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Carolina (English) No 042
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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
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
C A R O L I N A No 42, Friday, September 25, 1992.
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Your editors.
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NEWS FROM THE LAST WEEK (September 16th - September 23rd)
Skoda Plzen will restrict the production
The largest Czech engineering company Skoda Plzen will be forced
to restrict the production since October 1st. This is the result of the
Wednesday meeting of the directors' board of the company which has now
28,000 employees.
Even if it was known that the Skoda company is in trouble, the
public proclamation of the selective restriction of production in this
time was a surprise. When the first information was released by
directors of the company, the interpretation in the media was very
dramatic.
"Most of Skoda factories will stop production on October 1st,
because the order from Czechoslovak state railways for the total amount
of 1.4 billion crowns cannot be fulfilled, as well as becuse of high
unpaid credit debt in the total amount of 4.3 billion crowns." the
chairman of the board of directors of Skoda company said on Thursday,
September 17th.
The Czech minister of industry and commerce Vladimir Dlouhy who
visited the Skoda factories right after he has returned from the United
States and Ireland met with the chairman in a private dicussion "behind
the closed door" and later he also met with the board of directors of
the company to get as much information as possible for his Monday
meeting with the leaders of the company. He said that Skoda has to stop
production in some factories, that there will be firing of employees,
but the production will not be restricted completely.
There have been speculations in the media if the bankruptcy was
not forced artificially to decrease the value of the company. The
chairman of the board of directors L. Novotny said that due to the
current decrease in the value of the company, the share of Skoda in the
prepared joint venture decreased from 49 to 33 percent.
The rector of the University in Trnava repealed
The repeal of dr. Anton Hejduk, the rector of the University in
Trnava has attracted a lot of attention not only in Slovakia and not
only in academic circles. Here are the facts:
Anton Hejduk was nominated as a rector of the new University in
Trnava by the president of the CSFR Vaclav Havel on May 15th, 1992.
On May 20th, the preparing committee of the Tranava University
led by dr. Hajduk started to work. This committee was nominated by the
Slovak Parliament.
Independently, another preparing committee (led by Prof. Kovac)
has been created and submitted a complaint to the bureau of control of
the Slovak republic for breaking the law: A. Hajduk is not a full
professor nor an associate professor and therefore he is not eligible to
be a rector of the University.
The minister of culture of the Slovak republic Dusan Slobodnik
who was in that period also in the head of the ministry of education,
asked dr. Hejduk to withdraw. He proposed to the prime minister Jan
Strasky, who after abdication of Vaclav Havel also administrates some of
the duties of the president, to nominate to this function Prof. Kovac.
Since according to the law about Universities, the proposal for the
rector can be submitted only by the academic senate composed of
professors and student representatives, the prime minister rejected the
proposal. According to the prime minister Strasky, it is not necessary
to repeal dr. Hejduk, because his nomination was not in accordance with
the law.
On August 25th, minister Slobodnik proclaims the nomination
certificate of dr. Hejduk invalid and the decision of V. Havel unlawful
and asks dr. Hajduk to hand over his function to Prof. Kovac.
On August 26th, minister Slobodnik asks the Tranava rector to
hand over his function to the person he will nominate and asks him to
restrain from all the activities resulting from the function.
On August 31st minister Slobodnik nominates doc. L. Harach, the
official of the ministry of education as a temporary chair of the
University in Trnava.
On September 2nd minister Slobodnik asks the prime minister
Strasky for the decision that the nomination of dr. Hejduk by the
president is an invalid act.
On September 7th, the prime minister Strasky confirms that this
is an invalid act. Minister Slobodnik announces this fact to dr. Hejduk
and repeatedly asks him to hand over all his agenda to Mr. Harach on
September 9th until 2 pm. The leaders of the Universtity have different
opinion, they want to present the case to the Supreme Court for the
final decision.
When dr. Hejduk gave his agenda to one of the vice-chairmen of
the University, minister Slobodnik came in person to the University in
Trnava and changed the door locks so that dr. Hejduk could not come.
