Editor of the Prague Post (Alan Leavy): What do you perceive as the greatest threat to Czechoslovak autonomy ?
I believe that Czechoslovak independence and freedom, autonomy is not at this moment threatened - there is no ceded threat from abroad, from a foreign state or power. If there is any threat for us, then that is consequence of our own inexperience and errors, our own unprofessional conduct and inexperience with democracy. At the moment I believe our fate is in our own hands.

What guarantees do the people of Czechoslovakia have that former controllers in the corridors of power (including the Secret Police) do not gain positions of influence in your new supposedly democracy ?
Of course this is one of the basic problems of our society similarly as in all other post-communist countries. We are trying to solve this problem, to face our past directly and trying to create safeguards against those people who were participants in the old regime who were guilty of violating human rights, who were guilty of cruelty against our own people so that these people have no access to public posts, to government posts. In that respect we have already passed laws and measures but we are still fighting with this problem, we cannot say we have found a good, right, civilised, legal clue so that we faced our past, solved the problems connected with our past and opened ourselves to the new life and made it impossible for all who are bound with the past to influence it in a negative way.

Svoboda (Communist Party leader), for two years you have tried to keep the common state of Czechs and slovaks. It was very brave of you. At the moment you should consider however that many Slovaks want their own state why are you stopping them ? You yourself have supported the Baltic states in their independence.
I believe that nobody is preventing the Slovak nation from gaining independence creating their independent state. Just the opposite. It was I who proposed a referendum on that constitutional question a year ago. I believe it is the only legitimate way to find out what is the real will of a nation. If the majority of the nation, in this case the Slovak nation, says it wants to live in an independent state, if tey say that in a referendum then they have an [unanihilible] undeniable right to that. Unfortunately there was no referendum. It is exactly those political forces which want independence who are trying to prevent a referendum. Perhaps they are doing that a little bit because they fear that the majority of the Slovak people would actually vote for a common state with Czechs.

Disturbed that authorities on border with Austria were handing out Iodide tablets around nuclear power plant at Bohunice. If you must close down the coal factories to solve the worst pollution problems. Are Czech power stations safe ?
Personally I consider the problem of our energy industry one of the basic problems of our country. We don't have enough energy sources on our country. We don't have oil. The HEP have not been proved appropriate for our country. So our power plants are ecologically wrong. We have some nuclear ones. We are intensely investigating this problem. We are now talking about our energy plan for the next decade. We do not plan to build new ones, just finish two in construction where we want to minimise the danger of any incident, to make them totally secure. We should gradually diminish the production in the coal power plants which are ecologically very polluting. We also want to do some clean-up measures. This is very expensive and Czechoslovakia does not have any money for that. We eventually want to dismantle those. Apart from our the concept of energy structure, it would be important that we learn to economise energy. Our industry is consuming an unbelievable, inappropriate amount of electricity.

As an intellectual you will agree that there are no exceptions to the rule that 'Power corrupts'. What steps are you taking to prevent this happening to you ?
I think about this problem very often. I see around myself and in myself how many temptations high office brings. I see that these temptations are often very suggestive, how they come with a rationalisation of the whole thing. It reminds me of a lecture I had in Copenhagen, "The privileges and temptations of power." I try not to succome to those temptations. Other people must judge whether I do or not.

What is the importance of the intellectual in good government ?
Some time ago, President Masaryk wrote in a private letter to Foreign Minister Beneą 'in politics what rules is reason and honesty'. I believe this is the most important thing. Intellect is not enough. If people are not reasonable then it is not enough.

Is the federal government still exporting arms to non-democratic countries around the world, particularly Burma ?
No, not to Burma. The whole question of weapons export is very complicated. The huge industry was created by Communism, tradition from before. During communism we exported heavy arms to countries with very suspect regimes. After democratic changes we gave made a political decision that we will not export heavy arms or machinery to those territories. We will convert to  industry for peaceful means. It takes time. At this time we can not not export some weapons. We do not wish to export to countries which are terrorist or support terrorism. The last delivery to a country like this was made some time ago. We want the government to control fully the export of arms. We want it to be impossible for new private firms to export arms where it is not in the countries interest to export arms.

