CCCCC AA RRRR 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 386, Friday, August 25, 2000. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS (August 10 - August 24) Zeman's Government Begins Second Half of Term The minority Social Democrat government of Prime Minister Milos Zeman began the second half of its four-year mandate with its August 24 Cabinet session. The agenda of the meeting, which lasted late into the evening, counted an unusually high number of 50 items and had another 20 points of information. One of the items was the 2001 budget proposal. Government speaker Libor Roucek said next year's deficit should not exceed 20 billion crowns, budget priorities will be education and the schools. The daily Lidove noviny said state institutions were asking for 94 billion crowns more than they received this year, although such an increase would represent about 15 per cent of this year's budget. Parliament Commission Begins Investigating IPB Case The Parliament investigative commission to unravel the collapse and sale of the Investment and Postal Bank (Investicni a postovni banka, IPB) began its work August 16 with the questioning of witnesses. First witnesses included former bank General Director Jan Klacek, bank supervision chief Pavel Racocha and former forced administrator Petr Stanek. Commission members are not speaking about the investigation, while commission Chairman Miroslav Kalousek (Christian Democrat) said the commission will inform the September Parliament session about the investigation. Lead Affair Shows Social Democrat Internal Dissent The daily MF DNES August 18 reported that the author of Lead, the secret plan to discredit Social Democrat and Parliament Vice Chairwoman Petra Buzkova, was Prime Minister Milos Zeman's adviser Vratislav Sima. Police are investigating the origin of the 10-page plan for the campaign with the code name of Lead (lead has the chemical sign Pb, the initials of Buzkova), on the basis of a criminal complaint filed by the Office of the Government after news of the document broke in MF DNES in mid-May. Another of Zeman's advisers, Zdenek Sarapatka, said in his deposition to the police that Sima had written the plan. Analysts call the affair a sign of the fight underway today in the party over which faction will take control of the party after Zeman leaves his post as chairman in 2002. Some interpret Sarapatka's publicizing his deposition as a move to harm Miroslav Slouf, the head of Zeman's advisers, and to help the position of the party's younger generation, led by Buzkova and Interior Minister Stanislav Gross. Czech Television News Director Jiri Hodac Resigns Jiri Hodac, the former BBC journalist appointed as news director at the public-service Czech Television (CT) channel April 17, resigned unexpectedly August 11. Hodac said he resigned because CT General Director Dusan Chmelicek prevented public debate on the new concept of the news organization and some decisions concerning Hodac's department were taken without consulting him. Chmelicek rejected Hodac's arguments and said Hodac failed as a manager, unable to get on good terms with his subordinates. Czech Television announced it is going to broadcast a new political debate program with new host Milan Sima each Sunday evening at 9:30 p.m. from September 3. The new show will replace the Sunday noontime program High Noon (V prave poledne), cancelled in July after moderator Roman Prorok was dismissed under pressure from politicians unhappy with his performance. Zelezny Contests Legality and Amount of Lauder's Investments General Director of TV NOVA and CET 21 boss Vladimir Zelezny said at a press conference August 17 that his company has asked the Commercial Court to dissolve former TV NOVA service provider CNTS (Czech Independent Television Company), controlled by Central European Media Enterprises (CME). Zelezny claims CME investments in CNTS during its increase of share capital in 1994-1995 were done in an illegal manner, and Zelezny called into doubt the amount which Ronald Lauder, as majority owner of CME, invested in the Czech Republic. Cosmetics empire heir Lauder filed a suit against the Czech Republic last year, claiming the state did not protect his investment in the country. FROM SLOVAKIA Slovak President Home Again Slovak President Rudolf Schuster returned home after 48 days of medical treatment in Austria, where he underwent emergency surgery after intestinal perforation and serious complications. At the Bratislava airport Schuster was welcomed by Slovak Premier Mikulas Dzurinda. Schuster then flew to his hometown of Kosice, where he will spend several weeks recovering under the supervision of physicians from the local Military Hospital and where he will perform his presidential duties. Schuster will have to undergo one more surgery - to close the temporary hole in his colon - in October. ECONOMY More Fallout from IPB Collapse Saluka Investment, controlled by Nomura, announced August 14 it was selling its 46.2-per-cent share in the Investment and Postal Bank (Investicni a postovni banka, IPB) to the companies Torkmain and Levitan, despite the facts that the Securities Commission (KCP) had forbidden the trading of IPB shares and that the Czech National Bank said it had not given its approval to the sale as required by the Banking Act. The sale was an attempt by Nomura to trade the now worthless IPB shares for promissory notes worth 9 billion