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 Faculty of Social Science of Charles University Smetanovo nabr. 6 110 01 Prague 1 Czech Republic e-mail: CAROLINA@cuni.cz tel: (+42 2) 24810804, ext. 252, fax: (+42 2) 24810987 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* C A R O L I N A No 210, Thursday, July 4, 1996. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (June 26-July 4) Havel Names New Government At the recommendation of Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus, President Vaclav Havel named a new government July 4. Havel had July 2 accepted the resignation of the independent Czech Republic's first government, and on the same day renamed Klaus prime minister. Klaus is chairman of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), which won the Parliamentary elections with 29.62 per cent of the vote. As with the previous government, the coalition consists of ODS, the Christian Democratic Union-Czechoslovak Peoples' Party (KDU-CSL) and the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA). The new government is as follows (excerpted from Carolina 209): ODS Cabinet Members: Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus (age 55) Minister of Foreign Affairs and Government Vice-Chairman Josef Zieleniec (50) Minister of Finance and Government Vice-Chairman Ivan Kocarnik (52) Minister of the Interior Jan Ruml (43) Minister of Education Ivan Pilip (33) Minister of Health Jan Strasky (56) Minister of Transport Martin Riman (35) Minister of Social Affairs Jindrich Vodicka (44) KDU-CSL Cabinet Members: Minister of Agriculture Josef Lux (40) Minister of Culture Jaromir Talir (46) Minister of Defense Miloslav Vyborny (44) Minister for Development of Regions and Communities Jaromir Schneider (56) ODA Cabinet Members: Minister of Industry Vladimir Dlouhy (43) Minister of Justice Jan Kalvoda (43) Minister of the Environment Jiri Skalicky (40) Minister without Portfolio Pavel Bratinka (50) ODS, KDU-CSL and ODA Sign Coalition Agreement Coalition party Chairmen Vaclav Klaus (Civic Democratic Party), Josef Lux (Christian Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People's Party) and Jan Kalvoda (Civic Democratic Alliance) signed a coalition agreement June 27 which they ran in full in local papers such as Svobodne slovo and Pravo. Key points in the coalition agreement include healthcare, transportation, agriculture and housing. The parties agreed it is necessary to increase residential construction and contribute to making housing more accessible, and to finance changes in the healthcare system. Coalition partners want to reach international standards in transportation (highways, airports, railways) and to improve public transportation for villages. In the last few years, many public transportation routes were discontinued for lack of profit, and it was even more difficult to get into town from the countryside for employment, school, professional medical assistance and cultural events. The agreement thus attempts to address the most urgent problems the common citizen has suffered from in the past few years. The agreement states all decisions will be made with the participation of the full coalition. Eight-four-four, the ratio agreed upon for party representation in the government, will be maintained in the case of government restructuring. Parliamentary Committee Leaders Announced Parliamentary committee leaders were announced following the June 3 meeting. The ruling Civic Democratic Party (ODS) leads five committees for economy, defense and security, constitutional law, petitions, mandates and immunity. The Social Democrats are also in charge of five, including the budget, social policy and healthcare, agricultural, oganizational and the public authority, regional development and environmental committees. The Christian Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-CSL) has one parliamentary chairman, for foreign affairs, as does coalition partner the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA), for science, education, culture, youth and physical education. Parliament confirmed the election of leaders July 4. The most recent Minister of Justice, Jiri Novak (ODS), leads the Petition Committee, and Vilem Holan (KDU-CSL), Minister of Defense in Klaus' last cabinet, heads the Foreign Affairs Committee. Prague Zoo Tiger Kills College Student A 23-year-old student of Charles University's School of Physical Education and Sport was celebrating the end of the school year together with two schoolmates at the Prague Zoo June 25. Evidently just for fun, and under the influence of alcohol, he decided to take a swim in the feline area, not noticing the sleeping male tiger. According to witnesses the student was trying to escape the cage when seeing the animal, but the tiger's paw knocked him down and took him by the neck. The student did not survive the tiger's bite and an emergency doctor immediately pronounced the student's death. "It was a useless death. The student had broken the animal's territory and logically the animal was defending it," said the tiger's attendant to daily Pravo. According to the attendant's words, this animal is the kindest in the Zoo. FROM SLOVAKIA Kovac Barred from Germany The Slovak president's son, Michal Kovac Jr., had his passport confiscated at the Bratislava-Berg border crossing June 26. He was to have been heading through Austria on his way to Germany, where he wanted to prove his innocence in financial frauds concerning the Technopol company. The amount in question is more than 2.3 million USD. In relation to the Technopol case, Kovac had been barred from leaving Slovakia, in order to make escape attempts impossible, daily Lidove noviny reported in a story from