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Carolina (English) No 404
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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 ISSN 121-5040
tel: (+4202) 22112252, fax: (+4202) 22112219
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
C A R O L I N A No 404, Friday, February 2, 2001.
FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (January 24 - January 31)
Senate Chairman in Cuba to Discuss Arrest of Czechs
Senate Chairman Petr Pithart flew to Cuba January 29. Pithart
headed to Havana on Cuban President Fidel Castro's invitation after
Pithart sent Castro a letter calling for the release of former Finance
Minister and current deputy Ivan Pilip and former 1989 student leader
and businessman Jan Bubenik. Both men have been held in Havana's Villa
Marista jail since January 12. Pithart stated in the letter that the two
were not acting in Cuba as representatives of the Czech Republic.
A day after his arrival, Pithart met with a Cuban Parliament
delegation and discussed with the foreign and justice ministers the fate
of the Czechs. His meeting with Castro should take place February 2. The
Czech Chamber of Deputies January 25 approved a resolution stating that
the arrest is baseless and requesting their immediate release.
Havana provided the first official information on the case two
weeks after the arrest. Cuban authorities claim they have evidence
proving Pilip and Bubenik's trip to Cuba was financed by the United
States' Freedom House, which gave them the names and addresses of local
dissidents. Cuba demands an apology from the Czech Republic. Czech
President Vaclav Havel and other Czech leaders, such as Prime Minister
Milos Zeman, said they see no reason why the Czech Republic should
apologize.
Dana Zlatohlavkova/Sofia Karakeva
Constitutional Court Strikes down Disputed Electoral Changes
The Constitutional Court ruled January 24 that five of six key
changes to the Electoral Act, spawned by the Opposition Contract between
the ruling Social Democrats (CSSD) and the Civic Democratic Party (ODS),
are unconstitutional and invalid.
The court thus ruled in favor of a complaint filed by President
Vaclav Havel, who claimed parts of the act violated the constitutional
requirement for proportional representation. Havel refused to sign the
bill and after the Chamber of Deputies overrode his veto he filed the
complaint. According to Havel and senators from the Four-Party Coalition
(who also filed a complaint), the act restricted the free competition of
political parties and discriminated against smaller political groups.
The court invalidated the following provisions: the act raised the
number of electoral districts from eight to 35; in each district a party
would pay a fee of 40,000 crowns; parties who won at least 2 per cent of
the vote would receive for each vote 30 crowns from the state budget
instead of the previous 90 crowns; to represent a district in Parliament
a party would have to win at least four seats in the district; the
method for calculating seats would also favor large parties.
The court upheld the requirement of 5 per cent of the vote for
a party to enter Parliament, with a coalition needing a multiple of this
figure - meaning that the Four-Party Coalition, if it remains
a coalition, needs 20 per cent of the vote in the 2002 general election
to have a seat in the legislature.
Constitutional Court Judge Vladimir Cermak described the act as an
"unconstitutional hybrid."
"I respect the decision, even though I do not agree with it in any
case," said ODS Chairman Vaclav Klaus. The act must be amended before
the scheduled 2002 elections.
Jakub Vavruska/Sofia Karakeva
Svoboda to Lead Four-Party Coalition
The political council of the Four-Party Coalition (Christian
Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People's Party, KDU-CSL; Freedom Union,
US; Civic Democratic Alliance, ODA; Democratic Union, DEU) elected as
their leader January 28 after a weekend-long meeting in Zdar nad Sazavou
Cyril Svoboda, vice chairman of the Christian Democrats.
The paradox is that Svoboda was not among the three candidates for
the post. The leader should have been either Karel Kuhnl (US), Jaroslav
Kopriva (KDU-CSL) or Michael Zantovsky (ODA). The fourth coalition
party, the DEU, did not nominate a candidate.
Svoboda, 44, has a law degree and came to prominence as an adviser
to the first post-1989 Prime Minister Marian Calfa. From 1992-1996
Svoboda was deputy justice minister, in 1998 he was interior minister
under the government of Josef Tosovsky.
