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 217, Friday, October 4, 1996. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (September 26 - October 2) President Returns from South America President Vaclav Havel returned from a two-week journey through South America, including stops in Brazil, Chile (see Carolina 216), Uruguay and Argentina. Minister of Industry and Trade Vladimir Dlouhy was also a part of the Czech delegation. Havel met with Uruguay President Julio Maria Sanguinetti, who supports mutual trade. Dlouhy signed a new Czech-Uruguay agreement to protect invesments. The South American mission ended their tour in Argentina, which became a haven for Czech emigrees before 1989. After Havel's meeting with President Carlos Menem in Buenos Aires, the two countries signed an agreement on investment support. Havel spent his only free day on Easter Island. Lucie Podesvova/Andrea Snyder Zieleniec: Czech Republic Maybe NATO Member in 1999 Giving a speech September 30 at the 51st United Nations Organization plenary meeting in New York, Czech Foreign Minister Josef Zieleniec said the Czech Republic could enter NATO on the occasion of its 50th anniversary in April 1999. According to Zieleniec, some of the chief representatives of NATO presume this date to be realistic. The foreign minister also emphasized that admission should be decided, besides the applicant's participation, only by member states of the alliance, and Russia should not influence the acceptance of new members. Lucie Vackova/Denisa Vitkova Klaus Visits U.S. From September 26 to October 1, Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus made an unofficial trip to the United States. There he met representatives of the most significant banks and the New York Stock Exchange, as well as the chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine. Klaus also lectured on the Czech transformation. David Simonik/Denisa Vitkova Parliament Establishes Commission to Investigate Bank Crash On its October 1 inaugural after-vacation session, Parliament deputies decided to form a parliamentary commission to investigate the failure of Kreditni banka Plzen. Social Democrat Michal Kraus suggested the proposal, which was ratified by 189 of 200 deputies. The 12-member commission will be comprised of four representatives from the ruling Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and the opposition Social Democrats and one from each of the other four parties of Parliament. The five-hour debate on the issue, according to media, brought many accusations but only few constructive arguments. Social Democrats accused the government of responsibility for the collapse of banking and, in the case of Kreditni banka Plzen, the Social Democrats expressed their distrust in financial institutions partially owned by the state. Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus also blames fraudulent schemes, human error and dishonesty for the collapse of some of the bank institutions. According to him, the Czech National Bank might had acted too liberally granting licences and the supervisory body for overseeing banks was not managing its tasks completely as well. Denisa Vitkova/Denisa Vitkova Candidates Turned away for Faulty Applications The Central Election Committee turned down more than 80 of 600 applications to the Senate September 25. The most frequent mistakes were incorrectly written identification numbers, incomplete data on the candidate's petition (each candidate had to have the support of 1,000 voters in his district), or even insufficant information on nationality. Even well-known people were turned away, for example, former Czech Prime Minister Petr Pithart, Czech ambassador to Germany Jiri Grusa, and Richard Falbr, head of the largest union organization. According to public opinion polls, Falbr is the most popular candidate running for election. Only the Supreme Court can change the verdict. The decision must be appealed within 24 hours, and the Supreme Court then has three days to make a final decision. Supreme Court Chief Justice Otakar Motejl said the Court's evaluation process will be just as strict as the Central Election Committee's, in keeping with the law. Karolina Cebrovska/Andrea Snyder Poll Shows Little Interest in Elections A poll conducted by the Center for Empirical Research (STEM) shows only 55 per cent of registered voters will definitely vote in the November Senate elections. Three-fourths of the voting population has not ruled out going to vote, only half will definitly come, and one-tenth will definitly not come. The main reason voters are not interested in the Senate is that they are poorly informed about it. Polls show that only about 42 per cent of the population sees a reason to establish a Senate, and 43 per cent thinks that it will be useful. Right-wing voters are more interested in the Senate than left-wingers, which raises hopes of the current coalition. Vit Bartek/Andrea Snyder Lux Accuses ODA and ODS of Breaking Coalition Agreement Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union-Czechoslovak