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Carolina (English) No 258
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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 258, Friday, September 12, 1997.
FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS (August 27 - September 10)
Catholics and Anglicans Pay Tribute to Lady Di and Mother Theresa
Prague inhabitants bade farewell to two important women of this
century who died recently; Lady Diana Princess of Wales and Mother
Theresa. Services were held in the church of the Holiest Salvatore in
Krizovnicka street September 8. The ecumenic mass celebrated in
commemoration of them was the first liturgy of Catholics and Anglicans
have shared in Prague.
Roger Kent, the chaplain of Anglican community in Prague, and Tomas
Halik, the President of the Czech Christian Academy, presided over the
service. Halik and others denounced the debased behaviour of tabloid
journalism. According to Tomas Halik, "Diana, whose beauty fulfilled the
people's longing for a symbol, experienced not only the fame and
fortune, but the pain and suffering as well. Thus, she became more
sensitive to suffering of others and focused on helping the sick." He
compared her in this to Mother Theresa, missionary to the world's poor.
The mass emphasized respect to goodness and love, i.e. to the virtues
which both Lady Diana and Mother Theresa were sharing with the world
around us. The mass was attended also by the British ambassador to
Prague with his family.
Zuzana Kawaciukova
One Out of Three Czechs View Diana's Funeral
One third of the Czech Republic's adult population watched BBC's
live television coverage of Diana's funeral broadcast from London
September 6. Czech daily Lidove noviny reported the results of the
audience peoplemeter poll, commissioned by the ATO, the association of
Czech public and private television stations. Considering the morning
broadcast hours, the rating of the live coverage rebroadcast by the
Czech public service channel CT1 was extraordinary high. Only a margin
of the audience remained loyal to the regular private TV NOVA channel
scheduling "Baywatch", and "Call the Director".
Zuzana Kawaciukova
Albright Pays Private Visit to Czech Republic
U.S. State Secretary Madeleine Albright, accompanied by her two
daughters and their spouses, arrived August 31 in the Czech Republic for
a week-long top secret, private visit. During her stay, Madeleine
Albright visited the Terezin concentration camp, where her grandfather
died during the Holocaust. Both of her grandmother were transported from
Terezin to the Auschwitz and Trawniky camps. She also visited her
grandparents' hometowns; Letohrad and Kostelec nad Orlici in eastern
Bohemia. She was made an honorary citizen of Kostelec nad Orlici where
she also met schoolmates of her father, the Czech diplomat Josef Korbel,
who attended a local school there 70 years ago. "It is important to me
to return to the places where I can find my family's roots and
traditions," said Albright, according to Czech daily Pravo.
Madeleine Albright briefly attended the international conference
Forum 2000 (see next story) and was invited by President Havel and his
wife to the lunch in their private Stresovice villa. Accompanied by
bodyguards and American ambassador to Prague Jenonne Walker, Albright
also toured the Cesky Krumlov town and castle in South Bohemia. Albright
declared herself to be just a tourist in the Czech Republic.
Although on vacation, Albright swiftly reacted to the terrorist
attack in Jerusalem September 4, which caused eight causalities and
dozens of injured people, calling on the world to fight against
terrorism in the Middle East.
Zuzana Kawaciukova
Prague Hosts Forum 2000
Forum 2000, a three-day long international conference brought
leading world philosophers and politicians together September 4-6 in
Prague. The conference, initiated and chaired by Czech President Vaclav
Havel and Jewish writer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, was
held to discuss contemporary problems of our civilization.
Nearly sixty world-famous personalities came to Prague, among them
several Nobel Prize winners. Guests included former Izrael Prime
Minister Simon Peres, former South African President Frederik de Klerk,
the Dalai Lama, former Bulgarian President Zhelju Zhelev, former German
politicians Richard von Weizsacker and Helmuth Schmidt, African writer
Wole Soyinka, American essayist Timothy Garton Ash and others. Czech
president met privately with Jordan Prince El Hassan bin Talal, Simon
Peres and the Dalai Lama during the conference.
