Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Carolina (English) No 426
CCCCC AA RRRRR OOOO LL II NN N AA
CC AA A RR R OO O LL II NNN N AA A
CC AA A RRRRR OO O LL II NN N N AA A
CC AAAAAA RR R OO O LL II NN NN AAAAAA
CCCCC AA A RR R OOOO LLLLLL II NN N AA A
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 426, Friday, July 13, 2001
FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS (JUNE 27 - JULY 11)
Few Romanies Admit Nationality in Census
The results of the census taken in the Czech Republic in March
showed only a fraction of Czech Romanies claimed their Roma nationality.
About 12,000 citizens claimed Romany nationality in the census, while
various government and non-government entities estimate some 250,000
Romanies live in the Czech Republic. Experts say the low census number
might mean that many Romanies are not able to speak their own language,
which makes them feel they do not belong to the Roma community. Also,
sociologists say Romanies might be trying to join the majority community
or fear admitting their nationality.
The results of the census are also surprising because the Czech
Statistics Office (CTU) offered Romanies assistants and explanations for
filling in the questionnaires. In the 1991 census, almost three times
more citizens claimed Romany nationality. The census also showed that in
the Czech Republic during the past 10 years the number of atheists and
agnostics rose by more than 1.2 million. About three million citizens
claimed a religious faith. All regions registered a decrease in
believers, with the smallest number in the Northern Bohemia region of
Most. The faith with the largest Czech following - about 2.7 million
- is the Roman-Catholic Church, while about 137,000 residents claimed
allegiance to the Czech Evangelical Church and about 96,000 residents
listed the Czechoslovak Hussite Church.
According to earlier results of the census, announced at a press
conference June 3, the Czech Republic as of March had 10,292,933
residents, 10,000 less than 10 years ago.
Parliament Commission Says Sale of IPB in Conflict with Proper Morals
Parliament's investigative commission for the sale of the
Investment and Postal Bank (Investicni a postovni banka, IPB) to the
Czechoslovak Trade Bank (Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka, CSOB) decided
that the quick sale of the bank - approved by the government - was
disadvantageous for the country. The sale will cost the state coffers
about 98 billion crowns. The parliamentary commission approved its
report June 28.
The report criticized the government and its rapid sale of IPB, and
tried to specify those responsible for the detrimental deal. Blame falls
mostly on former Finance Minister Pavel Mertlik (Social Democrat, CSSD)
and former Czech National Bank (CNB) Governor Josef Tosovsky.
Social Democrats and the CNB claim the report did not take into
consideration the necessity of preventing the collapse of the Czech
economy. The speed of the sale of the third most powerful bank in the
country was the most important element, and CSOB was the best-prepared
candidate to buy IPB, they say. They also said the report did not
consider the poor management of IPB throughout the 90's.
The commission presented the report July 3 to the Chamber of
Deputies, which approved it after two days of discussion. Voting for the
report were deputies of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), the Communists
(KSCM) and the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), while deputies of the
Social Democrats and the Freedom Union (US) were against. Parliament
also called upon the government to re-open negotiations with CSOB to
change the contracts to better sale conditions for the state. If not,
Parliament will ask a court to evaluate the contracts, because they
conflict with good morals. The contracts were signed June 19, 2000, when
IPB was not able to pay out clients their deposits and was placed under
forced administration by the CNB for three days (see Carolina 381).
FROM SLOVAKIA
New Slovak Constitution Comes into Effect
Significant changes to the Slovak Constitution came into effect
July 1. For example, judges will no longer be named to four-year terms,
but will be named indefinitely. The police will be able to hold suspects
in custody for 48 hours instead of 24 hours, with especially serious
crimes allowing for a 72-hour period. The president will no longer be
able to issue a pardon during criminal prosecution. The Supreme Audit
Office had its powers extended, it can audit all government
institutions, the National Property Fund, companies with partial state
ownership and regional authorities. The Constitutional Court also saw
its authority broadened, the number of judges increased to 13 and their
term of office lengthened to 12 years.
