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Carolina (English) No 376
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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 376, Friday, May 19, 2000.
FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (May 10 - May 17)
Prague and Bratislava Join Hockey Celebration
The Czech-Slovak final at the hockey World Championships brought
the people on both sides of the former federal republic into the streets
May 14.
Thousands of Prague inhabitants gathered on the Old Town Square to
watch the final match live on a large video screen. When the Czech team
won after a dramatic finish 5-3, corks from bottles of champagne were
popped again, like after last year's World Championship and two years
ago after the Nagano Olympics victory.
Slovak citizens crowded in a Bratislava Square to attend the
festivities celebrating the historic achievement for Slovak ice hockey.
Despite the defeat in the final match, thousands of fans remained in the
streets late into the night, when the Slovak hockey team returned to
Bratislava from St. Petersburg.
The Czech team returned to Prague a day later, May 15. After being
met by players' families and journalists at the airport, the bus with
the players went into town, made a short visit to the prime minister's
office, and then arrived at the Old Town Square, where about 6,000
enthusiastic supporters awaited.
Darina Johanidesova/Michael Bluhm
FBI Director Visits Prague
The American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will open its
10-person Prague branch very soon, said FBI Director Louis Freeh during
his May 11 visit to Prague. Freeh also said Prague-born US Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright and Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman had
approved opening the office. Freeh said the office should contribute to
the fight against organized crime.
Freeh also met with Interior Minister Stanislav Gross. They
discussed problems connected with the upcoming general meeting of the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank to be held in Prague in
September.
Iva Potrebova/Michael Bluhm
Court Cancels Ban on Demonstration against IMF, World Bank
Opponents of globalization will be allowed to organize
a demonstration against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank
on Prague's Peace Square (Namesti Miru) September 25. The Prague City
Court made that decision May 16. The Prague 2 District Office had no
right to ban the demonstration called by the Initiative against Economic
Globalization, according to the court.
Prague 2 official Ivana Vosecka forbade the demonstration on the
grounds that it was called for a location that would endanger the
participants and would require limiting transportation. She also wrote
that flowers are to be planted on the square and the demonstrators might
destroy them.
Michaela Kleckova/Veronika Hankusova
Social Democrats' Next Affair?
A document preparing a smear campaign against Chamber of Deputies
Vice Chairwoman and the country's most popular politician Petra Buzkova
was brought to public by the daily MF DNES May 16. The daily says the
campaign was prepared by Buzkova's own party, the ruling Social
Democrats, and that the document was lifted from a computer in the
Office of the Government.
The goal of the campaign, in the document called Operation Lead
(the chemical symbol for lead - Pb - matches Buzkova's initials) was to
create the impression, for example through forged letters to the media,
that Buzkova is former agent of the StB (the communist secret police)
who had been a prostitute with a vice police record in the 80's and now
abuses her three-year-old daughter. The daily said its source works with
Prime Minister Milos Zeman. The source says the document was created in
late February by Zeman's team of advisors, led by Miroslav Slouf.
News of the document caused a stir, with diametrically opposite
reactions from Social Democrat leaders. Interior Minister Stanislav
Gross authorized a police investigation into the matter, Zeman said he
laughed heartily and MF DNES was the victim of a fraud. Zeman's
investigation with the questioning of Slouf. "His opinion is that it is
primarily a campaign to discredit him in connection with his Senate
campaign," said Zeman. Slouf, a high-ranking Communist Party functionary
before 1989, has been a frequent target of criticism, some of it from
Buzkova.
Buzkova said she did not believe it was a document from the Office
of the Government, but she believes some office employees are capable of
something like it.
The daily Pravo May 17 put the affair into connection with the
coming battle for the leadership of the party. Zeman has announced he
will not run again for the party's chair, and the daily said the affair
reflects the intraparty battle for succession.
