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Carolina (English) No 117
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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.cz
Fax: (+422) 24810987
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
C A R O L I N A No 117, Friday, May 6, 1994.
EVENTS FROM THE PAST WEEK (APRIL 27 - MAY 4)
Thirty-Year-Old Ivan Pilip -- New Minister of Education
President Vaclav Havel appointed Ivan Pilip the new minister of
education, youth and sports education on May 2. Pilip replaces Petr
Pitha, who resigned last week, citing health reasons.
Pilip is the yougest member of Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus's
government. He was born August 4, 1963, in Prague. He graduated from the
international economics and business section of the University of
Economics.
Pilip worked at the Academy of Sciences, at the University of
Economics and most recently as a deputy minister of the education. He
entered political life in November 1989. A year later, he became the
member of the Christian-Democratic Party (KDS) and from December 1993
has been chairman of the party.
Ivan Pilip is married. His wife, Lucie, had worked as a Ministry of
Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, but left the position to avoid a conflict
of interest when her husband became chairman of KDS.
Fatema/Clara
No Security Threats Seen for Czech Republic
The Ministry of Internal Affairs last week presented the government
with an analysis of the security situation of the Czech Republic.
"From the analysis of the security situation, no internal or
external factor can lead to the conclusion that the CR or its citizens
are in immediate danger", said minister of the Internal Affairs Jan Ruml
(Civic Democratic Party) at Wednesday's press conference after the
negotiations of the cabinet.
The greatest possible dangers, Ruml said, were organized crime,
uncontrolled migration and conflicts between ethnic groups. Ruml said
lesser danger was general and economic crimes, such as tax avoidance,
car theft and house burglaries.
Clara/Clara
Door Opened for Jewish Property Restitution
After nearly four year's of discussion, the door to restitution of
Jewish property has opened.
A law covering the taking of Jewish property passed Parliament April
29. The amendment allows the return of property to Jews who were
deprived of it during the Nazi occupation and until the establishment of
the communist government in 1948.
The state and communities will be obliged to return the properties
taken for racial reasons. Properties which have been privatized won't be
returned. However, people can ask for financial compensation for up to
one year.
However, the accepted amendment may be considered by the
Constitutional Court.
Evzen/Clara
State Will Finance Political Parties
The Parliament accepted April 29 a law on political parties and
associations which will provide the groups with government financing.
The organizations will also have the opportunity to gain money from
membership fees, profits from sale or rental of properties, profits from
lotteries and from gifts. Parties can also accept gifts from abroad but
not from state and government organizations.
The right to state subsidies of three-to-five million Czech crowns
will go to political parties which gain at least 3 percent of the votes
in a previous election. Parties seated in Parliament and the Senate are
also eligible for contributions of half a million crowns.
The state will pay the political parties more than 160 million Czech
crowns. (Until now the state provided political parties 70 million Czech
crowns.)
Because parties will be financed by the state, they won't have the
right to function as corporations. Each citizen of the Czech Republic
can be a member of only one political party. The law will be valid from
June.
Pavel B./Sofi
May Day Celebrations Take Place Without Major Incidents
Several opposing groups assembled May 1 to mark Labor Day and
express their discontent with current social policies.
Nearly 300 supporters of the anarchist movement met on Strelecky
Island in Prague. After introductory speeches denouncing racist and
fascist elements in society, government housing policies and the
devastation of the environment, a parade of young people set out through
the city's streets. The police, prepared for possible conflicts with
racist skinheads, watched the entire parade until it ended in the Old
Town Square.
A few minutes later, several conflicts occured between the
anarchists and skinheads, with bottles and cobble stones flying from
both sides. Within the hour, 35 people were detained by police.
A meeting of sympathizers of the Communist Party of Bohemia and
Moravia gathered in Prague at the Dzban pools. Party Chairman Miroslav
Grebenicek stepped before about 15,000 people to deliver a sharp
critique of the governmental coalition, and what he called its inhumane
policies.
