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Carolina (English) No 360
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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 360, Friday, January 28, 2000.
FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (January 19 - January 26)
CSSD and ODS Close Deal, Changes in Government Expected
According to Prime Minister Milos Zeman, changes in his minority
Government are due soon, as the Social Democrats (CSSD) and the Civic
Democratic Party (ODS) agreed to broaden the Opposition Contract with
five amendments (see Carolina 359). The amendments assure that ODS will
support the 2000 state budget proposal in exchange for personnel changes
in the Government. Zeman confirmed that if the budget - the
Government's third - passes its first reading in the Chamber of
Deputies, changes will soon follow.
Zeman did not state which ministers will be recalled, but media
speculation has focused on Interior Minister Vaclav Grulich, Regional
Development Minister Jaromir Cisar and Transportation Minister Antonin
Peltram. Zeman might also recall Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslav Basta.
ODS agreed to the five amendments unanimously, but Zeman had to
push for agreement to the amendments in his party. CSSD politburo
finally approved the amendments by a vote of 24 to four. CSSD Vice
Chairwoman Petra Buzkova, who voted against the amendments, said she
would resign from her party post but keep her position as vice
chairwoman of the Chamber of Deputies. Aside from Buzkova, CSSD
Parliamentary Club Vice Chairman Lubomir Zaoralek also did not support
the amendments.
The most controversial point in the amendments was the change in
the Electoral Act to create more of a majority electoral system by
decreasing the size and increasing the number of electoral districts.
The amendments were signed by representatives of both parties
January 26. The individual amendments concern the budget proposal for
2000 and further budget planning, changes to the Electoral Act, joining
the EU, ODS tolerance of the minority Government and communication
between the parties' parliamentary clubs.
Jakub Tronicek/Ondrej Maly
Investigators Finish Bamberg Affair
The Bamberg Affair is at an end after almost two years of
investigation. The affair centers on claims that Prime Minister Milos
Zeman offered a group of Czech-Swiss businessmen political positions and
influence in exchange for secret information and financial support of
Zeman's Social Democrats. According to investigators, the case was
a fabulation by Czech-Swiss businessman Jan Vizek prior to 1998's
general elections intended to damage the Social Democrats. Why Zeman
went to Bamberg and what he discussed with Vizek is still unknown,
because Zeman has been caught in lies in the case and has refused to
give further answers.
According to police investigator Martin Hadek, the key evidence in
the whole affair - the memorandum confirming a deal - was forged. The
investigation determined that the document was forged by Vizek, who
copied signatures from another handwritten onto the forgery. The
remaining questions could probably be answered by Vizek, but he has
spent almost a year in a psychiatric clinic and cannot be questioned.
Zeman says the scandal was set up by his political enemies, who paid
Vizek for the forgery. Vizek's motives were not uncovered by the
investigation.
Jakub Tronicek/Ondrej Maly
New Labor Act Approaches EU Norms
The Chamber of Deputies January 21 passed the first reading of
amendments to the Labor Act intended to harmonize Czech labor norms with
those of the European Union. The amendments provide for a reduction of
the working week from 42.5 hours to 40 hours (the figures include 30
minutes daily for lunch). It also promises four weeks of vacation for
employees and includes prolonging maternity leave for fathers, who will
now be able to stay at home with their child for three years.
Richard Falbr, chairman of the Czech-Moravian Chamber of Labor
Unions (Ceskomoravska komora odborovych svazu), and Stepan Popovic,
president of the Union of Trade and Industry (Svaz prumyslu a obchodu),
approve of the amendments. They said the amendments should improve the
relationship between employers and employees, whose rights should be
more enforceable than they were until now. But the Physicians Union Club
(Lekarsky odborovy klub) opposes the amendment and their demands were
passed on to the deputies. Doctors want a 35-hour week and six weeks of
vacation annually (i.e., two weeks more than other workers).
Alzbeta Trousilova/Simon Dominik
New Czech Television General Director Chosen
The Czech Television Council (CTC), the nine-member supervisory
body of public-service broadcaster Czech Television (CT), appointed
Dusan Chmelicek January 26 the new general director for a six-year term.
Chmelicek, 32, who started working at the station two years ago as the
head of the legal department, recently took over the department for
strategic planning.
Chmelicek was selected from five candidates (see Carolina 359) and
received five votes in the final, secret ballot, when only two
candidates (Kamil Cermak and Chmelicek) remained. Two votes were against
Chmelicek, and two council members abstained. One of them, Frantisek
Schildberger, did not attend the meeting. He said January 24 that no
candidate is capable of managing Czech Television and that the council
should stop the selection process and resign.
Alzbeta Trousilova/Milan Smid
Rise in Crime Abates
For the first time in the last six years the official crime rate
decreased in the Czech Republic. Moreover, law enforcement officials
solved more cases than the year before. Police President Jiri Kolar, who
released the information January 20, and said it might be a lasting
phenomenon.
