SURVEY OF THE PRESS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC, 23-7-1993

by Jan Jarab

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

Weekly: Mlady svet.

CESKY DENIK (right-wing). Headline news concentrates on the controversy between Czech Premier Klaus and Hungarian Premier Antall, who has recently sent Mr.Klaus a letter concerning Hungary's reservations about Slovakia's status in the Council of Europe, and including proposals which Mr.Klaus has called "unacceptable". Mr.Antall thereafter accused Mr.Klaus of "distorting the meaning of the letter" by quoting his proposal out of context. Mr.Klaus contends that the proposals amounted to nothing less than to a dismissal of the Benes Decrees (passed after World War II), which led to the confiscation of both German and Hungarian property in Czechoslovakia. (The Czech public is sensitive to Hungarian claims against Slovakia because it believed - probably with good reason - that they could bring a chain reaction from the deported Sudetan Germans.) Mr.Klaus said that he had quoted only parts of the letter in order not to anger the Czech public by these unacceptable proposals.

In a following editorial, however, CD comments very critically on Mr.Klaus' views on the rights of minorities, reminding that the Premier recently defended Slovakia's record on the international forum by claiming that collective minority rights are not important, because only individual rights matter.

LIDOVE NOVINY (liberal) inform that President Havel has vetoed the new "customs law" which would give deputies special privileges at the borders. He signed, however, the controversial law declaring the Communist regime between 1948 and 1989 as "illegitimate and criminal".

RUDE PRAVO (left-wing) quotes President Havel as describing the so-called safe zones in Bosnia as "part ghettoes, part concentration camps". According to Havel, the Czech Republic should show more interest in Bosnia. The President reminded of the little-known fact that in 1938, during the Munich crisis, thousands of Yugoslavians held demonstrations all over Yugoslavia in support of Czechoslovakia.

TELEGRAF (conservative) gives full support in its editorial to Premier Klaus' view that specific minority rights are unnecessary if equal individual rights are fully observed.

SURVEY OF SLOVAK PRESS by ÇTK News Agency

BRATISLAVA, July 23 (ÇTK) - Today's independent +Národná

obroda+ is of the opinion that coalition talks have almost

reached "freezing point." The Slovak National Party is said to

be on the point of abandoning further discussions as

unsuccessful, pending the results of the meeting of the leading

representatives of the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia

(HZDS) in Bardejov, eastern Slovakia, on July 24.

+Smena+, a daily close to the governing HZDS, considers the

pension law, governing simultaneous payments of pensions and

salaries, to have been the greatest obstacle in the tripartite

talks on July 22. In the pension law, the government suggests

paying a pension to those working pensioners whose salary does

not exceed 2,200 crowns (66 USD), and at the same time proposes

to withdraw it from those who earn more.

The trade union daily +Práca+ notes that unionists also

rejected a bill on child allowances to families and

disadvantaged citizens. It is further proposed that the

allowances should be paid only to families whose monthly income

does not exceed 9,150 crowns (275 USD) for two-member families,

13,200 crowns (396 USD) for three-member families, and 16,800

crowns (504 USD) for families with four or more members.

Unionists say the government is not meeting their demands for

higher allowances and indexation, +Práca+ writes.

The left-orientated +Pravda+ recalls that the Slovak

government must reduce the social budget by almost 3.0 billion

crowns, a move euphemistically described as rationalisation by

the government, adding that there seems to be no sign of an

integral economic strategy or measures to strengthen

the base Slovakia can bounce up from. The threat to social

peace which unionists have warned of is the result of government

cluelessness, budget cuts and the neglect of stuctural policy.

+Slovenský denník+, a daily close to the opposition

Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), quotes KDH Vice-Chairman

Franti ek Miklo ko as saying that the 20th and 21st sessions of

the parliament were "a blow below the belt to democracy," as the

amended law on the Council for the Radio and Television

Broadcasting makes it possible to recall any member of the

Council by a simple majority without diclosing the reasons

leading to the decision. By this, "the Council's independence

was lost," Miklo ko is quoted as saying in +Slovenský denník+.

The daily also look at the amended law on privatisation,

which gives the final say to the Slovak premier, a function

currently held by Vladimír Meçiar, helped by Ivan Lexa in the

post of state secretary. If we only think that Lexa's father, a

cabinet minister of the former totalitarian regime, is present

at negotiations of the Czech and Slovak government commissions

on the division of former federal property, the Rubic's Cube

clicks into place.

Miklo ko thinks that the HZDS will be in no hurry to

conclude the coalition agreement in a situation like this when

top state posts are being allocated. "Meçiar will probably

employ his classic scheme of drama, rejection, conflict and

victorious catharsis, in which he will appear as Slovakia's

saviour," Miklo ko says in +Slovenský denník+.