1. business and industrial
2. energy
3. coal

Fiscal funk
45
Issue 45 l newsstand price CZK 24/¤ 1 l www.e15.cz
The gov’t’s budget plan
is irresponsible, says
ex-finance minister Kalousek
FACE to FACE pages 10-11
Tigers for sale
9 771803 454314
Monday, 3 November 2014
Intn’l trade in exotic
animals flourishes thanks
to Czech loopholes
FEAturE pages 12–13
Photo: Profimedia
Living the Silicon dream
The number of
Czechs trying
their business
luck in Silicon
Valley grows
every year
Jan Sedlák
I
n San Francisco’s small
Merchant Street in the city’s
financial quarter there is a
place with a rather telltale
name: Café Prague. It’s found just
a stone’s throw from the iconic
Transamerica Pyramid skyscraper. Even though the café looks
more like a typical American bar,
traditional Czech cream sauce
served on beef rump and dumplings, goulash and Czech beer
are certainly on the menu. You
are waited on by Czech staff and
there is a good chance you will
meet one of the ambitious Czech
expats trying out their luck in
the unbelievably competitive and
equally innovative technological
sphere of San Francisco, the Bay
Area and Silicon Valley.
The owner of Café Prague
is a typical talkative Czech who
moved to the United States
years ago, and who could not
be happier about having taken
that step. “Hey guys, aren’t you
from the computer bunch too?”
he asks. “You see, Honza Řežáb
walked in the other day, just after he landed that half-a-billion
investment. We, you know, talked
about it in a normal way, it was
good, cool. He was saying that if
he’d told anyone in a pub back
home everyone would say ‘What
an idiot!’”
Continues on page 8
2/3
news
Ministers aim to create five special economic zones with revised subsidy systems in place
SOCIAL POLITICS
Jana Havligerová
Chance of a subsidy.
Data and call centres have
been given the possibility of
obtaining state funds
N
Changes in current
incentive laws have been
mandated by the European
Commission, which has
ranked the Czech Republic
among the more developed
countries, thus requiring a
reduction in the maximum
levels of state support
Photo: archive
ew data and call centres
situated in the Czech
Republic will be among
those industries able to secure government support in the
form of investment incentives.
The move is set to result in the
creation of more than 500 new
jobs. More regions will also be
able to apply for government
job-creation subsidies, which
could amount to as much as
CZK 200,000 per person.
Within special economic
zones, however, this figure
could climb as high as CZK
300,000, while the land and
buildings contained therein
could be subject to as much as
five years of exemptions from
property taxes. In total, five
special economic zones have
been approved by the government. The specific forms of
state support they will receive is
to be codified in new draft legislation on investment incentives,
which has been approved at the
first reading by parliament. The
legislation will now be debated
by the parliamentary economic
committee.
The changes to regulations
surrounding technology centre and strategic services centre projects are also aimed at
increasing the attractiveness of
the Czech Republic to foreign
investors. Such investors will
see current rules on the minimum number of jobs they must
create reduced. With regards
to technology centres, the specific number will fall from 40
to 20, while for repair centres,
the number will fall from 100
to 70. Investments worth more
than EUR 100m will for the
first time be subject to a new
European Commission authorisation scheme. Government
support is set to mainly focus
on technological and strategic
services centre projects. Only
newly-built facilities rolled out
along these lines would be subject to the revised rules. The
changes in current Czech laws
have been mandated by new
EU rules. These have ranked
the Czech Republic among the
more developed member states,
and thus have led to a directive
to lower the ceiling for statesupported incentives from 40
to 25 percent.
This has had a disadvantageous effect for the country
compared to conditions for the
likes of Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Poland. The current
draft legislation on investment
incentives should therefore
help to hasten a recovery in
investment project levels, and
to also simplify the system of
incentives.
Civil service law passed in
defiance of Zeman
Have your say
MaRTIN TlaPa
Jana Havligerová
Parliamentary deputies have
stood firm against President
Miloš Zeman – the lower
chamber overturned his veto
to again push through an
amendment to the civil service act. Some 123 deputies of
the 166 present raised their
hand in favour of the move.
Prior to the vote, Zeman gave
notice that if the veto was
thrown out he would turn to
the Constitutional Court. After the deputies defied him,
he said he would make good
on his word. “The submission is prepared, and of course
it will be filed when the legal
regulations have made their
way on to the statute book,”
Zeman said.
Prime Minister Bohuslav
Sobotka (Social Democrat)
welcomed the renewed approval for the amended law:
“We’ve waited for this for 25
years and I am glad that the
new government has succeeded in achieving it,” he said.
Sobotka said he expected that
the new norms contained in
Easing transatlantic
trade will also bolster
the Czech Republic
Photo: ČTK
Call centres to get gov’t backing
The president insists, the MPs refuse.
Miloš Zeman intends to lodge a constitutional challenge after
123 lower house votes were secured to throw out his veto
the law would provide for the
creation of a modern, stable,
non-partisan and specialised
state civil service.
The changed law, which adjusts the rights and duties of civil
servants in offices of the administration, will take effect from
January 2015. Even the rightwing opposition agreed to the
current version of the law after
wrangling with the ruling coalition over a prolonged period.
Zeman is most bothered by
the norms that establish the
functions of so-called political advisers. The revised law
reduces their number to two
per minister. The postponed
civil service law is designed to
fill one of the oldest gaps in the
constitution. It was supposed to
come into effect in 2004. However, it did not and since then the
adoption of the law has been put
off year by year.
Opposition united
against budget plan
Jana Havligerová
Founding father's day
In commemoration of the 96th anniversary of the creation of Czechoslovakia,
on 28 October the Brno statue of the founder and first President of the “First
Republic”, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, received a guard of honour
Photo: ČTK
The arguments were various, but the conclusion was
the same – the opposition
parties wasted no time expressing their disapproval of
the government’s fiscal aims,
making their disgruntlement
plain at the very first reading
of the planned state budget for
2015. The planned deficit of
one hundred billion crowns
was opposed not only by the
right-wing Civic Democrat
Party (ODS) and TOP 09, but
also by the Úsvit (Dawn) party
and the Communists.
The main rebuke: the government is raising expenditures
but cutting investment. “It is
a budget for redistribution, it
takes from all but only gives
to some,” said ODS Chair Petr
Fiala, in one instance of stated
resistance to the budget plan.
TOP 09 First Deputy Chair Miroslav Kalousek was scorching
in his criticism of every single
thread of the budget proposals. The idea that the economy
could be restarted by distributing more money to people
was an illusion, he said, arguing
that it would merely motivate
them to spend more.
Needless to say, Minister of
Finance Andrej Babiš defended the budget plan, mainly
by boasting that the ruling
coalition was fulfilling its promises. It was raising pensions,
restoring an annual income tax
discount for working pensioners and hiking the wages of
state employees.
The government was consequently budgeting with the
pencilled-in deficit of one hundred billion crowns.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)
is the name of the agreement being negotiated between
the EU and US that aims to liberalise trade and investment
between the two blocs. In June 2013, EU member states
approved a negotiations directive, giving the European
Commission the green light to initiate formal bilateral
trade negotiations with the US. These began in July 2013;
the most optimistic variations estimate that they could
be completed within two years. In the week starting 29
September, 2014, the seventh round of negotiations was
undertaken. One more is expected for this year. TTIP is
founded upon the fact that the US and EU amount to the
world’s greatest traders and investors in general, both with
respect to each other, and for the majority of other nations.