What is your opinion that by a regional arrangement of our state we could have prevented today's contitutional crisis ? Do you think that the Moravians and Silesians are not mature enough to be a third state in the federation ?
I think that the future constitutional arrangement of our country has to be based on a natural development, calm judgement, consideration of all aspects, interests. It's something we cannot do through an administration decision somewhere around a green table in an office. Our country has been split into various regions by the Communists, around a table. They just pencilled in lines and frontiers between regions. These did not correspond to natural relations in our country. It is clear that Moravia should sooner or later have a status, its own status, its own type of autonomy and administration which would correspond to long historical traditions. Again, it can not be done overnight or from above through an administrative decision which could very soon prove to be wrong. Especially I believe we first have to find a fair base for relations between our two nations, Czechs and Slovaks, a fair and just arrangement for our common state. Then only in the second phase can we consider eventual regional arrangements, regions which would have the status of a land. I believe it is a question of development and should not be a question of demagogic propaganda.

Where do you want to be the president if Czechoslovakia splits up ?
When I became President, I promised my loyalty to the constitution of the CSFR. That means I am the president of this common state of Czechs and Slovaks. If this state cease to exist, split into two states, an alternative I do not hold very likely, then I would have to consider what to do next. At the moment, I am trying to do my duties as the President of the CSFR.

When will you stop the era of restrictive policies which brought our economy to a total collapse, the lower and middle classes to poverty ?
You should be aware how many hundreds of millions in the world really live in real poverty. I do not believe there is real poverty in our country. Of course, living standards have lowered and unemployment has gone up. It is a tax that we are paying that for decades we have been silent to the exploitation of our future, to the creation of a centralised, unproductive, ineffective economy. The only chance that our new generations have is the total transformation of our economy. And that cannot avoid the pains and problems that she mentions. The government will do everything to soften the impact of these pains - the lowering of living standards, as I said, is an unavoidable tax that we are paying for these changes. I would never call it poverty. I find that insulting to the millions of people dying from hunger.

Dalai Lama is very interested in meeting Mr. Dubček. How is your relationship with him ?
I dare to say that with Dubček I have friendly relations. We are co-operating and even if we didn't want to, we would have to because he is the speaker of the parliament and I am the president. But we are, because we are friends. That does not mean that we have different opinions to different problems. That is natural, because we are two different people. As to the Dalai Lama, you will have to ask him yourself. I am deeply honoured he has been my guest and friend in Czechoslovakia. I do keep in touch with him.

During the communist era there were many death sentences, but nobody was placed before a court, those people (no-one) has been sentenced. Why ?
First of all, it is not true that nobody has been prosecuted. Some of them committed crimes and were convicted in the 50's and 60's. True, there were only a few of them, it wasn't full and complete justice (which we would like to have). Today we are opening full political conditions to face our past. It is the question of creating a legal state, the rule of law, a legal framework. We can only put people on trial if we can prove they have really committed a crime. This we can only prove on the basis of law. If law does not give us enough possibilites to do that, we have to think about changing the legal system, about how to deal with the status of limitations concerning certain political crimes, and of course we have to think about a more consequent moral judgement, moral condemnation of these people. I don't think that the regime has been condemned. It is being morally condemned every day it is condemned by the millions of its victims. It is being condemned in various declarations. I do believe it could be more thorough; it may be worth considering some form of moral tribunal (like the ?Rassel Tribubal has been)
All those found guilty of crime should be prosecuted according to the law. So far we have not been terribly successful in that. I cannot be made responsible for that. It is the question of the federal parliament and the independent judicairy. I am not a judge, nor an MP.

