Press Review

It's a tale of two presidents in today's Czech dailies - splashed across the covers are photos of either US President George W. Bush, giving his State of the Union address, or Czech president Vaclav Havel, visiting Slovakia as a statesman for the last time. In contrast with Mr. Bush's serious face, Mr Havel was all smiles when meeting with both friends and state officials in Bratislava.

Reporting from Mr. Havel's last foreign trip as a president, HOSPODARSKE NOVINY compares the atmosphere in Bratislava now and twelve years ago, when the Czechoslovak federation split into two independent states and president Havel visited Slovakia as his first foreign journey. Back then, Slovaks threw eggs at him and shouted "We have had enough of Havel!" Today, many Slovaks view Havel as "their president", as a hero who led the two nations from a totality to democracy, writes HOSPODARSKE NOVINY.

Meanwhile, on the domestic scene LIDOVE NOVINY writes about possible governing coalition candidates for the still unresolved Czech presidential elections. According to the daily the three-party coalition has outlined seven possible candidates that include former education minister Jan Sokol, Charles University's current rector Ivan Wilhelm, and Senator Jan Jarab.

Somewhat surprisingly the name of Otakar Motejl, the country's ombudsman has been dropped, as has that of Petr Pithart, who competed without success in a first set of elections that ended in stalemate in January. A second set of elections, following soon after, proved equally inconclusive.

PRAVO leads with a report on the government's go-ahead to another tax hike. As of April 1, a pack of 20 cigarettes will cost some ten percent more, so will a bottle of spirits. The Czech Republic has promised the EU to increase the excise tax on tobacco gradually to 57 percent. At the moment, the tax amounts to a mere 40 percent.

On the other hand, the setting of the consumer tax on alcohol is solely at the Czech government's discretion. The reason for the latest increase, the cabinet says, is that the tax is higher in almost all neighbouring countries.

Elsewhere, PRAVO carries an interview with police president Jiri Kolar about so-called integrity tests aimed at fighting corruption in state administration. Mr. Kolar tells the paper that corruption is wide-spread in the state sector and represents a serious security threat, but is very hard to detect and prove. That is why the police are now to be given the option of using undercover agents to catch state bureaucrats red-handed.

MLADA FRONTA DNES quotes the head of the Czech intelligence service Jiri Ruzek in his attempt to calm down fears of a terrorist attack in the Czech Republic. About a week ago, the Czech intelligence service received information that five-member terrorist groups from Afghanistan with forged Pakistani passports were about to infiltrate into Germany and Great Britain, using the Czech Republic as a transit country.

Mr. Ruzek says there were no indications that they might be intending to strike in the Czech Republic. He did say though that a reliable source had confirmed a number of Pakistani passports disappeared from the country's embassy in another Asian state. However, the intelligence service believes if the alleged terrorists do come to the Czech Republic, they are likely to launder money here or buy arms and explosives on the black market before they continue to the west.