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 42, Friday, September 25, 1992. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear readers, starting with this issue we will mail Carolina automatically with the Listserv facility of the Czechoslovak national link CSEARN. You can order our e-mail journal by sending mail to the address: LISTSERV@CSEARN.BITNET The mail should contain only one line of text: SUBSCRIBE CAR-CS First name Last name for the Czech version of Carolina or SUBSCRIBE CAR-ENG First name Last name for the English version. 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Your editors. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEWS FROM THE LAST WEEK (September 16th - September 23rd) Skoda Plzen will restrict the production The largest Czech engineering company Skoda Plzen will be forced to restrict the production since October 1st. This is the result of the Wednesday meeting of the directors' board of the company which has now 28,000 employees. Even if it was known that the Skoda company is in trouble, the public proclamation of the selective restriction of production in this time was a surprise. When the first information was released by directors of the company, the interpretation in the media was very dramatic. "Most of Skoda factories will stop production on October 1st, because the order from Czechoslovak state railways for the total amount of 1.4 billion crowns cannot be fulfilled, as well as becuse of high unpaid credit debt in the total amount of 4.3 billion crowns." the chairman of the board of directors of Skoda company said on Thursday, September 17th. The Czech minister of industry and commerce Vladimir Dlouhy who visited the Skoda factories right after he has returned from the United States and Ireland met with the chairman in a private dicussion "behind the closed door" and later he also met with the board of directors of the company to get as much information as possible for his Monday meeting with the leaders of the company. He said that Skoda has to stop production in some factories, that there will be firing of employees, but the production will not be restricted completely. There have been speculations in the media if the bankruptcy was not forced artificially to decrease the value of the company. The chairman of the board of directors L. Novotny said that due to the current decrease in the value of the company, the share of Skoda in the prepared joint venture decreased from 49 to 33 percent. The rector of the University in Trnava repealed The repeal of dr. Anton Hejduk, the rector of the University in Trnava has attracted a lot of attention not only in Slovakia and not only in academic circles. Here are the facts: Anton Hejduk was nominated as a rector of the new University in Trnava by the president of the CSFR Vaclav Havel on May 15th, 1992. On May 20th, the preparing committee of the Tranava University led by dr. Hajduk started to work. This committee was nominated by the Slovak Parliament. Independently, another preparing committee (led by Prof. Kovac) has been created and submitted a complaint to the bureau of control of the Slovak republic for breaking the law: A. Hajduk is not a full professor nor an associate professor and therefore he is not eligible to be a rector of the University. The minister of culture of the Slovak republic Dusan Slobodnik who was in that period also in the head of the ministry of education, asked dr. Hejduk to withdraw. He proposed to the prime minister Jan Strasky, who after abdication of Vaclav Havel also administrates some of the duties of the president, to nominate to this function Prof. Kovac. Since according to the law about Universities, the proposal for the rector can be submitted only by the academic senate composed of professors and student representatives, the prime minister rejected the proposal. According to the prime minister Strasky, it is not necessary to repeal dr. Hejduk, because his nomination was not in accordance with the law. On August 25th, minister Slobodnik proclaims the nomination certificate of dr. Hejduk invalid and the decision of V. Havel unlawful and asks dr. Hajduk to hand over his function to Prof. Kovac. On August 26th, minister Slobodnik asks the Tranava rector to hand over his function to the person he will nominate and asks him to restrain from all the activities resulting from the function. On August 31st minister Slobodnik nominates doc. L. Harach, the official of the ministry of education as a temporary chair of the University in Trnava. On September 2nd minister Slobodnik asks the prime minister Strasky for the decision that the nomination of dr. Hejduk by the president is an invalid act. On September 7th, the prime minister Strasky confirms that this is an invalid act. Minister Slobodnik announces this fact to dr. Hejduk and repeatedly asks him to hand over all his agenda to Mr. Harach on September 9th until 2 pm. The leaders of the Universtity have different opinion, they want to present the case to the Supreme Court for the final decision. When dr. Hejduk gave his agenda to one of the vice-chairmen of the University, minister Slobodnik came in person to the University in Trnava and changed the door locks so that dr. Hejduk could not come. The fact that another five rectors of Slovak Universities do not fulfill the qualification requirements and only one is asked to withdraw, shows that the whole case is politically motivated. Some of the lecturers at the University in Trnava are the representatives of the former leading parties : Miroslav