Visegrad Countries

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POLITICS

CzechRepublicA 'voters'revolution'is howoneanalyst describedthisyear's electionresults.

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HungaryFidesz' overwhelmingvictory in theApril elec-tion givesit a strongmandate.

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PolandThedeathof thePolishpres-identshookthe country andledto an earlyelection.

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SlovakiaSlovakia's centre-right co-alition is grapplingwithmultipletough reforms.

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ECONOMY

Divergent pathsTheV4economies arenolonger developing as homo-geneouslyas inthe past.

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HISTORY

Common, butdistinctHistory bothunites anddi-vides thecountries of theVisegradGroup.

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MEDIA

Big stridesThemedia in central Europehas overcomehuge chal-lenges since1989.

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EDUCATION

Grant opportunitiesTheV4 offers studentsa widerangeof scholarships.

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V4 countriesmove to theright

2010 has been a turbulent year for all thecountries of the Visegrad Group. Hard-fought battles, often marked by nationalistsentiment and efforts to blame the impactof the economic crisis on opposing parties,

preceded the parliamentary elections inHungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.Poland, where elections are expected totake place in 2011, faced its own trial: thecountry lived through the tragic death of its president in the spring and then thepresidentialrace whichensued.

Observers agree that the general elec-tions, which saw a change of governmentin all three countries that held them, have been the focus of attention this year, rep-resenting as they did a fairly big regionalshift.

“We are witnessing in central Europe,and especially in the Visegrad region, aunique situation when more or less all the Visegrad countries have given power toruling coali tions wi th the sameorientation,” Tomáš Strážay, an expert onthe Visegrad Group who works as an ana-

lyst at the Slovak Foreign Policy Associ-ation (SFPA) think tank, told The SlovakSpectator.

As Kevin Deegan-Krause, a politicalanalyst from Wayne State University inthe United States, points out, the rise of newcomers was also important in everymajor election in the region: Jobbik andPolitics Can Be Different in Hungary, Pub-lic Affairs (VV) and TOP09 in the Czech Re-public, and Freedom and Solidarity (SaS)andMost-Hídin Slovakia.

“These [parties] did not fundamentallyreshapepoliticsin thosecountries buttheydid change the balance of power,” Deegan-Krause toldThe Slovak Spectator. “They arealso likely to be shorter-lived than theirpredecessors and therefore more likely tocontinue or even intensify a cycle of new-partyriseand fall.”

Forreportson each V4country,see pg2

Theforeignministersof theVisegradGroupcountries(fromleft) – Karel Schwarzenberg(CzechRepublic),MikulášDzurinda(Slovakia), JánosMartonyi(Hungary) andRadoslawSikorski (Poland)– shakehands after theirmeeting inBratislavaon October22. Photo:Reuters

B Y M ICHAELA T ERENZANISpectatorstaff

Visegrad spirit willresonate within the EU

NEXT year the European Union’sleadership will turn ‘Visegrad-like’since first Hungary and then Poland will take the wheel of the EU’s rotat-ingpresidency.Eventhoughchairingcountries are pledged to be impartialthis willstillserve asa platformfrom whichto presentthe Visegradpriorit-ies and to showcase its cooperation,said Slovak Foreign Affairs MinisterMikulášDzurindawhenasked byTheSlovak Spectatortosharehis viewsonchallenges facing the Visegrad Groupcountries and the contribution the

group can make to the region and totheentireEU.

The Slovak Spectator (TSS): Slov-akiatook overthe rotating presid-ency of the Visegrad Group (V4) when the V4 was still struggling withthe economiccrisis andafterthree of thefour countries hadre-cently changed governments. Will these events have an impactonthe Slovakpresidency?

Mikuláš Dzurinda (MDZ): Set-ting off economic growth, pushingdown the deficit, and consolidatingpublic finances are the most im-portant tasks of all the Visegradcountries. Also within the V4 we arethus focusing on supportingprojects and those forms of regionaland cross-border cooperation thatcontribute not only to easing theimpacts of the crisis but also to the

revivalof economiccooperation. We are now halfway into our

presidency and the crisis remains agreat challenge for us. But as withthe change of governments afterthis year’s elections in the V4 coun-tries, thecrisis has notimpactedthesmooth takeover of the chair fromthe previous Hungarian presidency. V4 cooperation stands on firmground and therefore the crisis orchanges in governments are ratheran impulse for boosting this cooper-ationratherthan a reason forworry.This has actually been confirmedeven now as Slovakia has broughtnewdynamicsto V4cooperation:wehave strengthened the consultationmechanisms ahead of the meetingof the European Council and otherEUbodies atthe levelof ministersorhighdepartmentalrepresentatives.

SeeMDZpg6

B Y B EATA B ALOGOVÁSpectatorstaff

Date of issue: December 13, 2010 Supported by the International Visegrad Fund

VISEGRAD COUNTRIE SFACING NEW CHALLENGES

Project coordinator: Project partners:

Krakow, Polandwww.villa.org.pl

Krakow, Poland, www.krakowpost.com

Budapest, Hungary, www.bzt.hu

Bratislava, Slovakia, www.spectator.skInstitute for World Economicsof the Hungarian Academy of SciencesBudapest, Hungary, www.vki.hu

Prague, Czech Republic, www.praguepost.comInternational Visegrad Fund, www.visegradfund.org

Supported by:



“Voter revolution” in Czech politics

THE OVERWHELMING trendin Czech politics in 2010 iswhat political analyst Jiří

Pehe calls a “voters’revolution,” even if that re-volution remained stillborn attheballot box.

The year began underPrime Minister Jan Fischer’scaretaker government, whichstayedin officeformorethanayear following a botched at-tempt at calling early elec-tions in October 2009. Theapolitical nature of Fischer,former head of the Czech Stat-istical Office (ČSU), offeredlittle for citizens to get excitedabout, that is until thegovernment’s final weeks

which saw ministries pushthrough a series of major, butcompletely disconnected,spending projects – includinga Kč2.6-billion (around €104million), 25-year contract torenovate and manage a milit-ary hospital that was signedone day before general elec-tionvotingbegan May28.

In that election, public an-ger at the political status quoerupted, with the country’stwo largest and most-estab-lished parties, the CivicDemocrats’ (ODS) and SocialDemocrats (ČSSD) sheddingvotesto newcomers.

“Between the two of themthey lost 1.3 million voters,”

said Pehe, a former aide toPresident Václav Havel, andnow director of New York Uni-versity inPrague.

While the poll saw theČSSD take more votes thanany other single party, it wasmore notable for the rise of two nascent political parties –the right-leaning TOP 09 andthe populist Public Affairs(VV)party.

The election marked thefirst time ever that the ODSfailed totakethe most votesinPrague, losing out to TOP 09,andthe partyfoundedby Pres-ident Václav Klaus would loseagainin thecapitalduringOc-tober local elections. Still,political manoeuvring has al-lowed the ODS to keep controlof bother the premiership(Prime Minister Petr Nečas)

and mayor’s seat (BohuslavSvoboda).Much like elsewhere in

central Europe, the Nečas gov-

ernment – comprised of anODS-TOP 09-VV coalition –quickly set about slashing pub-lic spending. This included do-ing away with the HumanRights Ministry altogether. After downgrading formerminister Michael Kocáb’s port-folio, Nečas and allies forcedKocáb out of office completelyin September. That post, ashead of the government com-mission on human rights, re-mains vacant and the commis-sion hasnotmetin months.

A November visit by thehuman rights commissionerfromthe Council of Europe sawthe government again underthe microscope for its policies

towards the Roma minority.This time, the Council notedthat virtually nothing had been done to address the find-

ings of a 2007 European Courtof Human Rights ruling thatCzech schools systematicallydiverted Roma children intospecialeducation classes,often whenit wasn’t needed.

The aforementioned localelections in October werepaired with a vote to fill one-third of the seats in the sen-ate. That vote saw the ČSSDsecure an overall majority inthe upperhouse of parliamentfor the first time ever and alsoled to an ODS-ČSSD grand co-alition in Prague CityHall.

TOP09 tookthemostseatson the Prague City Assembly,meaning former head of theCzech National Bank (ČNB)

Zdeněk Tůma looked poised to become mayor.

SeeCZpg5

B Y B ENJAMINC UNNINGHAM

Special to the Spectator

Slovakia grapples with reforms

SLOVAKIAsaw itsleftistprimeminister, Robert Fico,moveinto parliamentaryop-position afterthe generalelectionthis June. Thefourcentre-rightparties whichmanaged to forma coalitiongovernmentare expectednotonly toset thecountry onapathof reducedpublicex-penditures anda smaller budget deficit butalso to deal withnumerous complaintsaboutthe conditionof thecountry’sjudiciary, improvetransparency in public ad-ministrationand attempt toheal what hadbecomea

tense bilateral relationship with Hungary.PoliticalanalystKevin

Deegan-Krauseof WayneStateUniversity despite thatsaysthe Juneelection andthechangein governmentdidnotbringabout much of an alterationin internation-al perceptionsof Slovakia.

“Thecountryhas demon-strated its pro-Western in-ternational commitmentsandorientation wellenoughoverthe pastdecadethatthereare farfewersuspi-cionsand morebenefitof thedoubt,” Deegan-KrausetoldTheSlovakSpectator,ex-plaining thatthe Ficogov-

ernment,despiteits prob-lematic coalitionpartnersandscandals,did not fun-damentallychangeSlovakia’sdomesticor inter-

national orientation. “I sus-pectthat somebusinessandgovernmentofficials areslightlyrelievedbut I don’tthinkthiswas a make-or- breakchangeas in,say,1998.”

Theatmosphere beforetheelections suggestedthatthere werestrongfeelingsagainst theFico governmentamongsomegroupsof cit-izens. Forinstance,minorit-iesfelt many ofthe actions of thepast governmentweredirectedagainstthem.

High expectationsamongthe voters backingthecurrently ruling centre-right parties focusedon bet-

tercontrolover public ex-penditures andmore ag-gressiveaction against cor-ruption.

Firstfemale prime minister

Whenevaluatingthefirst 100days of thegovern-mentled by Iveta Radičová,thefirst female primemin-isterin thehistory ofthecountry,politicalanalystGrigorijMesežnikov said“societyis directedtowardsliberaldemocracy; thatis afactthat cannot beoverlooked”.