Svoboda wanted to be his party's candidate as coalition leader, but
the party chose the nearly unknown Kopriva. After the eight-member
political council (three seats for the US, three for KDU-CSL, one for
ODA and one for DEU) failed to agree on any of the three candidates,
they started to discuss Svoboda.
The political scene reacted to Svoboda's nomination positively.
Prime Minister Milos Zeman said the coalition elected its most capable
man. Members of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) say Svoboda's election
means the coalition will lean to the left and leave ODS as the only
right-wing party. Svoboda's reputation is that he favors cooperate with
the Social Democrats before the ODS.
Jakub Vavruska/Sofia Karakeva
Ombudsman Has a New Deputy - Anna Sabatova
The Chamber of Deputies elected Anna Sabatova, one of the first
speakers for the Charter 77 movement and the wife of Petr Uhl, the
government's envoy for human rights, as Ombudsman Otakar Motejl's
deputy. The election was not a surprise, because she had the support of
the ruling Social Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Freedom
Union. The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) supported her rival, former ODS
Senator Jan Voracek.
Motejl said he is pleased with the result of election, he called
Sabatova a very suitable person for the function and said he recommended
her election.
Uhl resigned his function January 31 to prevent a possible conflict
of interests.
Dana Zlatohlavkova/Adam Fendrych
Czech TV Strike Continues
Despite approval of the new Czech Television Act (see Carolina
403), which became law January 25, the strike at public-service
broadcaster Czech Television (CT) continues. Although called a strike,
the employees are working and the station is broadcasting. All efforts
to negotiate a solution between the CT union and the temporary
management have failed. Vera Valterova, who was appointed caretaker
general director by the former General Director Jiri Hodac (see Carolina
402), refuses to meet union leaders, and the Strike Committee is
questioning the legality of all of Hodac's appointments and disobeys
orders given by Hodac's appointees. Valterova announced another 13 news
reporters were given notice.
Parliament should elect a provisional CT general director February
9. The former leading candidate Katerina Fricova withdrew from the
search to accept an offer to manage the largest Czech commercial radio
chain (Frekvence 1, Evropa 2, RRM). There are six remaining candidates:
Valterova, Jana Bobosikova (appointed news director by Hodac), former CT
producers Jiri Balvin and Karel Kochman, CT Financial Director from
1998-99 Michael Kralert and Vratislav Mechura, former director of the
local commercial radio station Prachen in Southern Bohemia.
Jakub Vavruska/Milan Smid
NEWS IN BRIEF
* A bill approved January 26 will lower the pensions of early
retirees significantly starting in July. The difference will depend on
the age of retirement and the pension; it will vary from dozens of
crowns up to 700 crowns a month. Those who wait past the
state-stipulated retirement age will receive extra benefits.
Katerina Komadova/Stepan Vorlicek
FROM SLOVAKIA
Constitutional Amendment Tests Stability of Government Coalition
Negotiations about a constitutional amendment have turned out to be
another test of stability for the government coalition. The main changes
would include establishing an ombudsman post, creating new
administrative regions and strengthening the power of the Constitutional
Court and the Supreme Audit Office. The Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK)
said it would support the draft if the European Charter of Regional and
Minority Languages is ratified, a school to educate Hungarian educators
is established and land belonging to unknown owners is transferred to
municipalities.
The SMK threatened to leave the government, which made the
government coalition accept the first two conditions (see Carolina 403)
and gained SMK's support. The National Assembly has been discussing the
amendment since January 30.
Zdenek Sloboda/Stepan Vorlicek
ECONOMY
Fraud Charges in IPB Case
Police charged six bankers from the collapsed Investment and Postal
Bank (IPB) with fraud. Among those charged are former Deputy General
Director Libor Prochazka, for years the eminence gris of the Czech
economy, and Randall Dillard of Nomura. If convicted, the bankers face
a sentence of up to 12 years in prison. The investigation continues,
while these first charges concern the sale of the Czech Beer (Ceske
pivo) company, which held control of the country's top two breweries,
Radegast and Pilsner Urquell. IPB was placed under forced administration
June 19, 2000 (see Carolina 381) and was later purchased by the
Czechoslovak Trade Bank (Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka, CSOB).