Peoples' Party (KDU-CSL) Josef Lux accused the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA) September 30 of breaking their coalition agreement. Lux reacted sharply to ODS Vice-Chairman Jan Strasky's announcement that the caolition has decided to return the church's forest by way of the law. However, the coalition agreement states that the restitution of church property should be by executive decision. Strasky is ODS's spokesman concerning this matter. This marks the first largest disagreement in the government since it was assembled. The government has also decided to restitute some of the buildings and grounds taken from the church in February 1948. The Ministry of Culture will decide by the end of November, but it is not yet certain how much will be restituted. The government is talking about hundreds of of buildings, but Mojmir Kalny of the Prague Archbishop's Office says that 1,700 buildings should be returned. The opposition is not too pleased about restitution of church property. Going against the coalition October 1, they managed to add a point to Parliament's itinerary saying the government will not be able to restitue church property in the form of a state decision. Jiri Fremuth/Andrea Snyder Klaus' Position Shaken? Highly placed officials told Czech daily MF DNES October 2 that Prime Minister and Civic Democratic Party Chairman Vaclav Klaus' position has weakened. The released information was the topic of a discussion in the party's parliamentary club and in top party management. Athough some party members have said their leader is merely tired, MF DNES wrote that party members are panicking. The prime minister refused to comment. Jana Weiserova/Andrea Snyder Herberta Masarykova Dies Herberta Masarykova, the granddaughter of founder of Czechoslovakia Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, died in Prague September 30 at the age of 81. She was born the daughter of artist Herbert Masaryk July 6, 1915. She graduated from the Prague Conservatory and then worked at the Orbis publishing house, later at the Publishing House of Belle Lettres and Art and then at the music department of Supraphon. She married art historian Emanuel Poche, and had a daughter, Charlotte. The funeral service will be held October 9 at the Strasnice Crematorium. Michaela Klevisova/Andrea Snyder Provocative Leaflets to be Investigated Tachov State Attorney Ales Hajovsky announced October 21 that the anonymous creator of leaflets which crudely attack Czech-German relations will be investigated for slandering the nation and instigating national hatred. The leaflets found at the western Bohemian border are written in poor Czech and have several grammatical errors. Some police believe that Czech extremists are behind it, but even the possibility that the leaflets may have come from Germany is being investigated. Although the first leaflet was found in June, the case has not yet been investigated. Lenka Javurkova/Andrea Snyder Former Prosecutor-General Setina Not Guilty The Prgaue 1 Court September 26 found former Prosecutor-General Jiri Setina not guilty of attacking a public official, endangering state secrets and endangering currency reserves. The court decided after three years that Setina did not commit any of the crimes, and the state has not appealed. Setina was accused of endangering state secrets after warning Trade Minister Vladimir Dlouhy about possibly bugged telephones. The bugging could have occurred when Setina permitted the bugging of a certain ministerial official suspected of organized-crime ties. Setina charged a number of secret police agents who were following the official. Other charges were connected to money from the renting of Setina's villa. Setina allegedly deposited the money in a Swiss bank account and thusly endangered currency reserves. The attacking a public official charge stems from a January 1994 incident when Setina verbally abused two policemen after being stopped on the highway. Petra Kuskova/Zuzana Kawaciukova FROM SLOVAKIA Carnogursky Has a Rival in KDH A new personality on the Slovak political scene, right-leaning economist Mikulas Dzurinda, intends to change the Christian Democratic Movement into a modern conservative party and improve its standing (the movement performed miserably in the last elections). Dzurinda wants to become chairman of the movement, but to do so must wage a battle with hitherto Chairman Jan Carnogursky, according to an article from the September 26 edition of Czech daily MF DNES. Dzurinda and Carnogursky want to combine smaller rightist parties into a larger block. Such a grouping would have the chance to garner more than 25 per cent of the vote, according to polls (in addition to the movement the block would include the Democratic Party and the Democratic Union, which includes former members of the ruling Movement for a Democratic Slovakia). Dzurinda is counting on support of non-Catholic voters, which Carnogursky rejects. It is expected that the power struggle may have significant influence on rightist politics. Jakub