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Carolina (English) No 319
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STUDENTS' E-MAIL NEWS FROM THE CZECH REPUBLIC
Charles University in Prague
Faculty of Social Sciences
Smetanovo nabr. 6
110 01 Prague 1
Czech Republic
e-mail: CAROLINA@mbox.fsv.cuni.cz
tel: (+4202) 22112252, fax: (+4202) 24810987
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
C A R O L I N A No 319, Friday, February 12, 1999.
FROM THE EVENTS OF PAST WEEK (February 3 - February 10)
Havel Attempts to Reconcile Government and Catholic Church
President Vaclav Havel is trying to ease the tension between the
Government and the Catholic Church caused by the naming of Communists to
the Commission for State-Church Relations and after Deputy Prime
Minister Pavel Rychetsky said the Church has no right to the restitution
of its former property Carolina 318). After breakfast with Cardinal
Miloslav Vlk February 3, the president rejected the opinion of Charles
University legal experts, on which Rychetsky relied.
Havel and Vlk allegedly found a way out of the stalemate over the
make-up of the commission, but the president said he is not going to
release any details before informing the Government. Some faiths,
including the Catholic Church, refused to appoint representatives to the
commission because the Government named Communist deputy Dalibor Matulka
a member. Prime Minister Milos Zeman and Cardinal Vlk agreed by phone to
meet and discuss the situation next week.
Jan Mates/Sofia Karakeva
Vulterin Recalled Because of British Intelligence Complaint
The reason for the sudden recall of Security Information Service
(BIS) Director Karel Vulterin January 27 was, according to unofficial
information, letters from British intelligence service MI6's Prague
station chief to Minister Jaroslav Basta complaining about BIS'
activity. Basta is the minister responsible for secret services.
TV NOVA January 31 released the name and Prague address of the
British agent, as well as information that he is a homosexual. National
Security Office Director Tomas Kadlec said divulging information about
the British agent harmed relations between the Czech Republic and Great
Britain. The British have refused to comment on the situation.
Basta announced February 6 that criminal authorities are
investigating the information leak about the agent. Basta also said that
TV NOVA is suspected of abetting a crime. The minister also filed
a complaint about NOVA with the Council for Radio and Television
Broadcasting.
Prime Minister Milos Zeman February 4 informed Parliament's
Commission for BIS Supervision about the circumstances of Vulterin's
recall. The commission said the Government had the right to recall
Vulterin.
Jan Mates/Sofia Karakeva
TV NOVA, First Private Czech Station, Celebrates Fifth Anniversary
The first nationwide private television station in
a post-communist country, the Czech Republic's TV NOVA, February 4
celebrated five years of very successful existence. Along with the
German RTL, the British ITV and the French TF1, NOVA is among the
most-watched stations in Europe in terms of percentage.
According to research from the international company IP, which
evaluates ratings, in 1996 Nova was tops in Europe with its 67 per cent
share of viewers. NOVA won a similar victory in 1998, when its broadcast
of the Miss Decade competition had the highest rating of any program in
Europe. Viewer preference is best illustrated by the list of the 50
highest-rated programs on Czech television for 1998 - TV NOVA owned 48
of them, Czech Television had two - the Oscar-winning film Kolja and the
Nagano Olympics.
NOVA's income for the first nine months of 1998 was 70.1 million
USD (almost 2.1 billion crowns). NOVA dominates in viewership and also
in advertising. The news, entertainment programs and films (mostly
American) are among NOVA's most successful programming. Critics often
reproach Nova for playing to the lowest common denominator. NOVA does
not hide its orientation toward the taste of the masses.
Jan Mates/Sofia Karakeva
Deputies Prevent Emigres from Receiving Their Former Property
Parliament rejected February 13 legislation that would have
removed Czech citizenship from the conditions necessary for an
individual to have his former property restituted. Czechs who had their
citizenship and property taken away by the communist regime are still
unable to receive their former property.
The Christian Democrats who proposed the legislation consider the
citizenship requirement unconstitutional. Against the legislation were
not only the ruling Social Democrats and Communists, but also almost
half of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) deputies present. Along with
the Christian Democrats, the Freedom Union supported the proposal.
The reaction from abroad to the rejection was furious. "This was
the last straw. The cup of patience has overflowed," said Jirina
Fuchsova, chairwoman of the International Association of Czechs for Dual
Citizenship, Restitution and Voting Rights. Fuchsova, who lives in Los
Angeles, began at the end of last year a hunger strike in front of the
Office of the Government in Prague for the rights of Czechs living
abroad. The association asked a committee of the American Senate to add
Libuse Benesova (ODS), chairwoman of the Czech Senate, to the list of
people undesirable in the USA. The reason for choosing Benesova is that
she as a former deputy finance minister signed the rejections of
restitution claims of American citizens of Czech origin.
