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 398, Friday, December 15, 2000 FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (December 6 - December 13) Otakar Motejl Elected First Ombudsman The Chamber of Deputies December 12 elected former Justice Minister and former Supreme Court Chairman Otakar Motejl as the first Czech ombudsman, the official protector of citizen's rights. Motejl, who was nominated by President Vaclav Havel and by the Senate, received 125 of 182 votes. The ombudsman is elected once each six years. Motejl will take his oath from Chamber of Deputies Chairman Vaclav Klaus December 18. He will chair the 50-member office responsible for defending citizens's rights against the abuse of power by state bureaucracy, or against the slow, lax or arrogant behavior of public officials. Motejl shall also keep an eye on the overall state activity and the maintenance of democratic principles of government. However, he has no right to interfere in the activities of public prosecutors and judges. The ombudsman has full immunity. He can be investigated for criminal activities only with the consent of the Chamber of Deputies, to which he will also submit quarterly reports on his activities. The ombudsman's headquarters in the Red House (Cerveny dum) on Brno's Valley Street (Udolni ulice) is under reconstruction. It will be opened next summer, for now Motejl will run his office from Jesuit Street (Jezuitska ulice) in Brno. The Chamber of Deputies will decide in a second round of voting in January who will be Motejl's deputy ombudsman. The runoff will take place between former Charter 77 speaker Anna Sabatova and former Civic Democratic Party (ODS) Senator Jan Voracek. Gabriela Pribilova/Sofia Karakeva Christian Democrats Nominate Candidate for Four-Party Coalition Leader The national conference of the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) December 8 elected Jaroslav Kopriva, deputy to four interior ministers, its candidate for the position of election leader of the Four-Party Coalition (the KDU-CSL; the Freedom Union, US; the Civic Democratic Alliance, ODA; and the Democratic Union, DEU; see Carolina 396). Kopriva's nomination came after hours of debate and a secret ballot in which Kopriva defeated party First Vice Chairman Cyril Svoboda 42 votes to 32 votes. After his victory, Kopriva declared his dedication to the integration of the Four-Party Coalition and said he was sent by his party to a "mission impossible." The Four-Party Coalition leader may become the next prime minister; the other parties' nominations are expected in next weeks. The final decision on the leader will be made by the eight-member Four-Party Coalition Council (KDU-CSL has three members, the Freedom Union three, ODA one and DEU one) by the end of January. Rumors have long persisted that the Christian Democrats can select the chairman of the Senate (in all likelihood former Senate Chairman Petr Pithart) and certain regional positions in exchange for the Freedom Union taking the position of coalition election leader. Marie Sternova/Sofia Karakeva ODS to Be in All Regional Governments A month after the regional elections it is almost certain that the Communists (KSCM) will not be represented in any of the 13 regional governments. Though the Communists won the election in the Usti nad Labem region, they found no takers for a coalition, neither among the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) or the Social Democrats (CSSD). The appointment of regional government leaders (heitman) is still under discussion. Usti nad Labem is the only region where the ruling Social Democrats have a chance to gain the heitman position. If they do not, the ODS, with the most votes overall in the regional election, will get eight executive positions and will be represented in the all regional cabinets, and the Four-Party Coalition will probably have five regional executives and will be represented in 12 of 13 regional cabinets. The general loathing to cooperate with the Communist helped the Social Democrats be included in five regional cabinets. Sona Vonavkova/Sofia Karakeva Court Sentences Mein Kampf Publisher to Suspended Sentence Michael Zitko, who published Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf in Czech earlier this year, received a three-year suspended sentence and a 2-million-crown fine from the Prague 7 District Court December 11 for propagating racism. Zitko's edition, released in mid-March, sold more than 106,000 copies and contains the entire text and no commentary. Zitko's edition was not the first in