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Air tragedy impactsPolish politics

FORPOLANDandits cit-izens,2010will beyet anoth-erdarkspotin thecollectivememoryof a nationthatre-gardssufferingas oneof itsmaincharacteristics. It wastheyearwhen dozensof

Poland’smajor publicfig-ures, includingthe presiden-tialcouple,tragically diedina planecrash near Katyń– aplacewith strong symbolicmeaning forthe Polishpeople. Justweeksafter thetragedy,the shaken nationneededtoelecta newpresid-ent– andchose thespeakerof parliament,BronisławKomorowski.

Poland’sPresident LechKaczyński,alongwith his wifeand 94VIPsof Polishso-cietywerekilledwhiletrav-ellingto a ceremonytocommemoratethe 1940mas-sacreof Polish armyofficersandothersin theforests of

Katyńnearthecityof Smolensk,Russia.Poland experienced a

presidential campaign thatcouldnot have been con-sideredordinarybecauseof

theshock that theplanecrashhad onthe nation. Theracefeatured twostrongcandidates: Komorowski, thespeaker ofthe lowerhouseof parliament andan ally of PrimeMinister Donald Tuskof therulingcentristandpro-business CivicPlatform(PO)party;and former primeministerJarosławKaczyński who wasfieldedas thecan-didate of theconservative

LawandJustice(PiS) partytoreplacehis latetwin brotherLech.

Komorowski hadbeen afavouritefor theelectionthathad beenoriginallyscheduledfor October2010.Inthe aftermathof thetragedy in whichKomorowski’stwo potentialcompetitorswerekilled,thechancesof JarosławKaczyńskiseemedto risebutKomorowski wonthe elec-tion onJuly4 with 53percentofthe vote.

Poland is expectedtoholda generalelectionin2011with Komorowski’sPOpartyseemingly ona firm

footing to become thefirstpartyin Polandsince 1989 to wina second consecutiveelection.

SeePLpg5

Hungary's Fidesz party has 2/3 majority

THE ELECTIONS of April 11 and 25 signi-ficantly changed the face of Hungarianpolitics and economy. With 263 seats(over two thirds of a total of 386) in par-liament, Viktor Orbán's right-wing

party Fidesz ended eight years of rule bythe Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP).Two major parties of the 1989 change of regime, liberal SZDSZ and conservativeMDF virtually disappeared. The ex-treme right made its entrance into par-liament, with the Jobbik party gaining47 seats, a close third-runner to MSZP's59. Fidesz's sweep to power in 22 of 23major cities in October's local electionsand the parliament's election to thepresidency of one-time Fidesz deputypresident Pál Schmitt confirmed therightwardshift in Hungarianpolitics.

Significant policy developments arenotable in two major areas. An earlylaw passed in May by the new parlia-ment will, from next January, ease re-strictions for ethnic Hungarians want-ing to apply for citizenship, a step

which could affect the approximately2.5 million Hungarians living in Slov-akia, Croatia, or Romania. Numbers of applicants are estimated by the gov-ernment at between 250,000 and400,000 in thefirst year.

According to the latest constitutionaldraft released on December 1, the newgovernment seems likely to grant votingrights to the new citizens without resid-ence requirements.

A second major series of develop-ments concerns economic policy and hasdeep and continuing ramifications forconstitutional order.

The Hungarian government's re-sponse to pressures from the Interna-

tional Monetary Fund, the EuropeanUnion and investors for addressing itsserious economic problems has so far been to privilege taxation on businessesand banks over implementing an auster-ity plan. Its commitment to thesepolicies has led the Orbán government tointroduce some fundamental changes inthe purview of the Constitutional Coun-cil and other economic oversight bodiesin order to prevent these institutionsfromblockingthe newtaxes.

The introduction of the tax schemes, which particularly hit foreign investors,and the quasi-nationalisation of the pen-sion scheme show a particular statist brand of right-wing politics which em-phasises the idea of national solidarityand power.

Moves in the fields of culture and so-

ciety also point to efforts of the Hungari-an government to rewrite “the large bookof the Hungarian nation” by strengthen-ing patrioticfeelings.

Family-friendly policies and the ex-tension of citizenship rights to those

Hungarians beyond borders both strivetowards halting the decrease in the Hun-garianpopulation, which recently fell be-lowthesymboliclevelof 10million.

The new constitution is expected tosignal in its preamble a return to a moralorder based on stronger religious valuesand references to Hungary's Christianheritage,although thelast availabledraftdoes not indicate a radical overhaul of theconstitutionalsystem.

Despite a marked nationalist strainin governmental policies, it is note- worthy that theissue ofthe Roma minor-ity has been largely taken off the front of the political scene in an effort to down-play one of the extreme right's main winning issues.

Hungary's move to extend citizen-ship to ethnic Hungarians beyond its bordershas brought renewedintensitytothe ongoing tension between Slovakiaand its southern neighbour over ethnicminorities and historical territorialrights. Slovakia heightened the stakes by voting to amend its own citizenship law,in effect stripping anyone of their Slovakcitizenship if they apply for Hungariancitizenship.

Preparations for the Hungarian pres-idency of the EU in the first half of 2011

and the desire of the new government totake a leading role in the region have ledto smoother relations with a number of countriesof thewesternBalkans.

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B Y B ÉNÉDICTE W ILLIAMSSpecial to the Spectator

B Y M ICHAELAT ERENZANISpectator staff

B Y M ICHAELAT ERENZANISpectatorstaff

2 December 13 – 19, 2010 V4 – POLITICS

Nationalelections wereheldin allfour VisegradGroupcountries in 2010. Photo:Sme-V.Šimíček



Investing in the V4

THECOUNTRIESof the VisegradGroupare perceivedas an attractivelocationforforeigninvestments as allfournationsare members of theEuropeanUnionand of-ferlowercosts of labouralongwith highproductivityin comparisonto otherpartsofthe EU.WhileV4 countriescouldforma commonstrategy to increaseaware-ness ofthe region amongdis-tantforeigninvestors, atotally jointeffortis unlikelyas an actualinvestmentusu-ally landsin just onecountryandthus thecountries oftenfindthemselvescompetingto attract investors.

Basedon anErnst&YoungreportentitledEuropean AttractivenessSurvey 2010the central andeasternEuropeanregion willbe the thirdmostat-tractivedestinationfor in- vestorsover thenext three years.Timea NemešováandJanaFranekováfrom theforeigndirect investmentsection of theSlovakIn- vestmentand TradeDevel-opment Agency (SARIO)toldTheSlovakSpectator thatthisreportis quitepositiveforthe region andstatedthatforeigndirectinvest-ments(FDI)can be expectedespecially intosectorssuch

as manufacturing,scienceandresearch, andservices.“The V4region with an

areaof about534,000squarekilometres anda populationofabout64 million people…remains attractiveforinvestors,”Nemešová andFranekovásaid. “This is notonly duetothe region’sstra-tegiclocation butalso thanksto thehuge economicpoten-tial, cost-effectiveness,qual-ity humanresources,fa- vourablebusinessenviron-ment,and constantlyim-provingliving standards.”

Accordingto national in- vestmentagencieswithintheV4, theregionbenefits

fromlowerlabourcosts andconcurrent highlabourpro-ductivityas wellas favour-ablebusinessconditionslinked withrelatively lowtaxeswhen comparedwithmorewesternEU countries.Butexpertsnote thatcoun-trieslikeRomania andBul-gariawithinthe EU,Asiancountriessuch as IndiaandChina,andRussia standasgrowingcompetition to thecountriesof theV4.

Eventhoughthe eco-nomiccrisiscurbedFDI in-flowinto theregionlast year,Nemešováand Franeková viewthe figuresas quitesoundas aggregateFDI in-

flowinto theV4 countriesreachedabout €12billionand wascredited withcreatingover24,000jobs. Invest-mentsinto V4 countriescameprimarily fromother

EUstates such asGreatBri-tain,Germany,Franceand Austria, butalso fromtheUSA,Japan andSouth Korea.TheSARIO expertsaddedthat most FDIhasbeentar-geted at theautomotive,

electro-technicaland manu-facturingsectorsas wellasintothe servicesector.

Bytheendof 2008theV4countrieshad receivedabout$380billionin foreigndirectinvestment, of which 43 per-cent went toPoland,25 per-centto theCzech Republic,22percentto Hungary and10percentto Slovakia,accord-ingto Hajnalka Hársfalvai,PR managerof themarketingandcommunicationdirect-orateat theHungarianIn- vestmentand Trade Devel-opment Agency (ITDHun-gary), citingdata fromthe Vienna Institutefor Interna-tionalEconomic Studies’

databases.She toldThe Slov-ak Spectatorthat between2004and 2009aggregate FDIaccountedfor €133.491bil-lion andtheestimatefor2011is €16.5billion.

AttractingFDIwith skills

Hársfalvaitold TheSlov-ak Spectatorthat reducingcostsis nolonger theleadingfactor attractinginvestors.

“Theinvestors movetocountries[of theV4] lookingforknowledgeand skills, in adevelopedbusinessenvironment,”Hársfalvaisaid.“Between 2003and 2009Hungary,Poland,Slovakia

andthe CzechRepublic re-gisteredmore than100 in- vestmentsin R&Danddesign anddevelopment.More than halfof theprojectswere realisedin ICT,mainly in softwaredevelop-ment.In theCzech RepublicandHungaryautomotiveengineering andlife sciencesalsoshowedoutstandingperformance.”

Hársfalvai pointedoutthat theeconomic crisisraised concernsaboutthestability of economieswith-inthe regionwhichresultedina significantdecline inthe region’sshort-term at-tractiveness.

“While in 2006the regionfinishedas thesecondmost-attractiveregionglobally, in2010the CEEcountriesreachedonly thirdplacebe-hindChina andwesternEurope,”said Hársfalvai,cit-ingthe EuropeanAttractive-nessSurvey2010.

Opinionsdiffer regard-ingthe opportunityfor V4countriesto compete to-getheras a regionforfor-eigndirect investments.

JanFidrmucfromtheDepartmentof EconomicsandFinanceat BrunelUni- versityin Uxbridge,in theUnited Kingdom, thinksthat itis unlikelythatthe

V4countrieswill evercom-petefor foreign investmentin a coordinatedfashionasoneregion.

SeeINVpg6

Divergence ineconomic paths

WHEN entering the EuropeanUnion in 2004, the VisegradGroup countries were more orless homogeneous in their de-velopment paths. This cannotbe considered true any longeras each of the economies inthe central European regionare now formulating differenteconomic strategies under thechanged domestic and inter-national conditions and thedeep economic crisis over thepast two years has required

significant adjustments by allfour countries.The development of the

Hungarian economy has di-verged f rom the other

Visegrad countries in the lastfew years. This principallymanifested itself in a substan-tial slowdown in economicgrowth even as early as2006-2007, well before theglobal financial and economiccrisis unfolded. Hungary’s lagin growth is most evident andis well-documented whencompared to the developmentof the other states that joinedthe EU in 2004. The impacts of Hungary’s adverse develop-ments have been clearly vis-

ible in international compar-isons and they increasinglypoint towards a long-termtrend that could be difficult toreverse. This also means thatthe homogeneity that existedamong Visegrad group coun-tries in their developmentpaths upon entering the EUhas, in many respects, ceased.