Jan Mates/Sofia Karakeva
NEWS IN BRIEF
* President Vaclav Havel attended the February 8 funeral of Jordan's
King Hussain, who died the previous day of cancer.
* Senator Vaclav Benda (Civic Democratic Party, ODS) and former
Parliament deputy Viktor Dobal (Civic Democratic Alliance, ODA) signed
a letter to The Times in which they, like Polish politicians, protested
against the possible extradition of former Chilean dictator August
Pinochet to Spain. The letter was published by The Times.
* Czech Defense Minister Vladimir Vetchy and German Defense Minister
Rudolf Scharping February 5 signed an agreement on the security of the
airspace over the countries' common border. They also agreed to prepare
quickly an agreement on the exchange of classified information.
* Civic Democratic Party (ODS) Chairman Vaclav Klaus on
a public-affairs television program February 7 expressed a willingness
to discuss a possible majority government coalition with the Christian
Democrats and the Freedom Union. Klaus said such discussions, however,
are not now being prepared.
* Civic Democratic Party (ODS) representatives February 8 expressed
an unwillingness to attend a meeting of all parliamentary parties
(except the Communists) at Prague Castle called by President Vaclav
Havel. ODS representatives did not say what their formal response to
Havel's invitation would be, although the chairmen of the other
parliamentary parties - the ruling Social Democrats, the Christian
Democrats and the Freedom Union - have said they are prepared to attend.
Jan Mates/Jakub Jirovec
FROM SLOVAKIA
Divison of former Czechoslovak Property Discussed
Vice Chairmen of the Czech and Slovak governments Pavel Mertlik and
Ivan Miklos met in Bratislava February 6 to discuss how to close the
issue of the division of the former Czechoslovak federation's property.
The meeting did not bring a resolution of any disputed case, but they
did come to an understanding on procedural issues. Mertlik and Miklos
signed an agreement on the Statute for the Commission for Division of
Federal Property to be submitted for the approval of both cabinets and
to serve as a starting point for further talks.
Mertlik said he expects negotiations will be extremely difficult,
because the two sides' opinions on many issues (e.g., the Czech National
Bank's 24-billion-crown claim against the Slovak National Bank, the
issue of Slovak gold in Prague) are still irreconcilable. Nevertheless,
"the sole fact that the commission came into being and started to
communicate for the first time since the beginning of 1993, is great
progress. The preceding governments did not want to resolve this issue
at all," said Mertlik in an interview for the daily Pravo.
Veronika Macias/Lenka Nejezchlebova
ECONOMY
Crown Significantly Weakens
The crown closed trading February 9 at 38.35 crowns to the euro and
19.61 crowns to the deutschmark. The decline was reflected on the
capital market, the Prague Stock Exchange's PX 50 index declined by 2.2
per cent to 372.8 points. The reason for the crown's decline is the
reduction in interest rates made by the Czech National Bank at the end
of the year, experts say. One expert said the crown should cross the
psychological barrier of 20 crowns to the deutschmark, although it
should then stay at that level. The crown's decline is expected to help
exporters.
Sasa Jokic/Michael Bluhm
Unemployment Reaches 8 Per Cent
Labor Offices show from January 31 8.1 per cent (417,000 people) of
the Czech labor force as unemployed. That means an average of 11.5
people applying for each job opening. The worst situation is in the
regions of Most and Louny, where the unemployment rate has reached 16
per cent. Experts agree that the rise in unemployment will abate only
with stable economic growth, which is not expected until next year.
Sasa Jokic/Michael Bluhm
CEZ Buys Part of Skoda Praha
Energy provider CEZ purchased 11 per cent of engineering firm Skoda
Praha for about 70 million crowns. The intertwining of the two companies
by the Trade Ministry continues - the first step was the installation of
Skoda Praha boss Stanislav Svoboda into the CEZ board of directors. CEZ
representatives would not say how much more of Skoda Praha they wish to
acquire.
Sasa Jokic/Michael Bluhm
Vaclav Junek Dismissed from Management of Chemapol Group
Chemapol Group President and Chairman of Board Vaclav Junek was
removed from his posts February 5. He was replaced by Vitezslav Grygar.
The personnel changes took place despite the bankruptcy proceedings of
the company (see Carolina 317), which shareholders hope will be
overturned.
Although Junek lost his leading position in the company, he is
expected to remain a member of the supervisory board, because he is
a co-owner of the firm Proventa, which holds about 9 per cent of shares
of Chemapol Group. Junek still retains his membership on the boards of
several subsidiaries of Chemapol Group.
