
A new government
everywhere in the world
brings new hope and energy
and people feel like many
things can change, Beblav
said. From this perspective we
can see that this government is
tired and exhausted at the very
beginning of its mandate, and
brings neither hope, nor en-
ergy nor significant ideas.
Coalition parties on the
other hand say they are happy
with the results of the govern-
ment so far.
The opposition did not
give us 100 minutes even, let
alone 100 days, Most-Hd
leader Bla Bugr said, as
quoted by the Pravda daily.
Bugr claims the ruling coali-
tion is stable and there are no
internal problems that would
undermine it. SNS head Danko
agrees with Bugr on that.
Sies Prochzka also the preparations for Slov-
claims that the circumstances
inside the ruling coalition are
cially personnel capacities of but they have failed. The
based on correct partnership
relations.
July 11 24, 2016 3
Unconvincing,
analysts say
BY RADKA
MINARECHOV
Spectator staff
the relatively weak legislat-
ive activities of the minis-
tries.
Pavol Babo (PB): It was a
particularly turbulent period
and probably one of the least
THE RULING coalition has calm first 100 days of a gov-
failed to meet expectations, ernment since 1998. It has to
especially regarding the fight be a disappointment for all
against corruption, political coalition members.
analysts agree. Moreover, it is Miroslav Kus (MK):
not very probable that the Unconvincing, as it was not
cabinet will adopt any signi- expected such a government
ficant changes during its would be formed. We expec-
current tenure. ted something else, but the
The Slovak Spectator parties have changed their
spoke with Grigorij roles. It was really unfore-
Mesenikov from the Insti- seen and it raised big emo-
tute for Political Affairs (IVO), tions and responses which
Aneta Vilgi and Pavol Babo persist. But this is what
(both from the school of politics is about: it is an art of
political science at Comenius compromise, an art of pos-
University in Bratislava), and sibility. And this is what the
political analyst Miroslav governments members want
Kus. to present.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS): TSS: Are there signals that
How do you evaluate the the government may adopt
first 100 days of the new some significant changes
government? during the rest of its ten-
Grigorij Mesenikov ure?
(GM): I consider it very un- GM: I havent noticed
convincing. During the first anything which would prove
100 days the government has the governments will to deal
not grasped its declared pri- with the challenges, even the
orities, except for the presid- most urgent ones. Though
ency over the EU Council and the justice minister [Lucia
the Euro-Atlantic integration itansk] prepares laws that
agenda. In other spheres it will have a positive impact,
has not been very successful. the general attitude of the
The fact that its biggest government in this sphere is
at odds with it because the
way how the government
takes hold of it has been criti-
The biggest change has cised. To be more specific: the
not been made: Kalik government can adopt good
laws in judiciary, but wheth-
has not been dismissed er there will actually be a
from his post, which change... We can see how the
situation does not change in
was the idea of a new the Baternk case.
trend which should have AV: No. The ruling coali-
tion could have adopted fun-
emerged. damental changes particu-
larly in the approach to polit-
ical corruption, but we have
Miroslav Kus not seen any changes yet.
Thus it is improbable (at least
in this sphere) there will be
any change in attitude of the
political problem pertains to current coalition members.
its feeble performance in PB: There have been cer-
fighting corruption has tain indications of significant
overshadowed also the steps changes in the governments
that may have been perceived programme statement, but
as satisfactory or at least not until now we have witnessed
at odds with what they have more vigorous steps only in
declared when the govern- health care. Otherwise, the
ment was formed. cabinet members and coali-
Aneta Vilgi (AV): From tion politicians had to defend
the point of governments themselves in the Kalik
activities as a dull start, case. If they cannot solve this
from the point of the internal problem in a satisfying way,
affairs as a particularly tur- they can hardly persuade the
bulent period during which public they are serious about
several public protests have reforms in any field of public
taken place (teachers and the politics.
Baternk case) and three no- MK: The biggest change
confidence votes against has not been made: Kalik
cabinet members have been has not been dismissed from
carried out. It should be said his post, which was the idea
that the current government of a new trend which should
started its term under very have emerged. It was expec-
difficult conditions: during ted that the new powers in
the coalition, like Most-Hd
akias presidency over the EU and Sie, would be able to
Council. It burdened espe- push these changes through,
the state administration government was formed un-
which might have resulted in der strong influence of Fico.
4 July 11 24, 2016 BUSINESS

FinMin wants to change bank levy
THE SLOVAK Banking Asso-
ciation opposes the plan of
the Finance Ministry to
change the special tax levy
on banks.
The Finance Ministry
proposes to change the cur-
rent law on the bank levy in a
way that doubles the special
tax banks should pay in 2017.
The revision is now under
inter-departmental review.
The government imposed
the special tax levy on banks
to collect money for tackling
a potential crisis in the
banking sector. Banks have
been paying it since 2012. The
levy was designed to be a
temporary measure and
should end once banks have
paid a total of 1 billion.
The payment scheme was
proposed as degressive. Now
the Finance Ministry pro-
poses keeping the rate banks
pay, i.e. 0.2 percent on cor-
porate and private individu-
als deposits while it was
scheduled to decrease to 0.1
percent as of 2017 as banks
would have already contrib-
uted more than 750 million.
The Finance Ministry
cites as a reason for its pro-
posal the need to increase the
amount of money to be used
for tackling a potential crisis.
The aim of the draft re-
vision is to secure that the
banking sector contributes
accordingly to financing of
costs for solution of possible
financial crises and in order
that reliance upon taxpayers
money is removed, writes
the ministry in its proposal.
The Slovak Banking As-
sociation (SBA) does not
know of any new reasons
that would justify the neces-
sity for such a burden.
The increase of the so-
called bank levy represents a
potential risk for the stability
of the domestic banking sec-
tor, endangers the ability of
banks to finance the growth
of the economy and worsens
the competitiveness of Slovak
banks on the EU single mar-
ket, said Ladislav Unovsk,
SBA executive director, as
cited by the SITA newswire.
Completing Mochovce
BY MAREK PORACK &
JANA LIPTKOV
Spectator staff
WHILE the current world is
obsessed with renewable en-
ergy John Clark believes in a
mix of energy resources and
that nuclear energy, as a viable
and reliable source of energy,
has its place in it.
After having worked for al-
most five years for the Italian
energy concern Enel in Russia,
Clark was recently appointed to
manage the final works on the
third and fourth units of the
nuclear power plant Mochovce
of Slovensk Elektrrne (SE).
The Slovak Spectator (TSS): In
what condition was the
project of completion of the John Clark (r) reporting about completion works at Mochovce on June 24. Photo: Jana Liptkov
third and fourth units of the
nuclear power plant in are now very advanced, al- tion of the cables, and all the 2018. But our most important
Mochovce when you took though sometimes it is hard to testing and commissioning we consideration is the plant has
over? understand when you are ac- have to do before we can do cold to operate reliably and safely
John Clark (JC): I only tually on the site because it and hot hydrostatic tests, fuel for the following 60 years of its
came here three months ago, seems that there is still a lot of loading and then really start life cycle. We dont want to get
but I have had the opportunity work going but most of them with the reactor. into the situation where we say
to visit the site several times are minor finishing works. So OK, we put it into operation one
even since 2007 [Ed. note: the at the end of May we had 92.5 TSS: When will the remain- or two months earlier if we do
completion of Mochovce third percent of completion of unit 3, ing units of Mochovce be put not have the understanding
and fourth units started in which means construction is into operation? that we can achieve those ob-
2008]. So between then and basically completed. Major JC: The plan for unit 3 sees jectives of reliability and safety
now at least I have been able to things that we have to com- the unit generating energy in for the future.
see the evolution of the activ- plete are the installation of re- 2017 and for unit 4 we want to
ities on the site. On unit 3 we maining cables and connec- have energy generating in See JC pg 9

