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Government drops opposition to EU-Russia co-operation talks
Ministers from the 27 EU states, including Poland and Lithuania, agreed on 24 April to
begin negotiations with Russia on a new EU-Russia co-operation agreement.
Poland dropped its opposition to the new agreement after Russia acceded to Poland’s
demand to drop import embargoes on Polish foodstuffs. Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski
said that it was “high time” for the EU to start negotiations on a new partnership
agreement and added that Poland “would not impede” or set any further conditions on
the talks. Russia also agreed to include the issue of energy security in the talks.
Towards the end of 2005 the Russian administration imposed a ban on Polish meat exports.
In recent months talks between Poland and Russia, mediated by the EU, have led to a
removal of most of those bans.
Government adopts 4-year privatisation plan
The Government adopted a four-year privatisation plan on 22 April. The plan provides for
740 state-owned companies are to be sold off, yielding some 30 billion zloty for the
Treasury (equivalent to about £6.2 billion).
The Treasury will sell stakes in Poland’s second largest bank PKO BP, four consolidated
power groups and companies in the chemical sector.
Children’s Advocate resigns ahead of no-confidence
vote
On 22 April Ewa Sowinska, the country’s Advocate for Children’s Rights resigned two
days before a debate scheduled in Parliament on her future. It was clear that a majority
in Parliament – including some MPs from the opposition PiS party as well as the
government coalition – would overwhelmingly pass a vote of no-confidence in Sowinska.
Ewa Sowinska was originally appointed by the previous PiS-Samoobrona-LPR
coalition government. In 2007 she made international headlines for describing the BBC-tv
series for little children Teletubbies as setting an example of
homosexuality. She has been criticised for appearing nearly exclusively in media outlets
supported by fundamentalist Roman Catholic priest Fr. Rydzyk, and has been accused by MPs
of doing little to aid children and condemned for supporting the physical punishment of
children.
New law makes it easier for EU workers to find jobs in Poland
On 22 April President Lech Kaczyński signed into law an agreement on the principles for
recognising professional qualifications issued in other EU countries. This should
considerably simplify the procedures for foreigners to gain work in Poland.
The new regulations aim to limit to a minimum the formalities connected with taking on
temporary work by citizens from other EU countries. It will also eliminate the necessity
of undergoing an apprenticeship, or the necessity to take further qualifying exams. The
act also embraces new regulations on the recognition of cross-border qualifications of
workers. The Minister for Science and Higher Education will be responsible for recognising
qualifications in regulated professions such as architecture, medicine and pharmacy.
Katyn sweeps film awards
At this year's Polish Eagles film awards ceremony in Warsaw on 14 April
film director Andrzej Wajda's wartime drama Katyn stole the show. Katyn
is based on the murder of 20,000 Polish army officers by the Soviet Union's security
services in 1940.
The ceremony, held at the National Theatre, attracted several top officials, including
Culture Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski. This was the 10th such ceremony since the Polish
Eagles awards were established. Since 2004 the award winners have been chosen annually by
the Polish Film Academy, which has more than 500 members.
This year's competition was open to all Polish feature films that had been shown in
cinemas last year for at least a week. Wajda's Katyn won seven Eagles including
the most important prize - Best Polish Film. The other Eagles went to Danuta Stenka for
best supporting actress, Krzysztof Penderecki for best music score, Paweł Edelman for
best photography, Jacek Hamela for sound, Magdalena Biedrzycka and Andrzej Szenjach for
best costume design, and Magdalena Dipont for set design. Wajda himself was in Ukraine at
special showings of the film, and therefore unable to be present. The film's producer,
Michał Kwieciński, collected the Eagles. It is also notable that Katyn had
earlier broken attendance records in Moscow.
Katyn tells the story of Polish army officers taken prisoner by the Russians, who
invaded Poland in September 1939. The 20,000 officers by murdered almost a year later by
the NKVD Stalinist secret police in the Katyn Forest in western Russia.
The film is told from the viewpoint of the officers' wives, mothers, daughters and sisters
who were left behind. The women were unaware of what had happened to the officers and for
years waited for them to return. Katyn has already won a host of awards,
including an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film.