Sasa Jokic/Lenka Nejezchlebova
Exchange Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid February 12)
------------------------------------------------------------
1 EUR = 37.920 CZK
country currency CZK
------------------------------------------
Australia 1 AUD 21.691
Great Britain 1 GBP 54.452
Denmark 1 DKK 5.100
Japan 100 JPY 29.476
Canada 1 CAD 22.530
IMF 1 XDR 46.533
Hungary 100 HUF 15.198
Norway 1 NOK 4.395
New Zealand 1 NZD 18.518
Poland 1 PLN 8.906
Greece 100 GRD 11.773
Slovakia 100 SKK 88.565
Slovenia 100 SIT 20.095
Sweden 1 SEK 4.258
Switzerland 1 CHF 23.753
USA 1 USD 33.513
Exchange Rates of countries particpating in the euro
(converted from the euro rate)
country currency CZK
-----------------------------------------
Germany 1 DEM 19.388
Belgium 100 BEF 94.001
Finland 1 FIM 6.378
France 1 FRF 5.781
Ireland 1 IEP 48.148
Italy 1000 ITL 19.584
Luxemburg 100 LUF 94.001
Netherlands 1 NLG 17.207
Portugal 100 PTE 18.914
Austria 1 ATS 2.756
Spain 100 ESP 22.790
CULTURE
Awards for Most Popular Television Celebrities
The TyTy awards for the most popular celebrities on the television
screen were distributed at a ceremony February 8 in the Karlin Musical
Theater. The awards were decided by a survey taken in the weekly
magazine Televize, some 87,283 readers voted.
Just as in 1997, the prize for best female singer was received by
top overall vote-getter Lucie Bila with 44,444 votes. With the prize,
the traditional crooked mirror by sculptor Kurt Gebauer, Bila also
received a check for 50,000 crowns and a black pearl from Polynesia. She
will give both as a present to Safety Line emergency phone line for
children. Karel Gott was voted male singer of the year for the eight
time. The prize for the best actress was received, as expected, by
Jirina Bohdalova. The reigning top announcer, Saskia Buresova of Czech
Television, was succeeded by her colleague Marie Retkova, Jolana
Voldanova of Czech TV was voted best news announcer, the top sports
commentator was Pavel Poulicek of TV NOVA. The prize for best journalist
went to Radek John of NOVA.
Czech Television's documentary series Bigbit received the
journalists' prize, which was part of awards for the first time. The
second new prize, for best dubbing, was received by Valerie Zawadska and
Miroslav Moravec. The surprise of the evening was a first place for
Viktor Preiss in the best actor category, he had finished in second
place seven times in previous years. Petr Novotny received two prizes:
as best comedian and for the best program (his show Novoty on NOVA).
Stepanka Hanicincova, a legend of children's programming, became
a member of the Hall of Fame.
The evening was broadcast live by Czech Television, master of
ceremonies was again the excellent Marek Eben.
Zuzana Galova/Jakub Jirovec
SPORTS
Soccer National Team Beats Belgium 1-0 in Friendly Match in Brussels
Striker Jan Koller, playing for the national team for the first
time, had a great debut, scoring in the 73th minute the only goal of the
game against Belgium. Koller, who plays for Lokeren in the Belgian
league, demonstrated why he leads the league in scoring with 15 goals.
Thanks mostly to him, the Czech national team won in King Baudouin's
Stadium February 9 in its last preparation match before two matches of
the Euro 2000 qualification, against Lithuania at home March 27 and in
Scotland March 31.
Czech Hockey Team Opens Swedish Hockey Games with Win and Loss
The last tournament of the European Hockey Tour started in Sweden
February 9. For the Czech team, it could end before the first game
against Russia, because the Czechs refused experiments with a new rule
forbidding substitution with time stopped. The Czech team, which was
against the rule, decided to comply with the will of the majority, the
rule was used on the first day of the tournament and then it was
cancelled.
The Czech team was better in two periods of its game against Russia
and led three times, but Russia always managed to tie the score, for the
last time to 4-4. Frantisek Kaberle, Libor Prochazka and Pavel Patera
then showed perfect modern hockey and got the puck on one touch into the
Russian net. Jiri Vykoukal could have scored the sixth Czech goal when
Russia played without a goalie, but he missed the empty net. Patera
scored twice, Tomas Kucharcik, Viktor Ujcik and Tomas Vlasak each once,
the Czech Republic defeated Russia 5-4.
In the second game, against Finland after Carolina's deadline, the
Czech team lost 2-3 (goals scored by Viktor Ujcik and Martin Prochazka).
