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: (+4202) 24810804, ext. 252, fax: (+4202) 24810987 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* C A R O L I N A No 258, Friday, September 12, 1997. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS (August 27 - September 10) Catholics and Anglicans Pay Tribute to Lady Di and Mother Theresa Prague inhabitants bade farewell to two important women of this century who died recently; Lady Diana Princess of Wales and Mother Theresa. Services were held in the church of the Holiest Salvatore in Krizovnicka street September 8. The ecumenic mass celebrated in commemoration of them was the first liturgy of Catholics and Anglicans have shared in Prague. Roger Kent, the chaplain of Anglican community in Prague, and Tomas Halik, the President of the Czech Christian Academy, presided over the service. Halik and others denounced the debased behaviour of tabloid journalism. According to Tomas Halik, "Diana, whose beauty fulfilled the people's longing for a symbol, experienced not only the fame and fortune, but the pain and suffering as well. Thus, she became more sensitive to suffering of others and focused on helping the sick." He compared her in this to Mother Theresa, missionary to the world's poor. The mass emphasized respect to goodness and love, i.e. to the virtues which both Lady Diana and Mother Theresa were sharing with the world around us. The mass was attended also by the British ambassador to Prague with his family. Zuzana Kawaciukova One Out of Three Czechs View Diana's Funeral One third of the Czech Republic's adult population watched BBC's live television coverage of Diana's funeral broadcast from London September 6. Czech daily Lidove noviny reported the results of the audience peoplemeter poll, commissioned by the ATO, the association of Czech public and private television stations. Considering the morning broadcast hours, the rating of the live coverage rebroadcast by the Czech public service channel CT1 was extraordinary high. Only a margin of the audience remained loyal to the regular private TV NOVA channel scheduling "Baywatch", and "Call the Director". Zuzana Kawaciukova Albright Pays Private Visit to Czech Republic U.S. State Secretary Madeleine Albright, accompanied by her two daughters and their spouses, arrived August 31 in the Czech Republic for a week-long top secret, private visit. During her stay, Madeleine Albright visited the Terezin concentration camp, where her grandfather died during the Holocaust. Both of her grandmother were transported from Terezin to the Auschwitz and Trawniky camps. She also visited her grandparents' hometowns; Letohrad and Kostelec nad Orlici in eastern Bohemia. She was made an honorary citizen of Kostelec nad Orlici where she also met schoolmates of her father, the Czech diplomat Josef Korbel, who attended a local school there 70 years ago. "It is important to me to return to the places where I can find my family's roots and traditions," said Albright, according to Czech daily Pravo. Madeleine Albright briefly attended the international conference Forum 2000 (see next story) and was invited by President Havel and his wife to the lunch in their private Stresovice villa. Accompanied by bodyguards and American ambassador to Prague Jenonne Walker, Albright also toured the Cesky Krumlov town and castle in South Bohemia. Albright declared herself to be just a tourist in the Czech Republic. Although on vacation, Albright swiftly reacted to the terrorist attack in Jerusalem September 4, which caused eight causalities and dozens of injured people, calling on the world to fight against terrorism in the Middle East. Zuzana Kawaciukova Prague Hosts Forum 2000 Forum 2000, a three-day long international conference brought leading world philosophers and politicians together September 4-6 in Prague. The conference, initiated and chaired by Czech President Vaclav Havel and Jewish writer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, was held to discuss contemporary problems of our civilization. Nearly sixty world-famous personalities came to Prague, among them several Nobel Prize winners. Guests included former Izrael Prime Minister Simon Peres, former South African President Frederik de Klerk, the Dalai Lama, former Bulgarian President Zhelju Zhelev, former German politicians Richard von Weizsacker and Helmuth Schmidt, African writer Wole Soyinka, American essayist Timothy Garton Ash and others. Czech president met privately with Jordan Prince El Hassan bin Talal, Simon Peres and the Dalai Lama during the conference. Forum 