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 363, Friday, February 18, 2000. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (February 9 - February 16) Czech Ministers Not Going to Meet Haider's Ministers Top-level political contact between the Czech Republic and Austria is neither vital nor necessary, particularly if the Austrian Government is represented by one of Haider's Free Democrats (FPO), said Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman at the weekly Social Democrat press conference February 11. At the same time he stressed that the Czech Republic is not going to cut off all ties with its southern neighbor, and that normal technical contacts shall go on without any limits. That statement represented Zeman's response to the program declaration of Wolfgang Schuessel's new Austrian Government implying a claim for compensating Sudeten Germans now living in Austria for their forced labor after 1945 in the former Czechoslovakia. The claim was connected with Czech EU membership. Foreign Minister Jan Kavan last week objected to this point (see Carolina 362). The Austrian Government then tried to reduce tension. When addressing the Austrian Parliament February 9, Schuessel declared his support for EU expansion and left out the part of the program declaration about the property claims. Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrer-Waldner said Vienna did not want to condition Czech EU membership by Sudeten German compensation. Zeman said he appreciated Schuessel's gesture but the passages aimed against the Czech Republic did not disappear from the Government declaration. Michaela Kleckova/Milan Smid After deadline: The Austrian Government will not link the pending claims for compensation for the forced labor during the Second World War with abolition of the postwar Benes Decrees, said Schuessel February 16. The Czech Foreign Ministry as well as Chamber of Deputies Chairman Vaclav Klaus said they appreciated the Austrian declaration. Media quotes Klaus as saying it is necessary "to evaluate (Schuessel's Cabinet) according to real deeds and not according to biased judgments." Protest in front of Austrian Embassy About 50 mostly young people gathered in front of the Austrian Embassy in Prague February 10 to express their disapproval with the participation of Haider's Free Democrats in the Austrian Government and against introducing visa requirements for Russia, Belorussia and Ukraine. According to demonstrator Martin Saffek, a member of the group Socialist Solidarity, the Czech Republic should break off diplomatic relations with Austria. The demonstration lasted about 30 minutes and passed without violent incident. Tomas Havlin/Milan Smid Four-Party Coalition, Impulse 99 and Thank You, Now Leave! Work Together Representatives of the Four-Party Coalition (the Freedom Union, the Christian Democrats, the Democratic Union and the Civic Democratic Alliance) and civic initiatives Impulse 99 and Thank You, Now Leave! agreed to coordinate their activities during the Senate election this fall. "We will proceed together in the Senate elections and we plan a united approach also in elections to the Chamber of Deputies," said Freedom Union (US) Vice Chairman Vladimir Mlynar. Impulse 99 spokesman Tomas Halik said the three political subjects have a similar opinion on the bill of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and Social Democrats (CSSD) to change the Constitution and their efforts to influence the media. Christian Democrat (KDU-CSL) Chairman Jan Kasal said the cooperation was discussed only in general and that no name of any specific candidate was mentioned at all. Because senators must be at least 40 years old, it is clear that Impulse 99 representatives have a better chance to be on the ballot than the former November 1989 student leaders who now make up the backbone of the Thank You, Now Leave! initiative. That civic association said their members have agreed on their presidential candidate. His name is to be revealed February 25 at a demonstration on Wenceslas Square organized by the association - the demonstration is called to protest the proposed Constitutional amendments. Nikoleta Alivojvodic/Milan Smid Zeman in Lisbon Prime Minister Milos Zeman February 14-15 visited Portugal, the country presiding over the Council of the European Union for the first half of the year. Zeman met Portuguese Premier Antonio Guterres. Zeman presented Guterres the Czech position on EU expansion. Zeman pointed out that the strategy of reforming the EU internally before expansion would delay the Czech Republic's