Some laws and directives necessary to implement the new
Constitution are still lacking, but should be approved in the fall. The
government coalition prepared the changes for two-and-a-half years, they
were discussed in the legislature for three weeks and passed by a vote
of 90-57 legislators.
Decentralization Reforms Approved
The Slovak National Council July 4 approved the Regional
Self-Administration Act, which will give rise to eight regions. The law,
which will come into effect January 1, was one of the key program planks
of the government coalition.
Because the government proposal for 12 regions was rejected (see
Carolina 413), two government officials resigned: government envoy for
public administration reform Viktor Niznansky and Deputy Premier Ivan
Miklos. Foreigners with permanent residence in Slovakia will be eligible
to vote in regional elections.
Romany Dies in Police Station
Karol Sedrei, a Romany, died July 7 at a police station in Revuc.
According to his son, Sedrei was beaten to death by police.
Sedrei, a 51-year-old resident of Magnezitovce, had visited the
Revuc mayor because Sedrei's son Robert had been attacked by the
mayor's policeman son. The two families evidently fought and Sedrei and
his two sons were taken to the station. Robert Sedrei claims the three
were handcuffed to a radiator and beaten for 12 hours.
The Revuc Police County Directorate found the police innocent, and
claimed they cuffed the Sedreis to wait until morning for them to sober
up. Interior Minister Ivan Simko took two of the police officers
involved off duty and fired a third who was in his trial period.
Before the funeral July 10 a demonstration of 200 Romanies took
place in Jelsany. They demanded the recall of the county and regional
police chiefs. Premier Miukulas Dzurinda promised a clear, responsible
and transparent investigation. Romanies have formed their own
commission, claiming the police investigation untrustworthy.
ECONOMY
Societe Generale Wins Commerce Bank Tender
The government June 28 decided to sell the Commerce Bank (Komercni
banka, KB) to the French bank Societe Generale. Societe Generale will
pay about 40 billion crowns for the state's 60-per-cent share. Societe
Generale offered the highest price of the three finalists, among which
were also UniCredito and HypoVereinsbank. Proceeds from the sale are
earmarked for the state budget and the housing and transportation funds.
The crown responded to news of the sale by reaching its highest level
ever aganist the euro.
Government Approves Gregr's Big Bang for Economic Growth
The government July 9 approved Trade Minister Miroslav Gregr's plan
for economic revival. The so-called big bang should mean 166 billion
crowns pumped into the economy over the next two years. The funds will
go mainly toward industrial behemoths, small and medium-sized business,
housing and infrastructure. The state will set aside budget monies for
the project, along with funds from the National Property Fund and the
housing and transportation funds. EU funds and private sources are also
expected to contribute. Gregr said he hopes the program will be
continued after the 2002 general elections.
Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid July 13)
--------------------------------------------------------------
1 EUR = 33.885
country currency CZK
------------------------------------------
Australia 1 AUD 20.030
Great Britain 1 GBP 55.804
Denmark 1 DKK 4.553
Japan 100 JPY 31.909
Canada 1 CAD 25.981
IMF 1 XDR 49.657
Hungary 100 HUF 13.372
Norway 1 NOK 4.256
New Zealand 1 NZD 16.065
Poland 1 PLN 9.248
Slovakia 100 SKK 79.375
Slovenia 100 SIT 15.473
Sweden 1 SEK 3.648
Switzerland 1 CHF 22.342
USA 1 USD 39.676
Exchange Rates of countries participating in the euro
(converted from the euro rate)
country currency CZK
-----------------------------------------
Germany 1 DEM 17.325
Belgium 100 BEF 83.999
Finland 1 FIM 5.699
France 1 FRF 5.166
Ireland 1 IEP 43.025
Italy 1000 ITL 17.500
Luxemburg 100 LUF 83.999
Netherlands 1 NLG 15.376
Portugal 100 PTE 16.902
Austria 1 ATS 2.463
Greece 100 GRD 9.944
Spain 100 ESP 20.365
CULTURE
36th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Running
The 36th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, featuring 260
films in 13 cinemas, opened July 5 and will run until July 14.
