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 STUDENT'S E-MAIL NEWS FROM CZECHOSLOVAKIA School of Social Science of Charles University Smetanovo nabr. 6 110 01 Prague 1 C.S.F.R. e-mail address: CAROLINA@CSEARN.BITNET *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* C A R O L I N A No 40, Friday, September 11, 1992. NEWS FROM THE LAST WEEK (September 2nd - September 9th) The Slovak Republic's Constitution signed The Slovak Republic's Constitution was signed on Thursday, September 3rd, at Bratislava castle by the chairman of the Slovak National Parliament I. Gasparovic and Slovak prime minister Vladimir Meciar. This famous action was broadcast live on the federal television channel, F1. Among the participating politicians were the federal prime minister, J. Strasky and the chairman of Czech parliament - Czech National Council, M. Uhde. The Czech prime minister V. Klaus was also invited but he did not participate. According to V. Gasparovic, the new Slovak constitution will result in an honest partnership with the Czech nation and the Czech republic based on mutual awareness of equal partnership. The ceremony was ended by playing the Slovak national anthem and by presenting the new Slovak national flag. The flag is red, blue and white with the national emblem of Slovak republic. When there will be a new Czech constitution? The quality of the constitution is more important than the rush with its preparation, therefore it is possible that the constitution will be accepted after the declaration of the sovereign Czech state. However, the preparation of the constitution is not the only intention of the Civic Democratic Party - the constitution may be accepted on the day of the declaration of independence. These were the opinions raised by V. Klaus during the Civic Democratic Party's executive board meeting last weekend. The only important date for ODS is 1994, which is the year the new elections to local offices take place. When asked his opinion concerning the new presidential elections V. Klaus responded "We do not think that Czechoslovakia needs a federal president now". Czech minister of international affairs in Poland Jozef Zielenec, the first minister of international affairs of the Czech republic (It should be noted that he was the chair of the Center for graduate education and economic research at our faculty of social sciences) came back from Poland on Friday, September 4th. The fact that his first visit abroad holding the new office was to Poland, acknowledged the media as a result of widening interest in good relations between neighboring countries. It was also noted that J. Zielenec is of Polish descent. "We are sure that splitting of the CSFR will not change the good relationship formed with Poland and we hope that this relationship continues to remain good in the future, maybe even growing stronger", the Czech minister said. J. Zielenec negotiated with his Polish colleague about bilateral and trilateral cooperation (within the so-called Visegrad triangle as well as with Hungary), and about the quick creation of a free-trade zone and other common interests concerning the European integration. "It is better to split the common state than to quarrel" This is the response given by of two thirds of the trade union members in the Czech and Slovak republic. More than half of them agree with the future negotiations concerning the common state. Most of the respondents felt splitting the CSFR would be deeply regrettable. These are the results of the August poll published by the Czech press on Saturday September 5. The extraordinary session of parliament on Friday. The discussion about future arrangement of the Czechoslovak state - this is the program of the extraordinary session of the Czechoslovak parliament, which will take place on Friday, September 11. The session is called at the request of members of parliamentary clubs of the opposition parties - Czechoslovak social democratic party, the Left Block, Republican party of Czechoslovakia and two Slovak parties : The Party of Democratic Left and Christian Democratic Party. There is a question about the particpation of members of government paries. Because the major parliamentary members are not going to participate, the session will be led by chairman of the House of the People Jozef Benda. The chairman of Federal Assembly M. Kovac (Movement for Democratic Slovakia - HZDS), the vice-chairman F. Sedivy (Civic Democratic Party) and the chairman of the House of Nations R. Zelenay (HZDS) will all take part in the international symposium about democracy in Quebec, Canada which takes place on occassion of the 200th anniversary of the Canadian parliament. The condition of A. Dubcek is still serious The chairman of the Slovak social democratic party and the member of the board of chairmen in the Federal Assembly Alexander Dubcek was seriously injured on Tuesday, September 1st due to the car accident and still lies at anaesthesiological clinic in the Prague hospital Na Homolce. Although fully in conscience, his condition remains serious even after slight improvement. A. Dubcek was visited in hospital also by former president V. Havel Vaclav Havel on private foreign visits The former Czechoslovak president Vaclav Havel visited recently as a private person Germany and Poland. In the interview for the journalist of Czechoslovak Press Agency in Berlin, he said that both he and the president Weiszacker share the same opinion on various important questions. He said that they e.g. agreed on the role of political parties in a constitutional system. The German president was interested in situation in Czechoslovakia, in the future relations between divided republics and also in preparation of Czech Republic's constitution and the role of the president in it. "President should play a stabilizing role in the situation when the democracy is forming. He should not be only a declarative president, he should have space for its own political behavior and decisions", V. Havel responded to the question if he agreed with the Polish pertners that the presidential system is necessary for the successful formation of democracy, at airport in Warsaw on Tuesday, September 8th. V. Havel met in Poland the president Walesa and the prime minister Suchocka. Vaclav Havel also addressed the possibility of formation of an authoritative regime in Slovakia. According to the newspaper Prace (September 9th) he said that the authoritative features are not new for Slovakia. The government in the new developing state naturally chooses ways of ruling that ensure discipline and operative decision making. V. Havel does not think that there is a danger of "Meciar's dictatorship" in Slovakia. Situation is still open and it depends only on the Slovak society how can it cope with difficulties arising in the new state. Law without additional parentheses The Supreme Court of the CSFR dwelling in Brno (the largest city in Moravia) decided last week that the Act 260, which concerns the punishment for propagation of movements that violate human rights or proclaim national hatred is valid only if the text following in parentheses "e.g. fascism or communism" is taken out. The Supreme Court chairman Ernest Vajko said that reason for this decision was that the notions of fascism and communism are not specified as criminal acts. The Court did not support the decision of 83 members of federal parliament that the whole Act 260 should be taken out, because it violates the Declaration of Human Rights. Changes in Chechoslovak press agency CSTK Mass media announced on Wednesday afternoon, that the director of CSTK Ing. Petr Uhl will be replaced by Ing. Tomas Kopriva, member of parliament representing Civic Democratic Party since September 15, 1992. "Do you think that it is fair to be a director of an institution which should not be party - orientated with your political activity?" T. Kopriva vwas asked in TV interview. "I think it is possible, and if it is possible, it is possible that it is fair," responded T. Kopriva. WEATHER After tropical August with record temperatures we have snow in September (in High Tatras). There was snowing during weekend at higher elevations in High Tatras - there is about 20 to 50 centimeters of snow (The High Tatras are the highest mountain range in the CSFR - the Gerlach peak is 2655 m high, it lies on the north of Slovakia on the border with Poland). While at the end of August there was in Slovakia a record temperature of 39 degrees Celsius, the morning temperatures in September have dropped below 10 degrees Celsius. The whole Europe is getting colder now, e.g. Athens and Madrid reported teperatures slightly above 20 degrees Celsius yesterday, hence we need not to be sorry that the vacation period is over. We had enough summer with hot weather this year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This news may be published only with "CAROLINA" designation. 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