Triblavina still prompts disagreement

Farmers keep complaining about milk prices.
Farmers to get milk support
PRIMARY milk producers
will receive 33 million in
state aid this year, the Slovak
Cabinet announced on July 4.
The state financial aid is
a sort of bandaid in order to
improve the situation in the
dairy sector a little bit, but
Another auto supplier arrives in Nitra
THE PLAN of the British car
manufacturer Jaguar Land
Rover to build a brand new
plant in Nitra has drawn an-
other sub-contractor to Nitra.
Spanish company Gestamp
announced in early July that
it wants to build a new car
Power consumption up 4% in 2015
SLOVAKIAS total consump-
tion of electricity increased
by 4 percent to 29,579 GWh in
2015, a state report concern-
ing energy supply security
for 2015 reads, the TASR
newswire reported.
The consumption in-
creased after three years of
decline.
Photo: Sme
not completely, said Slovak
Association of Primary Milk
Producers chairman Alexan-
der Pastorek, as reported by
the TASR newswire.
Farmers keep complain-
ing about declining purchase
prices of raw milk.
components plant in the Ni-
tra Industrial Park North, the
TASR newswire reported.
It plans to invest 100
million and employ up to 400
people.
Production is scheduled
to start in mid-2018.
Last year several small
bio-gas power plants were
put into operation while the
downward trend in con-
sumption of heating contin-
ued thanks to ongoing insu-
lation of buildings.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
BY PETER ADAMOVSK
Spectator staff
CONSTRUCTION work on the highway just
north of Bratislava has stagnated for more
than a year over disagreements between
authorities and residents of the adjacent
municipalities. While Transport Minister
Roman Brecely has introduced a proposal
to build a five-lane unified road, citizens
insisted on the original six-lane concept
with more connections to surrounding
roads.
The civic association OZ Triblavina,
which represents municipalities, has pe-
titioned to continue the project in accord-
ance with the original six-lane plan from
2013. They delivered the petition signed by
3,500 residents and activists to the min-
istry on June 28. But the National High-
way Company (NDS) looks set to proceed
with the work based on their own plan.
The latest concept of the highway
section lacks connections with the mu-
nicipalities from the north and south side
and speaks in favour of only one de-
veloper which will consistently burden the
area, Tatiana Kratochvlov, Bratislavas the construcion prior to its completion,
former chief traffic engineer and one of the
authors of the petition, told The Slovak
Spectator about the ministerial proposal.
Back to the original plan
The Triblavina highway intersection
will be built under the D1 highway. There
will be a roundabout at each end of the in-
tersection. On one side it will be linked
with the already existing road to Senec,
while on the other side it will join the road
through ierna Voda, and the road to
Pezinok, which is only in the planning
stage, the NDS plans state as cited by the
TASR newswire.
At Triblavina, the D1 highway will in-
tersect with the D4 Bratislava bypass.
The petitions essence
The petition argued that the exten-
sion of the intersection to eight lanes
without more connections to nearby roads
would worsen the traffic and serve de-
veloper Starland, a company associated
with J&T financial group and business-
man Mario Hoffman, which has designed
a logistics centre and residential zone in
the area, the Dennk N daily reported.
Moreover, residents are critical of the
authorities poor communication and ar-
gue that changes have been made behind
closed doors, said Kratochvlov.
A citizen who has the right to in-
formation on the administration of pub-
lic funds and on changes that are con-
flicting with the master plan and the Slov-
ak legislation does not receive a re-
sponse, Kratochvlov told The Slovak
Spectator.
To ensure better communication, the
petition council has called on the min-
istry, NDS and Bratislava Region (BSK) to
summon the session with public and me-
dia to present proposals for amendment of
traffic flows on the highway D4, as well as
TASR wrote.
Collector road principle
The original technical solution from
2013 counts on six lanes of highway at a
width of 33.5 metres and with a maxim-
um speed of 120 kilometres per hour and
two, two-line collector roads 9.5 metres in
width with a maximum speed of 80 kilo-
metres per hour, according to ubomr
Palk of the Research Institute of Trans-
port (VD).
Collector roads, or adjacent road lanes,
allow drivers to more smoothly enter the
highway as compared to conventional in-
tersections and serve as a bypass in case of
accidents.
Kratochvlov compares the Triblav-
ina project with the section of the Brat-
islava bypass on Einsteinova Street in the
Petralka district, where drivers can enter
the highway at four spots Krasovskho
street, shopping centre Aupark, SNP
Bridge and Viedensk street. If the col-
lectors did not exist there, entrances
would be only on the Prstavn Bridge and
Lafranconi Bridge, she said.
In the case of the Triblavina inter-
section without collectors, cars will travel
on overloaded roads and traffic on Seneck
Street will stagnate, Kratochvlov ad-
ded.
All of these issues will cause an un-
bearable burden on the environment in ad-
jacent municipalities, Kratochvlov said.
Drawbacks of the concept
Palk, however, insists that traffic-
engineering documentation points to the
inadequate capacity of the six-lane
concept with collectors.
An optimised solution of eight lanes
should better guarantee sufficient capa-
city margin for the distribution of transit
outgoing and target transport of the cap-
ital city on the highway D1, Palk told
The Slovak Spectator.
Palk explains that the collector road
idea means a lack of emergency shoulders.
Even the eight-lane design is not per-
fect to sufficiently ensure the connection
of the adjacent territory to the D1 high-
way which the intersection may replace
with connections to roads to municipal-
ities Bernolkovo and ierna Voda, he ad-
ded.
Each of the proposed technical solu-
tions has both strengths and weak-
nesses, Palk said.
See ROAD pg 9
www.spectator.sk OPINION July 11 24, 2016 5
When I pass my post on to my successor one day, nobody in this room will
wear a T-shirt, offend their colleagues or open a horalka wafer.

Parliament Speaker Andrej Danko about his intention to change parlia-

No excuses
mentary rules. LET US work, dont ruin our that. It cannot work well for other, bigger things. Those
presidency, dont destroy its citizens if they agree to be concerns indeed do look petty
Slovakias image, they say as those little kids who fear the in the light of a challenge like

What comes after if the image of the country

was any more fragile just be-
cause EU politicians will visit
end of the party but they will
still happily tell their aunts
and uncles about the great
Brexit, but their causes and
consequences are very much
linked with those for the Brit-

La Grande Bouffe? from time to time.

The current government
talks as if the image of the
plans their family has for the
summer.
ish vote. If the British refer-
endum results showed any-
thing, it is the strong support
ference between myth and that today some refuse the country is more damaged by that extremists and anti-
BY BEATA BALOGOV fact. They cheer for a version of values of the western com- talk about corruption scan- system forces enjoy in the UK
Special to the Spectator the world that is not viable, munity that we have become a dals than it is by actual cor- and beyond.
that is deformed and deceit- part of. ruption scandals that go un- Talking about making the
ful, that contradicts the most It would be the worst ver- noticed or unpunished. EU better and more under-
WE LIVE in a period when valuable achievements of sion of Slovakia that would After its first 100 days in standable has become fash-
politicians aspire to be called democratic societies. reach deep into the darkest office, which the new gov- ionable recently, but there are
heroes because they fulfil It is as if they believe the history of this nation. ernment wrapped up on July problems that cannot be
promises they should have populists and the extremists 1, the same day that it took solved on the EU level. Cor-
never given but they have who claim that the world can Human rights unnecessary over the EU Council presid- ruption, tax fraud, and other
never had the courage to be reconstructed and con- luxury? ency, observers of the local crimes that decrease trust and
promise the things that soci- trolled as if it was built of lego political scene agree its per- increase the insecurity
eties truly need in these times. bricks and if they follow, they Part of society has delib- formance is unconvincing among citizens still fall under
The values that make us will be able to pick the col- erately given up democracy in and that time has been wasted the competencies of the
European are handled with ir- ours, the size and the shapes. exchange for the slogans that trying to defend the in- member states.
responsibility and put at risk They will be able to set the sound sweetest in extremist defensible. It is on the national level
by these politicians who are borders and select the citizens ears but when confronted with Now there is the presid- where we need to strive for a
then regarded as men of prin- and they will feed and employ reality they evaporate faster ency, and government politi- change, to clean up the reas-
ciple but they never explain all those chosen. than the morning mist. cians embraced it even before ons why citizens think that
how the abuse of these prin- Those they dont want will It is as if they were giving it started as a universal ex- BY MICHAELA the system we live in is rot-
ciples move us back in time. a willing nod to the dictators of cuse to fight off any ugly dis- TERENZANI ten, doomed to failure, and
The applause of the masses the world who used to claim putes arising on the political Spectator staff simply wrong.
is not of value in itself. that a human is not designed scene at home. It might even The Brexit cannot over-
In 2011 a new generation of Many now consume for life in a democracy. His sound reasonable in a way, shadow the fact that every
politician who should have re- democracy as if they knees bend under the weight that we need to forget the There are some who say country has its own prob-
placed the post-Meiar caste in of the freedom to choose and problems of one little nation that after the British vote that lems. And Slovakias main
the heat of his PR campaign were invited to the grand this freedom unnecessarily to be able to work toward the turned European politics up- problem at the moment ap-
and dazed by the voice of his buffet or as if they were disturbs him. He will never be good of the whole continent. side down, protests against pears to be national. Slovak
own ego, brought down what happy and human rights are But the presidency can- one interior minister and his politicians are unable to
was probably the best govern- hungry and just let into but an overpriced luxury of not be an excuse for murky acquaintances are just explain their behaviour,
ment this country has ever an all-you-can-eat which there isnt enough for everything. Not even after the petty concerns and should be take the responsibility for
had. We were wrong to think all anyway. Brexit vote. put aside while the EUs it, and face the con-
that it was a sort of anomaly. restaurant. We are willing to divide We cannot pretend that presiding country focuses on sequences.
Rather, it was a sign that the human rights into theirs and the life of the country now
time of the politics for the mo- ours. But there is no special stops for six months and sud-
ment has come. They are engrossed in an version of human rights for denly we will forget our
With no tomorrows. orgy not considering white Christian central- shortcomings and act like an
The politicians who rule in European men and another for exemplary democracy that
Slovakia today do think of to- what comes the day all the rest. has no problems whatsoever.
morrow but only their own after. We weaken the third sec- This makes us no differ-
and that of the providers of tor as if we did not need its ent than a fighting couple
little services of various kinds. work anymore. We label them who might feel that divorce is
That is why the tomorrow of be discarded in a big bin for nave people from the caf and looming but when they have
the country gets ever brown- unwanted toys. doom them to drawn in fun- a family get-together to go to,
er. Not even the decaying stink They also believe that draising. All the while it is this they play the ideal family in
of fascism is a strong enough everyone will respect such a community that often does the front of their relatives. That
warning. Part of the elector- society built of lego. In its isol- job of governments who prefer couple might be smiling, but
ate no longer votes for the ation it will be immune from to simulate ignorance of what their children know all too
lesser evil, they vote for the the quakes in the region and in their own citizens might de- well that celebrations with
biggest of all. the world and that the hand- mand. family are not daily life, and
ful of little tin soldiers whom that hours of madness will
La Grande Bouffe they set to guard it will pro- There is no planet B follow for every minute of
tect it. They will not; espe- fake smiles.
Many now consume cially not from itself. There is no planet B. This is The state cannot work like Thousands protest against cronyism. Photo: Sme
democracy as if they were in- what we have got. We con-
vited to the grand buffet or as Like a spoiled child sume the planet in a way that
if they were hungry and just let falls far from anything we
into an all-you-can-eat res- Many do not understand could sustain, said Kate
taurant. After they are sated to that it is simply not possible to Gilmore, the deputy UN High
the point when blood no longer pick only those ingredients Commissioner for Human
circulates in their brain, they they like from the plate of Rights, during a human rights
spit into the dishes just to globalization. We cannot keep conference.
make sure that nobody else some of the achievements of We live in an era of polit-
will ever get a bite of their fla- the democratic and closely in- ics for the moment when the
vour of democracy. Not even terlinked world, and flush the applause of the voters, drunk
them. rest of it in time because we with anger, means more than
They are engrossed in an owe nothing to nobody and answers to serious questions.
orgy not considering what we are only responsible for What is our plan? What are we
comes the day after. that which is ours. leaving behind for the next
In the elation of the orgy Slovak. generation?
they applaud the fireworks of With such an approach we Will our legacy be a world
their power, strength, or an- are opening the road to auto- where politics is just one big
ger which disguise their cratic leaders. They might be cabaret and the one who tells
selfishness and irresponsibil- our own, but they have no the biggest nonsense gets the
ity but this is actually dynam- scruples at all; no responsib- biggest round of applause?
ite which will only leave be- ility. They do not respond to Will we be able to carry for-
hind the ruins of the ideals anybody for anything. Free- ward the achievements of
that generations have fought dom par excellence? globalisation, democracy as it
for. Rather a return to the era has been dreamt up by the best
of Vladimr Meiar, who told political minds of genera-
A world built of lego the West that if they did not tions? Where will the next
want him, he would go east generation go if the world we
It is as if a part of society and take the whole country leave behind is not be a place
did not want to learn the dif- with him. The difference is to be lived in?
6 July 11 24, 2016

This is the moment to USA: General facts

Political system: federal republic
Capital: Washington, DC
Total area: 9,833,517 square kilometres

get TTIP done this year Population: 321 million

Official languages: English (Hawaiian is also an official lan-
guage in the state of Hawaii)
Currency: US dollar

Source: CIA World Factbook

BY MICHAELA
TERENZANI US institutions in Slovakia
Spectator staff
US Embassy to Slovakia
NEGOTIATIONS over the Charg dAffaires: Liam Wasley
Transatlantic Trade and In- slovakia.usembassy.gov
vestment Partnership (TTIP)
are about to be wrapped up, American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham)
still during the Slovak EU Executive Director: Jake Slegers
Council presidency. The Slov- www.amcham.sk
ak Spectator spoke with the US
Embassys Charge dAffaires, Compiled by Spectator staff
Liam Wasley, about the shape
the TTIP deal is taking and
about how the talks will be in-
fluenced by the recent Brexit
vote.

