SURVEY OF CZECH PRESS

PRAGUE, July 20 (ÇTK) - The proposals made by the Austrian

parliamentary party, the Green Alternative, concerning the

nuclear power plant in Temelín (now under construction in south

Bohemia -ed.), are "a sort of Marshall Plan", the party leader

Peter Altendorfer says in the right-leaning daily +Telegraf+

today.

Austria must offer the Czech Republic a programme of gradual

economic and technological aid. "We know that even if it (the

Czech Republic) were willing to switch over to another power

resource, it would be impossible to do so from one day to

another," Altendorfer is quoted as saying.

The economic daily +Hospodá ské noviny+ carries an article

by nuclear expert Franti ek Hronek. In the event consumption of

energy does not markedly decline, Hronek considers new, safer

and more reliable nuclear power plants the only real alternative

to expired ones. The future of what he calls the nuclear power

industry's "second age" and its "renaissance" is not only a

technological and economic problem but a political one as well,

as public reaction must be taken itno account, Hronek stresses.

The German government seems to be aware of this the best of all,

he adds.

Until it reaches a readmission agreement with Hungary, which is not in the forseeable future, Slovakia will suffer most from the refugee problem out of its neighbouring countries, Kate ina Perknerová writes in the leftist daily +Rudé právo+ today. "If Slovak Premier Vladimír Meçiar's cabinet goes with the

agreement, it would not be cost-free," she underlines, adding

that we can only guess "what the top German representatives

offered to Meçiar and (Slovak President Michal) Kováç for their

accommodation to the Czech demands concerning the (Czech-Slovak)

border scheme..." +Rudé právo+ comments.

The independent +Lidové noviny+ quotes Czech Premier Václav Klaus as saying that "a considerably large group of people

exists in the Czech Republic, who woke up with a new hope (after

the fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia in late 1989 -ed.), but

- unfortunately - they are able to hope only passively. They did

not wake up to real activity," Klaus emphasises.

Reacting to the (Czech) Catholic bishops' written stand on

his (Klaus') recent statement on church service in Velehrad,

South Moravia, Klaus points to the intentional untruths in the

document. (On July 8, the right-oriented daily +Çeský deník+,

quoted Klaus as saying that "the Catholic church is starting to

play a role which simply does not suit its position" and that

the several-hour television broadcast from Velehrad [where the

annual Catholic procession took place on July 5 as well as

celebrations in memory of the saints Cyril and Methodius] was

"the last straw in the whole matter." -ed.).

Klaus dismissed the "trivial argument" that in the

restitution process, everything which had been stolen from the

churches, should be returned to them. The question of church

property restitution has grown into a political event, stresses

Klaus, who favours the soonest possible separation of church and

state.

Former Czechoslovak dissident Pavel Tigrid considers it

"disgusting arrogance" that in its letter addressed to

international organisations, the Communist Party of Bohemia and

Moravia (KSÇM) expresses its fears of the future of democracy in

the Czech Republic regarding the law on the illegitimacy of the

Communist regime, (passed by the Czech parliament July 9) and

resistance against it.

The right-orientated +Çeský deník+ carries an interview with Slovak Culture Minister Du an Slobodník. Slobodník voices his

reservations about several Czech politicians, who "are not

behaving too fairly" towards Slovakia. Moreover, they are

supported by the "so-called Slovaks living in Prague..., who are

distorting and deforming facts concerning Slovakia".

Regarding the question of dividing the former

Czechoslovakia's cultural heritage between the independent Czech

and Slovak Republics, Slobodník says that Czechs should not

protract the problem unnecessarily, and urges that all objects

of culture belonging to Slovakia be returned there.