2000 culminated September 6 with the Hope for the Future meeting, and with the evening gala concert in the Smetana Hall of Obecni dum. The program of the conference included a multireligious assembly in Prague Castle's St. Vitus Cathedral, which was chaired by representatives of the world's four largest religions. Bohdana Rambouskova One Out of Five Czech Families to Lose Child Care Supplements Parliament narrowly passed the ruling coalition's proposal to cut state child care supplements September 5. Until now, each family whose income is less than three times the poverty level has been eligible for child care supplements. As of October 1, the level will be lowered, allowing only families 2.2 times over the poverty mark to apply for these welfare payments. When the new law goes into effect, a family with one child and total income of less than 20,000 crowns will be eligible for supplements (the former limit was about 28,000 crowns). The amount of families authorised to receive these payments will be reduced from 95 per cent to 75 per cent of the families in the Czech Republic. 96 parliamentary deputies of 191 voted for the motion; the support of non-aligned former Social Democrat Jozef Wagner turned out to be the decisive once again. Changes to social laws should help to the balanced budget in a time of stagnating Czech industry and damage caused by recent flooding. These amendments implemented by the cabinet are to save an estimated 300 million crowns in 1997, and about 4 billion crowns in the next year. David Simonik Social Democrats Lead Opinion Polls According to opinion polls conducted by the research agency Factum in August, the two largest Czech political parties are more popular than in preceeding months. In comparison to the month of July, the Social Democrats gained 2.9 per cent of popularity. Should an election have been held in August, the poll predicts that they would have held 29 per cent of votes. The Civic Democratic Party was favored by 4.1 per cent more voters, attaining a level of 24.5 per cent. Governing coalition parties also underwent changes in voter popularity. KDU-CSL increased the share of its hypothetical voters from 8.7 per cent to 9.6 per cent, ODA went from 9.7 per cent to 9.8 per cent of possible August votes. While the Communist Party maintained 8.5 per cent of votes, the neo-fascist Republican party brings up the rear. In a loss of nearly half of its potential votes, popularity plummeted from 6.5 per cent in July to 3 per cent in in August. Factum's recent voter preference poll is the first it has been conducted since July's floods. Ondra Trunecka Defamation of President Is No More Crime As of January 1, 1998, the defamation of the President is will cease to be a crime in the Czech Republic. Czech Parliament approved the Penal Code amendment at its September session. Should the President take offense, he can persecute through a libel case, according to the Civil Code, just as any other Czech citizen. The amendment also extends to defamation of the country. FROM SLOVAKIA Meciar's Proposal Labelled as Ethnic Cleansing Bela Bugar, Chairman of the Hungarian Christian Democratic Movement, called recent proposals of the Slovak Prime Minister Meciar to remove the Hungarian national minority from Slovakia ethnic cleansing. Bela Bugar, together with chairmen of two other Hungarian parliamentary parties Miklos Duray and Laszlo Nagy, called in a public letter for premier Meciar to resign his office. Many representatives of the Slovak opposition say that Meciar will play the Hungarian card once again in the coming election campaign. Meciar made his proposal public to his supporters in Bratislava's Sporting Hall September 4. "In the course of negotiation with Hungarian Prime Minister Horn (in August) I suggested that our governments shall facilitate the transfer of our citizens of Hungarian nationality who don't want to live in Slovakia," Czech daily Pravo quoted Meciar September 9. Meciar emphasized that he did not mention forcing people of different nationalities to leave Slovakia, and that the proposed agreement should only respect the free choice of citizens who want to live in another country. "When listening to my proposal, premier Horn got pale and started to shout," Meciar told the audience in the Sporting Hall. David Simonik Only Part of Language Act Unconstitutional The Slovak Constitutional Court ruled September 9 that only the part of the State Language Act stipulating compulsory usage of the state (Slovak) language in written contact with public offices, is inconsistent with the