Forum 2000 culminated September 6 with the Hope for the Future
meeting, and with the evening gala concert in the Smetana Hall of Obecni
dum. The program of the conference included a multireligious assembly in
Prague Castle's St. Vitus Cathedral, which was chaired by
representatives of the world's four largest religions.
Bohdana Rambouskova
One Out of Five Czech Families to Lose Child Care Supplements
Parliament narrowly passed the ruling coalition's proposal to cut
state child care supplements September 5. Until now, each family whose
income is less than three times the poverty level has been eligible for
child care supplements. As of October 1, the level will be lowered,
allowing only families 2.2 times over the poverty mark to apply for
these welfare payments.
When the new law goes into effect, a family with one child and total
income of less than 20,000 crowns will be eligible for supplements (the
former limit was about 28,000 crowns). The amount of families authorised
to receive these payments will be reduced from 95 per cent to 75 per
cent of the families in the Czech Republic. 96 parliamentary deputies of
191 voted for the motion; the support of non-aligned former Social
Democrat Jozef Wagner turned out to be the decisive once again.
Changes to social laws should help to the balanced budget in a time
of stagnating Czech industry and damage caused by recent flooding. These
amendments implemented by the cabinet are to save an estimated 300
million crowns in 1997, and about 4 billion crowns in the next year.
David Simonik
Social Democrats Lead Opinion Polls
According to opinion polls conducted by the research agency Factum
in August, the two largest Czech political parties are more popular than
in preceeding months. In comparison to the month of July, the Social
Democrats gained 2.9 per cent of popularity. Should an election have
been held in August, the poll predicts that they would have held 29 per
cent of votes. The Civic Democratic Party was favored by 4.1 per cent
more voters, attaining a level of 24.5 per cent.
Governing coalition parties also underwent changes in voter
popularity. KDU-CSL increased the share of its hypothetical voters from
8.7 per cent to 9.6 per cent, ODA went from 9.7 per cent to 9.8 per cent
of possible August votes. While the Communist Party maintained 8.5 per
cent of votes, the neo-fascist Republican party brings up the rear. In
a loss of nearly half of its potential votes, popularity plummeted from
6.5 per cent in July to 3 per cent in in August.
Factum's recent voter preference poll is the first it has been
conducted since July's floods.
Ondra Trunecka
Defamation of President Is No More Crime
As of January 1, 1998, the defamation of the President is will cease
to be a crime in the Czech Republic. Czech Parliament approved the Penal
Code amendment at its September session. Should the President take
offense, he can persecute through a libel case, according to the Civil
Code, just as any other Czech citizen. The amendment also extends to
defamation of the country.
FROM SLOVAKIA
Meciar's Proposal Labelled as Ethnic Cleansing
Bela Bugar, Chairman of the Hungarian Christian Democratic
Movement, called recent proposals of the Slovak Prime Minister Meciar to
remove the Hungarian national minority from Slovakia ethnic cleansing.
Bela Bugar, together with chairmen of two other Hungarian parliamentary
parties Miklos Duray and Laszlo Nagy, called in a public letter for
premier Meciar to resign his office. Many representatives of the Slovak
opposition say that Meciar will play the Hungarian card once again in
the coming election campaign.
Meciar made his proposal public to his supporters in Bratislava's
Sporting Hall September 4. "In the course of negotiation with Hungarian
Prime Minister Horn (in August) I suggested that our governments shall
facilitate the transfer of our citizens of Hungarian nationality who
don't want to live in Slovakia," Czech daily Pravo quoted Meciar
September 9. Meciar emphasized that he did not mention forcing people of
different nationalities to leave Slovakia, and that the proposed
agreement should only respect the free choice of citizens who want to
live in another country. "When listening to my proposal, premier Horn
got pale and started to shout," Meciar told the audience in the Sporting
Hall.
David Simonik
Only Part of Language Act Unconstitutional
The Slovak Constitutional Court ruled September 9 that only the
part of the State Language Act stipulating compulsory usage of the state
(Slovak) language in written contact with public offices, is
inconsistent with the Slovak Constitution. The Slovak Constitution
guarantees national minorities "the right to use their language in
dealings with the authorities."
