Slovenia tops poll of prime destinations
14.1.2005 - Ksenija Samardzija-Matul

Slovenia has been voted 'Favourite European Country' at The Guardian, The Observer and the Guardian Unlimited Travel Awards for 2004. The vote is based on the quality of the holidays experienced by readers and demonstrates just how popular Slovenia has become in the UK. The award comes at a very important time for Slovenia's tourist industry as it marks a centenary of organized tourism in the country.

Due to its geographical position, Slovenia is an interesting tourist destination, and those in the tourist industry want Slovenia to become an important tourist destination too. Slovenia offers a lot from skiing and mountaineering in the Alps to swimming in the Adriatic Sea. There are also many cultural and historical sites. You can find archaeological remains from Roman times as well as architecture from the period of Hapsburg rule. In the Pannonian valleys there are springs of thermal water, and many well known spas.

Exactly 100 years ago, 25 local Slovenian tourist boards joined to become the Slovenian Tourist Association. Today the association consists of 588 smaller societies and 200 clubs in elementary schools. Marjan Rozic, president of the Tourist Association Slovenia:

"This year is very important for Slovenian tourism. Firstly because we want to achieve better results in our development than last year, which was around 5 %, secondly because new programmes are developing, which will offer the visitor a richer stay and thirdly, this year is a jubilee year as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of organized tourism in Slovenia. We do not want to celebrate past events, but we want to co-operate creatively in tourist programmes this year."

Slovenia is a small country and this is why those working in the field of tourism, have to take additional care of the environment. In April each Slovenian tourist society will plant a lime tree, a Slovenian symbol. There will be around 10.000 events in total throughout Slovenia marking the centenary of organized tourism. Marjan Rozic stresses the importance of tourism in Slovenia, not only as an economic activity:

"We can say that from the beginning tourist associations did more than just stimulate tourism. One of their functions was to promote the Slovenian language, to encourage Slovenian culture and heritage. The associations were the bearer of national identity. Throughout those 100 years a nice environment and hospitality have been the main concern."

And it is exactly this beautiful environment and hospitality that Slovenia tries to offer their guests in the future too. Despite its geographical smallness Slovenia has big plans and many will be realized in cooperation with neighbouring countries.

Slovak economy dented by court ruling
14.1.2005 - Anca Dragu

An international arbitration court in Washington has ruled that Slovakia must pay 617 million euros to the Czech bank - CSOB. The case dates back to the early nineties and is linked to the debts of state owned companies from this period. The decision is bad news for Slovak public finances - the public deficit could go up by 1.9% at a time when Bratislava is fighting to keep it as low as possible so it can adopt the Euro in about 4 years time.

617 million euros. That's the amount that Slovakia will have to pay to the Czech bank CSOB following the decision of an arbitration court in Washington. In the early 1990s the Slovak Ministry of Finance set up an agency in charge of settling the debt that Slovak state companies then owed CSOB. This agency took a loan from the same bank whose long overdue credits it was supposed to collect. The agency failed in both paying back the loan, and collecting money from companies. In 1997 CSOB filed a complaint against Slovakia with the arbitration court in Washington. Eight years later its decision came as an unwanted Christmas present for the current Finance Minister Ivan Miklos:

"We are witnessing the explosion of a time bomb we inherited from the previous government of populist premier Vladimir Meciar. This is the consequence of poor economic policy."

What worries Miklos so much is that should Slovakia be forced to pay this sum, then its public deficit will grow by 1.9% of GDP at a time when the government is struggling to keep it at around 3% in order to be able to adopt the euro in 2008.

"Our lawyers are investigating the possibility of an appeal. The court set the 28th of January as the deadline for the payment to be made. In case we decide to appeal, we have another three months to do so. Failing to meet any of these deadlines will result in penalties of 5 percent per year."

CSOB's spokesperson Milan Tomanek regards Slovakia's potential appeal as a trick:

"Slovakia is trying once again to buy time. I don't really think they can change the court's decision. We have been open to negotiations concerning the option of dividing the sum into instalments. However, we are determined to settle this dispute once and for all as soon as possible."

Back on the Slovak side, the director of the Debt and Liquidity Management Agency Daniel Bytcanek said that if the government were obliged to settle this sum, it would issue more bonds than originally planned on the local market.

"I don't see any problem in paying this sum because the state treasury can borrow cheaply on both local and international markets. And it can also use the state reserves to cover part of the debt."

The Government will decide how to officially respond to the court's decision by January 22nd.

Number of road deaths in the Czech Republic drops sharply for the first time in a decade
14.1.2005 - Rob Cameron

The Czech Republic has long had one of the worst road safety records in Europe, and horrific pile-ups have become a daily feature on the evening news. But finally, it seems, there's been some improvement - last year saw a substantial fall in the number of deaths. So what's behind it, and will it last?

At last some good news from the Czech police - the number of road deaths fell sharply in 2004, the first such fall in several years. The Interior Ministry said 1,215 people died on Czech roads last year - around 100 less than in 2003. Robert Stastny, from the Transport Ministry's Road Safety Department:

"You know that in April last year, the government passed a national strategy, and the Ministry of Transport with the Traffic Police started to do more for road safety. We see some results, and we should say thanks to the media, because the media really highlighted the problem of road safety, and it's discussed in society. So I think this result is also connected to the interest of the media and journalists."

The police themselves say there is no simple explanation why the number of road deaths has fallen. Rather a combination of factors appears to have contributed to the result. Media interest certainly has been of major importance, with heavy coverage of a spate of appalling accidents over the summer for example. But there are other factors too. There are more police on the roads, and more regular crackdowns. Czechs are gradually buying newer - and safer cars. The high price of fuel could have played a role. And above all, planned stricter legislation - including a penalty points system - has been uppermost in people's minds.