Among other awards in the Eagles ceremony Andrzej Jakimowski took the best director Eagle
for his film Sztuczki (Tricks). That film also came top in a viewers' poll, which
is an integral part of the Polish Eagles voting process. A German film The Lives of
Others won the 2008 Best European Film award. It has already won an Oscar in 2007 for
best foreign language film. |
Queues to prove Polish descent
It was on 29 March that a law came into force which would allow foreign nationals to claim
a document called the Karta Polaka (Polish Card). It entitles people of Polish
descent living in the former Soviet Union to a number of rights and advantages. In mid
April the queues were already forming
Lines of applicants aiming to prove their ties to Poland immediately began to form in
front of Polish consulates in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan and Lithuania.
The Karta Polaka makes life easier for people of Polish descent living in
countries of the former Soviet Union which disallow dual citizenship. The card enables the
holder to be reimbursed for the cost of a Schengen visa, offers access to Polish schools
and universities, makes it easier to obtain state scholarships, get a job and conduct
business operations in Poland. Those applying for a Karta Polaka have to prove
their ties to Poland, including at least a reading/listening knowledge of Polish; that one
parent or grandparent or two great-grandparents were ethnic Poles; or provide a
certificate from an expatriate Polish organisation that the applicant had been active in
promoting Polish culture and language.
The Karta Polaka does not entitle its holder to settle in Poland. Neither does it
guarantee a Schengen visa. Card holders may run businesses in Poland along the same rules
as Polish citizens. They may also get a job without having to obtain a separate permit.
They have the right to medical care in emergencies or for any serious health issues, which
includes accidents, poisoning or childbirth. The card also entitles its holder to apply
for exemption from the fee for a long-stay multiple-entry visa. However, such a person
would not have the right to travel without a passport and Schengen visas in European Union
countries.
The Karta Polaka will be issued by Polish consuls and will be valid for 10 years.
Estimates say that in the first year the number of applicants for the Polish Card could
reach several thousand, and ultimately over a million. In connection with the new law, the
Polish government has appointed a five-person Council for Poles in the East. Citizens of
the Commonwealth of Independent States who are refused a Karta Polaka will be
able to file an appeal with this body.
The foreign ministry has prepared a confidential test to help ascertain whether someone
declaring they have ties to Poland really does have them. Media reports say there are
about 150 questions. Sealed envelopes containing the tests were sent in April to Polish
consulates. Some reports say the questions are about traditions, customs, literature and
geography. For example, the consul might ask where the Wawel Dragon "lives" (in
Krakow), how elegant Polish men greet women (kiss them on the hand), and what Poles eat on
"Fat Thursday" (doughnuts). The consuls will also check an applicant's spoken
Polish, giving them a simple text to read and asking a few commonplace questions about
their family, the weather and the time.
Just days after the new law came into force, the first international tensions appeared in
connection with the Karta Polaka. The Belarussian foreign ministry criticised
Polish consulates as they started accepting applications. The Belarussian authorities said
the Karta Polaka could lead to ethnic tension. A substantial area in the western
region of Belarus has previously been Polish territory. The Polish consulate in Grodno in
western Belarus has already received several hundred applications.
Similarly it was being reported in Ukraine that Lviv residents were visiting local
archives in large numbers trying to prove their Polish origins. The information was mainly
being sought in church registers.
Poles beyond the borders
The number of ethnic Poles living in Russia is estimated at 300,000.
Official data from Belarus say there are about 250,000 people there who claim Polish
descent. The number is roughly the same in Lithuania, and 140,000 in Ukraine. According to
a 1999 census in Kazakhstan, just over 47,000 people there said they were of Polish
descent. |
Heavy snow brings blackout to Szczecin area
Heavy overnight snow and sleet broke the main electrical lines leading to Szczecin and
paralysed the city for virtually all of 8 April. Most city life came to a standstill and
neighbouring towns were also affected. The city-wide blackout forced hospitals to
rely on generators and schools and businesses to close. Petrol stations were closed, many
trains were not running.
The mayor of Szczecin, Piotr Krzystek, announced that power to most of the city would be
restored by 10 in the evening., but work on restoring downed power lines would have to
continue through the night.
Government spokesperson Agnieszka Liszka said the central government was ready to help,
but stressed that the situation in Szczecin was under control.
