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 360, Friday, January 28, 2000. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (January 19 - January 26) CSSD and ODS Close Deal, Changes in Government Expected According to Prime Minister Milos Zeman, changes in his minority Government are due soon, as the Social Democrats (CSSD) and the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) agreed to broaden the Opposition Contract with five amendments (see Carolina 359). The amendments assure that ODS will support the 2000 state budget proposal in exchange for personnel changes in the Government. Zeman confirmed that if the budget - the Government's third - passes its first reading in the Chamber of Deputies, changes will soon follow. Zeman did not state which ministers will be recalled, but media speculation has focused on Interior Minister Vaclav Grulich, Regional Development Minister Jaromir Cisar and Transportation Minister Antonin Peltram. Zeman might also recall Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslav Basta. ODS agreed to the five amendments unanimously, but Zeman had to push for agreement to the amendments in his party. CSSD politburo finally approved the amendments by a vote of 24 to four. CSSD Vice Chairwoman Petra Buzkova, who voted against the amendments, said she would resign from her party post but keep her position as vice chairwoman of the Chamber of Deputies. Aside from Buzkova, CSSD Parliamentary Club Vice Chairman Lubomir Zaoralek also did not support the amendments. The most controversial point in the amendments was the change in the Electoral Act to create more of a majority electoral system by decreasing the size and increasing the number of electoral districts. The amendments were signed by representatives of both parties January 26. The individual amendments concern the budget proposal for 2000 and further budget planning, changes to the Electoral Act, joining the EU, ODS tolerance of the minority Government and communication between the parties' parliamentary clubs. Jakub Tronicek/Ondrej Maly Investigators Finish Bamberg Affair The Bamberg Affair is at an end after almost two years of investigation. The affair centers on claims that Prime Minister Milos Zeman offered a group of Czech-Swiss businessmen political positions and influence in exchange for secret information and financial support of Zeman's Social Democrats. According to investigators, the case was a fabulation by Czech-Swiss businessman Jan Vizek prior to 1998's general elections intended to damage the Social Democrats. Why Zeman went to Bamberg and what he discussed with Vizek is still unknown, because Zeman has been caught in lies in the case and has refused to give further answers. According to police investigator Martin Hadek, the key evidence in the whole affair - the memorandum confirming a deal - was forged. The investigation determined that the document was forged by Vizek, who copied signatures from another handwritten onto the forgery. The remaining questions could probably be answered by Vizek, but he has spent almost a year in a psychiatric clinic and cannot be questioned. Zeman says the scandal was set up by his political enemies, who paid Vizek for the forgery. Vizek's motives were not uncovered by the investigation. Jakub Tronicek/Ondrej Maly New Labor Act Approaches EU Norms The Chamber of Deputies January 21 passed the first reading of amendments to the Labor Act intended to harmonize Czech labor norms with those of the European Union. The amendments provide for a reduction of the working week from 42.5 hours to 40 hours (the figures include 30 minutes daily for lunch). It also promises four weeks of vacation for employees and includes prolonging maternity leave for fathers, who will now be able to stay at home with their child for three years. Richard Falbr, chairman of the Czech-Moravian Chamber of Labor Unions (Ceskomoravska komora odborovych svazu), and Stepan Popovic, president of the Union of Trade and Industry (Svaz prumyslu a obchodu), approve of the amendments. They said the amendments should improve the relationship between employers and employees, whose rights should be more enforceable than they were until now. But the Physicians Union Club (Lekarsky odborovy klub) opposes the amendment and their demands were passed on to the deputies. Doctors want a 35-hour week and six weeks of vacation annually (i.e., two weeks more than other workers). Alzbeta Trousilova/Simon Dominik New Czech Television General Director Chosen The Czech Television Council (CTC), the nine-member supervisory body of public-service broadcaster Czech Television (CT), appointed Dusan Chmelicek January 26 the new general director for a six-year term. Chmelicek, 32, who started working at the station two years ago as the head of the legal department, recently took over the department for strategic planning. Chmelicek was selected from five candidates (see Carolina 359) and received five votes in the final, secret ballot, when only two candidates (Kamil Cermak and Chmelicek) remained. Two votes were against Chmelicek, and