The loss means the Czech team, reigning champion of the Euro Hockey
Tour, cannot win the Tour this year.
Canada and Sweden will be the Czech Republic's opponents in the
remaining games of the tournament.
Kocumova Wins Gold in Junior Nordic Skiing World Championships
The 15km freestyle cross-country event in the Junior World
Championships in Saalfelden, Austria came down to a two-girl battle.
Zuzana Kocumova was second throughout the race behind Estonia's Katrin
Smigun, but in the last four kilometers she took the lead and finished
9.1 seconds ahead. "I planned to attack in the last four kilometers and
it happened," Kocumova said for the daily Pravo.
First Czech Jumper in Top Three in Ski Jumping World Cup This Year
Although Harrachov should have held two World Cup events in
ski-flying February 6-7, it wound up organizing only one on the K-120
hill. A wind storm blew down the wind barrier on the mammoth hill
February 4. In the only event February 7, Jakub Suchacek was second
after the first round, but in the second round he lost to World Cup
leader Janne Ahonen of Finland and Lasse Ottessen of Norway. Jakub
Jiroutek finished ninth and ensured himself a place on the national team
for the World Championships. Tomas Plny, 15 years old, finished 17th.
Hockey Extraleague: Only 10 Rounds to Playoffs
Litvinov goalkeeper Zdenek Orct recorded his 7th shutout in the
41st round of the hockey extraleague against Zlin. Slavia Prague captain
Vladimir Ruzicka returned to the ice after being injured and recorded
two assists against Pardubice.
In the 42nd round, Trinec lost its third game in a row, while Zlin
players prolonged their home streak without a loss to 21 games (Zlin
lost on its own ice for the last time against Vsetin almost a year ago,
March 15). Jan Hlavac, the leader of the scorers' table, showed his form
by scoring in Orct's net and has scored eight times in the last five
games. The flu epidemic that has hit the whole republic caused the
postponement of the game between Kladno and Ceske Budejovice.
Results of the 41st round: Opava - Karlovy Vary 3:3, Litvinov
- Zlin 0-0, Vsetin - Jihlava 4-2, Plzen - Sparta Prague 3-2, Slavia
Prague - Pardubice 5-1, Vitkovice - Kladno 3-1, Ceske Budejovice
- Trinec 4-3.
Results of the 42nd round: Pardubice - Vitkovice 2-1, Trinec
- Plzen 2-6, Zlin - Opava 5-1, Karlovy Vary - Vsetin 2-4, Jihlava
- Slavia Prague 2-4, Sparta Prague - Litvinov 3-1. The game between
Kladno and Ceske Budejovice was postponed.
Result of the postponed game of the 34th round: Jihlava - Opava
3-3.
Standings: 1. Vsetin 61 points, 2. Zlin 57, 3. Sparta Prague 51,
4. Trinec 51, 5. Plzen 48, 6. Ceske Budejovice 42, 7. Vitkovice 42, 8.
Pardubice 42, 9. Slavia Prague 39, 10. Litvinov 38, 11. Karlovy Vary
33, 12. Kladno 31, 13. Opava 31, 14. Jihlava 20.
SPORTS IN BRIEF
* Czech Soccer Union Chairman Frantisek Chvalovsky was re-elected to
lead the union for four more years February 9.
* The Czech Tennis Union decided that Petr Korda cannot play in the
Czech Republic (including Davis Cup matches) because of his positive
drug test. This ban will be valid till the end of disciplinary
proceedings.
* Runner Ludmila Formanova finished half a second behind the
800-meter world record of her coach Jarmila Kratochvilova when Formanova
won the race in 1:58.78 seconds in the indoor event in Stuttgart .
* Biathloner Roman Dostal won a silver medal in the 10km sprint in
the European Championships in Izhevsk, Russia.
Sports news prepared by Petr Novy and translated by Mirek Langer
WEATHER
Winter in the Czech Republic is reaching its peak. The heavens were
ripped asunder and "white madness" began. A big snowstorm blew over most
of the country and uprooted many trees. The storm also threw down
a statue from the Journalists' Syndicate building, the statue destroyed
a car parked on the street.
Children and sports lovers play ice hockey, mountains are full of
snow-hungry skiers and normal people sit at home and drink tea with rum.
Or just rum without tea.
The weather is the main topic of people's polite conversation on
the street. "Do you smell the fresh spring air, too?" asked my neighbor
in the elevator. I cannot, but maybe that's just because I have a cold.
I will trust my neighbor.
Jan Moravek/Jakub Jirovec
English version edited by Michael Bluhm.
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