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 THE CZECH REPUBLIC Charles University in Prague Faculty of Social Sciences Smetanovo nabr. 6 110 01 Prague 1 Czech Republic e-mail: CAROLINA@mbox.fsv.cuni.cz tel: (+4202) 22112252, fax: (+4202) 24810987 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* C A R O L I N A No 324, Friday, March 19, 1999. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (March 10 - March 17) Czech Republic Becomes NATO Member The Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary March 12 became NATO members. By submitting their respective ratification documents in the American town of Independence, Missouri, three former members of the Warsaw Pact became allies in one defense structure with their former enemies. Foreign Ministers Jan Kavan (CR), Bronislaw Geremek (Poland) and Janos Martonyi (Hungary) submitted their American counterpart Madeleine Albright the ratification documents in the auditorium of The Truman Library, named after the American president linked with NATO's founding in 1949. During the ceremony in Independence, Albright represented the USA as trustee of the Washington Treaty, NATO's foundation document. The flags of the three new NATO country members were raised in front of the alliance's political headquarters March 16 and the countries' leaders attended a session of the NATO Council for the first time. In their speeches they concurred that the alliance should remain open for other candidates. Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman mentioned Slovakia, because he intends to lobby for its membership at the next summit in Washington. Jan Mates/Sofia Karakeva Politicians and Celebrities Welcome Czech NATO Membership Czech politicians, except those of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM), say they consider accession to NATO a historic event that definitively changes the postwar division of Europe. President Vaclav Havel said that now curtain tragically dividing Europe has fallen for good. Chamber of Deputies Chairman Vaclav Klaus said the event reflects the teamwork of politicians and non-politicians and no one should take the credit as his own. Czech-Moravian Chamber of Trade Unions (CMKOS) Chairman and Senator Richard Falbr said to the daily Lidove noviny he is rejoicing in the Czech Republic's membership in Euro-Atlantic structures. "My children and my grandchildren will not experience what my father did in 1948 and myself 20 years later," said Falbr. Security and Information Service (BIS) Director Jaroslav Jira also positively evaluated Czech NATO membership. "We (BIS) are prepared to do everything to acquit ourselves with dignity in our common responsibility of protecting the values of humanity, freedom and democracy," said Jira. Other positive statements came from Union of Freedom Fighters Chairman Jakub Cermin, Senate Chairwoman Libuse Benesova and the Czech Bishop Conference, which called on believers to pray for the fulfillment of hopes connected with NATO membership. Communist Party Chairman Miroslav Grebenicek said to the daily MF DNES that the country's NATO membership was decided by others in another place. Grebenicek said the USA was only interested in obtaining strategically important territory. Members of the Communist Youth Union demonstrated against membership in front of Prague Castle during the celebration ball. "We don't want to die in the interest of the market," was on one of their signs. Ondrej Fer, Jan Mates/Sofia Karakeva Ball and Concert Celebrate Czech Accession into NATO About 800 guests March 13 gathered at the Prague Castle to celebrate the Czech Republic's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The ball was inaugurated by President Vaclav Havel. Havel and Defense Minister Vladimir Vetchy thanked Czech soldiers for their work leading to the accession. Then Vaclav Hybs' orchestra, together with popular Czech singers Iveta Bartosova and Daniel Hulka, began the festivities. The highlight of the evening was the raffle - proceeds went to the Havels' Vision (Vize) Foundation. First prize in the raffle was a new Volkswagen. Before the beginning of the ball, about 30 anarchists demonstrated against NATO on the square in front of the castle. Two were arrested by the police after creating a pyrotechnic disturbance. Three days later, March 16, both chambers of the Czech Parliament held a concert to celebrate NATO membership. The Czech Philharmonic, led by chief conductor by Vladimir Ashkenazy, played the New World Symphony of Antonin Dvorak. The concert was attended by the president and the first lady, Senate Chairwoman Libuse Benesova and Chamber of Deputies Chairman Vaclav Klaus. The legislators gave short speeches before the concert. Jan Mates/Jakub Jirovec Senate Returns Freedom of Information Bill The Senate March 11 returned