two council members abstained. One of them, Frantisek Schildberger, did not attend the meeting. He said January 24 that no candidate is capable of managing Czech Television and that the council should stop the selection process and resign. Alzbeta Trousilova/Milan Smid Rise in Crime Abates For the first time in the last six years the official crime rate decreased in the Czech Republic. Moreover, law enforcement officials solved more cases than the year before. Police President Jiri Kolar, who released the information January 20, and said it might be a lasting phenomenon. Statistics show the number of crimes declined in all categories except theft and economic crime, although Kolar said white-collar criminals and hackers are only slightly ahead of the police. Kolar said it is disturbing that the number of crimes committed by children is increasing. Four of last year's murders were committed by children under 15. According to Kolar, a long-term decrease in crime will be possible only if the influx of criminals from abroad is stopped. Jakub Tronicek/Simon Dominik FOREIGN AFFAIRS Netherlands to Support Czech EU Membership Dutch politicians January 24 promised to help the Czech state sector prepare for joining the European Union. A partnership memorandum was signed during Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman's visit to the Netherlands. According to the agreement, seminars aimed at sharing experiences in adopting and applying EU legislation will take place twice a year. Dick Benschop, state secretary at the Dutch Foreign Ministry, said, "the Netherlands is demonstrating its commitment to expanding the EU", towards which they had rather reserved attitude in the past. While Pavel Telicka, Czech deputy foreign minister, took care of the signing of the agreement, Zeman talked with his Dutch opposite Wim Kok. Then, accompanied by Finance Minister Pavel Mertlik, Zeman had talks with the directors of the Dutch banks ING Group and ABN Amro, visited Queen Beatrix and laid flowers at the monument of John Amos Comenius (Jan Amos Komensky). Marika Pechackova/Simon Dominik NEWS IN BRIEF * Blind and visually impaired people demonstrated January 20 against planned cuts in the state budget that would limit grants for their support programs. Labor and Social Affairs Minister Vladimir Spidla said the demonstration was premature, because the amount of the grants is not yet final and would be discussed again January 28. * Foreign Minister Jan Kavan, accompanied by a group of Czech entrepreneurs, visited Egypt January 22-24. He negotiated with Egyptian representatives primarily about further development of economic relations. Alzbeta Trousilova, Marika Pechackova/Jakub Jirovec FROM SLOVAKIA EU Ready to Welcome Entire Region European Commission Chairman Romano Prodi's message in Bratislava was to give support to EU-minded Slovak politicians and tell them the chance to close the gap between Slovakia and another EU associate members is fully in their hands. Prodi was the first commission chairman to visit Slovakia. He was accompanied by the EU Commissar for Expansion Gunter Verheugen and tried to explain how, when and under what conditions Slovakia may join the EU. "Slovakia has all the preconditions necessary to catch up to the countries that have already begun EU membership talks. It depends only on internal consensus and the abilities of Slovakia. For us, too, it would be easier if the whole region joined the EU." While Slovakia's neighbors received their invitations for membership talks two years ago, the policies of former Premier Vladimir Meciar's governments delayed Slovakia's invitation, which came last fall at the Helsinki EU summit. Bratislava would prefer to speed up talks and proposed to increase threefold the number of negotiated issues (called chapters in EU lingo) at the March EU talks. Prodi and Verheugen rejected the idea: "It is not important to open chapters, but to close them." Marika Pechackova/Milan Smid ECONOMY Conflicts Continue around Sale of Czech Savings Bank The Government is to decide soon on the sale of the state's share in the Czech Savings Bank (Ceska sporitelna). Austria's Erste Bank was granted exclusivity in negotiations on the sale until the end of January. During the negotiations, the Nomura-controlled Investment and Postal Bank (Investicni a postovni banka, IPB) expressed its interest in buying the share. In January accusations were made that Finance Minister Pavel Mertlik and Czech National Bank Governor Josef Tosovsky took bribes in connection with the talks, and Erste Bank's exclusivity has been the target of further attacks. Mertlik has continued to support Erste Bank as the best candidate to purchase the Savings Bank. Dita Kristanova/Michael Bluhm Czech Export on the Rise Last year's foreign trade deficit was 69.9 billion crowns, which the best result in the past five years. Exports to EU countries increased by 17.7 per cent, including exports to Germany, which increased by 20 per cent. Germany is the Czech Republic's biggest trading partner, taking 42.1 per cent of all Czech export. Although