From the perspective of growth and convergencebased on both internal factors(investments, consumption)and external factors (capitalflows, trade) it is evident thatthe new member states whichhave coped better with thecrisis are those which hadproduced high but not over-

heated growth since acces-sion, coupled with an appro-priate level of external and in-ternal financial stability, alow budget deficit and ahealthy public debt indicator.In the case of Poland, an addi-tional factor prevented a lar-ger downturn: credit-basedconsumption and investmentwas much more widespreadin other countries in thewider central European regionthan in Poland, in which thefinancial deepening wasslower. In other states wherecredit was the most importantfactor in increasing demand,the sudden crash in the finan-cial markets resulted in a de-

mand shock, or in other wordsthat overconsumption had tobe adjusted to the available

income. This shock was muchbigger in other countries thanin Poland.

The economies in thecentral European region areformulating different eco-nomic strategies under thechanged domestic and inter-national conditions. Thesestrategies can be seen as dif-ferent from the recent past intwo aspects. The first is thatachieving fiscal balance is

becoming a number one pri-ority and the second is thatgrowth should be based muchmore on savings rather thaneasy credit. These aspects areaffecting the region’s coun-tries differently because theydid not start at an identicalinitial position but neverthe-less the mainstream of the‘new’ economic policy pointsin these directions.

The deepening crisis overthe past two years has re-quired significant adjustmentfrom all four countries. Thishas meant either improvingtheir budget position or theirexternal equilibrium, whicheverywhere goes hand-in-

hand with a decline in eco-nomic output and a rise inunemployment. Stabilisingthe situation essentially de-pends on how the interna-tional funding situation pansout. A protracted crisis trig-gers structural reforms andsignificant adjustments morequickly for countries which were in a worse position froma long-term economic devel-opment perspective. This is why the conditions for long-term growth may turn out fa- vourably in the countriesmost affected – presumingthey follow a satisfactoryeconomic policy. Neverthe-less, this may have severe so-

cial consequences in the Balt-ic states and it cannot be ex-cluded among the Visegradcountries either.

The expectation for thepost-accession period was

that the need to comply withthe Maastricht criteria wouldpush the central Europeancountries to decrease the eco-nomic disparities betweentheir countries and the earlierEU member states. The indir-ect harmonisations of eco-nomic policies were supposedto be a tool to support conver-gences between theireconom-ies. In the longer run it is cer-tainly true that outside pres-sures have indirectly helpedcertain convergence of eco-nomic policies between the Visegrad countries independ-ently from economic policycoordination. This coordina-tion has been almost non-ex-

istent during the past twodecades and only serious eco-nomic security threats couldalter the situation. This is ex-actly the case currently;however, the developments inthe region hint that the toolschosen by the regions’ coun-tries are different and the di- viding line is again betweenHungary and the others.

The government in Hun-gary has a visible aim at themoment to stabilise its publicfinances with revenue in-creases which are based onadditional sectoral taxes andthe channelling of privatesavings in the pension sys-tem into the state budget

while at the same time cut-ting income taxes for bothhouseholds and the corporatesector. Due to these steps theHungarian budgetary posi-tion in the short run will bein order but the longer-termconsequences cannot be fore-seen at the moment. The sus-tainability of Hungary’s pub-lic finances as well as itstransfer system (pensions,social transfers, etc.) will bequestionable after 2012-2013.

Revenue side stabilisa-tions have been rarely suc-cessful in the past 15-20 yearsin Europe. The mainstreamstabilisation efforts inEurope, which have been fol-

lowed in the Visegrad coun-tries as well, are much more based on the spending side.This difference explains whythe future budget positionand debt risk in Hungary and

in the other three Visegradcountries is judged differ-ently at the moment by theinternational actors. This isclearly reflected in the recentdowngrading of Hungary’ssovereign debt by Moody’s, which put that country intothe Baa3 category, whileCzech and Slovak ratings are A1and the Polish rating isA2.

The changing interna-tional strategies of globalfirms can be interesting forall the Visegrad countries.Many firms are forced tosearch for further cost-cut-ting in order to regain theircompetitiveness in the faceof an economic environment

where demand in severalsectors is expected to stabil-ise at a level lower than be-fore the crisis. In these cir-cumstances firms are eagerlylooking for cost-cuttingmeasures and this may resultin large firms rethinkingtheir global presence, leadingto the closure of high-costproduction facilities andtheir partial relocation tolower-cost countries. As bigmultinationals are deterredin some cases from closingfacilities in their home coun-tries (for example because of government warnings insome major westernEuropean countries) they

may choose to downsizetheir production in otherhigh-wage countries.

Visegrad countries arelow-cost locations and thecapacities in certain sectors(for example the auto in-dustry) are technologicallymodern and very competit-ive so they can expect someadditional investment aspart of the global cost optim-isation strategies of multina-tionals. It is by no means anaccident that Hungary wit-nessed several additional investments from big carmakers in recent monthseven though future prospectsfor domestic economic

growth and fiscal stabilityare still not very bright. Andthis phenomenon is verypromising as it shows thatcentral European countriesare attractive as locations ininternational cooperation, which can be an additionalelement in maintaining ex-port-oriented growth inHungary, Slovakia and partlyin the Czech Republic. Po-land stands out a bit from theother three countries of theregion as the size of its do-mestic market makes it pos-sible to rely more on domest-ic demand rather than ex-ternal demand – which is themajor growth component in

the other three countries.

Tamás Novák is the senior research fellow at the Institute for World Economics of the Hun- garian Academy of Sciences

Austeritypackageshavespurredprotests. Photo:Reuters

B Y T AMÁS N OVÁKspecial to the Spectator

"Visegradcountries are

low-costlocationsand

capacities in certain

sectorsare modern and

very competitive."

B Y J ANA L IPTÁKOVÁSpectatorstaff

3December 13 – 19,2010 V4 – ECONOMY



Doing business in the V4

Slovakiaenjoysthe bestenvironmentfor doing businessamong theV4 countriesaccording to theDoing Business2011 reportprepared bytheWorldBank. Ofthe 183evaluatedcountries, Slovakiaplaced41st, downonerankingcomparedwith lastyear. Allthree otherV4membersimprovedtheirpositions: Hungaryjumpedfrom52ndto 46th,the CzechRepublicmovedfrom82ndto 63rdand Poland improvedits rankingfrom 73rdto 70th.

41.Slovakia(40)46. Hungary(52)63. TheCzech Republic(82)70.Poland (73)

Source:DoingBusiness 2011

Slovakia

Capital: Bratislava Area: 49,035sqkmPopulation:5.4 million*Populationby ethnic composition:Slovak(85.8%),Hungarian(9.7%),Roma (1.7%), Czech(0.8%),Ruthenian,Ukrainian,Russian,German,Polishand other(2%)Currency:euro (until2009,Slovakkoruna) Averagemonthlywage in 2009:€744.50**

RealGDP growth rate:-4.8 percent (2009), 4.1percent(estimatefor 2010)*GDPper capitain PurchasingPowerStandards in 2009(EU-27 = 100):71*Unemployment rate:14.7 percent(November2010)*

Source:www.visegradgroup.eu, *Eurostat, **SARIOCompiledby Spectatorstaff

Poland

Capital: Warsaw Area: 312,685 sqkmPopulation:38.2 million*Populationby ethnic composition:Poles(circa97.8%);othergroups(circa1 million people): Germans,Ukrainians,Belarussians,Lemkos,Roma, Lithuanians,Slovaks,Russians,Jews, Armenians,Tartars, Czechs and

KaraimsCurrency:Polishzłoty Averagemonthlywage in 2009:€785.75**RealGDP growth rate:1.7 percent (2009), 3.5percent(estimatefor 2010)*GDPper capitain PurchasingPowerStandards in 2009(EU-27= 100):61*Unemployment rate:9.7 percent(November2010)*

Hungary

Capital: Budapest Area: 93,036sqkmPopulation:10 million*Populationby ethnic composition:Hungarians92.3%;200-220,000 Germans,100-110,000Slovaks,80-90,000Croats, 25,000Romanians, 5,000Serbs,5,000 Slovenes,10,000 Polish, 3,000Greeks, 1,500Armenians,3,000Bulgarians, 6,000Ruthenians,2,000 Ukrainians

Accordingto estimatesthereare about400-600,000Romalivingin HungaryCurrency:Hungarian forint Averagemonthlywage in 2009:€739.23**RealGDP growth rate:-6.7 percent (2009), 1.1percent(estimatefor 2010)*GDPper capitain PurchasingPowerStandards in 2009(EU-27= 100):63*Unemployment rate:10.9 percent (November2010)*

Czech Republic

Capital: Prague Area: 78,864 sqkmPopulation:10.5 million*Populationby ethnic composition:Czech(90.42%),Moravianand Silesian(3.83%),Slovak(1.89%),Polish(0.51%),German (0.38%),Roma (0.11%),Hungarians,Ukrainians,Rusins(Ruthenians),Russians,Greeks, and

others (2.86%)Currency:Czech koruna Averagemonthlywage in 2009:€957.5**RealGDP growth rate:-4.1 percent(2009),2.4 percent(estimatefor 2010)*GDPper capitain PurchasingPowerStandards in 2009(EU-27= 100):80*Unemployment rate:6.9 percent (November2010)*

Tackling the crisis

THE VISEGRAD Group coun-tries are closely integrated in-to the wider European eco-nomy and all of them havebeen adversely affected by theglobal crisis. Their economicgrowthslowedand–exceptforPoland – swung into negativenumbers. Expectations for2011 are brighter, though ana-lysts say national govern-ments’ willingness to reformwillbecrucial.

“Their accession to the EUwas followed by several yearsof impressive growth,” JanFidrmuc fromthe Departmentof Economics and Finance atBritain’sBrunel University, in

Uxbridge, told The SlovakSpectator. “The crisis undidsome of those gains and, withthe exception of Poland,plungedtheV4countriesintoarecessionin2009.”

Poland registered thehighest GDP growth of anycountry in Europe in 2009,growingby 1.7percent. Infact,it was the only EU country torecordpositivegrowth.

