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 425, Friday, June 29, 2001. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (July 20 - July 27) Marvanova to Lead Freedom Union - Mlynar Again Second Hana Marvanova became the first woman to lead a party represented in the Czech Parliament, the Freedom Union (US). Marvanova was elected the new chairwoman of the US at the party congress last weekend. She received 137 of 271 votes, seven more than Vladimir Mlynar, the only other candidate for the post. Ivan Pilip was elected first vice chairman, while the other vice chairs are Petr Mares, Pavel Pesek and Robert Kolar. Like Pesek and Kolar, Marvanova was also an active former member of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) in the mid-90's. In 1997 she was one of the ODS members who left the party after its financing scandal to form the US. Commentators say the new US leadership shows the party members have overcome their initial distrust toward former ODS members. The congress was essential also for other reasons. Marvanova rejects the proposal to shrink the Four-Party Coalition (US, the Christian Democrats, the Democratic Union and the Civic Democratic Alliance) to a coalition of the US and the Christian Democrats. Christian Democrat (KDU-CSL) Chairman Cyril Svoboda and former US Chairmen Jan Ruml and Karel Kuhnl welcomed Marvanova's election. Marvanova was born in November 26, 1962 in Rymarov in Northern Moravia. She studied law at Charles University in Prague. She entered the political scene at the end of the 80's. In February 1990 she became a deputy in the Czech National Council (from 1993 the Chamber of Deputies in the Czech Republic's Parliament) representing Civic Forum, later as a deputy of ODS. She did not run in the election in 1998. Petr Frinta/Sofia Karakeva Constitutional Court Upheld Presidents Deeds The Constitutional Court decided that President Vaclav Havel proceeded properly in appointing Governor of the Czech National Bank (CNB) Zdenek Tuma in November (see Carolina 396). The government, as well as Chamber of Deputies Chairman Vaclav Klaus, protested Tuma's appointment. Prime Minister Milos Zeman's Cabinet brought the issue to the Constitutional Court, claiming the appointment was invalid and unconstitutional because the Constitution requires the president's appointment of bank governor and vice governor be signed by the prime minister. The Constitutional Court also upheld several of the president's objections to changes in the Czech National Bank Act, e.g. the provision to change the bank's main goal to keeping down inflation. Klaus said about the verdict to the CTK news agency June 20: "If the judge-reporter in the Constitutional Court is Mr. Klokocka, then it is the Constitutional Court of Mr. president." Klokocka protested the remark, which questioned the court's decision-making process and was, Klokocka said, evidence of Klaus' ignorance of the Constitution. Katerina Komadova/Milan Smid NEWS IN BRIEF * Compensation for forced laborers in Nazi Germany during World War II began June 21. The post office started paying those in the first wave of compensation (prisoners of concentration camps and forced laborers older than 80). According to Jan Sechter of the Foreign Ministry, the second wave of compensation will start within a few weeks. About 84,000 victims should be compensated in the Czech Republic. * The Chamber of Deputies overrode the president's veto concerning the new Broadcasting Act. The president objected to instituting the automatic extension of licenses, which guarantees existing broadcasters one more license, and he also criticized it as discrimination against new potential broadcasters. The new Broadcasting Act takes effect in July. * Construction work on digging a tunnel under the Dusty Bridge (Prasny most) started June 20. The passage will make accessible to the public the entire Deer Moat (Jeleni prikop) at the Prague Castle. The project is financed by Vaclav and Dagmar Havel's foundation Vize 97. * About 150 customers of Prague's Ikatour travel agency, booked to fly to Burgas, Bulgaria June 23 will not be spending this week on vacation at the Black Sea. Czech Airlines cancelled the flight from Prague to Burgas because the agency had not paid. "If it turns out, that the travel agency is in bankruptcy, we will pay out insurance to those customers who can submit to us their travel agreement and a receipt showing they paid for the trip," said Vladimir Krajic, general