Police January 26 rejected the criminal complaint filed against
Finance Minister Pavel Mertlik by Miroslav Kalousek of the Christian
Democrats (KDU-CSL), who chairs the parliamentary committee
investigating the IPB case. The committee is investigating the forced
administration of the bank and the reasons for the bank's collapse. The
committee's final report should be finished in May.
The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) asked Mertlik to resign when it
was announced that the state will have to pay as much as 180 billion
crowns in compensation for IPB's losses. Mertlik said the final amount
will not be that large (the exact numbers should be known in June) and
will not resign. ODS blames Mertlik for enabling the "crime of the
century in broad daylight," in reference to the lightning fast sale by
the state of IPB to CSOB.
Dana Zlatohlavkova/Stepan Vorlicek
Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid February 2)
--------------------------------------------------------------
1 EUR = 34.850
country currency CZK
------------------------------------------
Australia 1 AUD 20.506
Great Britain 1 GBP 54.508
Denmark 1 DKK 4.669
Japan 100 JPY 31.851
Canada 1 CAD 24.713
IMF 1 XDR 48.041
Hungary 100 HUF 13.138
Norway 1 NOK 4.243
New Zealand 1 NZD 16.541
Poland 1 PLN 9.105
Slovakia 100 SKK 79.705
Slovenia 100 SIT 16.175
Sweden 1 SEK 3.916
Switzerland 1 CHF 22.723
USA 1 USD 37.017
Exchange Rates of countries participating in the euro
(converted from the euro rate)
country currency CZK
-----------------------------------------
Germany 1 DEM 17.819
Belgium 100 BEF 86.391
Finland 1 FIM 5.861
France 1 FRF 5.313
Ireland 1 IEP 44.250
Italy 1000 ITL 17.999
Luxemburg 100 LUF 86.391
Netherlands 1 NLG 15.814
Portugal 100 PTE 17.383
Austria 1 ATS 2.533
Greece 100 GRD 10.227
Spain 100 ESP 20.945
CULTURE
Prague Portion of Febiofest Breaks Records
The eighth year of Febiofest, a festival showing films from 44
countries, has been in Prague and will go to 11 other Czech and Slovak
cities from January 24-February 18. This year features more than 600
movies, including roughly 10 Czech premieres.
From January 24-31 seven Prague cinemas presented sections on
Northern, Baltic, Southern, West-European and Russian films and offered
a British costume-film hall, too. The Slavic House (Slovansky dum)
multiplex on Na Prikope street presented the world premiere of Jan
Svankmajer's Otesanek in its 10 movie theaters simultaneously. Other
films making their first appearance here included Krzystof Zanussi's
Life as a Terminal Disease Transmitted by Sex, Stephen Daldry's Billy
Elliot and the Coen Brothers' Brother, Where Art Thou? Almost 2,000
people came to see Otesanek on the first day and attendance remained
high on following days, as well. Last year's total number of visitors in
Prague was surpassed halfway through this year's festival.
The City Library paid homage to tradition and offered the section
coordinated with Project 100, which presents masterpieces of world
cinema, such as Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, Dreams of Akira Kurosawa,
Dr. Strangelove, Blue Velvet, Last Tango in Paris and The Rocky Horror
Picture Show. The library also presented a section on gay and lesbian
films.
Some festival films were brought by their authors themselves, such
as Zanussi, Oleg Tabakov and Erik de Bruyn, who held discussions with
the audience in the Evald Cinema.