“But compared to the pre-vious years, e.g. 6.2 percent in2006 and6.8percentin 2007,itcannotbesaidthatPolandwas‘thegreenislandontheredsea’because the decline was about5 percentagepoints, similar toSpain, Portugal, France and

Hungary,” Łukasz Pokrywka,coordinator of the economyand finance programmeat theKrakow-based think tank theKosciuszko Institute, told TheSlovak Spectator. “Poland didnot avoid the recession – eco-nomic growth is below its po-tential level, estimated at 4.0to4.5percent.”

The labour market in Po-land was hit hard, with theunemployment rate increas-ing, but still Pokrywka sees itas being in better conditionthan the other V4 countries,with the exception of the

CzechRepublic.Pokrywka identified six

reasons why Poland avoided a

technical recession. The firstwasitsfloatingexchangerate.“The depreciation of the

Polish currency created ex-ternal demand for our goodsand services, which becamecheaper,” said Pokrywka.“That fact increased exportsand finally GDP. But on theother hand it also increasedthe temporary level of ex-ternaldebt.”

He added that because Po-land has an underdevelopedbanking sector Polish banksdid not invest in financial in-novations and avoided taking‘toxic assets’ into their portfo-lios. Poland has a diversifiedGDP structure in which for-

eign trade accounts for about40 percent compared to 80-90percent in Slovakia and theCzechRepublic.

Among other reasons lis-tedbyPokrywkawerethehigh

level of potential production,EUfundsand consolidated fin-ancial supervision, which en-couraged a conservative lend-ingpolicy.

Of the V4 countries, theHungarian economy contrac-ted the most in 2009, by 6.7 percent,accordingtoEurostat.Slovakia followed with -4.8percent and the Czech Repub-licwith-4.1percent.

“Just like the whole re-gion, Hungaryalsofaceda ser-ious(around20-25percent)fallin export demand just afterthe fall of Lehman, as Hun-garian manufacturing – likethatof Slovakiaand theCzechRepublic – also specialised inhigh value-added investmentand durable consumer goods,for which demand is highlypro-cyclical,” Gergely Tardos,head of research at OTP Bank,

told The Slovak Spectator.“But in Hungary the fall indomestic demand was sharp-erdue tothe fiscal adjustmentand the higher share of for-eign exchange loans than inotherV4countries.”

Consumption in Hungaryfell by more than 7 percent in2009 against the -1 to +2 per-cent range in other V4 coun-triesand a furtherfallof 3 per-cent in 2010 is likely, while inthe other three countriesgrowthisexpected.

“Therefore the recession was also deeper in Hungarythan in our regional peers andthe recovery is also slower,”said Tardos, adding that Hun-

garian citizens faced a moreserious recession than theother V4 countries, and had tocut back their consumptionmuchmoresharply.

Slovakia, as an extremelyopen economy dependent onexternal demand, could notescape the consequences of asharp decline in export ordersat the turn of 2008 and 2009,according to Vladimír Vaňo,chief analyst for VolksbankSlovensko.

“It was the sharp declinein exports, by 16.5 percent year-on-year in 2009, thatpulled Slovakia into recessionlast year,” Vaňo told The Slov-ak Spectator. “The interna-

tional comparison of real GDPperformance during the re-cession is inevitably skewed by the extent to which a par-ticular country is dependentonexternaldemand.”

Moreover,especiallywhencompared side by side with itsregional peers, the past year was also influenced by a relat-ively higher base for compar-

ison,i.e. thestronger perform-ance ofSlovakiain 2008.In in-ternational comparisons, thereal annual decline of -4.8 in2009comparedlessfavourablythan with the Czech Republic(-4.1 percent), and especiallyPoland (+1.7%). However, inthecaseoftheCzechRepublic, Vaňo said it is important tokeep in mind the lower com-parison base from 2008, whenthe Slovak economy grew by5.8 percent, compared withjust 2.5 percent in the case of theCzechRepublic.

“The benefits of the luckytiming of euro adoption arealready being felt in thestronger recovery of the Slov-

ak economy in 2010,” Vaňosaid, adding that while Slov-akia is expected to grow atclose to 4 percent, the neighbouring economies are expec-ted to recover by between 1and3.5percent.

The economy of the CzechRepublic is closely intercon-nected with the German eco-nomy. David Marek, an ana-lystforPatriaFinance,toldtheCzech public-service broad-caster ČRo Rádio Česko thattheCzecheconomyfellintore-cessionduetoadropinexportsand also returnedto economicgrowththankstoexports.

Whencopingwiththe im-pact of the crisis, the V4 coun-

trieshave relied on twomech-anisms to help them absorbsome of its adverse effects, ac-cordingtoFidrmuc:exchange-rate fluctuations and migra-tionflows.

Fidrmuc says one possible benefit of the current crisis isthe fact that such events tendtoactascatalystsofchange.

“The current eurozonecrisis afflictingGreeceand Ire-land, which threatens to spillover to Portugal, Spain andpossibly Belgium, has playedthe role of a bogeyman, re-minding the V4 countries tokeep their public finances inorder,”hesaid.

Expectations

Given the high degree of economicintegrationof theV4countries into the widerEuropean economy, the eco-

nomic fortunes of the rest of Europe will be crucial, thinksFidrmuc.

“Once the recovery getsunderway elsewhere, it will

pull up the Visegrad econom-ies as well,” he said. “A poten-tial major threat is the pro-spect of the eurozone col-lapsing or shrinking. Whiletheprobability of thishappen-ing is still extremely low, it isno longer zero. Depending onhowthis unfolds,it mayaffectthe V4 economies, either be-cause it will aggravate andprolong the crisis or becauseinvestors will respond to theeuro’s troubles (or indeed pre-cipitate them) by fleeing theemerging and peripheralcountriesinEurope.”

According to analysts, thecourage of national govern-mentsin carrying out reforms

couldbe crucialfor theircoun-tries’ future economic devel-opment.

The percentage change inPoland’s GDP in 2010 is estim-ated to 3.5-4.0 percent and theforecast for 2011 is between 4and5percent.

“Inmy opinion, thefutureof the Polish economy is de-pendent on the internationalsituation and public financereform,”saidPokrywka.

According to Vaňo, in 2010and 2011 Slovakia stands in astrong position to become theregionalfront-runnerin termsofeconomicrecovery.

“The most intriguingquestion for the upcoming

two years is whether the new Slovak government will beable to fulfil its fiscal consol-idation commitment,” Vaňosaid. “If the fiscal consolida-tion does not materialise as itis planned for the upcoming years, Slovakia’s credit rat-ing, sovereign spreads andinevitably also the interestrates charged for privateloansmightbeatstake.Iamalittle bit afraid that the im-portance of sound public fin-ances remains underestim-atedin Slovakia.”

The Czech Finance Min-istry predicts that country’seconomic growth will be 2.2percentin 2010,and forecasts

a slight slowdown to 2 per-cent in 2011, the SITA news- wire reported.

Hungary expects that theeconomic growth will speedup, reaching 3-4 percent inthe coming years. Domesticdemand is also forecast to re- vivein2011.

“The most importantfactor influencing Hungary’seconomic performance willcertainly be the external environment and global eco-nomic growth,” said Tardos.“Hungary is a small, openeconomy, heavily dependenton exports and German eco-nomic growth. The secondfactor that will heavily influ-

ence growth is whether thestructural reforms are carriedoutinasuccessfulway."

To read the whole article, pleasegotowww.spectator.sk

Lower exportdemandhit mostV4 economies. Photo:TASR

B Y J ANA LIPTÁKOVÁSpectator staff

4 December 13 – 19,2010 V4 – ECONOMY



A common butcontentious history

CENTRAL Europeans like to be-lieve – and historians oftenconfirmtheir beliefs– thatpain

has always been part of this re-gion of the continent, whichhadtostrugglemostofthetimefor its own identity, squeezedbetweenthe Eastand theWest.The Czech Republic, Slovakia,Hungary and Poland, some-timesself-perceived as allies inorder to be the ‘significant oth-er’for oneanother, continuetocarry historical baggage thatdividesas wellas unites.

Historythat unites

The Visegrad countries dohave some common historicalexperiences, said historianIstván Kollai, a deputy directorof the Hungarian Cultural In-

stitute in Bratislava, at thestart of an interview with TheSlovakSpectator.

“However, these experi-ences are rather general phe-nomena such as the shared ex-perience that they all had frombeing ruled by Western, East-ern or Southern (Ottoman)empires,”Kollai said.

According to Roman Holec,a historian from ComeniusUniversity in Bratislava, thecountries are obviously locatedin a common geopoliticalspacewhich traditionally has been abuffer territory, a place wherepower interestsof theWestandtheEasthadclashedaswellasasymbolic edge of Europe bey-

ond which traditionally in-scrutableregions and countrieswere located – such as Russiaandthe Balkans.

“The efforts to retain theirindependence or simply sur-vive in this space are commonforallfourcountries,butthatisalsoperhapsthe lastthing thatconnectsthem,”Holec toldTheSlovak Spectator, noting thatthere are examples of good bi-lateral relations between someof the countries, such asbetween the Czech Republic

and Slovakia or Hungary andPoland but also rather some-what bitter relations, such asbetween Slovakia and Hun-

gary.

Historythat divides

Both historians agree thatthe reality for all four coun-tries isthat their interestsand

ideas about their role in theregion and beyond it differ verymuch.

“Thecommonmomentsinhistory rather divide all thecountries and their coopera-tion is often rather pragmaticthan conceptual,” Holec said,pointing out as an exceptionSlovak-Czech relations wherethepeaceful separationin 1993didnot detractfrom theirgoodmutual relations.

Holec said that central

Europe can be seen as a region with “too much history” – which complicates relation-ships, noting that historical burdens exist in all four coun-tries– withsomeseeingunful-filled ambitions (Poland), oth-ers being traumatised by theirlosses (Hungary), and otherssuffering from historical in-feriority complexes and fears(Slovakia and the Czech Re-public).

“Count in the ever-cultiv-ated 19th century national-ism, which also is a legacy of the past, and we’ve got thetroublesome character of theregion in hand,” Holec said,adding thatalthoughthereare

attempts to get the countriesto cooperateand focuson theircommon interests, over-in-dulgence in spotlighting thepast and mutual wrongdoingsstilldividesthem.

Holec stated that all fourcountries of the VisegradGroup tend to seek ‘profit’from their past sufferings – beit oppression or occupation byanother state, massslaughters, orbeingthe victimof games played by super-powers – they even turn theirsuffering into a mantra. Holecnoted that Slovaks have cul-tivated a stereotype of theirown ‘dove-like character’ which does not permit re-

membering any part of theslaughter of their own fellowcitizens before and during WorldWarII.

