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 ISSN 121-5040 tel: (+4202) 22112252, fax: (+4202) 22112219 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* C A R O L I N A No 376, Friday, May 19, 2000. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (May 10 - May 17) Prague and Bratislava Join Hockey Celebration The Czech-Slovak final at the hockey World Championships brought the people on both sides of the former federal republic into the streets May 14. Thousands of Prague inhabitants gathered on the Old Town Square to watch the final match live on a large video screen. When the Czech team won after a dramatic finish 5-3, corks from bottles of champagne were popped again, like after last year's World Championship and two years ago after the Nagano Olympics victory. Slovak citizens crowded in a Bratislava Square to attend the festivities celebrating the historic achievement for Slovak ice hockey. Despite the defeat in the final match, thousands of fans remained in the streets late into the night, when the Slovak hockey team returned to Bratislava from St. Petersburg. The Czech team returned to Prague a day later, May 15. After being met by players' families and journalists at the airport, the bus with the players went into town, made a short visit to the prime minister's office, and then arrived at the Old Town Square, where about 6,000 enthusiastic supporters awaited. Darina Johanidesova/Michael Bluhm FBI Director Visits Prague The American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will open its 10-person Prague branch very soon, said FBI Director Louis Freeh during his May 11 visit to Prague. Freeh also said Prague-born US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman had approved opening the office. Freeh said the office should contribute to the fight against organized crime. Freeh also met with Interior Minister Stanislav Gross. They discussed problems connected with the upcoming general meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to be held in Prague in September. Iva Potrebova/Michael Bluhm Court Cancels Ban on Demonstration against IMF, World Bank Opponents of globalization will be allowed to organize a demonstration against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank on Prague's Peace Square (Namesti Miru) September 25. The Prague City Court made that decision May 16. The Prague 2 District Office had no right to ban the demonstration called by the Initiative against Economic Globalization, according to the court. Prague 2 official Ivana Vosecka forbade the demonstration on the grounds that it was called for a location that would endanger the participants and would require limiting transportation. She also wrote that flowers are to be planted on the square and the demonstrators might destroy them. Michaela Kleckova/Veronika Hankusova Social Democrats' Next Affair? A document preparing a smear campaign against Chamber of Deputies Vice Chairwoman and the country's most popular politician Petra Buzkova was brought to public by the daily MF DNES May 16. The daily says the campaign was prepared by Buzkova's own party, the ruling Social Democrats, and that the document was lifted from a computer in the Office of the Government. The goal of the campaign, in the document called Operation Lead (the chemical symbol for lead - Pb - matches Buzkova's initials) was to create the impression, for example through forged letters to the media, that Buzkova is former agent of the StB (the communist secret police) who had been a prostitute with a vice police record in the 80's and now abuses her three-year-old daughter. The daily said its source works with Prime Minister Milos Zeman. The source says the document was created in late February by Zeman's team of advisors, led by Miroslav Slouf. News of the document caused a stir, with diametrically opposite reactions from Social Democrat leaders. Interior Minister Stanislav Gross authorized a police investigation into the matter, Zeman said he laughed heartily and MF DNES was the victim of a fraud. Zeman's investigation with the questioning of Slouf. "His opinion is that it is primarily a campaign to discredit him in connection with his Senate campaign," said Zeman. Slouf, a high-ranking Communist Party functionary before 1989, has been a frequent target of criticism, some of it from Buzkova. Buzkova said she did not believe it was a document from the Office of the Government, but she believes some office employees are capable of something like it. The daily Pravo May 17 put the affair into connection with the coming battle for the leadership of the party. Zeman has announced he will not run again for the party's chair, and the daily said the affair reflects the intraparty battle for succession. Michaela Kleckova/Ondrej Maly "Secret" Communist File on Foreign Minister Kavan Published in Book Form A book about Foreign Minister and Senator Jan Kavan appeared in bookstores this week, with the title Kato - The Story of a Real Man. It is not clear whether the material in the book - Kavan's file as kept by the communist-era secret police - is secret, and thus whether the publisher broke the law. The Office for Foreign Relations and Information, the