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 CZECH REPUBLIC School of Social Sciences of Charles University Smetanovo nabr. 6 110 01 Prague 1 Czech Republic E-mail address: carolina@n.fsv.cuni.cs Fax: (+422) 231 7391 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* C A R O L I N A No 81, Saturday, June 26, 1993. FROM LAST WEEK'S EVENTS (June 16-23, 1993) Ludek Rubas appointed Minister of Health of CR On Tuesday, June 22, President Vaclav Havel recalled Petr Lom from the post of the Minister of Health and replaced him by Ludek Rubas. For several weeks, the press had been writing about the possibility of the recall of the Health Minister but the politicians had repeatedly denied this possibility. The most recent denial came from Premier Vaclav Klaus himself, on Wednesday, June 16, when he denied that any discussion of this issue had taken place before the Civic Democratic Party caucus. According to Cesky denik (The Czech Daily), Premier Klaus commented on the possibility of recalling Petr Lom by saying that every minister is subject to recall, but in the case of the Health Minister, this was not an issue. Hence, it was a surprise of sorts the next day when Vaclav Klaus put forward a proposal to the President and to the governmental coalition partners to recall the Health Minister. Vaclav Klaus also expressed his regret over the fact that a recall of a cabinet member could be perceived as a first rift in the only stable country of the East European space. Petr Lom (Civic Democratic Party) is the first member of the Klaus government who had to leave his post. The alleged reason for this forced departure is that the former Minister did not manage to convince the public about the progress of the transformation process in health care. Ludek Rabas (40) has been a member of the Czech Parliament, and prior to that, he was a hospital director in Kolin in Central Bohemia. Until 1991, when he joined the Civic Democratic Party, he was not a member of any political party. Within the next two weeks, he plans to work out a rough outline of the program of transformation of health care. To his opinion, the responsibility of the patients for their own health should be substantially increased, while the physician should be made responsible for curing the patient. Vladimir Dlouhy remains the most trustworthy politician The latest public opinion poll indicates that 84% of the public trusts the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Vladimir Dlouhy, followed by 69% given to the Minister of Transportation Jan Strasky, Premier Vaclav Klaus, and from the opposition, the long-time favorite Jiri Dienstbier, the post-November (1989) Foreign Affairs Minister. In the fifth place we find the Finance Minister Ivan Kocarnik (65%) and sixth is Deputy Premier Jan Kalvoda (64%). 56% of the population favors the Foreign Affairs Minister Josef Zieleniec. President Vaclav Havel, who was listed separately from other politicians, is trusted by 65% of the people. Election Preferences If the elections were held in June, the governmental Civic Democratic Party would secure the first place with a comfortable 29% share of the votes, followed by the opposition Czech Social Democratic Party (13%), the coalition Civic Democratic Alliance (11%), and the opposition Left Bloc (8%), which is a coalition of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia and the Democratic Left. The results of this poll appeared in the press this week. Minister of Interior repeals exemptions from traffic regulations After six weeks, the Minister of Interior Jan Ruml issued a repeal, effective immediately, of the exemptions from the traffic regulations, originally granted to the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, to the Ministers and their first deputies, chiefs of certain central bodies of state administration, and to the chairmen of political parties represented in the Parliament. Among others, these exemptions allowed not to use safety belts, to drive along safety zones on highways and street car strips, to stop or stand in some otherwise forbidden places, such as next to crossings, and to disregard speed limits. As he said, he took these steps after taking into account the negative public opinion, and after consulting with the recipients of these exemptions. He further said that in cases of ugent nature, these persons will be given police escort. FROM SLOVAKIA Slovakia introduces import surcharges Starting July 1, Slovak Republic is expected to impose surcharges on certain imported goods. As the Slovak Finance Minister Julius Toth announced at a session of the Council of the Customs Union, the International Monetary Fund approved an across-the-board twenty-percent rate of import surcharge until the end of this year. After that, the rate should drop to 10%. It is still not completely clear what commodities will be affected by these measures. It is expected that groceries will be on top of the list. According to the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, Vladimir Dlouhy, the introduction of this surcharge is still subject to the approval of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). Changes in Slovak Government On Tuesday, President Michal Kovac accepted the resignation of Ministers Lubomir Dolgos and Matus Kucera. Premier Meciar was appointed the caretaker for the Ministry of the Administration and Privatization of National Property, and the Ministry of Education will be temporarily headed by Deputy Premier Roman Kovac. These steps were taken on the advice of the Premier. Within three weeks, negotiations between the governmental coalition between the Movement for Democratic Slovakia (the ruling party) and the Slovak National Party are expected to be concluded. The popularity ranking of the politicians almost unchanged Premier Vladimir Meciar, President Michal Kovac, and the Deputy Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic and the Chairman of the Party of the Democratic Left, Peter Weiss, are the most trusted politicians according to the latest opinion poll. These findings, without percentage figures, were published by the Slovak news program Actualities. According to polls conducted in June, 36% of the Slovak public believe that the Czech and the slovak Republics will reach an agreement about property settlement. In contrast, 42% do not believe it. EXCHANGE RATES OF THE CZECH CROWN (Kc) purchase sale Austria ATS 2.43 2.55 Canada CAD 21.61 23.39 France FRF 5.01 5.41 FRG DEM 17.04 17.96 Great Britain GBP 42.53 45.37 USA USD 28.85 30.25 These rates are as of June 23, 1993. WEATHER In Prague, as well as all over the Czech Republic, mild rain has been alternating with moderate sunshine for the last week. Temperatures fluctuate between 13 and 20 degrees Celsius, which dictates appropriate choice of clothing. One tourist may be sporting a summer T-shirt, while another wears a warm coat. What pays off every time is the choice of good footwear. Not only because of ever-present puddles, but also because it's summertime and you never know how far you may have to walk. Of course, you don't have to wear shoes to step on the gas pedal, and the sight of a barefoot businessman is refreshing in any season. If you planto visit our Republic, plan ahead what is most suitable for you. At this time, there seems to be no universal advice what to take along. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Dear Readers, instead of the last Czech issue, we inadvertently sent out the one before (resulting in no English mailing). Taking into account that the school has switched to summer regime, we cannot resolve this problem immediately. We will send you the missing issue next week as a correction. Thank you for your understanding, The Editors. Translation: Slavek Kovarik ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This news may be published only with "CAROLINA" designation. The subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated. Send them please to the address: carolina@n.fsv.cuni.cs To subscribe to CAROLINA you send an e-mail message to the address LISTSERV@CSEARN.BITNET. The text of the message is: SUBSCRIBE CAR-ENG First name Last name for the English version or SUBSCRIBE CAR-CS First name Last name for the Czech version. To delete your subscription from the list you send the following message to LISTSERV@CSEARN.BITNET: SIGNOFF CAR-ENG or SIGNOFF CAR-CS Please, don't send automatic replies to our list. You can temporarily stop receiving of Carolina by sending the command: SET CAR-ENG NOMAIL The command should be sent to the address LISTSERV@CSEARN.BITNET