The Slovak Spectator (TSS):

How will the outcome of the
British referendum influ-
ence the TTIP negotiations?
Liam Wasley (LW): We are
committed to going forward
with the TTIP negotiations,
regardless of internal EU de-
cisions. This is a generational
opportunity to build a mod-
ern trading system. Coincid-
entally, EU trade commis-
sioner Cecilia Malmstrom is in
Washington DC right now
[end of June], meeting with
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew
and US Trade Representative
Mike Froman to talk about this
issue, to make sure we use the
time to build a comprehens-
ive deal that will make an im-
pact on the lives of Europeans
and Americans in the future.
TSS: Are there expectations
now that Britain might have
to lead separate talks on this?
LW: We are at the end game
of the TTIP negotiations and
we have a particularly strong
political constellation on the
American side. President
Obama believes very strongly
in it. Mike Froman has been
part of this from its very
launch. The US Senate, which
would have to approve it on the
US side, has also been part of
the conversation all along. We
have a political moment in the
US to get this done this year.
The EUs discussions with the
UK on its departure and its fu-
ture connections will be pro-
ceeding in parallel to our final
negotiations.
TSS: How do you perceive the
negative campaign against
the TTIP?
LW: There are different
perspectives on the deal, some
of which are not informed by
reality. We still havent seen
the final agreement, which
will be clear on some of the ele-
Liam Wasley.
ments. There are a couple of is-
sues that I would like to flag. A
potential agreement would be
of particular benefit for small
and medium enterprises in the
US and all over Europe. In Slov-
akia, SMEs constitute 99 per-
cent of all Slovak businesses.
TTIP will allow small compan-
ies to have continental reach.
We participate in a project
called TransAtlanticTrade.sk,
which includes six Slovak
companies from different sec-
tors, from five employees to 50-
60 employees. They talk about
how it will actually allow them
to market their goods and
reach different customers all
over the world. TTIP will make
customs procedures much
simpler.
TSS: The EU is often criti-
cised for imposing too many
regulations. Hasnt this been
a problem in explaining the
TTIP to US citizens?
LW: Regulations exist to
protect citizens. You want to
know that your bank follows
accounting rules, you want to
know the medicines youre
taking have been through
clinical trials that meet an ex-
pectation, you want to know
that somebody is checking the
cows your milk is coming
from. Every country has had a
different journey to their reg-
ulatory structures. The EU has
had the difficult job of trying to
find harmony in European
regulations. The big chal-
lenge for TTIP is making sure
that our regulations and the
EU regulations are coherent.
Theres no question about
what the regulators on both
sides of the Atlantic are try-
ing to achieve and this is the
opportunity to be part of the
same conversation so we can
learn from each other.
TSS: You are now represent-
ing the US in the country that
holds the EU presidency.
How does this affect your
job?
LW: In the next six months
all eyes will be on Bratislava. I
know the Slovak government
is extremely well-prepared for
the task of leading the EU.
Events of the past week [Brexit
referendum ed. note] have
made that leadership even
more critical and that atten-
tion even more intense. The
Slovak government will have
the responsibility of shaping
consensus on very difficult is-
sues, from Brexit to migra-
tion. We hope to conclude the
TTIP negotiations this fall.
This will affect us also prac-
tically, because now Europe is
meeting here and weve got
many people from the US
coming to Bratislava to meet
their European colleagues. The
amount of traffic is going to be
considerably higher for us.
TSS: The EU still hasnt man-
aged to find a solution to the
migration crisis that would
be acceptable to all its mem-
bers. What is the view of this
problem from the US?
LW: This is a critical mo-
ment for the EU to decide both
on how its going to have ef-
fective and sustainable ex-
ternal border control, which I
know is something the Slov-
ak government is working on,
Photo: Jana Liptkov
but also on sharing the bur-
den of the million people who
are already here. Foreign Min-
ister Miroslav Lajk and the
prime minister have stressed
that they are going to be hon-
est brokers in shaping solu-
tions to both these problems.
With difficult circumstances
in the Middle East there will be
more people coming and so its
important to build a political
consensus on how Europe is
going to manage its borders
and how its going to support
this population. The US is do-
ing our share.
We provided 5.1 billion
dollars in humanitarian aid for
the Syria conflict and Presid-
ent Obama has committed to
raising the number of Syrians
coming to the US. Syria is the
most obvious case, but right
now there are 20 million
refugees globally and 60 mil-
lion internally displaced
people. This is the biggest mi-
gration security challenge the
world has ever faced. Presid-
ent Obama has called for a spe-
cial refugee summit in New
York that will happen in con-
junction with the UN General
Assembly this September.
TSS: This years parliament-
ary election saw a rise of ex-
tremist and fringe move-
ments in the parliament.
How do you perceive this
trend, which has been oc-
curring also in other parts of
the world, including the US?
LW: Christian Picciolini, a
former neo-Nazi, visited us
here a month ago.
See LW pg 8
Rent conditions change
THE SECURITY fence sur-
rounding the US Embassy in
downtown Bratislava will
not disappear for at least an-
other three years.
The city councillors
agreed on prolonging the
rental of the plots under the
embassy on Hviezdoslavovo
Square until August 15, 2019.
The condition, however, is
that the embassy will pay 1
per square metre per day, up
from the current 0.03 per
year. Since it rents some
1,300 square metres, the in-
come to the city coffers may
increase by 481,000 a year,
the TASR newswire reported.
The current lease, signed
in 2005, will expire in mid-
August, 2016. Though the
embassy revealed its plans to
move to new premises in
spring 2014 as the current
buildings do not meet the
security criteria, it still has
not found a new locality. It
said at the time that the pro-
cess may last several years,
the SITA newswire wrote.
The embassy originally
asked the city council to
prolong the current lease
until 2021, with the possibil-
ity to extend it by an addi-
tional five years. It now has
The US Embassy is often criticised for its fence.
60 days to sign the new
amendment to the deal; oth-
erwise it will not be valid.
Part of the new agreement is
that it may prolong the lease
by another two years, but
only if the embassy submits
a valid construction permit
to build the new premises at
least two months before the
lease expires. In such case
the embassy will pay the
original 0.03, TASR wrote.
During the discussion
about prolonging the rental
agreement, some councillors
criticised the embassy for the
security fence surrounding
it, saying it harms the image
of the whole historical
square, while others re-
proached it for insufficient
activity regarding relocation.
The embassy, however,
already has some six sites
where it may consider mov-
ing, said US Charg dAffaires
Liam Wasley.
On one hand we are very
grateful for prolonging the
lease, Wasley said, as quoted
by TASR. On the other hand,
we were surprised by the new
rent as currently our budget
does not count with this sum.
Compiled by Spectator staff
Photo: Sme
www.spectator.sk BUSINESS FOCUS July 11 24, 2016 7