Actress Jirina Svorcova, former chairwoman of the Union of Czech
Dramatic Artists, spoke at the meeting. One-time Minister of Foreign
Affairs Bohuslav Chnoupek was there signing his new book on Andy Warhol.
The organizers did not allow former First Secretary of the KSC city
council in Prague, Miroslav Stepan, to address the public.
Several smaller assemblies took place in other places around the
country. For example, local organizations of the Communist Party of
Bohemia and Moravia held meetings in Brno, Usti nad Labem, and
elsewhere. The Democratic Left Party which recently splintered off from
the communist party, met in Prague, at Zizkov. The Social Democratic
Party met in Trmice in Usti nad Labem.
Filip,Viktor/Andrea
Demonstration Protests Completion of Temelin Nuclear Power Plant
Nearly a thousand people protested April 30 at the building site of
the Temelin nuclear power plant. Opponents of the plant claimed that the
Czech Republic doesn't need electricity from Temelin, because it
doesn't rationally use all other sources.
A model of the Trojan horse, brought by ecological activists mainly
from Austria and Germany, was said to symbolize the entrance of American
Westinghouse into the Eastern Market.
Ecologists say that Westinghouse would like to prepare land at
Temelin for further orders, or gain ground in the former Soviet Union,
where 28 similar reactors are functioning.
100 days for Nova TV
May 4 marked the first hundred days since the independent Czech
television group TV Nova began broadcasting. It is the first private
commercial television network in the Czech Republic.
General director of TV Nova, Vladimir Zelezny, said at a press
conference that in spite of all the unfavorable prognoses, Nova is
capable of broadcasting 20 hours daily. At the same time, he presented
results of media research that give the first glance at TV Nova's
influence. The agencies AISA Media and GFK Praha carried out
investigations in March and April.
The results show that TV Nova has the most viewers in the age group
of 14 to 49, the most among high-school educated people. Zelezny said
that a special success is high rating of the news program, Television
News. Their share of viewship in the time slot grew from 1:3 to 1:2 in
March, and in April was already practicly even.
TV Nova has the highest rate of viewers in northern Bohemia, and
northern Moravia. This is influenced by the fact that viewers in Prague
and central Bohemia can also watch Premiera's regional broadcasting.
Zelezny said more telling data will come with research results on
viewership for the whole quarter of the year.
Katerina/Andrea
Syndicate of Journalists Didn't Pay Taxes Properly
On Friday, April 29, Mlada Fronta Dnes reported on the unclear
financial situation of The Syndicate of Journalists of the Czech
Republic stemming from its failure to pay state taxes for income gained
by renting an attractive building on Parizska street in the center of
Prague.
The newspaper reports that the taxes owed total 1.8 million crowns,
and that the syndicate is being investigated by the Finance Office of
Prague 1.
A spokeswoman of Finance Ministry, Ludmila Nutilova, said the
Finance Office has frozen the syndicate's account at Komercni Banka. The
Finance Office made this step, as well as imposing a more than 1 million
crown fine, after the journalistic organization did not react to appeals
to pay the debts.
The article in "MF Dnes" deals with the finance issues of the
syndicate and includes reports of dissatisfaction among the members.
The Monday issue of another important daily - Rude pravo
- contained an article in which a member of the syndicate, Rudolf Zeman,
rejected the charges. He said the syndicate had merely "incorrectly
calculated the income tax as a consequence of not calculating the income
from renting" the building. He said there are negotiations to decide how
to transfer the money and the tax returns.
Honza
New Echo on the Medium Waves
The Radio and TV Broadcast Board gave a license to the private
radio Echo. This board, elected by the Parliament and representing the
public in negotiations about audiovisual media, simultaneously took away
the frequencies of the public Czech radio (CRo).
This is the result of the law which came into existence in December
1992, giving CRo just one nationwide set of frequences on the medium
waves. The second AM network had been allocated to CRo only temporarily,
until the September, till a private operator will apply for it. The
decision provoked controversy because CRo would like to use this set of
frequencies for the station Radiojournal for the longer period.