Prochazka/Zuzana Kawaciukova SME: Robert Remias Was Murdered The investigation into the mysterious death of Robert Remias, the only contact of the key witness in the case of Michael Kovac Jr.'s kidnapping, has moved forward. The opposition newspaper SME has published news about secret information which proves Remias was murdered. Remias died after his car exploded April 29, after which experts announced there was likely a bomb in the car, a claim the investigator denied. Only on September 4 did Chief Investigator Kostov state the former version might be true even though this fact was clear from police documents as early as mid-May. Remias had known about being watched by the secret police, and had asked Josef Ciz, the investigator in the Kovac Jr. case, for protection bacause of fears for his life. Ciz refused. Slovak Interior Minister Krajci of the ruling Movement for a Democratic Slovakia said the investigation would be closed till October 15. Jan Potucek/Magda Vanova Situation at Slovak National Theater Becoming Acute The long-expected removal of the director of Slovak National Theater happened October 8, in spite of the protest of actors. October 2 they signed the petition called Save Culture. The petition askes for the resignation of Minister of Culture Ivan Hudec, who replaced theater general director Dusan Jamrich with current Opera Director Miroslav Fischer. Fischer is an adherent of the reform which wants purify the culture from everything non-Slovak. Most of the actors are exasperated about this step and many of them (e.g. Marian Labuda, Michal Docolomansky, Emilia Vasaryova) said they are not going to cooperate with the new director. Despite this, Fischer said he had a very good impression after a meeting with the actors. The petition is only one of many voices asking for Hudec's removal. Also artists, writers and musicians are protesting against Hudec's unprofessional ways. Actors from the Prague National Theater are supporting the effort of their colleagues. However, the recent proposal to recall Minister Hudec was not succesful in the Slovak Parliament. Vit Bartek/Magda Vanova NEWS IN BRIEF * The official residence of Slovak President Michal Kovac became Grassalkovichov Palace on Peace Square in Bratislava September 30. * Opposition politicians are asking for the recall of two more ministers - of Eva Slavkovska (Minister of Education) in context with her effort to drive the Hungarian language out of minority schools, and of Peter Baco (Minister of Agriculture) because of his handling of the state supplies of corn. Jan Potucek/Magda Vanova ECONOMY 1996 Trade Deficit Surpasses 100 Billion Crowns According to a Czech Statistical Office report, the trade deficit reached 101 billion crowns in the first eight months of 1996. Imports were growing more than twice as fast as exports, and this year's deficit by the end of August has already surpassed the entire 1995 trade deficit (96 billion crowns). In comparison with the same period of 1995, it means the 70 per cent increase. The lion's share - 99 billion crowns - of this deficit comes from the trade with industrially developed OECD countries. In particular, the import of machinery, transport means, personal cars, consumer goods and electronics are substantial. Roman Jedlicka/Milan Smid The Second GSM Mobile Phone Network Started RadioMobil began operating its new GSM mobile phone network in the Czech Republic September 30, and became the second GSM operator on the market dominated by the EuroTel monopoly. RadioMobil is trying to compete with EuroTel by offering lower prices on phones and distinctly lower rates (see Carolina 195). On the other hand, its new GSM network, called Paegas, covers a smaller area in comparison with EuroTel. Despite the promise of 60-per-cent coverage made by the RadioMobil President Klaus Tebbe in March, Paegas is able to serve consumers only in bigger cities like Prague, Brno and Ostrava. EuroTel this week lowered its price for phone equipment below the 1,000-crown benchmark, and introduced half-minute rate intervals, in an attempt to meet the RadioMobil challenge. Matej Cerny, Jaroslav Schovanec/Milan Smid New 2,000-Crown Banknote From October 1st there is a new 2,000 Czech Crown bill that closes the series of the first Czech bills. These had been issued in values of 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 Czech crowns. On the front of the new bill is a portrait of famed Czech opera singer Ema Destinnova (1878-1930), who excelled in Pucinni's, Wagner's and Smetana's operas and became an honorary member of the National Theater. On the back of the bill is a Muse's head for music and poetry. The bill is made in olive-green color, and some of the symbols are purple. The design, made by Oldrich Kulhanek, was engraved by Milos Ondracek. The Czech National Bank supposes that the new bill will decrease expenses for the circulation of currency. Martin Hradecky/Petra Sevcikova MARKETS AND COMPANIES * The Prague Stock Exchange (PSE) finally stopped its lengthening slide, turning around last week's unfavorable