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Carolina (English) No 098
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STUDENTS' E-MAIL NEWS FROM CZECH REPUBLIC
School of Social Sciences of Charles University
Smetanovo nabr. 6
110 01 Prague 1
Czech Republic
E-mail address: carolina@n.fsv.cuni.cs
Fax: (+422) 24810987
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
C A R O L I N A No 98, Friday, December 10, 1993.
NEWS OF THE WEEK (Dec. 2 - Dec. 9)
1994 State Budget Passed by the Czech Parliament
Parliament passed the goverment's proposed 1994 budget for the Czech
Republic December 7. The budget is balanced, with revenues and expenses
reaching 381.1 billion crowns.
Lidove Noviny reports that expenses will increase by 7.5 percent
from 1993, with changes in the structure of spending. The largest piece
of the budget pie will go toward family social security benefits. The
139.6 billion crowns for the benefit is a 15 percent increase over the
previous year.
The educational system will get a total of 42.2 billion crowns, with
the health system receiving 16.8 billion from the state and another 3
billion crowns from municipalities.
Budget revenues are expected mainly from taxes, at 237.3 billion
crowns, social security insurance premium payments, and by payments to
the state unemployment program.
Traditional disputes between the governing coalition and the
opposition were expected during the parliamentary session. Still, the
final wording of the text of the law, its quick passage and each of the
budget sums are considered a success by the parliament. The budget law
was passed with only a few amendments out of 90 proposed.
All of the coalition parties (Civic Democratic Party, Civic
Democratic Aliance, Christian Democratic Union and Christian Democratic
Party) together with the non-goverment Liberal National Social Party
voted in favor of the budget.
"None of the catastrophic visions of the opposition parties in
connection with last year's budget were fulfilled and it will probably
stay so for the next year", said Finance Minister Ivan Kocarnik to MF
Dnes.
Austrian President Visits for Two Days
Austrian President Thomas Klestil arrived in Prague December 6 for
two days of talks with President Vaclav Havel, Prime Minister Vaclav
Klaus and other Czech politicians.
The main discussion themes were the completion of the nuclear power
plant at Temelin, the question of Austrian and Czech moves to join the
European Community, the war in Bosnia and compensation for Sudeten
Austrians.
According to Klestil, Austria has a greater chance to become
a member of the European Community than to get into NATO.
Klaus said the issue of Sudeten Germans, who were expelled from
Czechoslovakia after World War II, is definitely closed. But Klestil is
waiting for the decision of the Historic Commission, which should give
a basis for evaluating this question, he said.
Klaus also said the Czechs would guarantee the safety of Temelin, as
it's in their own best interest to do so.
Inheritance Tax Halved
A proposal by Civic Democratic Party member Richard Mandelik
considering lowering the inheritance tax by one-half passed Parliament
December 2.
Beginning January 1, inheritance taxes will be calculated under the
old formulae, then sliced in half.
At the moment, inheritance taxes for direct relatives, widows and
widowers is 1 percent up to 1 million crowns. The tax is 3 percent for
brothers, sisters, direct relatives of husbands and wives, people who
lived with the deceased for more than a year, husbands or wives of
children, husbands or wives of parents, nieces and nephews, and aunts
and uncles. For all others the tax is 7 percent.
Carolina will carry further reports on the inheritance taxes after
the law is published in the Digest of Laws.
Ministry of Interior Publishes Report on Racism in the Czech Republic
The main instigators of racial violence in the Czech Republic are
extremists, mainly skinheads, and so-called hooligans, or groups of
football fans. Their victims are mainly Gypsies, Vietnamese, Bulgarians,
Romanians or other foreigners with dark skin, as well as anarchists who
together with Gypsies take part in anti-racist activities.
These findings are included in a new report published by Czech
police, the Ministry of Interior, the General Public Prosecutor's Office
and other authorities.
According to the report, 102 attacks with a racial motive were
reported from 1991 until now, out of which 94 were attacks on Gypsies or
foreigners and 8 were committed by Gypsies who attacked skinheads. The
most severe attacks take place in areas with a high concentration of
Gypsy population.
Problems of racial extremism stay on the edge of police and
prosecution interest. "Many racist clashes are trivialized by the
police," the report says. "They say it is just the disturbances and
conflicts of two problematic groups."
The report also shows that an aversion to Gypsies is not rare among
police. According to a sociological study of approximately 500 high
school students, the strongest anti-Gypsy feelings are found among
students of the Police Secondary School. According to the Ministry of
Interior, in the future there should be more emphasis on determining
a police applicant's racial oppinons.
The Ministry of Interior suggest establishing special units within
the criminal police dealing with extremists and crime with racist
motives.
Public Prosecution of the Rock Group Branik Reopened
The Public Prosecutor for Prague 4 has re-opened prosecution against
the oi-rock group Branik, overturning the decision of a police
investigator who stopped it in the end of November. (For more details
see the last issue of Carolina's article on racism and fascism.)