Nord Stream 2 could

damage Slovak economy
BY JANA LIPTKOV &
RADKA MINARECHOV
Spectator staff
THE AMERICAN Chamber of
Commerce in Slovakia was one
of the initiators of the Rule of
Law Initiative and while its
initiators see some progress in
terms of transparency and pre-
dictability of the legislative
process. However, concerning
the issues of the judiciary and
especially corruption, we were
expecting a bit more to have
happened already, said exec-
utive director of AmCham in
Slovakia Jake Slegers.
The Slovak Spectator spoke
with Slegers about the initiat-
ive, Slovakias EU presidency as
well as EU-US negotiations over
TTIP.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS):
Slovakia presides, for the first
time in history, over the EU
Council. What opportunities
does Slovakias presidency
bring to US companies in
Slovakia? Will AmCham be
involved in organising or
holding events related to
Slovakias presidency in any
way?
Jake Slegers (JS): We have
been having a regular dialogue
with the Slovak government on
this issue for quite some time to
let them know, especially the
Ministry of Foreign and
European Affairs, that we are
very willing, ready and able to
assist in any way they might
see as helpful. Several of our
events have already been or will
be linked with the presidency
as well. The 11th Regional Tax
Conference, organised annu-
ally on a rotating basis in the V4
countries, took place in Slov-
akia. The discussion, among
other topics, focused on the up-
coming EU tax-related legisla-
Jake Slegers Photo: Courtesy of AmCham in Slovakia
tion that will be in the pipeline
during our presidency. We have
also already hosted a high-level
delegation from AmCham EU
presenting recommendations
for the Slovak presidency. As a
part of this visit we hosted
Minister [Miroslav] Lajk at a
business seminar for discus-
sions on Slovakias top priorit-
ies. Our regularly scheduled EU
conference, organised in co-
operation with the Represent-
ation of the European Commis-
sion in Slovakia on July 8, will
be very much focused on the is-
sues of the Slovak presidency.
This conference will include
Prime Minister [Robert] Fico,
Vice President [Jyrki] Katainen
and several business leaders.
We will also have several events
that will be somewhat tied to or
focused on Slovakias presid-
ency in the next few months,
for example, our AmCham For-
bes Conference and our Koice
Invest Conference. We are
already beginning to speak
about several events for the be-
ginning of next year as an out-
come of the presidency. We also
expect many opportunities for
our members to meet with
various commissioners, guests
and delegations that will come
here.
TSS: How do you perceive the
current state of negotiations
between the European Union
and the United States over the
Transatlantic Trade and In-
vestment Partnership (TTIP)
agreement? How have they
been, in your opinion, im-
pacted by leakage of docu-
ments and information from
negotiations?
JS: Its really quite a tedious
process. Frankly, I was quite
surprised when it was sugges-
ted, after being announced by
President Obama in his State of
the Union address in the be-
ginning of 2013, that the agree-
ment would be signed in 2014
and then in 2015, 2016 and so on.
But basically, if we look at the
negotiations of TPP (Trans-
Pacific Partnership) and CETA
and other trade negotiations,
its going to take some time.
Unfortunately, the negoti-
ation process has been im-
pacted by substantial misin-
formation and sometimes
completely false information
that just keeps coming up. And
people often are not focusing, or
even aware perhaps, what the
positive outcomes could be. A
major outcome could be the
further opening of huge mar-
kets for each of these major eco-
nomies. So, from that point of
view it has really been frustrat-
ing. Plus there has been much
criticism of the lack of inform-
ation about the negotiations.
But negotiations frequently
take place behind closed doors
and theyre usually not held on a
public square where everyone
can contribute to or comment
on them. These are very delicate
negotiations that each side is
going to come with, and one
side may make an offer and then
the other side may come back
and make a counter offer. I
think its a bit unreasonable to
expect that every word of the
negotiations is immediately
published for everyone to see.
There is vast speculation
that TTIP will be signed before
the end of the second Obama
administration which is only
months away, but I think it is
maybe too ambitious to expect
this. Its a long process and it
takes a long time in order to
have a complete, comprehens-
ive, realistic and meaningful
agreement. In my opinion, its
going to take a few more years
to fully negotiate to that level.
See JS pg 8
Ex-skinhead visits Slovakia
THE INCREASING danger of
extremism has been the main
topic of a mid-May discussion
in Bansk Bystrica attended
by former US skinhead Chris-
tian Picciolini.
The discussion was or-
ganised by the US Embassy in
Bratislava in cooperation with
the Open Society Foundation.
Picciolini joined an ex-
tremist movement the
Chicago Area Skinheads at the
age of 14 when he was like
most teenagers.
I came from a good fam-
ily, I was playing football,
chasing girls, but I was not
very successful as I had low
self-confidence, I did not
know who I was, Picciolini
told the audience, as quoted
by the Dennk N daily.
He was lured to the
movement by a person who
was the first adult that
seemed to care about his
problems and showed some
interest in solving them. Pic-
ciolini became the leader of
the Chicago Area Skinheads
two years later.
I did not have racism in
me, Picciolini continued, as
quoted by Dennk N. I come
from an immigrant family
which was the victim of pre-
Global summit featured Slovaks
THREE Slovaks joined more
than 700 entrepreneurs, in-
vestors, speakers and leaders
of business sectors from
around the world at the Global
Entrepreneurship Summit
2016 held at Stanford Uni-
versity in Palo Alto in Califor-
nia between June 22 and 24.
The country was repres-
ented by Radoslav Mizera of
Solved, Martina Drahoov of
ixworx and Petra
Dzurovinov of the Slovak
Internet Economics Alliance,
the TASR newswire reported.
Apart from the entre-
preneurs, the summit also
judice itself. They taught me
about racism in the move-
ment and I was teaching oth-
ers.
During his time among
skinheads, he also founded a
band called Final Solution. It
was the first neo-Nazi band
from the US to play a concert
in Germany in front of 4,000
skinheads.
Picciolini, however, left
the movement at the age of 22.
Among the reasons was the
birth of his children. He also
started learning more about
people he used to hate. Now
he tries to fight extremism by
spreading the philosophy of
non-violence. The change did
not happen immediately, but
it took several years, he ad-
mitted.
Picciolini now travels
around the world and tells his
story. He also established a
group called Life after Hate to
help people who have also left
the extremist movement and
published a book, Romantic
Violence: Memoirs of an
American Skinhead, where he
warns of the radicalisation of
youth. The extremists do not
change ideology, but methods
and rhetoric, he said, as re-
ported by Dennk N.
Obama, US Secretary of Com-
merce Penny Pritzker, Small
Business Administration Ad-
ministrator Maria Contreras-
Sweet, United States Agency
for International Develop-
ment Administrator Gayle
Smith, US Ambassador-at-
Large for Global Womens Is-
sues Catherine Russell and US
Under Secretary of State for
Public Diplomacy and Public
Affairs Richard Stengel.
The summit was the sev-
enth of its kind. Previous
events having been held in the
USA, Turkey, the United Arab
Emirates, Malaysia, Morocco

Slovak books in the US market struggle featured US President Barack and Kenya, TASR wrote.

the books only based on personal recom- Others, like John Minahane, Heather FACTA agreement signed
BY RADKA MINARECHOV mendation, as they often cannot judge the Trebatick, James Sutherland-Smith, and
Spectator staff original and its quality, she added. Jonathan Gresty, live in Slovakia so they SLOVAKIA and the United Meanwhile, all members
Slovak literature really needs pro- know the country, its culture and liter- States can now exchange in- of the Slovak Banking Asso-
moters who will make efforts to persuade ature thanks to which they can truly, ac- formation for tax purposes ciation (SBA) reported the
ENGLISH translations of Slovak books US publishers to issue the recommended curately and eloquently translate Slovak more easily, thanks to the financial information about
sometimes appear in the US market but book, Humajov told The Slovak Spec- pieces into English and bring them closer Foreign Account Tax Com- the accounts of their US cli-
interest in them is lacking. Though most tator. to English-speaking readers, Humajov pliance Act (FACTA) agree- ents and Slovak clients who
of the publishing activities are carried out added. ment signed in Bratislava on receive money from the USA
by Slovak associations in the USA, there Translations are challenging Regarding the US market, the whole July 31, 2015. to the Financial Administra-
are also some Slovak fiction books trans- promotion and distribution of books, The objective of the tion by June 30, 2016. The
lated into English which gradually make Translating Slovak pieces into Eng- which were issued in the US, depends on agreement is to prevent tax data came from the years
their way to US bookshops. lish is really not easy, admits Humajov. the publisher it is hard to influence it evasion and tax frauds and 2014 and 2015, SBA spokes-
The US publishers are not very inter- The translations are issued mostly in the from Bratislava, she explained. improvement of tax collec- person Zuzana Murcko said.
ested in publishing translations of Slovak United Kingdom, where only about 1-3 Another challenge is how many tion, the Slovak Finance The exchange of inform-
literature in English, says Daniela percent of translated books are pub- Americans are aware of Slovakia, opines Ministry informed, as quoted ation will now take place
Humajov, head of the foreign projects lished, she added. Gerald Sabo, Jesuit priest and associate by the SITA newswire. once a year. The first bilateral
department at the Literary Information When translating the Slovak books professor of Slavic languages and literat- FATCA is intended to en- exchange of information
Centre (LIC) in Bratislava. There are, into English, the translators need to over- ure at John Carroll University in Ohio. sure that the US obtains in- between Slovak and US in-
however, some translators and experts come language barriers and different cul- It is hard to be curious about the lit- formation on accounts held stitutions should take place
who try to persuade the publishers to is- tural contexts. Some translators, like erature of a country that is minimally in abroad at foreign financial by the end of September 2016,
sue the books, including Julia Sherwood, Peter Petro, however, have Slovak roots the news and other communication me- institutions (FFIs) by US cit- SBA informed.
Magdalena Mullek, and Virginia M. which help them understand the text and dia, Sabo told The Slovak Spectator. izens. The agreement was
Parobek. find good alternatives when translating, ratified by the Slovak parlia- Compiled by Spectator staff
The publishers often decide to publish Humajov said. See BOOKS pg 8 ment in September 2015. from press reports
8 July 11 24, 2016 BUSINESS FOCUS

LW: Slovakia is still a destination JS: Brexit brought

Continued from pg 6

He talks about his experi-

ence with extremists in the US
and the international neo-Nazi
community, about how they
provided an illusion of em-
powerment particularly for
young men who did not feel
they had other options. He also
said that these organisations
have changed their tactics.
They may not be marching
with swastikas, they have
changed their rhetoric, but
they havent changed their
principles. They present
themselves as the defenders of
the nations or crusaders
against corruption, but in
their hearts they are still true
to the principles of hate and
exclusion. So we need to push
back on that, we need to be do-
ing a better job building eco-
nomic opportunities for young
people, demonstrating that
democratic institutions de-
serve the support of citizens,
but also communicating the
history of these movements.
TSS: US companies have a
significant presence on the
Slovak market. Are there still
any untapped opportunities
for American businesses to
invest in Slovakia?
LW: The most famous
American companies are
already here. Theyve been
very pleased with their exper-
ience building businesses in
Slovakia, and many hope to
continue to expand their op-
erations here because they
find this a very good place for
them to work. We have Amer-
ican companies looking all the
time at Slovakia as a destina-
tion for investment, in many
Liam Wasley
sectors, including IT. We work
very closely with them, with
the Slovak ministry and with
AmCham to find niches. Thats
an ongoing process.
TSS: There is an exchange
between American and
Slovak startups already.
LW: Were actually host-
ing an event, building startup
corporate links, where we
have a number of startups and
a number of established com-
panies. To make sure the smart
guys and the wise guys get to-
gether. President [Andrej]
Kiska is focused on getting the
innovation working, so this is
going to be one of the shining
stars in Europe in terms of new
ideas and new investment.
TSS: The US Embassy in Brat-
islava repeatedly faces criti-
cism from some locals about
its security fence in the his-
Photo: Jana Liptkov
torical centre of the city. Is
the embassy expecting to
move in the near future?
LW: The US government is
committed to moving from
this building to a new, mod-
ern, purpose-built building in
the city of Bratislava. This is a
dynamic town, we want to be
part of its growth. We have
owned this building since 1947.
It has immense historical in-
terest and it will be hard to
leave, but it also no longer
meets our security and legal
requirements. So we need to
move. Weve been working
very closely with companies
we hired to look at all the po-
tential sites and we hired real
estate lawyers to help us
launch negotiations. We hope
to be in full-fledged negoti-
ations about a particular piece
of land this year. And once
weve purchased a new home
it will take us three to five
years to build a new embassy
in close coordination with the
city, to make sure that our look
complements the character of
that part of Bratislava. So that
is what we are working on and
its one of our top priorities.
TSS: Are Slovaks familiar
with the American culture in
your experience?
LW: Ive been impressed by
young Slovaks sense of adven-
ture. This summer were going
to have over 3,000 young Slov-
aks participating in the work
and travel programme in the
US, to experience the diversity
of life in America. This is
hugely beneficial for them, for
Slovakia to have a generation
that has a global perspective,
but its also hugely beneficial
for us. Those kids are meeting
American kids all through the
summer and theyre part of
their education about how
things are perceived in other
parts of the world.
TSS: It used to be cool for
young Americans to travel to
Europe, is that still the case?
LW: My first time in
Europe was as a backpacker in
1989, I knew somebody in
Prague and ended up there in
November 1989 and that was
one of the experiences that
made me want to be a diplo-
mat. As a college student when
I was growing up, people went
to France and Germany, now
Ive got friends children going
to Dubrovnik, Sarajevo,
Warsaw, Riga. This part of the
world is now very much on
peoples radar as a place to go.
To read the full interview,
go to www.spectator.sk.
great uncertainty
Continued from pg 7 issues of the judiciary and
especially corruption, we
TSS: How do you see the were expecting a bit more to
discussion about TTIP in have happened already. We
Slovakia? In mid June the would prefer a more effect-
party of Boris Kollr, for ive implementation of those
example, said they are areas, but we hope and we
against and are calling for do expect to see that in the
a referendum on this topic. coming months.
JS: It seems to me that
the political parties could TSS: Slovakia along with
have better things to do; other CEE countries criti-
there are many more press- cised the project of the gas
ing issues they should be pipeline Nord Stream 2.
spending their time on How do you perceive this
these days. Calling for a ref- project also with respects
erendum on this is com- to possible import of li-
pletely unrealistic. Several quefied natural gas from
companies have come out the US to Europe?
with a very positive assess- JS: In general, we see
ment of TTIP and how it can Nord Stream 2 as being po-
improve their business. A tentially damaging to the
recent report published by Slovak economy. This is a
AmCham EU highlights big concern for our mem-
how much the Slovak eco- bers in the energy sector. It
nomy would gain. Specific- is not perceived very posit-
ally because of the auto- ively by our members.
motive industry it expects In terms of liquefied
an increase in automotive natural gas there is hope of
sales which means an in- that and as far as I know
crease in demand for auto- there are a couple of major
mobiles, demand for jobs, terminals under construc-
infrastructure development tion in the US. As far as I
and all the positive things know, the complete infra-
that go along with that. Its structure is not yet in place
frustrating when people fo- to efficiently and systemat-
cus on the negative, un- ically transport LNG from
realistic and completely the US to Europe as tanker
false and irrelevant inform- transport has its limita-
ation when there is a huge tions, but it may come to be
amount of information that in the future. There is a
shows that Slovakia will huge supply in the US and
significantly benefit eco- there seems to be potential
nomically. there, but it is difficult to
One quite common cri- predict how that will devel-
ticism of parties in the past op in the future. But we are
has been the lack of in- hopeful that this might be
formation, but that is no part of the solution.
longer a valid argument
against TTIP. Its frustrating TSS: What impact might