Czech but was the first without a commentary giving lip-service to the horrors of Nazism. Zitko's lawyer said Zitko will appeal. Katerina Komadova/Sofia Karakeva Czech Television Council Recalls Director Dusan Chmelicek The Czech Television Council, a nine-member supervisory body nominated by the Chamber of Deputies and with the authority to appoint and recall the station's director, voted December 12 with a majority of seven votes to dismiss Dusan Chmelicek, general director of the public-service Czech Television. Chmelicek was appointed February 1 this year and was the third Czech Television director in the last two years. According to the Czech media, Chmelicek was criticized for a lack of conception, bad communication with the Czech Television Council and for not being energetic enough in defending the current-affairs department in its conflict with the Czech lottery company Sazka. Speculation about the next director has focused on former TV Prima director Katerina Fricova, Czech Television-Brno Regional Studio Director Zdenek Drahos and former Investment and Postal Bank speaker Barbora Tacheci. Katerina Komandova/Milan Smid Kajinek Captured Fugitive convicted murderer Jiri Kajinek, who escaped October 29 from the high-security Mirov Prison, was arrested December 8 in the Prague suburb Velka Ohrada. Kajinek was hiding in a flat belonging to Marie Cerna, the wife of another convicted killer. Cerna, a nursery-school teacher, lives there with her small child. The police SWAT team broke into the flat through the windows (after rappeling down from the roof) and the door so quickly that Kajinek, lying naked in bed, had no chance to use the gun in the room. Kajinek, sentenced to life imprisonment for killing two people, was then transported to Valdice Prison in Northern Bohemia. Katerina Komandova/Milan Smid FOREIGN AFFAIRS European Union Will Accept Czech Republic after Internal Reform After 10 days of negotiations, the European Union summit in Nice reached an agreement December 10 on the reform of the EU Commission, Council and Parliament. This means the condition for accepting new member countries, including the Czech Republic, was met. The reforms will be completed at the beginning of 2005. The Czech Republic will have 12 votes in the new Council of Ministers after entering the EU, the same number of votes as Belgium and Greece each have, and will also have one deputy in the EU Commission and 20 representatives in the EU Parliament. Czech politicians expressed satisfaction with the summit's results. President Vaclav Havel said he hoped the changes would enable accepting new members according to given schedules (a reference to the date of 2003 earlier raised), and so did Premier Milos Zeman. Chamber of Deputies Chairman Vaclav Klaus said he considered the new arrangement relatively appropriate. Petr Adam/Adam Fendrych Zeman and Schussel Reach Agreement on Temelin Under an agreement reached by Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman and his Austrian opposite number Wolfgang Schuessel in Melk, Austria December 12, the Czech Republic agrees to a study of the Temelin nuclear power plant (JETE) according to EU safety standards and another study on the plant's effect on the environment, while Austria will ensure that Czech-Austrian border crossings remain passable. Zeman also promised Temelin would not start operating on a commercial basis until the studies are completed next summer. A group of international experts, including Czechs and Austrians, will be put together in January. The meeting took place in the presence of the European Union Commissar for Expansion Gunter Verheugen. Dana Zlatohlavkova/Adam Fendrych New Zealand Restores Visas for Czech Citizens New Zealand restored visa requirements for Czech citizens December 8 (they were cancelled in 1996), valid through January 1. The reason is the increasing number of Czechs, mostly Romanies, asking for asylum. The Czech Foreign Ministry said it considers the arrangement temporary and will not introduce visa requirements for Kiwis. Dana Zlatohlavkova/Adam Fendrych FROM SLOVAKIA IN BRIEF * Deputy Premier for Economic Issues Ivan Miklos and two other members of the Democratic Party (DS) have left the party. After Premier Mikulae Dzurinda founded the Slovak Democratic Christian Union (SDKU) and founded a new club of legislators in the National Assembly, legislators from the Democratic Party decided to leave the SDKU's joint club with the other governing coalition parties (see Carolina 397). Miklos said this step and the party's policies in general led to his