Left Bloc Member of Parliament Ladislav Body asked the Deputy
General Prosecutor to re-open the prosecution.
"I think that the effort of some of the prosecutors not to deal with
this problem is ambiguous and the displays of violence and racism are
more and more distinct," Body said.
"Wave" Project, Determined to Interrupt TV and Radio Broadcast in the
Former Czechoslovakia, is Being Investigated
As late as November of 1989, when the revolt against Communist rule
was already in full swing, authorities considered starting the "Wave"
project to interrupt radio and TV broadcasts in Czechoslovkia in order
to prevent their ""misuse by subversive and antisocialist elements".
The plan, which was never put into use, was revealed by the Ministry
of Interior to the parliamentary board for investigating the police
actions in November 1989.
In the first period of "Wave", broadcasts from the building of
Czechoslovak Radio were to be stopped and a new, provisional brodcast
under the surveillance of State Security was to be started.
After that, the Czechoslovak TV was to be put out of order. The
intervention was to be executed at the so-called "preparing workplace,"
where the TV broadcast is supervised. At the same time, electricity was
to be switched off in the main building of Czechoslovak TV at Kavci
hory, in southern Prague.
Workers of the State Security were to be helped at the CTV building
by members of the communist People's Militia.
Clinton to Visit Prague
White House Spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers officially announced December
2 that President Bill Clinton's European trip at the beginning of next
year will include a stop in Prague.
From January 9 to 15, Clinton will travel to Brussels for the NATO
summit, then will travel to Prague to meet with heads of the "Visegrad"
nations -- the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland -- before
traveling on to Moscow for a meeting with Russian President Boris
Yeltsin.
Will Radio Free Europe Move To Prague?
Government agents, U.S. Congressional representatives and chiefs of
Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty in the middle of talks about the
future of the radio's Munich head offices.
The building of the former Czechoslovak Federal Parliament in Prague
is a likely candidate to become the new headquarters. In any case, the
Czech service of Radio Free Europe will be moved to Prague in the
beginning of 1994. Final approval of the changes would be required by
Congress.
The number of its RFL-RL employees will be reduced and broadcast
time will be cut back.
CVUT's Area Opens Again
The historical area of the Czech's High Educational Technology
opened December 3 in Prague.
President Vaclav Havel and other representatives of the political
and cultural life attended a celebration in the Bethlehem Chapel.
Bethlehem Chapel was the site in the beginning of I5th Century where
Jan Hus preached his beliefs. Hus was sentenced to death by fire as
a heretic on June 6, 1415 in Kostnice.
The Chapel will be where graduates of Technological Science receive
their degrees.
Ing. Arch. Karel Hubacek was awarded the Scientific Degree "Doctor
of Technical Science" for lifetime acheivement in architecture. Dr.
Peter Likins, from the United States, received the same degree for
scientific and technical contribution in the field of operation and
dynamics of spacecraft and for supporting Czech universities.
Appreciation For Uncontributed Blood Donations
Representatives of the Czech Red Cross awarded 177 blood donors the
Gold Jansky Medals December 8.
Gold Medals are given for 40 unpaid blood donations, Silver for 20
donations and Bronze for 10 donations.
Each year, nearly 2,000 people are awarded this prize. Blood donors
give nearly a half-liter of blood during each visit. In the Czech
Republic, there are 350,000 blood donations each year, said Dr. Peter
Turek, chairman of the National Transfusion Council in the newspaper
Rude Pravo. From that, only 8 percent remains as an emergency supply.
The rest is processed into blood by-products.
Unpaid blood donations come to 85 percent of supplies in the Czech
Republic. The other 15 percent are paid.
Each year, 80-100,000 liters of blood plasma are used. Part of the
Czech blood plasma is processed by the Austrian Firm Immuno. Immuno had
been mixing plasma with supplies of the Koblenz Firm UB Plasma, which is
involved in the German AIDS scandal.
All blood donors are screened for the HIV-virus which causes AIDS.
McDonald's Apologizes for Attack on Journalist
During a vegetarian demonstration November 7 against McDonald's in
Brno, a McDonald's employee attacked a photojournalist trying to record
the event with tear gas.
After seeing a video of the incident, McDonald's spokeswoman
Drahomira Jirakova admitted the incident. According to the Friday
newspaper, the firm apologized for the incident.
Czech News Service photographer Igor Lehl was attacked while trying
to take photographs of security firm Larn members attacking the
activists of Hnuti Duha. Zehl was taken from the site by ambulance. Even
though the injured photographer reported the incident to police,
officials took no steps. As of the afternoon of November 8, police
didn't even have the incident video.