trend. The value of the official PX 50 Index stood after October 1's trading at 561.7. * A few hundred issues of the Czech companies will be removed from the Prague Stock Exchange. The reason is that 96 per cent of trades on the central market take place with only 6 per cent of titles (i.e., some small firms trade only a couple of times a year). Capital market professionals welcome such a step toward clearing up the capital market. * Gigantic trades took place with shares of the distribution company Severomoravska plynarenska. Seventy-five per cent of the company's shares were traded, at a total sum of 2.6 billion crowns. According to information from the Securities Registry, the major owner was until now the National Property Fund. * Agrobank went up by about 2 per cent on the PSE and surprisingly reached the price level it enjoyed before the announcement of forced administration. * Vertex, which made a splash this summer on the capital markets by a spurt up to 10,000 crown-per-share levels, stopped its decrease on the over-the-counter RM-system, when its price increased October 1 to 3,874 crowns. All prognoses were wrong in this case. * Skoda Pilsen holding is preparing another expansion, this time to Poland. The planned joint ventures should focus on production of cars (specifically, the assembly plant for the new LIAZ truck), rail transport means and tobacco machines. Skoda is trying to become one of the major companies primarily in southern Poland. * Traditional bus-maker Karosa Vysoke Myto will bring out a new series of busses to the market, as the result of a cooperation with Renault. Among the first customers will be cities such as Hradec Kralove, Prague and Ostrava. * According to the auditorial firm Ernst and Young, losses in the liquidated AB Bank may reach almost 10 billion crowns. The greatest creditor and owner of bankrupt institution is Czech Savings (Ceska sporitelna). Martin Cermak/Petra Sevcikova P.S. Dear readers, our new staff thusly introduces a new section of Carolina, which you will see in every issue under the business news section. Markets and Companies will try to include up-to-date information from internal capital markets and interesting topics from the business sphere. Exchange Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid from October 3) country currency ------------------------------------------ Australia 1 AUD 21.479 Belgium 100 BEF 86.004 Great Britain 1 GBP 42.469 Denmark 1 DKK 4.620 Finland 1 FIM 5.938 France 1 FRF 5.235 Ireland 1 IEP 43.340 Italy 1000 ITL 17.845 Japan 100 JPY 24.349 Canada 1 CAD 19.938 Luxemburg 100 LUF 86.004 Netherlands 1 NLG 15.786 Norway 1 NOK 4.165 New Zealand 1 NZD 18.993 Portugal 100 PTE 17.526 Austria 1 ATS 2.517 Greece 100 GRD 11.237 Slovakia 100 SKK 86.660 Germany 1 DEM 17.714 Spain 100 ESP 21.064 Sweden 1 SEK 4.097 Switzerland 1 CHF 21.598 USA 1 USD 27.138 ECU 1 XEU 33.835 SDR 1 XDR 39.068 CULTURE Jarry's King Ubu Has Screen Premiere Prague's former Sevastopol Theater, now called Cinema Broadway, opened its turnstiles September 26 with the first run of King Ubu, based on Alfred Jarry's absurdist drama. This is the directing debut of F. A. Brabec, one of the best Czech cinematographers (he worked on Jan Sverak's film Elementary School (Obecna skola), which was nominated for an Oscar). Milos Macourek, author of the screenplay, used motives from other Jarry plays and added a different ending. King Ubu was first performed on a Prague stage in 1968 by the Na zabradli Theater. The current approach to the story is not same as in the 60's, when King Ubu could be understood as a political revolt. Changing the absurdist drama into a movie was not easy - director Brabec says (quoted in the magazine Tyden): "Orthodox Jarry or Ubu fans will probably be disappointed. I just abused or took advantage of Jarry's story and his dialogues, I didn't try to make a surrealistic film or take wild flights. I asked the screenwriter not to create a club thing, but a film for a wide public, not just for several intellectuals. But at the same time - and that was the most difficult thing - that it will entertain the audience for an hour and a half, but once they leave the theater, they'll say there was some idea there." Libuse Kolouchova/Jan Majer Slovak National Theater in Prague Although this year's theater season is just beginning, another set of theater shows was organized, in addition to the German theater festival (see Carolina 216). Prague's National Theater hosted its Slovak collegue September 28-9 on one of its stages - the Estates Theater (Stavovske divadlo). Visitors could see the performance Heaven, Hell and Kocurkovo, put on by Karol Horak, who was inspired by Slovak priest and writer Jonas Zalusky's texts. Brian Friel's play At the End of Summer was performed September 29. In these plays, belonging to the older repertoire of the Slovak National Theater, such actors as Marian Labuda, Ladislav Chudik and Emilie Vasaryova took the stage. Both performances were sold out before the festival started, also an indication of their quality. The Slovak