Michaela Kleckova/Ondrej Maly
"Secret" Communist File on Foreign Minister Kavan Published in Book Form
A book about Foreign Minister and Senator Jan Kavan appeared in
bookstores this week, with the title Kato - The Story of a Real Man. It
is not clear whether the material in the book - Kavan's file as kept by
the communist-era secret police - is secret, and thus whether the
publisher broke the law. The Office for Foreign Relations and
Information, the civilian intelligence service, inherited Kavan's file
from the communist State Security (StB), which used Kavan in the 60's
and 70's to gather information primarily on the student movement in
Great Britain. The diplomat says he never knowingly cooperated with the
StB and a court confirmed his claim a couple of years ago.
Kavan said publishing his file has broken the law. Moreover, Prime
Minister Milos Zeman said the publisher disclosed state secrets. The
book's editor, Premysl Vachalovsky, said the file was officially
declassified by former Interior Minister Jan Langos. The civilian
intelligence service has declined to make a statement on the status of
its files, but promised it would do so this week.
Iva Potrebova/Ondrej Maly
Czechs Marry Later and Have Fewer Children
Economic independence and having their own apartment is important
for young Czechs before they marry. These are the findings of a large
poll conducted by the Sociology Institute of the Academy of Sciences in
1997 and released May 11. The average age of newlyweds rose - men
married on average at 27.7 years of age (at 24 years of age before
1989), women at 25.4 years of age (21 before 1989). The causes are the
high price of apartments, the lack of cheaper ones and the danger of
unemployment.
Compared to the communist era, the numbers of annual marriages and
births are down one-third. In 1994 there were 106,579 children born, the
lowest number since 1785. In 1995 the number fell below 100,000 and last
year's statistics show a decline to under 90,000.
Iva Potrebova/Simon Dominik
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Havel's Visit to Germany Cannot Avoid Issue of Benes Decrees
During his four-day visit to Germany May 9-12, president Vaclav
Havel was assured several times that Germany will support the Czech
Republic's membership in the European Union. The friendly atmosphere of
the journey was disrupted by the traditional obstacle in Czech-German
relations - the Benes Decrees, which after WWII dispossessed Sudeten
Germans of their possessions and led to their expulsion from
Czechoslovakia.
A question was asked about the Czech stance on the Benes' Decrees
at a press conference held May 10 by Havel and German President Johannes
Rau. Havel repeated the Czech position that the decrees are a historical
part of the Czech legal code and are not valid anymore. "In accordance
with the text of the Czech-German Declaration, I believe we should not
burden our future. That does not mean we should not be engaged with it
and study it, however," Havel said.
During his visit to Berlin, Havel took a walk through the
Brandenburger Gate, the site of the former Berlin Wall. He took the same
walk in 1990 after the fall of communism, when his visit to the two
former German states was his first state journey as Czechoslovak
president.
On May 11, Havel and Brandenburg Prime Minister Manfred Stolpe,
together with more than 30 Czech concentration-camp survivors, unveiled
a memorial to the victims of Nazism on the site of the Sachsenhausen
concentration camp. The memorial is dedicated to Czech students deported
after unversities were forced to close November 17, 1939.
On the last day of his stay, May 12, Havel visited the state of
Bavaria, where the largest number of Sudeten Germans expelled from
Czechoslovakia live. Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber mentioned
their compensation requests, on the other hand he assured Havel that
Bavaria would support the Czech Republic in its efforts to join the EU.
In relation to the Benes Decrees, he said, "I am relying on the Czech
nation, during the course of its accession to the European Union, to
renounce decrees and laws opposing international laws and that express
an unfortunate past."
That afternoon the Czech president visited the University in
Regensburg, which boasts the best-known department on Bohemia in
Germany. Havel told students about his journey and then answered some of
their questions. A question on the Benes' Decrees was asked.