departure. He said he is not planning on joining another party, but the SDKU's policies are closest to his own. Some have begun to speculate about the future of the Democratic Party, although Chairman Jan Langos says he expects a rise in the party's voter preferences. * The seven-day international film festival held in Bratislava ended December 9. Attendance went far beyond the expectations, with some 20,000 tickets sold during the first four days. Among the most successful movies was Swedish director Roy Andersson's movie Songs from the Second Story. Czech films were represented by Eliska Loves the Wild Life (Eliska ma rada divocinu) and Loners (Samotari). One of the movies that debuted at the festival was the low-budget Hana and Her Brothers (Hana a jej bratia) from Slovak director Vladimir Adasek. Zdenek Sloboda/Stepan Vorlicek ECONOMY IN BRIEF * Deputies December 12 approved a controversial amendment to the Czech National Bank (CNB) Act to override the president's veto and the rejection of the Senate. The most important change is that the CNB's governor will be nominated by the government and named by the president. * The government decided December 11 that Czech Telecom, the monopoly telephone provider in the Czech Republic, will be privatized undivided. The new owner will be chosen by a commission consisting of experts from the Finance and Transportation ministries and the consulting firm JP Morgan/Commerce Bank (Komercni banka). Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom are among the hottest candidates for the 51-per-cent share of Czech Telecom. The winner should be chosen by the end of June. * Most Czech families will have to strive somewhat harder to make ends meet next year. Living, transportation and telecommunication costs will rise; the most significant increase concerns gas prices (24.1 per cent on average) and electricity (14 per cent on average). Rents, heat and water rates, phone and postal charges and bus and rail transportation costs will be adjusted, too. * Ceske Budejovice's Budvar brewery lost in an Italian court to its eternal rival, the American colossus Anheuser Busch. An appellate court in Milan ruled Budvar cannot use the names Budweiser or Bud on its products or in its advertising. Ales Borovan,David Pilar//Stepan Vorlicek Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid December 15) -------------------------------------------------------------- 1 EUR = 34.780 country currency CZK ------------------------------------------ Australia 1 AUD 21.336 Great Britain 1 GBP 57.665 Denmark 1 DKK 4.666 Japan 100 JPY 34.990 Canada 1 CAD 25.906 IMF 1 XDR 50.563 Hungary 100 HUF 13.134 Norway 1 NOK 4.287 New Zealand 1 NZD 16.660 Poland 1 PLN 9.035 Greece 100 GRD 10.207 Slovakia 100 SKK 80.375 Slovenia 100 SIT 16.348 Sweden 1 SEK 4.057 Switzerland 1 CHF 23.118 USA 1 USD 39.380 Exchange Rates of countries participating in the euro (converted from the euro rate) country currency CZK ----------------------------------------- Germany 1 DEM 17.783 Belgium 100 BEF 86.217 Finland 1 FIM 5.850 France 1 FRF 5.302 Ireland 1 IEP 44.161 Italy 1000 ITL 17.962 Luxemburg 100 LUF 86.217 Netherlands 1 NLG 15.782 Portugal 100 PTE 17.348 Austria 1 ATS 2.528 Spain 100 ESP 20.903 CULTURE Czech Music Awards - No Surprise, Little Change TV NOVE broadcast live the Czech Nightingale (Slavik) Music Awards December 9. A record 150,000 votes cast by the public confirmed the reigns of Karel Gott and Lucie Bila as favorite male and female singers, respectively. Daniel Hulka was the runner-up to Gott, followed by Janek Ledecky. Iveta Bartosova ranked second among the female singers, with the successful comeback of Helena Vondrackova giving her third place. The legendary band Olympic gave up its throne to Lucie after several years. The bronze went to the teenage male quartet Lunetic. The group was favored in the new Teenage Award category, which was won, however, by Bila, with Lucie as the runner-up. Petr Frinta/Stepan Vorlicek Seifert Award to Pavel Srut Pavel Srut was given the 2000 Jaroslav Seifert Award. His work includes poetry for children and adults, as well as song lyrics and literary criticism. The Seifert Award is given for an outstanding piece of literature published in the Czech Republic or abroad during the last three years. This year's prize was given for Srut's collection of poetry Unbound Poems (Brozovane basne), published this year, and also a previous collection, My Evil Beloved (Zla mila). Petr Frinta/Stepan Vorlicek SPORTS Slavia Will Play Kaiserslautern in UEFA Cup Fourth Round Slavia Praha won its