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Carolina (English) No 017
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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 17, Friday, March 6, 1992.
The events of the last week/ from February 26 to March 4/
Czech-German Treaty Is Signed
A treaty between the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic and the United
Republic of Germany about the neigbhourship and friendly cooperation was
signed by German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and our President Vaclav Havel.
The treaty will come into operation after ratification in both
parliaments, and it will be valid for 10 years. Its validity will be
renewed automatically for the next 5 years if none of the sides cancel
it.
About 2,000 people took part in a demonstration at the Castle's square
at the time of Helmut Kohl's arrival.
Elections Will Be Held on June 5-6
The Board of Parliament declared that according to valid laws the
elections to the Federal Assembly CSFR will take place in June 5 and 6,
1992. 101 members of People's House will be elected in Czech Republic,
49 in Slovakia .
New General Public Prosecutor
President Vaclav Havel introduced new General Public Prosecutor of CSFR,
Martin Lauk, on March 3. M. Zantovsky, spokesman of the President said
that the President recalled
I. Gasparovic -the Previous Public Prosecutor- on the basis of poor
working by the General Prosecutor's office. The criticism came from 4
Parliament clubs that the President shares opinion with. The President
drew a conclusion that the General Prosecutor lacks authority to stay in
his position and recalled him on March 2.
The recall of the General Prosecutor doesn't have anything to do with
the case of Miloslav Marecek/M. Marecek is an 39 years old worker who
staged a hunger strike to protest against the way his applications are
handled by the General Prosecutor's office.
Carolina ran a story about the hunger strike on February 7.
The new General Public Prosecutor is 42 years old. His nationality is
Slovak. He worked as the First Deputy of General Prosecutor of the
Slovak Republic .
The Parliament Accepted the Pensions' Increase
The pensions conceded before January 1, 1992 will be increased from June
1, 1992 by about 30-290 Kcs.
The minimal pension will be 1960 Kcs for single person, 3360 for couple
of pensioners. The maximal pension will remain at 3800 Kcs.
8.5 Million People Registrated in the Voucher Privatization Process
The deadline for voucher privatization registration was February 29. The
number of registered Czech citizens reached 8 565 642. Interest in
participation in voucher privatization steped over the previous
estimations . 4 million interested people were expected. Double interest
will cause the lowering of the value of the property that citizens could
obtain in voucher privatization
.
Questions for the President
The Czech press announced that President Vaclav Havel will be a guest of
the special programme of BBC abroad broadcasting. The programme will be
broadcasted live on Sunday, the 8th of March. Listeners from the whole
world can call London to talk with the President via an interpreter. The
President will stay in Lany Castle. Telephone calls to the London number
004 200 4410 will not be charged on March 8. Calling persons should
announce their phone numbers and ask short and direct questions. The
questions should be put in Czech, Slovak or English.
Illumination of Jan Kavan
Jan Kavan, the MP, who has been positively identified -his name was
founded in a register volume of the secret police- presented
a contradictory certificate from the Federal Ministry of the Interior on
February 25. The certificate proved he is not registrated in the volume
to be punished with the illumination law.
However, the Federal Minister of the Interior, Jan Langos, canceled
the validity of the certificate on February 27. He said Jan Kavan will
get a new certificate because he is registrated in volumes of the secret
police. Minister Langos, considering the matter as a shame, recalled the
responsible chief.
Jan Kavan's case is also known abroad. Mlada fronta Dnes in its
commentary said that mistake made in Jan Kavan's case can't be
apologised for. After the illumination law passed a complimentary
process was started to publicly doubts illuminations and their results.
This process was proved and professionaly shown by the Ministry of
the Interior, says commentary. The Federal Ministry of the Interior will
check all the negative certificates again.
The opinion survey
54% of the Czechoslovak population considers the illuminations
unimportant, 35% think this problem must be solved immediately, and the
rest has not yet decided . The public survey came from the Institut for
Public Survey and was published in the Mlada fronta Dnes newspaper.
The hottest problems are, according to 97-93% of population, crime,
economic reform, unemployment and lower standards of living. 90% of
population is worried by the ecological situation and the situation in
agriculture.
As for the support of political parties, ODS/Civic Democratic
Party/, led by Vaclav Klaus got 22%.
Left-wing parties: Social Democratic Party got 10%, communists 9%,
and Liberal-Social Union 7%. 26% of the people have not yet decided.
In Slovakia, the majority of support went to the party of ex-Prime
Minister Meciar : Movement for Democratic Slovakia/31%/. The
Christian/Democratic Movement, led by Prime Minister Jan Carnogursky, is
supported by 14%, and Slovak National party by 12%.. Slovak communists
organized in Party of Democratic Left Wing got 9%.
The Truth is in the Middle
An interview written for the Carolina with Professor Kristufek.
Professor Kristufek speaks about the law and morality.
Within the last week has, the Law Faculty of Charles University hosted
a few lectures by professor Kristufek of Colorado University. We asked
him to explain the most common law terms.
Carolina: "Law state" became 89 one of the main goals of our society
after November 89. How do you define law state?
Answer: This term was developed in the past when political power has
been divided into law-making, executive and judicial branches.
Each of these these components are in balance in a law state and control
each other. All subjects of the las and state institutions are obliged
to respect the law . Every citizen has, at the same time, a right to
take part in the law-making process. Each representative of a public
power is, in a law state, submitted to the law. A monolith political
system where the division and control of public power is missing, can't
be a law state.
Carolina: People now aim at legal remedy of the wrongs caused by the
previous regime. Mostly the moral principles are discussed. What is the
relation betweem morality and law?
Answer: A lot of books have been written on this topic, and that's why
it is difficult to express it in a few sentences. The law should
correspond to a certain ethical system. If we make a law completely
dependent on this system, we put it in danger. Law fully submited to
morality is an extreme approach of the natural-law theory. Law
completely independent of a morality is an extreme opinion of legal
positivism. The truth is somewhere in the middle. There is a very close
relationship between law and morality . Legal interpretation often calls
for moral judgment. But we can't identify law and morality and make
negations of legal regulations on behalf of a subjective natural-law
/moral/ imagination.
Jakub Camrda
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