Katerina Komadova/Adam Fendrych
SPORTS
Hockey Extraleague: Vsetin Returns to First Place
Vsetin returned to the lead of the hockey extraleague's standings
after the 41st round. Vsetin's win over Kladno was decided by four goals
in the first period. A testy game was closed by a fight between Vsetin
captain Jiri Dopita and Kladno's forward Robert Dome, won again by
Vsetin's side.
Slavia Praha found its offense and won its fifth game in a row.
After a win in Karlovy Vary it got closer to eighth place and the last
spot in the playoffs. Litvinov returned to ice after a flu epidemic
without some of its players and lost in Pardubice, but then won the
postponed game against Karlovy Vary.
Results of the 41st round: Vsetin - Kladno 7-2, Sparta Praha
- Vitkovice 4-2, Karlovy Vary - Slavia Praha 2-4, Trinec - Znojmo 3-2
OT, Pardubice - Litvinov 6-2, Ceske Budejovice - Zlin 3-1, Havirov
- Plzen 3-1.
Result of the postponed game of the 40th round: Karlovy Vary
- Litvinov 1-4.
Standings: 1. Vsetin 74, 2. Zlin 71, 3. Pardubice 70, 4. Ceske
Budejovice 64, 5. Sparta Praha 64, 6. Litvinov 61, 7. Znojmo 60, 8.
Vitkovice 60, 9. Slavia Praha 57, 10. Trinec 56, 11. Plzen 54, 12.
Kladno 47, 13. Havirov 46, 14. Karlovy Vary 43.
Karlovy Vary Hosts All-Star Game
The biggest celebrities of the hockey extraleague met in Karlovy
Vary to play the league's sixth All-Star Game January 28. Fans,
journalists and coaches selected the two teams, split into East and West
squads.
Petr Sykora of Pardubice is the fastest player in the league, he
skated around the rink in 14.417 seconds. The record for fastest shot
was not broken, but the battle was very dramatic, as four players shot
at the same speed of 145 kmph (90 mph). A shoot-out decided the winner
- Zlin defenseman Tomas Zizka.
In the game the East defeated the West 8-7 in overtime. The fans
were entertained mainly by Robert Reichel' wonderful goals and assists
and the jokes of Plzen goalkeeper Dusan Salficky.
SPORTS IN BRIEF
* The national handball team did not advance from the preliminary
group of the World Championships in Montpellier, France. The Czechs tied
Iceland in their last game 29-29. They led one minute before the end by
one goal, but an unconverted penalty shot and mistakes in the last
seconds spelled defeat.
* The Czech figure skaters' performance in the European Championships
in Bratislava was a disappointment. Pair Michaela Krutska and Marek
Sedlmajer recorded the best result, finishing in 11th place. Lenka
Seniglova, the 17-year-old hope of Czech skating, finished 20th and
Katerina Kovalova with David Szurman finished 19th in the ice dancing
competition. Lukas Rakowski did not advance from the qualifications. The
top Czech pair of Katerina Berankova and Oto Dlabola did not compete
because of Berankova's illness.
* Ladislav Rygl finished third in the nordic combined World Cup event
in Steamboat Springs January 26. Rygl finished behind the United States'
Todd Lodwick and Austria's Felix Gottwald, the leader of the World Cup
overall standings.
* Blsany soccer goalkeeper Petr Cech was sold to Sparta for 21
million crowns. It was the largest amount ever paid for a goalkeeper in
the Czech league. The German team Werder Bremen was also interested in
Cech. Cech, the goalkeeper of the 2000 Czech Olympic team, was signed to
a contract through 2006, although he will stay in Blsany till the end of
the season. Sparta has two national team goalkeepers besides Cech
- Tomas Postulka and Jaromir Blazek.
Sport News by David Pilar and Ondrej Trunecka/Mirek Langer
WEATHER
The flu epidemic is in full swing. On Tuesday January 30 schools
closed in the Kolin and Pisek districts, students around Jicin and Plzen
are also free. A cold front is expected for the weekend, meaning tough
times for bacteria and a similarly unhappy return to school for
students.
English version edited by Michael Bluhm.
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