director of the European Travel Insurance Company. The case of Ikatour could (as has happened in the past) cause a series of crashes of other travel agency that use charter flights together. By Katerina Komadova/Sofia Karakeva/Milan Smid Archeologists Discover Ancient Roman Army Camp Archeologists found what was probably part of a Roman military camp from the time of the Marcomanni Wars (166 A.D. - 180 A.D.) on the western edge of Olomouc. This surprising discovery justifies the ancient writings that speak of Marcus Aurelius' legions penetrating deep into barbarian territory in an attempt to establish a new Roman colony on the soil belonging to the Marcomanni and Quadi tribes. Archeologists called in specialists on Roman history from Germany, Austria and Slovakia to the site, and the experts confirmed the findings. Katerina Komadova/Ondrej Maly FROM SLOVAKIA According to the Czech daily Pravo, the Slovak Foreign Ministry made clear that the new law concerning Hungarians living abroad would not be recognized in Slovakia without further consultation. The law was passed July 19 by the Hungarian legislature and takes effect January 1. The law gives many advantages to ethnic Hungarians when they visit Hungary, e.g. studying at universities or the possibility of working three months per year in Hungary. It also introduces an ID card for Hungarians living abroad. Slovak Premier Mikulas Dzurinda warned during his recent visit of Hungary that the law could disrupt relations between Slovakia and Hungary. Romania and the European Union are also concerned (the law is not applicable in Austria). Hungarians reject the objections, saying the law is one of few possible ways to support the minorities that are an integral part of "the culturally unified Hungarian nation." The Czech Press Agency says 3.5 million Hungarians live outside Hungary, of them 600,000 in Slovakia. Petr Frinta/Ondrej Maly ECONOMY Czech Economy Grows by 3.8 Per Cent The Czech GDP grew by 3.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2001. The figure, released by the Czech Statistics Office (CSO), means the Czech economy is growing faster than those of the US and EU. The GDP growth was propelled mainly by business investment and household consumption. The CSO said it expects the growth in the second quarter to rise further, to about 4.4 per cent. The influx of investments was brought about by foreign companies, which put money into building new factories and purchasing equipment. Increased household consumption was caused by the growth of real income (the average salary increased by 5 per cent in the first quarter, after discounting inflation), by a lower unemployment rate (8.7 per cent in March) and also by a change in the strategy of Czech banks, which started to provide small loans on a large scale. The recent months saw exports fall significantly, largely in connection with the EU 's economic slump. As for the government's role in the growth, experts say the growth is part of a cyclical trend and conditional on the fading EU economy, while on the other hand they praise the government for opening up to foreign investment, which played a major role in reviving the economy. Katerina Komadova/Stepan Vorlicek Commerce Bank Privatization Concluding The share prices of the Commerce Bank (Komercni banka, KB) have been on a roller coaster, because of uncertainty surrounding the government tender of 60 per cent of the state's share in the bank. Plans called for a decision on a strategic partner to be made by the end of June. There were four finalists: HypoVereinsbank of Germany, UniCredito of Italy and Societe Generale and Credit Agricole of France. The last one abandoned the tender at the end of May. Finance Minister Jiri Rusnok received evaluations of the bids from Goldman Sachs this week. The favorites are Societe Generale and UniCredito. When Reuters reported that HypoVereinsbank was withdrawing from the tender, the bank's share price fell dramatically. They regained their position when the report was denied immediately by the National Property Fund and the Finance Ministry, and the German bank would not confirm the report. The expected final price should approach 40 billion crowns. According to the finance minister, the cabinet is likely to decide next week at the latest. "It depends on the prime minister, if he considers it appropriate to hold a special session, or if we leave it for the regular session next week," said Rusnok June 26. Katerina Komadova/Stepan Vorlicek After deadline: The government announced June 28 that the Commerce Bank would be sold for 40 billion crowns to Societe Generale. Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid June 29) -------------------------------------------------------------- 1 EUR = 33.765 country currency CZK ------------------------------------------ Australia 1 AUD 20.329 Great Britain 1 GBP 55.640 Denmark 1 DKK 4.533 Japan 100 JPY 31.585 Canada 1 CAD 25.954 IMF 1 XDR 49.330 Hungary 100 HUF 13.944 Norway 1 NOK 4.273 New Zealand 1 NZD 16.356 Poland 1 PLN 9.953 Slovakia 100 SKK 79.898 Slovenia 100 SIT 15.480 Sweden 1 SEK 3.672 Switzerland 1 CHF 22.224 USA 1 USD 39.378 Exchange Rates of countries participating in the euro (converted from the euro rate) country currency CZK ----------------------------------------- Germany 1 DEM 17.264 Belgium 100 BEF 83.701 Finland 1 FIM 5.679 France 1 FRF 5.147 Ireland 1 IEP 42.873 Italy 1000 ITL 17.438 Luxemburg 100 LUF 83.701 Netherlands 1 NLG 15.322 Portugal 100 PTE 16.842 Austria 1 ATS 2.454 Greece 100 GRD 9.909 Spain 100 ESP 20.293 CULTURE The Dance Prague 2001 The 13th year of Prague Dance (Tanec Praha), the International Festival of Contemporary Dance and Movement Theater, was held from June 7-27. Dancers from Europe, Canada and Israel performed on the stages of the Archa Theater, Ponac and the State Opera House. Performances were given in Prague, Ostrava, Brno and Hradec Kralove, with the main of the festival in the capital. The first premiere was in Ostrava June 7, while in Prague it was June 13 in the Zizkov dance theater Ponac. Slovak dancer Marta Polakova, the Slovak duo Zuzana Bacova and Milan Kozanek, the Polish ensemble Teatr Dada von Bzdulow and Czech-Canadian duo Chanti and Kay Grigar performed there. One of the most awaited performances in Prague was the five-men Israeli troupe group Sheketak. Their spontaneous, unrestrained, lively and sometimes witty performance greatly pleased the audience. The festival was accompanied by the International Dance Workshop, where students of dance met festival performers. Intensive seminars also focused on Czech and Moravian traditional dances. From Prague Marie Valaskova/Veronika Hankusova SPORTS Ospaly Wins European Triathlon Championships Czech triathlete Filip Ospaly won the European Championships in Karlovy Vary June 23. He took advantage of his knowledge of the venue and won the first Czech gold medal ever in this competition. Ospaly was among the leaders from the opening swimming event and also did well on the difficult, hilly cycling course. In the first half of the marathon he lost contact with Spain's Ivan Rana, but caught up to him step by step with the support of the fans. In the end, he defeated Spaniard as well as the Netherlands' Eric Van Linden. Martin Krnavek finished 20th, while Martin Matula 23rd and Michal Danek 28th. Ospaly thanked the fans for their support. The Czech team of Jan Rehula, Stepan Chroustovsky and Filip Ospaly added a bronze medal in the men's team competition June 24. Mirek Langer/Mirek Langer SPORTS IN BRIEF * Czech tennis players were not successful in this year's Wimbledon. Only Jiri Novak and Slava Dosedel advanced to the men's singles' second round. * The disciplinary commission of the Czech Track and Field Union will resolve the case of Miroslav Menc, the Czech shot-putter accused of doping. A sample contained norandrosterone was taken from Menc at an non-competition test in Jablonec April 26. The second test confirmed the finding. According to IAAF rules, Menc is disqualified for life, because it is his second positive test. Menc, however, wants to clear his name and has enlisted the help of Doctor Hnizdil, an activist in the fight against the current doping system. Petr Frinta/Mirek Langer WEATHER Tourists who came to Prague last week were winners in the weather lottery. The weather was not too cold, not too hot, rather sunny, rained some just to refresh the air, with temperatures of about 25 degrees Celsius/77 degrees Fahrenheit. The typical seasonal fragrance in the air reminds us that alleys of lime trees are starting to blossom. Dear Readers, During Charles University's summer vacation Carolina will become a bi-weekly, as in past years. Summer issues of Carolina will be released July 13, July 27, August 10, August 23, September 7 and September 21. The editorial staff wishes you a pleasant summer. 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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