accession by two years, from 2003 to 2005. He asked Portuguese legislators to support the EU expanding simultaneously with its internal reforms. Jan Skala/Milan Smid TV NOVA on Internet Upsets Americans Hollywood film companies are upset over TV NOVA's new project: broadcasting on the Internet. Americans say the broadcasting is a violation of international agreements on intellectual property and copyrights. TV NOVA General Director Vladimir Zelezny said broadcasting on the Internet is not a problem. "On the Internet it is not broadcasting but two-way communication. It is the same as if someone called you in Canada by videotelephone, aimed the camera at the screen and via telephone sent you what Nova is broadcasting. That's two-way communication - it is not regulated by copyright or anything else," he said to the daily MF DNES. Zelezny said Nova has the broadcast rights for the foreign films now shown simultaneously on NOVA and the Internet. The fact that Nova transmits broadcasts in digital form is not against Czech laws. "If the program is broadcast unchanged, it is possible according the law. That is of course valid only for the Czech Republic. Broadcasting outside our territory is something completely different," said Dagmar Hartmanova of the Authors' Protection Union. TV NOVA might not have any international difficulties, for two reasons. The first is the language barrier (programming is in Czech) and the second is connected to the fact that film companies are beginning to trust the Internet and use it for their own interests. Veronika Hankusova/Veronika Hankusova FROM SLOVAKIA Slovakia Starts EU Accession Talks The European Union Accession Negotiations with "second-wave" states (Slovakia, Bulgaria, Rumania, Lithuania, Latvia and Malta) were launched in Brussels February 16. The December EU summit in Helsinki decided that negotiations on accession should be governed by the regatta principle, i.e. any country can be accepted when it meets the prescribed unified criteria, regardless of where the other second-wave countries stand. In theory, Slovakia could join the EU at the same time as any of first-wave country (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and Cyprus). However, chief Czech EU negotiator and Deputy Foreign Minister Pavel Telicka made statements questioning whether such a possibility was realistic: "In such a race the boats would have to be of the same character and leave at the same time." Pavel Korinek/Milan Smid Hackers Claim to Have Information on Slovak Insurance Company Clients A Slovak band of hackers calling themselves Group F claim it has confidential information about hundreds of thousands of clients of the Slovak Insurance Company. The company, however, said its computer system is safe and has never been entered by hackers. Data about insured cars in the Svidnicky region were made freely available on the Internet, but the company says the data are old and inaccurate. According to the Slovak daily SME, the data are inaccurate only because they were acquired in May 1998 and do not reflect changes made since then. Nothing is known about Group F, nor whether police are investigating; in most cases the police investigate only after a criminal complaint has been filed. Hackers can be imprisoned from three years to eight years for under financial secrecy laws. The hackers say they do not fear the police and will release more data on the Geocities free server (www.geocities.com). The hackers can be reached by e-mail at group_f@post.sk. Ondrej Maly/Ondrej Maly FROM SLOVAKIA IN BRIEF * Slovak police finished their investigation of the fatal 1992 car accident of Alexander Dubcek. According to conclusions published February 14, there are no signs of foul play. Slovak policemen now agree with their Czech colleagues, whose version of the accident is that Dubcek's driver was driving too fast on a wet road, skidded and lost control of the car. Ondrej Maly/Veronika Hankusova ECONOMY Commerce Bank Head Resigns, State Financial Help Coming The Government decided February 16 to give financial assistance to the Commerce Bank (Komercni banka, KB). The assistance will involve buying 60 billion crowns' worth of classified loans and shareholdings for a maximum of 36 billion crowns. The package represents the largest amount the state has ever provided to any bank. Commerce Bank Board Chairman and General Director Jan Kollert resigned before the Cabinet meeting. The Cabinet was to discuss the aid package February 9, but ministers decided to wait and requested more financial information from the bank. At the same time bank management