\(E\)-unitary covers over group varieties. (Q2505014)

\textit{M. B. Szendrei} [Int. J. Algebra Comput. 3, No. 3, 317-333 (1993; Zbl 0796.20053)] has shown that every orthodox semigroup \(S\) admits an \(E\)-unitary cover which is embeddable in the semidirect product of a band in the variety of bands generated by the band of idempotents of~\(S\) by a group. The group intervening in the construction is a free group. In the present paper, it is shown that for every nontrivial proper subvariety \(\mathcal V\) of the variety of all groups, there exists an \(E\)-unitary regular semigroup whose greatest group homomorphic image belongs to \(\mathcal V\) but which has no \(E\)-unitary cover which is embeddable in the semidirect product of a band by a group in \(\mathcal V\). This provides a negative answer to a question (Problem 2.9) raised by \textit{M. B. Szendrei} [Semigroup Forum 64, No. 2, 213-223 (2002; Zbl 1002.20040)].