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Carolina (English) No 293
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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: (+4202) 24810804, ext. 252, fax: (+4202) 24810987
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
C A R O L I N A No 293, Friday, June 12, 1998.
FROM EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (June 3 - 10)
Election Campaign in Full Swing
There are only a few days left till June 19-20, when the early
parliamentary elections will take place for the first time in Czech
Republic history.
The biggest campaign event in the Czech Republic was organized by
pop singer Lucie Bila to support the Civic Democratic Party (ODS)
Chairman Vaclav Klaus, whose government collapsed at the end of 1997.
Bila and her friends attracted June 6 more than 30,000 people to the Old
Town Square in Prague. Klaus and his wife Livie watched the activity
from a raised box. Billboards advertising the concert rippled the
political scene because Parliament parties, except the neo-Fascist
Republicans, agreed not to use them. Besides the concert billboards,
billboard advertisements for Xantypa magazine appeared in the streets as
well - the last issue pictures Klaus and his grandson Adalbert (Vojtech)
on the cover. Other parties criticized ODS, which defended itself by
saying it had nothing to do with the billboards. Great numbers of
celebrities are also engaged in ODS election commercials on Czech
Television and Czech Radio. Among the main mottos of ODS are: Those Who
Believe in Themselves Vote for Klaus; Heads up; To the Left, or with
Klaus.
The Republicans' campaign has evoked the biggest stir so far. Their
billboards, which often become the targets of attacks (e.g. at the
Global Street Party) or further artistic creativity, announce mottos
like Republicans for Capital Punishment or Republicans against Giving
Gypsies (Romanies) Preferential Treatment. An exact copy of the
billboards' format appeared as a parody, showing Republican Chairman
Miroslav Sladek with the text: Republicans Refuse to Think. Election
commercials on television and radio referring to the Romany issue are so
provocative that the daily Lidove noviny has filed a suit. One
Republican commercial says, "This Gypsy race takes advantage of and is
a parasite on our society."
The election campaign has had its lighter side. Christian Democrat
candidate Jan Kasal was born, according to the election ballot, in
1651. Freedom Union Chairman Jan Ruml, although not on the ballot, rode
a water slide with children at a public pool. On a Christian Democrat
poster the party's Prague ballot leader and Interior Minister Cyril
Svoboda is, with the aid of a computer, pictured without hair and with
a promise to have his head shaved if his party receives more than 10 per
cent of the vote in Prague. The Civic Coalition, led by Jozef Wagner,
attracts voters with a raffle of 20 cars.
However, candidates do not experience only happy moments. Social
Democrat Parliament deputy Vaclav Svoboda was attacked by an unknown man
who punched Svoboda and knocked out one of Svoboda's front teeth. In
Vyssi Brod his party colleagues found the party's smaller campaign bus
with flat tires. Christian Democrats in Volyne had their expensive
magnetic party logos stolen from their car's hood. A pensioner shook
a fork at southern Bohemia ODS leader Miroslav Benes in a restaurant,
and Benes also sank during a campaign cruise on the Moldau (Vltava)
River, but did return to the riverside healthy. "At least put your shoes
on when you go to an ODS rally," said Parliament deputy Petr Necas to
a homeless man in Ostrava, after the man showed greater interest in the
party's free cakes more than in the politicians.
Erik Tabery/Denisa Vitkova
Havel Says Bamberg Affair Attempt to Destabilize Country
The headline in the daily Slovo June 8 published President Vaclav
Havel's opinion of the outcome of the investigation of Bamberg affair.
Havel said he considers the affair a plot or provocation masterminded by
forces interested in destabilizing democratic development in the Czech
Republic. He said he became acquainted with information collected by the
Security Information Service (BIS) and he requested the agency continue
the investigation (for details about the Bamberg affair see Carolina
281-3).
