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Carolina (English) No 040
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STUDENT'S E-MAIL NEWS FROM CZECHOSLOVAKIA
School of Social Science of Charles University
Smetanovo nabr. 6
110 01 Prague 1
C.S.F.R.
e-mail address: CAROLINA@CSEARN.BITNET
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C A R O L I N A No 40, Friday, September 11, 1992.
NEWS FROM THE LAST WEEK (September 2nd - September 9th)
The Slovak Republic's Constitution signed
The Slovak Republic's Constitution was signed on Thursday,
September 3rd, at Bratislava castle by the chairman of the Slovak
National Parliament I. Gasparovic and Slovak prime minister Vladimir
Meciar.
This famous action was broadcast live on the federal television
channel, F1. Among the participating politicians were the federal prime
minister, J. Strasky and the chairman of Czech parliament - Czech
National Council, M. Uhde. The Czech prime minister V. Klaus was also
invited but he did not participate.
According to V. Gasparovic, the new Slovak constitution will
result in an honest partnership with the Czech nation and the Czech
republic based on mutual awareness of equal partnership.
The ceremony was ended by playing the Slovak national anthem and
by presenting the new Slovak national flag. The flag is red, blue and
white with the national emblem of Slovak republic.
When there will be a new Czech constitution?
The quality of the constitution is more important than the rush
with its preparation, therefore it is possible that the constitution
will be accepted after the declaration of the sovereign Czech state.
However, the preparation of the constitution is not the only intention
of the Civic Democratic Party - the constitution may be accepted on the
day of the declaration of independence.
These were the opinions raised by V. Klaus during the Civic
Democratic Party's executive board meeting last weekend. The only
important date for ODS is 1994, which is the year the new elections to
local offices take place.
When asked his opinion concerning the new presidential elections
V. Klaus responded "We do not think that Czechoslovakia needs a federal
president now".
Czech minister of international affairs in Poland
Jozef Zielenec, the first minister of international affairs of the
Czech republic (It should be noted that he was the chair of the Center
for graduate education and economic research at our faculty of social
sciences) came back from Poland on Friday, September 4th.
The fact that his first visit abroad holding the new office was to
Poland, acknowledged the media as a result of widening interest in good
relations between neighboring countries. It was also noted that J.
Zielenec is of Polish descent.
"We are sure that splitting of the CSFR will not change the good
relationship formed with Poland and we hope that this relationship
continues to remain good in the future, maybe even growing stronger",
the Czech minister said.
J. Zielenec negotiated with his Polish colleague about bilateral
and trilateral cooperation (within the so-called Visegrad triangle as
well as with Hungary), and about the quick creation of a free-trade zone
and other common interests concerning the European integration.
"It is better to split the common state than to quarrel"
This is the response given by of two thirds of the trade union
members in the Czech and Slovak republic. More than half of them agree
with the future negotiations concerning the common state. Most of the
respondents felt splitting the CSFR would be deeply regrettable. These
are the results of the August poll published by the Czech press on
Saturday September 5.
The extraordinary session of parliament on Friday.
The discussion about future arrangement of the Czechoslovak state
- this is the program of the extraordinary session of the Czechoslovak
parliament, which will take place on Friday, September 11. The session
is called at the request of members of parliamentary clubs of the
opposition parties - Czechoslovak social democratic party, the Left
Block, Republican party of Czechoslovakia and two Slovak parties : The
Party of Democratic Left and Christian Democratic Party.
There is a question about the particpation of members of
government paries. Because the major parliamentary members are not going
to participate, the session will be led by chairman of the House of the
People Jozef Benda. The chairman of Federal Assembly M. Kovac (Movement
for Democratic Slovakia - HZDS), the vice-chairman F. Sedivy (Civic
Democratic Party) and the chairman of the House of Nations R. Zelenay
(HZDS) will all take part in the international symposium about democracy
in Quebec, Canada which takes place on occassion of the 200th
anniversary of the Canadian parliament.
The condition of A. Dubcek is still serious
The chairman of the Slovak social democratic party and the member
of the board of chairmen in the Federal Assembly Alexander Dubcek was
seriously injured on Tuesday, September 1st due to the car accident and
still lies at anaesthesiological clinic in the Prague hospital Na
Homolce.
Although fully in conscience, his condition remains serious even
after slight improvement.
A. Dubcek was visited in hospital also by former president V.
Havel
Vaclav Havel on private foreign visits
The former Czechoslovak president Vaclav Havel visited recently as
a private person Germany and Poland.
In the interview for the journalist of Czechoslovak Press Agency
in Berlin, he said that both he and the president Weiszacker share the
same opinion on various important questions. He said that they e.g.
agreed on the role of political parties in a constitutional system. The
German president was interested in situation in Czechoslovakia, in the
future relations between divided republics and also in preparation of
Czech Republic's constitution and the role of the president in it.
"President should play a stabilizing role in the situation when
the democracy is forming. He should not be only a declarative president,
he should have space for its own political behavior and decisions", V.
Havel responded to the question if he agreed with the Polish pertners
that the presidential system is necessary for the successful formation
of democracy, at airport in Warsaw on Tuesday, September 8th. V. Havel
met in Poland the president Walesa and the prime minister Suchocka.
Vaclav Havel also addressed the possibility of formation of an
authoritative regime in Slovakia. According to the newspaper Prace
(September 9th) he said that the authoritative features are not new for
Slovakia. The government in the new developing state naturally chooses
ways of ruling that ensure discipline and operative decision making. V.
Havel does not think that there is a danger of "Meciar's dictatorship"
in Slovakia. Situation is still open and it depends only on the Slovak
society how can it cope with difficulties arising in the new state.
Law without additional parentheses
The Supreme Court of the CSFR dwelling in Brno (the largest city
in Moravia) decided last week that the Act 260, which concerns the
punishment for propagation of movements that violate human rights or
proclaim national hatred is valid only if the text following in
parentheses "e.g. fascism or communism" is taken out.
The Supreme Court chairman Ernest Vajko said that reason for this
decision was that the notions of fascism and communism are not specified
as criminal acts. The Court did not support the decision of 83 members
of federal parliament that the whole Act 260 should be taken out,
because it violates the Declaration of Human Rights.
Changes in Chechoslovak press agency CSTK
Mass media announced on Wednesday afternoon, that the director of
CSTK Ing. Petr Uhl will be replaced by Ing. Tomas Kopriva, member of
parliament representing Civic Democratic Party since September 15, 1992.
"Do you think that it is fair to be a director of an institution
which should not be party - orientated with your political activity?" T.
Kopriva vwas asked in TV interview. "I think it is possible, and if it
is possible, it is possible that it is fair," responded T. Kopriva.
WEATHER
After tropical August with record temperatures we have snow in
September (in High Tatras).
There was snowing during weekend at higher elevations in High
Tatras - there is about 20 to 50 centimeters of snow (The High Tatras
are the highest mountain range in the CSFR - the Gerlach peak is 2655
m high, it lies on the north of Slovakia on the border with Poland).
While at the end of August there was in Slovakia a record temperature of
39 degrees Celsius, the morning temperatures in September have dropped
below 10 degrees Celsius. The whole Europe is getting colder now, e.g.
Athens and Madrid reported teperatures slightly above 20 degrees Celsius
yesterday, hence we need not to be sorry that the vacation period is
over. We had enough summer with hot weather this year.
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