SURVEY OF CZECH PRESS, 29-6-1993

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.

LIDOVE NOVINY (liberal). Headline: "The Czech Republic Has Already Expelled 344 Foreigners" in 1993 (which is more than in 1992).

An editorial, "The Olympic Gesture", comments on the International Olympic Committee's appeal for "ekekheria" (an Olympic cease-fire). According to LN, "this planet isn't Greece and sending a fruitless appeal to the world is worse than saying nothing". LN also remind that J.A.Samaranch spoke quite recently in favor of giving the Olympics of 2000 to China. "Human rights? Mr.Samaranch was, after all, Franco's Ambassador to Moscow."

MLADA FRONTA DNES (centrist, independent) informs that 418 Bosnian refugees stranded in the Czech Republic last week (after an unsuccessful attempt to reach Poland via Sweden) were accepted by Denmark.

A report from China says that more than 100 people were executed in that country last week for alleged drug trafficking. Another 400 are scheduled to be executed before the end of the year.

PRACE (trade-union) brings on the first page a profile of V.Jezek, who was appointed yesterday as General Director of the Czech Radio. Mr.Jezek is 29 years old and has been working as a journalist since 1990.

TELEGRAF (conservative) informs that President Vaclav Havel supports the U.S. action against Iraq but regrets the fact that 6 civilians were killed.

RESPEKT (liberal) brings a full-page report about artificial channels between rivers - mentioning specifically the Rhine-Danube channel in Germany which (despite precautions) resulted in the loss of 30 species of birds, 10 species of butterflies and 5 species of fish etc. In the Czech Republic, a company called Ekotrans is campaigning for a similar channel between the Danube, the Elbe and the Odra, claiming that it would be "an environmentally friendly way of transport". In the RESPEKT article, however, former Environment Minister B.Moldan disagrees and points out that local environmental initiatives have been against the project ever since it originated in 1989. "It would be a more serious decision than to build a nuclear power plant."

SURVEY OF SLOVAK PRESS, 29-6-1993

Slovak press surveyed by CTK - press agency.

BRATISLAVA, June 29 (ÇTK) - "Most Slovaks and Hungarians who

have coexisted for centuries quietly side by side display no

symptoms of unrest in mutual relations," writes the independent

daily +Národná obroda+. It believes that many Slovaks have

created a negative image of the population in the region

bordering on Hungary due to the useless abolition of bilingual

names of the communities, which was caused by opposition to the

autonomous tendencies of ethnic Hungarian representatives. "The

news agencies should be reporting that nothing new is happening

on the southern border," concludes +Národná obroda+.

"Nothing is known about any declaration by any Hungarian

ethnic politician that would change the fact that Hungary would

vote against Slovakia's admission into the Council of Europe

(CE)," writes +Smena+, a daily close to the governing Movement

for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS). Slovakia will not avoid

meeting the demands included in No. 1201 Resolution of the CE.

The daily stresses the need not to bring the situation to a head

due to the complacence of some politicians and the need for will

to avoid more serious clashes. "The bill for all of us would be

too expensive," writes +Smena+.

The tabloid +Nový ças+ comments on the demand to reopen the

investigation of the illegal proceedings of the Democratic Left

Party (SDč) regarding the property of the former Czechoslovak

Communist Party (KSÇ). It writes that opening this issue after

three years "reminds of missing the bus", and it adds that the

supreme bodies, including the prosecutor general's office, are

not interested in solving the problem. "It is possible to

predict right now that the issue of the party property will be

played over the line," writes +Nový ças+. It states that the

issue of the drug mafia in Slovakia is "just a trifle" against

the cobweb woven by the Communist mafia.

The trade union daily +Práca+ deals with the same topic. It

writes that the SDč is willing to solve the state's claims at

any time, provided the state says what it actually wants. The

daily recalls that four companies, which are still state-owned,

were created from the former Pravda publishing house. It quotes

Ján ˘iroký, an SDč economist, as saying that a law still in

force can be applied to the issue of the former party property.

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