ECONOMICS
Corn Exchange In Brno
Brno's Corn Exchange set a new bulk trade record, at 38,786,000
Czech crowns, December 7.
The key factor was food wheat, the price of which was lately
dropping (Bulk trade of 10,000 tons at 3,439 crowns a a ton.) Another
important factor was the sale of 1,000 tons of oil in the price of 6.04
million crowns. According to the general exchange secretary, Peter Kriz,
Tuesday's bulk trade was bigger than ever before.
Two seminar's remain on schedule: A December 21 seminar will address
production problems and slaughtered pig and horned cattle marketing. The
last seminar, December 9, talked about cereals.
Exchange Rates of the Czech National Bank (valid from December 3)
CASH CHECKS
Buy Sell Buy Sell Middle
EMS-ECU 1XEU - - 33,225 33,559 33,392
France 1FRF 4,87 5,27 5,048 5,098 5,073
Italy 1 000ITL 16,95 18,49 17,629 17,807 17,718
Japan 100JPY 26,21 28,81 27,376 27,652 27,514
Canada 1CAD 21,55 23,33 22,332 22,556 22,444
Austria 1ATS 2,42 2,54 2,467 2,491 2,479
Germany 1DEM 16,98 17,90 17,348 17,522 17,435
Switzerland 1CHF 19,76 20,76 20,160 20,362 20,261
USA 1USD 28,98 30,38 29,534 29,830 29,682
Great Britain 1GBP 43,10 45,94 44,292 44,738 44,515
CZECH AND SLOVAK CASH EXCHANGE RATES
Slovak crown in Czech Republic Czech crown in Slovakia
Bank / 100 Sk Buy Sell Bank / 100 CEK Buy Sell
Cs.obchodni banka 88,00 92,00 Cs.obchodna banka 107,00 113,00
Ceska sporitelna 83,00 87,00 VUB 110,00 120,00
Komercni banka 77,00 81,00 Slovenska statna
Coopbanka 82,00 86,00 sporitelna 106,00 114,00
COOPbanka 107,00 113,00
News from the Stock Exchange
Total trading on the Prague Stock Exchange in the last week was
1.428 billion crowns, a new high. The greatest share of the
unprecedented amount occurred Thursday with 936 million crowns of shares
in Komercni banka trading at 5,200.
Names of the participants of the trade are being concealed, but
speculators pointed to possible seller Sporitelni privatizacni share
company, which gained 4.47 percent of Komercni banka in the first wave
of coupon privatization.
The huge trade exceeded even the November 2 trade with shares of
CEZ, which indicated considerable involvement of a foreign investor and
launched a price competition for two weeks.
The overall tendency of Tuesday's trading was a repeated price
increase of most of the shares -- the average increase was 6.46 percent.
324 stock offerings were issued with 314 shares on the central market,
including shares of privatization funds. The central market saw the most
valued shares of CEZ at 1,460 per share increase 5.79 percent; with
shares of Skoda Plzen at 700 crowns, an increase of 12.17 percent.
While Thursday's trades saw record levels, Tuesday's session
returned to ordinary. Shares of CEZ were the highest-price commodity
traded (30 million at 1,470 crowns per share). Trades of higher level
included shares of Ceska sporitelna (8.2 million crowns), Skoda Plzen
(3.4 million crowns, decline to 650 crowns per share) and Tabak (3.6
million crowns, decline 1.4 percent to 7,000 per share). All shares at
the market were stabilized and traded.
Devaluation of Slovak Crown Against Czech
A 3 percent increase in the Czech crown against the Slovak crown by
the Czech National Bank (CNB) at week's end coupled with a 5 percent
devaluation of the Slovak crown by the Slovak National Bank to put an
8 percent price increase on Czech goods in Slovakia and harm Czech
exporters to Slovakia.
The reason for the national banks measures comes from the Czech loan
to the Slovak economy of 110 million ECU, which is nearly 4 billion
crowns and rising daily. If development continues this way, the debt
could reach the limit of 130 million ECU before the end of the year.
Then Slovakia would have to pay an interest of 10 percent from the
exceeded amount. It is 5 percent today, which is 184 million crowns. The
exceeded interest is to be paid not in crowns, but in hard currency,
which could impact the difficult situation of Slovak economy and
especially the foreign exchange supplies that are going low.
This June the Slovak crown was devalued 10 percent against all
currencies despite the reluctance of top Slovak politicians and economic
leaders.
FROM SLOVAKIA
Ivan Lexa Being Accused of Insulting Presidency and Republic
Ivan Lexa, state secretary of the privatization ministry of
Slovakia, was charged December 3 with insulting the republic and its
representative.
According to the Czech press, the accusation was made on
recommendation of the General Prosecutor and caused by Lexa's statements
presented in the Slovak dailies Smena and Republika after the press
conference in the Slovak government.
