SURVEY OF THE PRESS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC, 16-6-1993

by Jan Jarab

Daily newspapers surveyed: Cesky denik, Lidova demokracie, Lidove noviny, Mlada fronta dnes, Prace, Rude pravo, Svobodne slovo, Telegraf.

In alphabetical order:

CESKY DENIK (right-wing) concentrates once again on the problem of private security agencies (headline: "Sadists in Uniforms"). The new Mayor of Prague is quoted as saying that many of these agencies have arms which they are not entitled to (by law), and that the Czech benevolence in giving licences to these agencies has surpassed even the famed ultraliberal approach of the U.S.A. Deputies for the ruling ODS have vowed to "fight in Parliament for the strictest possible version of the law on private security agencies". The problem was recognized as urgent only recently when football fans were brutally beaten by private agents in front of TV cameras. (The Mayor himself was a direct witness of the beatings.)

Another headline (in CD as well as in other daily papers) announces that an official from the Interior Ministry will be sued for selling personal data about more than 2 million citizens to an advertising agency, Tapcom, who further sold those data to another company, Procter and Gamble. The Former Interior Minister and current Vice-Chairman of the ruling ODS, Petr Cermak, claims not to have been informed about the transaction. At the time of the transaction, Mr.Cermak was the immediate superior of the person who was responsible for it.

LIDOVA DEMOKRACIE (Catholic). Headline news: Military Service in the CR Shortened to 12 Months. (So far it has been 18 months.) The civil service - for objectors of conscience - was reduced from 27 to 18 months.

MLADA FRONTA DNES (centrist, independent). Headline: the Czech Republic Will Start Guarding the Czecho-Slovak Border on July 1,1993.

Another headline says that customs authorities have given the list of deputies, who used their immunity to import goods without paying taxes, to Parliament Chairman Milan Uhde. Mr.Uhde has declared he would make the names public only after consulting law specialists - to be sure the rights of these deputies would not be violated by his action.

PRACE (trade-union) informs that President Havel is in favor of a passport-free border for Czechs and Slovaks - i.e., a Czech or Slovak ID card should be sufficient. According to the President, Interior Minister Ruml disagrees and insists on passports.

RUDE PRAVO (left-wing, ex-Communist) quotes Interior Ministr Ruml as saying that the former Federal Ministry of Interior sold data about citizens from its central database to 10 companies; only one transaction, however, concerned more than a few thousand names. In a critical editorial, RP says it is "scandalous" that P.Cermak, then Federal Minister of the Interior, allegedly didn't know about these transactions. RP expresses doubts about this statement and demands that Cermak assumes political responsibility.

RP also informs about the fate of the Jazz Section, a prominent dissident organization under the Communist regime, which was recently evicted from its office in Prague and its property - from furniture to computers - have been thrown out of a second-story window by the new owner of the house. "The Jazz Section has nowhere to go," says Karel Srp, the Section's leader, who was the protagonist of the last great political trial in 1988. On Thursday, Srp is to meet with President Havel to inform him about the recent development.

SVOBODNE SLOVO (centrist, ex-Socialist) publishes a critical editorial about the Vienna Conference on Human Rights. "Concrete criticism of states is forbidden...Who else would have a greater right to speak to such a Conference than the Dalai Lama? Every month some 20-30 thousand people are arrested in this world for political reasons, 17 million children are homeless and 14 million die every year before the age of 6. Even in Portugal, 12-year-olds are used as a cheap labor force...But no one has the courage to put the perpetrators of these crimes before a tribunal," writes Svobodne slovo.

TELEGRAF (conservative, close to Premier Klaus) informs once again about the Czech villages in Central Asia (in the environmentally most damaged area of the world - near the Aral Sea) who are calling for help, i.e. for evacuation to their old homeland. Similar German, Polish and Bulgarian villages were long since evacuated, but the Czechs calling for help has been in vain. Telegraf quotes an official from the Czechoslovak Embassy who told the Kazahstan Czechs last year: "You know, we have democracy now, so we don't have time or money to rescue you."

-------SURVEY OF SLOVAK PRESS by CTK News Agency

PRAGUE, June 16 (ÇTK) - +Smena+, a daily supporting the

governing Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), reports

that at last weekend's meeting of the HZDS committee it was said

that if Łubomír Dolgo was recalled from his post as

Privatisation Minister and then established a new party, then

the HZDS would call for early elections. Meanwhile Dolgo has

resigned, and thus it seems that Slovakia will have elections

this year. "Only if the non-government parliamentary parties

were to outvote the HZDS's proposal, or if the Democratic Left

Party were to abandoned the idea of early elections would they

now not happen," the paper says, and asks why Dolgo should be

the reason for a change of attitude, when it was above all the

HZDS who had argued that new elections could harm Slovakia's

reputation abroad.

The hottest candidate for the post of Slovak Minister of

Education and Science is Marián Andęl from the Slovak National

Party (SNS), says the author of the article. The favourite for

the post of Privatisation Minister is Vladimír Mi kovský, from

the same party. The latter has allegedly said that he is

no expert on privatisation, but that he would be willing to be

advised by experts, the paper adds. The functions of the

criticised ministers will be filled by more people who half a

year later will be accused of not knowing what they are doing,

says +Smena+, and asks "Where are you, government of experts?"

In an interview for the independent daily +Národná obroda+

Egon Klepsch, President of the European Parliament, says that

with regard to the entrance of the Slovak and Czech republics

into the European Community, he does not see any notable

differences between the two countries. He concedes that

Slovakia is having greater problems because it has more

manufacturing industries but says the work going into their

restructuring is remarkable. Klepsch says he now sees that

everything is going much better than he thought it would last

year.

He believes that the Slovak government and other

institutions have dispelled the Council of Europe's reservations

about Slovak behaviour towards national minorities. The Slovak

Republic had solved its problem with the Carpathian Germans

commendably, while equivalent proceedings in the Czech Republic

(negotiations with the Sudeten Germans) were only just starting.

Klepsch called the process inescapable, adding that countries

could not simply extricate themselves from history.

The tabloid +Nový ças+ calls the HZDS' weekend decision to

negotiate a coalition with the Slovak National Party a

"desperate measure". The author believes that the SNS'

continuing negotiations with non-governing parties can be

construed not only as insurance against the failure of coalition

talks with the HZDS but as a means of putting pressure on HZDS

negotiators. The paper sees negotiations between the HZDS and

the SNS as fragile largely because their result should be not

only agreement on how to divide up ministerial posts but on the

rules of cooperation. What will be most interesting is to what

extent Slovak Premier Vladimír Meçiar (HZDS) will be willing to

submit to the SNS' ideas when he is used to holding the reins,

says +Nový ças+.

An editorial in the trade union daily +Práca+, looking at

the same issue, states that the personal ambition of the SNS

chairman Łudovít Çernák could be fulfilled if he is made Deputy

Premier for Economic Issues, a post which he had been

considering in the first round of joint government, when he was

Minister for the Economy. The author believes Çernák would also

like to see a party colleague in the Ministry of Privatisation.

However, the paper stresses that Çernák will have to dig deep

into his party's reserves in order to find capable people for

this and further functions. +Práca+ adds that it is unlikely

that Meçiar will accept Çernák's "chimerical" suggestion of

filling government posts with experts without party T-shirts.

vcm/dr/ms