Each year, overall trade levels between the EU and US
climb to around EUR 798bn. Each day, the trading of goods
and services between the EU and US represents a value
of roughly EUR 2bn, while total mutual direct investments
have hit EUR 3 trillion. However, the future potential for
such mutual trade and investment is far from exhausted.
The Czech government welcomes the idea of a TTIP being
signed. Within the negotiations, it is placing emphasis
on ensuring that all Czech economic interests are given
sufficient consideration. These primarily centre on
removing key trade barriers relating to goods and services
moving between the Czech Republic, as an EU member, and
the US. Complicated administrative and non-tariff-related
obstacles represent a barrier to trade – specifically in the
form of varying technical systems standards, certifications,
homologation, and general regulatory mechanisms. The
Czech Republic will push for talks on non-tariff obstacles to
chiefly centre on promising sectors, meaning automobile
manufacturing, healthcare technology, engineering and
pharmaceuticals. Products from these sectors represent a
substantial proportion of our trade with the US.
Studies of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)
and the Bertelsmann Foundation rank the Czech Republic
among the nations where the impact of the mutual trade
agreement would not be felt significantly. And to the degree
that it would be, the impact is forecast to be positive.
Bertelsmann estimates that if the deal is signed Czech GDP
could grow, taking into account possible final variations, by
anywhere from 0.17-2.58 percent. In practice, this would
mean the creation of between 6-22,000 new jobs.
The author is Deputy Minister of Foreign affairs
True grit
Photo: ČTK
Road crews in Moravia-Silesia have prepared 30,000 tonnes of grit in advance of the approaching
winter, entirely filling up their warehouses. Although they have a duty to secure the essential gritting
service by a deadline of 1 November, they have been prepared in the case of need to intervene since
mid-October. The road maintenance department for the region has also purchased two new gritters
at a cost of nearly CZK 10m and three gritter extensions for approximately CZK 3m
E15 weekly, economic and business newsmagazine | www.e15.cz |
Tomáš Skřivánek, Euro E15 Division Director | Igor Záruba, Executive Editor,
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| Postal address: Mezi Vodami 1952/9, 143 00 Praha 4 – Modřany
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4/5
business
Deep mining enriches the coal count
up and down
The company Severočeské doly is getting set to dig for better quality carbon
S
Photo: Martin Pinkas
everočeské doly, a member of the ČEZ Group,
is preparing to venture
into deep mining for 16 million tonnes of coal. This coal,
with a higher calorific value, is
deposited in the side slopes of
the surface mine Nástup Tušimice, but it cannot be reached
with the use of traditional open
pit technologies. According to
estimates published in the company’s annual report, the value
of the coal might exceed CZK
7bn. Severočeské doly thus intends to follow in the footsteps
of Severní energetická, the firm
owned by Jan Dienstl. As E15
daily has previously reported,
in the summer Severní energetická obtained permission to
commence deep mining for one
million tonnes of coal deposited
in the side slopes of the ČSA
mine in Northern Bohemia.
Severočeské doly has already
launched an environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure for its planned deep mining.
“The company has not applied Traditional technologies won’t cut it.
for a mining permit yet. The The mining company is chasing the necessary permits before
EIA needs to be completed deploying special machines for deep mining
16
million tonnes is
the amount of coal
Severočeské doly plans
to mine from below the
surface of its Nástup mine
first,” said Bohuslav Machek,
spokesperson for the Czech
Mining Authority.
The company plans to obtain
1.15 million tonnes of coal annually from a slope behind which
lies the Northern Bohemian city
of Chomutov. “We would like to
commence mining at the end of
2016 or the beginning of 2017,”
said board member Vladimír
Budínský. The company’s total
output is to remain the same
even after the deep mining
commences as the better quality coal from the side slopes will
be mixed with the lower-calorific-value coal from the surface
mine. The opening of the deep
mine will enable ČEZ to conti-
Karel Komárek
Head of KKCG
nue supplying its modernised
Tušimice and Prunéřov power
stations.
Northern Bohemian mining
companies have been gearing
up to tap into brown coal deposits that are inaccessible
using traditional mining technologies. Severní energetická
obtained permission to commence the deep mining at the
ČSA mine because it needs that
coal to supply its Chvaletice
power station. Severočeské
doly intends to apply for the
same type of permission but
there is a difference in the
quantity of coal to be produced: Severočeské doly hopes
to extract 16 million tonnes of
below-surface coal from the
fringes of the existing Nástup
Tušimice open pit mine.
“We will utilise coal that had
not been counted on previously. Deep mining will enable us
to apply selective mining, depending on the fuel needs of
power and heat stations,” said
Budínský.
The deep mining is not intended to increase the total output
of the Tušimice mine, which is
capable of yielding up to 13.5
million tonnes of coal a year.
The firm is to shift a large share of its strategic companies to the Bořislavka centre, set
to open in Prague in 2017. The new space
will immediately be able to declare that 60
percent of its office space is pre-assigned.
Martin Elkán
Director General of Česká pošta
The ailing national carrier Czech Airlines (ČSA) is likely to receive one final chance to revive its
fortunes. Help is on the way in the form of hundreds of millions of crowns from shareholders,
state-owned parent České Aeroholding and private partner airline Korean Air. ČSA’s fate is
primarily in the hands of the South Koreans, who took a long time mulling over the capital infusion
plan for the Czech flagship. A few days ago, however, their approval finally came through. How
much money ČSA will receive is not entirely clear yet – but it will certainly be in the order of
hundreds of millions. Although the rescue package has a catch: both main shareholders want to
continue with the current layoffs, which have led to a threat of strike action from air stewards
Packaging upgrade nears
completion
Dušan Kütner
Czech firm IKP Consulting Engineers stands a real chance of
partaking in the reconstruction
of the so-called Salang Highway,
which connects the Afghan capital Kabul with the north of the
country. The value of the contract to repair a 90-km stretch
of road, and other related work,
may be worth as much as CZK
1.5bn.
IKP Consulting Engineers,
which has hitherto focused primarily on building projects in
the Czech Republic, Slovakia
and Germany, has been conducting negotiations over the
Afghanistan contract for a year.
“In cooperation with the CzechAfghan chamber of commerce,
we made contact with partners
in Afghanistan representing
strong domestic constructi-
on firms,” said IKP partner
Boris Klement. Subsequently,
negotiations with the Afghan
Ministry of Public Works were
undertaken. But no definitive
decision was forthcoming. Then
in July, Kabul decided to initiate
an international tender process.
Following several changes to
the final deadline for presenting
a bid, the current closing date
is 8 November, 2014.
According to Klement, a definitive decision would likely only
be made after the new Afghan
public works minister assumes
his post. “The commencement
of all work related to the reconstruction of the Salang Highway
is pretty unrealistic for 2014,
and this is chiefly due to the climactic conditions during the
winter season, as well as factors
relating to required preparation time,” said the IKP partner.