National Theater is bringing its new staging of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard to the Theater 96 festival in Pilsen (Plzen). Martin Cermak/Katerina Zachovalova Global Music Shamans in Prague for First Time Legends of current dance music, the British band Transglobal Underground arrived in Prague's Belmondo Club October 2 to show the best from its hitherto production (mainly their last album, Psychic Karaoke). The band, mixing traditional ethnic melodies with modern rhythms and electronic technology, benefits from the charisma of its exotic lead singer, Natasha Atlas. The extraordinary interest of the Czech audience was proven by the fact the concert was sold out in advance. Martin Cermak/Katerina Zachovalova Fairy Tale Songs on CD The most famous Czech film princesses - Alena Vranova and Helena Vondrackova - and good witch Saxana Petra Cernocka christened a new Supraphon album The Blooming Flowerbud (Rozvijej se poupatko) in Prague's Lucerna Theater September 26. The album includes 20 Czech film fairy tale songs from 1937 to 1985. The album's Its "father" was Ondrej Suchy, brother of popular actor Jiri Suchy from the Semaphore Theater. Ondrej Slavik/Katerina Zachovalova The Golden Nightingale Comeback After a five-year interruption, the magazine Young World (Mlady Svet) organized again the male and female singer and band poll, renamed the Czech Nightingale. It follows the tradition of the popular Golden Nightingale poll, done for the first time in the 60's. The rebirth of the poll was a good reason for the Nightingales' Reunion in the Vinohrady shopping mall, which today's pop stars also attended. Among the stars, Karel Gott could not be missed, his record of 22 awards probably to stand for some time. Poll results will be announced in December. Ondrej Slavik/Katerina Zachovalova SPORT Soccer League: Boby Brno Still at Top of Standings Results of the 7th round: Jablonec - Sparta 1-0, Opava - Teplice 3-1, Viktoria Zizkov - Ceske Budejovice 1-0, Slavia - Liberec 1-2, Bohemians - Drnovice 2-5, Ostrava - Brno 1-1, Hradec Kralove - Karvina 3-1, Viktoria Plzen - Olomouc 1-0. Standings after 7 rounds: 1. Boby Brno 16 points, 2. Kaucuk Opava 15, 3. Slovan Liberec 12, 4. Petra Drnovice 11, 5. Jablonec 11, 6. FK Teplice 11, 7. Banik Ostrava 10, 8. Slavia Praha 9, 9. Sigma Olomouc 9, 10. Viktoria Plzen 9, 11. FC Karvina 8, 12. Ceske Budejovice 6, 13. Hradec Kralove 6, 14. Bohemians Praha 5, 15. Viktoria Zizkov 2, 16. Sparta Praha 4. Roman Jedlicka/Milan Smid Hockey Extraleague: No Undefeated Teams There is no undefeated team in the Czech Hockey Extraleague after six rounds. Pardubice lost the game with Trinec 1-4 and is the second best behind the Klado, bonth 9 points. The last placed Jihlava has still no point at all. Lukas Kaspar/Milan Smid SPORTS IN BRIEF * On September 27 new European Cup soccer matches were drawn in Zurich. Sparta Praha got AC Fiorentina (Italy) in the Cup Winners Cup and Slavia Praha will play against FC Valencia (the Spanish team with Brazilian star Faria Romario) in the UEFA Cup. * Three Czech teams entered the European Hockey League qualification groups with these results: Sparta Praha - EC Vienna 9:1, VIF Oslo - Ceske Budejovice 2:1, HC Rouen - Litvinov 3:3. * Top 1996 World Championships goalie Roman Turek did not make the NHL's Dallas Stars and was sent to its farm team in Michigan. * The Barcelona Olympics decathlon champion Robert Zmelik married former Slovak star athlete Andrea Sollarova in Bratislava September 28. African Runners Successful in Centennial Bechovice Run The oldest European annual cross-country race, from Bechovice to Prague, celebrated it's 100 years anniversary September 29. In comparison with former contests, this year there were more runners and more spectators. In addition, Kenyan representatives took part in the contest, became its sweethearts and broke all records on the 1,013-meter track. The winner of men's competition was Kenyan Laban Chege, who broke the 21-year-old record. Chege is already known in Prague - several months ago he won a competition that was part of the Prague International Marathon. The women's competition was won by Leah Malot, also representing Kenya. She broke a 12-year-old record. Jan Pesava, the best Czech male finisher, took fourth, while the most successful Czech woman, Iva Jurkova, finished second. A celebration of the 100-year anniversary in the Pyramid Hotel preceded the competition. All 32 living former winners were there, the oldest being Josef Ledr, the winner from 1930. Ondra Provaznik/Jan Majer WEATHER The sorry, rainy summer is becoming an even sorrier autumn. Although rain conducted the weather all September, at the beginning of October we were warmed and pleased (we hope not for the last time) by the kind sun. Temperatures reached 22 degrees Celsius/66 degrees Fahrneheit October 1. Gaparov Batyrbek wishes you a happy week and more human warmth. English version edited by Michael Bluhm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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!