Radka Kohutova/Daniela Vrbova
SLOVAKIA
One Charge against Meciar Dropped
The Slovak Attorney General is no longer charging former Premier
Vladimir Meciar with fraud. The charges claimed Meciar illegally paid
bonuses to members of his Cabinet, but the fraud charge was dropped May
12. Meciar is still accused of misusing public office in the case.
Despite a warnings from the Supreme Audit Office, Meciar gave his
ministers bonuses of almost 14 million Slovak crowns.
Meciar also figures as a witness in two other cases - the
kidnapping of the son of former Slovak President Michal Kovac and the
secret-service report allegedly analyzing the possibilities of removing
Kovac from office.
Radka Kohutova/Simon Dominik
ECONOMY
Unemployment Rate Declines Substantially
The 9.5-per-cent unemployment rate dropped in April to 9 per cent,
which means a decline of about 22,000 people to 471,000 persons
receiving unemployment compensation. Decreases were registered in the
northern regions of Bohemia and Moravia, where unemployement rates are
traditionally high. Experts cited the widening choice of jobs offered by
foreign investors and by small and medium business. Seasonal employment
also contributed to the positive trend.
Czech industrial output in March was 5.2 per cent higher than 12
months ago and the construction industry registered an increase of 6.5
per cent. According to statistics, productivity, consumer spending and
export are also on the rise. Foreign investment will evidently surpass
last year's record of 5 billion crowns.
In the daily MF DNES, Prime Minister Milos Zeman said, "Thanks to
the productivity and now the growth of our economy, we are, together
with Slovenia, in the best position in the EU integration process."
Zeman's critics say he exaggerates the statistical data, which appear
favorable in comparison with the previous period of a deep recession.
ECONOMY IN BRIEF
* Commerce Bank (Komercni banka) Deputy General Directors Petr
Budinsky and Jaroslav Mares stepped down May 16 in advance of their
probable recall. Both face charges in connection with losses of about
8 billion crowns caused by allegedly fraudulent dealings with the
Austrian company B.C.L.Trading (see Carolina 375). In the meantime Tomas
Spurny, 35, a former employee of McKinsey, was appointed to the board of
directors, where Budinsky and Mares once sat. The remaining three open
seats on the board should be filled soon.
* The Austrian Erste Bank Sparkassen, the new majority owner of the
Czech Savings Bank (Ceska sporitelna, CS - see Carolina 362), is
planning a personnel shake-up in the bank. According to the bank
spokesman Martin Manak, American James Stack shall be appointed general
director and chairman of the bank's board of directors. Incumbent
General Director Dusan Baran shall be vice chairman of the board and
financial director. The new board should be completed in June, when the
bank's shares should be transferred to the bank's new owner.
Economic news prepared by Nikoleta Alivojvodic/Milan Smid
Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid May 19)
--------------------------------------------------------------
1 EUR = 36.790
country currency CZK
------------------------------------------
Australia 1 AUD 23.400
Great Britain 1 GBP 61.064
Denmark 1 DKK 4.932
Japan 100 JPY 37.669
Canada 1 CAD 27.440
IMF 1 XDR 53.555
Hungary 100 HUF 14.208
Norway 1 NOK 4.510
New Zealand 1 NZD 18.700
Poland 1 PLN 9.064
Greece 100 GRD 10.928
Slovakia 100 SKK 85.613
Slovenia 100 SIT 17.953
Sweden 1 SEK 4.502
Switzerland 1 CHF 23.675
USA 1 USD 41.157
Exchange Rates of countries participating in the euro
(converted from the euro rate)
country currency CZK
-----------------------------------------
Germany 1 DEM 18.810
Belgium 100 BEF 91.200
Finland 1 FIM 6.188
France 1 FRF 5.609
Ireland 1 IEP 46.714
Italy 1000 ITL 19.000
Luxemburg 100 LUF 91.200
Netherlands 1 NLG 16.695
Portugal 100 PTE 18.351
Austria 1 ATS 2.674
Spain 100 ESP 22.111
CULTURE
Prague Spring Blossoms
The 55th year of the Prague Spring music festival began May 12. As
always, it was opened by Bedrich Smetana's My Homeland, this time
performed by the Prague Symphonic Orchestra FOK, conducted by Petr
Altrichter.