Photo: ČTK
Czechs bid for Afghan
highway project
Štěpán Bruner
Half-throttle
This year, the yield of homemade spirits looks to be a small one. The fruit harvest was poor, down twothirds against last year, with produce sweetness (crucial for fermentation) also down. That is why some
distilleries have not yet even begun processing this year’s spirits. Others, for example the distillery in
Hvozdné (pictured), are operating far below their usual capacity. Last year, this distillery was working
full-throttle from the start of October all the way through to December
Photo: Isifa
Koreans green-light aiding ČSA
More mandatory consumer
information on product packaging plus larger letters
plus details of the specific
plant and animal oils used in
the product – all of this must
be featured on food packaging
by 13 December . On this date,
a new European Commission
directive on consumer information comes into force. With
this, the Commission and EU
member states are promising
consumers a better overview
of what it is they are actually
purchasing.
According to a recent survey of members undertaken by
the Federation of the Food and
Drink Industries of the Czech
Republic (FFDI), companies
will manage to update about 90
percent of packaging by year’s
end. Presently, the process is
65-percent complete; another
25 percent is being processed
as of writing. The remaining 10
percent comprises the packaging of products which are either seasonal or intermittently
produced. The Federation says
During next year, the Czech postal service will
finally enable customers to make payments
via all major debit and credit cards. Thanks to
the regulation of transfer fees mandated by
the EU, this service will no longer represent a
potential loss for Česká pošta.
Zdeněk Jahoda
Owner of Emco
Jahoda’s food processing company supplies
products to several American chains.
Furthermore, it has also found favour with
US retail giant Walmart. Last year, Emco
exported goods to the US worth CZK 50m.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk
Ukrainian PM
The results of Ukraine’s parliamentary elections demonstrated that Ukrainians want
to continue along their pro-Western course.
The winners were the People's Front headed
by the sitting PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk and the
president’s Petro Poroshenko Bloc.
Richard Broadbent
Resigned Chair of British
retailer Tesco
Photo: Martin Pinkas
energy
Jan Stuchlík
Bigger, better, user friendly.
A new European Commission directive on consumer information
comes into force on 13 December
the total costs of this update
are in the millions of crowns
at a minimum for the entire
local food producing industry. But specific anecdotes from
companies proceeding with
the update suggest that overall costs could end up much
higher.
The Federation’s survey
determined that the manda-
tory font sizing represents
the greatest problem. “The
requirement to maintain a
mandated letter size conflicted
with other legal requirements
with regards to environmental
legislation, which essentially
urges producers to ensure
that they don’t increase their
packaging,” noted the FFDI’s
Markéta Chýlková.
The global retail chain has discovered a
larger hole in its accounts than previously
revealed, leading to the cancellation of its
existing profits forecast. The unearthed spate
of accounting errors has led to the resignation of Chairman of the Board.
Dalia Grybauskaitė
President of Lithuania
Vilnius has signed an agreement with Norway
for the 10-year leasing of a floating terminal
for Liquid Natural Gas (LNG), ridding itself of
its reliance on gas supplies from Russian monolith Gazprom. Instead, supplies will come
by way of Norway’s Statoil.
6/7
opinion
up close & personal
Miloš Zeman’s
tough budget
lines in the
sand have been
ignored by Czech
policy makers
Photo: ČTK
‘Colonel’ Stropnický
raises hackles
Miroslav
Zámečník
I
n terms of the fundamental
direction our country is set
to embark upon, the Czech
head of state has been unequivocal. With regards to the current drafting of the 2015 state
budget, President Miloš Zeman
has laid out clear conditions under which he will sign any such
bill. In his view, government
expenditures should not grow
at a faster rate than household
consumption. And that growth,
in turn, should be outstripped
that question isn’t going to be
easy.
Models predict a government operational cost expansion of 1.6 percent at today’s
prices, while domestic consumption is set to rise by 1.4
percent. But gross fixed capital
formation (GFCF) is forecast
to rise far faster – by around
3.5 percent, and will therefore
comprise the list of factors that
should put Czech growth on
an upward trajectory. But it
is necessary to also add that
domestic consumption and
investment activities are both
only partially influenced by the
state budget and current government. This is because the
income levels of Czech citizens
1.75 percent increase in capital
expenditures, representing CZK
1.3bn for a total of CZK 75.6 bn.
This is a far less dynamic picture than an assessment that factors-in an anticipated nominal
growth rate of GDP. EU funds
and financial mechanisms are
set to cover CZK 34.9bn of investment expenditures, while
CZK 40.7bn will come from our
“own” pocket. This represents a
very high reliance on European
monies for our public investment expenditures.
Another matter that our head
of state is likely to notice is that
standard operational cost expenditures will grow at a lesser
rate than capital expenditures.
Nonetheless, government de-
Regular expenditures will increase less
than capital expenditures, yet government
departments have still managed to up their
own departments’ operational costs by a
whopping 15.6 percent
by yet higher increases in investment.
Nonetheless, the government has now approved the
first reading of a draft budget
bill, and the numbers have been
seemingly set in stone (a CZK
100bn deficit, with revenues of
CZK 1.119 trillion and expenditures of CZK 1.219 trillion).
Therefore, the time has now
come to ask whether this model conforms to the president’s
demands. But even a cursory
study of macro-economic indicators suggests that answering
are not merely determined by
the balance of tax levels and
transfers via the state budget.
The current coalition government has claimed that its investment policies will represent a
clear turnaround from those of
its predecessors. Thus, a closer
inspection of long-term capital
expenditures is warranted. But
when you begin to do just that,
the idea of fulfilling the president’s budget directives rather
tumbles from the saddle.
Next year’s draft budget proposals anticipate a year on year
partments have budgeted for a
bulky 15.6 percent increase for
2015. This means that as a result
of coalition government promises, with regards to household,
social and other expenditures,
the overall increase has been
upped by CZK 1.3 bn.
One need not underscore that
such policies lay the foundations
for their future continuance. It
will be interesting to monitor
how the Czech president will
square his budgeting line in the
sand with what this government
is actually seeking to pass.
Defence minister Martin
Stropnický (ANO) has
received a slap on the wrist
from fellow lower chamber deputies. Many MPs,
primarily from the right-ofcentre, were angered by his
appearances in the Czech
TV crime serial “Kriminálka
Anděl”. Specifically, the
displeasure related to an
episode of the show entitled
“Mise” (Mission), broadcast by TV Nova last week.
For those who missed the
episode, a brief summary:
Stropnický, in the role of
police colonel Tomeček
sends an army colonel by
the name of Peterka to jail.
Why? Because the character
had sought to cover up the
fact that members of an
elite army unit operating
abroad were also dealing in
opium. “After watching the
episode, I considered it to
be spitting in the face of all
those serving in the Czech
army,” proclaimed Social
Democrat lower house
speaker Jan Hamáček. He
went on: “It is unbelievable
that the current minister
of defence could partake in
such a thing.” Meanwhile,
Civic Democrat MP Jana
joke
Černochová branded the
appearance as the height
of poor taste. But we feel
obliged to defend this
defence minister. After all,
he doesn’t write the scripts.
Although, we are also forced
to ask the following: is such
“artistic” expression really
worth all this embarrassment?
The ANO party is enjoying
yet more “success” among
the ranks of its ministers.
MPs have also been alarmed
by Karla Šlechtová, chosen
by Babiš’s party to succeed
the outgoing Minister for
Regional Development
Věra Jourová. The incoming minister assumed the
reins of her new post with
gusto making an immediate
appearance in the lower
chamber of parliament.
But during this showing,
she lamented that she felt
rather cold in the spacious
debating chamber. She then
berated her fellow legislators for the slow pace of the
proceedings, and also for
the frequent use of vulgar
language. It seems that, just
like Stropnický, Šlechtová is
confusing her roles.
