Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Carolina (English) No 217
CCCCC AA RRRRR OOOO LL II NN N AA
CC AA A RR R OO O LL II NNN N AA A
CC AA A RRRRR OO O LL II NN N N AA A
CC AAAAAA RR R OO O LL II NN NN AAAAAA
CCCCC AA A RR R OOOO LLLLLL II NN N AA A
STUDENTS' E-MAIL NEWS FROM CZECH REPUBLIC
Faculty of Social Science of Charles University
Smetanovo nabr. 6
110 01 Prague 1
Czech Republic
e-mail: CAROLINA@cuni.cz
tel: (+42 2) 24810804, ext. 252, fax: (+42 2) 24810987
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
C A R O L I N A No 217, Friday, October 4, 1996.
FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (September 26 - October 2)
President Returns from South America
President Vaclav Havel returned from a two-week journey through
South America, including stops in Brazil, Chile (see Carolina 216),
Uruguay and Argentina. Minister of Industry and Trade Vladimir Dlouhy
was also a part of the Czech delegation.
Havel met with Uruguay President Julio Maria Sanguinetti, who
supports mutual trade. Dlouhy signed a new Czech-Uruguay agreement to
protect invesments. The South American mission ended their tour in
Argentina, which became a haven for Czech emigrees before 1989. After
Havel's meeting with President Carlos Menem in Buenos Aires, the two
countries signed an agreement on investment support.
Havel spent his only free day on Easter Island.
Lucie Podesvova/Andrea Snyder
Zieleniec: Czech Republic Maybe NATO Member in 1999
Giving a speech September 30 at the 51st United Nations
Organization plenary meeting in New York, Czech Foreign Minister Josef
Zieleniec said the Czech Republic could enter NATO on the occasion of
its 50th anniversary in April 1999.
According to Zieleniec, some of the chief representatives of NATO
presume this date to be realistic. The foreign minister also emphasized
that admission should be decided, besides the applicant's participation,
only by member states of the alliance, and Russia should not influence
the acceptance of new members.
Lucie Vackova/Denisa Vitkova
Klaus Visits U.S.
From September 26 to October 1, Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus made
an unofficial trip to the United States. There he met representatives of
the most significant banks and the New York Stock Exchange, as well as
the chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine. Klaus also lectured
on the Czech transformation.
David Simonik/Denisa Vitkova
Parliament Establishes Commission to Investigate Bank Crash
On its October 1 inaugural after-vacation session, Parliament
deputies decided to form a parliamentary commission to investigate the
failure of Kreditni banka Plzen. Social Democrat Michal Kraus suggested
the proposal, which was ratified by 189 of 200 deputies. The 12-member
commission will be comprised of four representatives from the ruling
Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and the opposition Social Democrats and one
from each of the other four parties of Parliament.
The five-hour debate on the issue, according to media, brought
many accusations but only few constructive arguments. Social Democrats
accused the government of responsibility for the collapse of banking
and, in the case of Kreditni banka Plzen, the Social Democrats expressed
their distrust in financial institutions partially owned by the state.
Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus also blames fraudulent schemes, human
error and dishonesty for the collapse of some of the bank institutions.
According to him, the Czech National Bank might had acted too liberally
granting licences and the supervisory body for overseeing banks was not
managing its tasks completely as well.
Denisa Vitkova/Denisa Vitkova
Candidates Turned away for Faulty Applications
The Central Election Committee turned down more than 80 of 600
applications to the Senate September 25. The most frequent mistakes were
incorrectly written identification numbers, incomplete data on the
candidate's petition (each candidate had to have the support of 1,000
voters in his district), or even insufficant information on nationality.
Even well-known people were turned away, for example, former Czech Prime
Minister Petr Pithart, Czech ambassador to Germany Jiri Grusa, and
Richard Falbr, head of the largest union organization. According to
public opinion polls, Falbr is the most popular candidate running for
election.
Only the Supreme Court can change the verdict. The decision must be
appealed within 24 hours, and the Supreme Court then has three days to
make a final decision. Supreme Court Chief Justice Otakar Motejl said
the Court's evaluation process will be just as strict as the Central
Election Committee's, in keeping with the law.