Social Democrat Chairman Milos Zeman, who met Havel June 7 at the
Lany Chateau told the daily Pravo that "former employees of the
(Communist) secret police (StB) and Czech-Swiss entrepreneur Jan Vizek
were parts of the network that organized this provocation."
Carolina/Milan Smid
President Havel to Appear on Television Show Earlier
The Central Electoral Committee criticized President Vaclav Havel's
intention to appear on a television discussion show one day before the
parliamentary elections of June 19-20. Havel is to debate Czech-French
political scientist Jacques Rupnik on the NOVA show Seven or 7 Days.
The committee said Havel might break the Election Act ban on
election campaigns for the 48 hours before the election.
Both Nova Director Vladimir Zelezny and Chief News Editor Jan Vavra
said the committee was underestimating the president's intelligence and
damaging their show. Nova later changed the program to June 16 "to
preclude possible speculation on the part of certain political parties
and not to expose the president to various attacks."
Jan Kozanek/Andrea Snyder
Agencies Release May Voter Preference Polls
Results of a poll taken by the Sofres-Factum agency, released one
day after the IVVM agency released its poll results, show that
a minority government is expected to follow elections.
The Social Democrats remain solidly in the lead with 27.8 per cent
of the vote in Factum and 22.5 per cent in IVVM. The Civic Democratic
Party (ODS) is up 2 percentage points to 16.9 per cent (Factum) and 15
per cent (IVVM). The Communists should be in Parliament with 9 per cent
(Factum) or 7 pre cent (IVVM), while 7.8 per cent of those polled by
Factum and 9 per cent of IVVM respondents support the Retirees for Life
Security. The Freedom Union has fallen to 7.2 per cent from 8.7 per cent
in April (Factum) and 7 per cent (IVVM). The neo-Facist Republicans are
supported by 6 per cent (Factum) and 4 per cent (IVVM) and the Christian
Democrats would get 4 per cent (Factum) and 7 per cent (IVVM). Parties
unlikely to win seats in Parliament include the Green Party with 1.6 per
cent (Factum) and 1 per cent (IVVM). The Democratic Union (DEU) can
expect 1.4 per cent (Factum) or 1.5 per cent (IVVM). The Czech National
Socialist Party, the Civic Coalition-Political Club, the Independents
and the Moravian Democratic Party would receive less than 1 per cent of
the vote. The STEM agency is to publish the last pre-election poll June
12.
Jan Kozanek/Andrea Snyder
Nearly 470,000 Union Members on Strike June 8 for Higher Wages
Following unsuccessful talks with Prime Minister Josef Tosovsky, 10
public-sector unions called a strike for June 10 to support raises of
20 per cent by July 1. The strike was called after Tosovsky rejected
a May 19 proposal to boost wages and offered union members the chance to
help create the 1999 state budget (See Carolina 290).
The largest gathering of people since 1989 affected drivers the
most, as road workers stopped or slowed traffic for an hour on roads,
highways and near border crossings.
Only 594 of 4,753 schools did not go on strike. Children at the
schools received a free hour under the supervision of school staff.
Healthcare employees also went on strike, but patients were cared for.
If the demands are not met, union members say they will call more
strikes.
Tosovsky called the strike unnecessary and said it did not change
his decision not to increase wages.
Jan Kozanek/Andrea Snyder
Railworkers Leave Confederation of Unions
Railway workers, the third-largest group in the Czech and Moravian
Confederation of Unions (CKMOS), left the confederation June 5. Railway
union leader Jaroslav Dusek criticized the confederation's poor business
practices and said the confederation's management had too few people.
Jan Kozanek/Andrea Snyder
Two MiG-21s Crashed in Ceske Budejovice
The June 8 plane crash in Ceske Budejovice had a happy end. Two
supersonic MiG-21 Czech Army planes, with three men aboard in total,
collided and crashed into apartment buildings in the heavily populated
Vltava neighborhood. The accident's happy end was that no one died and
no serious injuries occurred. All three pilots are in the hospital with
broken bones.
