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 211, Friday, July 19, 1996. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS (July 4-18) Parliament to Debate Confidence in Klaus July 23 Parliament Chairman Milos Zeman moved back the legislature's next session to July 23, where Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus will present the government's program declaration. The delay in the session, originally planned for July 16, is connected with government's unwillingness to give parliamentary deputies the program officially before its reading in Parliament, the press reported. After a public exchange of opinions, the publication of the text in thew media and Zeman's written request, Klaus promised the chairmen of all parliamentary clubs will receive the declaration July 19.l Parliament has 30 days from the July 4 naming of the government to express its confidence. Court Rules Payment for Care and Medicine Unconstitutional By repealing provisions in the insurance and healthcare laws and regulations July 10, the Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the complaint filed by 43 opposition deputies in the former Parliament claiming citizens have the right to free medical care and medicine in the Czech Bill of Rights. The existing system, where citizens partially pay for visits to the doctor and prescibed medicines, runs according to government and Health Ministry regulations, without a legal code. The Constitutional Court ruled a legal code which determines the extent of covered healthcare must replace the regulations by April 1. Health Ministry officials expect more trouble passing the laws in Parliament than writing them, considering the opposition majority in the legislature and the newness of the Senate, to be elected for the first time this fall. Ombudsman on TV Parliament and Social Democrat Vice-Chairwoman Petra Buzkova defended the need for the controversial ombudsman position July 10 on the popular Arena television debate. A quintet of opponents (including Supreme Court Chairman Otakar Motejl and former Justice Minister and current Parliament Petition Committee Chairman Jiri Novak from the Civic Democratic Party) objected that the office of defender of public rights would be just another building full of goverment officials, and that parliamentary deputies can do the job just as well. Buzkova was supported by 7,817 viewers, while 5,940 disagreed with her. Personal Information about Goverment Members The highest academic title in the government belongs to Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus (Civic Democratic Party - ODS), who was politically rehabilitated as a docent at the Faculty of Social Sciences and served as a professor at the University of Economics. Foreign Minister and government Vice-Chairman Josef Zieleniec (ODS) is the only other member to have attained the title of docent, like Klaus at the Faculty of Social Sciences. The only PhD. in the cabinet is Health Minister Jan Strasky (ODS). Only Interior Minister Jan Ruml, denied admission to university for political reasons, lacks a university degree. The oldest members of government are Strasky and Economy Minister Jaromir Schneider (Christian Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People's Party - KDU-CSL), both 56, Klaus is 55, Finance Minister Ivan Kocarnik (ODS) is 52 and Zieleniec is 50. At 33, the youngest cabinet member is Education Minister Ivan Pilip (ODS). All the government members are married, while Agriculture Minister Josef Lux (KDU-CSL) has the most children, six. Klaus has two sons, while only Pilip and Zieleniec have no children. President Vaclav Havel, who referred to the cabinet as a good team, expressed his sorrow July 7 that no women belong to the cabinet. One Sentence *** American First Lady Hillary Clinton, in the Czech Republic for four days, expressed her support for the new democracies in central and eastern Europe July 4 in a speech at Radio Free Europe's Prague headquarters. Clinton also took an interest in healthcare financing, visiting a hospital and childcare center during her stay. *** At the presentation of a literary award to Czech Ambassador to Germany Jiri Grus, former German President Richard von Weisacker voiced support for Czech victims of fascism receiving damages before the resolution of other contentious Czech-German issues (the Andreas Gryphin Prize is annually awarded to German-language authors from eastern Europe, Grus winning for his collection of poetry Der Babylonwald a Wandersteine). *** Tens of thousands made the traditional Cyril and Methodius pilgrimmage July 4-7 in Velehrad near Uherske Hradiste. July 5 is a national holiday in honor of the pair of Greek monks, who came to the Great Moravian Empire in 863, translated the Bible and liturgical texts, while Cyril (then known as Constantine)_ invented the Cyrillic alphabet. *** Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, head of the Czech Catholic Church, expressed his regret July 6 over the death of John Huss (Jan Hus), who strove for church reform and was burned at the stake as a heretic in 1415, the day of his death now a national holiday. "A tranformation only economic is small, a spiritual transformation is necessary, and therein lies Huss' message," said Vlk. *** Beginning July 7, 250 ecological activists created a four-day blockade around the uncompleted and controversial Temelin nuclear-power plant in southern Bohemia. *** Former Parliament Chairman Milan Uhde was elected chairman of ther Civic Democratic Party's Parliamentary Club July 16. Uhde won in the third round of voting, after Jiri Honzajer, the former club chairman, removed his name from the voting. Uhde's election strengthens the position of Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus, Honzajer being one of Klaus' few opponents within the party and Uhde having admitted a "willingness to be Klaus' gopher for beer," according to the July 18 edition of daily MF DNES FROM SLOVAKIA Hillary Clinton Briefly Visits Bratislava As part of her 11-day tour of central and eastern Europe, American First Lady Hillary Clinton stopped for seven hours in Bratislava July 6. She met individually with President Michal Kovac, Premier Vladimir Meciar, Mayor P. Kresanek and representatives of 22 non-govermental organizations, handicapped by new govermental regulations. Stress in Hungarian-Slovak Relations Pressures in Hungarian-Slovak relations rose with the conclusions of a Budapest conference, Hungary and Hungarians Abroad, according to which Hungarian official policy will support the creation of autonomy for Hungarians living abroad. A sharp protest against the "gross interfernce" in Slovak domestic affairs was made July 13 by members of the Republic Board of the ruling Movement for a Democratic Slovakia. The conference's conclusions werre also signed by Hungarian deputies from the Slovak National Assembly. ECONOMY Kozeny and Dingman Officially Join Forces President of Harvard Industrial Holding Viktor Kozeny and Stratton Investments chief Michael Dingman merged holdings in forming Daventree, a joint venture headquartered in Cyprus. Stratton and Harvard have equal stakes in the partnership, which is to focus on investments throughout central and eastern Europe, and looks to be listed on exchanges in London and New York. June Unemployment 2.7 Per Cent Unemployment June 30 stood at 2.7 per cent, the same level as in May, with Prague remaining the traditional center of low unemployment (0.3 per cent) and northern Moravia its opposite (7.8 per cent). Sixty per cent of the unemployed are women, according to data published in the daily Pravo. Exchange Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid from July 19) country currency Great Britain 1 GBP 41.470 France 1 FRF 5.323 Japan 100 JPY 24.819 Canada 1 CAD 19.542 Austria 1 ATS 2.560 Slovakia 100 SKK 88.100 Germany 1 DEM 18.026 Switzerland 1 CHF 22.067 USA 1 USD 26.848 ECU 1 XEU 33.979 SDR 1 XDR 39.030 CULTURE Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary) Film Festival Attracts Thousands The June 21-9 Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary) International Film Festival in western Bohemia attracted thousands of moviegoers, a small constellation of stars and rave reviews from the media, in contrast with the recent Prague International Film Festival. The film Prisoner of the Mountain, shot in Kazakhstan by Russian director Sergej Bodrov, won the Crystal Globe award for the festival best film, while American actor Gregory Peck received an award for lifetime achievement, as well as an emergency appendectomy, in the spa town. Other festival guests included Alan Alda, Rosie Perez, Julia Ormond, Whoopi Goldberg, Olympia Dukakis, Pierre Richard and Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus. A number of the showings, which took place in six cinemas, were sold out. SPORT Transfers of the Silver Soccer Players The Czech Republic's surprising success in Euro 96 was immediately followed by the exits of the team's stars to high-profile clubs. Petr Kouba signed a four-year contract with Spain's Deportivo La Coruna, while Radek Bejbl will likely go to the reigning Spanish champions Atletika Madrid. Pavel Nedved followed a complicated trail to Lazio Roma, while Euro 96 hero Karel Poborsky seems headed to Great Britain, probably either to Manchester United or FC Liverpool. Summer Special Olympics, a Memorial to Olga Havlova About 800 athletes from 98 clubs and another 100 athletes from Belgium, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia participated in the third-annual Summer Special Olympics. The three-day games, inaugurated in Prague by President Vaclav Havel July 4, took place with minimal public interest. WEATHER An old saying predicts cold in the Czech Republic after July 26, but this year the whole first half of the month was chilly. Snow did not fall as in the Pyrenees or South Africa, but neither were temperatures close to the 40 degrees Celsius/106 degrees Fahrenheit recorded in Ukraine. Cottage-goers could turn on the heat when nighttime temperatures fell to 5 degrees Celsius/41 degrees Fahrenheit. Today's summer-vacation issue of Carolina was prepared by Lida Truneckova with a hand from family members - Ondra (first and third articles) and Jiri (Sport), and by Michael Bluhm (Daventree and Film Festival). English version was translated and edited by Michael Bluhm. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Dear Readers, Because of some readers' queries about Carolina last Friday, we will repeat the summer-vacctioo CCrollna schedule (Carolina 210 was published July 4): Carolina 212 August 2 Lida Truneckova Carolina 213 August 16 Milan Smid Carolina 214 August 30 Milan Smid Carolina 215 September 13 Lida Truneckova Carolina 216 September 27 Lida Truneckova Carolina wishes its readers a happy summer. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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@cuni.cz To subscribe to CAROLINA news you send an e-mail message to the address LISTSERV@listserv.cesnet.cz The text of message for subscription of the English version must be: SUBSCRIBE CAR-ENG First name Last name or for the Czech version SUBSCRIBE CAR-CS First name Last name To delete your subscription from the list of subscribers you send the following message to the address LISTSERV@listserv.cesnet.cz: SIGNOFF CAR-ENG or SIGNOFF CAR-CS We ask you not to send automatic replies to our list. You can temporarily stop receiving of Carolina by sending the command: SET CAR-ENG NOMAIL All Listserv commands should be sent to the address: LISTSERV@listserv.cesnet.cz Please, don't send commands SUB, SIGNOFF, NOMAIL etc to the address CAR-CS@listserv.cesnet.cz or CAR-ENG@listserv.cesnet.cz!