Karolina Cebrovska/Andrea Snyder
Poll Shows Little Interest in Elections
A poll conducted by the Center for Empirical Research (STEM) shows
only 55 per cent of registered voters will definitely vote in the
November Senate elections. Three-fourths of the voting population has
not ruled out going to vote, only half will definitly come, and
one-tenth will definitly not come.
The main reason voters are not interested in the Senate is that
they are poorly informed about it. Polls show that only about 42 per
cent of the population sees a reason to establish a Senate, and 43 per
cent thinks that it will be useful. Right-wing voters are more
interested in the Senate than left-wingers, which raises hopes of the
current coalition.
Vit Bartek/Andrea Snyder
Lux Accuses ODA and ODS of Breaking Coalition Agreement
Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union-Czechoslovak Peoples'
Party (KDU-CSL) Josef Lux accused the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and
the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA) September 30 of breaking their
coalition agreement. Lux reacted sharply to ODS Vice-Chairman Jan
Strasky's announcement that the caolition has decided to return the
church's forest by way of the law. However, the coalition agreement
states that the restitution of church property should be by executive
decision. Strasky is ODS's spokesman concerning this matter. This marks
the first largest disagreement in the government since it was assembled.
The government has also decided to restitute some of the buildings
and grounds taken from the church in February 1948. The Ministry of
Culture will decide by the end of November, but it is not yet certain
how much will be restituted. The government is talking about hundreds of
of buildings, but Mojmir Kalny of the Prague Archbishop's Office says
that 1,700 buildings should be returned.
The opposition is not too pleased about restitution of church
property. Going against the coalition October 1, they managed to add
a point to Parliament's itinerary saying the government will not be able
to restitue church property in the form of a state decision.
Jiri Fremuth/Andrea Snyder
Klaus' Position Shaken?
Highly placed officials told Czech daily MF DNES October 2 that
Prime Minister and Civic Democratic Party Chairman Vaclav Klaus'
position has weakened. The released information was the topic of
a discussion in the party's parliamentary club and in top party
management.
Athough some party members have said their leader is merely tired,
MF DNES wrote that party members are panicking. The prime minister
refused to comment.
Jana Weiserova/Andrea Snyder
Herberta Masarykova Dies
Herberta Masarykova, the granddaughter of founder of
Czechoslovakia Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, died in Prague September 30 at
the age of 81. She was born the daughter of artist Herbert Masaryk July
6, 1915. She graduated from the Prague Conservatory and then worked at
the Orbis publishing house, later at the Publishing House of Belle
Lettres and Art and then at the music department of Supraphon. She
married art historian Emanuel Poche, and had a daughter, Charlotte.
The funeral service will be held October 9 at the Strasnice
Crematorium.
Michaela Klevisova/Andrea Snyder
Provocative Leaflets to be Investigated
Tachov State Attorney Ales Hajovsky announced October 21 that the
anonymous creator of leaflets which crudely attack Czech-German
relations will be investigated for slandering the nation and instigating
national hatred.
The leaflets found at the western Bohemian border are written in
poor Czech and have several grammatical errors. Some police believe that
Czech extremists are behind it, but even the possibility that the
leaflets may have come from Germany is being investigated. Although the
first leaflet was found in June, the case has not yet been investigated.
Lenka Javurkova/Andrea Snyder
Former Prosecutor-General Setina Not Guilty
The Prgaue 1 Court September 26 found former Prosecutor-General
Jiri Setina not guilty of attacking a public official, endangering state
secrets and endangering currency reserves. The court decided after three
years that Setina did not commit any of the crimes, and the state has
not appealed.
Setina was accused of endangering state secrets after warning Trade
Minister Vladimir Dlouhy about possibly bugged telephones. The bugging
could have occurred when Setina permitted the bugging of a certain
ministerial official suspected of organized-crime ties. Setina charged
a number of secret police agents who were following the official.
Other charges were connected to money from the renting of Setina's
villa. Setina allegedly deposited the money in a Swiss bank account and
thusly endangered currency reserves. The attacking a public official
charge stems from a January 1994 incident when Setina verbally abused
two policemen after being stopped on the highway.
