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: Mlady svet.

LIDOVE NOVINY (liberal) informs that Premier Klaus defends Chairman of Parliament Milan Uhde (a member of his ODS party) against accusations that he had officially recommended (as then Minister of Culture) a privatization project of a company in which his wife is a co-owner. In his comments yesterday, Mr.Klaus dismissed the problem by saying "I often get lots of letters complaining about the privatization process, and if there are many of them, I might write about it to the Privatization Minister - this can't be called influencing the Ministry."(!?,JJ)

LN also bring Jan Jarab's article "Popularity", which concentrates on the negative effect which continuous measuring of personal popularity of politicians has on the political system, encouraging politicians to think in the most short-term stereotypes, and to care about their personal popularity more than about the issues. The author quotes Al Gore as saying: "The future whispers, but the present roars." Such a situation, says the author, encourages populism.

MLADA FRONTA DNES (centrist) reports that Premier Klaus has expressed happinness at the verdict of court which cleared former Vice-Premier Macek of charges of cheating. After a spectacular fall from power in January, 1993, Mr.Macek has started a comeback at the local level of his ODS party less than two months ago, and has declared his readiness to enter "high politics" again.

The state loses millions in court decisions which clear those with a positive record (LUSTRACE) for StB (Secret Police) affiliations, writes MFD. Many of those, who have received the positive finding, have sued the state and won in court. The Interior Ministry has admitted that it is unlikely to win in any case because the materials, on basis of which it has made its decisions, are only microfilm copies of the (nonexistent) originals. Such copies, however, are not accepted as proof by the courts.

RUDE PRAVO (left-wing) brings an article by Petr Uhl (a political prisoner of the Communist regime, and self-styled Marxist) who comments sarcastically on the situation after last September when he had been dismissed by ODS as General Director of CTK, the state News Agency. "Because I didn't receive anything in "restitution", I decided to earn my living by work," says Uhl, who stayed on the staff of CTK as a regular reporter. Recently he was attacked in MFD by a former colleague who charged that "as a regular reporter Uhl will have a greater chance to influence the news he writes than he had as General Director, because he will simply write it". Mr.Uhl asks whether a law will soon be passed which will define, specifically, if there is a job low enough for him to be fit for it.

SURVEY OF SLOVAK PRESS by ÇTK News Agency

BRATISLAVA, July 16 (ÇTK) - Today's edition of the

left-oriented daily +Pravda+ brings an interview with Marián

Jusko, Governor of the Slovak National Bank (NBS). The paper is

of the opinion that the devaluation of the Slovak crown came as

no surprise. "The question was when, and how much," it writes.

Before the devaluation, the NBS was faced with the

possibility of barring the economy from any additional loans or

else accepting a higher rate of inflation, at the same time

releasing further resources for the economy. The NB, by

accenting interest policy, opted for the latter alternative,

Jusko told +Pravda+, noting that the devaluation did not take

place by the end of February, when it was expected (after the

currency split), because of "the lack of basic information on

the actual state and future progress of the independent Slovak

economy at the time .. I belonged to the group of economists who

had more pessimistic ideas about the future of the Slovak

economy."

The devaluation's greatest backlash will be the rise in

prices, expected to reach about five per cent in Jusko's

opinion, or about four per cent according to Slovak Finance

Minister Július Tóth, +Pravda+ concludes the interview.

Elsewhere, the daily +Pravda+ comments on the curfew imposed

on Romany Slovaks by the Spi ské Podhradie, eastern Slovakia,

town council. The case is not without a precedent -- a similar

directive was issued in Jirkov, north Bohemia, in December 1992,

+Pravda+ recalls. But, while all the allegedly unbending

Romanies in Jirkov were facing a 5,000-crown (17O USD) fine or

expulsion from the town, the Spi ské Podhradie city police could

apply "only" a 100-crown (3.4 USD) ticket. "On the whole, it

seems that Jirkov councillors were more clever with their

regulations," the daily comments, adding that the Jirkov case

might serve to the Spi ské Podhradie actors as an example "how

to elegantly back out of the situation."

Both incidents have one thing in common: whenever a local

government tried to resolve the so-called Romany problem on

their own, they "came up against the Constitution, the Charter

of Human Rights as well as part of the public." At the same

time, in neither of the two cases did the controversy become

resolved, rather it can be said that they serve to draw

attention to its chronic as well as pressing nature, +Pravda+

concludes.

It is clear that crossings on the Slovak-Czech border are

going to be built, and that the "green frontier," meaning the

stretches where the line crosses the open country, is going to

be patrolled, a commentary in the independent daily +Národná

obroda+ reads, recalling that a year ago some newly elected

officials assured that the border, but for the posting of some

signs and an occasional customs check, would remain much the

same. But "once you've gone part of the way, you have to follow

through to the end," and, as much as the necessity for a solid

border gradually became to be accepted, it is now being

questioned again and there are suggestions that the border

should be selectively permeable: it would be closed to

foreigners, but only partly so for Czech and Slovak nationals.

"But even that will soon be proved impracticable. A border is

not a place for strolls, as the 'classic' says [an allusion to

one of the marxist-leninist proselytisers]," +Národná

obroda+ writes.