“That leads to the searchfor excuses: ‘other criminals’,

pressure from outside, orsimply silence,” Holec said.“These countries are missingthe much-needed and liberat-ingself-reflectionof theirownpast failures and that is alsosomething that connectsthem in a way. But it is justanother counter-productivemoment and a ‘skeleton’ which regularly keeps fallingfrom the closets of theirhistories.”

According to Kollai, the

nation-building programmesthat the four nations elabor-ated from the mid-19th cen-tury were often based on de-fining their nation againstothers, especially the neighbours.

“Before WorldWar I,Hun-gary played, or often just triedtoplay,a dominantroleon theregional level,” Kollai said.“This dominance left negativeelements not only among theSlovaks but also, for instance,in Czech historicalconsciousness.”

Kollai saidthat afterWorld War I all the current VisegradGroup nations focused solelyon their own problems and

needs and in attempts to win‘justice’ for their own nationoften harmed another, notingthat these are the memoriesthat burden bilateral relations between, for instance, Slov-akiaandHungaryeventoday.

Historicrupture

The legacy of the breakupof the Hungarian Empire, which occurredunder conten-tious circumstances becauseof World War I, has continuedto haunt the countries of theregion in the decades that fol-lowed andstill makesthe rela-tionship between Slovakiaand Hungary the most prob-

lematicin theregion.Holec noted that whilethe history of Hungary inthe 20th century is one of traumatising losses, the his-tory of Slovakia in the 20th

century is an example of asuccess story, stating thatSlovaks started from zeroand made it to a fairytaleending as an independentstate and subsequently amember of the EuropeanUnion andNATO.

“However, the success of the latter has been to a largeextent built upon the failureof the first,” Holec said. “Ontop of that, they both like tocompare themselves to each

other. And if Hungarians onthe one hand find it hard toseethatat thestart ofthe 21stcentury Slovaks are moresuccessful, even economic-ally,Slovaksseemnot tohavegrown enough mentally intorecognising the state theyhave achieved. If the formersuffer from traumas and cul-tivate various illusions, thelatter still have their histor-icalcomplexesas a ‘smallhis-tory’anda pointlessfearofitstraumatised neighbour. Thisserves as soil for nurturingnationalism, which in turnserves as a fertiliser for itsown recycling.”

Kollaiadded that bilateral

relations between Hungaryand Slovakia also tend to beunstable because politicianson both sides of the Danubetend to deny the basis of theother country’s nation-or-ganisingprinciple.

“Slovak political life is li-able to behave as a pure na-tion-state, despite the exist-ence of a considerable re-gional ethnic [Hungarian]community accounting for10 percent of the wholepopulation,” Kollai said.“Hungarian political life op-erates within the terms of a‘cultural’ and ‘political’cross-border nation whichmay sound like a gloomy and

suspicious expression toSlovak ears. This existing di-chotomy between the under-lying principles makes theecho of the nationalist activ-itiesso strong.”

B Y M ICHAELA

T ERENZANI

Spectatorstaff

The Iron Curtain once enclosed all the V4 countries and left similar scars in people's collectivememories. Photo:Sme-PeterŽákovič

CZ: Status quo rejectedat the polls

Continuedfrompg2

Butthe country’soldguard politiciansprovedoth-erwise andafter weeks of ne-

gotiations,the ODSand ČSSDcobbledtogethera dealtomaintain controlof thecap-ital,joiningforcesto keepthenewcomers outoffice.

“TheODS is convincedthat TOP09 isitsmainpolit-ical rivaland needsto be weakenedas muchaspossible,”said politicalana-lystBohumilDoležal,whoonce servedasan advisor toKlauswhen Klauswas primeminister.

Similar agreements werestruck in thecountry’ssecond, thirdand fourthlargestcities – Brno, OstravaandPlzeň respectively.

“It’struethis voterre-

volutionhas notproducedchange,”Pehe said.“The oldparties didnotlearn a lesson,especiallythe ODS.The ques-tion iswhethertheyarenotdiggingtheir owngrave.”

Again, public anger boiled overwith a massivestreet protest in earlyDecemberon thedaythenewCity Assemblyofficiallytookits seats. Havelhimself appeared at thesession to voicehis disapprovalof theODS-ČSSDalliance.

Less than 36hoursaftertakingofficein CityHall,thegrandcoalition’sfirst cor-ruption scandal broke, witha

video surfacingwhereoneČSSDofficialofferedKč100,000(about €4,000) toanother forsupporting apoliticianwhowasonthe

CityCouncil.That council-manhas sinceresigned,though hevows to returnoncehis nameis cleared.

“Thereason[the coali-tion]was puttogetherwas topreservecertain networksandcorruption,”Pehe said.“Oneshould notbesurprised.”

Such opinions are prov-ingto bewidespread.

“The reasonbehind thecoalition wasto maintain in-fluential groupsin theirposi-tionsso theycould keep theirinfluence,” saidVladimíraDvořáková,directorof thepolitical sciencedepartmentatthe Universityof Econom-

icsPrague.Continued budgetcuts atthenationallevelspurredanationwidegeneral strikefrom publicsector unionsonDecember 8, withlabourleadersand the politicalop-position voicing displeasureatboththe policyandman-nerof theNečasgovernment.

“Italwaystakestime, but I sensea movementinCzech society,”Pehesaid.“Wedon’tknow yetwherethatwilllead.”

BenjaminCunninghamistheeditor-in-chief of thePraguePost.

PL: Right-wing partiesdominate politics

Continuedfrompg 2

TomášStrážay, anana-lystwith theSlovak ForeignPolicy Association,statedthatPO is currentlystrongandisexpectedto remainsointhe run-upto next year’selection,notingthat politic-al competitionin Poland ispracticallyonly betweenrightistparties– onestrictlyconservative andthe otherrather liberal.

“Thereis noleftistgroupingwith sufficientpoweror perspective to beableto replace the rightistruling governmentinPoland,” Strážaytold TheSlovak Spectator.

“The question ratheris whetherthe current, liber-al governmentheadedbyPO,willbe replaced bythe verystrong and increas-inglyconservativePiS whichhas alreadyruledthecountryonce.”

Strážayalso remarkedthat PiSmight beinclinedtousethe still-quite-recentKatyńaircrashin theup-coming parliamentaryelec-

tionscampaign.“Buta longertime willhavepassed sincethetragedyand thereforeIdon’t believethatthey willmanageto mobilise the

voters insuch numbersthat would bringabouta prin-cipalchangein thepoliticalspectrum of Poland,”Strážaysaid.

“It isnota strongenoughelementas such tomobilisea sufficientpartof theelectorate infavourof thebrother of thelate pres-identand hisparty,” head-ded.

Katyń, however,keepsmaking news, mostrecently

during thevisit of RussianPresidentDmitryMedvedevtoWarsaw,which waspre-cededby Russia handingovermore documentsre-latedto themassacre in1940,when Stalin’sNKVDsecret police murdered22,000Polishofficersandthenfor several decades blamed NaziGermanyforthe killings.

Afterthefallof com-munism, Russia indirectlyadmittedits guiltbut didnotdiscloseall historical docu-ments until recently.

OnNovember26 theRussianDuma directly blamed Stalin forthe mas-

sacrein a rarecondemna-tion ofthe dictator,in amove widelyseen asan at-temptby Moscowto im-prove tieswith Poland, theReutersnewswire reported.

Lack of self-reflection still

hangs like askeleton in the

closets of the V4countries

5December 13 – 19, 2010 V4 – HISTORY



INV: Joint option?Continuedfrompg 3

“Rather,they arelikelytocompete with one anotherfor FDI flowing into the wider region incorporatingtheir four countries,”Fidrmuc told The SlovakSpectator. “While the V4countriescould gainfrom co-

ordinating their actions, thepotential gains f romrenegingon suchagreementsare bound to be high andtherefore such coordinationis notlikely to bemaintainedin the long term. Moreover,coordination among the V4countries, without widerparticipation by the othercountriesin central and east-ern Europe, may simply in-duce foreign investors tooverlookthe V4countriesa ndmoveelsewhere.”

According to SARIO, V4countries in general can beassessedtogetherasadynam-ic region, whose potentialcould be multiplied by more

intensive trading with coun-tries outside the EU, whichmight help to share risks inthefuture.The SARIOexpertsnotedthat whenestablishingcontacts with countries out-side the EU it would be usefulfortheV4 countriesto “create

a jointstrategyandto presenttheregionasawhole”.

“There are both advant-ages and disadvantages tosuch an approach [by oneregion],” Štěpánka Filipová,the director of the MarketingandPR department at theIn- vestment and Business De- velopment Agency of the

Czech Republic (CzechIn- vest) toldThe Slovak Spectat-or. “When dealing with investors the countries couldtogether offer a bigger mar-ket, better logistics, moreemployeesor moreindustrialproperties. On the otherhand, this approach wouldneed several legislativechanges in all the countries.For example, investment in-centives should be harmon-ised. More importantly,there will still be only onecountry where the invest-ment wou ld be finally loc-ated, with all the related advantages – tax income, new working positions and new

opportunities for subcon-tractors in the country. In- vestorsoften lookfor onlyonecountry to set up a businessin. This makes the V4 coun-tries competitors and we be-lievethat thiswill notchangeinthe comingyears.”

New website for Polish-Slovak region

BYNEXTsummera newtour-ism-orientedinformationportal should be helpingvis-itorsto theCarpathianre-gionsof Poland andSlovakiain findingnatural, historicalandcultural attractions.Theportal called Karpatská Mapa

Možností(CarpathianMap of Possibilities)will besponsoredby thePolishSOKOL culturalcentreinNowySaczand by Slovakia’s

Prešov Region.Each sponsor willcover15percentof thecostand theremaining 70percent will befundedby anEU programmesupportingcross-bordercooperation betweenPolandand Slovakia,theTASR newswirereported.

Compiledby Spectatorstaff

Formore V4 tourismshorts go to www.spectator.sk

Joint promotion helps build tourism

VISEGRAD Group memberstates continue to presenttheir region as an attractivetourist destination and thescopeof theirjointinitiative –branded as European Quartet,OneMelody– hasbeen furtherextended. Earlier this year,national tourist boards trav-elledas farasChina, IndiaandtheUSAtopromotetheregion,which comprises Poland, theCzech Republic, Hungary andSlovakia. India was identifiedas a prospective market andthemarketingplanofnationaltourist boards of V4 membercountries for 2011 includesstrengthening the V4 pres-encethere.

