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.cz Fax: (+422) 24810987 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* C A R O L I N A No 107, Friday, February 25, 1994. EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (February 16-23) Baudys Initiative to End War in Bosnia Meets with Criticism Defense Minister Antonin Baudys launched a private initiative February 19 to end the Bosnian conflict, and brought a storm of criticism upon himself for what many saw as overstepping his bounds. Baudys proposed that an "Executive Council of Good Will," acting under a mandate of the United Nations, take over the main role in attempting to solve the two-year old civil war. The council would be comprised of states "connected with the religious ethics which are in the region through their religious and cultural values," Baudys said, naming Russia, Greece, Turkey, Pakistan, France, and Italy as examples. Baudys sent his proposal to the General Secretary of the United Nations, NATO, and the U.S. and Russian presidents. Baudys consulted neither the government nor parliament before launching his proposal, a move that earned wide criticism. Foreign Affairs Minister Josef Zieleniec said Baudys had damaged the international image of the Czech Republic and exceeded his rights as defense minister. Most political parties also condemned the move. The executive committee of the Civic Democratic Party recommended that Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus take strong action against Baudys, up to removing him from his post. Jiri Holub, secretary of the Liberal Social Union, said at a press conference Wednesday that Baudys's action showed signs of a putsch. "The defence minister was insubordinate," Holub said. "The Prime Minister should act strongly. The only solution is to recall him." Holub said that because international press conferences must be planned several days in advance, Baudys's move was clearly pre-meditated. The government discussed the Baudys initiative for two hours Wednesday. Despite that and strong criticism in the media, Baudys remains in his post. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrej Kozyrev in Prague Andrej Kozyrev, Russian foreign affairs minister, came to Prague during his visit to the Visegrad Four countries February 18. Kozyrev negotiated with Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Josef Zieleniec on European security structures and the situation in the former Yugoslavia. Kozyrev said his country doesn't consider NATO the only security force in Europe. In the afternoon, Kozyrev met President Vaclav Havel at his residence in northern Bohemia. Havel is resting after a visit to Thailand, where he broke a rib after slipping in a bathtub. On Sunday, Kozyrev met Czech Premier Vaclav Klaus. Kozyrev postponed a planned visit to Slovakia, where the government is going through a political crisis. Karel Maly Takes Over Sceptre of Charles University Chancellor Professor Karel Maly, a doctor of law, was inaugurated as chancellor of the Charles University February 17 in the Great Hall of Carolinum. The former vice-chancellor for science and research takes the place of Professor Radim Palous Restitution of Jewish Property Bill Lingers Chamber of Deputies failed to pass a law concerning restitution of Jewish property on February 18. Due to a number of bills brought by the ruling Civic Democratic Party and opposition members, representatives of other coalition parties and the opposition Liberal National Socialist Party walked out of parliament before offering a final version of the law. The law concerned restitution of 200 buildings out of 1,000 seized by the Jewish communities. The secretary of the Federation of Jewish Communities, Tomas Kraus, claimed that after the humiliating negotiations in Parliament, the communities will lodge a claim to get back all seized property. Czech President Vaclav Havel branded the course of the restitution of Jewish property as undignified and abusive. Survey Results Show Czech Opinions Results of the February Center for Empirical Research surveys on a number of subjects show that Czechs like NATO, fear a communist coup, and feel the economy will improve. The study questioned 1,623 people. - Relation to NATO Fifty-six percent of those asked said the Czech Republic should enter NATO, with 20 percent answering "definitely yes". Forty-four percent oppose the move, with 15 percent saying "definitely no." NATO should give grants to the Visegrad countries -- Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary -- and later enable them to enter NATO, said 43 percent. Almost all of those questioned think NATO should somehow grant security to those countries. Russia is seen as the biggest military danger by 57 percent of the respondents, 20 percent, mostly the elderly, fear Germany, 13 percent fear the Ukraine, 9 percent fear the former Yugoslavia, and 5 percent view Slovakia as the threat to peace.. - What Czechs Fear Organized crime, followed by fear of a possible communist or authoritarian coup in Russia, the Gypsy minority, flow of the refugees and economic subjugation of the Czech Republic by Germany are viewed as the leading dangers to the country. Respondents were offered a list of 11 items to choose from, including revived Communist mafias