BOOKS: Knowledge is limited because a lot of it is a bit of

Continued from pg 7
Though Americans of Slovak descent
might be interested in Slovak literature,
many of them probably do not speak or read
Slovak or at least some Slovak dialects and
might be minimally aware of pieces or au-
thors from Slovak literature, he added.
Though LIC tries to promote the Slov-
ak literature and authors at internation-
al book fairs and support the participa-
tion of writers in foreign festivals, liter-
ary events and international discussion,
these activities do not take place in the
USA due to financial limits, Humajov
explained.
Spreading the word
about Slovak books
One of the personalities who helped
spread Slovak books in the USA was Ladis-
lav Bolchazy (1937-2012), born in
Michalovce. He left Slovakia with his par-
ents at the age of 10. He studied Latin,
English and Greek, and later started
teaching at Loyola University Chicago. As
a university teacher he started publish-
ing his own textbooks.
Together with his wife Marie
Bolchazy-Carducci, he later established his
own publishing house Bolchazy-Carducci
Publishers. Though it focused mostly on
literature in Greek and Latin for second-
ary schools and universities, the publish-
ing house also published more than 30
works by Slovak authors in English and
the nationalist approach
Brexit have on AmCham
member companies here
and if they really think that in Slovakia?
Slovak, including the English-Slovak dic- selection of poems by Milan Rfus, And Slovakia alone can negotiate JS: Stability and pre-
tionary by Jn imko, the Slovak Bio- Thats the Truth, a selection of poems by such a positive agreement dictability of the economic
graphical Dictionary, Illustrated Slovak Ladislav Novomesk, Slovak Spring, and and wants to be left out, it and political environment is
History by Anton Spiesz, The Night of the an anthology Six Slovak Poets, which in- would be a great tragedy. a prerequisite for our mem-
Barbarians by Jn Ch. Korec, and Slovak cludes works by Jn Buzssy, Mila ber companies to operate
Tales for Young and Old (the translation ofHaugov, Daniel Hevier, Kamil Peteraj, TSS: Goals of the Rule of their businesses. The cur-
stories collected by Pavol Dobinsk), the Peter Repka and Ivan trpka. Law Initiative, which rent situation has resulted
Sme.sk website reported. From more contemporary authors, AmCham started with its in great instability and un-
Bolchazy also attended several book Americans could already read the trans- partners, have made it in- certainty which was trans-
fairs, at which he exhibited Slovak books lations of Rivers of Babylon (I-III) by Peter to the four-year pro- formed into turmoil in the
alongside professional literature in Latin Pianek, Samko Tles Cemetery Book by gramme too. What head- financial markets right
and Greek, and informed about Slovak Daniela Kapitov, Jana Jurovs way was made in the im- after the Brexit referendum.
books in his bulletins. Ilona. My Life with the Bard, The House plementation of the goals Currency fluctuations and
He was awarded the 3rd Class udovt of the Deaf Man by Peter Kritfek, The from the initiative? loss in the financial markets
tr Order in 2007, as thanks to his activ-Camp of Fallen Women written by Ant- JS: We were also very seem to be a direct con-
ities, the works of Slovak authors can now on Bal, or short stories by Pavel pleased that the Rule of Law sequence. It is nearly al-
be found in US libraries, universities and Vilikovsk. Initiative was incorporated most impossible to predict
educational institutions, Sme.sk wrote. They could also read Alfrd Wetzlers in it. This was viewed quite what kind of other con-
Moreover, there are several regularly Escape from Hell. The True Story of the positively by our member- sequences Brexit might
printed publications issued by certain Auschwitz Protocol, which describes the ship as well as the other co- have not only on AmCham
Slovak-American nationwide organisa- terrors of World War II, Humajov said. alition partners. We have to member companies but also
tions, like the First Catholic Slovak Uni- Sabo also points to Peter Karpinsks keep in mind that the initi- on companies throughout
on of the United States and Canada, the The Dedalus Book of Slovak Literature is- ative was officially incor- the EU.
First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association, sued last year, which introduces the au- porated quite recently and We are not able to pre-
Slovak Catholic Sokol, and the National thors and their selected works. He con- that those changes dont dict how the EU-UKs di-
Slovak Society, said Sabo. siders it a good survey of authors from happen overnight. Basic- vorce process will look and
Other institutions publishing some 19th century writer Martin Kukun to ally, it will take some time. under what conditions the
books about Slovaks and Slovakia in both contemporary writer Vclav Pankovn. We know it takes time for new free-trade agreements
Slovak and English include the Slovak In- Given that many Americans have formulation of this and it and other trade and eco-
stitute in Cleveland. very limited knowledge of Slovak liter- takes time for acceptance of nomic agreements will be
ature, such anthologies are much it. But we do expect to see formulated. More will be
More contemporary needed, Sabo opines. some movement soon. In known when, and if, Article
authors translated He would also welcome more Slovak terms of transparency and 50 is activated and the
literature translated into English so that predictability of the legis- formal process starts.
Not only professional literature, but professors can incorporate pieces of lative process we do see
also literary works are gradually being Slovak literature in their literature some progress there. To read the whole interview,
translated into English. This includes the courses. However, concerning the please go to www.spectator.sk.
www.spectator.sk BUSINESS / NEWS July 11 24, 2016 9
JC: Fukushima has an impact, too ROAD: Business
Continued from pg 4

The way we look at it is in

20 years time nobody will re-
member whether the plant was
one month early or one month
late, but everybody will re-
member whether the plant is
reliable, safe or efficient.
TSS: The second two units of
Mochovce should have been
put into operation several
years ago. So is it not a shame
that it is still not completed?
JC: I do not think that it is
a shame. I think it is an engin-
eering project and if you look at
any major infrastructure
project around the world, it has
a lot of challenges. Nuclear
power plants are very complic-
ated. And this one perhaps is a
little bit more complicated than
several others because it is a
project that was partly con-
structed, stopped for a period of
time and then the construction
phase was started again. In that
period of stoppage the world
evolved, changed, engineering
standards changed, nuclear
regulations changed. So there-
fore the complexity of the
project changed. Changing the
basic design of a nuclear power
plant halfway through the
construction is not a simple
task and it has to be done very
accurately and that takes time.
TSS: Italian Minister of Eco-
nomy and Finances Pier Carlo
Padoa says that it is Fukushi-
ma which is behind the delay
of Mochovce completion. Do
you agree with that?
JC: I agree that this is one
of the elements, a significant
one, of this delay. Following
Fukushima we had to embed
something like more than 170
changes in the basic design of
the plant. It is not just a case of
The third unit of Mochovce.
saying OK we need to do this,
this and this. You have to phys-
ically understand what you
have to do, you have to design
it, you have to procure the
equipment, you have to do the
installation, you have to do the
commissioning. It is a fact of
life that doing anything in a
nuclear regulated framework
takes much longer than in a
conventional power plant.
TSS: What are other elements
of the delay for the comple-
tion of Mochovce?
JC: We in Europe have lost
some competence in the nuc-
lear engineering sector be-
cause we are not building many
nuclear power plants. There-
fore to find the companies and
the individuals who have the
relevant skills to construct
something as complex as this is
a challenge in todays market
because there is not a massive
volume of nuclear power plants
being built in Europe and
therefore a lot of the skills and
expertise go into different
markers and activities. It is not
like there are hundreds of com-
panies and thousands of people
ing its completion and I think
that within the next few weeks
or one or two months the ex-
vs. public interest
pert team will come to an opin- Continued from pg 4 intersection of the D1 and
ion on what they believe the D4 highways cannot be built
budget should be to complete The most recent concept without collectors,
the plant. Of course, I am part proposed by the minister, Kratochvlov said.
of the process, so I know the introduced in late June, We expect that prom-
topic very well, but it would not projects three plus two lanes ised talks with BSK, the
be correct if I gave some num- on both sides of the high- guarantor of the master
ber, because I want to respect way with collectors as part plan, will be held and the
the process we agreed upon of the road. The concept is decision about resumption
with the government. cheaper than the original, of construction according to
But again, it is like the NDS wrote in the press re- a valid plan will finally
project. For me, it is more im- lease. enter into force,
portant that the expert team do Rbert Auxt, the head of Kratochvlov said.
their work well and come with NDS, explains that it is the
something which is real rather only medium and long term Future face of the area
Photo: Jana Liptkov than do the work very quickly option for smooth traffic
and come with something flow at the north exit point Palk pointed out that
out there who, if you hired which is not real. of Bratislava where up to Triblavina intersection will
them, could speed up the pro- 100,000 cars pass per day have strategic importance in
cess. Those companies and TSS: What is your opinion and the traffic collapses in particular regarding direc-
people simply do not exist. about the future of nuclear critical time periods. tion of transit flows in the
energy in Europe or more If we do not want 30- area of the capital city after
TSS: So from your point of generally in the world? kilometre-long snarl-ups, completion of the southern
view it was a good idea of En- JC: Ive always strongly be- we need more than three part of the zero highway
el to enter this project of lieved in a mix of energy re- lanes, said Auxt, as quoted bypass D4 in 2020.
completion of Mochovce? sources. I think that it is wrong by press release. The D4 bypass and D1
JC: Enel made the invest- to rely on just one source of en- Additionally, the min- extension will create four
ment here in Slovakia fully un- ergy because history tells us istry and NDS justify the new exits at the north part
derstanding that the comple- things change. So personally I concept as based on future of the city the Raa inter-
tion of Mochovce 3 and 4 was a believe that nuclear energy economic activities in the section, ierna Voda, Ivanka
part of the business plan. The should have a future. But I be- area, the complexity of the North and Ivanka West. In
world then was different. lieve that people need to gain impact on the environment addition to Triblavina inter-
confidence in it as a techno- and transport serviceability, section, between Bratislava
TSS: For now the budget for logy. mainly surrounding muni- and Voderady exit, where
completion of Mochovce 3 At the moment we are in cipalities such as drivers are only able to enter
and 4 is 4.6 billion and it the phase when everybody is Chorvtsky Grob or the D1 near Senec, a new
seems that it is not the final obsessed with renewable en- Bernolkovo. intersection at Blatn is on
amount. So what will be the ergy. I think that while we are OZ Triblavina considers the drawing board.
final budget? in this phase it is going to be a the concept without con- The NDS expects future
JC: It is correct that the challenge to implement major nections to the municipal- increase in workload of
current budget is 4.6 billion investment projects where you ities from the northern and already the most used high-
and that it will not be the final might need to take a lot of debt southern sides in conflict way section in Slovakia. It is
budget. But independent ex- and you might not be able to get with public interest. While a funnel in which transit
perts both of government and government support or might collectors can be connected service to Southern and
Enel are working with us, with not be able to get long-term to first and second class Western Europe merges
the project team. They are market contracts, also because roads every 500 metres, with motorists travelling to
evaluating all aspects of the of the general economic situ- drivers can enter the high- the capital city from sur-
project, not only the volume of ation in Europe. way every five kilometres rounding communities and
standing activity, but risks we and only from first class most of Slovakia with ex-
see in completing those activ- To read the whole interview roads. Even the bypass of ception of Zhorie region,
ities on time. The work is near- please go to www.spectator.sk. Bratislava, specifically the according to the NDS.