“In 2010 we selected the

markets of the USA, Japan,China, Russia and for the firsttime also Brazil and India toshowcase central Europe as atourist region,” Emilia Kubik,senior specialist at themarket-ingplanningdepartmentofthePolish Tourist Organisation,toldTheSlovakSpectator.

“We focus mostly on pro-motion of cities and culturaltourismin allof these markets.A specialproductfor theRussi-an market is spa and wellnessproducts, while for the US andBrazilian markets it is Jewishheritage.Mostoftheinitiativesthat we jointly carry out arestrictly B2B (business-to-busi-ness)activities.”

2010 was the year of thejoint entry of V4 countries intothe Indian market, with thefirst-ever V4 exhibit in SATTENew Delhi, the leading B2Bplatform,andMumbai.

“This market is very prom-ising for the region of central

Europe andV4 countries haveaproduct with which they canaddress potential Indiantourists,” Lívia Lukáčová, thehead of foreign relations at theSlovak Tourist Board (SACR)told The Slovak Spectator. Sheadded that a road show was

heldinfiveIndiancities(Delhi,Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangaloreand Chennai) followed by aninfo tour for Indian tour oper-ators and cooperation with In-dianmedia.

“The Polish Tourism Or-ganisation, in cooperation with the Visegrad Group, hasorganised a road show inBeijing and Canton, “ RomanGozdzikowski, marketingmanagerat thePolishNationalTourist Office in London toldThe Slovak Spectator, addingthat the Polish National Tour-ist Office has participated intwo events organised underthe V4 banner in Ireland. Thefirst event, held in May at the

Czech Embassy,focusedon thetourism potential of centralEuropean spas, and the otherevent, heldon October19 attheSlovak Embassy in Ballsbridge,focusedonwinterholidays.

“In2010we haveobservedincreasing interest in such

products as spas, Jewish cul-ture and UNESCO heritagesites,” Gozdzikowski said,adding that cooperation withotherV4membersinthetour-ism sector has been very suc-cessful.

Thenational tourist boards

plan to continue joint promo-tion of the V4 region in over-seasmarkets.

“In 2011 the presentation will beextendedwith the mar-ket of Brazil, where in 2010 wecarried out a survey amongBraziliantour operatorsto findout their interests,” Lukáčováof SACR said, adding that next year V4 countries will spend€100,000moreon joint promo-tion. “In 2011 we will alsolaunch a new European Quar-tet corporate website focusedon presentation of our jointactivitiesandprojects.”

All V4 countries have feltthe effects of the global eco-nomic crisis on their tourism

sectors,butsome havebeenhitharderthanothers.“Poland’s tourism industry

appears to be quite resilient,flexible and can quickly adaptto new challenges and theneeds of the market,”Gozdzikowski said. “Therefore

Polish tour operators werepretty quickto launch alternat-iveproducts.Polandhasalways been attractively priced for UK tourists,sowedidn’tfeelsevereeffectsfromthecrisis.”

The Hungarian tourismindustrywas facinghard times but is on the way to recovery,according to Márk Kincsesfrom the Hungarian NationalTouristOffice.

“Business tourism hasdropped and leisure had to setnew, less optimistic targets,”Kincses told The Slovak Spec-tator. “But lower occupancylevels resulted in strong com-petitionand muchlowerrates,so fromthe tourist perspectiveHungarybecame a destination where high-quality servicesare available for favourablerates – [meaning] excellent valueformoney.”

Slovakia, according to

Lukáčová, registered a signi-ficant drop in the number of tourists from its main mar-kets, i.e. the Czech Republic,Poland and Hungary. The im-pact of the crisis has been worsened by Slovakia’s adop-tionof theeuro,whichcoupled with the weakening curren-cies of neighbouring countriesmade Slovakia a relatively ex-pensivedestination.

Lukáčová believes that thesituation is now improvingacross the whole V4 region,and all four countries are re-porting an increase in thenumber of visitors from theRussianFederation.

“During the first half of

2010 the V4 countries re-gistered an increase in visitorrates compared with the sameperiodof 2009,” saidLukáčová,addingthat basedon prelimin-ary information this growthshould also continue in the winterseason.

TheV4 region offers manykindsof spas. Photo:Jana Liptáková

B Y J ANA LIPTÁKOVÁSpectator staff

MDZ: 'We aim to push our shared interests within the EU'Continued frompg1

TSS: Which key topics have been given thestrongest emphasis by the Slovak presid-ency?

MDZ: ThesloganofourpresidencyisEffect-

ive Visegrad – Continuity, Coherence, Solidar-ity and keeping each other informed. In thesphere of foreign policy, we aim to push oursharedV4interestswithintheEuropeanUnionin a moreeffective andmorecoordinatedman-ner. We have been successfully using the V4platform for supporting the European andEuro-Atlantic integration of countries of thewesternBalkans.In October2010, wehostedinBratislava an informal extended meeting of foreignaffairsministersof V4, countriesof thewestern Balkans and representatives of theEuropean Commission, which has confirmedsupport for keeping the dynamic of the opendoor process of the EU in 2011, when actuallytwo V4 countries, Poland and Hungary, willholdtherotatingpresidencyoftheEU.

We plan a similar meeting for next springcalled Eastern Partnership and it is intendedfor our eastern neighbours. A couple of days

ago, the V4 foreign affairs ministers turned tothe Belgian presidency of the EU and the EUCommissioner forEnlargement with the initi-ative that the December sitting of the Councilfor General Affairs recommends that theEuropeanCouncilgrantMontenegrothe status

of candidate country. This decision sent out astrong signal for the whole western Balkansabout the continuing interest of the EU in theEuropeanfutureoftheregion.

In specific sectors,the mostimportanttop-ics are issues of comprehensive infrastructure

andenergysecuritywithanemphasisondiver-sificationof transit routes andsuppliers as wellas projects of North-South gas streams and themodernisationofexistingpipelines.

The preservation of cohesion policies, sup-portfor educationand a justagriculturalpolicyas well as the development of neighbourlypolicies of the EU, are also on our agenda. Weare also paying attention to inclusion of theRomapopulation.

TSS:WhatistheroleoftheV4withintheEU? What are the areas where the V4 countriesproceedjointly?

MDZ: The successof the V4 dependson ourability to continuously seek common meetingpointsandtolookatourcooperationasalaunchplatform for seeking additional allies. Our goalis not to create new blocks within the EU, tosplinter EU integration or to weaken its unity.

After all,it wasour EUmembership whichgavea significant kick to intensifying V4 coopera-tion. Next year the EU will become “Visegrad-like” since first Hungary and then Poland willhold the rotating presidency. Even though thechairingcountryhas to beimpartial it will still

be an excellent chance to present Visegrad pri-oritiesandshowcaseourcooperation.

TheV4 hasthe largestpotential instrength-ening energy security, developing a compre-hensive transport infrastructure, and movingforward cohesion policies as well as in finding

ways of easing the impacts of the global eco-nomicdownturn.

TSS:Thelast centurywas problematicfor the V4 countries from a historical point of view,somethingwhichisstillreflectedintensere-lations between countries,specificallySlov-akiaandHungary.HowcantheV4contributetoreconciliationandimprovedrelations?

MDZ: The last century was problematic forthewhole of Europe. Dueto thetotalitarianlackoffreedom,therewas noroom incentralEuropefor reflection on the heavy burden of the past.The Visegrad cooperation started symbolicallyat the place of medieval reconciliation of thethen-rulers, which brought stability to the re-gion for several decades. Our purely neigh- bourly relations have changed again after thecenturiesinto oneas allies:we havesimilarhis-torical experiences and we believe in the same

valuesandprinciples.In fact the importance of V4 cooperationcould be illustrated by the fact that tensions in bilateral relations with Hungary in the pasthave not been negatively reflected in the V4.Solutionsof bilateralissuesdo notbelongto the

V4 ground. On the other hand, I am convincedthat that the Visegrad spirit of cooperation hasthe potential to have a positive impact on rela-tionsbetweenindividualcountries.

TSS: Are the policies of V4 members towards

other countries of eastern Europe coordin-ated?MDZ: The Eastern Partnership is a pro-

gramme of the EU which was adopted in May2009 duringtheCzechpresidencyof theEU anditalsobelongsamongSlovakia’sprioritieswith-inV4. I considerit a great advantagethatallthecountriesof theV4 devoteattentionto theEast-ern Partnership and support the approach of thesecountriestotheEU.

Slovakia is interested in a specific pro-gramme of bilateral support for south-easternand eastern Europe which is called the Centrefor Transfer of Experiences from IntegrationProcesses, which will be open also for coopera-tionwithotherpartners,includingthe V4coun-tries.

Also, the shared V4 goal is to continue theprocess of visa liberalisation for citizens of thecountries of the Eastern Partnership. We see

space for cooperation in the area of official de- velopmental help or through projects financedfromtheVisegradFund.

ZuzanaVilikovskácontributedtothisarticle

6 December 13 – 19,2010 V4 – TOURISM



V4 media confrontsimilar challenges

OVER the past two decadessince the fall of communismin theregion,mediaoutletsincentral Europe have needed togrow more independent fromtheir countries’ government,learn how to incorporate newtechnologies into their busi-ness models, and find finan-cial success in turbulent mar-ket economies.

Political interference hasbeen a challenge to the devel-

opment of media independ-ence since 1989 – and not onlyin Slovakia, where it culmin-ated in 1994-1998. Slovak ob-servers note that because of that heavy-handed interfer-ence fifteen years ago theSlovak media system is nowmore autonomous and betterableto resist politicalpressurethanit wasbefore.

“While 15 years ago theprevailing majority of journal-ists were fighting against thegovernment, today journalistsare rather in the position of journalists and not fighters,”Matúš Kostolný, the editor-in-chief of the Bratislava-basedSmedaily told theSlovakSpec-

tatorearlierthis year.To get a taste of what thechanges over the past twodecades have been like in theother countries of theVisegrad region, the Slovak

Spectator spoke to AnnaSpysz, the editor-in-chief of the Krakow Post, WojciechPrzybylski, the editor of theWarsaw-based Res Publica

Nova magazine, BibiánaDuhárová, the general man-ager of the Prague Post, andAllan Boyko, themanaginged-itorof theBudapest Times.

TSS: How has the media en-vironment in your countrydeveloped since the fall of

communism two decadesago?

Anna Spysz (AS): The me-dia environment has changeddramatically, beginning withpublications such as GazetaWyborczathat aroseas protestpublications under commun-ism.Journalisticwork andtheunderstanding of the role of the media have adjusted toWestern definitions and a freepress operatesin Poland.