the export of foodstuffs and consumer goods has decreased, exports of machinery, namely cars, has increased. Alzbeta Trousilova/Jakub Jirovec Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid January 28) -------------------------------------------------------------- 1 EUR = 36.095 country currency CZK ------------------------------------------ Australia 1 AUD 23.376 Great Britain 1 GBP 58.560 Denmark 1 DKK 4.814 Japan 100 JPY 33.859 Canada 1 CAD 24.875 IMF 1 XDR 48.978 Hungary 100 HUF 14.028 Norway 1 NOK 4.428 New Zealand 1 NZD 18.216 Poland 1 PLN 8.668 Greece 100 GRD 10.806 Slovakia 100 SKK 84.618 Slovenia 100 SIT 17.895 Sweden 1 SEK 4.195 Switzerland 1 CHF 22.236 USA 1 USD 35.798 Exchange Rates of countries participating in the euro (converted from the euro rate) country currency CZK ----------------------------------------- Germany 1 DEM 18.320 Belgium 100 BEF 88.820 Finland 1 FIM 6.026 France 1 FRF 5.462 Ireland 1 IEP 45.495 Italy 1000 ITL 18.505 Luxemburg 100 LUF 88.820 Netherlands 1 NLG 16.259 Portugal 100 PTE 17.872 Austria 1 ATS 2.604 Spain 100 ESP 21.534 CULTURE Seventh Year of Febiofest "Here we are again, bigger and stronger and with the program that surpasses everything we've done in the past," said festival director Fero Fenic at the opening of the seventh year of the international film festival Febiofest 2000. The festival started in Prague January 20. After its one-week stay in Prague, the festival will move to smaller cities and then to Slovakia. There it shall finish February 29. This year the festival is part of the project Prague, European City of Culture 2000. More than 140 movies will be shown in 24 Czech (12 in Prague) and eight Slovak cinemas. The festival's sections include documentary films, shorts and television production as well as new Czech and foreign films such as Nikita Mikhalkov's The Barber of Siberia and David Lynch's A Straight Story. This year's Febiofest offered a new twist: showings in the central hall of Prague's main train station. For the symbolic price of one crown anyone could see films with train themes. Radka Kohutova/Zuzana Janeckova SPORT Hockey Extraleague: Sparta Remains on Top Three victories in the last three rounds strenghtened the leading position of Sparta in the hockey extraleague's standings. Sparta's eternal intra-city rival Slavia even tasted a crushing 5:1 defeat at the hands of Sparta. A snow emergency on the roads January 21 prevented the bus with hockey players from Zlin from arriving in Pardubice, and the Pardubice-Zlin match had to be postponed. However, Pardubice wants to be considered the game's winner by disqualification, because Zlin did not try hard enough to get to Pardubice, whereas many Zlin fans made it to Pardubice in time despite the snow on the roads. Results of the 37th round: Trinec - Plzen 5:0, Litvinov - Slavia 6:3, Sparta - Kladno 6:2, Havirov - Karlovy Vary 4:1, Vsetin - Znojmo 1:0, Pardubice - Zlin postponed, Ceske Budejovice - Vitkovice 1:1. Results of the 38th round: Sparta - Slavia 5:1, Karlovy Vary - Vsetin 3:0, Kladno - Havirov 2:2, Zlin - Ceske Budejovice 5:4, Trinec - Pardubice 4:0, Litvinov - Vitkovice 5:2, Plzen - Znojmo 4:2. Results of the 39th round: Havirov - Slavia 3:7, Vsetin - Kladno 4:2, Znojmo - Karlovy Vary 3:1, Pardubice - Plzen 5:4, Litvinov - Zlin 3:1, Sparta - Vitkovice 6:2, Ceske Budejovice - Trinec 5:2. Standings after the 39th round: 1. Sparta - 56 points, 2. Vsetin 51, 3. Plzen 49, 4. Zlin 47, 5. Trinec 43, 6. Litvinov 42, 7. Ceske Budejovice 42, 8. Znojmo 35, 9. Havirov 32, 10. Slavia 32, 11. Pardubice 31, 12. Karlovy Vary 29, 13. Kladno 26, 14. Vitkovice 25. SPORTS IN BRIEF * The last Czech player at the Australian Open, Ctibor Dosedel, was eliminated in the fourth round. He was defeated by third-seeded Pete Sampras 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. * Karel Loprais and his Tatra truck finished second in the truck category of the 22nd Paris-Dakar-Cairo Rally. Loprais, five-time winner of the truck race, was defeated by the Russian team Kamaz. Czech truck driver Tomas Tomecek finished fourth. Dita Kristanova/Milan Smid WEATHER The weather in the Czech Republic might be described as the A Winter's Tale last week. This tale had two faces. One was pleasant - mountains full of skiers, beautifully snowy landscapes, calm and peaceful white forests. The second face frowned. Heavy snowfall January 20 blocked a large number of roads and some remote villages were cut off from the outside world. Low temperatures - minus 10 degrees Celsius to minus 15 degrees Celsius/14 degrees Fahrenheit to 5 degrees Fahrenheit in the mornings - were compensated by occasional sunshine during the day. Since every tale should have a happy ending - blinding sunbeams remind us that after the winter will come (someday) spring. Radka Kohutova/Jakub Jirovec English version edited by Michael Bluhm. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This news may be published only with attribution to CAROLINA. Subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated. 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