President Vaclav Havel dropped by the festival, toured an exhibit
of photos from past festivals and took in two films - Intimacy and Bride
of the Wind. The biggest celebrities at the festival this year include
Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley, Nastasia Kinski, Colin Firth and the No
Smoking Orchestra, which is led by Emir Kusturica, the Yugoslav director
of Underground who studied film in Prague.
Seventeen films make up the competition section of the festival,
awards will be presented July 14. Further information can be found on
the festival's web site, www.iffkv.cz
SPORTS
Hasek to Detroit, Jagr to Washington
The two best known members of the 1998 Nagano Olypmpics gold-medal
winners, Dominik Hasek and Jaromir Jagr, changed teams. Hasek will play
for the Detroit Red Wings next season and declared winning the Stanley
Cup his goal. Jagr was traded to the Washington Capitals July 10 from
the Pittsburgh Penguins. Czech goalie Roman Turek was traded from St.
Louis to Calgary, while Dusan Salficky signed a one-year contract with
the New York Islanders.
Under-20 Soccer World Championships: Czechs lose 1:0 to Paraguay
In the quarterfinals of the under-20 soccer World Championships
July 1, the Czechs lost to Paraguay 1:0. The game's only goal was scored
in the 31st minute by Santiago Salcendo, despite the fact that from the
28th minute the Paraguayans were down a man after the ejection of
Gonzales.
Pavel Nedved to Juventus Turin from Lazio Rome
Pavel Nedved, captain of the Czech national soccer team, signed
a five-year contract July 5 with Juventus Turin, which will pay Lazio
Rome 1.5 million crowns for Nedved. That is the most ever paid for
a Czech soccer player, although Juventus and Nedved will have to adjust
to the loss of the team's biggest star, Zinedine Zidane.
SPORTS IN BRIEF
* Leos Friedel of the Czech Republic and Daniela Hantuchova of
Slovakia won the mixed doubles category at this year's Wimbledon,
defeating Liezel Huber and Mik Bryan in the finals. In the men's doubles
finals, the Czech tandem of Jiri Novak and David Rikl lost to Johnson
and Palmer in four sets.
WEATHER
While temperatures over the state holidays of July 5 and July 6
surpassesd the 30-degree-Celsius/86-degree-Fahrenheit barrier, clouds
arrived for the weekend and rain fell on most of the country, and more
rain is expected.
This issue of Carolina was written by Andrea Slovakova, Alzbeta
Trousilova, Petra Kovacova, Katerina Komadova, Petr Frinta and Ondra
Trunecka, and was translated by Sofia Karakeva and Michael Bluhm.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This news may be published only with attribution to CAROLINA.
Subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated. Please send
them to the address:
CAROLINA@mbox.fsv.cuni.cz
To subscribe to CAROLINA news, send an e-mail message to the address
LISTSERV@cesnet.cz
The text of the message for subscription to the English version must be:
SUBSCRIBE CAR-ENG First name Last name
or for the Czech version
SUBSCRIBE CAR-CS First name Last name
To delete your subscription from the list of subscribers, send
the following message to the address LISTSERV@cesnet.cz:
SIGNOFF CAR-ENG or SIGNOFF CAR-CS
We ask you not to send automatic replies to our list. You can
temporarily stop receiving Carolina by sending the command:
SET CAR-ENG NOMAIL
All Listserv commands should be sent to the address:
LISTSERV@cesnet.cz
Please, don't send the commands SUB, SIGNOFF, NOMAIL etc to the address
CAR-CS@listserv.cesnet.cz or CAR-ENG@cesnet.cz!
Past issues of Carolina are available at the address www.cuni.cz/carolina.