Petra Kuskova/Zuzana Kawaciukova
FROM SLOVAKIA
Carnogursky Has a Rival in KDH
A new personality on the Slovak political scene, right-leaning
economist Mikulas Dzurinda, intends to change the Christian Democratic
Movement into a modern conservative party and improve its standing (the
movement performed miserably in the last elections). Dzurinda wants to
become chairman of the movement, but to do so must wage a battle with
hitherto Chairman Jan Carnogursky, according to an article from the
September 26 edition of Czech daily MF DNES.
Dzurinda and Carnogursky want to combine smaller rightist parties
into a larger block. Such a grouping would have the chance to garner
more than 25 per cent of the vote, according to polls (in addition to
the movement the block would include the Democratic Party and the
Democratic Union, which includes former members of the ruling Movement
for a Democratic Slovakia). Dzurinda is counting on support of
non-Catholic voters, which Carnogursky rejects. It is expected that the
power struggle may have significant influence on rightist politics.
Jakub Prochazka/Zuzana Kawaciukova
SME: Robert Remias Was Murdered
The investigation into the mysterious death of Robert Remias, the
only contact of the key witness in the case of Michael Kovac Jr.'s
kidnapping, has moved forward. The opposition newspaper SME has
published news about secret information which proves Remias was
murdered.
Remias died after his car exploded April 29, after which experts
announced there was likely a bomb in the car, a claim the investigator
denied. Only on September 4 did Chief Investigator Kostov state the
former version might be true even though this fact was clear from police
documents as early as mid-May. Remias had known about being watched by
the secret police, and had asked Josef Ciz, the investigator in the
Kovac Jr. case, for protection bacause of fears for his life. Ciz
refused. Slovak Interior Minister Krajci of the ruling Movement for
a Democratic Slovakia said the investigation would be closed till
October 15.
Jan Potucek/Magda Vanova
Situation at Slovak National Theater Becoming Acute
The long-expected removal of the director of Slovak National
Theater happened October 8, in spite of the protest of actors. October
2 they signed the petition called Save Culture.
The petition askes for the resignation of Minister of Culture Ivan
Hudec, who replaced theater general director Dusan Jamrich with current
Opera Director Miroslav Fischer. Fischer is an adherent of the reform
which wants purify the culture from everything non-Slovak. Most of the
actors are exasperated about this step and many of them (e.g. Marian
Labuda, Michal Docolomansky, Emilia Vasaryova) said they are not going
to cooperate with the new director. Despite this, Fischer said he had
a very good impression after a meeting with the actors.
The petition is only one of many voices asking for Hudec's removal.
Also artists, writers and musicians are protesting against Hudec's
unprofessional ways. Actors from the Prague National Theater are
supporting the effort of their colleagues. However, the recent proposal
to recall Minister Hudec was not succesful in the Slovak Parliament.
Vit Bartek/Magda Vanova
NEWS IN BRIEF
* The official residence of Slovak President Michal Kovac became
Grassalkovichov Palace on Peace Square in Bratislava September 30.
* Opposition politicians are asking for the recall of two more
ministers - of Eva Slavkovska (Minister of Education) in context with
her effort to drive the Hungarian language out of minority schools, and
of Peter Baco (Minister of Agriculture) because of his handling of the
state supplies of corn.
Jan Potucek/Magda Vanova
ECONOMY
1996 Trade Deficit Surpasses 100 Billion Crowns
According to a Czech Statistical Office report, the trade deficit
reached 101 billion crowns in the first eight months of 1996. Imports
were growing more than twice as fast as exports, and this year's deficit
by the end of August has already surpassed the entire 1995 trade deficit
(96 billion crowns). In comparison with the same period of 1995, it
means the 70 per cent increase.
The lion's share - 99 billion crowns - of this deficit comes from
the trade with industrially developed OECD countries. In particular, the
import of machinery, transport means, personal cars, consumer goods and
electronics are substantial.
Roman Jedlicka/Milan Smid
The Second GSM Mobile Phone Network Started
RadioMobil began operating its new GSM mobile phone network in the
Czech Republic September 30, and became the second GSM operator on the
market dominated by the EuroTel monopoly. RadioMobil is trying to
compete with EuroTel by offering lower prices on phones and distinctly
lower rates (see Carolina 195). On the other hand, its new GSM network,
called Paegas, covers a smaller area in comparison with EuroTel. Despite
the promise of 60-per-cent coverage made by the RadioMobil President
Klaus Tebbe in March, Paegas is able to serve consumers only in bigger
cities like Prague, Brno and Ostrava.