Statistics show the number of crimes declined in all categories
except theft and economic crime, although Kolar said white-collar
criminals and hackers are only slightly ahead of the police. Kolar said
it is disturbing that the number of crimes committed by children is
increasing. Four of last year's murders were committed by children under
15. According to Kolar, a long-term decrease in crime will be possible
only if the influx of criminals from abroad is stopped.
Jakub Tronicek/Simon Dominik
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Netherlands to Support Czech EU Membership
Dutch politicians January 24 promised to help the Czech state
sector prepare for joining the European Union. A partnership memorandum
was signed during Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman's visit to the
Netherlands. According to the agreement, seminars aimed at sharing
experiences in adopting and applying EU legislation will take place
twice a year.
Dick Benschop, state secretary at the Dutch Foreign Ministry, said,
"the Netherlands is demonstrating its commitment to expanding the EU",
towards which they had rather reserved attitude in the past.
While Pavel Telicka, Czech deputy foreign minister, took care of
the signing of the agreement, Zeman talked with his Dutch opposite Wim
Kok. Then, accompanied by Finance Minister Pavel Mertlik, Zeman had
talks with the directors of the Dutch banks ING Group and ABN Amro,
visited Queen Beatrix and laid flowers at the monument of John Amos
Comenius (Jan Amos Komensky).
Marika Pechackova/Simon Dominik
NEWS IN BRIEF
* Blind and visually impaired people demonstrated January 20 against
planned cuts in the state budget that would limit grants for their
support programs. Labor and Social Affairs Minister Vladimir Spidla said
the demonstration was premature, because the amount of the grants is not
yet final and would be discussed again January 28.
* Foreign Minister Jan Kavan, accompanied by a group of Czech
entrepreneurs, visited Egypt January 22-24. He negotiated with Egyptian
representatives primarily about further development of economic
relations.
Alzbeta Trousilova, Marika Pechackova/Jakub Jirovec
FROM SLOVAKIA
EU Ready to Welcome Entire Region
European Commission Chairman Romano Prodi's message in Bratislava
was to give support to EU-minded Slovak politicians and tell them the
chance to close the gap between Slovakia and another EU associate
members is fully in their hands. Prodi was the first commission chairman
to visit Slovakia. He was accompanied by the EU Commissar for Expansion
Gunter Verheugen and tried to explain how, when and under what
conditions Slovakia may join the EU. "Slovakia has all the preconditions
necessary to catch up to the countries that have already begun EU
membership talks. It depends only on internal consensus and the
abilities of Slovakia. For us, too, it would be easier if the whole
region joined the EU."
While Slovakia's neighbors received their invitations for
membership talks two years ago, the policies of former Premier Vladimir
Meciar's governments delayed Slovakia's invitation, which came last fall
at the Helsinki EU summit. Bratislava would prefer to speed up talks and
proposed to increase threefold the number of negotiated issues (called
chapters in EU lingo) at the March EU talks. Prodi and Verheugen
rejected the idea: "It is not important to open chapters, but to close
them."
Marika Pechackova/Milan Smid
ECONOMY
Conflicts Continue around Sale of Czech Savings Bank
The Government is to decide soon on the sale of the state's share
in the Czech Savings Bank (Ceska sporitelna). Austria's Erste Bank was
granted exclusivity in negotiations on the sale until the end of
January. During the negotiations, the Nomura-controlled Investment and
Postal Bank (Investicni a postovni banka, IPB) expressed its interest in
buying the share.
In January accusations were made that Finance Minister Pavel
Mertlik and Czech National Bank Governor Josef Tosovsky took bribes in
connection with the talks, and Erste Bank's exclusivity has been the
target of further attacks. Mertlik has continued to support Erste Bank
as the best candidate to purchase the Savings Bank.
Dita Kristanova/Michael Bluhm
Czech Export on the Rise
Last year's foreign trade deficit was 69.9 billion crowns, which
the best result in the past five years. Exports to EU countries
increased by 17.7 per cent, including exports to Germany, which
increased by 20 per cent. Germany is the Czech Republic's biggest
trading partner, taking 42.1 per cent of all Czech export. Although the
export of foodstuffs and consumer goods has decreased, exports of
machinery, namely cars, has increased.
