MARCH 29, 1999

C U R R E N T   A F F A I R S

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When Czech foreign minister Jan Kavan went on national television Sunday he was in an unenviable position. Following a barrage of criticism from journalists regarding the Cabinet's lack of unity over NATO policy in Kosovo the Czech foreign minister was forced to admit that the government's stand had been " cautious and non-committal". While the Czech Cabinet gave the alliance the required approval to go ahead with the air strikes, for both phases of the action, the government issued a statement saying that the decision to use force had really been made before the Czech Republic became a NATO member. The foreign ministry went so far as to produce a statement of its own, in which it is far more positive, saying that although it would have preferred a diplomatic solution it backed NATO air strikes as the only possible alternative under the circumstances. I contacted Vladimira Dvorakova of the political science dept. at the Prague School of Economics and asked her what she thought was behind the government's cautious approach -

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Czech foreign minister Jan Kavan welcomed the agreement and said it was in full accordance with this country's preparations for EU membership. Kavan told Reuters news agency that the summit's results clearly open space for further progress on negotiations about EU's actual enlargement and about institutional reform within the organisation. Agreement on the so-called Agenda 2000 was seen as vital if the EU was to set a target date for enlargement. The Czech foreign minister feels that this country is entitled to ask the EU for a concrete date at the end of this year or the beginning of next. For practical purposes the Czech Republic is now counting on the year 2003 as the year when it could become a EU member. Meanwhile candidates for European Union membership met in Limassol, Cyprus for a two day conference over the weekend, and agreed to complete the submission of their countries' position papers to Brussels this year in the hope of speeding up entry talks. Each of the countries seeking EU membership, that's, besides the Czech Republic, also Poland, Cyprus, Hungary, Slovenia and Estonia are to submit 30 position papers on topics including such controversial and difficult subjects as the environment, agriculture, energy policies and fiscal reforms. The first four papers are to be submitted by the end of May, another four by the end of July, and 15 by the end if the year. Representatives of the 6 countries seeking EU membership expressed hopes that this would speed up preparations for accession, especially since they consider the Berlin summit and its agreement on budget reform as vital for the funding of the Union's expansion process.

Yes, according to the Sofres Factum polling agency, more than one third of Czech citizens face serious problems, ranging from insomnia and tiredness to a bad orientation in time and other somatic and psychological problems. My colleague Peter Smith has had some problems as well:

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According to Sofres Factum, three fifths of the Czech population, on the other hand, have no problems at all. Zdenek Valis from Radio Prague's Czech Department and Jana Bodicka from the German section are two of the lucky ones:

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For several years now, Mr.Stanislav Pecka, a baker and healer from the village of Sobetuchy in Eastern Bohemia has been voicing open protests against the imposition of energy saving time. He even calls himself "The Public Opponent to Summer Time". But because he is well aware that his fight has so far proved to be futile and himself describes it as a "fight with wind mills", he's got a piece of advice for all, who are unwell and find themselves in a difficult situation: sleep a lot, eat healthy food, try to avoid all kinds of stress and don't hesitate to have a nap during the day, if there's a chance. Mr.Pecka claims that even though we have been changing time since 1979 in the Czech Republic, there still exist people who have never moved the hands at their clock.

"The human body needs at least six months to get used to the changed time," says Mr.Pecka, adding that less sleep causes a change in biorhythms, which might lead to diseases. And he takes his drive against the very idea of changing time very seriously: So far he has turned to several Czech governments, president Havel and former French premier Alain Juppe, now he is prepared to write to president Clinton.

In this little town, the head of its nursery school, Sona Brazdilova, came up with a rather clever idea called "we look forward to the first resident of Hradek in the year 2000", which came to the rescue of couples that have no time for themselves because they are kept busy by their children. Brazdilova simply kept the nursery school open over night so that parents could have a "quiet night" to themselves.

This special occassion took place from Thursday to Friday last week. Why choose March 25th? Brazdilova explained: "Pregnancy takes about 42 weeks. We calculated that the conception time begins on Josef's namesday and ends on April 1st. That is why we chose a night just between the two dates".

But there are some who believe that this generous move only took place for a personal motive, being an attempt to have enough children in the little town to attend the nursery school in a few years to prevent it from closing down. But that claim did not seem to bother the parents as 20 of the 27 children enrolled in the school this year made use of the offer.

So does that mean that the best time to conceive the Baby 2000 is over? Well, it seems that doctors of different countries have different opinions. Lidove Noviny published that according to the Russian experts on this matter, the best time was on March 27th. The French doctors predict April 1st and the Americans, April 9th. Norwegian parents are to try on the 10th.

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