"People are speaking about it more; discussing it in pubs, for example. And, I feel the support of society to approve a stronger law. Unfortunately we don't see it in parliament. It's a bit strange because people are willing to have a stricter law, but politicians not so much."

At the end of last year parliament rejected draft legislation submitted by the Transport Ministry which would have revolutionised the country's driving regulations. Under the new points system, errant drivers would automatically risk losing their licences for accumulated offences, as opposed to the current system whereby only a judge can order a licence to be confiscated, after a lengthy court process during which the driver - even if he or she has killed someone - is allowed back on the road.

Following the bill's failure a new, watered down version is now being discussed in parliament. However Robert Stastny believes this has sent a dangerous message to drivers, a message which could see a turnaround in this apparent reversal of fortunes.

"For example December was a totally bad month, and we must see how things develop. Of course something happened last year, we achieved some improvement, but we must go on, and it will be harder and harder to repeat this result."

Unusual holocaust exhibition opens in Warsaw
14.1.2005 - Danuta Szafraniec

Before World War II more than 20 percent of world's Jewish population lived in Poland. They settled mainly in the eastern parts of the country, like the north-eastern city of Bialystok, where in 1937 they made up almost half of the population. But in the Bialystok region today, once home to 300,000 Jews, only a handful are left. Which prompts some to ask - what would Bialystok and other Polish communities - look like today - if it weren't for the holocaust? An exhibition in Warsaw is trying to answer that.

Tomasz Wisniewski is a journalist from the north-eastern city of Bialystok and co-founder of the "In Search of Poland Society" there. His latest idea is "Snapshots of Genocide - what would Poland be like if the Holocaust had never happened". It consists of several dozen pictures from Wisniewski's own collection of 40,000 photos which he acquired over 20 years at flea markets and internet auctions. They were taken by anonymous German soldiers who took their cameras along to Nazi-occupied Poland. Although shooting Jews was part of their daily routine, it was forbidden under German law to photograph or film atrocities. That's why the photographs on show in Warsaw do not show the horror of those times but are rather a portent of the slaughter to come. Tomasz Wisniewski agrees the exhibition may be viewed as controversial:

"I think we live in a very fast world, and we don't have time to stop to think for a moment. Sometimes we visit an exhibition just to visit our friends. If I make this impression on the visitors, watchers, readers, just to stop for a moment, just to think a little, I will be happy. Maybe it's a little provocation, but it's a contrast of a completely sick world like the time of war in a mirror of our time of stabilization, peace. And I rather expect a discussion about this question: what would Poland be like if the Holocaust never happened? Nobody knows."

He has faith that his exhibition will have more strength than pictures from Auschwitz.

"I have been once in Auschwitz. I have seen the crematories, and for me it's enough. I have seen this once and I will remember it till the end of my life because I can't understand how it happened. That's why I think the photographs, showing the situation of Polish Jews the day before, are much more interesting than showing exact crematories or bodies on the streets."

Eleonora Bergman, deputy director of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw had mixed feelings when she looked at the pictures for the first time:

"I don't feel comfortable looking at these pictures because I know who took them. And I know that this is not a normal life. I know that this is the beginning of an abnormal life, and this is the beginning of death and destruction. So, this is maybe a matter of knowledge and a matter of imagination. They make me realize that we are looking at these pictures today."

Could they provide any hint that would lead us to answer the question: what would Poland be like today if the Holocaust had never happened?

"I think this goal is not achieved by these pictures. I don't really find the question appropriate."

The exhibition was opened two weeks before the heads of over 20 countries come to Poland to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, where some 1.5 million men, women and children, most of them Jews, were killed by the Nazis.

Hungarian ambassador rocks the house at New York City's Knitting Factory
14.1.2005 - Agi Varga

Hungarian diplomacy has struck a few good chords in the United States recently. You see Hungary's ambassador to the US - Andras Simonyi - represented his country in an unusual way - by performing in a rock concert. Radio Budapest called the rockin' diplomat and asked him if he played for diplomatic relations or for rock and roll....

"Of course I do it in my capacity as an ambassador but I do it also as a musician, as someone who has been in touch with rock and roll for forty years. We played at the Knitting Factory in New York City with my band, which consists of the US Ambassador to Moscow, Alexander Vershbow, Lincoln Bloomfield, who is an Assistant Secretary of State, Dan Poneman, who is a consultant with The Scowcroft Group, and Jeff Baxter, who is a superstar guitar player, who used to play with the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan."

It seems to me that your group is a steady group...

"It's steady spiritually but we of course cannot play very often because everybody has high-level political or diplomatic jobs. The real important thing about this is that you can perfectly be a serious ambassador, work in a very important job for the government, and still play rock and roll music seriously. Our motto is that the rock generation is in charge today. Whether you come from Hungary or from the United States, we grew up with the same kind of music. As far as I'm concerned, rock and roll music has meant so much to me when I was growing up behind the Iron Curtain. I want to convey a message to my friends in the United States."

Do you think such an activity of an ambassador can make Hungary better known among diplomats in Washington?

"Absolutely, but not only among diplomats. I think what's more important is that we are reaching out to the American public. Our message with playing rock and roll music is that there is a commonality of culture. Our message is that we Hungarians and you Americans are very much alike and it is so natural that you Americans and we Hungarians hold hands in the world today. By the way, the proceeds of the concert went to the victims of the tsunami."

That was the other purpose of your concert...to help the tsunami victims...

"Absolutely. We had a very good audience. There were some outstanding guests. From the political world there was Anthony Lake, who was the chief security advisor to Bill Clinton, there were a lot of people from the business world, and there was Tommy Ramone of The Ramones. So, there was a very good crowd and I hope they carried the message that rock and roll is universal and one of the universal languages."