The independent +Mladá fronta Dnes+ comments on the recent

initiative of the government coalition Civic Democratic Alliance

(ODA), pushing for a coalition meeting to thoroughly discuss the

Czech Republic's foreign policy. The ODA was likely inspired to

do so by Klaus' statements during his recent foreign trips, the

paper states. It quotes an unnamed source as saying that

although the Czech Republic is striving for the EC membership,

Klaus often stresses his being "Eurosceptic", in other words,

his opposition to the Maastricht agreements. "The Premier should

sing the same song as our diplomacy," +Mladá fronta Dnes+ quotes

the source.

It also quotes "well-informed circles" that "tension has

sharpened between Klaus and Czech Foreign Minister Josef

Zieleniec since late June".

Although Klaus dismissed the idea of a coalition meeting

centered on foreign political questions as unnecessary, ODA

insist on the need for it"...it is important for this republic

that government coalition parties, and the opposition as well,

have identical opinions and language regarding the basic

features of foreign policy, as far as possible," the daily

quotes ODA Deputy Chairman Daniel Kroupa as saying.

_______________________________________________

SURVEY OF SLOVAK PRESS

BRATISLAVA, July 20 (ÇTK) - Commenting on Marián Vanka's

July 19 election in parliament to the post of chairman of

the Supreme Inspection Office (NKů), the tabloid +Nový ças+ says

the fact reflects good cooperation betwen the Movement for a

Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and the Slovak National Party (SNS).

Just as, under the old regime, the official ideology's motto had

it that "all power belongs to the people," now it can be said

that all of the state's power belongs to Meçiar.

+Nový ças+ also looks at Czech Premier Václav Klaus's

reaction to a letter from Hungarian Premier József Antall.

Government in general and officials dealing with foreign affairs

in particular should pay more attention to the fact that Klaus

publicly distanced himself from the affair (of Slovakia's

Hungarian ethnic minority) and formally take a stand on what the

paper calls Klaus's straightforwardness (in setting aside

Antall's concepts on the matter). "The border agreement can be

seen as meeting (the Czechs) halfway, but Slovak gratitude

must not be allowed to stop there, +Nový ças+ comments.

In the parliamentary vote on Marián Vanka, the HZDS/SNS

coalition, unified by a vision of coming to power, overrode the

opposition, notes +Slovenský deník+, a daily close to the

opposition Christian Democratic Party. In the event, the

coalition exhonerated itself from assuming direct parliamentary

control though in fact this is what happened. An unwritten rule,

adhered to by all democratic countries, which says that the

ruling party is accountable to the opposition, has thus been

circumvented. The SNS took a hard look at its chances and took a

plunge under the headline "Better now then never," +Slovenský

deník+ concludes.

On another point, the daily +Pravda+ notes that the

opposition deputies questioned the way Governor of the Slovak

National Bank was elected. They pointed out that deputies who

had been elected to the posts of the director and

deputy-director of the NKů also took part in the vote, thereby

violating a point of constitutional law which states that these

functions are incompatible with the parliamentary mandate. A

proposal to put the matter to the parliamentary committee on

mandates and immunities was rejected on the grounds that the

newly elected officials have not yet taken office, the paper

writes.

The independent +Národná obroda+ observes that although the devaluation of the Slovak currency is bound to cause

repercussions, the public should not be contented by the

publication of "fairy-tale" estimates, one of which, coming from

government experts, says that retail prices will go up by four

to five per cent.

The paper asks whether the move will indeed provide for

greater competitivness of Slovak goods and increased exports.

"We have asked the world to enter, but we are faced with quotas

in turn," +Národná obroda+ notes, citing the closing down of

uncompetitive ventures as another aim of the devaluation. In

fact, even the "export-worthy" manufacturers will feel the bite,

especially those who depend on foreign suppliers for components

for an assembly-based production, like the Orava Television

Factory in north Slovakia which is 80 per cent

imports-dependent. Devalution will make their products too

expensive.

The +Smena+, a daily close to the governing HZDS, points out that even though Premier Meçiar himself was not given advance

notice of the devaluation, at least two banking houses managed

to pull last-minute deals to trade their Czech crown reserves

for hard currency, earning four crowns per dollar in the

operation.