Radim
CULTURE
Spanish Opera Stars in Prague
Stars of the Spanish opera, Josef Carrera (his second performance
in Prague) and Montserrat Caballe performed, May 1, in Prague's
Rudolfinum. They were accompanied by the Czech philharmony orchestra,
conducted by Enrique Riccim.
Enrique Riccim comes from Buenos Aires, and have been working in
Spain for many years in the Gran Teatro del Liceo.
Caballe and Carrera have the long history of professional and
personal contacts. Carrera performed with M. Caballe in 1970 in
Barcelona already.
The concert by Carrera and Caballe was performed live and
"unplugged".
Natalie/Sofi
Prague's Spring - 49th year
The musical festival Prague's Spring will begins on May 12 at 8
p.m. in the Dvorak's concert hall of Rudolfinum with the performance of
Bedrich Smetana's symphony poem "My Fatherland".
The festival ends June 2, traditionally with Beethoven's 9th
symphony, also in Dvorak's hall. Concerts are to be performed also in
other places such as the Spanish hall of Prague's Castle or in the
gothic cathedral of St. Vitus.
Informations and tickets can be arranged either at the TIKETPRO
company (phone 0422-2311828, fax 0422-24811566) or at the box-office in
Hellichova Street 18, Prague 1 (phone 0422-530 293.)
Adam/Sofi
FROM SLOVAKIA
Czech Republic Main Trade Partner of Slovakia
According to a statement of the Slovak Statistical Office, the Czech
Republic is the major trading partner of Slovakia, receiving 37.6
percent of Slovak exports and sending 30.4 percent of Slovak imports in
the first quarter.
The second heaviest trading partner is Germany, followed by Russia,
Hungary and the Ukraine.
The Czech share of Slovak food imports is 50 percent, and 45 percent
of Slovak food exports went to the Czech Republic.
ECONOMICS
Deposits in Banka Bohemia To Be Released
Clients of the privately-owned Banka Bohemia will be able to
transfer their frozen deposits from Banka Bohemia (BB) to Czechoslovak
Commercial Bank. The deposits were frozen at the beginning of April when
BB was put under the government-control. We reported on the bank's
problems in a previous issue under the title Banka Bohemia in Trouble.
Lida
News from the Stock Exchange
The slow decline on the Prague Stock Exchange continued through the
last week. The decline, which began April 7, slowed in Thursday's
trading, so that a price increase was expected. But the fall continued
Monday.
The Thursday, April 28, respite showed up best on the shares
market. Ceska Sporitelna improved its position 10 percent, the maximum
allowed in one day's trading, to 7,700 crowns. The rates of Seliko
Olomouc, Cokoladovny and IPS Prague also rose slightly, with BVV, CEZ,
Fatra and Kavalier Glassworks holding steady in trading of 261.5 million
crowns. On the central market, 14.2 million crowns of CEZ shares were
traded.
Monday's session saw a decrease even on shares with long-term
growth. The shares of Ceva Kraluv dvur dropped nearly 10 percent,
halting almost continuous growth from February 3's price of 63 crowns,
to April 28's 1,070 crowns.
The total amount of Monday trading was 234 million crowns. More than
half of this was created by bonds, mostly due to the direct trade with
CEZ 2 obligations in the amount of 121.3 million crowns.
The value of the official index of Prague Stock Exchange, the PX
50, dropped just more than half a percent to 849.9. Compared with the
beginning of April, when the index stood 1,000 points, the drop is now
15 percent.
Tomas
Industrial Production Drops Again
According to the survey of the Czech Statistical Office, industrial
production fell 0.8 percent in first quarter of this year, adjusted for
inflation. This was disappointing news, as the first three months were
expected to bring a slow rise.
Industrial production grew 1.6 percent in terms of common prices.
But that doesn't mean a larger amount of goods was produced, but that
those goods have higher prices.