civilian intelligence service, inherited Kavan's file from the communist State Security (StB), which used Kavan in the 60's and 70's to gather information primarily on the student movement in Great Britain. The diplomat says he never knowingly cooperated with the StB and a court confirmed his claim a couple of years ago. Kavan said publishing his file has broken the law. Moreover, Prime Minister Milos Zeman said the publisher disclosed state secrets. The book's editor, Premysl Vachalovsky, said the file was officially declassified by former Interior Minister Jan Langos. The civilian intelligence service has declined to make a statement on the status of its files, but promised it would do so this week. Iva Potrebova/Ondrej Maly Czechs Marry Later and Have Fewer Children Economic independence and having their own apartment is important for young Czechs before they marry. These are the findings of a large poll conducted by the Sociology Institute of the Academy of Sciences in 1997 and released May 11. The average age of newlyweds rose - men married on average at 27.7 years of age (at 24 years of age before 1989), women at 25.4 years of age (21 before 1989). The causes are the high price of apartments, the lack of cheaper ones and the danger of unemployment. Compared to the communist era, the numbers of annual marriages and births are down one-third. In 1994 there were 106,579 children born, the lowest number since 1785. In 1995 the number fell below 100,000 and last year's statistics show a decline to under 90,000. Iva Potrebova/Simon Dominik FOREIGN AFFAIRS Havel's Visit to Germany Cannot Avoid Issue of Benes Decrees During his four-day visit to Germany May 9-12, president Vaclav Havel was assured several times that Germany will support the Czech Republic's membership in the European Union. The friendly atmosphere of the journey was disrupted by the traditional obstacle in Czech-German relations - the Benes Decrees, which after WWII dispossessed Sudeten Germans of their possessions and led to their expulsion from Czechoslovakia. A question was asked about the Czech stance on the Benes' Decrees at a press conference held May 10 by Havel and German President Johannes Rau. Havel repeated the Czech position that the decrees are a historical part of the Czech legal code and are not valid anymore. "In accordance with the text of the Czech-German Declaration, I believe we should not burden our future. That does not mean we should not be engaged with it and study it, however," Havel said. During his visit to Berlin, Havel took a walk through the Brandenburger Gate, the site of the former Berlin Wall. He took the same walk in 1990 after the fall of communism, when his visit to the two former German states was his first state journey as Czechoslovak president. On May 11, Havel and Brandenburg Prime Minister Manfred Stolpe, together with more than 30 Czech concentration-camp survivors, unveiled a memorial to the victims of Nazism on the site of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The memorial is dedicated to Czech students deported after unversities were forced to close November 17, 1939. On the last day of his stay, May 12, Havel visited the state of Bavaria, where the largest number of Sudeten Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia live. Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber mentioned their compensation requests, on the other hand he assured Havel that Bavaria would support the Czech Republic in its efforts to join the EU. In relation to the Benes Decrees, he said, "I am relying on the Czech nation, during the course of its accession to the European Union, to renounce decrees and laws opposing international laws and that express an unfortunate past." That afternoon the Czech president visited the University in Regensburg, which boasts the best-known department on Bohemia in Germany. Havel told students about his journey and then answered some of their questions. A question on the Benes' Decrees was asked. Radka Kohutova/Daniela Vrbova SLOVAKIA One Charge against Meciar Dropped The Slovak Attorney General is no longer charging former Premier Vladimir Meciar with fraud. The charges claimed Meciar illegally paid bonuses to members of his Cabinet, but the fraud charge was dropped May 12. Meciar is still accused of misusing public office in the case. Despite a warnings from the Supreme Audit Office, Meciar gave his ministers bonuses of almost 14 million Slovak crowns. Meciar also figures as a witness in two other cases - the kidnapping of the son of former Slovak President Michal Kovac and the secret-service report allegedly analyzing the possibilities of removing Kovac from office. Radka Kohutova/Simon Dominik ECONOMY Unemployment Rate Declines Substantially The 9.5-per-cent unemployment rate dropped in April to 9 per cent, which means a decline of about 22,000 people to 471,000 persons receiving unemployment compensation. Decreases were registered in the northern regions of Bohemia and Moravia, where unemployement rates are traditionally high. Experts cited the widening choice of jobs offered by foreign investors and by small and medium business. Seasonal employment also contributed to the positive