The festival lasts till June 3 and will feature more than 70
performers. This year's Prague Spring does not boast world-famous
celebrities but there are many musicians well known in the music world.
The New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Royal
Liverpool Academy will play. Experts predict this year's climax will be
the concert of the American Kronos Quartet, which offers the newest
developments in world music trends.
The program is also oriented toward composers with round-number
anniversaries this year. Some of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach
(250 years from his death) or Zdenek Fibich (1850 - 1900) will appear.
Fibich is, with Smetana and Antonin Dvorak, a co-founder of Czech
national music and some of his operas are still performed.
Tomas Havlin/Simon Dominik
World of Books Popular Again
The sixth World of Books international book fair took place May
11-14 at the Prague Fairgrounds (Vystaviste). Despite hot summer
weather, about 20,000 visitors found the way to the exhibition hall.
This year's largest foreign stand was devoted to literature from
Walloon-Brussels, represented in Prague by Francoise Lalande, Thomas
Gunzig and Andre Schmitz. The fair was attended also by several
Scandinavian authors, but the most popular attraction was Brazilian
writer Paulo Coelho.
Many special programs went on during the exhibition. The foundation
of the Czech Literature Fund awarded its prizes to musician and writer
Filip Topol, to literary critic Milan Jungmann and to literature
theorist Alexandr Stich.
Tomas Havlin/Milan Smid
SPORTS
Czech Republic Wins Hockey World Championships Again
The Czech Republic's golden decade of the 90's continues. In the
World Championships' final against a very familiar opponent, the Czech
national hockey team defeated Slovakia 5-3 and defended its title from
last year.
These championships could be characterized by the saying,
"everything is different in Russia." Surprises abounded: Slovakia
eliminated the United States and advanced to the finals through Finland.
Sweden finished in a Scandinavian tie with Finland and stayed seventh.
Canada, after being knocked out by the Czechs, lost to Finland in the
fight for the bronze.
The Czechs defeated Latvia in the quarterfinal. Latvia collected
its team from European and NHL teams and had a large fan contingent in
the stands. Its biggest star, goalkeeper Arturs Irbe, helped the Czechs
with his unwanted assist on Vaclav Varada's goal. Robert Reichel's lucky
goal pushed the Czechs through to the semifinal game against Canada.
In the final, Slovakia dominated with its quality play, they were
more aggressive, but their mistakes on defense, the Czech's
effectiveness converting chances and the reliable goaltending of Roman
Cechmanek did not allow the Slovaks to gild their historic success.
Five players, who participated in the finals, were included in the
tournament's all-star team: Slovak Miroslav Satan and Czechs Roman
Cechmanek, Michal Sykora, Jiri Dopita and Tomas Vlasak. Cechmanek was
named the tourney's best goalkeeper and Martin Prochazka the most
valuable player of the championships.
Results: Quarterfinal: Czech Republic - Latvia 3-1 (0-0, 3-1,
0-0). Goals: Varada, Sykora, Dopita.
Semifinal: Czech Republic - Canada 2-1 (1-1, 0-0, 1-0). Goals:
Vyborny, Reichel.
Final: Czech Republic - Slovakia 5-3 (3-0, 0-1, 2-2). Goals:
Sykora, Vlasak, Prochazka, Tomajko, Reichel.
Soccer League: Hradec Kralove and Opava Fall into Second League
The last two rounds determined the final standings of the soccer
league, including the teams in the last two places, which are relegated
each year to the second league. Hradec Kralove, which managed to keep
its first-league membership for the last six seasons, failed to do so
this year. In the 29th round it lost in Ostrava 1-3 and did the same in
the last round in Pribram. Opava and Jablonec were the two teams facing
relegation before the last round, where they squared off head-to-head.
Jablonec played well and sent Opava to the second league with a 4-0 win.
