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From: Peter Durcansky 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.czecho-slovak,bit.listserv.slovak-l
Subject: RFE/RL Newsline CZ/SK Selection No. 146
Date: 29 Jul 1999 19:31:02 GMT
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 3, No. 146, Part II, 29 July 1999

           A selection from the RFE/RL Newsline
          --------------------------------------

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
________________________________________________________
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 3, No. 146, Part II, 29 July 1999

ZEMAN AMONG LEAST POPULAR CZECH POLITICIANS. A public
opinion poll conducted by Sofres-Factum earlier this
month to determine the popularity of politicians from
Milos Zeman's minority cabinet and their "shadow
counterparts" from the Civic Democratic Party shows
the premier among the least popular politicians, CTK
reported on 27 July. Zeman ranks 30th out of 34
politicians included in the survey. For the first time
since he took office last July, Zeman trails former
Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus, who ranks 24th. The most
popular politician is Justice Minister Otakar Motejl
(an independent) while the least popular is Trade and
Industry Minister Miroslav Gregr. MS

CZECH GOVERNMENT APPROVES PLAN TO FIGHT EXTREMISM. The
government on 28 July approved a plan drawn up by
Deputy Premier Pavel Rychetsky and Human Rights
Commissioner Petr Uhl for clamping down on
organizations and movements that act against human
rights, CTK reported. The plan provides guidelines to
be followed by the Ministries of Education, Interior,
Justice, and Labor and Social Affairs. It also lists
organizations that can be dissolved by Interior
Minister Vaclav Grulich. The list includes the
Patriotic Front and the National Front of Castists,
which disseminates propaganda against foreigners,
Jews, Roma, and homosexuals. MS

SLOVAK OPPOSITION SUBMITS REFERENDUM PETITION TO
PRESIDENT. The petition demanding that a referendum be
conducted on the right to use minority languages in
contacts with the authorities and on the privatization
of "strategic enterprises" (see "RFE/RL Newsline", 7
July 1999) was handed to the president's office on 28
July, CTK reported. The petition was signed by 444,823
individuals, considerably more than the 350,000
required to initiate a plebiscite. The youth
organizations of the opposition Movement for a
Democratic Slovakia and the Slovak National Party, as
well as the nationalist Matica slovenska cultural
organization, were behind the referendum drive. MS

SLOVAK PRESIDENT WANTS TO MEET HUNGARIAN COUNTERPART.
Rudolf Schuster on 28 July said that he hopes to meet
with Hungarian President Arpad Goncz "as soon as
possible," Hungarian media reported the next day.
Schuster said that both he and the Slovak government
have fulfilled electoral promises vis-a-vis the
country's Hungarian minority by approving the new law
on minority language use in contacts with the
authorities. He said he does not believe the ruling
coalition is facing a split. The Hungarian Coalition
Party has said it will "reconsider" its participation
in the coalition because the law does not meet some of
its demands. MS

=====================================================================
The above is a selection from the RFE/RL NEWSLINE, and the articles 
within are copyright of RFE/RL. On-line issues are available at
http://www.rferl.org/newsline. Articles are selected if they contain 
information pertaining to the Czech or the Slovak republic.
The selection process is done by a program and is thus highly
error-prone. If you would like to receive this selection via e-mail,
send a request to dudlo@poboxes.com.

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