Kusy, Zuzana Bartosova, wife of the former minister of culture L. Snopko, Sona Somolanyiova and others. The press points out that this action of the Movement for Democratic Slovakia is unfair but it has a tacit approval from Civic Democratic Party (the prime minister Jan Strasky is a member of this party). The newspaper of the Christian Democrats, the Slovak Daily concludes a big article about repeal of the Trnava rector published under the title "Octopus" with the undertitle "Shall the University in Trnava be a precedent ?" with these words : "We see how the leading party takes the power and shows it in practice. This concerns us all. We are the witnesses of the advance according to the party line with the authoritative elements." Milos Zeman from the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party has the same opinion. He said with irony in the TV series The Weekly Review: "I am very glad that we have progress towards democracy, because instead of one ruling party (i.e. the former Communist Party of Czechoslovakia - editorial remark) we now have two ruling parties (i.e. Civic Democratic Party and Movement for Democratic Slovakia - editorial remark). This is really a significant progress. But I think that the democracy is in something else than the fact that the ruling parties put its members into high offices. (We wrote about the replacement of the director of Czechoslovak Press Agency with the member of the ODS in two preceeding issues - editorial remark). Because then their membership card becomes a tool for getting a job and this reminds of something that has been here before. Democracy is a dialogue with the opposition, which contols the government. And the wise government should support opposition at the Universities, which are the centers for different opinions." The joint meeting of the Parliament On Tuesday September 22nd, the 3rd interrupted joint meeting of the both Houses of the Federal Assembly continued. The meeting was called on request of the parliament members from the opposition parties to discuss the future of the Czechoslovak state. Parliament accepted the report of the government of CSFR about the current situation and asked the federal government to submit until October 15 the programme which would be against elemental and unconstitutional disassembly of the federation and which would prevent conflicts among citizens arising with the questions about the future of the republic. The cabinet of Jan Strasky should submit until November 15th a conception of future cooperation of Czech and Slovak republic for the case of constitutional splitting of the CSFR - concentrating on the issues of foreign policy, defense, currency , budget and finances as well as on common customs policy , economical policy , transport and telecommunications. The condition of Alexander Dubcek is still serious. According to the doctors of the Prague hospital Na Homolce, the condition of Alexander Dubcek is still serious. He has been hospitalized since September 1st when he was seriously injured after a car accident. A. Dubcek fell into unconsciousness again on Friday. The doctors succeeded in fixing the blood ciculation in the brain veins and stabilized his condition using the external lung ventilation. The lung infection still lasts. The prize increase for the postal services The postal fees in Czechoslovakia will increase in average in 180 percent. For example, the 2 crowns stamp is required now for postcards (the former price was 50 halers), the letter costs 3 crowns instead of one. The fee for a registered letter increases from 3 to 5 Kcs and for an express mail from 3 to 8 Kcs. The politics in soccer The bus tour to Budapest for the Eurpean Masters soccer game between Ferencavaros Budapest and the Czechoslovak champion Slovan Bratislava has been cancelled by the fan club of Slovan Bratislava. "When the fans want to go to Budapest on individual basis, we cannot prevent it", said the secretary of the Slovan soccer team A. Urban. "The Slovak parliament and I myself suggest to the fans not to go. The Hungarian police cannot prevent the physical contact between the fans and the subsequent riots." , said to the journalists the chairman of the parliamentary committee for security Ladislav Polka. The fear from disturbances did arise after the reaction of Hungarian officials to the severe police action in Bratislava against Hungarian fans during the first game on Wednesday, September 16th. Even if the Hungarian police said after the return from Bratislava that the fault for riots is on the side of fans of FTC Budapest, the Hungarian minister for inner affairs Peter Boros said in the parliament on Monday that the action of the Slovak police was against the law and without any reason. Weather Even if the fall started on Wednesday, September 23rd, the weather during the day still reminds of sunny summer. We already got used to cool temperatures in the morning. Next weekend ,at night from Saturday to Sunday, we shall leave the daylight saving time and return to the central European time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This news may be published only with "CAROLINA" designation. To subscribe Carolina please send to the address LISTSERV@CSEARN.BITNET the e-mail message with the text SUBSCRIBE CAR-ENG First name Last name for the english version or SUBSCRIBE CAR-CS First name Last name for the Czech version. To drop sending replace the text by SIGNOFF CAR-ENG or SIGNOFF CAR-CS and send it to the above address. The subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated.