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 126, Friday, July 15, 1994. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE LAST TWO WEEKS (July 1-13) Czech Parliament Before Summer Holidays The Czech Parliament spring session ended on Saturday, July 7, as members began their summer holidays. Since February the Parliament adopted nearly forty bills or amendments, and approved dozens of international treaties. Highlights of last week's sessions include: On Thursday, July 7, the Parliament passed bills on the intelligence services. Three intelligence services will operate within the Czech Republic: the Security Information Service BIS (under an independent budget and with a chairman appointed by the cabinet after consultation with the parliamentary committee), the Office for International Relations (organized by the Ministry of the Interior), and Military Intelligence (organized by the Defence Ministry). In contrast with the government proposal, the accepted bill stipulates that control of intelligence services should be entrusted not only to the Cabinet, but to the Parliament as well. The method of parliamentary control will be stipulated in the new Act, which is yet to be adopted. Untill then, intelligence services will remain under the control of the Cabinet. On Friday, July 8, the majority of the session was devoted to the interpellations of the Cabinet members, nevertheless the banking law amendment was adopted. The amendment states that banks must insure all personal deposits that are identified by the name, address and the date of birth of the depositor. Anonymous deposits are not covered by the amendment. On Saturday, July 9, the parliament passed a Law on state-awarded medals of honor. The law creates the following medals: the White Lion's Decoration, Masaryk's Decoration, the Medal for Heroism, and the Medal of Merit. The new honors will be awarded by the President with the Prime Minister's approval. On Saturday, July 9, the Parliament rejected the Annual report of the Czech Broadcasting Council (CBC) and used this rejection as a legal reason for repealing the Council and electing a new Council during the same session. The CBC (formally known as the Council of the Czech Republic for the Radio and TV Broadcasting) is an independent regulatory body responsible for monitoring broadcasting and awarding private licences. The nine-member Council began two years ago. The CBC was repeatedly criticized by government coalition parties last year for its licencing policy, despite the high level of broadcast privatization it helped bring about during its tenure in comparison with the broadcast privatization schemes of other post-communist countries. Only three members of the original CBC (Mrs Tomek, Josefik, Hanus) retained their membership. The new members of CBC are: M. Hakenova, J. Kabat (former Minister of Culture), J. Musil, J. Novotny and P. Stepanek. A ninth Council member is still to be elected. Exiles To Be Permitted To Participate in Restitution The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic abolished the provision in the Restitution Act that limits the application of the Act only to persons with permanent residence in the former Czechoslovakia. This permits Czech nationals who had been permanently living abroad to file claims for property seized after 1948. The Court was reacting to a recent complaint submitted by 53 members of parliament, asking that preconditions of restitution claiments domicile be abolished from the Act. The new ruling will be effective as of November 1, providing no parliament amendments are made to the Act. No new restitution claims from people who had permanent residence in the Czech Republic but did not apply for their seized property by the original deadline will be accepted. If the restitution claims of the new applicants are denied, they may take legal action for return of the property untill the end of October 1995. Several members of the cabinet have criticized the Court decision, claiming that the Court exceeded its competence. The daily MF Dnes published the opinion of Minister of Justice Jiri Novak, who declared that the Constitutional Court can abolish only the Acts or only the provisions of Acts which are not in accordance with the Constitution or with international treaties binding the Czech Republic. According to him the restitution claims deadline laid down in the Act does not belong in such a case. "In any case it is not possible to accept the consideration that the Constitutional Court could change the factual decision of the parliament," said Vaclav Klaus in connection with the decision. Iraqi Foreign Minister in Prague Iraqi Foreign Minister Muhammad Sahhaff arrived in Prague on Monday, July 4, despite intense domestic and foreign criticism of the visit. On Tuesday he met with Czech Foreign Minister Zieleniec and signed an agreement about the barter exchange of Czech and Iraqi goods with Czech Minister Vladimir Dlouhy. This agreement lays the framework for the liquidation of Iraqi debt (about a half billion US dollars), which can begin only after UN sanctions against Iraq are abolished. President Vaclav Havel publicly stated that he was not informed in advance about the preparation and goals of the visit. Twelfth All-Sokol-Meeting in Prague After 46 years, Prague was again host to the All-Sokol-Meeting, a more than a century-old