Poland: background facts and figures
Population 38.6 million, overwhelmingly
Roman Catholic. The official language is Polish. More than a third of the population lives
in rural areas.
Geography Poland covers 312,700 square km
(120,700 square miles). It borders the Baltic Sea to the north, Lithuania and Russia's
Kaliningrad enclave to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the
Czech Republic to the south and Germany to the west (Central European
map). Poland is divided into 16 provinces.
Cities Warsaw the capital has a population of 1.8
million. Other major cities are Lodz, Krakow, Poznan, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Katowice.
Political system Parliamentary democracy, with
a 460-seat lower house of parliament (Sejm) and a 100-seat senate elected to
four-year terms. The president, elected by popular vote, designates the prime minister and
can veto bills.
Economy Poland launched market reforms in 1990 to
transform a centrally planned economy. The government slashed subsidies, freed prices and
imposed tighter monetary curbs and wage controls to combat hyper-inflation. Rapid
economic growth of up to 7% per annum followed in the mid-1990s, but has slowed since the
1998 economic crisis in Russia.
The biggest challenge for the government has been to ease unemployment, originally at 18%,
while making spending cuts to prepare the budget for EU entry and later adopt the euro.
There has also been concern at the large numbers of Poles who have migrated to find work
elsewhere in the EU.
Polish gross domestic product per capita is 42% of the EU average.
Defence Poland has halved its military personnel to
200,000 since 1989. It has been a staunch ally of NATO, which it joined in 1999. It
recently bought 48 F-16 jet fighters from the United States, and after its support for the
war to oust Saddam Hussein, the US called on Poland to lead one of the stabilisation zones
in post-war Iraq.
History Poland was a regional power from the
14th to the 17th century. It was then carved up between Austria, Prussia and Russia at the
end of the 18th century.
It regained its independence after World War I, but was invaded by Nazi Germany and the
Soviet Union in 1939 at the start of World War Two. Six million Poles died during the war.
As Soviet forces drove the Germans out of Poland in 1944-1945, Stalin installed the
communist party in power. Part of former Poland is still in the territory of Belarus. The
party crushed workers' revolts in 1956, 1970 and 1976. General Wojciech Jaruzelski imposed
18 months of martial law from December 1981 to suppress the Solidarity free trade union.
Solidarity later helped to oust the communist regime in 1989 and Poland launched
democratic reforms, electing the union's leader Lech Walęsa as President in 1990.
In 1995, Walęsa lost a presidential election to ex-communist Aleksander Kwasniewski, who
was re-elected in 2000.
The social democratic party won general elections in 2001 and its leader, prime minister
Leszek Miller, completed EU accession talks. A new right-wing coalition government
took power in 2004, eventually allowing the extraordinary situation where President and
Prime Minister are twin brothers. Elections in October 2007 dismissed Prime Minister
Jarosław Kaczyński, but his brother Lech remained as President. Donald Tusk became prime
minister as leader of the Civic Platform party, allied to the agrarian party. |
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Alert level raised ahead of NATO summit
The NATO summit meeting begins in Bucharest on 2 April. As part of its security
arrangements before the meeting Romania's Supreme Defence Council decided on 25 March to
raise the national terror alert from "cautious" to "moderate". Raising
the alert activates a series of special collaborative measures between national
institutions. Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu noted that the summit would serve as
a major test of Romania's public order and security services.
The summit brings a host of ancillary arrangements. 3,500 journalists are expected to
arrive in Bucharest to cover the NATO summit. They will have 950 offices and 50 computers
made available. Organisers said there was no need for more computers, since many of the
3,500 accreditations are for the technical crews and many journalists would use their own
laptops.
Cash machines and large LCD screens have already been put in place in areas where the
press will use their offices. 16 rooms were prepared for press conferences. The
translation services are also available in three rooms where the most important briefings
will take place. As for TV coverage, the Romanian public station TVR and the Eurovision
Broadcasting Union have exclusive contracts and will provide other TV stations with live
feeds.
The authorities have also set about clearing Bucharest streets of stray dogs. Strays found
near hotels or on the main avenues to be used during the NATO Summit and around the two
international airports have been hunted down by dog catchers. Dogs picked up in the last
two weeks were taken to special kennels in Bucharest, though no final figure has been
given on how many dogs have been taken off the streets.