Imagining the City 30 years from now
In contemplating what
the coming decades
may bring to this world
financial district, the
inextricable links to
politics are clear
Michael
Zámečník
T
he City of London, the epitome
of a centre of trade and finance,
has been subject to major change
throughout its history. Taking in more
recent events – encompassing Margaret
Thatcher’s Big Bang market deregulation, destructive terrorist attacks and the
global financial crisis – in the words of
James Fleming, CEO of private bank
Arbuthnot Latham, “the past 30 years
have been the most concentrated period
of change the City of London has ever
seen”.
As the City looks ahead to the next 30
years, it appears that its near-term future
is inseparably connected with politics, as
it has been multiple times in the history
of the Square Mile. The ascendancy of
the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and
nationalist parties on the Continent has
greatly bolstered the Eurosceptics, who
argue that Britain would be better off outside the EU. A referendum on Britain’s
EU membership looks likely.
Yet London’s future as a financial centre is intrinsically linked to whether it
stays in the EU. “If we are still a member
of the EU, the City will be in the most
advantageous position… if we’re not, it
would become a very different proposition,” says Phillip Souta, a lawyer at
Clifford Chance.
Similarly, changes in London’s accommodating stance on foreign direct
investment or immigration could pose
a threat to its competitiveness. London
has built a reputation for being open to
immigration at various levels, allowing
firms to choose the best-qualified candidate without the need to first consider
visa arrangements.
Photo: Reuters
Jana Havligerová’s political diary
Should such changes be implemented, not only would they greatly damage
London’s appeal, they would also change the mind-set of the City itself. From
your author’s own experience, one of
the City’s highlights is the feeling of
London has built a reputation
for being open to immigration,
allowing firms to choose a
candidate without the need to
first consider visa arrangements
camaraderie amongst its ‘City Boys and
Girls’, no matter where you hail from.
By 7:30pm on any given day, whether
it’s Dirty Dicks at Liverpool Street or
The Oyster Shed at Cannon Street, the
pubs are teeming with people. French
managers rub shoulders with English
traders and Romanian trainee lawyers, while all comers laddishly argue
about yesterday’s footie with the Polish
bartender.
Witnessing this fantastic mess, your
author couldn’t help but think that it
would be a great pity if the next 30 years are remembered for the loss of both
the business and brotherliness that the
City has enjoyed for so long.
Breath of fresh air for APEC in the Middle
Oliver
Steindler
What’s up? Security
precautions are seen
everywhere you go,
there’s a police officer
on every corner, an extra
week of holiday has
been awarded and – the
giveaway – 21 Pacific Rim
economic leaders have
gathered in one place
N
ovember 11 brings the APEC
Economic Leaders’ Meeting
(AELM) to a venue by Yangqi
Lake in Huairou District, northeastern Beijing. Some people ask, why
so far from the historical centre of
the Chinese capital? There’s a simple
answer.
The chosen setting for the key
gathering is an area that is ninety
percent mountainous and 50 km from
central Beijing but it has a lot to offer
where future investment is concerned, having been selected as one of
the capital’s five ecological conservation development areas. Beijing,
populated by 21,150,000 people and
covering 16,801 km, faces clear environmental challenges. It was thus
quite logical to choose a location that
sets an example.
You don’t want to mistake the fuzzy
air in Beijing for fog. We’re talking
fine particulate matter (PM2.5) that
Photo: Reuters
Wishful thinking
is rather an issue for anyone intending to breathe. Many jokes crop up
on Chinese social media. Bloggers
describe various reasons why the
pollution is actually beneficial to its
citizens. China Daily, meanwhile,
has optimistically pointed out to its
readers that England’s air pollution
during the 19th century industrial
revolution was worse. Nevertheless,
environmental issues have in recent
years become more important to China. More measures to cut pollution
and deliver green technologies are
on the way.
The AELM will mainly focus on
“low-carbon, pro-environment and
scientific technological innovation”.
In order to meet the APEC Bogor
Goals, APEC is pursuing three core
areas in Business Facilitation, Economic and Technical Cooperation and
Trade and Investment Liberalisation.
Visiting leaders in search of elusive
resolutions should include Barack
Obama, Vladimir Putin and Japanese
PM Shinzo Abe. Let’s see what they
come up with this time.
8/9
cover story
Living the Silicon dream
Congratulations minus
the envy
Incubators without favouritism. That is exactly what
Silicon Valley is much comprised of. There is no envy
of success, it simply prompts
congratulations. No-one has
become rich here thanks to
a semi-wild privatisation or
political favouritism. All one
needs to start a business is a
computer, a reasonably smart
portable device and internet
access (paradoxically, a truly
fast broadband connection is
a distinct luxury in the area).
And if you cannot afford to rent
an office, you can pick from
a seemingly endless offer of
various co-worker centres or
take advantage of a business
accelerator or of one of the said
incubators.
Prices in Silicon Valley and
San Francisco are ridiculously
high, driven up by successful
technology entrepreneurs.
Locals regularly circulate petitions protesting against being
priced out of their native city.
“What are we going to use the
latest investment for? To expand in the US. Which means,
Zdeněk Hornych of software
firm Socifi, sitting in a café on
Union Square.
San Francisco is a city of
contrasts. Besides the well-off,
successful, healthy and sporty
people there are the homeless
whose numbers increase every
year. Broad windows on one
side of 8th Street provide a
a small knife and yelling that
he has no intention of hurting
anyone but he desperately needs a dollar.
Take a turn two blocks
down and there is excitement
and exhilaration spilling onto
the street. Young people are
flowing in and out through a
doorway. This is where Ama-
The San Francisco mayor has no qualms
about closing streets in the city centre
for conferences. And there are quite
a few of them
among other things, spending
a fortune on office space in the
city. It’s not possible to keep
commuting to meetings from
Oakland all the time,” explains
‚ Socifi.
Socifi founders Tomáš Silný
(left) and Zdeněk Hornych
develop software for the
monetisation of public wi-fi
services
view of the stylish furnishings
of designer studios, packed
with the latest iMacs, while
the other side of the street is
notable for a beggar clasping
zon is currently holding a party
to promote its successful cloudbased Amazon Web Services
among start-up businesses.
Anyone equipped with a busi-
ness card is welcome, and everyone leaves a few hours later
with a fistful of new contacts.
Networking is of the utmost
importance in Silicon Valley as
knowing the right people can
be of immense benefit. “But it
is certainly not all you’ll need.
Even today, when we are on a
roll we still socialise regularly.
But now there is a specific time
set aside for that. Customers
take precedence,” explains
David Semerád of Strv.
Photo: Profimedia
Continued from page 1
Newbies push
up prices.
Real estate and
office space
prices in Silicon
Valley and San
Francisco are
ridiculously high;
they are driven
up by successful
technology
entrepreneurs
Above, over, Uber
It is nigh on impossible to
live in this part of California
and remain immune to it. The
building over there is where
Apple presented the first iPhone; over there is where Hewlett-Packard was founded; this
is where the bosses of Oracle
and HP occupy neighbouring
houses; those people and this
company have just secured
an investment and that guy is
giving a lecture. Seattle is another place in the US where you
experience something similar.
Driving from the airport into
the city, the taxi driver will
spontaneously start pointing
out Microsoft’s skyscraper,
the seat of Amazon and the
first ever Starbucks coffeehouse.