RALLY: Protest organisers are learning from experience

Continued from pg 2
From a marketing point of
view protests are of a high pro-
fessional level, Choleva told
The Slovak Spectator. Organ-
isers are experienced and they
are learning from their previ- conclusions, according to named after Napoleon because protested against it on the same the protest in Bratislava. Well-
ous protests. Choleva. folklore says that it was the hill day. known people help the protests
Good speakers and gifts for from which the French em- It would be hard to per- but almost no representatives
Effective marketing attendants are a good way to peror Napoleon Bonaparte suade people in Koice to join a of the third sector have ap-
sell an event. On the other watched Bratislava during its protest only based on the peared so far, according to
Organisers handed out red hand, opposition parties lack a siege in 1809. Baternk issue because Bona- Choleva.
cards to protestors that were vision for what to do after they It is hard but it is for a good parte as a symbol of the whole Protests would be more
meant to target Fico. They also are done with protests, accord- cause, protester Martin cause is in the Slovak capital, authentic with citizen activ-
traded T-shirts with the slo- ing to Simona Bubnov, the Bernardi told The Slovak Spec- according to Slosiarik. ists, Choleva said.
gan Fico protects thieves for head of the Creative Depart- tator while moving to the To put it metaphorically
e-mail addresses of attend- ment advertising agency. Bonaparte complex in his they would not have a destina- Protests to continue
ants. It is impossible to be suc- wheelchair. tion where they could march,
I came for pyjamas for the cessful in such protests without In front of Ficos flat no Slosiarik said. If Kalik does not resign,
upcoming Pohoda festival, real pragmatic and well-formed politician approached the the opposition plans another
Katarna Vaterkov told The opposition, Bubnov told The people and the opposition let Well-known figures protest and is calling on parti-
Slovak Spectator about her Slovak Spectator. She added artists take over the pro- cipants to invite their families
reason for taking a T-shirt. that Brexit is the exception. gramme. For the first time since the and friends.
There was also live music It is obvious that organ- case surfaced, Filip Rybani, Today it is a nip and tuck
between speeches of politi- Targeting Fico isers did not rely solely on assistant of SaS MP Jozef Rajtr, situation and the question is
cians. They pointed especially spontaneous crowd reactions, addressed the public in Koice. how Smer will be able to deal
to corruption in politics, plun- After opening speeches and but took the organisation of the Rybani looked into the ac- with public pressure, Slosi-
dering of the state, crisis of the songs, the crowd in Bratislava protest seriously. counts of Kalik and ex- arik said.
society, interconnection of ol- moved from Freedom Square to Meanwhile, Koice citizens transport minister Jn Poiatek Organisers however should
igarchs with politicians and the presidential palace. People gathered at the Lower Gate in at Tatra Banka and revealed find a way to hold off on
trampled justice. sang the national anthem and the city centre where they re- payments between them and a protests during the summer
No other democratic then symbolically called on mained during the whole firm belonging to Baternk. because numbers of people at-
country in modern Europe has President Andrej Kiska to join protest. Besides the Baternk Rybani now stands accused of tending them will most likely
fallen deeper, said Igor them. case they were dealing with a violating banking secrecy. decrease.
Matovi, leader of OaNO- Then people moved to par- new system of residential Considering his unlawful Naturally decreasing at-
NOVA. liament and the luxurious flat parking which makes parking act it was risky to invite him but tendance will make it possible
It seems that speakers complex called the Bonaparte, more expensive in the city. the crowd in Koice accepted for the prime minister and the
learned that they should give where Fico is renting a flat Local officials passed the him as a hero, Choleva said. interior minister to say that
shorter and more striking from Baternk. The Bona- change in mid June, which en- Popular humorist Milan public anger is minimal,
speeches with more obvious parte is placed on the hill raged around 1,000 people who Markovi also participated in Choleva said.
10 July 11 24, 2016 FEATURE

Man found silver coins
A HOMEOWN-
ER found a
unique treas-
ure on his
property in
Kostoln
Kraany in the district of
Dunajsk Streda (western
Slovakia) which he will receive
a reward for.
The lucky finder dis-
covered 312 silver coins and he
can now collect a reward in the
amount of 100 percent of its
current value.
It is a unique discovery in
over a decade in this region,
according to an archeologist of
the Regional Monuments
Board (KP) in Trnava, Peter
Grznr.
The owner of the ground
went to dig a hole under the
pool and the coins were saved
in a broken ceramic container
and are extremely well pre-
served. He turned to us imme-
diately and at the next review
of the place we found another
four pieces with a metal de-
tector, Grznr told the TASR
A coin from Kostoln Kraany.
Photo: TASR
newswire.
The archeologist con-
firmed that the finder will be
compensated.
It is true that if all the leg-
al requirements are fulfilled,
the finder is entitled to the full
amount denominated by a
court expert, said Grznr. It
is important to leave the dis-
covery without any change at
its original location, if cir-
cumstances allow it.
Experts can often identify
other interesting historical
circumstances from the place
of discovery.
Silver tolars, half- and
quarter tolars and also 15-
tolars from Kostoln Kraany
are moving on the market at
favourable prices, so also the
final amount will certainly be
inspiring for the discoverer,
stated Grznr.
After appraisal by the
workers of KP Trnava, the
horde was found to consist of
embossed coins roughly from
the years 1630 to 1704 during
the reigns of monarchs Louis
IV., Ferdinand II and Ferdin-
and III, as well as Ferdinand
and Mary Schwarzenberg.
Most numerous were the coins
embossed with Leopold I
Habsburg. The exact data will
be known only after numis-
matic analysis, but the whole
treasure weighs more than 4.5
kilograms.
If the money was owned by
one person, he had to be ex-
traordinarily rich. Indeed, at
the time it was possible to buy
two or three cows for one tolar.
Hundreds of thousands of people visited Marian Hill, despite bad weather.
Levoa pilgrimage is the
largest mass-scale event
NEITHER a folk-
lore perform-
ance nor a tradi- for the Sme daily. Many be-
tional rock fest-
ival is the most
mass visited
event in Slovakia. Every year,
about half a million people
come to Marinska Hora
(Marian Hill) in the eastern
Slovak town of Levoa during country and she is even the
two days of pilgrimage.
This annual pilgrimage
starts on the first weekend in
July every year.
Behind this big number is
mostly the traditional respect wrote.
given by Slovaks for Jesus
mother, Mria, ethnologist
Katarna Ndask explained
lievers, and not only from
eastern Slovakia, deem her the
mediator who can procure
and arrange things for people
with her son.
The cult of Our Lady of the
Seven Sorrows is strong in the
patron-saint of Slovakia.
But visitors are also at-
tracted by the special atmo-
sphere of the event as well as
the tourist value of it, Sme
Some 400,000 people
Photo: TASR
flocked to Levoa in 2016. Not
even the bad weather with
storms and rain discouraged
the crowds of Catholic believ-
ers from participating in the
ceremonial holy mass in
Levoa which is the tradition-
al culmination of the annual
Marinska pilgrimage.
Apostolic Nuncio to Slov-
akia Mario Giordana greeted
and blessed the pilgrims on
behalf of Pope Francis. The or-
ganisers said for Sme that the
attendance this year was
slightly lower than in previ-
ous years, probably due to the
storms.
Sagan had
yellow
jersey
THOUGH he lost the lead-
ing position at the 2016 edi-
tion of Tour de France,
world champion in road
cycling Peter Sagan was the
first Slovak racer to wear
the yellow jersey at this
famed cycling race.
I didnt even know I
won, he commented after
winning the 2nd stage from
Saint-Lo to Cherbourg-en-
Contentin (183 kms) on Ju-
ly 3, as quoted by the Sme
daily.
He was surprised, as he
thought two other rivals
from the breakaway had
been ahead of him, the cyc-
list added.
For his Tinkoff team
(Russia), it is the first yel-
low jersey after six years,
Sme wrote.
When The Slovak Spec-
tator went to print on July
7, Sagan had lost the yellow
jersey after the 5th stage
from Limoges to Le Lioran,
and also the green jersey for
leader of the points classi-
fication, which he has won
the past four years at the
Tour de France, after the 6th
stage from Arpajon-sur-
Cre to Montauban.
Peter Sagan Photo: AP/TASR

