First of all, Best Wishes for the New Year to all of our readers. The last week of the old year and the first week of the new one are typical times for looking back, reviewing, stock-taking (inventúra), assessment and evaluation, and maybe regretting as well; but also for looking forward, making promises and resolutions for future action (at least till next week), and expressing confidence, hopes and wishes.

There is a lot of this kind of vocabulary in the Ždaňa piece: fulfilling the program, making efforts to improve, achieve our high aims or specific objectives, accomplish the process; and in the Metalurg piece as well: longer-term influence, we will be proceeding to extend, the coming year is going to be a milestone, establish our orientation, contribute towards further improvement. These expressions tend to be formal in style, which you might expect from council leaders and trades union officials.