has had to answer questions about losses of up to 8 billion crowns related to possibly fradulent loans to the Austrian firm B.C.L. Trading. The auditing firm Deloitte and Touche is performing an audit of the bank. The state is expected to change almost the entire top management of the bank. The position of general director has been offered to former Credit Lyonnais boss Heinrich Sittler. Lubos Kratochvil/Michael Bluhm Prices Rise on Prague Stock Exchange Prices of the leading stocks of the Prague Stock Exchange have been rising since the beginning of the year. The PX-50 index, tracking the 50 most-traded titles, has jumped 20 per cent to 594.6 points since January 1. Experts attribute the rise in prices to the Government's intention to finish the privatization and restructuring of key companies. For instance, shares of the Commerce Bank (Komercni banka), which will be cleansed of classified loans sold off by the state (see above), closed at 1,143 crowns February 8, and has gained 86.6 per cent since the beginning of the year. Share prices have also risen for other companies: the Czech Savings Bank (Ceska sporitelna, 27.4 per cent), Czech Radiocommunications (24 per cent), Czech Telecom (22.4 per cent), and the Czech Energetic Company (CEZ) (32.9 per cent). The bourse's index stopped growing February 10. Analysts said the halt was caused the Cabinet postponing its decision on bailing out the Commerce Bank till February 16. Lubos Kratochvil/Denisa Vitkova CKD to Continue Production in Bankruptcy The Consolidation Bank promised to grant a loan of approximately 250 million crowns to the engineering firm CKD Transport Systems to complete production of 10 railroad engines for Vietnam. The bank also preliminarily approved a loan worth some 460 million crowns to produce subway cars for the Prague metro. CKD bankruptcy trustee Petr Dostal said CKD will continue producing major orders during bankruptcy. Dostal said that within the first half of the year CKD will receive more than 800 million crowns, which should finance CKD's standing orders: the railroad engines for Vietnam, the subway cars for Prague and supplying spare parts for 72 Manila streetcars. An official offer to take over CKD's orders was submitted by Skoda Pilsen (Plzen) February 15. The Prague Regional Commercial Court placed CKD in bankruptcy January 28. A few new, small claims were made by other creditors after CKD's main creditors signed a standstill agreement in November. Lubos Kratochvil/Denisa Vitkova ECONOMY IN BRIEF * After cellular-phone operator Eurotel recently introduced WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), customers of rival operator Radiomobil (owner of the Paegas network) can enjoy WAP services as well. Owners of cellular phones supporting WAP can access certain internet pages, teletext, e-mail or their bank accounts. WAP is supported mainly by more expensive higher phones. According to Radiomobil spokeswoman Tereza Kakosova, cheaper WAP-compatible phones should emerge by the middle of the year and by 2001 all new cellular phones will support WAP. Ondrej Maly/Ondrej Maly Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid February 18) -------------------------------------------------------------- 1 EUR = 35.775 country currency CZK ------------------------------------------ Australia 1 AUD 22.843 Great Britain 1 GBP 58.058 Denmark 1 DKK 4.805 Japan 100 JPY 32.734 Canada 1 CAD 24.787 IMF 1 XDR 48.425 Hungary 100 HUF 13.968 Norway 1 NOK 4.393 New Zealand 1 NZD 17.715 Poland 1 PLN 8.769 Greece 100 GRD 10.721 Slovakia 100 SKK 84.539 Slovenia 100 SIT 17.768 Sweden 1 SEK 4.184 Switzerland 1 CHF 22.307 USA 1 USD 36.013 Exchange Rates of countries participating in the euro (converted from the euro rate) country currency CZK ----------------------------------------- Germany 1 DEM 18.291 Belgium 100 BEF 88.684 Finland 1 FIM 6.017 France 1 FRF 5.454 Ireland 1 IEP 45.425 Italy 1000 ITL 18.476 Luxemburg 100 LUF 88.684 Netherlands 1 NLG 16.234 Portugal 100 PTE 17.844 Austria 1 ATS 2.600 Spain 100 ESP 21.501 CULTURE Television Fans Vote for Favorite Stars Awards for the ninth year of the TYTY competition were presented in Prague's Karlin Music Theater February 12. About 77,000 readers of Weekly Television (Tydenik Televize) magazine voted for their favorite television celebrities and programs. The winners: Karel Gott - top vote-getter, best male singer Lucie Bila - most popular female singer Miroslav Donutil - most popular male actor Petr Novotny - most popular entertainer Jirina Bohdalova - most popular female actress Valerie Zawadska and Miroslav Moravec - most