Automotive history returned to Trenn Region

A PREMIERE of the Slovak Fiwa World Rally the car is original.
welcomed worldwide brands from the auto- The French Lorraine-Dietrich was the historical king of the
mobile industry, among them some histor- prestigious event. To start it, the driver spins the four-cylinder
ical pieces that are the last remaining mod- ragwort, that survived two world wars, by crank and the en-
el. gine turns into an energetic young man.
The inhabitants of Bnovce nad Bebravou, Our predecessors worked honestly, said Frantiek Kudela,
Svinn, Beckov, Koovce, Lka, Hrka, and Hrdok or Mnchova the owner of the oldest car of the event from Krom, Czech
Lehota could admire historic treasures from the automobile in- Republic, as quoted by Nastrencin.sme.sk. Materials were not
dustry in early June. They rode along the Pieany Bojnice compromised and that is why everything lasted. The engine still
route and also through Trenn Region as part of the interna- does not need an overhaul.
tional meeting of veteran car owners Fiwa World Rally Slovakia Kudela has travelled 5,000 kilometres in the car without any
2016 in Pieany, the Nastrencin.sme.sk website reported. technical problem over five years. His model is the last existing
The event was attended by the polished veteran cars of one.
worldwide brands such as BMW, Mercedes, Bentley, Ferrari, The last car that runs on steam power without any renovations
Rolls Royce, Chrysler, Duesenberg, Cadillac and a unique piece is owned by Ludvk Otto from Olomouc, Czech Republic. He has
from 1907 of the now defunct French carmaker Lorraine- been seen riding on the Slovak roads in a 1916 Woods-Stanley
Dietrich. vehicle.
The world rally Slovak premiere was also attended by a par- An American seven-liter luxury Duesenberg from 1930 is
ticipant from Nov Zmky, Miroslav Zehetner, with a graceful owned by Anton Kiaba from Novky (Slovakia). At the time of
ride in a 1977 Chevrolet Corvette. its creation, when a beautiful house could be bought for 3,000
I bought the Chevrolet from a Canadian who moved it to dollars, it costed 20 thousand dollars, according to Kiaba. For
Slovakia by boat, said Zehetner, as cited by Nastrencin.sme.sk. comparison, Fords costed 400 to 800 dollars at that time, he ex-
It had driven only 56 thousands kilometres and every part of The vintage vehicles gathered also in Pieany. Photo: TASR plained for Nastrencin.sme.sk.
www.spectator.sk
Europe stars on Danube
BY ZUZANA VILIKOVSK
Spectator staff
AMONG the impressive envir-
onment on a Danube island
near Bratislava, an exhibition
suggests an answer to what
Joan Mir and the CoBra
artistic movement have in
common.
The opening of the exhib-
ition called European Stars
Mir & Cobra coincided with
the start of Slovakias presid-
ency of the Council of the EU,
and thus it received even more
high-profile guests and atten-
tion: apart from various local
and foreign politicians, also
Dutch Princess Beatrix visited
the Danubiana Meulensteen
Art Museum.
The very site itself sym-
bolises the connection
between the Netherlands and
Slovakia, as its founder who
also contributed financially to
this specific exhibition Ger-
ard H. Meulensteen, is Dutch;
but he decided to present his
collection, as well as works of
other artists, at a water-lined
venue close to the Slovak cap-
ital.
Many members of the Co-
Bra movement (which is an
acronym for Copenhagen,
Brussels and Amsterdam) were
Dutch, indeed. This, as well as
the takeover of the presidency
from the Netherlands to Slov-
akia, creates a logical and at-
tractive framework for the
event, head of Danubiana Vin-
cent Polakovi said.
A sentence for forgery?
IN THIS very old postcard from
1902, the vista of the Upper
Liptov-region town of Hybe
can be seen. Both signs that are
visible Krivn and Hibbe re- cluding the lie of forging the
veal something about the re-
gions history. The
popular peak of
Kriv has always
been in the visual field
of the Hybe burghers,
as the town territory
was bordering on one
side of this mountain.
Hybe inhabitants experi-
enced tough fights. It was a
free royal town with priv-
ileges but it did not have as
CULTURE
for the Slovak Radio.
Els Ottenhof, head of the
CoBra Museum of Modern Art
in the Dutch town of Am-
stelveen, explained the im-
portance of the international
group that existed only for a
brief period of time (between
1948 and 1951) and had only
two joint exhibitions; but
which influenced with their
progressive creations the art of
the whole second half of the
20th century. This exhibition
originally took place last year
in Amstelveen, and after Ot-
tenhof and Mir Jr. visited
Danubiana, they agreed to
present it also here.
Ottenhof opined that
Juan P. Mir explains the work of his grandfather. Photo:TASR European avant-garde was
very important, and CoBra was
A few days before the the artwork of his grandfath- its crucial part in the period
opening, art historian and er, he also explained his in- after World War II, changing
grandson of Spanish surrealist spiration: rather than rational from secretive art to action
Mir, Joan Punyet Mir, vis- mind, or intellectual ideas, it art. She added that the trans-
ited the exhibition in person was dreams, the deep uncon- ition made the field open to all
and explained the works, as scious as described by Sig- contemporary art. Their
well as their selection and the mund Freud. This has made sources of inspiration in-
selection of this location, to Mir a visionary, and a pion- cluded childrens drawings,
journalists. eer of surrealism. He also used art brut, primitivism, surreal-
innovative and unusual ma- ism and especially the dream
Mirs process of creation terials, e.g. napkins from res- works of Joan Mir. In their
taurants. At first his works second and last exhibition, in
He said that the exhibition were not very well-accepted 1951 in Lige, Mir exhibited
which includes 37 works by his and he only found appreci- two of his works.
grandfather mostly from the ation later. The current exhibition in
1970s and 1980s was put to- Danubiana presents more
gether with the aim to show Who was/were CoBra? than 60 of their works, and
the influence Mir had on Co- apart from Mirs artworks, it
Bra; and to confront the inspir- There are many things also shows a replica of his stu-
ation, philosophical essence Mir and CoBra had in com- dio in Mallorca. It can be vis-
and artistic language of artists mon apart from sources, and ited daily except for Mondays,
who were close in the intellec- nature or surrounding envir- and by boat at weekends until
tual sense despite belonging to onment, it was also materials November 13. More detailed
different generations. they used, curator of the ex- information can be found at
Apart from enlightening hibition, Kurt van Twist, said www.danubiana.sk.
HARLEY Days is a feast for fans of this motorbike. The core of this event
on July 16-17 at a place behind the Tatran Handball Arena in Preov will
be free rides on 23 current models of iconic bikes Harley-Davidson,
many freedoms and rights as lages and municipalities. In a part of Europe-wide Harley on Tour series. There will also be sta-
may seem from its status. the end though, the whole for- tionary Jump Start for non-drivers rides in a sidecar for children,
competitions, a stunt show, and performances by the bands Mega-
Thus, the burghers looked for gery was in vain as the origin-
deth, The Carburetors, Signum Regis, Got Blue Balls, Lunokhod and
help and tried everything, in- ally insignificant Hrdok Meredith. Tickets cost 35-39, more information can be found at
dominion grew to quite an im- www.predpredaj.sk.
towns privilege. This was, portant one, with a massive
castle and reck-
less owners. In- Western SLOVAKIA
stead of expand-
ing their territ- Modra / erven kame
n CASTLE/EXHIBITION:
ory, the locals Dragons and Dragon-fighters
eventually had to The exhibition at the old Red-
defend them- Stone / erven kame Castle
however, almost common selves from the aggressive re- close to Bratislava offers a re-
practice in the Middle Ages. quests from the lords of view of mythical creatures and
Hybans hid the original Liptovsk Hrdok. their conquerors.
document and started claim- Open: daily, 9:00-17:00
ing the territory of several vil- By Branislav Chovan until Sep 11; erven kame,
Viva Europa! opens presidency
VIVA Musica started as a
smaller, more intimate one-
week festival of classical
music and its various fu-
sions, facets and genres; but
throughout the years, it has
expanded to 27 concerts
spread over two months at 16
stages across the Slovak cap-
ital.
We came up with the
idea of organising a small
Eurovision Song Contest,
head of the festival Matej
Drlika said about the open-
ing concert, as quoted by the
SITA newswire. Each country
of the European Union will be
represented by one song.
The concert conducted by
Slovak Jozef Chabro fea-
tures one performer from
each EU member state in the
choir, and they are accom-
panied by a 200-body sym-
phony orchestra. The musi-
cians perform in 24 lan-
guages, organisers informed.
The concert for everyone
on July 2 at 20:00 took place
in the square in front of the
Slovak National Theatre
(SND), at Eurovea.
It seems that the weather
is also anti-EU, as there was a
dramatic storm in the Slovak
capital on that evening
which interrupted the live
broadcast, forced most view-
ers to leave, and the per-
formers to play five more
pieces inside the nearby
shopping centre. Still, more
than half of the programme
could not be performed due to
the storm, and so the organ-
isers are trying to arrange it
to be repeated at a later date.
The remaining pro-
gramme of the festival strives
Photo: Courtesy of Edo Kopek
Modra-ast. Admission: 6-
8. More info: www.hradcer-
venykamen.sk. www.snm.sk.
Central SLOVAKIA
Bansk Bystrica
n SPORT: Parkour Meeting
2016 The biggest parkour
event in Slovakia offers a guest
from France (Yoann Zephyr
Leroux), an event in city
July 11 24, 2016 11
to bring something attractive
to all people, of all ages, eth-
nicities and musical tastes:
The dream come true for
Drlika is the recital on July
22 by Slovak operatic diva Ed-
ita Gruberov, an intimate
event presenting her in a
lesser-known facet, as acco-
mpanied by Slovak conductor
and pianist Peter Valentovi,
the TASR newswire wrote.
World-famous cellist
Mischa Maisky will perform
with his pianist daughter
Lily on July 8, the SITA
newswire wrote.
French musician
Richard Galliano is a pioneer
in playing accordion,
Drlika said, adding that he
combines the worlds of clas-
sical music, jazz and world
music. He will perform with
his sextet on August 12.
The concert of another
Frenchman, cembalist Jean
Rondeau, is slated for July 29.
The Pagagnini Quartet on
August 5 will introduce hu-
mour and fun that is com-
prised and connected with
classics; and the absolute
headliner of the festival is
the Kronos Quartet. They
will perform for the first time
in Slovakia on August 29.
The concluding concert
on August 29 the Beloved
Songs concert by Slovak op-
era singers Adriana
Kuerov, Jana Kurucov,
Pavol Brlk and tefan
Kocn, will this time not
comprise of opera arias but
rather songs that have
somehow influenced their
lives and careers.
By Zuzana Vilikovsk
centre and an international
meeting of parkour fans from
Europe.
Starts: Jul 14 (18:00)-17;
various sites, meeting at park
under the SNP Museum. More
information: www.parkour-
meetingbb.mozello.sk.
ilina
n CONCERT/PERFORMANCE:
Rodion Sun Lion in Sight Pyr-
amid Bass player of the
Ukrainian band G.D.R. Rodion
Sun Lion, a universal player
enjoying many various
genres, is going to give a per-
formance at sunset in the
Sight Pyramid in Sov, where
the audience will be brought
from ilina-Zrieie.
Starts: Jul 16; 20:00; 19:00
departure from Stanica ilina-
Zrieie, Zvodsk cesta 3
(back at cca 22.30). Admission:
voluntary. More info:
www.soundcloud.com/
rodion-sun-lion.
Eastern SLOVAKIA
Koice
n ZOO: Noc v zoo / A Night at
the Zoo Visitors can enjoy
Kaveany Zoo at night (in-
cluding a dinner and a break-
fast) in a double wooden tent,
with a guided tour, campfire,
and more.
Starts: Jul 7, 12, 14, 19, 26;
Kaveany Zoo, irok 31. Tel:
055/7968-028 (8:00-14:00);
vzdelavanie@zookosice.sk,
adopcia@zookosice.sk;
www.zookosice.sk.
Compiled by Spectator staff
12 July 11 24, 2016 BRATISLAVA

