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Some recent Slovak news headlines include “BUSH VISITS SLOVAKIA,” and “EUROPE REMEMBERS,” the latter of which was written over a picture of Auschwitz-Birkenau, a major Nazi (former) concentration camp located in Poland. You might also have seen “BIG BILL SLAMS SLOVAKIA,” and “DEPUTY MINISTER RESIGNS OVER SPY PAST.” Two others include “SLOVAKS GET LOWEST PAY IN EUROPE,” and “BRATISLAVA PRICES HIGHER THAN PRAGUE.”

 

Concerning the first headline, yes, President George W. Bush of the United States of America did indeed visit our humble country. Thousands turned out to hear him speak in Hviezdoslavovo Namestie, or “Hero Square,” Bratislava. Ours was the only country in which he spoke publicly to the masses on his whirlwind Europe tour this past February. In addition to him, we were delighted to see the Slovak President and his wife (President Gasparovic), the Slovak Prime Minister and his wife (PM Dzurinda), Condoleeza Rice, and Mrs. Laura Bush. Several of my friends were among the chosen few picked to sit in the seats behind President Bush, while another friend got to shake his hand and talk to him. Apparently she surprised him as a fellow American. In his speech, President Bush told us, “As you work to build a free and democratic Slovakia in the heart of Europe, America stands with you.”

 

“Europe Remembers” comes from January, concerning the day “the world looked back on one of its darkest periods in history.” The United Nations General Assembly organized a session to commemorate the anniversary of the liberation, the first of its kind. Our Prime Minister Dzurinda stated, “Slovaks should remember the Holocaust as the absolute denial of freedom and life, and the liberation of Auschwitz as the ultimate destruction of a distorted ideology.” This came about shortly after the major European news buzz concerning England’s Prince Harry wearing a swastika to a costume party, causing a major uproar.

 

When an international court sided with the Czech Republic over a CSOB legal battle, a “Big Bill” slammed Slovakia. When news came to the Slovak people that we must pay millions of euros to a Czech Bank, fears abounded that the expense would “crush the state budget deficit and endanger euro adoption plans.” (As a part of the European Union, Slovakia will be adopting the euro instead of the koruna.) The court case was actually decided in Washington D.C. by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. The case had lasted for eight years and the verdict requires Slovakia to pay €639 million. As of the headline news, the officials in Slovakia had not yet decided if they would accept the verdict or appeal.

 

Following weeks of pressure from the Slovak media, Deputy Minister Jan Hurny handed in his resignation. Allegations had been made that he was an active agent of the former communist secret service (StB). Mr. Hurny was implicated in the StB service when documents came to light forty-five days prior to his resignation. In the documents, his signature was signed to a paper of cooperation with the StB’s eastern Slovakia unit. Some politicians are hoping that Mr. Hurny’s resignation will prompt other government officials suspected of being former spies to “leave their posts.”

 

“According to rankings published by the Federation of European Employers (FEE), Slovaks are among the worst paid Europeans - taking 35th place out of 48 countries involved in the comparative study.” Of EU countries, only Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are worse off than Slovakia. Poland and Slovakia both share 11% of Denmark’s average wage, and neither countries are expected to improve any time soon.

 

UBS, a Swiss Bank, has made a chart of various world capitals and their prices, and has found that Slovakia’s capital is more expensive than the Czech Republic’s capital (Bratislava and Prague, respectively). Bratislava ranked in 54th place out of 74 capitals across the world in expense. Going by their chart, Norway’s Oslo is the most expensive capital in the world. However, if housing prices are included, London makes the tops. The Czech’s capital, Prague, placed five places lower than Bratislava (59th), Hungary’s capital, Budapest, ranked at 41st most expensive, and Poland’s capital, Warsaw, ranked at 49th.

 

These represent just a few headlines you might have seen in the Slovak newspapers over the last three months. As an added note, President Bush just issued a formal “thank you” to the Slovak people, stating, “My trip to Slovakia is one I will never forget.”

 

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Living in Laos Slovakia Presents Headline News US President George Bush Visits Mainz