Technologies drive the local
economies. The San Francisco
mayor has no qualms about
closing streets in the city
centre for conferences. And
there are quite a few of them.
AutoCAD bait
Spades for gold-diggers
The office of Petr Brož is located on the reconstructed Pier 9, with a view of the San Francisco
Bay Bridge, and a very small distance from the headquarters of Google, Salesforce.com and
other Silicon Valley giants. It is thus no wonder that his employer is also one of the big guns:
Autodesk, the developer of professional modelling, design and animation applications such
as AutoCAD, Maya, 3ds Max and Inventor. Brož, however, is working on a different – no less
important – product. That product is called Tinkercad and the young PhD graduate from the
University of West Bohemia in Pilsen is the head of development for it. Tinkercad is not overly
important for Autodesk in terms of total revenue since its essential value lies in its educational
purpose. Tinkercad is a tool that attracts young people to the company, that enables the
modelling of three-dimensional objects. “Recent years have seen the rise of the Minecraft
phenomenon. So we decided to add a Minecraft module into Tinkercad. It made our user
numbers go through the roof,” explains Brož. Minecraft could be described as a digital form of
Lego. It has recently been acquired by Microsoft for USD 2.5bn. And particularly why? To reach
young people and bring them into the company’s fold.
Young company Apiary emerged from one of the Czech ‘hackathons’ where former employees
of GoodData got together. Shortly afterwards the team was accepted into the prestigious
Springboard accelerator in Cambridge, England. Today, Apiary operates a development group at
technology incubator Node5 in Smíchov, Prague with the rest of the team developing business in
Silicon Valley. They are helped by a seed investment of USD 1.63m obtained from a group of US
investors. Both Flybridge Capital Partners and Baseline Partners have previously supported other
successful start-ups, such as Instagram. Apiary expects a further, much bigger investment in the
future. At the same time, the company is already serving several thousand customers, including
Siemens, Rackspace and internet giant Akamai, whose servers control a significant proportion of
internet traffic. Investments are used to accelerate the company’s growth. What does Apiary do?
It enables the creation and documentation of application programming interfaces (APIs). APIs
enable communication between web-based and mobile applications and separate cloud services.
“I like to use a comparison with the Wild West of old sometimes. Back then it was those who
supplied the gold-diggers with spades and shovels who really made fortunes. Our software is also
a sort of a spade,” laughs Jakub Nešetřil, an Apiary cofounder and CEO.
ƒ Tinkercad.
Working for Autodesk,
Petr Brož manages the
development of Tinkercad
Wireless advertising
Elon Musk, a billionaire and visionary, has an ambition
to expand humankind’s space travel endeavours. He
wants to one day be sending people to space on a
regular basis. One of those helping Musk work towards
fulfilling that ambition through Musk’s company SpaceX
is David Pavlík, 23, from the Czech Republic. “I am trying
to make the data processing faster. There are numerous
teams that need to evaluate data from various tests and
test flights. The faster these analyses are completed, the
faster the teams can progress with redesigning things or
coming up with new ideas,” says Pavlík, the first Czech
to be working at SpaceX. The young engineer joined the
company this June as something more than a software
engineer. His efforts follow a single objective: enable
even shorter times between the rocket launches.
Favoured
micro-teachers
ƒ Apiara.
“The gold-diggers made a
fortune for the suppliers
of spades and shovels. Our
software is a spade,” says Apiara
CEO Jakub Nešetřil (front), using
an historical parallel
Mobile developers for hire
Faster SpaceX
Photos: archive
When Microsoft’s Czech office organised a “start-up BBQ” on the roof of its office building
during the summer to provide a presentation opportunity for emerging projects, one question
the Microsoft panel asked was: “Why exactly have you come here?” The question was
answered by entrepreneurs including Zdeněk Hornych, one of Socifi’s two founders. Hornych
started to talk about the number of countries in which his company already has customers,
making others wonder why it was worth his time to come to such a local event. Several
weeks later the young entrepreneur was already in San Francisco to develop his company’s
local office. One reason he can afford to do this is the fact that Socifi recently obtained a
seed investment of one million dollars. “In the next stage, the series A round, we will aim for
about USD 20m. We have been negotiating with several investors here in the Valley,” says
Hornych. Little has seeped out into the public domain about Socifi so far, but that does not
at all detract from the potential of its product. The young people behind the company are
developing public wi-fi monetisation software. Owners of cafés, airport lounge operators,
shopping malls and football stadiums can have their wi-fi networks displaying advertisements
using Socifi software and generate revenues from it. The project has enthused none other
than Cisco and the company has been working closely with Socifi, integrating the software
into its devices and opening doors to business. Quite recently in China, for example.
One week it is Intel holding
one, a week later it is Oracle,
then Microsoft, and there is
yet another one, this time
arranged by Salesforce.com.
Customs officers at the airport
„ Strv.
“We are interested in
teams that have attracted
investments upwards of USD
10m,” says David Semerád
(left), a cofounder of Strv
automatically ask whether the
purpose of your visit is “that
conference”. They are all
proud of “their” companies
being able to attract so many
people into the state.
But the contrasts don’t go
away. The City of San Francisco tried to resolve the issue of derelict districts by
subsidising companies such
as Twitter to build headquarters in such areas. As a result,
Twitter really does now have
its HQ among throngs of homeless people while nearly all
of its employees are driven to
and from work by Uber cabs.
What’s more, there is no actual
need for them to leave their
building during the course of
the day as they enjoy all required amenities, including
refreshments, indoors. The
silicon heaven is simply not
for everyone.
Promising enterprise Strv started out as a typical Czech development studio focusing on mobile
applications. It was one of several that sprang up in Prague and other cities following the rise of
the iPhone and the Android mobile operating system. In those days, Strv was still called uLikeIT.
It created several popular applications for some big customers. Then came the opportunity
to travel to the west coast of the US by taking advantage of the CzechAccelerator programme
operated by CzechInvest. That is when everything started to change. “We had to drop our name as
uLikeIT made customers in the US think we were dealing in porn,” recalls Lubo Šmíd, cofounder
of Strv. The young people behind Strv have terminated the vast majority of their custom-built
development activities in the Czech Republic to focus solely on the North American market. The
plan is simple: to become an established developer for leading American start-ups before moving
on to big companies. Strv has already succeeded with the first aim. Numerous promising start-ups
in California have attracted significant investment but it still remains cheaper to assign application
development to a capable third party rather than snatch expensive, high-quality in-house
developers from others in the pricey Silicon Valley environment. “We are primarily interested in
teams that have attracted investments upwards of USD 10m,” says David Semerád, the other Strv
cofounder. “The monthly revenue of each such client is in the tens of thousands of dollars.”
Among the first to become
enthused by Corinth, which
hails from Brno but has
also moved to California,
was former Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer. Corinth
developed and marketed
an application touted
as the “Google Earth
for the micro-world”.
What started as a small
project was subsequently
transformed into the fullyfledged touch-enabled
application suite Corinth
Classroom. Microsoft
has come to like Corinth
since the latter develops
on the former’s Windows
8 OS platform. On the
one hand, it may have
seemed a rather surprising
decision given the issues
surrounding the operating
system, but on the other
Redmond-headquartered
Microsoft has taken
Corinth very much under
its wing, providing it with
access to partners and
customers. Microsoft
considers Corinth a key
application for its activities
in education and schools.