Wojciech Przybylski(WP): 20 years ago there wasan outburst of new, inde-pendent press both on a localand national level. GazetaWyborcza has been an ex-ample of one of the most suc-

cessful media ventures in thepress sector. Radio and TVwere in a much tougher en-vironment since broadcastinghas been allowed only underconcessions. Thus, only a few

independent radio and TVchannels have been started. Also, civic media platforms –such as radio stations thatgive their broadcasting timeto citizens calling and speak-ing whatever they want – were rare and have hardlysurvived. Maybe the only oneofthis kind to remainis RadioMaryja, but it has become afar-right Catholic station. While independent mediahave grown in number therehas been another tendency of a falling number of local, in-dependent media as many

have been bought by Germanmedia tycoons. Local gov-ernments are also allowed topublish their own newspa-pers on local affairs and thatjust kills independent papers. Another new trend is observ-ablenow: websites of journal-ists who want to comment onpolitics independently of their publisher.

Bibiána Duhárová (BD):There is a proliferation of privately-owned mediasources though many arestruggling to generate reven-ue in recent years. Many of the larger privately-ownedmedia are foreign-owned. With a few exceptions the

tone of journalism and manyprint publications, especiallyones with large circulations,offer a sensationalist take onnews and events of a qualitysimilar to tabloids in westernEurope and North America. Anew generation of editors hastaken over some of thecountry's more prestigiouspublications in recent yearsand seem to offer a slightlymore refined perspective ontheroleof mediain society.

Allan Boyko (AB): Invest-igative journalism will likelyland you in court or pressure will be brought to bear on youfrom the revenue side [of the business].You canstill be crit-

ical inyour reportingbut only with information that is inthe public domain. Few newspapers have the re-sources for this [investigativejournalism] anyway. The new

media law before parliament will allow [the government]to stack the deck in their favour by appointing membersto the overseeing MediaCouncil. Under the previousgovernment thesocialistshada majority so there is no sur-prise that the new govern-ment wants to clean house.My opinion is that the mediais most-often lazy, but per-haps it has something to do with trying to get informa-tion out quick. Often the background will fall out of astory. Furthermore, there is a

lot of ‘press release reporting’especially in the case of busi-ness. A lot of PR gets pub-lished that has no business being published.

TSS: What are the mainchallenges in yourcountry’s media environ-ment atthistime?

AS: One of the largestproblems facing media in Po-land is lack of financing, justas in the rest of the world, as we move from print media toother formats. One challengeis for old media to embracetheinternet in a constructive way.

WP: Local media face

makingchanges in thelaw toforbid local governmentsfrom publishing their ownpress. The main TV and radiochannels are state-controlledand so is the second most-read daily, Rzeczpospolita.This raises obvious ques-tions, but there is no dangeras long as there areprivately-ownedmedia.

BD: Declining revenuesandcirculation fortraditionaljournalism outlets are the biggest problem, with severallarge print publications po-tentially going out of busi-ness in the next year. In tele- vision, with the exception of state-owned channels, there

are few sources of qualitynews or reporting. Thelargest challenge for the me-dia dedicated to news andpublic service is to continueoperations at as high a level

as possible until post-crisiseconomicrecoverysolidifies. AB: Many have their

hands in the air over the me-dia law, saying that it willpromote state censorship.Censorship already exists. Forexample, by law an inter- viewee can ask to read quotes before publication. When thequotes are read it is usually bysome PR person, justifyingtheir job, and taking anythingpotentially controversial orcolourful out. The main chal-lenge is revenue. If you arestruggling to survive you canforget about all the nice ideasof investigative journalismandbeing a criticalwatchdog.

TSS: How would you de-scribethe relationsbetweenmedia and the ruling gov-ernment in your country? Are relations problematic orsmooth?

AS: Forthemostpart,rela-tions between media andpoliticians are smooth eventhough there are parties thataccuse the media of bias on aregular basis. There is a widerange of media covering theentire political spectrum,however, so there does notappear to be an overarching bias inthemedia.

WP: The relations arerather tough but fortunately

the government does not in-tend to change the law be-causeof this.

BD: There is almost zeroofficial interference by thegovernment in what the me-dia publishes; with that said,the relationship alternates between antagonistic and ex-cessively intertwined. Themediaoftenallows itselfto beused as a pawn betweencompeting politicians andparties who leak informationin an attempt to achievepoliticalgain.

AB: Thesocialistswho lostpower after eight years weremore media-friendly andmore professional than the

new Fidesz government. Mostof the media have a left-wing bias soit isno surprisethatre-lations are not easy. The previous government also tendedto govern through the media:lots of fights between cabinetmembers in the press, issuesnegotiated by headlines.Fidesz has a two thirds major-ity. It does what it wantsrather than worrying about what the reaction in the press will be. It makes many whoareused to a moreconciliatoryapproach uncomfortable hereand abroad. I am not sure if itis a bad way to handle things.Hungary does not have timefor issues to be talked to death

or measures to be watereddownby committees.

Forthefullversionof theinterviews please go to www.spectator.sk.

Themediais freer, butalso feelslesssecure. Photo:SITA

B Y M ICHAELA

T ERENZANI

Spectatorstaff

HU: V4 still a priority?Continuedfrom pg2

TheHungarian govern-ment sees itas itsdutytohelpthe accessionof thesecountriesto theEuropeanUnion, particularlyin thecase ofCroatia,dueto closemostof its negotiationchaptersin 2011.

Similarly, after decadesof poorrelations withRo-mania,Hungary has comeoutin favour of Romania'sinclusion,along withthat of Bulgaria,in theEU's Schen-genarea, whichwouldallowcitizens of bothcountries borderless travel to otherpartsof theEU.Beyondthequestionof solidaritywithothernewEU member

states, selfinterest alsoplaysa rolein determiningHungary'sposition: widen-ingthe Schengenarea wouldremove muchof theburdenof border-keeping fromHun-

garian shouldersas wellasgoingsome waytowardsre-

uniting thelargeHungarianminority livingin Romania withthe homecountry.

Thenew Hungariangov-ernment renewed itspledgesfor cooperationon energyse-curity, environmentalpro-tection andeconomicco-operationat a July summitof theVisegradGroup,the alli-anceof theCzech Republic,Hungary,Polandand Slov-akia,set upin 1991 tocooper-ateon a number ofissues of common interests.Yet it isnotclear thatVisegradco-operationis stilla priority.Clearefforts to strengthenre-lations withRomaniaandthewestern Balkans could

signify a diminishedinterestonthe Hungarian side forco-operationin theV4.

Bénédicte Williamsis awriter at theBudapest Times.

SK: Dual citizenshipissue still unresolvedContinuedfrom pg 2

Butafter thefirst100days therewasnot much elseobserverswerepraising

aboutthe newgovernment’sperformance,with critical voices sayingthe govern-ment hadnotbeensuffi-ciently activeand forcefulinoverturninglegislation thatthepartieshad vehementlycriticisedwhilein opposi-tion:issuessuch as minor-ity-relatedlegislationandthelaw on statelanguage which brought tension betweenSlovakiaand Hun-garytoapeak,aswellasapreviouslymodified presscodewhichgarneredcriti-cism from themediaand theinternational community.

Radičová andher minis-tersdefended theirgovern-

ment bysaying ithad todeal withseveraltoughissuesduring its initial weeks in of-fice:summerfloodsthat hitlarge partsof Slovakiaas wellas Europeancriticism overSlovakia’sdecisionnot toparticipate in theEU loanpackagefor Greece.

Tomáš Strážay of theSlovak ForeignPolicy Asso-ciation noted thatthe latterpositionhas metwith negat-ive responsesfrom Brusselsandsome EUofficialsbutalsowith somesympathyonthe partof the Europeanpublic, experts andjournal-ists,and thereforethe threatthatSlovakia’s positionin

the EUand its internationalimagewouldbe severelydamagedby notparticipat-ingin theGreek bailout werenotfully realised.

“Thatwas inmy opinionthe maindeterminant thatmadethe newgovernmentdifferentfromits prede-cessor andthanksto whichSlovakiamade itselfvisible,”Strážay toldThe Slovak Spec-tator.

Slovakiagained import-ance withintheV4 in2010asittookovertheone-yearro-tatingpresidencyof thegroupon July 1,whenthe

Hungarianprimeministerhanded overthe presidency batonto Radičová.

Communication betweenSlovakiaand Hun-garyimproved afternew governments tookpowerin bothcapitals.

“There hasbeen a changeofpoliticalclimate,but itisquestionablewhetherthechange is permanent and whetherit canbe guaran-teed not tobe disturbedbyproblems– either pastprob-lemsor newones,”Strážaysaid,addingthat therearemanyproblems leftunre-solved fromthe distant andmorerecentpast.

Onesuchproblem istheHungarianlaw ondual cit-izenshipwhich theincom-ing HungariangovernmentamendedshortlybeforeSlovakia’sparliamentaryelection.

Thechangepermitseth-nicHungarians livinginSlovakiato acquireHungari-an citizenshipin additiontotheirSlovakcitizenship.

Theprevious Slovak gov-ernment respondedbypassing an amendmenttotheCitizenship Actspecify-ingthatif anySlovakvolun-tarilytooksteps toobtainthecitizenshipof anothercoun-tryheor shewould automat-

ically loseSlovakcitizenship.Thepartiesof thecurrentruling coalitionheavilycriti-cisedthe legislation whentheywerein oppositionbuttodatetheyhavedonenoth-ingto changethelaw.

Hungarywill startgrant-ingcitizenship underits newrulesas ofJanuary1, 2011andas 2010 nearsits endtheSlovak counter-measurere-mainsin effect.

7 December 13– 19,2010 V4 – MEDIA



Grant opportunities in V4

GLOBETROTTING studentsand researchers can nowadaysenjoy a seemingly endless listof different grants and schol-arships; however, those com-ing from or wishing to study within the Visegrad regionhave an extra ace in the holesince V4 countries have re-cently been particularly eagerto enhance their ties with therest of Europe by encouraging youngpeopleto leavethe com-fort zone of their homes andgeta tasteof life abroad.

Among the principal insti-tutions providing grant sup-port for students is the Inter-

national Visegrad Fund (IVF),founded in 2000 by the Visegrad Group governments, which make equal contribu-tions to the common annual budget.

As part of its numerousactivities, the International Visegrad Fund (IVF) awardsMaster’s and post-graduatescholarships to selected stu-dents from the V4 region orone of 13 countries in easternEurope, the western Balkansandsouth Caucasus.

Jiří Sýkora, the IVF’s PRdirector, explained that one of the principal objectives of the Visegrad Scholarship Pro-gramme is to make the V4 re-

gion a liaison between the EUandcountries withfewer fund-ing opportunities.