sport and patriotic organization that was abolished under the communist government. Twenty-three thousand Sokol members participated in gymnastic and marching performances at Strahov stadium on July 5 and 6, with President Havel in attendance on the 6th. The weekly Respekt in its editorial said that the course of this event was characterized by decent modesty rather than by any kind of pathos. It became clear that the organizers did not intend to step back into the same stream from which the original organization flowed, nor did they want to make a dramatic symbolic point following the organizations long absence. After 1945 more than one million people in Czechoslovakia - 12 percent of the population had taken part in the activities of the Sokol's sport organization. Film Festival in Karlovy Vary The 29th Karlovy Vary Film Festival was held from July 1 through 9, supported for the first time solely by private contributors. The 40 million Czech crown budget was met without any state subsidies, although the Ministry of Culture provided nonmonetary support. The eight-member International Jury chaired by American producer Branko Lustig awarded the main prize - the Crystal Globe - to the Spanish film My Native Brother, directed by Marianno Baroso. Among the Festival guests were L. Zafranovic, J. Schlesinger, P. Noiret, and Max von Sydow. The closing ceremony was attended by president Havel and prime minister Klaus. Sponsors believe that the Film Festival in Karlovy Vary should be organized on an annual basis again. Untill now, the event has been held every second year, alternating with the Film Festival in Moscow. News Briefs The price of cigarettes rose 2 to 3 Czech crowns per package since July 1. According to a July 5 White House statement, president Clinton agreed to transfer the operations of RFE (Radio Free Europe) and Radio Liberty from Munich to Prague. Josef Zelieniec attended the meeting of ten East and Central European foreign ministers with US president Clinton in Warsaw on July 7. The remains of Jarmila Novotna, the famous singer who died in New York on February 9, were buried in the family crypt in Litni near Beroun on July 8. On July 8 the District court of Prague 5 acquitted Miroslav Gabriel, the publisher of an anti-Jewish fake document The Protocols of the Zion Sages, from the Penal Code suit, because the Court was not able to prove an intention of antisemitism. Mr Gabriel's activities were thus considered only as entrepreneurial publishing. The verdict is being appealed. On July 12-13 Egyptian president Mubarak had a two-day visit to Prague where he met with President Havel and Prime Minister Klaus. According to the Central Statistics Office, more than half of the pregnancies in the Prague metropolitan area end in abortion. The return of the Bojnice Altar to Slovakia in exchange for ten Slovak gothic religious paintings once owned by the Czech National Gallery and now in Bratislava may not occur by the August deadline following Czech Minister of Culture Pavel Tigrid's opposition to placing the paintings on permanent loan in the Slovak National Gallery. President Havel will spend the summer holiday in Slovenia, partly at the seaside partly in the mountains. Prime Minister Klaus stated that he will depart for "the absolutely hidden Austrian village, where not only the fax but even the hotel is nonexistent" and will spend the second week of his summer holiday at his country house in South Bohemia. Slovak crowns are in short supply at the Czech banks; vacationers to Slovakia may purchase Slovak currency only in a few banks in Prague and Brno. Allegedly, the big banks are recommending that tourists exchange Czech currency in Slovakia, since dealing with Slovak currency is not profitable for the banks. The soccer team Dukla Praha now ceases to exist after the end of the 1993-94 extra league season, when it finished in the very last place among the competitors. EXCHANGE RATES OF THE CZECH NATIONAL BANK (valid from July 12) CHECKS CASH country Buy Sell Middle Buy Sell ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Australia 1 AUD 20.335 20.539 20.437 19.37 21.51 Belgium 100 BEF 86.788 87.660 87.224 84.52 89.92 Great Britain 1 GBP 43.310 43.746 43.528 42.11 44.95 Denmark 1 DKK 4.554 4.600 4.577 4.38 4.78 Finland 1 FIM 5.407 5.461 5.434 4.93 5.93 France 1 FRF 5.215 5.267 5.241 5.04 5.44 Ireland 1 IEP 42.820 43.250 43.035 41.04 45.04 Italy 1000 ITL 17.978 18.158 18.068 17.30 18.84 Japan 100 JPY 28.403 28.689 28.546 27.25 29.85 Canada 1 CAD 20.011 20.213 20.112 19.22 21.00 Luxemburg 100 LUF 86.788 87.660 87.224 84.22 90.22 Netherlands 1 NLG 15.978 16.138 16.058 15.58 16.54 Norway 1 NOK 4.081 4.123 4.102 3.95 4.25 New Zealand 1 NZD 16.812 16.980 16.896 16.15 17.65 Portugal 100 PTE 17.392 17.566 17.479 16.30 18.66 Austria 1 ATS 2.548 2.574 2.561 2.50 2.62 Greece 100 GRD 11.851 11.971 11.911 11.20 12.62 Germany 1 DEM 17.921 18.101 18.011 17.55 18.47 Spain 100 ESP 21.644 21.862 21.753 20.75 22.75 Sweden 1 SEK 3.606 3.642 3.624 3.46 3.78 Switzerland 1 CHF 21.253 21.467 21.360 20.86 21.86 USA 1 USD 27.852 28.132 27.992 27.29 28.69 EC-ECU 1 XEU 34.188 34.532 34.360 -- -- IMF-SDR 1 XDR 40.534 40.942 40.738 -- -- Slovakia 1 XCU -- -- 34.360 -- -- WEATHER After a brief period of cooler weather July 7-9, the heat wave returned to the country. 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