trend. Czech industrial output in March was 5.2 per cent higher than 12 months ago and the construction industry registered an increase of 6.5 per cent. According to statistics, productivity, consumer spending and export are also on the rise. Foreign investment will evidently surpass last year's record of 5 billion crowns. In the daily MF DNES, Prime Minister Milos Zeman said, "Thanks to the productivity and now the growth of our economy, we are, together with Slovenia, in the best position in the EU integration process." Zeman's critics say he exaggerates the statistical data, which appear favorable in comparison with the previous period of a deep recession. ECONOMY IN BRIEF * Commerce Bank (Komercni banka) Deputy General Directors Petr Budinsky and Jaroslav Mares stepped down May 16 in advance of their probable recall. Both face charges in connection with losses of about 8 billion crowns caused by allegedly fraudulent dealings with the Austrian company B.C.L.Trading (see Carolina 375). In the meantime Tomas Spurny, 35, a former employee of McKinsey, was appointed to the board of directors, where Budinsky and Mares once sat. The remaining three open seats on the board should be filled soon. * The Austrian Erste Bank Sparkassen, the new majority owner of the Czech Savings Bank (Ceska sporitelna, CS - see Carolina 362), is planning a personnel shake-up in the bank. According to the bank spokesman Martin Manak, American James Stack shall be appointed general director and chairman of the bank's board of directors. Incumbent General Director Dusan Baran shall be vice chairman of the board and financial director. The new board should be completed in June, when the bank's shares should be transferred to the bank's new owner. Economic news prepared by Nikoleta Alivojvodic/Milan Smid Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid May 19) -------------------------------------------------------------- 1 EUR = 36.790 country currency CZK ------------------------------------------ Australia 1 AUD 23.400 Great Britain 1 GBP 61.064 Denmark 1 DKK 4.932 Japan 100 JPY 37.669 Canada 1 CAD 27.440 IMF 1 XDR 53.555 Hungary 100 HUF 14.208 Norway 1 NOK 4.510 New Zealand 1 NZD 18.700 Poland 1 PLN 9.064 Greece 100 GRD 10.928 Slovakia 100 SKK 85.613 Slovenia 100 SIT 17.953 Sweden 1 SEK 4.502 Switzerland 1 CHF 23.675 USA 1 USD 41.157 Exchange Rates of countries participating in the euro (converted from the euro rate) country currency CZK ----------------------------------------- Germany 1 DEM 18.810 Belgium 100 BEF 91.200 Finland 1 FIM 6.188 France 1 FRF 5.609 Ireland 1 IEP 46.714 Italy 1000 ITL 19.000 Luxemburg 100 LUF 91.200 Netherlands 1 NLG 16.695 Portugal 100 PTE 18.351 Austria 1 ATS 2.674 Spain 100 ESP 22.111 CULTURE Prague Spring Blossoms The 55th year of the Prague Spring music festival began May 12. As always, it was opened by Bedrich Smetana's My Homeland, this time performed by the Prague Symphonic Orchestra FOK, conducted by Petr Altrichter. The festival lasts till June 3 and will feature more than 70 performers. This year's Prague Spring does not boast world-famous celebrities but there are many musicians well known in the music world. The New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Academy will play. Experts predict this year's climax will be the concert of the American Kronos Quartet, which offers the newest developments in world music trends. The program is also oriented toward composers with round-number anniversaries this year. Some of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach (250 years from his death) or Zdenek Fibich (1850 - 1900) will appear. Fibich is, with Smetana and Antonin Dvorak, a co-founder of Czech national music and some of his operas are still performed. Tomas Havlin/Simon Dominik World of Books Popular Again The sixth World of Books international book fair took place May 11-14 at the Prague Fairgrounds (Vystaviste). Despite hot summer weather, about 20,000 visitors found the way to the exhibition hall. This year's largest foreign stand was devoted to literature from Walloon-Brussels, represented in Prague by Francoise Lalande, Thomas Gunzig and Andre Schmitz. The fair was attended also by several Scandinavian authors, but the most popular attraction was Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho. Many special programs went on during the exhibition. The foundation of the Czech Literature Fund awarded its prizes to musician and writer Filip Topol, to literary critic Milan Jungmann and to literature theorist Alexandr Stich. Tomas Havlin/Milan Smid SPORTS Czech Republic Wins Hockey World Championships Again The Czech Republic's golden decade of the 90's continues. In the World Championships' final against a very familiar opponent, the Czech national hockey team defeated Slovakia 5-3 and defended its title from last year. These championships could be characterized by the saying, "everything is different in Russia." Surprises abounded: Slovakia eliminated the United States and advanced to the finals through Finland. Sweden finished in a Scandinavian tie with Finland and stayed seventh. Canada, after being knocked out by the Czechs, lost to Finland in the fight for the bronze. The Czechs