SURVEY OF THE PRESS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC, 2-7-1993

by Jan Jarab

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

CESKY DENIK (right-wing). Headline: "List Of Deputies Who Imported Tax-Free Goods From Abroad Finally Published". The Parliament has finally decided to publish the list of offenders, which includes 16 names; most of these deputies, however, are no longer sitting in the current Parliament.

CD informs about the recommendation of the ruling ODS party to Prime Minister Klaus (who is Chairman of ODS) to dismiss Government Chief of Staff Jiri Kovar. CD describes in detail Mr.Kolar's lightning career from his election to Parliament in 1990 at the age of 26 to his position of Vice-Chairman in the ODS, which he reached in Nov.1991. A year later, Kovar was not reelected to this position when it was proved that he had used some secret materials about the vetting for Stb (former secret police) affiliations to discredit his opponents. Surprisingly, Premier Klaus has kept Mr.Kovar in his Government office until now despite growing pressure from the media, the opposition, and his own party. "Mr.Klaus is always reluctant to replace his closest collaborators," comments CD in an editorial, "but now it seems really unlikely that Kovar could stay."

LIDOVA DEMOKRACIE (Catholic). Headline news: "There Will Be No Unilateral Action." The title concerns yesterday's decision of the Czech and Slovak Presidents - Vaclav Havel and Michal Kovac - not to repeal the post-war Benes decrees, through which German and Hungarian property was confiscated. Mr.Havel said that "the decrees have to be understood as a part of the results of World War II, and they cannot be called into question." The agreement was reached at a summit meeting in central Slovakia.

LIDOVE NOVINY (liberal). Results of public opinion poll in Prague concerning the recent attack on Baghdad: 39% of respondents agree, 52% disagree.

"Nobody Knows How Many Romanies Live Here": the article concentrates on obvious discrepancies in the numbers of Romany (Gypsy) people in the CR as quoted by various sources. According to the 1991 census, only 33 000 inhabitants of the CR have identified themselves as Romanies (i.e., only 0,33% of the population). According to local adminastrators evidence, there are some 150 000 Romanies in the CR, while the Romany organizations believe there might be as much as 300 000 Romanies. The average life expectancy among Romany men is 56 years, among women 59 years (in the CR in general, the life expectancy amounts to 67 years and 76 years, respectively, which is still considerably lower than in the EC countries with similar material "living standards"; the life expectancy in most Eastern European countries has been stagnating or actually decreasing in the last two decades, JJ).

MLADA FRONTA DNES (centrist, independent). Headline: "Desert Fever Has Chemical Origin". Czech soldiers, who took part in the Persin Gulf War and have since suffered various symptoms of "desert fever" (loss of teeth, hair, and weight), are supposed to have inhaled yperit and sarin from Iraqi storage places hit by Allied bombs during the "Desert Storm" operation. The presence of these toxic gases was identified in the air by Czech specialists during "Desert Storm"; the findings, however, were kept secret. The samples were sent also to U.S. laboratories, which confirmed the findings.

On yesterday's press conference, Czech Defense Minister A.Baudys denied that veterans of the Gulf War had health problems.

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SURVEY OF SLOVAK PRESS BY CTK news agency

A commentary by +Slovenský deník+, close to the opposition

Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), considers hypothetic the

forecast by the chairman of the Slovak National Party (SNS),

čudovít Çernák, saying that by its shifting from the opposition

to a coalition with the ruling Movement for a Democratic

Slovakia (HZDS), the SNS will help present Slovakia abroad as a

stabilised country. The daily also asks whether the new alliance

will become less trustworthy due to the unqualified and

ill-judged statements by the HZDS politicians who have created

"a picture of chaos and inconsistency". +Slovenský deník+ calls

contradictory the argument that by creating coalition with the

HZDS, the SNS wants to protect the interests of the ordinary

Slovak man. "If this party really cares for a man-citizen, it

should relinquish its collectivist rhetoric," concludes the

commentary.

The independent +Národná obroda+ carries an interview with

the chairman of the Slovak Parliament, Ivan Ga paroviç, who

called the path to the Council of Europe uneasy, in particular

due to the clauses proposed by the Hungarian delegate. "We

fulfilled some clauses long time ago, and we have been observing

them", he said. Regarding the recommendations on the use of the

bilingual names of cities and communities, educational and

cultural autonomy, and administrative set-up, Slovakia will

proceed as it had pledged, Ga paroviç added.

In the tabloid +Nový ças+ the Christian Social Union (KSU)

accuses the Democratic Left Party (SDč) of abuse of the property

which belonged to the former Slovak Communist Party (KSS) and

insists on its allegation that the SDč leaders have treated the

property unlawfully. The KSU stresses that the SDč still uses

the property and says that there were cases when it was handed

over to other persons, in contravention of law. "The documents,

which are connected with illicit manipulation of the KSS

property, were signed by Peter Weiss (chairman of the SDč),"

Viliam Oberhauser, KSU deputy chairman, told +Nový ças+.

The Slovak Finance Ministry is ready to file a suit against

the former director of its banking section, Vladimír Seçka

(dismissed yesterday), Slovak Finance Minister Július Tóth said

today. The left-orientated +Pravda+ writes that in connection

with the trade war between the Niké and Sportka betting agencies

and with Seçka's accusation of the Finance Ministry, Tóth has

entirely rejected the allegation that the employees of state

administration were on the payroll of the Niké company.

Niké Director General Otto Berger also wants to file a suit

against Seçka. Berger reacted to the accusation as follows: "It

is an utter, absolute lie. Anything of this sort would have been

revealed by the inspections by the Finance Ministry, taxation

offices or the Government Office. The government stated that

Niké was the most respectable company from the sphere of betting

with respect to the tax payment".

+Pravda+ noted that Berger had appeared on Thursday in the

Slovak Parliament "where he opened fire at what the press had

published on this affair, but the chairman of the committee for

education, science and culture, Marián Andel, soon took away the

floor from him," adds the daily.