The planes' black boxes have not shed any light on the accident, but
air forces Commander Ladislav Klima has confirmed that one of the pilots
caused the crash. The accident occurred as the planes were returning
from the aviation show in Pardubice. When the MiGs started flying in
a low-visibility area, the pilot of the second MiG lost sight of the
first one and announced it. The leader immediately ordered the group to
break up. After some 10 seconds, however, the second MiG crashed into
the tail of the leader. According to the Chief of the General Staff Jiri
Sedivy, the pilot of the second MiG will probably be prosecuted.
Damages caused to two apartment buildings are estimated at 10
million crowns. Expenses for reconstruction are going to be covered by
the Army. Residents can return to their homes in about one month.
David Kozohorsky/Sofia Karakeva
FROM SLOVAKIA
Slovakia Activates Mochovce Nuclear Power Station
Slovakia June 8 activated the fuel cell in the first reactor of the
Mochovce nuclear power station, ignoring the request of Austrian
Chancellor Viktor Klima to postpone the reactor's activation.
Klima accused Slovak Premier Vladimir Meciar of not keeping their
agreement to exchange all information. Meciar allegedly promised his
Austrian colleague that, before activating the reactor, he would inform
Klima of the step.
According to information from the Czech media, Austria Expert
Commission chief Wolfgang Kromp said there is no immediate danger from
the the reactor, but he added that eventually the situation could worsen
quickly. The Slovaks have French expert H. Freslon, representative of
Framatome, on their side, as he is taking part in completing the
station. Freslon said he does not agree with Kromp's opinion on the
safety of the reactor.
David Kozohorsky/Sofia Karakeva
Sparta Praha Played in Presov for HZDS
Czech Republic's soccer champions, the players of Sparta Praha,
appeared in a friendly match the eastern Slovakia town of Presov last
weekend, dressed in the colors of Slovakia's most powerful political
party, the Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) of Premier Vladimir
Meciar.
According to information from the Czech Press Agency (CTK),
Sparta's players were following the instructions of Alexandr Rezes,
owner of the club and HZDS campaign manager. They did not wish to
comment on the charge that their appearance supported HZDS' election
campaign. Sparta lost the game 2:3. Parliament elections in Slovakia
will be held in the fall.
Carolina/Sofia Karakeva
ECONOMY
CEZ Will Be Divided into Two Companies
The Trade Ministry decided to separate the distribution networks
from state-controlled monopoly electricity provider Czech Energy Company
(Ceske energeticke zavody, CEZ) into a new subsidiary, Czech
Distribution (Ceska prenosova, CP). Letting in another big energy
producer into the Czech market is to be the next step to curtail the
ongoing monopoly position of CEZ. Trade Minister Karel Kuhnl said,
"Increased competition in the production will bring benefits to the
energy sector. However, distribution is and will remain a natural
monopoly which will always have to be regulated by the state."
A positive response to the decision of the Trade Ministry came not
only from experts, but also from the operators of small water and wind
power stations with the hope that the new distribution company would
purchase their electricity at more favorable prices.
Jan Kozanek/Milan Smid
Skoda Plzen Sells Tatra Koprivnice Carmaker
Czech engineering concern Skoda Plzen, the majority owner of
northern Moravian truck maker Tatra Koprivnice, signed a letter of
intent to sell its 46-per-cent stake in Tatra to little-known American
investor SDC International. Skoda Plzen said it decided to sell the
stake because of its inability to manage Tatra's 6-billion-crown (about
176 million USD) debt.