“While EU citizens haveaccess to hundreds of travelandstudy grants, the situationis considerably less favourablein the east and south,” he toldThe Slovak Spectator. “Wetherefore endeavour to sup-port student mobility in thesezones as wellas strengthentheties between the VisegradGroupandnon-EUcountries.”

Withthis idea inmind, theIVF offers funding withinthree separate schemes: ‘In-Coming Scholarships’, meantfor non-EU nationals wishingtopursue their studies inHun-

gary, Poland, Slovakia or theCzech Republic; ‘Out-GoingScholarships’, suitable for V4citizenswho plan tostudyout-side the V4; and ‘Intra- Visegrad Scholarships’ for mo- bilitywithinthe V4region.

A total of 984 scholarshipsamounting to €6.9 millionhave been distributed sincethe launch of the programmein 2003. In 2011, an estimated400 semesters will be covered by grants thanks to a budget of €1,448,000, which makes upalmost one-quarter of the IVF’sannualbudget.

This is a remarkable in-crease compared with the first year of the programme, when

only around €250,000 wasawardedto scholars.Theexpanding budget goes

hand in hand with the grow-ing interest in the IVF’s schol-arship scheme. Its statistics

show that while at the begin-ning, one in 2-3 applicants re-ceived a scholarship, today, with demand increasing every

year, onlyone in 4-5applicantsissuccessful. According to Sýkora, the

IVF’s scholarship programmehas one important advantage when compared, for example, with the highly popularErasmus mobility scheme:that of being better suited toscholars’ needs.

“We have no such thing asa network of partner institu-tions, which means that stu-dents can choose any accred-ited university or researchcentre they please, includingprivate entities,”he stated. “Soour scholars have much moreresponsibility, as they have tofind their host institutions

themselves, but, at the sametime, they have much morefreedom.”

Other advantages includethe possibility of obtainingseveral consecutive scholar-ship and the possibility of re-ceiving support for up to 4 aca-demic terms.

Nofearof‘braindrain’

Though it might not seemobvious at first sight, the IVFdoes not support mobility sothat people can leave theircountry and start a new lifeoverseas. On the contrary, theultimate aim is to enable young people to gain new ex-

periencesand to buildcompet-ences they can use in theirhome countries after return-ingfrom abroad.

As Sýkora remarked, thereis no need to fear ‘brain drain’:theIVFtries nottolosesightof its alumni and figures haveclearly confirmed that the lat-ter indeed tend to pursue theircareers at home rather thanelsewhere.

Such was the case of Bog-dan Kotyk, a Ukrainian whoobtained an IVF scholarshipfor a Master’s course inEuropean studies at ComeniusUniversity in Bratislava, from which he graduated with athesis on European cross-bor-

der cooperation.“After graduation I moved back to Kiev, where I enrolledin the reserve of the Ministryof Foreign Affairs and started working for an international

company,” he told The SlovakSpectator. “I am sincerelyhappy to be home and use myknowledge and skills in prac-

tice to help people build a bet-terlife.”Kotyk,whohad neverbeen

to Slovakia before, appreciated bothBratislava’slivelystudentlifeand theprofessionalexper-iencehe gained.

“The past two years were veryimportant andproductivefor me; I certainly have broadened my horizons,” hesaid. “The on-campus interna-tional atmosphere gave memanynew friends andbroughtme closer to Slovak culture, itslanguage and people. At thesame time, it was very inter-esting for me to witness thechanges that occurred in thecountry after Slovakia joined

theeurozone.”Martin Kusý from Slov-akia, another IVF alumnus,also returned back to hishomeland after completingpart of his studies in nano-technology at the SilesianUniversity of Technology inGliwice, Poland.

The reason why he choseto study at this particularschool was most importantlyits “excellent technologicalequipment”.

“Another reason was that Ihad the opportunity to be re-sponsible for an entire re-search project fromstartto fin-ish – a project that was verymuch closer to industry than

academia,”Kusýstated. As a teacher at the SlovakUniversity of Technology inTrnava, Kusý is currently working on introducing hisown device for the preparationof nanocomposites into indus-trial production. He continuesco-operating with GliwiceUniversity, interestingly, oninviting Polish students forexcursions to the Trnavalaboratories.

Buildinga centralEuropeanidentity

Those preferring to travelabroad for shorter periods of time may be interested in an-

other initiative, the annual VisegradSummerSchool(VSS),organised by the Villa Decius Association in the Polish townof Krakow since2002.

Every year, several dozen

students from the V4 regionand neighbouring countriesare selected to take part in thistwo-week educational pro-gramme consisting of lectures,

panel discussions and sem-inars on issues and challengesrelevant to the Visegrad Groupregion, the EU and the coun-tries of central and easternEurope.

The line-up of lecturerstraditionally includes some of the region’s most noted journ-alists, political scientists andexperts.

Asfor topics regularlydealt with at the VSS, these usuallyreflect the Villa Decius’ mainconcerns,said AnnaKowalska, VSSco-ordinator.

Among them is the lack of a central European identity inthe younger generation or the V4leaders’generaltendencyto

neglect cooperation withneighbouring countries and torather focus on westernEuropeanpartnersinstead.

“I have noticed that in thefirst days of the workshop,most applicants tend to bemore interested in those partsof the programme that deal with the European or eventrans-Atlantic perspective,”she told The Slovak Spectator.“By the end of the event,however, what they indicateas the main benefits from theschool is an awareness of therole of central European coun-tries, the understanding of theimportance of regional co-operation, the consciousness

of being central European as apartof one’sidentity, the over-coming of stereotypes and thenetworkingexperience.”

While the mission of the workshop remains the same,its structure changes from one year to the next, as the VSSteam keeps introducing newelementsinto theprogramme.

“It would be easy to copy-and-paste the existing sched-ulefor a newgroup,”Kowalskaexplained, “but the interna-tional situation is so dynamicthat we necessarily have to ad-just theprogrammeif wewantto tackle the most topical and burning issues.”

As Kowalska added, the

upcoming edition will be evenmore different from the pre-cedingonesas theVSSwill cel-ebrate its10th birthdayin 2011.

“We will invite our alumnito come and share their exper-iences with us,” she said.“Many of them have finishedtheir studies and are now working as diplomats, entre-preneurs, academics, journal-ists, lawyers, NGO leaders, andso on. So we plan to organisemoreworkinggroups thanlec-tures this time, to give themspace for discussing and re-newing contacts.And it is they whowill suggest topics forthisspecial edition.”

In the meantime, inter-

ested candidates should start brushing up their CVs, Kowal-ska concluded: the competi-tion is so tight that more than300applicationsfor theannual VSSare rejected everyyear.

Visegrad Scholarship Programme

TheInternationalVisegradFund(IVF) offers master’s andpost-graduatescholarshipsto selectedstudentsforperiodsof oneor twosemesters, withthe exceptionof master’s scholarships within theIn-Comingprogrammein whichone-to four-semesterscholarshipscan beawarded.With an annual budget of €1,448,000, theIVF willawardscholarshipsfor about400 semestersin the

academicyear 2010/2011. Applicantswhosecurrentuniversityor employerisfurther than1,500 km fromthe selectedhostuniversity/instituteare eligiblefor a one-timetravelgrant.

Citizens of thefollowing countriescan apply: Albania (AL),Armenia(AM), Azerbaijan(AZ), Belarus(BY),Bosniaand Herzegovina (BA),Croatia(HR), theCzechRepublic (CZ), Georgia(GE), Hungary(HU),Macedonia(MK), Moldova(MD), Montenegro (ME),Poland (PL),the Russian Federation(RU),Serbia (RS),Slovakia (SK)and Ukraine(UA). Thesame rules apply toscholarsfrom Kosovo.

Scholarship schemes:

Intra-Visegrad ScholarshipsThis issuitableforscholars comingfromoneof theV4

countrieswhoplanto studyin a V4countryotherthanthatof theircitizenshipat any accredited public orprivate universityor an instituteof thecountry’snational academy of sciences.Successfulapplicantswithinthis scheme willreceivescholarships of €2,300/semesterand thecorrespondinghost universities/institutesreceive€1,500/semester/scholar.

In-Coming ScholarshipsIn-ComingScholarshipsare suitablefor scholars whowish to studyat accreditedpublicor privateuniversities or institutesof therespective nationalacademiesof sciencesin V4 countries.Citizensof thefollowingcountries areeligiblefor In-Comingscholarships:Albania,Armenia,Azerbaijan, Belarus,Bosniaand Herzegovina, Croatia,Georgia,Macedonia,Moldova,Montenegro,the Russian Federation, SerbiaandUkraineas wellas scholarsfrom Kosovo.Successfulapplicantswithinthis scheme willreceive

scholarships of €2,300/semesterand thecorrespondinghost universities/institutesreceive€1,500/semester/scholar.

Out-Going ScholarshipsThisschemeis forcurrentscholars or master’sdegreeholders fromV4 countriesto studyat accreditedpublicorprivate universities or institutesof therespectivenational academiesof sciencesin thefollowingcountries:Albania,Armenia, Azerbaijan,Belarus, BosniaandHerzegovina,Croatia,Georgia,Macedonia,Moldova,Montenegro, Serbia andUkraineas wellas universities inKosovo.Successfulapplicantswithinthis scheme willreceivescholarships of €2,300/semesterand thecorrespondinghost universities/institutesreceive€1,500/semester/scholar.

-Scholarshipsfor Belarusian studentsTheprogramme is forBelarusian scholarswho wishto

studyat accredited public or privateuniversitiesorinstitutesof theacademiesof sciencesin V4 countries(altogether60 semestersannually).

-Scholarshipsfor UkrainianstudentsTheprogramme is forUkrainianscholars whowish tostudyat accredited public or privateuniversitiesorinstitutesof theacademiesof sciencesin V4 countries(altogether60 semestersannually).

Visegrad Scholarships at OSA Archivum (a separateprogramme)

If selected,each scholar receivesscholarshipfundingatthebeginningof eachfive-month period (semester)upona written confirmation fromthe hostuniversity/institution.

Thedeadlinefor allscholarship applications is January31.Theresultsareannounced bymid May.

For more information go to, http://visegradfund.org/scholarships

Source:InternationalVisegrad Fund

Compiledby Spectatorstaff

B Y D OMINIKAU HRÍKOVÁ

Spectator staff

Let'sgo studyabroad! Photo:Courtesyof theVillaDecius

8 December 13 – 19, 2010 V4 – EDUCATION

Documents

Visegrad Countries