for the second time to the Chamber of Deputies the Freedom of Information Bill, delaying the acceptance of a law giving all citizens access to all information in public offices. Senators first rejected the proposal last summer, and, after a new Chamber of Deputies was elected in June, a new version of the bill was presented. Senators say they want to include in the final version measures concerning reimbursement for providing information and appeals when information is not provided. The bill, which should go into effect next year, should change the present situation where the public official decides whether to provide information. According to the bill, all information concerning official activity should be available except classified information and trade secrets. Jan Mates/Sofia Karakeva Government Passes Bill on Homosexual Partnership The government March 10 passed almost unanimously a bill on the partnership of homosexual couples, which was prepared by deputies across the political spectrum except for the Christian Democrats. Deputy Prime Minister Pavel Rychetsky said one minister voted against the bill. The law should allow partners of the same sex to conclude an agreement guaranteeing them most social and property rights now accorded only to married couples. Homosexuals would have right to receive their partner's pension, the right to visit their partner in the hospital or the right to refuse to bear witness against their partner. They would also have some tax breaks. The government did point out some legislative defects to be removed by the Parliament. Tomas Polacek/Jakub Jirovec NEWS IN BRIEF * About 300 people protested against violations of human rights in Tibet March 10 in front of the Chinese Embassy in Prague. Despite the peaceful nature of the demonstration, the embassy building was sealed off by police. Only Senator Daniel Kroupa (Civic Democratic Alliance, ODA) was allowed to approach the gate, where he tried unsuccessfuly to contact embassy officials and to present a protest petition. * A homemade bomb exploded in the waiting room of the Vysocany Hospital March 10. The explosion damaged the furnishings of the waiting room and broke glass partitions in the corridors. According to Police spokeswoman Eva Brozova, there were no injures, although five people complained of hearing problems. * Senator Dagmar Lastovecka (Civic Democratic Party, ODS) took her oath of office. The Senate is now ready to function with its full complement of 81 senators. Lastovecka's seat was called into question after the November Senate election by an unsuccessful Social Democrat candidate, who accused Lastovecka of breaking the Election Act by appearing in the media when such appearances were prohibited. The Supreme Court ruled the election invalid. ODS lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court, which reversed the previous decision. Ondrej Fer/Katerina Kolarova FROM SLOVAKIA Slovakia Stops Importing Russian S-300 Anti-Missile System The Slovak Government March 12 decided to wind up imports of the Russian S-300 anti-missile system planned as part of the payments of past Russian debt to Bratislava. The Government said it wanted to confirm its drive for NATO membership. Premier Mikulas Dzurinda also said that the S-300 system is not appropriate for the needs of the Slovak Army and is unnecessarily expensive. Dzurinda also said Slovakia will probably destroy six s-23 missiles, which Washington has long been demanding without result. He said that one can deduce the future steps of the Government in related matters from the steps now taken. Tomas Polacek/Katerina Kolarova ECONOMY Shake-Up in Czech Savings Bank, Commerce Bank to Be Privatized Soon The extraordinary general meeting of the Czech Savings Bank (Ceska sporitelna, CS) dismissed four of seven members of the board of directors, General Director Jaroslav Klapal. The other three recalled board members were Rudolf Hanus, Josef Kotrba (spouse of Social Democrat politician Petra Buzkova) and Kamil Ziegler. The general meeting appointed two new directors - Jaroslav Svoboda and Vladimir Kotlar - and named Klapal's former deputy Dusan Baran the new general director and to chairman of the board. Bank shareholders also reconstructed the supervisory board where, however, Civic Democratic Party (ODS) Chairman Vaclav Klaus's wife Livia retained her post. The general meeting also approved an increase of basic capital by 7.6 billion crowns without specifying the method of increase. The shake up of bank management had been expected since the bank several months ago reported substantial losses and experienced its worst economic results ever last year (see Carolina 322). Another state-controlled bank, the Commerce Bank (Komercni banka, KB) is not going to call a general meeting soon, said Finance Minister