Czech press surveyed by Jan Jarab

Daily newspapers surveyed (in alphabetical order): Cesky denik, Lidova demokracie, Lidove noviny, Mlada fronta Dnes, Prace, Rude pravo, Svobodne slovo, Telegraf. Weekly: Reflex, Respekt.

All Czech daily newpapers inform on the first page about the decision of the Slovak Government to put a 20% import tax on foreign products - including those from the Czech Republic. The CR has announced that it does not intend to retaliate.

LIDOVA DEMOKRACIE (Catholic) informs about the appeal of the International Olympic Commmittee to heads of state - including President Havel - to support a general ceasefire worldwide during the Olympics.

LIDOVE NOVINY (liberal), editorial: "Remember? Just a few weeks ago, the international community pledged allegiance to the absurd Vance-Owen plan, which would have divided Bosnia into miniature little fields. The winners - the Serbs and the Croats - have decided, however, to show who is the master in Bosnia. Therefore Bosnia will be partitioned between Great Serbia and Great Croatia, with two bantustans remaining for the Muslims...And behold! the Vance-Owen plan is quickly forgotten and its spiritual father comes quickly with a statement, that the Serbo-Croatian plan is neither an ideal nor an honest solution, but REALITY MUST BE RESPECTED. - Milosevic's and Karadzic's pupils in the world will remember it well," conclude LN.

MLADA FRONTA DNES (centrist, independent) publishes an approving profile of George Soros under the title "A Man With a Vision of the Future".

RUDE PRAVO (left-wing, ex-Communist) brings an extensive interview with Jiri Holub, ex-Ambassador to Italy, who denies rumors that he is the opposition's "shadow foreign minister". Mr.Holub says that he is "against military intervention in the Bosnian situation. Moreover, we don't have a sufficient analysis of the causes of the Yugoslav conflict." (This statement echoes the recently expressed views of Premier V.Klaus.)

RESPEKT (liberal) evaluates the Czech Government's attitude to environmental problems. According to RESPEKT, the often quoted statement (attributed to Klaus) that "first of all we have to MAKE the money for ecology" can be easily compared with statements of third-world dictators, who say that human rights are a problem of the rich countries - let us first become rich, too, and then we will have time for such details. While Mr.Klaus expresses his anti-environmental views in a straightforward fashion, it is much less clear what Environment Minister Benda thinks. On the crucial issue of Temelin (the nuclear power plant), for instance, he changed his view four times in four weekds, and the only thing we know about his relationship to the environment is that he loves hunting and "is a good shot", writes Respekt.

RESPEKT also informs that according to the Government's version of a law banning CFC's, their production would be fully stopped only on Jan.1st, 1996, i.e. a year and a half later than according to the opposition version, proposed by the Green Party.

In an interview with Respekt, leading Czech environmentalist (former political prisoner of the 70's and Minister of Environment in the Pithart Government) Ivan Dejmal comments on the current environmental laws, which represent an improvement, because they enable the state to penalize direct violation of rules, but they do not give economic incentive to behave in a more appropriate way, i.e., they do not give lower taxation to "environmentally friendly" production etc. Mr.Dejmal says that a law on environmental taxes was to come into being in 1993, but the official "Report on the Conditions of Environment in the CR", surprisingly, does not mention it at all. Even the facts shown by the Report, however, are alarming - especially the statement that 57% of our forests are irreparably damaged. "Together with global warming, the destruction of the forests could lead to an irreversible drought," says Dejmal. While pollution in absolute numbers has decreased since the revolution, the fall was due to an overall dec

rease in production, and pollution per unit of production has actually increased, claims Dejmal. (JJ: Mr.Dejmal was scheduled to participate in the Radical Party Congress in Rome in February, and the text of his speech to the Congress was read in Rome in his absence.)

Czech Greenpeace also express their criticism of the Report. According to them, the Report shows that there is no economic incentive for CFC users to recycle CFCs. The Report does not even mention the problems of the existing storage places for radioactive waste, says Greenpeace.

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SURVEY OF SLOVAK PRESS by CTK News Agency

BRATISLAVA, June 22 (ÇTK) - Slovak newspapers today focus on

the current talks between representatives of the ruling Movement

for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and the nationalistic Slovak

National Party (SNS) on the possibility of forming a government

coalition.

The daily +Národná obroda+ in a commentary entitled "SNS - a promiscuous flirt" writes that the SNS had evidently shown mercy

towards the "troubles of the powerful" when it yielded to the

HZDS's calls and embarked on this "coalition-opposition fling".

While the HZDS needs time to reap praise for for Slovakia's

successful joining the Council of Europe, the SNS needs time to

increase its pressure on the dominent movement. The point is

that SNS Chairman Łudovít Çernák could resume talks with other

Slovak opposition parties, already started, at any time, if

Slovak Premier Vladimír Meçiar fails to meet his demands.

"It is no secret that the opposition is preparing to repeat

its attempt to dismiss Slovak Health Minister Viliam Sobońa at

the next meeting of parliament and that in this way it wants to

test the reliability and durability of SNS' agreements with

opposition parties.

It will be interesting to see whether or not the HZDS will

decide to participating in "bleeding the veins" of the most

criticised member of its cabinet, in spite of its loudly

declared support for him, the daily writes. And all this would

naturally be done in the interests of establishing a coalition

and preserving stability in Slovakia, +Národná obroda+ concludes

ironically.

+Slovenský deník+, close to the opposition Christian

Democratic Movement (KDH), carries an interview with KDH

chairman Ivan ˘imko who says that the Right in Slovakia should

join together to produce just one list of right-wing candidates

at the next parliamentary elections. ˘imko says the KDH can play

a decisive role in these efforts. A united Right could become a

real political force and would be attractive even to those

people who are still hesitant, ˘imko believes.

He stresses that the KDH is currently at a crossroads.

"Either we shall wait until we become the party of all

Christians which, I think, is an illusion, or we shall start

searching for allies with similar programmes among the political

parties which base their activity on the same values as we do,

though not proclaiming their Christian affiliation on the

political scene," ˘imko says. He adds that cooperation between

right-wing forces represents hope for Slovakia.

The tabloid daily +Nový ças+ writes in a commentary that the Hungarian government decided to veto Slovakia's admittance to

the Council of Europe only after it became clear that political

lobbying in favour of the Hungarian minority living in Slovakia

failed to produce results. The daily writes that numerous

international watchdogs surveying the position of ethnic

minorities in Slovakia have so far failed conspicuously to

reveal any shortcomings in this field contradicting to

international standards. Having no other option, Budapest thus

had to resort to the right of veto, the daily writes.

It writes that the demanding conditions set by Hungary have

certainlygiven the Slovak government "headaches". "The question

is whether or not Slovakia's admittance to the Council of Europe

will be settled so as to satisfy minority political parties such

as the Hungarian Christian Democratic Movement (MKDH) and the

Együttélés (Co-existence) movement. At the end of the summer

these parties would then submit a report to Budapest

sufficiently positive for it to prevent Hungary from using the

right of veto again, at any possible moment, for example already

at the end of this year", the daily writes.