Romanian government website
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OSCE calls on Albanians to vote in election
Hans Ola Urstad, the OSCE Mission Chief in Serbia, met with Albanian leaders in the Preševo
Valley, calling on Albanians to participate in the 11 May elections.
The OSCE supported the participation of the Albanian coalition in the elections because it
would be the best way to have “Belgrade hear the voice of Albanians.”
The Preševo Valley Albanian coalition is made up of the Party for Democratic Actions, the
Movement for Democratic Progress, the Democratic Union of Albanians Citizens Group of
Rehmi Zuljfiu (which separated from the Democratic Party of Albanians) and the Valley
Democratic Union.
The leader of the coalition list is Riza Haljimi, who was the only Albanian representative
in the last Serbian parliament.
Serbia may be offered a more liberal EU visa
regime
Serbia may soon be offered a more liberal EU visa regime to provide its citizens with a
new incentive to support the country's EU bid. The current holder of the EU presidency
Slovenija said on 26 March that an agreement could be signed before the Serbian
election. Commenting ahead of a weekend meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brdo pri
Kranju, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said “What we can offer is an
agreement on a visa regime that would be significantly more favourable than the present
one.”
The current ruling coalition in Serbia collapsed following Kosovo's declaration of
independence. A new election has been called for 11 May. A new government will depend on
the outcome of the election, and votes may pivot on whether the advantages of joining the
EU could make up for the highly emotive loss of Kosovo.
Court opens trial in absentia of Miloševic's son
A court in Požarevac began on 26 March a trial in absentia of the son of former Jugoslav
President Slobodan Milošević.
The allegations are criminal rather than political. Marko Milošević, and his mother
Mirjana, are charged in Serbia with organising a cigarette smuggling ring in the early
1990s. Marko is also wanted for injuring members of a resistance movement during a fight
in 2000. Mother and son have been living for years now in Moscow. Russia refuses to
extradite them, having granted them refugee status.
Elections confirmed for 11 May
Following the collapse of the government coalition of Prime
Minister Vojislav Koštunica, recently re-elected President Boris Tadić has called for
new elections on 11 May. "The elections are a democratic way for citizens to say how
Serbia should develop in years to come," Tadić explained.
The coalition had fallen apart on the issue of whether to suspend links with the European
Union, as a protest at the recognition by some EU members of Kosovo’s unilateral
declaration of independence.
President Tadić said Belgrade would only be able to defend its right to Kosovo if it
joined the EU.
the former
Union of Serbia and Montenegro
Area 38,900 sq miles
Population: Around 10.6 million
Ethnic groups: Serb 62.6%, Albanian 16.5%, Montenegrin 5.0%, Hungarian
3.3%, others 12.6%.
Languages: Serbian 95%, Albanian 5.0%.
Religions: Orthodox 65%, Muslim 19%, Roman Catholic 4%, Protestant 1%,
others 11%.
Territory: The Union covered the same territories of Montenegro and
Serbia as Jugoslavija, and includes the UN-administered province of Kosovo.
Administrative centre: Belgrade.
Institutions: It has a 126-strong parliament, which chooses a president.
The President nominates a five-member council of ministers: defence, foreign affairs,
international economic relations, economy and human and minority rights. The Union will
have its own court along with an army reporting to a joint supreme defence council. A
special provision allows for rotation of the union government's five ministers with their
deputies from different member states to ensure equitable representation.
Elections: Parliaments of Serbia and Montenegro elect deputies to the
union parliament after the adoption of the union charter. Serbia has 91 seats and
Montenegro 35. After the first two years direct parliamentary elections were held.
Economy: The two member states operate a common market and seek to
harmonise their economic systems with that of the EU to overcome differences, especially
in customs and trade policy. Initial economic reforms have already been implemented.
Currency: Serbia sticks to the dinar. Montenegro uses euros. The Serbian
central bank became the Union central bank.
Montenegro: In June 2006 Serbia acknowledged the
independence of Montenegro, following a referendum the previous month, in which 55.5% of
Montenegrins had voted in favour of independence.