Slovak Constitution. The Slovak Constitution guarantees national minorities "the right to use their language in dealings with the authorities." Hungarian minority representatives were disappointed with the decision. They had appealed altogether ten items of the State Language Act to the Constitutional Court. ECONOMY Czech Government to Privatize 30 Per Cent of Railways The Czech Railways (Ceske drahy) will release 37 per cent of tracks and 17,000 employees by the year 2000. The not wanted tracks are to be either privatized or abandoned. All of the Czech Railway reform proposals submitted to the Cabinet by Transport Minister Martin Riman were approved at the Government's August 27 meeting. The government also endorsed an amendment of the Czech Railway Act which will divide some of the responsibility for railway transport also to the district and local authorities. They should then participate in subsidizing un-profitable regional tracks. Private regional companies are expected to start breaking the Czech Railways' monopoly. Jaromir Dusek, Chairman of the Railway Workers Union, strongly protested the mass lay-offs in the railway's labor force, and threatened with a new strike. 5,000 Czech Railway employees will lose their jobs by the end of the year. The Czech Railways will continue to downsize until 2005, keeping a work force of 60,000 people. The Czech Railways currently employ 97,360 people. Government Decides Sale of Becherovka The Czech-French company Value Bill is to be new majority share-holder of the Karlovarska Becherovka company. At a meeting held during a break in the Parliament session September 3, the government decide to sell the state's share in the company. With 89 per cent of company shares for the price of 2 billion crowns, Value Bill will be the majority holder. Becherovka General Director Vaclav Lupinek will receive a 5-per-cent share in accordance with previous agreements. Defeated competitors are raising their voices in protest of the government decision, some claiming that Value Bill offered neither the highest prize, nor the best business plan. Prospective candidates included: Pilsner company Stock, the only company to offer more than 2 billion crowns; the B-Prit company; and the Bohemia Sekt company, which claims to have signed a preliminary settlement agreement with Underberg in the trademark case against Karolvarska Becherovka (see Carolina 218). The company Value Bill is a joint venture between French liquor producer Pernod-Ricard, the Czech Patria Finance company, and the former Czech President's Secretary-Chancellor Karl Schwarzenberg. It was determined after the sale that Becherovka was actually sold to the limited liability company Salb s.r.o., which is Value Bill's new name after including the French partner and Karl Schwarzenberg. Bohdana Rambouskova Exchange Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid from September 12) country currency ---------------------------------------- Australia 1 AUD 24.296 Belgium 100 BEF 90.942 Great Britain 1 GBP 53.473 Denmark 1 DKK 4.932 Finland 1 FIM 6.267 France 1 FRF 5.588 Ireland 1 IEP 50.488 Italy 1000 ITL 19.227 Japan 100 JPY 28.296 Canada 1 CAD 24.253 Luxemburg 100 LUF 90.942 Netherlands 1 NLG 16.676 Norway 1 NOK 4.564 New Zealand 1 NZD 21.304 Portugal 100 PTE 18.669 Austria 1 ATS 2.646 Greece 100 GRD 11.918 Germany 1 DEM 18.780 Spain 100 ESP 22.267 Sweden 1 SEK 4.315 Switzerland 1 CHF 22.781 USA 1 USD 33.658 ECU 1 XEU 36.808 CULTURE Exhibiton "Rudolf II and Prague" Ends The exhibition Rudolf II and Prague, jointly organized at several places around the city by the Prague Castle Custody, the Office of the President, the Ministry of Culture, the Prague Major's Office and the Museum of Applied Art in Prague, finished September 7. Only a small part of the exhibition in the Valdstejnska jizdarna (Wallenstein Riding Hall) will remain open until September 21. The exhibition began May 30 (see Carolina No. 250). Total attendance reached 200,000 visitors, including much of Prague's summer tourist traffic. Zuzana Kawaciukova WEATHER The end of summer school holidays did not spell the end of the summer weather. The first week of September was warm and sunny. Only morning temperatures of about 10 degrees Celsius reminded us that the summer is nearly over. English version translated by Milan Smid, edited by Andrea Snyder. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This news may be published only with "CAROLINA" designation. The subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated. 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