Lexa attacked Slovak President Michal Kovac of his professional
abilities, morality and work efficiency. Lexa started to criticize Kovac
after the president refused to appoint him privatization minister.
According to investigators, Lexa, if convicted, faces up to two
years in prison.
CULTURE
Jackals Run In Czech Cinemas
Jan Hrebejk's movie Sakali leta (Years of Jackals) had its first run
performance on Thursday. It is a musical set in the Prague's quarter
Dejvice in the '50s.
In the film, people enjoy their quiet socialistic life with red
flags overhead, creative cheering songs on the radio, and stroll around
the quarter's highlight, the International hotel that was built as
a replica of the Moscow University of Lomonosov.
All of a sudden, a young boy called BEJBY comes with his guitar and
starts to spread a new lifestyle among the youths -- rock-and-roll.
The movie, mostly based on music and dance scenes, is considered as
the most daring project in the Czech cinema since 1989. Unlike other
post-revolution filmmakers, the author tries to follow traditions of the
Czech musicals represented mostly by Starci na chmelu from the early
sixties.
Pink Floyd Coming to Prague
The British rock group, Pink Floyd, will perform next fall at
Strahov Stadium. Organizers of the group's world tour announced the
September 7 concert at a press conference Wednesday.
The tour is to begin in July 1994, and finish in September. Tickets
to the most expensive rock concert ever played in the Czech Republic
will go on sale December 14 at 690.
Besides the music, viewers can expect a magnificent light show.
Pink Floyd will introduce a new album at the expected three-hour
concert, as well as songs from its long-running career.
Rumors of original Pink Floyd band members returning were denied.
SPORT
Czech Tennis Celebrates 100th Anniversary
Current and past tennis players and officials met December 3 in
Prague to remember 100 years of Czech tennis.
The celebration began at the Ambassador Hotel with a meeting of the
Czech Tennis Union. Chairman Jindrich Kincl reviewed Czech tennis
history. Among others, former Wimbledon champions Jan Kodes and Jaroslav
Drobny, who visited his country after 40 years of exile, were awarded
the Karl Kozeluh Honorary Medal for life-long work for Czech tennis.
A ceremonial tennis exhibition took place in the afternoon in the
Prague Spors Hall. American John McEnroe and German Boris Becker played
in the event.
Petr Korda defeated McEnroe in the first round 7:5, 7:6. In the
second Becker beat Karel Novacek 6:3, 7:5. In closing, spectators were
entertained by a classical doubles exhibition, where the Czech pair of
Korda and Novacek competed with Becker and McEnroe.
Martina Navratilova flew to Prague on Monday for a four-day visit.
The Prague exhibition, however, conflicted with a tournament in Dublin,
and she turned down an invitation to attend the celebration.
Navratilova later accepted a trophy and gifts from friends. She
promised to the Czech public that she would take part in next fall's
exhibition, probably with Ivan Lendl.
Hockey Super-league Continues from December 3-7 with Three Rounds
Kladno against Ceske Budejovice was the big game of the December
3 round. Because Budejovice trailed Kladno by only a point, fans came
expecting a show. The crowd of 4,066 was the biggest turnout of the
Ceske Budejovice season.
Kladno's victory was decided in the first period, when Kladno
jumped to a 4:0 lead. The home team continued to fight, however, coming
back to 3:6 in the middle of the second period.
But Kladno ended the game with a power-play goal 6 minutes before
the end.
Round 28 (December 3): HC Ceske Budejovice - Kladno 4:7;
Pardubice - Plzen 5:2;
Olomouc - Hradec Kralove 4:4;
Vitkovice - Sparta 4:4;
Zlin - Jihlava 5:4;
Litvinov - Vajgar Jindrichuv Hradec 5:4;
Round 29 (December 5): Sparta - HC Ceske Budejovice 3:2;
Vajgar Jinrichuv Hradec - Olomouc 0:5;
Hradec Kralove - Zlin 4:2;
Plzen - Litvinov 6:2;
Kladno - Pardubice 3:4;
Jihlava - Vitkovice 3:4;
Round 30 (December 7): Pardubice - Sparta 2:13;
Vitkovice - Hradec Kralove 5:4;
Litvinov - Olomouc 3:1;
Zlin - Vajgar Jindrichuv Hradec 5:2;
Plzen - Kladno 2:2;
HC Ceske Budejovice - Jihlava 8:3;
After round 30, Kladno is first with 41 points, closely followed by
Ceske Budejovice with 39 points. The two lowest ranked teams are Hradec
Kralove with 23 points, and Vajgar Jindrichuv Hradec with 20 points.
WEATHER
We were pleasantly surprised Saturday, with nearly spring-like
weather, as the sun shone and skies were clear. Afternoon temperatures
reached 10 degrees Celsius. Otherwise, the wind brought rain and snow.
Morning temperatures fell to minus 9 degrees Cesius.
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