EuroTel this week lowered its price for phone equipment below the
1,000-crown benchmark, and introduced half-minute rate intervals, in an
attempt to meet the RadioMobil challenge.
Matej Cerny, Jaroslav Schovanec/Milan Smid
New 2,000-Crown Banknote
From October 1st there is a new 2,000 Czech Crown bill that closes
the series of the first Czech bills. These had been issued in values of
20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 Czech crowns.
On the front of the new bill is a portrait of famed Czech opera
singer Ema Destinnova (1878-1930), who excelled in Pucinni's, Wagner's
and Smetana's operas and became an honorary member of the National
Theater. On the back of the bill is a Muse's head for music and poetry.
The bill is made in olive-green color, and some of the symbols are
purple.
The design, made by Oldrich Kulhanek, was engraved by Milos
Ondracek. The Czech National Bank supposes that the new bill will
decrease expenses for the circulation of currency.
Martin Hradecky/Petra Sevcikova
MARKETS AND COMPANIES
* The Prague Stock Exchange (PSE) finally stopped its lengthening
slide, turning around last week's unfavorable trend. The value of the
official PX 50 Index stood after October 1's trading at 561.7.
* A few hundred issues of the Czech companies will
be removed from
the Prague Stock Exchange. The reason is that 96 per cent of trades on
the central market take place with only 6 per cent of titles (i.e., some
small firms trade only a couple of times a year). Capital market
professionals welcome such a step toward clearing up the capital market.
* Gigantic trades took place with shares of the distribution company
Severomoravska plynarenska. Seventy-five per cent of the company's
shares were traded, at a total sum of 2.6 billion crowns. According to
information from the Securities Registry, the major owner was until now
the National Property Fund.
* Agrobank went up by about 2 per cent on the PSE and surprisingly
reached the price level it enjoyed before the announcement of forced
administration.
* Vertex, which made a splash this summer on the capital markets by
a spurt up to 10,000 crown-per-share levels, stopped its decrease on the
over-the-counter RM-system, when its price increased October 1 to 3,874
crowns. All prognoses were wrong in this case.
* Skoda Pilsen holding is preparing another expansion, this time to
Poland. The planned joint ventures should focus on production of cars
(specifically, the assembly plant for the new LIAZ truck), rail
transport means and tobacco machines. Skoda is trying to become one of
the major companies primarily in southern Poland.
* Traditional bus-maker Karosa Vysoke Myto will bring out a new
series of busses to the market, as the result of a cooperation with
Renault. Among the first customers will be cities such as Hradec
Kralove, Prague and Ostrava.
* According to the auditorial firm Ernst and Young, losses in the
liquidated AB Bank may reach almost 10 billion crowns. The greatest
creditor and owner of bankrupt institution is Czech Savings (Ceska
sporitelna).
Martin Cermak/Petra Sevcikova
P.S. Dear readers, our new staff thusly introduces a new section of
Carolina, which you will see in every issue under the business news
section. Markets and Companies will try to include up-to-date
information from internal capital markets and interesting topics from
the business sphere.
Exchange Rates at the Czech National Bank
(valid from October 3)
country currency
------------------------------------------
Australia 1 AUD 21.479
Belgium 100 BEF 86.004
Great Britain 1 GBP 42.469
Denmark 1 DKK 4.620
Finland 1 FIM 5.938
France 1 FRF 5.235
Ireland 1 IEP 43.340
Italy 1000 ITL 17.845
Japan 100 JPY 24.349
Canada 1 CAD 19.938
Luxemburg 100 LUF 86.004
Netherlands 1 NLG 15.786
Norway 1 NOK 4.165
New Zealand 1 NZD 18.993
Portugal 100 PTE 17.526
Austria 1 ATS 2.517
Greece 100 GRD 11.237
Slovakia 100 SKK 86.660
Germany 1 DEM 17.714
Spain 100 ESP 21.064
Sweden 1 SEK 4.097
Switzerland 1 CHF 21.598
USA 1 USD 27.138
ECU 1 XEU 33.835
SDR 1 XDR 39.068
CULTURE
Jarry's King Ubu Has Screen Premiere
Prague's former Sevastopol Theater, now called Cinema Broadway,
opened its turnstiles September 26 with the first run of King Ubu, based
on Alfred Jarry's absurdist drama. This is the directing debut of F. A.