Alzbeta Trousilova/Jakub Jirovec
Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid January 28)
--------------------------------------------------------------
1 EUR = 36.095
country currency CZK
------------------------------------------
Australia 1 AUD 23.376
Great Britain 1 GBP 58.560
Denmark 1 DKK 4.814
Japan 100 JPY 33.859
Canada 1 CAD 24.875
IMF 1 XDR 48.978
Hungary 100 HUF 14.028
Norway 1 NOK 4.428
New Zealand 1 NZD 18.216
Poland 1 PLN 8.668
Greece 100 GRD 10.806
Slovakia 100 SKK 84.618
Slovenia 100 SIT 17.895
Sweden 1 SEK 4.195
Switzerland 1 CHF 22.236
USA 1 USD 35.798
Exchange Rates of countries participating in the euro
(converted from the euro rate)
country currency CZK
-----------------------------------------
Germany 1 DEM 18.320
Belgium 100 BEF 88.820
Finland 1 FIM 6.026
France 1 FRF 5.462
Ireland 1 IEP 45.495
Italy 1000 ITL 18.505
Luxemburg 100 LUF 88.820
Netherlands 1 NLG 16.259
Portugal 100 PTE 17.872
Austria 1 ATS 2.604
Spain 100 ESP 21.534
CULTURE
Seventh Year of Febiofest
"Here we are again, bigger and stronger and with the program that
surpasses everything we've done in the past," said festival director
Fero Fenic at the opening of the seventh year of the international film
festival Febiofest 2000.
The festival started in Prague January 20. After its one-week stay
in Prague, the festival will move to smaller cities and then to
Slovakia. There it shall finish February 29.
This year the festival is part of the project Prague, European City
of Culture 2000. More than 140 movies will be shown in 24 Czech (12 in
Prague) and eight Slovak cinemas. The festival's sections include
documentary films, shorts and television production as well as new Czech
and foreign films such as Nikita Mikhalkov's The Barber of Siberia and
David Lynch's A Straight Story.
This year's Febiofest offered a new twist: showings in the central
hall of Prague's main train station. For the symbolic price of one crown
anyone could see films with train themes.
Radka Kohutova/Zuzana Janeckova
SPORT
Hockey Extraleague: Sparta Remains on Top
Three victories in the last three rounds strenghtened the leading
position of Sparta in the hockey extraleague's standings. Sparta's
eternal intra-city rival Slavia even tasted a crushing 5:1 defeat at the
hands of Sparta.
A snow emergency on the roads January 21 prevented the bus with
hockey players from Zlin from arriving in Pardubice, and the
Pardubice-Zlin match had to be postponed. However, Pardubice wants to be
considered the game's winner by disqualification, because Zlin did not
try hard enough to get to Pardubice, whereas many Zlin fans made it to
Pardubice in time despite the snow on the roads.
Results of the 37th round: Trinec - Plzen 5:0, Litvinov - Slavia
6:3, Sparta - Kladno 6:2, Havirov - Karlovy Vary 4:1, Vsetin - Znojmo
1:0, Pardubice - Zlin postponed, Ceske Budejovice - Vitkovice 1:1.
Results of the 38th round: Sparta - Slavia 5:1, Karlovy Vary
- Vsetin 3:0, Kladno - Havirov 2:2, Zlin - Ceske Budejovice 5:4, Trinec
- Pardubice 4:0, Litvinov - Vitkovice 5:2, Plzen - Znojmo 4:2.
Results of the 39th round: Havirov - Slavia 3:7, Vsetin - Kladno
4:2, Znojmo - Karlovy Vary 3:1, Pardubice - Plzen 5:4, Litvinov - Zlin
3:1, Sparta - Vitkovice 6:2, Ceske Budejovice - Trinec 5:2.
Standings after the 39th round: 1. Sparta - 56 points, 2. Vsetin
51, 3. Plzen 49, 4. Zlin 47, 5. Trinec 43, 6. Litvinov 42, 7. Ceske
Budejovice 42, 8. Znojmo 35, 9. Havirov 32, 10. Slavia 32, 11. Pardubice
31, 12. Karlovy Vary 29, 13. Kladno 26, 14. Vitkovice 25.
SPORTS IN BRIEF
* The last Czech player at the Australian Open, Ctibor Dosedel, was
eliminated in the fourth round. He was defeated by third-seeded Pete
Sampras 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
* Karel Loprais and his Tatra truck finished second in the truck
category of the 22nd Paris-Dakar-Cairo Rally. Loprais, five-time winner
of the truck race, was defeated by the Russian team Kamaz. Czech truck
driver Tomas Tomecek finished fourth.
Dita Kristanova/Milan Smid
WEATHER
The weather in the Czech Republic might be described as the
A Winter's Tale last week. This tale had two faces. One was pleasant
- mountains full of skiers, beautifully snowy landscapes, calm and
peaceful white forests. The second face frowned. Heavy snowfall January
20 blocked a large number of roads and some remote villages were cut off
from the outside world. Low temperatures - minus 10 degrees Celsius to
minus 15 degrees Celsius/14 degrees Fahrenheit to 5 degrees Fahrenheit
in the mornings - were compensated by occasional sunshine during the
day. Since every tale should have a happy ending - blinding sunbeams
remind us that after the winter will come (someday) spring.
Radka Kohutova/Jakub Jirovec
English version edited by Michael Bluhm.
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