Sparta lost its first points of the spring session with a 1-1 tie
in a 29th-round game in Olomouc, but then it crushed third-place
Drnovice 5-0. Second-place Slavia defeated Ceske Budejovice 4-1 in its
last game in Slavia's old stadium in Eden. It will play in Strahov
Stadium the next season while its new arena is being built.
Results of the 29th round: Hradec Kralove - Ostrava 1-3, Slavia
Praha - Ceske Budejovice 4-1, Drnovice - Teplice 1-1, Liberec
- Bohemians Praha 2-0, Olomouc - Sparta Praha 1-1, Blsany - Brno 1-0,
Zizkov - Jablonec 0-0, Opava - Pribram 0-1.
Results of the 30th round: Pribram - Hradec Kralove 1-0, Ostrava
- Liberec 3-0, Bohemians Praha - Blsany 1-1, Brno - Slavia Praha 3-1,
Ceske Budejovice - Olomouc 1-2, Sparta Praha - Drnovice 5-0, Teplice
- Zizkov 0-0, Jablonec - Opava 4-0.
Final Standings:
(Games won - tied - lost. Goals scored and allowed. Points)
1. Sparta Praha 24 4 2 (81-23) 76
2. Slavia Praha 21 5 4 (53-25) 68
3. Drnovice 14 6 10 (36-32) 48
4. Brno 12 6 12 (35-33) 42
5. Teplice 10 11 9 (38-38) 41
6. Dukla Pribram 11 7 12 (33-36) 40
7. Bohemians Praha 10 10 10 (24-28) 40
8. Liberec 9 11 10 (21-24) 38
9. Zizkov 9 10 11 (37-41) 37
10. Blsany 10 7 13 (28-45) 37
11. Ostrava 8 11 11 (43-45) 35
12. Olomouc 7 13 10 (31-38) 34
13. Jablonec 7 11 12 (24-36) 32
14. Ceske Budejovice 9 5 16 (34-49) 32
15. Opava 6 10 14 (31-39) 28
16. Hradec Kralove 4 11 15 (21-38) 23
Unusually Successful Week for Czech Cycling
Jan Hruska of the Vitalicio Seguros team won the prologue
- a 4.6-km time trial - of the Tour of Italy (Giro d'Italia) May 13 and
became the first Czech to wear the pink jersey as race leader. He did
not own it long, after the first stage he had to hand it over to
Italy's Mario Cipollini. Wearing the jersey was the biggest success thus
far for the 25-year-old cyclist. After the fifth stage, Hruska was in
sixth place overall.
Another Czech, Jan Svorada of the Lampre Daikin team, won the third
stage of the Giro. At the end he lost to Cipollini, but the Italian was
disqualified.
Ondrej Sosenka won the last stage of the Peace Race, the
traditional race organized in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.
Sosenka (team PSK Unit Expert) won the stage from Karlovy Vary
(Carlsbad) to Prague May 13 and was the first Czech stage winner since
1996. Poland's Piotr Wadecki (Mroz) was the overall winner, Rene Andrle
finished sixth.
SPORTS IN BRIEF
* The Czech under-16 national soccer team won the silver medal in the
European under-16 championships in Israel. In the final it lost to
Portugal 1-2 in overtime, while tournament top scorer Tomas Jun scored
the Czechs' only goal of the game.
Sports section by Darina Johanidesova and Mirek Langer/Mirek Langer
WEATHER
Clear skies and plenty of sunshine turned the Czech Republic into
a dry and thirsty country for the last several weeks. Firemen were busy
with forest fires, bartenders were busy quenching thirsty throats. Even
city dwellers got sunburned and farmers were longing for drops of rain.
The rain finally came with thunder just before the Carolina deadline May
17 and knocked temperatures below 20 degrees Celsius/68 degrees
Fahrenheit. Television meteorologists forecast clouds and rain for the
coming days.
Michaela Kleckova/Darina Johanidesova
English version edited by Michael Bluhm.
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