Brabec, one of the best Czech cinematographers (he worked on Jan
Sverak's film Elementary School (Obecna skola), which was nominated for
an Oscar). Milos Macourek, author of the screenplay, used motives from
other Jarry plays and added a different ending.
King Ubu was first performed on a Prague stage in 1968 by the Na
zabradli Theater. The current approach to the story is not same as in
the 60's, when King Ubu could be understood as a political revolt.
Changing the absurdist drama into a movie was not easy - director
Brabec says (quoted in the magazine Tyden): "Orthodox Jarry or Ubu fans
will probably be disappointed. I just abused or took advantage of
Jarry's story and his dialogues, I didn't try to make a surrealistic
film or take wild flights. I asked the screenwriter not to create a club
thing, but a film for a wide public, not just for several intellectuals.
But at the same time - and that was the most difficult thing - that it
will entertain the audience for an hour and a half, but once they leave
the theater, they'll say there was some idea there."
Libuse Kolouchova/Jan Majer
Slovak National Theater in Prague
Although this year's theater season is just beginning, another set
of theater shows was organized, in addition to the German theater
festival (see Carolina 216). Prague's National Theater hosted its Slovak
collegue September 28-9 on one of its stages - the Estates Theater
(Stavovske divadlo).
Visitors could see the performance Heaven, Hell and Kocurkovo, put
on by Karol Horak, who was inspired by Slovak priest and writer Jonas
Zalusky's texts. Brian Friel's play At the End of Summer was performed
September 29. In these plays, belonging to the older repertoire of the
Slovak National Theater, such actors as Marian Labuda, Ladislav Chudik
and Emilie Vasaryova took the stage. Both performances were sold out
before the festival started, also an indication of their quality.
The Slovak National Theater is bringing its new staging of
Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard to the Theater 96 festival in Pilsen
(Plzen).
Martin Cermak/Katerina Zachovalova
Global Music Shamans in Prague for First Time
Legends of current dance music, the British band Transglobal
Underground arrived in Prague's Belmondo Club October 2 to show the best
from its hitherto production (mainly their last album, Psychic Karaoke).
The band, mixing traditional ethnic melodies with modern rhythms
and electronic technology, benefits from the charisma of its exotic lead
singer, Natasha Atlas.
The extraordinary interest of the Czech audience was proven by the
fact the concert was sold out in advance.
Martin Cermak/Katerina Zachovalova
Fairy Tale Songs on CD
The most famous Czech film princesses - Alena Vranova and Helena
Vondrackova - and good witch Saxana Petra Cernocka christened a new
Supraphon album The Blooming Flowerbud (Rozvijej se poupatko) in
Prague's Lucerna Theater September 26. The album includes 20 Czech film
fairy tale songs from 1937 to 1985. The album's Its "father" was Ondrej
Suchy, brother of popular actor Jiri Suchy from the Semaphore Theater.
Ondrej Slavik/Katerina Zachovalova
The Golden Nightingale Comeback
After a five-year interruption, the magazine Young World (Mlady
Svet) organized again the male and female singer and band poll, renamed
the Czech Nightingale. It follows the tradition of the popular Golden
Nightingale poll, done for the first time in the 60's. The rebirth of
the poll was a good reason for the Nightingales' Reunion in the
Vinohrady shopping mall, which today's pop stars also attended. Among
the stars, Karel Gott could not be missed, his record of 22 awards
probably to stand for some time. Poll results will be announced in
December.
Ondrej Slavik/Katerina Zachovalova
SPORT
Soccer League: Boby Brno Still at Top of Standings
Results of the 7th round: Jablonec - Sparta 1-0, Opava - Teplice
3-1, Viktoria Zizkov - Ceske Budejovice 1-0, Slavia - Liberec 1-2,
Bohemians - Drnovice 2-5, Ostrava - Brno 1-1, Hradec Kralove - Karvina
3-1, Viktoria Plzen - Olomouc 1-0.