Jan Kozanek/Milan Smid
Exchange Rates at the Czech National Bank
(valid June 12)
country currency
------------------------------------------
Australia 1 AUD 19.969
Belgium 100 BEF 90.895
Great Britain 1 GBP 54.913
Denmark 1 DKK 4.920
ECU 1 XEU 36.985
Finland 1 FIM 6.168
France 1 FRF 5.590
Ireland 1 IEP 47.240
Italy 1000 ITL 19.028
Japan 100 JPY 23.789
Canada 1 CAD 23.011
Luxemburg 100 LUF 90.895
IMF 1 XDR 44.918
Hungary 100 HUF 15.661
Netherlands 1 NLG 16.636
Norway 1 NOK 4.436
New Zealand 1 NZD 16.939
Poland 1 PLN 9.733
Portugal 100 PTE 18.310
Austria 1 ATS 2.665
Greece 100 GRD 11.012
Germany 1 DEM 18.750
Slovakia 100 SKK 96.754
Slovenia 100 SIT 20.005
Spain 100 ESP 22.094
Sweden 1 SEK 4.239
Switzerland 1 CHF 22.654
USA 1 USD 33.699
CULTURE
Black Sabbath in Eden
More than 20,000 people came June 9 to Prague's Eden track and field
stadium to see heavy-metal forefathers Black Sabbath in their original
line-up. The wait for the group was filled with shows by Coal Chamber,
Helloween and Pantera, respectively. The crowd went wild at about 9
p.m., when Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler took the stage -
original drummer Bill Ward took ill at the last minute and was replaced
by Vinnie Appice. Osbourne, who has in recent years sold more tickets
for his Prague shows than for shows in England, told the crowd he always
felt at home in Prague. The 90-minute show was not accompanied by
anything more dramatic on stage than Osbourne spraying the crowd with
a water pistol, but the closing songs Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Iron Man
and the encore of Paranoid seemed to be enough to send most of the crowd
home happy.
Jan Sverak May Direct I Served the King of England
After several years of quarelling, Bohumil Hrabal's novel I Served
the King of England might be filmed at last. Surprisingly, neither of
the contesting directors, Karel Kachyna nor Jiri Menzel, but Jan Sverak
may be called on to direct the film.
The core of the conflict is in two copyrights awarded for filming
the story, each given by the late Hrabal. One authorization belongs to
TV NOVA, which got it from Menzel's producers, while the other
authorization belongs to producers connected with Kachyna. The two sides
could not agree for years on a director, but recent discussions with
Sverak as the candidate have been progressing. The script would be
provided by Sverak's father Zdenek, which would reprise the family team
from the Oscar-nominated Elementary School (Obecna skola) and
Oscar-winner Kolya.
TV NOVA Fined by Maximum Penalty
The private national station TV NOVA has been hit with
a 2-million-crown fine for broadcasting the segment of its afternoon
talk show The A (Acko) about adolescent prostitutes called I Make
a Living with My Body. According to the broadcasting authority CRRTV the
show was inappropriate for broadcasting in the afternoon and broke the
provisions of the Broadcasting Act. TV NOVA strongly objected to the
fine and said it is ready to defend itself by appeal.
Czechs Gawk Nearly 3.5 Hours Daily
Czech TV viewers are in 12th place in the world rankings of the
most passionate TV junkies. According to measurements done by
peoplemeters, Czechs spend 3.5 hours daily in front of the TV screen.
World champs are the Japanese, with four hours daily, one minute ahead
of Mexico, with the United States in third.
Culture by Erik Tabery/Michael Bluhm
SPORTS
Czech Hockeyball Team Wins World Championships in Litomerice
Czech hockeyball players followed the successful Czech hockey
season, in which the Czech Republic won the Olympic gold and World
Championships' bronze. The hockeyball national team defeated European
champion Slovakia 3-1 in the World Championships final in Litomerice and
won the gold.
The Czechs defeated Canada 5-2 earlier, and the disappointed
Canadians started a fight with spectators at the end. Angelo Folano was
punished by international federation with a two-year-long suspension.
Petr Kankovsky, ice-hockey forward of the second league's Znojmo
squad, was the top scorer in the tournament. Olympic gold medalists Jan
Caloun and Richard Kral, the best forward of the Czech hockey
extraleague's finals runner-up Trinec, helped the team.