and supremacy of foreign capital. - Future of the Economy and Standard of Living Sixty-eight percent of those questioned felt the worst of economic dislocation is over, and that the economy will improve from now on. Those taking the optimistic view tended to be female, younger and supporters of the coalition parties. Those 30- to 40-years-old were the most optimistic. Pessimists tend to be oriented to the left. Three percent expect rapid growth in the standard of living in the next year, with 20 percent expecting it in the next five years. - Assessment of Institutions, Popularity of Politicians Sixty-seven percent of those questioned think government worked fine in the last year. Thirty-eight percent had that view of Parliament. President Vaclav Havel won the confidence of 70 percent of the population, (a gain of 1 percentage point from January), 71 percent expressed faith in Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus, (a gain of 4 percentage points), and 44 percent expressed confidence in Milan Uhde, speaker of Parliament. The most popular Czech politician is still Vladimir Dlouhy, minister of industry and trade, with 89 percent, followed by Klaus, Josef Zeleniec, minister of foreign affairs, at 69 percent, and Jiri Dienstbier, former minister of foreign affairs, with 68 percent. - Election Preferences If elections were held today, 64 percent of the population would vote, 13 percent would not and 23 percent are undecided. The ruling Civic Democratic Party would get 31.3 percent of the votes, it's main partner Civic Democratic Alliance would get 14.9 percent, Czechoslovak Social Democracy would get 13.9 percent, the Left Bloc 10.9 percent, Christian Democratic Union 5.4 percent and the Republicans 3.7 percent. Of parties not in the % etc. From the non-parliamential parties, the Free Democrats, formerly Civic Movement, would get 2.2 percent of the votes, and Greenpeace 3.2 percent. Second choices are Civic Democratic Party, 25.3 percent, Civic Democratic Alliance, 23.8 percent, Czechoslovak Social Democracy 14.4 percent. FROM SLOVAKIA Changes in Leadership of Slovak National Party An extra assembly of the Slovak National Party (SNS), held during the weekend in Zilina, froze out Ludovit Cernak, until now chairman of the party. At the end of last year he and five other SNS deputies disagreed with the policies of Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar and his Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, SNS's senior coalition partner. The six created the National Democratic Club of SNS in Parliament, dropping SNS from 14 to 8 deputies and leaving the coalition and the opposition tied in Parliament with 75 members each. When Cermak was unable to make a statement about the activity of SNS at the party assembly, he and about 50 other delegates who support him left the meeting hall. They are expected to found a new party. Jan Slota, 31-year-old mayor of Zilina and the deputy of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, became the new SNS chairman. Petition Drive Begins, Could Lead to Elections The Slovak Parliament rejected February 17 a proposal from opposition deputies who wanted to call Parliamentary elections for this November. A day earlier, Parliament had also failed to approve a government plan for early elections in June. Coalition members are now organizing a petition drive that would force a referendum to decide if there should be early elections. According to the newspaper Sme, 95,000 people have signed the petition as of February 23. 350,000 signatures are necessary. CULTURE Ten Pairs of Dancers Finish Five-day Disco-marathon Eighty-two pairs of dancers took part in the third year of the disco-marathon February 14 in the Atrium Hotel. Only ten pairs were able to keep their bodies dancing with minimum breaks all the time. After 126 hours of dancing, the pairs shared a one million crown prize at midnight Saturday. Queen Gets Gold Record in Prague Roger Meadows Taylor, drummer of the English rock group Queen, flew to Prague February 21 to receive a Gold Record for the group's Greatest Hits 2, on the Monitor-EMI label. The ceremony took place Tuesday evening in the Unitaria Palace. A platinum record was given to the group Shalom, which also introduced its new LP Brana vzkazu (The Gate of Messages). Exchange Rates of the Czech National Bank (valid from February 6) CASH CHECKS Buy Sell Buy Sell Middle Great Britain 1GBP 42,85 45,69 44,046 44,488 44,267 France 1FRF 4,90 5,30 5,074 5,124 5,099 Italy 1 000ITL 17,09 18,63 17,768 17,946 17,857 Japan 100JPY 27,14 29,74 28,297 28,581 27,439 Canada 1CAD 21,44 23,22 22,216 22,440 22,328 Netherlands 1NLG 14,96 15,92 15,360 15,514 15,437 Austria 1ATS 2,40 2,52 2,452 2,476 2,464 Germany 1DEM 16,86 17,78 17,236 17,410 17,323 Switzerland 1CHF 20,11 21,11 20,502 20,708 20,605 USA 1USD 29,31 30,71 29,861 30,161 30,011 EMS-ECU 1XEU - - 33,406 33,742 33,574 Slovakia 1XCU - - - - 32,567 WEATHER Frost was not so fierce last week, but the weather gives truth to the proverb that in March, we will still sit by the stove. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This news may be published only with "CAROLINA" designation. The subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated. 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