Hungarian minority representatives were disappointed with the
decision. They had appealed altogether ten items of the State
Language Act to the Constitutional Court.
ECONOMY
Czech Government to Privatize 30 Per Cent of Railways
The Czech Railways (Ceske drahy) will release 37 per cent of tracks
and 17,000 employees by the year 2000. The not wanted tracks are to be
either privatized or abandoned. All of the Czech Railway reform
proposals submitted to the Cabinet by Transport Minister Martin Riman
were approved at the Government's August 27 meeting.
The government also endorsed an amendment of the Czech Railway Act
which will divide some of the responsibility for railway transport also
to the district and local authorities. They should then participate in
subsidizing un-profitable regional tracks. Private regional companies
are expected to start breaking the Czech Railways' monopoly.
Jaromir Dusek, Chairman of the Railway Workers Union, strongly
protested the mass lay-offs in the railway's labor force, and threatened
with a new strike. 5,000 Czech Railway employees will lose their jobs by
the end of the year. The Czech Railways will continue to downsize until
2005, keeping a work force of 60,000 people. The Czech Railways
currently employ 97,360 people.
Government Decides Sale of Becherovka
The Czech-French company Value Bill is to be new majority
share-holder of the Karlovarska Becherovka company. At a meeting held
during a break in the Parliament session September 3, the government
decide to sell the state's share in the company.
With 89 per cent of company shares for the price of 2 billion
crowns, Value Bill will be the majority holder. Becherovka General
Director Vaclav Lupinek will receive a 5-per-cent share in accordance
with previous agreements.
Defeated competitors are raising their voices in protest of the
government decision, some claiming that Value Bill offered neither the
highest prize, nor the best business plan.
Prospective candidates included: Pilsner company Stock, the only
company to offer more than 2 billion crowns; the B-Prit company; and the
Bohemia Sekt company, which claims to have signed a preliminary
settlement agreement with Underberg in the trademark case against
Karolvarska Becherovka (see Carolina 218).
The company Value Bill is a joint venture between French liquor
producer Pernod-Ricard, the Czech Patria Finance company, and the former
Czech President's Secretary-Chancellor Karl Schwarzenberg. It was
determined after the sale that Becherovka was actually sold to the
limited liability company Salb s.r.o., which is Value Bill's new name
after including the French partner and Karl Schwarzenberg.
Bohdana Rambouskova
Exchange Rates at the Czech National Bank
(valid from September 12)
country currency
----------------------------------------
Australia 1 AUD 24.296
Belgium 100 BEF 90.942
Great Britain 1 GBP 53.473
Denmark 1 DKK 4.932
Finland 1 FIM 6.267
France 1 FRF 5.588
Ireland 1 IEP 50.488
Italy 1000 ITL 19.227
Japan 100 JPY 28.296
Canada 1 CAD 24.253
Luxemburg 100 LUF 90.942
Netherlands 1 NLG 16.676
Norway 1 NOK 4.564
New Zealand 1 NZD 21.304
Portugal 100 PTE 18.669
Austria 1 ATS 2.646
Greece 100 GRD 11.918
Germany 1 DEM 18.780
Spain 100 ESP 22.267
Sweden 1 SEK 4.315
Switzerland 1 CHF 22.781
USA 1 USD 33.658
ECU 1 XEU 36.808
CULTURE
Exhibiton "Rudolf II and Prague" Ends
The exhibition Rudolf II and Prague, jointly organized at several
places around the city by the Prague Castle Custody, the Office of the
President, the Ministry of Culture, the Prague Major's Office and the
Museum of Applied Art in Prague, finished September 7. Only a small part
of the exhibition in the Valdstejnska jizdarna (Wallenstein Riding Hall)
will remain open until September 21. The exhibition began May 30 (see
Carolina No. 250). Total attendance reached 200,000 visitors, including
much of Prague's summer tourist traffic.
Zuzana Kawaciukova
WEATHER
The end of summer school holidays did not spell the end of the summer
weather. The first week of September was warm and sunny. Only morning
temperatures of about 10 degrees Celsius reminded us that the summer is
nearly over.
English version translated by Milan Smid, edited by Andrea Snyder.
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