News from
Montenegro is listed separately |
Serbia's EU
Integration Office
News about Kosovo
back to News index
top of right column |
Slovakia should join euro zone in 2009
On 7 May the European Central Bank said that, just 4 years after joining the European
Union, Slovakia had now met the necessary benchmarks to join the euro zone in January
2009, but the bank expressed concern about inflation. A final decision would be made in
July. Prime Minister Robert Fico said that joining the euro would be a great
opportunity. "We consider the adoption of the euro to be the continuation of the
success story that began with the entry into the European Union," he said.
Slovakia is the first accession country from central Europe to pass the criteria for the
single currency. Poland, Hungary and the Baltic states are unlikely to join the euro until
well after 2010.
In 2007, Slovakia's economy grew by more than 10%. Its economic success was credited to
having a flat tax rate and clamping down on abuse of its welfare system. The European
Central Bank said that strong economic growth would bring improved living standards but
that would inevitably be accompanied by higher price levels.
Parliament approves EU Lisbon Treaty
On 10 April Parliament approved the Lisbon Reform Treaty. Slovakia thus became the ninth
EU member to ratify the treaty. This came after a long series of delaying tactics by the
opposition parties, which do not in fact oppose the Treaty, but felt approval could not go
ahead while controversial amendments to the Press Code remained unresolved. That bill had
been forced through the previous day.
In the end the SMK (Hungarian Coalition Party), one of three parties in opposition, backed
the resolution. Most of the remaining opposition MPs boycotted the ratification vote in
protest against the passing of the press code bill. To make it through, the treaty needed
support from the constitutional majority of at least 90 MPs in the 150-seat parliament. It
was finally supported by 103 MPs, five voted against and one abstained from the vote.
Originally all the three opposition parties threatened to boycott the ratification vote
unless the government modified the press bill. The SMK party led by Pál Csáky only
announced on the day of the ratification debate that its 20 MPs would back the Lisbon
treaty, a breaking of ranks which angered the remaining two opposition party leaders,
Mikuláš Dzurinda (SDKU-DS) and Pavol Hrusovsky (KDH).
Pál Csáky stressed, however, that his party’s move did not mean that the SMK was
establishing closer relations with the government coalition. The government coalition of
Smer-SD, the LS-HZDS and SNS (Slovak Nationalist Party) could only gather 85 MPs. The
required constitutional majority would be 90 MPs. To achieve this result, ratification
depended on the 20 SMK votes, which were supposed to have been swayed by last-minute
concessions on the Press Code bill the previous day. The vote of the ethnic Hungarian
coalition possibly also an awareness that southern neighbour Hungary had in December 2007
been the first parliament to ratify the Lisbon Treaty.
Newspapers protest against proposed Press Code
Political deadlock over ratification of Lisbon Treaty
Summer flights from Košice
to Manchester and Split
Low-cost air carrier SkyEurope Airlines will open a direct line from
Košice to Manchester with three flights a week on 30 June this year. From 5 July to 20
September, flights from Košice to Split in Croatia will be scheduled once a week.
SkyEurope’s spokesman Tomáš Kika said on 10 April that this expansion of services in
Slovakia was part of its restructuring strategy.
At the same time, the 2008 summer season will bring more flights on SkyEurope’s seven
routes from Slovak airports. SkyEurope will fly from Bratislava to Dublin daily instead of
four times a week. The number of flights to the Bulgarian port city of Burgas will
increase from the current three to four and flights to Croatian Split and Greek
Thessaloniki from two to three. Another afternoon flight three times a week from
Bratislava to London Luton Airport will be available. The airline will provide passengers
with four flights weekly from Košice and Poprad to Luton instead of the current three. |
Sri Lankan arms shipment may be breaking EU code on weapons exports
The Economy Ministry has approved a shipment of 10,000 artillery rockets to the Sri Lankan
government. It has been claimed this seems to be in violation of the EU Code of Conduct on
Arms Exports. The government of Sri Lanka has been engaged in a civil war with Tamil Tiger
rebels and both sides have been accused of serious human rights abuses.
A consignment of 3-metre rockets were due to be shipped from Slovakia to Croatia on 10
April. From there they would be shipped by boat to Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital,. The
“end-user” of the weapons was listed as the Sri Lankan Armed Forces General Staff. The
rockets can be launched in batteries of 18, firing volleys of up to 720 at a time. The
weapons are known to be powerful, but not particularly accurate.