Devns currant wine is back

produce a whole scale of cur-
The first edition of rant wines: traditional semi-
MUSIC
the Currant Devn sweet from red and black cur- n CONCERT: City of Leeds
rants, but also barrique currant Youth Orchestra (GB) This
festival recalls wine, wine exclusively from is one of the concerts for the
famous history red, black or white currants as Cancer Research Founda-
well as medium dry and dry tion. The programme in-
wine and other specialities like cludes works by Franz Lehr,
Bedich Smetana and Peter
BY JANA LIPTKOV fortified wine. Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Spectator staff Starts: Jul 16, 19:00; large
Currant Devn concert studio of the Slovak
Radio, Mtna Street 1. Ad-
On July 16 Devn will hold a mission: 2. More info:
CURRANT wine almost com- festival of currants, Currant www.ticketportal.sk.
pletely disappeared from Devn Devn (Rbezov Devn). The
in the 1990s, but Augustn ability of the municipality to n CONCERT: The world-
Mrzik set out to restore this organise such an event has famous soprano Edita
Gruberov gives an exclus-
history from the Danube River been limited by forced admin- ive opera recital during the
village. Thanks to his and other istration under which Devn Viva Musica! festival.
local producers efforts, visit- has been since 2005 due to a Starts: July 22, 19:00;
ors can still taste the local spe- failed development project. new building of the Slovak
cialty and on July 16 another of We have been pondering National Theatre, Pribinova
their plans will materialise how to organise a day devoted 17. Admission: 49-89.
when Devn hosts the first cur- to currants, similarly like More info: www.vivamu-
rant festival. Stupava has its Days of Cab- sica.sk.
Currant orchards are located above Devn with a view over the Danube river. Photo: J. Liptkov
My family and I have been bage or apricot festivities in
EVENTS
living in Devn for nearly 35 own use across Slovakia, but in who afterwards began grow globalisation: I found the same nearby Austrian villages for
years and currant wine has al-Devn it was Alois Sonntag who currants again. offer at restaurants and shops already quite a long time, n PARTY: RocknRoll Night
ways belonged to Devn, said started with mass production After World War II and na- where souvenirs read I love NY Kolkov told The Slovak Spec- Energetic selection of
Mrzik, who is an IT expert byin the early 1920s. tionalisation, the Sonntag and somewhere else something tator. But our ideas on what rocknroll songs to be per-
profession. I could not ima- It was actually a cour- family was forced to leave different, said Mrzik. this day should look like ex- formed by trio The Ugly Se-
gine that currant wine would ageous attempt, that turned Devn and currant wine pro- Mrzik refused to witness ceeded our possibilities and lectors.
disappear from Devn. Thus out well, said Mrzik, for duction was taken over by a the disappearance of this part thus we welcomed the offer of Starts: Jul 15, 21:00; KC
after I failed to motivate my whom production of this fruit local agricultural cooperative. of Devns tradition and after he the Bratislava Beautification Dunaj, Nedbalova 3. Admis-
wine-making friends enough wine is a largely a hobby. failed to push his wine-making Society to co-organise the sion: 3. More info:
www.kamdomesta.sk.
to salvage the tradition, I my- Grape vines have been friends enough to salvage the event.
self started its production. grown in Devn since the local production of currant The festival, taking place n ART COURSE: Free Paint-
Restoration of currant wine
second century BC. Currants I could not imagine that wine, he himself began to pro- under the Devn castle from ing Studio of Free Painting
production has been met with were planted here on a larger currant wine would duce it in 2007. 10:00 until 22:00, will be a mix is dedicated to all painting
a positive response and now scale only after the end of the of a culinary event where vis- enthusiasts. It is possible to
there are several producers in19th century right after phyl- disappear from Devn. Production of currant wine itors apart from fresh cur- bring your own template,
Devn with more joining in. loxera blight destroyed vine- rants and currant wine can theme or idea of painting.
We perceive it very posit-
yards throughout Europe in the Currant wine is specific; taste and buy currant syrup, Starts: every Thursday
ively, Mayor ubica Kolkov middle of the 19th century. Un- Augustn Mrzik when it is properly produced it jams, cakes as well as currant Jul 7-Aug 4, 18:00; Trnavsk
112. Admission: 21 + price of
told The Slovak Spectator. Be-
til new vines were planted, preserves the characteristic buriak, a still fermenting cur- canvas according to its size
cause of the massive reductionwhen European vines were taste of currants and out of fruit rant juice. There will also be (painting material included
in land for growing wine, cur-grafted to the resistant Amer- Currant wine after 1989 wines it is by its taste, acids, music and retro activities like in the price). Necessary to
rants are also not an easy task.
ican rootstocks, currants were colour and general sensory Picnic of Mr Sonntag and Velo sign up in advance for the
I know that currants are be- used for the production of wine. The cooperative in Devn character the closest to grape Orbis, an international meet- course (ivana.filkorova-
coming short in supply. Later, Devns currants ceased production of currant wine, said Mrzik. ing of velocipedists riding his- @gmail.com, +421-949 195
Apart from keeping tradi-were shipped daily to Vienna, and grape wine in 1996 and only Traditional currant wine is torical bikes. 188).
tions in producing these delic-
but after the dissolution of a few Devn residents contin- sweet. That which used to be Devns currant wine is
ate wines alive, production re-
Austria-Hungary in 1918, the ued producing currant wine, produced in Devn had 80 to 100 such a particularity even in the EXHIBITIONS
mains a draw for visitors, border closed and currant but only in small quantities for grams of sugar per litre. At that Slovakia-wine context, Maro n EXHIBITION: Poetry on
Kolkov said. growers lost their market. They personal use. Mrzik, who time only one kind of currant Mauha, head of the Bratislava space Cosmos The multi-
made no harvest for two sea- moved to Devn in 1982, feared wine was produced here: from Beautification Society told The media exhibition presents
Currant wine in Devn sons before Sonntag arrived the area might lose a pillar of its red currants with a small por- Slovak Spectator, adding that creation of thinking of Stano
with the idea to produce wine. distinctive character. tion of black currants that gave they were inspired by Austria Filko in the 1960s and 70s.
Currant and other fruit He himself owned currant At that time I was travel- it the colour and body. festivals based on local gastro- Open: Tue-Wed, Fri-Sun
wines are produced in small orchards, but mainly he collec- ling a lot and already back then Mrzik as well as other cur- nomy as a way to develop local 10:00-18:00, Thu 12:00- 20:00
amounts by families for their ted them from local farmers, I did not like what we call today rant wine producers nowadays tourism. until Sep 25, Esterhzy
Palace, . tra Square 4. Ad-
mission: free. More info:

Trams finally connect Danube banks

EVEN though the new Old Bridge cross-
ing the Danube River in Bratislava was
completed in December 2015, it took a
almost seven more months until trams
were able to transport people across the
river.
The official launch of the tram
transport was planned for July 8, one
day after The Slovak Spectator went to
print.
The track is able to operate and thus
nothing prevents us any more from al-
lowing also trams on the Old Bridge and
further to Petralka, said Bratislava
Mayor Ivo Nesrovnal on July 6.
Deformation of rails caused by June
temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius
raised concerns that the launch of the
tram line would be postponed.
But the builder of the track, Eurovia
SK, mended and fortified the rails by
July 5. The next day the line was suc-
cessfully tested. Pedestrians and cyc-
lists have been able to use the bridge
already since May 19.
www.sng.sk.
HIGHLIGHTS OF
THE YEAR
Trams Nr 1 and Nr 3
n STAND-UP COMEDY: Bill
It will be trams Nr 1 from the Main Bailey (Black Books)
Station and Nr 3 from Raa that will Limboland The actor and
cross the bridge to Boskov Street. stand-up comedian, im-
portant representative of the
There are already plans to extend legendary sitcom Black
the tram line to Jankov Dvor in the Books, Bill Bailey comes to
years 2018-2020. Bratislava with his new live
show Limboland.
The bridge and tram line project Starts: Sep 28, 20:00, Is-
tropolis, Trnavsk mto 1,
The original Old Bridge was de- Admission: 29-49. More
signed for motor vehicles, trains and info: www.kamdomesta.sk.
pedestrians. Later, trains were ex-
For more concerts go to
cluded and after its condition deterior- www.filharmonia.sk. For
ated too much, motor vehicles were more exhibitions go to
banned also. www.sng.sk or
The bridge was then re-built in a www.gmb.sk.
style more or less recalling its original
shape: some of the pillars were reused Compiled by
while it was elevated in order to allow Spectator staff
bigger ships to pass underneath. Now it
serves pedestrians, cyclists and trams. For more tips for events
please go to www.spectat-
or.sk.
By Jana Liptkov Deformed rails were mended by July 5. Photo: Sme