The fact that another five rectors of Slovak Universities do not
fulfill the qualification requirements and only one is asked to
withdraw, shows that the whole case is politically motivated. Some of
the lecturers at the University in Trnava are the representatives of the
former leading parties : Miroslav Kusy, Zuzana Bartosova, wife of the
former minister of culture L. Snopko, Sona Somolanyiova and others. The
press points out that this action of the Movement for Democratic
Slovakia is unfair but it has a tacit approval from Civic Democratic
Party (the prime minister Jan Strasky is a member of this party).
The newspaper of the Christian Democrats, the Slovak Daily
concludes a big article about repeal of the Trnava rector published
under the title "Octopus" with the undertitle "Shall the University in
Trnava be a precedent ?" with these words : "We see how the leading
party takes the power and shows it in practice. This concerns us all. We
are the witnesses of the advance according to the party line with the
authoritative elements."
Milos Zeman from the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party has
the same opinion. He said with irony in the TV series The Weekly Review:
"I am very glad that we have progress towards democracy, because instead
of one ruling party (i.e. the former Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
- editorial remark) we now have two ruling parties (i.e. Civic
Democratic Party and Movement for Democratic Slovakia - editorial
remark). This is really a significant progress. But I think that the
democracy is in something else than the fact that the ruling parties put
its members into high offices. (We wrote about the replacement of the
director of Czechoslovak Press Agency with the member of the ODS in two
preceeding issues - editorial remark). Because then their membership
card becomes a tool for getting a job and this reminds of something that
has been here before. Democracy is a dialogue with the opposition, which
contols the government. And the wise government should support
opposition at the Universities, which are the centers for different
opinions."
The joint meeting of the Parliament
On Tuesday September 22nd, the 3rd interrupted joint meeting of
the both Houses of the Federal Assembly continued. The meeting was
called on request of the parliament members from the opposition parties
to discuss the future of the Czechoslovak state. Parliament accepted the
report of the government of CSFR about the current situation and asked
the federal government to submit until October 15 the programme which
would be against elemental and unconstitutional disassembly of the
federation and which would prevent conflicts among citizens arising with
the questions about the future of the republic. The cabinet of Jan
Strasky should submit until November 15th a conception of future
cooperation of Czech and Slovak republic for the case of constitutional
splitting of the CSFR - concentrating on the issues of foreign policy,
defense, currency , budget and finances as well as on common customs
policy , economical policy , transport and telecommunications.
The condition of Alexander Dubcek is still serious.
According to the doctors of the Prague hospital Na Homolce, the
condition of Alexander Dubcek is still serious. He has been hospitalized
since September 1st when he was seriously injured after a car accident.
A. Dubcek fell into unconsciousness again on Friday. The doctors
succeeded in fixing the blood ciculation in the brain veins and
stabilized his condition using the external lung ventilation. The lung
infection still lasts.
The prize increase for the postal services
The postal fees in Czechoslovakia will increase in average in
180 percent. For example, the 2 crowns stamp is required now for
postcards (the former price was 50 halers), the letter costs 3 crowns
instead of one. The fee for a registered letter increases from 3 to 5
Kcs and for an express mail from 3 to 8 Kcs.
The politics in soccer
The bus tour to Budapest for the Eurpean Masters soccer game
between Ferencavaros Budapest and the Czechoslovak champion Slovan
Bratislava has been cancelled by the fan club of Slovan Bratislava.
"When the fans want to go to Budapest on individual basis, we
cannot prevent it", said the secretary of the Slovan soccer team A.
Urban.
"The Slovak parliament and I myself suggest to the fans not to
go. The Hungarian police cannot prevent the physical contact between the
fans and the subsequent riots." , said to the journalists the chairman
of the parliamentary committee for security Ladislav Polka.
The fear from disturbances did arise after the reaction of
Hungarian officials to the severe police action in Bratislava against
Hungarian fans during the first game on Wednesday, September 16th. Even
if the Hungarian police said after the return from Bratislava that the
fault for riots is on the side of fans of FTC Budapest, the Hungarian
minister for inner affairs Peter Boros said in the parliament on Monday
that the action of the Slovak police was against the law and without any
reason.
Weather
Even if the fall started on Wednesday, September 23rd, the weather
during the day still reminds of sunny summer. We already got used to
cool temperatures in the morning.
Next weekend ,at night from Saturday to Sunday, we shall leave the
daylight saving time and return to the central European time.
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