rematch against NK Osijek 5-1 in the UEFA Cup third round. Slavia managed to overcome the Croatian team's advantage from the first game, won 2-0 by Osijek, and advanced to the UEFA Cup's final 16 teams. The game in Prague was dramatic. Slavia scored two quick goals in the first half (Tomas Dosek and Ludek Zelenka), but its hopes were punctured by Turkovic's goal before the break. "The goal turned the qualification hopes in advantage of Osijek, but I always believed we would score two more goals," said Slavia coach Karel Jarolim to the daily Pravo. Slavia concentrated all its efforts on its attack and Dosek's second goal rewarded the strategy in the 53rd minute. However, the deciding goals occurred in the 90th minute, when Zelenka and Tomas Kuchar added two more successful shots. Slavia will meet FC Kaiserslautern of Germany in the UEFA Cup's next round, which will be played in February. Kaiserslautern is a club where Czech players are traditionally engaged (including Pavel Kuka, who left Slavia for Kaiserslautern and returned from Germany to Slavia this autumn). Petr Gabriel and Vratislav Lokvenc are on the current Kaiserslautern's squad. Ales Borovan/Mirek Langer Hockey Extraleague Lead Shrinks Pardubice's first-place standing in the hockey extraleague was threatened after they lost to Znojmo and then tied Slavia in Prague. Vitkovice and Vsetin reduced Pardubice's lead to one point, but then the leader managed to imrpve matters by beating Trinec 9-2 and breaking its six-game winless streak. Ceske Budejovice prolonged its unbeaten run to eight games after beating Sparta, Havirov and Karlovy Vary. Vitkovice - a team that faced relegation last year - and Vsetin moved up, while Litvinov, without injured captain Robert Reichel and goalkeeper Zdenek Orct, fell from second place to fifth. Results of the 31st round: Sparta Praha - Ceske Budejovice 0-3, Vsetin - Trinec 6-2, Litvinov - Vitkovice 3-5, Havirov - Zlin 2-1, Karlovy Vary - Plzen 4-1, Kladno - Slavia Praha 0-3, Pardubice - Znojmo 1-3. Results of the 32nd round: Trinec - Sparta Praha 2-2, Plzen - Vsetin 1-5, Zlin - Litvinov 7-1, Slavia Praha - Pardubice 3-3, Znojmo - Karlovy Vary 1-6, Ceske Budejovice - Havirov 8-2, Vitkovice - Kladno 4-1. Results of the 33rd round: Karlovy Vary - Ceske Budejovice 1-2, Sparta Praha - Znojmo 5-1, Vitkovice - Zlin 1-3, Pardubice - Trinec 9-2, Kladno - Plzen 3-5, Litvinov - Slavia Praha 4-5, Vsetin - Havirov 4-2. Standings: 1. Pardubice 59, 2. Vsetin 58, 3. Vitkovice 55, 4. Zlin 55, 5. Litvinov 52, 6. Sparta Praha 51, 7. Ceske Budejovice 49, 8. Znojmo 46, 9. Plzen 44, 10. Slavia Praha 43, 11. Trinec 43, 12. Havirov 38, 13. Kladno 37, 14. Karlovy Vary 36. The hockey league will continue in January, because the national team will participate in the Baltika Cup, the third tournament in the European Hockey Tour. Zdenek Sloboda/Mirek Langer SPORTS IN BRIEF * The autumn portion of the soccer league season ended with a postponed game from the 8th round, in which Slavia tied Olomouc 2-2. Olomouc moved ahead of Teplice into second place in the standings, 13 points behind first-place Sparta Praha. Slavia is in the eighth place (for league standings before this game see Carolina 397). * Robert Reichel, the Czech national hockey team captain, will miss the Baltika Cup because of injury. The Baltika Cup is the third tournament of the European Hockey Tour and will take place in Moscow December 17-20. Coach Josef Augusta had to make several changes because of injuries, while the extraleague's leading scorer Richard Kral excused himself from the tournament without giving a reason. * After a win in the opening relay of the World Cup, the Czech biathlon relay team of Garabik, Masarik, Dostal and Vitek finished second in the 4 x 7.5km relay in Anterselva/Antholz, 6.6 seconds behind the winners from Norway. * Czech skier Katerina Neumannova finished fourth in the 10km freestyle World Cup race in Santa Catarina, Italy. Ales Borovan, Petr Adam, Zdenek Sloboda/Mirek Langer WEATHER There appears to be a problem with the calendar. Or with the earth. The eternally gray and rainy autumn in Prague gave way to occasional blue skies and the warmest temperatures for these days in centuries. The mercury climbed to between 10 degrees and 12 degrees Celsius/50 degrees and 54 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. Flocks of pigeons have yet to leave downtown Prague, and on the bare branches of trees the first buds of spring have appeared. Ales Borovan 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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