Ivo Svoboda. The privatization of both banks was discussed at the Cabinet meeting March 10, where the Social Democrat Government decided to speed up the process of privatization. The privatization announcement of the Czech Savings Bank should be published in April, a similar announcement for the Commerce Bank in June. Bids for the state shares in the banks (in CS 44.99 per cent, in KB 48.7 per cent) will be accepted for six months after the announcement, with the privatization to be completed in 2000. The Prague Stock Exchange responded to the news with a significant increase in the volume of the trading of both banks' shares. Pavlina Hodkova/Milan Smid Will Chemapol Group Split? Chemapol Group shareholder Radim Masny March 11 presented some members of the Government with a proposal for the creation of a new company called Unichem from some firms in the Chemapol Group. "Our interest is avoid the threat of bankruptcy as soon as possible for the healthy part of Chemapol Group. (Unichem) concerns Aliachem, Koramo and Spolana Neratovice," said Masny to the daily Lidove noviny. Deputy Prime Minister Pavel Mertlik rejected the project, saying it would benefit only Masny, who is a shareholder and not a creditor of Chemapol. "I'll settle with the large creditors, then I'll buy C.H. Chem from the bankruptcy trustee, so several hundred million (crowns) will flow into the system. After that there would still remain a huge amount of assets, which will be far less burdened by creditors, and there would be more space for the smaller firms. The state would certainly be satisfied," said Masny. Masny also said he is representing the interests of an unnamed bank. Experts consider the best possible solution to be the sale of Aliachem shares to investors who would restructure it. Chemapol Group was placed into receivership January 27 (see Carolina 317, 319, 320), and since then 176 creditors have made claims of 7.8 billion crowns. Among them are Czech tax collectors, who claim more than 700 million crowns in unpaid taxes and penalties. Pavlina Hodkova/Michael Bluhm ECONOMY IN BRIEF * The Czech National Bank (CNB) reduced all key interest rates again March 11 effective the next day. The repo rate decreased from 8 per cent to 7.5 per cent, the discount rate from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent, and the Lombard rate from 12.5 per cent to 10 per cent. The crown declined immediately by 30 hellers to 38.06 crowns to the euro, but it soon recovered and returned below the 38-crown barrier. * At the end of December the average gross monthly wage in the Czech Republic reached 13,041 crowns, the average wage in the business sector was 13,341 crowns per month, while the average wage in the non-business sphere was 12,043 crowns. The figures were published in the daily Lidove noviny March 12. * The Anti-Monopoly Office, after two years of rejecting the merger between the Pilsner Urquell (Plzensky prazdroj) and Radegast breweries, reached the conclusion that the breweries actually merged in 1998, when Nomura Securities gained control of both, according to the daily Hospodarske noviny March 17. The new firm is the biggest Czech brewery, with about 45-per-cent market share. Pavlina Hodkova/Denisa Vitkova Exchange Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid March 19) ------------------------------------------------------------ 1 EUR = 37.86 CZK country currency CZK ------------------------------------------ Australia 1 AUD 21.667 Great Britain 1 GBP 55.986 Denmark 1 DKK 5.093 Japan 100 JPY 29.090 Canada 1 CAD 22.610 IMF 1 XDR 47.005 Hungary 100 HUF 14.874 Norway 1 NOK 4.452 New Zealand 1 NZD 18.223 Poland 1 PLN 8.779 Greece 100 GRD 11.781 Slovakia 100 SKK 84.778 Slovenia 100 SIT 19.655 Sweden 1 SEK 4.231 Switzerland 1 CHF 23.718 USA 1 USD 34.379 Exchange Rates of countries particpating in the euro (converted from the euro rate) country currency CZK ----------------------------------------- Germany 1 DEM 19.358 Belgium 100 BEF 93.852 Finland 1 FIM 6.368 France 1 FRF 5.772 Ireland 1 IEP 48.072 Italy 1000 ITL 19.553 Luxemburg 100 LUF 93.852 Netherlands 1 NLG 17.180 Portugal 100 PTE 18.884 Austria 1 ATS 2.751 Spain 100 ESP 22.754 CULTURE European Film Days in Prague and Brno The film Life Is Beautiful March 11 opened the sixth European Film Days in Prague's 64 U hradeb cinema. The Italian film, directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, has been nominated for a number of Academy Awards. Twenty-two European countries are presenting 32 films and nine short films during 10 days in the Lucerna and U hradeb cinemas. The Prague portion of the festival ends March 21, audiences in Brno can see the festival's films from March 22-30. The organization of the festival was again divided among the European Commission Delegation to the Czech Republic, the