10/11
face to face
Miroslav KalouseK:
This government
is irresponsible
Jana Havligerová
TOP 09 has failed with its proposal to
have the lower chamber reject next year’s draft budget and return it to the government for redrafting with spending
lowered by CZK 20bn. Will you be trying
to amend the bill in any way during the
second reading?
We might try adjusting some minor
points. Where the proposal to return the
draft to the government was concerned,
we did not present it with any great hope
of success. We did not entertain any such
illusion. But we considered it essential to
declare what the budget’s basic indicators
should look like to avoid the risk of our
children being ashamed of us. The recommendation we tabled was actually rather
meek. I can imagine myself presenting
much more ambitious objectives.
Why did you give the figure of CZK 20bn
for a reduction in expenditures?
The expenditure side could easily be
reduced by CZK 40bn. The investments
planned by the government should absolutely exceed the level they were at in
2012. That was a time when what are now
the government parties criticised us for
undermining economic growth through
a lack of public investment. And now the
same parties propose to invest CZK 30bn
less, intending to instead sink the money
into the state’s operating costs and social
subsidies. Two basic parameters are of
essence here: the absolute value of the
expenditures and the ratio of investment
expenditures to operating costs. It is
especially the ratio that is deteriorating
dramatically in comparison to budgets
drafted by [previous] governments of
the right. The unions felt enraged enough to organise stormy demonstrations
in 2012… Even the sitting president has
previously said that we must invest for
our future and he must side with invest-
Founder and First Deputy Chair of
TOP 09, Chair of the TOP 09 and
Mayors’ Parliamentary Club of MPs.
He has been part of the top tier of
domestic politics since 1998, and was
the finance minister in the second
Topolánek government as well as in
the later Nečas government. He was
Chair of the Christian Democrats
(KDU-ČSL) from 2003 to 2006. He
first won an MP’s seat on the KDU-ČSL
ticket 16 years ago.
ment since investment cannot vote in an
election. But now the president praises a
budget that proposes to invest CZK 30bn
less than what was seen in the thick of the
financial crisis. It is either because the
president has been incorrectly informed
by his advisers of the actual amount of
state investment planned for next year
or because he has turned his favourite
saying about investing for the future
into one about eating and drinking for
our future.
But then again, Finance Minister Kalousek did not stimulate consumption, he
did not raise salaries, he did not raise
the minimum wage…
True. He considered it indispensable
to convince the financial markets that
our country is reliable and capable of
achieving balanced budgets. Please, do
not forget that the crisis was often described as a credit crunch. Countries were
facing a situation in which either no-one
was willing to lend them money or they
could borrow only under unfavourable,
almost destructive conditions. We assumed government, and the budgets with
it, in 2010 when the budgets carried a
structural deficit of some five percent.
In our desperate efforts to convince the
financial markets that we were capable
of improving the deficit, we achieved
a fiscal consolidation at the rate of 1.4
percent of GDP a year, which translates
to about sixty billion crowns. And we
convinced the markets to such a degree
that as early as 2011 the Czech Republic
was the only country in the EU to have its
rating raised by two grades. That meant
the lowering of interest rates on gover- as well as for everyday life. It lowers the
nment bonds to a historic low. That, of interest rates for corporate credit as well
course, then reflects in the prevailing as for mortgages.
conditions for business undertakings
However, there were economists outside the government who warned that
you were, forgive the expression, too
tight-fisted with your fiscal policy.
Tight-fisted is quite correct. I
kept things tight. One often searches
one’s conscience, mulling over what
has been said or done. I keep going
over old ground wondering if I was
too harsh. Whether our policy should
not have been a bit more relaxed, if
This government is not applying
a debt brake, it is rather a debt
buffer. In other words: keep
going for as long as you want
until you hit the wall
The deficit in the government sector is to
be 2.3 percent of GDP next year.
That is a rather static indicator that
tells you nothing because you never know
whether the glass is half empty or half full.
Whether you are dying or on the mend. A
static indicator is no more than a number.
You have to look at trends. Economic
literature calls it the will to achieve fiscal consolidation. And the numbers are
either improving year on year or they
are deteriorating. They were improving
during the term of our government.
Photo: Anna Vacková
A
s the First Deputy Chair of the Tradition
Responsibility Prosperity Party (TOP
09) and the previous Finance Minister,
Miroslav Kalousek remains just as concerned
with the state of the public finances as he
was when overseeing the portfolio in his
cabinet position. And his passion for politics
also remains as strong as ever. “TOP 09 is the
strongest opposition party in the lower chamber
of parliament and as such it bears certain
responsibilities. As a poet wrote, ‚Weak is only he
who has lost faith in himself, and small is he who
merely knows of small aims.‘”
pens to hit the two-percent mark in the
coming years the government will be
extremely lucky and in the public eye
it will get away with its irresponsibility.
But not in terms of the eye of the future.
Because it will not have made hay while
the sun was shining. It will not have prepared the country for the next crisis. You
see, the government’s operating costs of a
mandatory and quasi-mandatory nature
are a bit like toothpaste. You squeeze out
the toothpaste instantly and everyone is
happy. But go try refilling the tube. That
is much more difficult. The government
is acting with an exceptional level of irresponsibility and we should all be praying
that the recession does not return. It is
quite apparent that the current government is neither professionally qualified
nor politically brave enough to adjust its
expenditure to recession.
Miroslav Kalousek (55)
on occasion the costs did not exceed
the revenue. Yes, I am really troubled
by these questions. I do accept criticism for being too tough. A discussion
regarding the rate of consolidation
would have been perfectly legitimate.
But there is absolutely no question
about the direction we took. The current government is now reversing the
trend, at a time when we have finally
achieved economic growth. Instead of
at least holding the structural deficit
at the level which we succeeded in
lowering it to, they go and increase it
all over again.
Is the government really reversing the
trend?
Of course. As I said, in 2010 we took
over public budgets with a deficit of five
percent, while in 2013 it was 0.3 percent.
And let me point out that one percent
translated to about sixty billion crowns.
A year later, PM Rusnok’s government
tugged at the rudder and steered the
structural deficit to 1.4 percent. I might
have been able to see some logic in Finance Minister Babiš and PM Sobotka’s
budget for next year if they had left the
structural deficit at this year’s level. Instead, they have increased it by one-half
Although the lower chamber dismissed
your proposal for a constitutional law on
fiscal responsibility, the government is
now drafting its own bill. Will that provide the necessary brake?
If the last draft I saw is still the valid
one then it will resolve nothing. The draft
of the law that I was proposing contained
several parameter degrees. You could call
them a warning light, a flashing warning
light and a red light. And the political
representation would have been required
in each case to respond accordingly or
face penalties, including docked wages.
In other words: the brakes are applied
gradually, no-one is to slam the brake
pedal and make everyone crash through
the windscreen. But this government is
not applying a debt brake, it is rather a
debt buffer. Everything I have just referred to, the degrees, has been left out,
with only a static indicator of 60 percent
remaining, which refers to the ratio of
sovereign debt to GDP. In other words,
it is saying: keep going for as long as you
want until you hit the wall. It is not a good
draft. Neither is it decisive.
of a percentage point. And that already
forms a trend. The government is not
even manifesting some ambition to lower
the deficit, at least in line with the minimum rate of one-half a percent per
year as recommended by the European And what would be decisive?
