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Carolina (English) No 386
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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 386, Friday, August 25, 2000.
FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS (August 10 - August 24)
Zeman's Government Begins Second Half of Term
The minority Social Democrat government of Prime Minister Milos
Zeman began the second half of its four-year mandate with its August 24
Cabinet session. The agenda of the meeting, which lasted late into the
evening, counted an unusually high number of 50 items and had another
20 points of information.
One of the items was the 2001 budget proposal. Government speaker
Libor Roucek said next year's deficit should not exceed 20 billion
crowns, budget priorities will be education and the schools. The daily
Lidove noviny said state institutions were asking for 94 billion crowns
more than they received this year, although such an increase would
represent about 15 per cent of this year's budget.
Parliament Commission Begins Investigating IPB Case
The Parliament investigative commission to unravel the collapse and
sale of the Investment and Postal Bank (Investicni a postovni banka,
IPB) began its work August 16 with the questioning of witnesses. First
witnesses included former bank General Director Jan Klacek, bank
supervision chief Pavel Racocha and former forced administrator Petr
Stanek. Commission members are not speaking about the investigation,
while commission Chairman Miroslav Kalousek (Christian Democrat) said
the commission will inform the September Parliament session about the
investigation.
Lead Affair Shows Social Democrat Internal Dissent
The daily MF DNES August 18 reported that the author of Lead, the
secret plan to discredit Social Democrat and Parliament Vice Chairwoman
Petra Buzkova, was Prime Minister Milos Zeman's adviser Vratislav Sima.
Police are investigating the origin of the 10-page plan for the campaign
with the code name of Lead (lead has the chemical sign Pb, the initials
of Buzkova), on the basis of a criminal complaint filed by the Office of
the Government after news of the document broke in MF DNES in mid-May.
Another of Zeman's advisers, Zdenek Sarapatka, said in his deposition to
the police that Sima had written the plan.
Analysts call the affair a sign of the fight underway today in the
party over which faction will take control of the party after Zeman
leaves his post as chairman in 2002. Some interpret Sarapatka's
publicizing his deposition as a move to harm Miroslav Slouf, the head of
Zeman's advisers, and to help the position of the party's younger
generation, led by Buzkova and Interior Minister Stanislav Gross.
Czech Television News Director Jiri Hodac Resigns
Jiri Hodac, the former BBC journalist appointed as news director at
the public-service Czech Television (CT) channel April 17, resigned
unexpectedly August 11. Hodac said he resigned because CT General
Director Dusan Chmelicek prevented public debate on the new concept of
the news organization and some decisions concerning Hodac's department
were taken without consulting him. Chmelicek rejected Hodac's arguments
and said Hodac failed as a manager, unable to get on good terms with his
subordinates.
Czech Television announced it is going to broadcast a new political
debate program with new host Milan Sima each Sunday evening at 9:30
p.m. from September 3. The new show will replace the Sunday noontime
program High Noon (V prave poledne), cancelled in July after moderator
Roman Prorok was dismissed under pressure from politicians unhappy with
his performance.
Zelezny Contests Legality and Amount of Lauder's Investments
General Director of TV NOVA and CET 21 boss Vladimir Zelezny said
at a press conference August 17 that his company has asked the
Commercial Court to dissolve former TV NOVA service provider CNTS (Czech
Independent Television Company), controlled by Central European Media
Enterprises (CME). Zelezny claims CME investments in CNTS during its
increase of share capital in 1994-1995 were done in an illegal manner,
and Zelezny called into doubt the amount which Ronald Lauder, as
majority owner of CME, invested in the Czech Republic. Cosmetics empire
heir Lauder filed a suit against the Czech Republic last year, claiming
the state did not protect his investment in the country.
FROM SLOVAKIA
Slovak President Home Again
Slovak President Rudolf Schuster returned home after 48 days of
medical treatment in Austria, where he underwent emergency surgery after
intestinal perforation and serious complications. At the Bratislava
airport Schuster was welcomed by Slovak Premier Mikulas Dzurinda.
Schuster then flew to his hometown of Kosice, where he will spend
several weeks recovering under the supervision of physicians from the
local Military Hospital and where he will perform his presidential
duties. Schuster will have to undergo one more surgery - to close the
temporary hole in his colon - in October.
ECONOMY
More Fallout from IPB Collapse
Saluka Investment, controlled by Nomura, announced August 14 it was
selling its 46.2-per-cent share in the Investment and Postal Bank
(Investicni a postovni banka, IPB) to the companies Torkmain and
Levitan, despite the facts that the Securities Commission (KCP) had
forbidden the trading of IPB shares and that the Czech National Bank
said it had not given its approval to the sale as required by the
Banking Act.
The sale was an attempt by Nomura to trade the now worthless IPB
shares for promissory notes worth 9 billion crowns that were given to
IPB as guarantees for loans IPB made to Nomura-related firms for the
purchase of Czech breweries later sold with significant profit to South
African Breweries.
Nomura is also threatening legal action against the state for
placing IPB under forced administration and then selling its assets to
the Czechoslovak Trade Bank (Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka, CSOB) (see
Carolina 381-2).