Czech Ministry of Culture and the City of Prague. The Czech-French film Dual Role (Dvojrole) will represent Czech production to close the Prague portion of the festival. Director Jaromil Jires gave the leading roles in the film to Tereza Brodska and Slavka Budinova. A ticket costs 70 crowns, and the number of people who would like to see the films far exceeds the number of seats in cinemas. On the weekend evening of March 20-21 the traditional Marathon of European Film is planned, where film fans can purchase tickets to three films without Czech translation starting at midnight for the price of 100 crowns. The festival also includes a film market, which in recent years has found distributors for more than 35 films. Lenka Nejezchlebova/Lenka Nejezchlebova Dagmar Peckova as Carmen Captivates Prague Famous mezzosoprano Dagmar Peckova made her debut as the temperamental Carmen in the premiere of Georges Bizet's opera March 15. Director Josef Bednarik, whose work always attracts attention, took hold of the romantic and naturalistic opera non-traditionally. "My conception of Carmen will be neither reverent nor irreverent," Bednarik said before the premiere. The story is presented as the memories of Don Jose as he awaits in prison the verdict for Carmen's murder. Peckova made her Prague opera debut after more than 10 years of appearing on tour in prominent European opera houses. Belorussian tenor Valentin Prolat performed the second main role, together with Helena Kaupova and Roman Janal in supporting roles. The Carmen role in the second premiere March 17 was performed by Marina Domasenko from Ukraine. Linda Kholova/Denisa Vitkova SPORTS Hockey's Staropramen Extraleague Ends Regular Season Results: 50th round: Sparta - Vsetin 1-5, Vitkovice - Opava 5-2, K.Vary - Plzen 2-1, C.Budejovice - Litvinov 4-3, Pardubice - Kladno 7-2, Slavia - Zlin 3-3, Jihlava - Trinec 2-2. 51st round: Sparta - Slavia 5-2, Trinec - Vsetin 0-2, Zlin - Vitkovice 5-4, Opava - C.Budejovice 3-10, Pardubice - K.Vary 5-3, Kladno - Jihlava 2-2, Litvinov - Plzen 4-3. 52nd round: Slavia - Trinec 2-5, Vitkovice - Sparta 1-3, Plzen - Opava 2-2, Vsetin - Kladno 7-3, C.Budejovice - Zlin 3-3, Jihlava - Pardubice 3-3, K.Vary - Litvinov 4-2. Regular Season Final Standings G W D L Goals Pts 1. HC Slovnaft Vsetin 52 33 12 7 184: 92 78 2. HC ZPS-Barum Zlin 52 26 17 9 180:138 69 3. HC Zelezarny Trinec 52 28 8 16 174:140 64 4. HC Sparta Praha 52 27 9 16 186:123 63 5. HC Ceske Budejovice 52 23 14 15 173:129 60 6. HC Keramika Plzen 52 23 14 15 148:136 60 7. HC IPB Pojistovna Pardubice 52 20 13 19 128:126 53 8. HC Vitkovice 52 21 8 23 147:140 50 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. HC Chemopetrol Litvinov 52 19 10 23 130:144 48 10.HC Slavia Praha 52 17 11 24 152:166 45 11.HC Becherovka Karlovy Vary 52 14 10 28 130:181 38 12.HC Opava 52 15 8 29 97:158 38 13.HC Velvana Kladno 52 11 15 26 119:175 37 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 14. HC Dukla Jihlava 52 7 11 34 88:188 25 The first eight teams advance to the best-of-five round of the playoffs beginning March 19. The hockey season is over for teams placing ninth through 13th. Last-place Jihlava will have to play for its place in the extraleague against Znojmo, winner of the First Hockey League. Stepan Etrych Gambrinus Soccer League Results Results of the 18th round: Opava - Sparta 2-1, Slavia - Zizkov 4-1, Drnovice - Hradec Kralove 0-2, Blsany - Ostrava 1-2, Liberec - Jablonec 1-0, Karvina - Plzen 2-0, Pribram - Olomouc 1-2, Teplice - Brno 2-1. Standings after the 18th round: 1.Sparta 40 points, 2.Teplice 36, 3.Slavia 32, 4.Drnovice 31, 5.Olomouc 31, 6.Blsany 29, 7.Ostrava 27, 8.Opava 26, 9.Hradec Kralove 25, 10.Brno 23, 11.Liberec 23, 12.Zizkov 21, 13. Jablonec 18, 14.Pribram 17, 15.Plzen 16, 16.Karvina 15. Josef Koukolicek WEATHER The March weather is toying with us. Sunny weather turns to rain without saing goodbye. Meteorologists promised us higher temperatures, but never trust them! Spring is coming in a few days but temperatures from 5 degrees Celsius to below zero/41 degrees Farhenheit to below 32 degrees are keeping our coats on. Marketa Lajdova/Zuzana Janeckova English version edited by Michael Bluhm. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This news may be published only with attribution to CAROLINA. Subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated. Please send them to the address: CAROLINA@mbox.fsv.cuni.cz To subscribe to CAROLINA news, send an e-mail message to the address LISTSERV@cesnet.cz The text of the message for subscription to 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, send the following message to the address LISTSERV@cesnet.cz: SIGNOFF CAR-ENG or SIGNOFF CAR-CS We ask you not to send automatic replies to our list. 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