The Sri Lankan administration of President Mahinda Rajapaksa unilaterally abandoned a
ceasefire with the Tamil Tiger rebels in January this year, and has been cited in recent
US, UN and EU human rights reports for allegedly killing and kidnapping civilians in the
country’s 25-year civil conflict. In March, Human Rights Watch labelled the Rajapaksa
government as one of the “world’s worst perpetrators of enforced disappearances”,
mainly of young Tamil men.
According to the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, Sri Lanka is the kind of destination
that arms exporters in EU member states should be banned from supplying. Paragraph 2 of
the Code says that “Member States will not issue an export license [for military goods]
if there is a clear risk that the proposed export might be used for internal repression”.
Paragraph 3 requires that “Member States will not allow exports which would provoke or
prolong armed conflicts or aggravate existing tensions in the country of final
destination.”
However, the Slovak Economy Ministry, which is responsible for vetting and issuing
licenses for arms exports, said the consignment did not violate the EU Code. Also “The
UN Security Council’s evaluation of the situation in Sri Lanka has not led it to declare
an embargo on arms shipments to the country.”
Ján Škoda for the Foreign Ministry commented that “Slovakia’s export control regime
is compatible with those used in EU and NATO partner countries, and in general enjoys
their natural respect and recognition.”
The 122mm rockets have a range of up to 30 kilometres, and can carry 20-kilogramme high
explosive, incendiary or chemical warheads. They are fired by the Soviet-designed GRAD
multiple rocket launcher, which is used in over 50 countries, making it one of the world’s
most popular rocket artillery systems. The former Czechoslovakia developed a variation on
the GRAD called the RM70, which the Slovak rockets in question have been designed to
equip.
The weapons were bought from Ministry of Defence surplus stocks by the SMS arms trading
company of Dubnica nad Váhom in November 2006. Ministry spokesman Vladimír Gemela said
that the price had been 8.45 million korun. The rockets were later purchased by Way
Industry of Krupina in central Slovakia and sold to Lanka Logistics of Colombo, a
nationalised firm which handles arms procurement for the Sri Lankan armed forces.
A spokesperson for the European Commissioner for External Relations, said that there were
no sanctions for countries that violated the EU arms export code. “How the Code is
implemented is up to each member country,” she said.
In 2005 and 2006, the latest years for which EU reports data are available in, Slovakia
exported €213,000 worth of ground vehicles and components to Sri Lanka. By comparison,
the Czech Republic sent almost €4 million worth of goods in a range of military
categories, and the United Kingdom dispatched over €8.5 million worth of weapons to
Colombo.
Governing parties threaten opposition with referendum on
Lisbon Treaty
On 8 April the daily newspaper Sme reported that the governing Smer and SNS
parties were believed to have delivered an ultimatum to the opposition. The warning said
that if the opposition failed to agree a vote for the Lisbon Treaty, the governing
coalition parties will demand a referendum.
Despite its clear support for the EU reform, the opposition has refused to ratify the
treaty as a long-running protest against proposed government amendments
to the Press Code.
Miroslav Číž, head of the Smer parliamentary faction, commented that a referendum would
require a turnout of more than 50% to be considered valid. Turnout at Slovak elections has
been notoriously low, and only one referendum has been successfully passed since Slovakia
became independent in 1993 – the question then was whether the country would join the
European Union.
Ratification of Lisbon Treaty stuck in political deadlock
EU trademark for Bryndza sheep's
cheese
It looks as if Slovakia will successfully acquire EU protection for its bryndza
sheep's cheese. On 7 April the office of the European Commissioner for Agriculture said no
other European Union country had objected to the country’s request. The 6-month response
period ended at midnight on 4 April without any objections, meaning that that European
Commission can now begin internal procedures aimed at officially registering the product.
Bryndza will be the second Slovak food product to be officially registered by the
EU, after the Skalica trdelník cake. Other products, for which Slovakia is
seeking registration are the Parenica and Slovenský Oštiepok cheeses,
several types of sausage, and a long-life salami. |
Small farmers struggle to be recognised
Increasing urbanisation and the spread of supermarkets has changed the way in which people
obtain, cook and consume food. Until the last twenty years almost everyone living in
cities had links to the country and rural life. Home grown fruit and vegetables and even
meat had a long tradition. Farmer's markets were common. But despite the supermarkets old
traditions have been struggling to make a comeback. Some farms have begun to sell more and
more to local grocery shops and farm shops may start to open.