Banking Socialism Ends for Vojenske Stavby CZ
Vojenske stavby CZ, the country's fourth-largest construction
company, has found itself in a difficult position after the Czechoslovak
Trade Bank (Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka, CSOB) refused to provide new
financing because of insufficient guarantees. CSOB is the new owner of
the Investment and Postal Bank (Investicni a postovni banka, IPB), which
had previously provided Vojenske stavby with financing. Getting loans
from IPB had not been a problem for Vojenske stavby, which was
a significant shareholder in the bank and was until last year owned
entirely by the bank.
Vojenske stavby CZ has also run into problems with IPB Real, the
bank's real-estate arm, which in July terminated orders with the
construction firm for the building of apartments and houses.
Vojenske stavby CZ was created two years ago from the remains of
the company Vojenske stavby - that firm's 2-billion-crown debt to IPB
will probably be taken up by the state-owned and taxpayer-financed
Consolidation Bank.
Exchange Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid August 25)
----------------------------------------------------------
1 EUR = 35.340
country currency CZK
----------------------------------------
Australia 1 AUD 22.471
Great Britain 1 GBP 57.991
Denmark 1 DKK 4.738
Japan 100 JPY 36.615
Canada 1 CAD 26.395
IMF 1 XDR 51.198
Hungary 100 HUF 13.534
Norway 1 NOK 4.364
New Zealand 1 NZD 17.006
Poland 1 PLN 9.014
Greece 100 GRD 10.478
Slovakia 100 SKK 83.079
Slovenia 100 SIT 16.920
Sweden 1 SEK 4.225
Switzerland 1 CHF 22.807
USA 1 USD 39.217
Exchange Rates of countries paticipating in the euro (converted from the
euro rate)
Germany 1 DEM 18.069
Belgium 100 BEF 87.606
Finland 1 FIM 5.944
France 1 FRF 5.388
Ireland 1 IEP 44.873
Italy 1000 ITL 18.252
Luxemburg 100 LUF 87.606
Netherlands 1 NLG 16.037
Portugal 100 PTE 17.628
Austria 1 ATS 2.568
Spain 100 ESP 21.240
CULTURE
Jirasek's Hronov Festival Anniversary
Friends of amateur theater performances met for the 70th time in
the North Bohemian town of Hronov August 13-19. Culture Minister Pavel
Dostal and Senate Chairwoman Libuse Benesova attended the opening of the
festival Jirasek's Hronov, which presented 40 theater performances,
including eight by foreign troupes, performed by groups from Slovakia,
Germany, the Netherlands, France and Lithuania. One highlight was the
fairy-tale drama The Bagpiper from Strakonice (Strakonicky dudak) by
Josef Kajetan Tyl, staged by an amateur theater group from Orechov near
Brno. The amateur theater festival in Hronov was organized first time in
1931 as an homage to Czech writer Alois Jirasek for his 80th birthday.
SPORTS
Czech Republic Sends 126 Athletes to Sydney Olympic Games
A plenary meeting of the Czech Olympic Committee (COV) approved
August 14 the athletes for the Czech delegation to the Olympic Games in
Sydney. The Czech Olympic expedition will number 200 - 126 athletes and
74 trainers, physicians, nurses and others. The track and field athletes
represent the largest group - 25 - in the delegation, followed by
canoeists (19) and soccer players (18). The Czech Olympic Committee will
award 1 million crowns to the winner of a gold medal, a silver medal
will be rewarded by 500,000 crowns and a bronze medalist will get
300,000 crowns.
Soccer League: Sparta Leads the Chart
Results of the 3rd round: Liberec - Budejovice 2:0, Sparta - Zizkov
1:0, Teplice - Brno 1:1, Ostrava - Jablonec 1:1, Stare Mesto - Blsany
1:0, Bohemians - Slavia 1:1, Plzen - Drnovice 2:1, Olomouc - Pribram
3:2.
Results of the 4th round: Slavia - Liberec 1:0, Brno - Olomouc
0:2, Stare Mesto - Plzen 5:0, Zizkov - Teplice 2:1, Budejovice - Ostrava
1:0, Blsany - Pribram 1:1, Jablonec - Sparta 0:3, Drnovice - Bohemians
2:1.
Standings after four rounds: 1. Sparta 12 points, 2. Stare Mesto
10, 3. Liberec 9, 3. Olomouc 6, 5. Slavia 8, 6. Ostrava 7, 7. Blsany 5,
8. Bohemians 5, 9. Teplice 5, 10, Budejovice 4, 11. Plzen 4, 12. Zizkov
3, 13. Drnovice 3, 14. Jablonec 2, 15. Brno 1, 16. Pribram 1.
European Soccer Cups: Only Sparta Advances
Qualification for the Champions League:
August 22, Slavia - Doneck 0:2, Doneck advances
August 23, Sparta - Zimbru Kisinev 1:0, Sparta advances
Intertoto Cup - final match:
August 22, Udine - Olomouc 4:2, Udine wins.
WEATHER
After a cold and nasty July, the second half of August brought back
summer to Central Europe, over the weekend of August 19-20 with
near-tropical temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius/86 degrees
Fahrenheit. However, local thunderstorms, windstorms, hails and
torrential rains followed the hot days. Storms in Eastern Bohemia on the
night of August 22-3 knocked down power lines, blocked railway transport
and even caused the death of a small girl, who was killed while asleep
in a tent by a falling tree at the campground in Chlumec, on the Cidlina
River.
English version edited by Michael Bluhm.
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