Hockeyball is very similar to ice-hockey, so many ice-hockey players
diversify their summer training with the new sport. It is played on
a rink (without ice, of course), with a tennis ball. A match has three
15-minute periods and there are some differences in the offsides rule.
Milan Eisenhammer/Mirek Langer
Jablonec Also to Represent Czech Soccer in European Cup
FK Jablonec soccer players won the FA Cup for the first time,
defeating Petra Drnovice 2-1 in the final in Prague's Evzen Rosicky
Stadium June 9. The match finished with Ales Kohout's goal in the 11th
minute of overtime. Martin Vejprava directed a long pass to Kohout and
his right-footed shot beat goalkeeper Pavel Vaniak's.
Drnovice Coach Jan Kocian said, "You can't split the cup, but we
deserved part of it today." Jablonec's coach confirmed the opinion and
said he had not believed in victory 20 minutes before the end, when
Drnovice led 1-0. "Drnovice was not the worse team, we were luckier...
I hope Kohout's goal will start a new era of soccer in Jablonec," he
said.
Milan Eisenhammer/Mirek Langer
Odlozil Memorial Games in Prague
Czech track and field athletes had a good opportunity to fulfill the
qualification minimums for the European Championships, to be held in
Budapest, in the Josef Odlozil Memorial Games in Prague's Strahov
Stadium. Algeria's Noureddine Morceli was the top star of the event and
Czech runner Jan Pesava broke his national record in the 10,000 meters
June 8.
Hammer thrower Sedlacek qualified for the European Championships
(76.43 meters), just like high jumper Zuzana Kovacikova (1.93 meters),
who tried to break the Czech record. Jiri Muzik showed good form,
winning the 400-meter hurdles in 48.91 seconds. Pesava then finished
second in the 10,000 meters behind Kenya's Bett, but he broke the Czech
record by 20 seconds, finishing in 27:47:90.
The 2,000 meters was the most anticipated discipline, as Morceli
wanted to attack the world record. He did not break it, but his finish
in 4:58:08 is the best 2,000-meter time recorded in Czech territory.
Odlozil held this record before.
Odlozil was among the best Czech track and field athletes in the
60's. He won a silver Olympic medal in the 1,500 meters in Tokyo in
1964. He was killed by Martin Odlozil, his son from the dramatic 1968
Mexico City marriage to Vera Caslavska, the most famed Czech gymnast
ever, winner of four gold medals at those Olympics.
David Kozohorsky/Mirek Langer
SPORTS IN BRIEF
* Czech handball players finished 10th in the European Championships
in Bolzano, Italy, defeating Macedonia 38-18 and losing to Lithuania in
their last two matches.
WEATHER
The weather is racing towards its summer idleness and the
thermometer mercury occasionally jumps over 30 degrees Celsius/86
degrees Fahrenheit. People drag themselves along in the shadows of
buildings and more than one longs for only a frosty mug of good beer.
Not even the leaves are moving and the deadly stuffy air can be survived
only at swimming pools or lakes. Flies are falling from the heat,
sometimes even planes...
The first June week overwhelmed the almost 200-year-old temperature
record for those days. June 6 saw 34 degrees Celsius/93 degrees
Fahrenheit in Prague's Clementinum, and in Plzen 36.6 degrees
Celsius/97.9 degrees Fahrenheit. On June 7 the temperature was also over
30 degrees Celsius/86 degrees Fahrenheit, so the atmosphere had to be
cooled down by a storm. Nobody seemed to care that the rain came on
Medard's Day. June 9's sunny weather proved wrong the old saying that
rain on Medard's Day means rain for 40 days, but every other day this
week has been visited by squalls.
Milan Eisenhammer/Ivona Pulkrabkova
English version edited by Michael Bluhm
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