However, industrial production in the building industry showed
long-term growth. It grew by 6.5 percent in the first quarter, higher
than last year's first quarter growth of 4.1 percent.
The average salary in the machinery industry rose during the
quarter to reach 6,789 crowns. The growth is remarkably faster in the
construction industry, where the average salary reached 7,318 crowns.
The foreign trade balance was favorable during the quarter, despite
the fact that imports grew faster than exports. Total imports to the
Czech Republic reached 83.2 billion crowns, with exports at 84.9
billion.
Moravian Factory Supplies American Boeing
A precision tooling machine produced by the the firm ZPS in Zlin is
being used in production of the prototype of the Boeing 777, an "super
jumbo" craft called the airplane for 21st century.
The tool, which shapes production parts, is used in a factory in
Kansas that specializes in constructing of plane fuselages. It is
a special prototype modified for producing parts of the fuselage as long
as ten meters. ZPS spokeswoman Vojteska Kupcova said representatives of
Boeing have shown the interest in buying other shaping machines in Zlin.
EXCHAGE RATES OF THE CZECH NATIONAL BANK (valid from April 28)
CHECKS CASH
country Buy Sell Middle Buy Sell
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Australia 1 AUD 20.470 20.676 20.573 19.50 21.64
Belgium 100 BEF 85.356 86.214 85.785 83.09 88.49
Great Britain 1 GBP 43.657 44.095 43.876 42.46 45.30
Denmark 1 DKK 4.489 4.535 4.512 4.31 4.71
Finland 1 FIM 5.418 5.472 5.445 4.95 5.95
France 1 FRF 5.131 5.183 5.157 4.96 5.36
Ireland 1 IEP 42.565 42.993 42.779 40.78 44.78
Italy 1000 ITL 18.216 18.400 18.308 17.54 19.08
Japan 100 JPY 28.575 28.863 28.719 27.42 30.02
Canada 1 CAD 20.877 21.087 20.982 20.09 21.87
Luxemburg 100 LUF 85.356 86.214 85.785 82.79 88.79
Netherlands 1 NLG 15.641 15.799 15.720 15.24 16.20
Norway 1 NOK 4.049 4.089 4.069 3.92 4.22
New Zealand 1 NZD 16.678 16.846 16.762 16.01 17.51
Portugal 100 PTE 17.080 17.252 17.166 15.99 18.35
Austria 1 ATS 2.497 2.523 2.510 2.45 2.57
Greece 100 GRD 11.939 12.059 11.999 11.29 12.71
Germany 1 DEM 17.566 17.742 17.654 17.19 18.11
Spain 100 ESP 21.439 21.655 21.547 20.55 22.55
Sweden 1 SEK 3.800 3.838 3.819 3.66 3.98
Switzerland 1 CHF 20.634 20.842 20.738 20.24 21.24
USA 1 USD 28.951 29.241 29.096 28.40 29.80
EC-ECU 1 XEU 33.863 34.203 34.033 -- --
IMF-SDR 1 XDR 41.295 41.711 41.503 -- --
Slovakia 1 XCU -- -- 34.033 -- --
WEATHER
The sun at last! The last days of April brought the bright sky and
the sun. Unfortunately May 1 came in with cold winds and temperatures
from 10 to 14 Celsius degrees. On Tuesday the clouds vanished and the
sun started shining again. Daily temperatures were from 14 to 18 and
from 6 to 2 Celsius degrees by night.
Dear readers,
We apologize for the difficulties in distribution of Carolina
issues 115 and 116). We were preparing them regularly, in time, and only
from your queries did we find out something was wrong. We will work even
harder to ensure that Carolina is sent at the regular time through the
end of May, when the spring semester is over. From then until the end of
the June, we will transmit weekly. A slimmer summer version during the
summer holidays (July and August) we will come out every two weeks.
Times will be announced in advance.
We apologize once again and hope your inconvenience was limited.
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