defeated Latvia in the quarterfinal. Latvia collected its team from European and NHL teams and had a large fan contingent in the stands. Its biggest star, goalkeeper Arturs Irbe, helped the Czechs with his unwanted assist on Vaclav Varada's goal. Robert Reichel's lucky goal pushed the Czechs through to the semifinal game against Canada. In the final, Slovakia dominated with its quality play, they were more aggressive, but their mistakes on defense, the Czech's effectiveness converting chances and the reliable goaltending of Roman Cechmanek did not allow the Slovaks to gild their historic success. Five players, who participated in the finals, were included in the tournament's all-star team: Slovak Miroslav Satan and Czechs Roman Cechmanek, Michal Sykora, Jiri Dopita and Tomas Vlasak. Cechmanek was named the tourney's best goalkeeper and Martin Prochazka the most valuable player of the championships. Results: Quarterfinal: Czech Republic - Latvia 3-1 (0-0, 3-1, 0-0). Goals: Varada, Sykora, Dopita. Semifinal: Czech Republic - Canada 2-1 (1-1, 0-0, 1-0). Goals: Vyborny, Reichel. Final: Czech Republic - Slovakia 5-3 (3-0, 0-1, 2-2). Goals: Sykora, Vlasak, Prochazka, Tomajko, Reichel. Soccer League: Hradec Kralove and Opava Fall into Second League The last two rounds determined the final standings of the soccer league, including the teams in the last two places, which are relegated each year to the second league. Hradec Kralove, which managed to keep its first-league membership for the last six seasons, failed to do so this year. In the 29th round it lost in Ostrava 1-3 and did the same in the last round in Pribram. Opava and Jablonec were the two teams facing relegation before the last round, where they squared off head-to-head. Jablonec played well and sent Opava to the second league with a 4-0 win. Sparta lost its first points of the spring session with a 1-1 tie in a 29th-round game in Olomouc, but then it crushed third-place Drnovice 5-0. Second-place Slavia defeated Ceske Budejovice 4-1 in its last game in Slavia's old stadium in Eden. It will play in Strahov Stadium the next season while its new arena is being built. Results of the 29th round: Hradec Kralove - Ostrava 1-3, Slavia Praha - Ceske Budejovice 4-1, Drnovice - Teplice 1-1, Liberec - Bohemians Praha 2-0, Olomouc - Sparta Praha 1-1, Blsany - Brno 1-0, Zizkov - Jablonec 0-0, Opava - Pribram 0-1. Results of the 30th round: Pribram - Hradec Kralove 1-0, Ostrava - Liberec 3-0, Bohemians Praha - Blsany 1-1, Brno - Slavia Praha 3-1, Ceske Budejovice - Olomouc 1-2, Sparta Praha - Drnovice 5-0, Teplice - Zizkov 0-0, Jablonec - Opava 4-0. Final Standings: (Games won - tied - lost. Goals scored and allowed. Points) 1. Sparta Praha 24 4 2 (81-23) 76 2. Slavia Praha 21 5 4 (53-25) 68 3. Drnovice 14 6 10 (36-32) 48 4. Brno 12 6 12 (35-33) 42 5. Teplice 10 11 9 (38-38) 41 6. Dukla Pribram 11 7 12 (33-36) 40 7. Bohemians Praha 10 10 10 (24-28) 40 8. Liberec 9 11 10 (21-24) 38 9. Zizkov 9 10 11 (37-41) 37 10. Blsany 10 7 13 (28-45) 37 11. Ostrava 8 11 11 (43-45) 35 12. Olomouc 7 13 10 (31-38) 34 13. Jablonec 7 11 12 (24-36) 32 14. Ceske Budejovice 9 5 16 (34-49) 32 15. Opava 6 10 14 (31-39) 28 16. Hradec Kralove 4 11 15 (21-38) 23 Unusually Successful Week for Czech Cycling Jan Hruska of the Vitalicio Seguros team won the prologue - a 4.6-km time trial - of the Tour of Italy (Giro d'Italia) May 13 and became the first Czech to wear the pink jersey as race leader. He did not own it long, after the first stage he had to hand it over to Italy's Mario Cipollini. Wearing the jersey was the biggest success thus far for the 25-year-old cyclist. After the fifth stage, Hruska was in sixth place overall. Another Czech, Jan Svorada of the Lampre Daikin team, won the third stage of the Giro. At the end he lost to Cipollini, but the Italian was disqualified. Ondrej Sosenka won the last stage of the Peace Race, the traditional race organized in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. Sosenka (team PSK Unit Expert) won the stage from Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad) to Prague May 13 and was the first Czech stage winner since 1996. Poland's Piotr Wadecki (Mroz) was the overall winner, Rene Andrle finished sixth. SPORTS IN BRIEF * The Czech under-16 national soccer team won the silver medal in the European under-16 championships in Israel. In the final it lost to Portugal 1-2 in overtime, while tournament top scorer Tomas Jun scored the Czechs' only goal of the game. Sports section by Darina Johanidesova and Mirek Langer/Mirek Langer WEATHER Clear skies and plenty of sunshine turned the Czech Republic into a dry and thirsty country for the last several weeks. Firemen were busy with forest fires, bartenders were busy quenching thirsty throats. Even city dwellers got sunburned and farmers were longing for drops of rain. The rain finally came with thunder just before the Carolina deadline May 17 and knocked temperatures below 20 degrees Celsius/68 degrees Fahrenheit. Television meteorologists forecast clouds and rain for the coming days. Michaela Kleckova/Darina Johanidesova 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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