Eight years ago Elena Bukovská and her husband decided to develop a small farm to produce
organic food. Almost 70% of the crop is sunflowers but carrots, beans, potatoes and onion
are very much in demand. “There is so much talk around about how small farmers are on
their way to extinction in Slovakia because they have almost no chance to get subsidies
from the European Union. I don’t share such a view because our farm’s experience shows
that people become more and more interested in healthy food and began searching for
grocery shops that are customer friendly, even cosy.”

During the communist period home grown food used to be very popular with
Slovaks. Industrialization compelled many people into moving from rural to urban areas,
but almost everybody living in towns had relatives in villages. People coming back from
weekend trips to their roots in the countryside always returned with bags full of
vegetables and fruits picked up from the garden of their relatives. Open air markets could
then be seen in most Slovak towns. Now they are a rarity.
Nobody knows how many home-grown food producers there are in the Slovak market. They have
no trade association and the Agriculture Ministry has no accurate data concerning their
number, since they are not registered as businesses. The Ministry estimates that their
number may be in the range of 63,000.
Former Agriculture Minister Zsolt Simon says it is mainly a lack of organisation which
puts small farmers at a disadvantage. “I know that people have sad memories from the
time of forced collectivisation in the 50s. But nowadays their only chance to survive and
make a buck is to unite and set up small co-operatives. Otherwise they will not have
enough bargaining power with retail chains and they will end up growing crops for their
own consumption only”.
Slovakia: facts and figures
Population: 5.38 million (51.4 percent women), 84% Roman
Catholic, 7% Protestants and 4.1% Greek Orthodox. The official language is Slovak. Ten
percent of the population are ethnic Hungarians. Other minorities include Roma (or
gypsies), about two percent by official records.
Geography: Landlocked Slovakia covers 49,035 square km in central Europe.
It borders Austria and Hungary in the south, Ukraine to the east, Poland to the north and
the Czech Republic to the west.
Cities: Bratislava (population 500,000) is the largest city and the
capital. Other cities include Košice, Žilina, Banská Bystrica and Nitra.
Political system: Parliamentary democracy, with a single, 150-seat house
elected to four-year terms. The mostly-ceremonial president serves a five-year term.
Economy: GDP growth is expected to be one of the highest in central
Europe at 3.5 percent this year, inflation is benign and industry is growing steadily.
Other problems, like wide current account and fiscal gaps, are slowly improving.
History
What is now Slovakia was for hundreds of years a part of the Hungarian
state, which was founded and converted to Christianity by King István I, later Saint
Stephen, in 1001. The modern history of the country dates back to 1918, when the first
common state with the Czechs, Czechoslovakia, was formed.
Slovakia was split off to become a separate state for the first time in 1939, when Hitler
captured the Czech, Moravian and Silesian regions, and a Nazi puppet regime was formed.
Czechoslovakia reunited as a democratic state after World War Two but was taken over by
communist rule in 1948. It remained a Soviet satellite until 1989, when the
Moscow-supported regime fell in a bloodless revolution. In 1993, Czechoslovakia split into
two, leading to the present independent, democratic Slovakia.
For a comprehensive and excellent up-to-date history, free of ideological or
political bias, see
Kirschbaum, Stanislav J Slovakia - the struggle for
survival
Palgrave Macmillan; revised 2nd edition 2006.
A Canadian of Slovak origin, Kirschbaum is Professor of International Studies at York
University, Glendon College, Canada. He is also the author of a Historical Dictionary
of Slovakia.
The path to EU entry
27 June 1995 - Slovakia applies for EU membership.
15 February 2000 - Slovakia starts EU accession negotiations.
December 2002 - EU Copenhagen summit gives the final green light to enlargement from May
2004.
9 April 2003 - European Parliament officially approves the accession of 10 countries
including Slovakia.
1 May 2004 - Slovakia joins the European Union. |
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New road network debts require highway pricing
The Slovenian government has proposed the introduction of a new, but controversial,
highway toll system.