crowns that were given to IPB as guarantees for loans IPB made to Nomura-related firms for the purchase of Czech breweries later sold with significant profit to South African Breweries. Nomura is also threatening legal action against the state for placing IPB under forced administration and then selling its assets to the Czechoslovak Trade Bank (Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka, CSOB) (see Carolina 381-2). Banking Socialism Ends for Vojenske Stavby CZ Vojenske stavby CZ, the country's fourth-largest construction company, has found itself in a difficult position after the Czechoslovak Trade Bank (Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka, CSOB) refused to provide new financing because of insufficient guarantees. CSOB is the new owner of the Investment and Postal Bank (Investicni a postovni banka, IPB), which had previously provided Vojenske stavby with financing. Getting loans from IPB had not been a problem for Vojenske stavby, which was a significant shareholder in the bank and was until last year owned entirely by the bank. Vojenske stavby CZ has also run into problems with IPB Real, the bank's real-estate arm, which in July terminated orders with the construction firm for the building of apartments and houses. Vojenske stavby CZ was created two years ago from the remains of the company Vojenske stavby - that firm's 2-billion-crown debt to IPB will probably be taken up by the state-owned and taxpayer-financed Consolidation Bank. Exchange Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid August 25) ---------------------------------------------------------- 1 EUR = 35.340 country currency CZK ---------------------------------------- Australia 1 AUD 22.471 Great Britain 1 GBP 57.991 Denmark 1 DKK 4.738 Japan 100 JPY 36.615 Canada 1 CAD 26.395 IMF 1 XDR 51.198 Hungary 100 HUF 13.534 Norway 1 NOK 4.364 New Zealand 1 NZD 17.006 Poland 1 PLN 9.014 Greece 100 GRD 10.478 Slovakia 100 SKK 83.079 Slovenia 100 SIT 16.920 Sweden 1 SEK 4.225 Switzerland 1 CHF 22.807 USA 1 USD 39.217 Exchange Rates of countries paticipating in the euro (converted from the euro rate) Germany 1 DEM 18.069 Belgium 100 BEF 87.606 Finland 1 FIM 5.944 France 1 FRF 5.388 Ireland 1 IEP 44.873 Italy 1000 ITL 18.252 Luxemburg 100 LUF 87.606 Netherlands 1 NLG 16.037 Portugal 100 PTE 17.628 Austria 1 ATS 2.568 Spain 100 ESP 21.240 CULTURE Jirasek's Hronov Festival Anniversary Friends of amateur theater performances met for the 70th time in the North Bohemian town of Hronov August 13-19. Culture Minister Pavel Dostal and Senate Chairwoman Libuse Benesova attended the opening of the festival Jirasek's Hronov, which presented 40 theater performances, including eight by foreign troupes, performed by groups from Slovakia, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Lithuania. One highlight was the fairy-tale drama The Bagpiper from Strakonice (Strakonicky dudak) by Josef Kajetan Tyl, staged by an amateur theater group from Orechov near Brno. The amateur theater festival in Hronov was organized first time in 1931 as an homage to Czech writer Alois Jirasek for his 80th birthday. SPORTS Czech Republic Sends 126 Athletes to Sydney Olympic Games A plenary meeting of the Czech Olympic Committee (COV) approved August 14 the athletes for the Czech delegation to the Olympic Games in Sydney. The Czech Olympic expedition will number 200 - 126 athletes and 74 trainers, physicians, nurses and others. The track and field athletes represent the largest group - 25 - in the delegation, followed by canoeists (19) and soccer players (18). The Czech Olympic Committee will award 1 million crowns to the winner of a gold medal, a silver medal will be rewarded by 500,000 crowns and a bronze medalist will get 300,000 crowns. Soccer League: Sparta Leads the Chart Results of the 3rd round: Liberec - Budejovice 2:0, Sparta - Zizkov 1:0, Teplice - Brno 1:1, Ostrava - Jablonec 1:1, Stare Mesto - Blsany 1:0, Bohemians - Slavia 1:1, Plzen - Drnovice 2:1, Olomouc - Pribram 3:2. Results of the 4th round: Slavia - Liberec 1:0, Brno - Olomouc 0:2, Stare Mesto - Plzen 5:0, Zizkov - Teplice 2:1, Budejovice - Ostrava 1:0, Blsany - Pribram 1:1, Jablonec - Sparta 0:3, Drnovice - Bohemians 2:1. Standings after four rounds: 1. Sparta 12 points, 2. Stare Mesto 10, 3. Liberec 9, 3. Olomouc 6, 5. Slavia 8, 6. Ostrava 7, 7. Blsany 5, 8. Bohemians 5, 9. Teplice 5, 10, Budejovice 4, 11. Plzen 4, 12. Zizkov 3, 13. Drnovice 3, 14. Jablonec 2, 15. Brno 1, 16. Pribram 1. European Soccer Cups: Only Sparta Advances Qualification for the Champions League: August 22, Slavia - Doneck 0:2, Doneck advances August 23, Sparta - Zimbru Kisinev 1:0, Sparta advances Intertoto Cup - final match: August 22, Udine - Olomouc 4:2, Udine wins. WEATHER After a cold and nasty July, the second half of August brought back summer to Central Europe, over the weekend of August 19-20 with near-tropical temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius/86 degrees Fahrenheit. However, local thunderstorms, windstorms, hails and torrential rains followed the hot days. Storms in Eastern Bohemia on the night of August 22-3 knocked down power lines, blocked railway transport and even caused the death of a small girl, who was killed while asleep in a tent by a falling tree at the campground in Chlumec, on the Cidlina River. 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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