the Czech Press Agency. ECONOMY Trade Deficit Rises in First Half of Year The foreign trade deficit for the first five months of 1996 was about 55 billion Czech crowns, which is 20 billion Czech crowns more than in the same period last year, according to data published by the Czech Statistics Office. While import has reached 302 billion Czech crowns this year, the value of export is 247.1 billion Czech crowns. Except for machine and transportation sectors, the import increased mainly (20 per cent) in the category of agriculture products and food stuff, The daily Lidove noviny June 27 said that. GSM Finally on Sale EuroTel, one of two co-licensees for operating GSM mobile telephones in the Czech Republic, commenced GSM sales July 1, and reduced the price of mobile telephone services 25 per cent. EuroTel, the former monopoly mobile telephone operator with the NMT system, offers four different rate cards in the GSM system, ranged between 695 Czech crowns monthly (calls paid extra) and 2,495 Czech crowns monthly (300 call minutes included). The one-minute rate is 2.50 to 3.00 Czech crowns in the GSM environment, but to be connected with the permanent phone network shall cost up to 9.90 Czech crowns for one minute. The SIM card costs 5,000 Czech crowns, in July 3,000 Czech crowns (a discount for early buyers). RadioMobil, the second co-licensee, is going to start GSM sales as late as September, and wants to compete with EuroTel by means of lower mobile phones prices (from 999 Czech crowns) and by lower monthly rates (from 395 to 1,795 Czech crowns monthly). The majority shareholder of EuroTel is SPT Telecom, the remaining 49 per cent is owned by the American consortium Atlantic West B.V., set up by Baby Bell companies US West and Bell Atlantic. RadioMobil, which won the public tender in March 1996 (see Carolina 195), consists of major shareholders Czech Radiocommunication and the Deutsches Telecom daughter company DeTeMobil, with minor shares belonging to Czech companies Podnik vypocetni techniky and Sporitelni investicni spolecnost. Exchange Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid from July 7) country currency ------------------------------------------ Australia 1 AUD 21.582 Belgium 100 BEF 87.696 Great Britain 1 GBP 42.937 Denmark 1 DKK 4.684 Finland 1 FIM 5.890 France 1 FRF 5.338 Ireland 1 IEP 44.016 Italy 1000 ITL 17.944 Japan 100 JPY 24.947 Canada 1 CAD 20.269 Luxemburg 100 LUF 87.696 Netherlands 1 NLG 16.094 Norway 1 NOK 4.233 New Zealand 1 NZD 18.816 Portugal 100 PTE 17.556 Austria 1 ATS 2.565 Greece 100 GRD 11.499 Slovakia 100 SKK 88.769 Germany 1 DEM 18.049 Spain 100 ESP 21.454 Sweden 1 SEK 4.117 Switzerland 1 CHF 22.000 USA 1 USD 27.579 ECU 1 XEU 34.229 SDR 1 XDR 39.776 CULTURE International Film Festival Prague 96 Prizes The international film festival Prague 96 ended June 29 when the jury, headed by Swedish actor Max von Sydow, awarded the following Golden Golem prizes: Best film: The things I have never told you, (USA/Spain), director Isabel Coixet. Best Actress: Virginia Ledoyen (France, Unmarried Girl) Best Actor: Alessandro Benvenuti (Italy, Genius Ivo) Lifetime Achievement: Andrzej Wajda (Poland) Due to the low artistic level of competing movies no prize for direction was awarded, though the Icelandic film Stone Tears got a special jury prize for camerawork. Spejbl and Hurvinek Orphans Milos Kirschner, the managing director and leading personality of Spejbl and Hurvinek's Theater, died July 2 at the age of 69. Father Spejbl and his rascal son Hurvinek are the popular puppets originally invented by Josef Skupa. Kirschner came to the Skupa's puppet theater in 1951, and after Skupa's death he continued in the tradition and developed both characters, well known not only in the former Czechoslovakia, but also abroad, because the S+H theater frequently took its plays on tours in many languages. SPORT EURO 96 Finale: Czech Republic - Germany 1:2 The sudden-death goal scored by Bierhoff in the 95th minute decided that the German soccer team would become the winner of EURO 96 and thus European champion. The prizes were awarded by Queen Elizabeth, who attended the match with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Czech President Vaclav Havel. The first goal was scored by Berger on a penalty kick after Sammer's foul on Poborsky in the 58th minute. The Germans evened the score in the 73th minute with a goal by substitute forward Bierhoff. When the game ended in a draw it came to overtime, with a new rule which calls for the game to end when either team scores a goal. In spite of the defeat, the Czech soccer players were welcomed as heroes on the afternoon of July 1 at Old Town Square in Prague. Czech Republic: Kouba - Kadlec, Hornak, Rada, Suchoparek - Poborsky (88. Smicer), Nedved, Bejbl, Berger, Nemec - Kuka Germany: Kopke - Sammer, Helmer, Babbel - Strunz, Scholl (69.Bierhoff) Hassler, Eilts (46.Bode), Ziege - Kuntz, Klinsman This issue was written by Milan Smid (economy), Jiri Trunecka (sport) and Lida Truneckova (the rest). xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Dear Readers, This was the last weekly Carolina of the 1995-1996 school year. The schedule for summer-vacation issues of Carolina is as follows: issue date editor --------------------------------------------------------------- Carolina No. 211 July 19 Lida Truneckova Carolina No. 212 August 2 Lida Truneckova Carolina No. 213 August 16 Milan Smid Carolina No. 214 August 30 Milan Smid Carolina No. 215 September 13 Lida Truneckova Carolina No. 216 September 27 Lida Truneckova From October Carolina will again be produced weekly by incoming freshmen at the School of Journalism. Enjoy your summer. 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