popular dubbers Radek John - most popular public-affairs program host Pavel Zuna - most popular anchorman Pavel Poulicek - most popular sports announcer Marie Retkova - most popular announcer Life at the Chateau (Zivot na zamku) - best program Dita Eckhardtova/Zuzana Janeckova Sting in Prague Again Pop star Sting perfomed in Prague's Paegas Arena February 15. It waa his second appearance in Prague, and shortly before the concert he met with President Vaclav Havel and Havel's wife Dagmar. Radka Kohutova/Zuzana Janeckova SPORTS Hasek Postpones Retirement World-renowned hockey goalkeeper Dominik Hasek announced in Buffalo February 11 he will prolong his career one more year. He had planned this season to be his last and announced his intentions in July in Prague. At the beginning of the season in October he injured his groin and was out of action until recently. "I did not expect I would lose more than half the season. I wanted to play in Buffalo a whole and good year," Hasek said to the Czech daily MF DNES. He returned between the pipes in the beginning of February and has recorded one shutout and kept Buffalo rolling for the playoffs. Hasek has never won a Stanley Cup. Hasek's situation is complicated by the fact that the Sabres can protect only one goalkeeper in this year's expansion draft. Buffalo might prefer Martin Biron, a talented and much younger goalie. Hasek has been the subject of trade rumors. Darina Johanidesova/Mirek Langer Led by Augusta, National Hockey Team Takes Silver in Sweden The Czech national hockey team finished the Sweden Hockey Games in second place. The tournament took place in Stockholm January 8-13. Second place was confirmed with a win over Sweden and the same second position belongs to the Czech team in the final standings of the Euro Hockey Tour. Finland won both competitions. Without coach Ivan Hlinka, who recently signed a contract with the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins, the team played well. It defeated Russia 6-2, Canada 1-0 and Sweden 3-1. Only a lapse in the first period against Finland led to a 1-3 loss. "We'll pay them back in the World Championships," said forward Tomas Vlasak in a television interview. Josef Augusta, Hlinka's former assistant, had his first taste of the head coach position, which he will probably keep for the upcoming World Championships. "Experienced players want to win and they can create a team that stays together," he said for the daily MF DNES. Two Czech players were elected to the tournament's all-star team: goalkeeper Roman Cechmanek and center Pavel Patera. Standings of the Sweden Hockey Games: 1. Finland 8, 2. Czech Republic 6, 3. Canada 5, 4. Russia 2, 5. Sweden 1. Final standings of the Euro Hockey Tour: 1. Finland 18, 2. Czech Republic 15, 3. Russia 12, 4. Sweden 3. David Luksu, Martin Moravec/Mirek Langer SPORTS IN BRIEF * Seventeen athletes will represent the Czech Republic in the indoor track and field European Championships, which will be held in Gent, Belgium February 25-27. Runner Ludmila Formanova and triple jumper Sarka Kasparkova will not participate, because they are concentrating on preparing for the Sydney Olympics and Kasparkova broke a bone in her leg. Shot-putter Miroslav Menc and pole vaulter Adam Ptacek obtained wild cards from the Czech Track and Field Union. Menc's two-year doping suspension will expire four days before the championships. * Sparta Praha finished its trip through the Czech soccer cup in the fourth round. It lost in Plzen (a second-league team) 0-1. "It's a great shame," captain Michal Hornak said after the game. On the contrary, Slavia Praha defeated Celakovice 4-0 and will play against Liberec in the quarterfinals. * Czech figure skaters recorded no unusual successes in the European Championships in Vienna, which finished February 12. Only the pair Katerina Berankova - Otto Dlabola finished in the top 10, although their ninth place is two places worse than last year. In the individual competitions, Eva Chuda (29th) and Lukas Rakowski (25th) did not advance into the free routines. Ice-dancing couple Katerina Kovalova and David Szurman finished 17th in their European premiere. David Luksu, Martin Moravec/Mirek Langer WEATHER Wednesday:rain-wind-low temperatures Thursday: rain-wind-low temperatures Friday: rain-wind-low temperatures Saturday: rain-wind-low temperatures Sunday: rain-wind-low temperatures Monday: rain-wind-low temperatures Tuesday: rain-wind-low temperatures GOD GIVE US SPRING Jan Vedral Jr./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. 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