I see some hope in the fact that at least
institutions.
some members of the current cabinet,
The present finance minister maintains such as the prime minister, do care about
that the country will have a balanced the Czech Republic having a reasonably
budget by 2017. Do you not believe him? acceptable image within the EU – while
The principle of Andrej Babiš is to say the Russian-type oligarchs can’t be boone thing and table a completely different thered with that. To maintain that image
thing. So I really don’t take that statement it is essential that parliament ratifies the
seriously. If actual economic growth hap- European Fiscal Compact.
12/13
feature
My tiger
trade
Petr Weikert
How many protected chameleons live in the Czech Republic?
Enough, apparently, to export
around 10,000 of the lizards
each year. Even tigers and leopards seem to be in such great
supply that around five of these
big cats are sent to third countries every year. The problem is
not with Czech state statistics,
which are kept very concisely.
The difficulty is that no-one
in the United Arab Emirates,
Singapore or Russia will ever
establish where the exported
animals ultimately end up. The
entire dilemma stems from
Czech laws which make it very
easy to illicitly trade in protected
animal species.
Snakes alive!
It is March 2004 and customs
officers detain a suspicious
man at Prague airport. Going
through his luggage and leather
jacket they gradually discover
155 particularly rare protected
reptiles – snakes, monitor lizards and turtles wrapped in black
cloth. Several months later, after
watching a video of the customs
intervention, judge Kateřina Kohoutková of Prague 6 District
Court hands down an appealable
prison sentence of three years,
to Antonín Hnízdil – the passenger from Indonesia.
Though not its official operator, the very same man is at present behind Teraria Praha; thus
someone who’s been involved in
illicit activities is now a stakeholder in a completely legal, statesanctioned operation. The Teraria Praha terrarium has the legal
status of a zoo for land animals
enabling it to handle protected
species, to receive them from
abroad and to send them out
of the country, much like Zoo
Chleby – whose director René
Franěk in the 1990s likewise
ran into difficulties because of
animal smuggling. And that is
where the problematic Czech
system comes in.
It is enough to take a quick
look at the country’s list of 24 zoological gardens, 15 of which are
members of the Union of Czech
and Slovak Zoological Gardens
such as, for example, the zoos of
Prague, Ústí nad Labem, Dvůr
Králové, Olomouc and Zlín.
These institutions participate
in international conservation
projects, run schooling and
educational programmes and
issue scientific publications.
But then there are these other
zoos – treated in exactly the
same way under the law. Apart
from Teraria Praha, there are,
Photos: Hynek Glos
G
etting
yourself a
licence for a
zoo and setting it
up is almost child’s
play in the Czech
Republic. Hundreds
of protected
animals disappear
across the border
as a result
No first-category
stripes.
Tigers bred in
captivity are
according to
regulations
second-category
tigers. If they
are exported no
regard is given to
the facility where
they end up. Last
year one tiger
and four leopards
left the Czech
Republic
for instance, Mořský svět [Sea
World] in Prague Holešovice
and Zoo Tábor-Větrovy (which
also offers board and lodging in
its guesthouse and restaurant,
listed on its website).
This overview does not intend
to besmirch the good name of
Zoos have the opportunity to receive a
protected animal, say, from England and
then transfer it to a third country. If the
Czech trading model is found out about
it is set to trigger a European scandal
A zoo too.
Along with the
established
zoological
gardens, smaller
zoos also obtain
licences. Along
with these
licences the
zookeepers
acquire the
possibility to
trade in animals,
which may
be appealing
from both the
scientific and
commercial
perspectives
these zoos. It simply illustrates
how easy it is in the Czech Republic to obtain a zoo licence
and, on the contrary, how difficult it is to lose it. “A zoo licence
clears the way to international
animal exchanges and trade.
Zoos have the opportunity to
receive a protected animal, say,
from England, and then to transfer it to a third country. Abroad
they don’t distinguish [between
countries] but if this Czech trading model is found out about
it is set to trigger a European
scandal,” says a person who has
witnessed questionable practices at close proximity.
Euro weekly approached several experts who all concur on
one point: “Personally I think
that the law for zoological gardens as it stands is unsatisfactory,” says union president and
director of Prague Zoo Miroslav
Bobek. Pavla Říhová, who at the
Czech Environmental Inspectorate heads the Department for
the International Protection of
Biodiversity, has a similar view,
but adds: “It’s certainly not going to be simple [to remedy this
situation].”
Second-category tigers
The zoological gardens law is
the system’s first weak point. If it
does not work properly and fails
to filter out animal treasure hunters then the regulations pertai-
ning to protected animal species
will likewise fail to do so.
The environment ministry
points out that in regard to the
export of rare animal species the
importer from the given third
country is vetted as to their suitability and for this the CITES
(Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species)
organ of the given state is contacted. This regulation, however,
only pertains to the first category of animals – which live in
the exporting country’s natural
habitat. Tigers are not included
in this category because they do
not naturally exist in the Czech
Republic. Tigers are therefore
second-category animals, meaning that the Czech state is not
required to monitor their transfer to third countries – and, so
far, it has indeed failed to do so.
In 2013 one tiger left for Ukraine, one for Russia and five for
the United Arab Emirates.
The state does not make public who has been exporting the
given protected animals to third
countries or how much money
has changed hands. Also not
publicised are the names of
the recipients, some of whom
attract, according to information Euro has at its disposal, apparent suspicion. In the past, a
tiger was, for example, delivered
to an Asian entity operating an
aquapark.
But the zoological garden
trade also moves in the opposite direction – for instance, it
runs from the same corner of
the world from which Antonín
Hnízdil arrived bedecked with
turtles several years ago. It is
very easy for zoos to shop for
animals in third countries. Again
the same rule applies that only
animals originating from the natural habitat of the given country
are subject to strict regulations.
All who have had the opportunity to acquaint themselves with
corruption in Asian countries
know that obtaining the appropriate stamps to “domesticate”
animals does not necessarily
pose a problem. To distinguish
a grey zone in this business is no
simple matter. And the animals,
as we well know, are not about to
speak out for themselves.
a dve r t i s i ng
A141011756
COMPULSORY AUCTION
SCHLOSSHOTEL BARTA SANATORIUM
Schlosshotel Barta Sanatorium, Klimentov 132, 353 01 Velká Hleďsebe, Mariánské Lázně, www.schlosshotel.cz
Capacity 57 beds/29 rooms
Parking lot
Restaurant/snack bar/terrace
Ornamental garden
Balneo-center
The electronic auction will begin on November 6, 2014 at 10:00 am on the auction portal: www.drazby-exekutori.cz.
You can find more information about the auction at www.drazbahotelbarta.cz.
