Bratislava’s new mayor Ivo Nesrovnal has pledged to bring more “dynamism” to negotiations with the American embassy over its use of the area around the embassy’s building in the city’s old town. The embassy is in a historic building purchased by the United States in 1948, but its presence there come to be seen as an eyesore thanks to a security fence erected after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In 2005, the embassy concluded a 10-year lease agreement with the city for the land around the building, which it uses as a security perimeter. The lease was extended last year for another year. The daily SME reports that the Americans will begin taking steps to find a replacement building to move into this spring.