Standings after 7 rounds: 1. Boby Brno 16 points, 2. Kaucuk Opava
15, 3. Slovan Liberec 12, 4. Petra Drnovice 11, 5. Jablonec 11, 6. FK
Teplice 11, 7. Banik Ostrava 10, 8. Slavia Praha 9, 9. Sigma Olomouc 9,
10. Viktoria Plzen 9, 11. FC Karvina 8, 12. Ceske Budejovice 6, 13.
Hradec Kralove 6, 14. Bohemians Praha 5, 15. Viktoria Zizkov 2, 16.
Sparta Praha 4.
Roman Jedlicka/Milan Smid
Hockey Extraleague: No Undefeated Teams
There is no undefeated team in the Czech Hockey Extraleague after
six rounds. Pardubice lost the game with Trinec 1-4 and is the second
best behind the Klado, bonth 9 points. The last placed Jihlava has still
no point at all.
Lukas Kaspar/Milan Smid
SPORTS IN BRIEF
* On September 27 new European Cup soccer matches were drawn in
Zurich. Sparta Praha got AC Fiorentina (Italy) in the Cup Winners Cup
and Slavia Praha will play against FC Valencia (the Spanish team with
Brazilian star Faria Romario) in the UEFA Cup.
* Three Czech teams entered the European Hockey League qualification
groups with these results: Sparta Praha - EC Vienna 9:1, VIF Oslo
- Ceske Budejovice 2:1, HC Rouen - Litvinov 3:3.
* Top 1996 World Championships goalie Roman Turek did not make the
NHL's Dallas Stars and was sent to its farm team in Michigan.
* The Barcelona Olympics decathlon champion Robert Zmelik married
former Slovak star athlete Andrea Sollarova in Bratislava September 28.
African Runners Successful in Centennial Bechovice Run
The oldest European annual cross-country race, from Bechovice to
Prague, celebrated it's 100 years anniversary September 29. In
comparison with former contests, this year there were more runners and
more spectators. In addition, Kenyan representatives took part in the
contest, became its sweethearts and broke all records on the
1,013-meter track.
The winner of men's competition was Kenyan Laban Chege, who broke
the 21-year-old record. Chege is already known in Prague - several
months ago he won a competition that was part of the Prague
International Marathon. The women's competition was won by Leah Malot,
also representing Kenya. She broke a 12-year-old record. Jan Pesava, the
best Czech male finisher, took fourth, while the most successful Czech
woman, Iva Jurkova, finished second.
A celebration of the 100-year anniversary in the Pyramid Hotel
preceded the competition. All 32 living former winners were there, the
oldest being Josef Ledr, the winner from 1930.
Ondra Provaznik/Jan Majer
WEATHER
The sorry, rainy summer is becoming an even sorrier autumn.
Although rain conducted the weather all September, at the beginning of
October we were warmed and pleased (we hope not for the last time) by
the kind sun. Temperatures reached 22 degrees Celsius/66 degrees
Fahrneheit October 1.
Gaparov Batyrbek wishes you a happy week and more human warmth.
English version edited by Michael Bluhm
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This news may be published only with "CAROLINA" designation. The
subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated. Send them
please to the address:
CAROLINA@cuni.cz
To subscribe to CAROLINA news you send an e-mail message to the address
LISTSERV@listserv.cesnet.cz
The text of message for subscription of the English version must be:
SUBSCRIBE CAR-ENG First name Last name
or for the Czech version
SUBSCRIBE CAR-CS First name Last name
To delete your subscription from the list of subscribers you send
the following message to the address LISTSERV@listserv.cesnet.cz:
SIGNOFF CAR-ENG or SIGNOFF CAR-CS
We ask you not to send automatic replies to our list. You can
temporarily stop receiving of Carolina by sending the command:
SET CAR-ENG NOMAIL
All Listserv commands should be sent to the address:
LISTSERV@listserv.cesnet.cz
Please, don't send commands SUB, SIGNOFF, NOMAIL etc to the address
CAR-CS@listserv.cesnet.cz or CAR-ENG@listserv.cesnet.cz!