When Slovenija gained independence in 1991, its highway network was patchy and
underdeveloped. It took the average driver more than four or five hours to reach the coast
from Maribor, near the Austrian border. To sustain its economy after independence a modern
highway network was essential for sustaining industry and commerce, and to avoid risk of
recession.
But there had been a price to pay. Since 1994, when the ambitious highway development
programme started, the government-owned highway operator DARS built up debts of €3.4
billion. The government acts as the guarantor of the company’s debt. While this means
DARS can access credit more cheaply, the taxpayer would have to pick up the bill if the
company became insolvent.
Žan Oplotnik, vice-president of the highway operator’s board, recently revealed that as
soon as 2009 DARS could be unable to service its debt. As the operator’s main source of
revenues are the tolls it collects, some €200 million a year at the moment. Considerably
more is needed. The government wants to introduce a new toll system, but plans have been
stalled by technical difficulties in setting up a universal electronic system. Transport
minister Radovan Žerjav now advocates “vignettes” as a temporary solution to the
problem of highway financing.
A vignette is a sticker fixed on the windscreen of a vehicle showing that the road toll
has been paid. It dispenses with the need for toll booths, and a one year-vignette would
probably cost €140.
But doubts about the fairness of the scheme have been voiced. With toll booths and
electronic tolling, drivers pay as they drive. With a one-year vignette system, however,
those who use highways only every now and then will end up subsidising those who use the
highways every day. The current proposal would apply only to passenger cars. Truck drivers
would continue to pay at toll booths.
The proposals suggest that implementing this system would allow the DARS to service its
debt until 2009. But in 2010, a sizeable proportion of the debt would have to be paid from
the government’s budget.
Czech government proposes microchip motorway toll
Links:
Information about Slovenija
Index to Slovenian government sites (right hand
column for versions in English)
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Bid to join NATO has mixed
reception
Ukraine's bid to join NATO has been said to have strong backing from the US government,
and President George W. Bush was expected to visit Kyiv on the eve of the NATO summit in
Romania’s capital in a show of support. But key EU states, including Germany and France,
have spoken out against Ukraine entering a Membership Action Plan (MAP) just yet. They
fear upsetting already strained ties with Russia, bearing in mind its role as a major
supplier of energy to Europe. MAP status is a precursor to the granting of full NATO
membership, which usually takes several years to obtain.
Ukrainian leaders have been invited to the 2-4 April summit in Bucharest to discuss
co-operation. They hope to use the opportunity to boost their case for eventual
membership, but the prospects appear slim.
Russia sees NATO's eastward expansion as a direct threat. Russian President Vladimir Putin
has warned that his country could aim missiles at Ukraine if it joins NATO and deploys
anti-missile defences on its territory.
Ukraine's bid is complicated by the country's internal divisions. Opinion polls show that
more than half of the population, particularly that in the Russian-speaking east and
south, is deeply suspicious of the West and opposes membership.
The bid to apply for NATO membership, launched in January by the Ukrainian government, has
led to weeks of embarrassing protests in Parliament by opposition
MPs friendly to Russia – protests that led to fist-fights and to locking the Speaker in
his office so that he could not start a session.
When George W Bush is in Bucharest to attend his final NATO summit he aims to convince
sceptics that Ukraine should be welcomed as a member. He will then go on to hold a last
summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The trip is
being seen by some commentators as a last bid by President Bush to score some successes in
foreign policy.
The struggle over Ukraine's bid to join NATO intensified on 28 March, with Poland voicing
support for Kiev and Russia offering more help to the alliance for NATO operations in
Afghanistan if it shuts both Ukraine and Georgia out. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk,
on a visit to Kiev, urged the alliance to embrace Ukraine's bid. "Poland has, is and
will fully support giving Ukraine MAP at the Bucharest summit," he said.
On 27 March Romanian President Traian Băsescu urged NATO to embrace closer ties with
Ukraine and Georgia. Băsescu also called for NATO to develop co-operation with Russia,
which he said plays a crucial role in regional security and in the global fight against
terrorism. "For us Russia is a partner that guarantees regional stability," he
said.
The NATO summit in Bucharest is turning into a critical test for the alliance, which is
split on the issue of Ukraine and Georgia. The United States, Canada and Eastern European
members are backing them, but Germany is leading western European opposition, warning that
granting the membership plan would torpedo hopes of improving relations with Russia.
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