14/15
wine & dine
society
society
RistoRante Rugantino
exceedingly well handled
Let’s go roguish
Photo: HPCG
This new Italian
restaurant is less
pricey than noted
establishments
such as La
Finestra or Casa
de Carli, but
it clearly has
ambitions to join
Prague’s premier
league
More than 800 people registered for the Harmonised Handling occasion
arranged by Toyota Material Handling CZ as part of Toyota Demo Days. It
went down as a new record in Demo Days’ seven-year history. The majority of
those who registered also visited the customer event at Business Park Rudná
near Prague. The seventh edition of the presentation also produced other
records – Toyota presented 112 products and application solutions on floor
space of more than 4,500 square metres and involved 17 partner companies
supported by dealers. This year particularly saw major interest in alternative
drive systems. “We managed to prepare a pleasantly assembled mix of
trend items, actual experience, interesting innovations, creative design and
an attractive accompanying programme,” said Jan Pachman, Director and
Executive Secretary of Toyota Material Handling CZ, while appraising the
reasons for such longstanding, strong and growing interest in the event
Milfaitová’s marmalades triumph again
Photo: Toyota material handling
Czech entrepreneurs esteemed by the public received Czech Goodwill 2014 awards
at the National Technical Museum in Prague from the First Deputy Chair of the
parliamentary lower chamber Jaroslava Jermanová. The winner of the second
edition of the awards in the category of Czech Goodwill Personality 2014 was Blanka
Milfaitová (right). She fulfilled her business dream when in 2012 she opened in
Šumava a small family manufactory for the production of marmalades. In 2013,
the Blanka Milfaitová Manufactory received two gold stars in the prestigious
international Great Taste Awards. It was the sole Czech primary foodstuffs producer
to achieve the distinction. Milfaitová’s family business also became the proud holder
of an Artisan Marmalade Maker Double Gold and Gold bestowed last year in the
World Marmalade Awards at Dalemain Mansion and Gardens in Cumbria, England.
The judges were impressed by her mouth-watering lemon marmalade, which
subsequently earned a spot in the sales range of sponsor and distinguished London
Piccadilly department store Fortnum & Mason
a dve r t i s i ng
A141012430
Petr Holec
Photos: archive
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Pleasing interior
Distinctive wine list
A wide choice of fish
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TV in the restaurant
choose from several salads
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I ordered a main dish, sliced
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with homemade bread, medium-rare; and that’s exactly
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Issue 14 l newsst
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Under ČSOBaban
legendary
Pavel Kavánek, ed a lion,
banker who tham
steps down
Profile pages
8–9
A case of taste
14
RistoRante
Rugantino
Křižovnická 12/61,
110 00 Prague 1
Tel.: 222 312 275
e-mail: info@
ristoranterugantino.cz
www.ristoranterugantino.cz
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er Vafo
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iN-DePth pages
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ČSSD and ODS
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nehe like of it has
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re: this year’s motley
ates
range of candid
an Parliafor the May Europenovel. But
rather
ment poll is
The 2014 Euro
it’s no wonder.
y serve as
election will actuallgn for the
part of the campai election.
pal
autumn’s munici
Parliament has
The European
outside the
previously stood and politivoters
main focus of
however, this
cal parties alike;
easily betime round it could
ve, politicalcome very explosi threatening
is a
ly speaking. It
applies to
scenario that largely coalitiruling
the government
on parties.
will be
The election result
lly closely by
watched especia
rats (ČSSD),
the Social Democ the anti-Soor to be precise
the party.
botka faction within with parodds
This faction, at av Sobotka,
ty leader Bohusl pretext to
any
is looking for
to 21 Czech MEPs
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undermine his
once again with
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grilled
octopus.
With arugula
and cherry
tomatoes
fers appetisers, pasta dishes
and main courses based upon
fish or seafood products freshly imported from Italy, as
indeed is the pasta. You can
thus enjoy octopus carpaccio
(235 crowns), scallops with
saffron sauce (220 crowns),
black squid ink risotto with
stuffed calamari (320 crowns),
grilled shrimp (345 crowns),
or grilled fish of the day (approx. 500 crowns). The octopus carpaccio is served pure
and simple, cut into thin slices
with a drizzle of olive oil, lemon juice and pepper.
The other half of the menu,
entitled Fields & Forests, has
its feet firmly planted on dry
land. It offers classic Italian
starters such as beef carpaccio (215 crowns) or caprese
salad with buffalo mozzarella (180 crowns). The secondi
patti are as usual mostly pasta
dishes, while the main courses include meat dishes such
as pork fillet with porcini
mushrooms (260 crowns) or
lamb ribs with blackcurrants
(520 crowns). You can also
9 771803 454314
R
ugantino is not a new
name in Prague nor is
it a synonym for haute
cuisine. In Dušní street there is a pizzeria that bears the
same name (often recalled as
the title of an Italian musical
about a fun-loving rogue), as
does the Italian trattoria on
Petrské Square. They have
different owners but share
a commitment to unpretentious cuisine. However, the
owner of the pizzeria, Claudio
Spurio, has now decided to
raise his sights by opening
the more exclusive Ristorante Rugantino in Křižovnická
street. The only thing his new
venture has in common with
the aforementioned pizzeria seafood special.
is the name: the company Shrimp, scallops, mussels with asparagus
logo and website, the interior design, the service, and,
above all, the menu and prices, belong to another world.
Ristorante Rugantino is still
somewhat cheaper than the
highly regarded La Finestra around the corner, but it
clearly aims to compete with
the best Italian restaurants
in Prague.
The menu follows a refined “surf and turf” theme. A
good half of the permanent
menu, entitled Sea Menu, of-
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Photo: Reuters
diversions
picture of the week
He’s out with his frying pan
Andrew Hankin’s We’re Fryin’ Out Here is one of 109 kitschy sculptures that will line the two-kilometre coastal walk between Sydney’s Bondi and Tamarama beaches
until 9 November. More than a thousand artists submitted work for the open-air Sculpture by the Sea exhibition. Hankin’s giant frying pan, a supersized Slinky toy and
a huge peacock were some of the many favourites, but US sculptor Peter Lundberg won the day, and the $60,000 Macquarie Group prize, for his work, The Ring
invitations
EXHIBITION
GLASS ART
FILM
Libenský winner
‘Munchies’ on show
Contemporary non-commercial art is on display at a trial
exhibition, Artmeetpoint 2014,
which will last until at least 15
January in the winter gardens
of the Prague Congress Centre.
Proceeds from voluntary
admission fees and some of
the earnings from the sale of
art pieces will go towards the
completion of the construction
of the Jedličkův Institute.
The sixth edition of the
Stanislav Libenský Award, an
international glass competition for students, has named
a winner. Visitors to an
exhibition set up at Prague’s
Tančící dům will get to see the
winning entry along with other
selected pieces. First place in
the contest went to the Munchies installation [pictured] of
Michaela Mertlová.
The Visions of Light 2014 programme at Brno’s Art cinema
will from 6-8 November show
jewels of world cinematography which for various reasons
were over the years hidden
from Czech audiences. The
first film to be shown will be
director Albert Parker’s The
Black Pirate. Ten films of various genres will be presented
overall.
TENNIS
WINE FESTIVITIES
Fed Cup Finals
at O2 Arena
St. Martin’s Day wine
at Castle Litoměřice
The finals of this year’s Fed
Cup – the premier international team competition in women‘s tennis – will take place
at O2 arena in Prague, with
Czech players up against German opponents. The matches,
on 8 and 9 November, will
be played on a hard surface,
which was also used during
the Czech semi-final victory
over Italy in Ostrava.
The Feast of St. Martin, which
falls on 11 November, is a
much anticipated occasion
when it comes to winemakers and lovers of wine. For
tastings of newly harvested
wines of 2014, head to Castle
Litoměřice and the grounds
by its wine bar on the day of
the saint. Young wine will be
blessed by Bishop Jan Baxant.
Photos: archive
Something otherwise
at Artmeetpoint 2014
Hidden cinematic
jewels in Brno