What has been your greatest achievement for Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe as a whole ? What does the future hold for Eastern Europe ?
East Europe and not only East Europe - the whole post-communist world, including the CIS all are going through a very complicated phase of development; thousand of latent problems have been sleeping under the surface of our lives for decades and are now awakening. It is the time when all these countries are finding themselves in a deep economic crisis, a deep political crisis. It would seem to me in the interests of the democratic west and whole world to help as much as possible the large post-communist world, to solve the problems which have been revealed, without too great attention or conflicts.
I firmly believe that sooner or later it will be possible to turn these into democratic states, a legitimate part of the democratic community. It is a great, serious problem. We could compare it with the fall of the Roman Empire. It is turning over a great page in history, all this suffering which some people view with some surprise stemming from this historic moment. Eastern Europe is in a better situation than the republics of the SU. Their prospectives are better. They have a prospective that they can become a part of democratic Europe much faster, they will be accepted as members of the EC and so on.

What measures is your government currently taking to reduce the severe environmental polluion, especially in northern Bohemia where frequent inversions are taking a heavy toll in terms of public health.
Many people thought that, with the democratic revolution in our country, all problems would be immediately solved, including environmental problems - the problems which have been suppressed and bagatellised during Communism. The new democrativce power has said the truth and confessed about all these problems, but it is not simple. From the federal and state budgets we have already invested great sums to solve some of the ecological problems, but it is still only patching up the existing state of affairs. The real change can happen only then with the transformation of our economy, which must from the start be directed by environmental and ecological aspects. It depends on economic instruments at our disposal, from measures which will force factories not to pollute our environment. It is not currently so that industry can do what it wants, and up to the state to repair the damage. Industry and transport must from the beginning be transformed or created so as to not damamge the environment. This will take much longer.

What do you personally think of the case of Jan Kavan ?
It is so complicated that I would not like to spend valuable minutes commenting on it. It is broader that the case itself. It throws light on the whole problem of us trying to come face to face with the past. His case shows the enormous complications that such a situation brings, and the problems in considering individual cases. It would seem to me that this case, even for MP Kacan, although unpleasant for him, plays a positive role in one aspect. Face to face with it, our society becomes aware how difficult all this is. We cannot say in one sentence that those and those people do not belong and have to be expelled from public life because they have collaborated with the old regime, and all the others are exempted. We are facing the extreme complicatedness of this problem through this case.

Do you prefer to be known as a poet president or dissent playwright ?
This question is wrongly put in its basis ! It is not my aim to be known as one or the other. My aim is to do something good, to bring joy to me and my fellow citizens.

Your country's velvet revolution captured the imagination of the world, and more and more people are enchanted by your country. Some of my Czechoslovak friends are worried about your country selling out, of a "McDonaldisation", despite recognising the need for foreign investment. How can you protect the culture from overrun by Western cultures ?
My feeling on "selling out" is that these worries are not justified. Our share of foreign investment ($700m this year, contracted) is very small compared to Hungary and Poland. It is only a tiny part of our economy, which is in its way conected with foreign capital. Compared to other countries, we are very Czech and Slovak in our culture. In the West, most of the capital is international. Here, this is very small. Foreign investemnt here will help us to accelerate our economic reforms. We do want foreing investment. Only the demagogues are warning us against it. They do not have any justification  or right for such warnings.

Given the uncertain status of CIS nuclear weapona, would you favour a nuclear weapons-free zone for all Europe, initially excluding France, UK and Russia; would you favour this zone for Czechoslovakia ?
Firstly, Czechoslovakia is nuclear free, without declaring this. We have no weapons on our territory. I would find it best if the whole world were nuclear free. This cannot be acheived quickly. I welcome all initiatives of regional nuclear-free zones. We do not want or need nuclear wepons. We support their limitation everywhere in the world.

Once in Hradec Kralove you said that even poets have teeth. What do you think about it today?
Look here, in a fairly complicated situation, I have a great many people who tell me I am too gentle, too nice, too velvety. WHenever I walk about the streets, someone takes my by the sleeve and says "hold in there, but do be stronger, firmer, Mr. President." On the other hand I am accused of wanting personal power and privileges - there are even voices who say I would like to become a dictator. I am moving between Scylla and Chyrypta here. I see only one solution here; to live in accordance with my own conscience. I may occasionally thump the table, bare my teeth and at moments my conscience will tell me not to succumb to pressures, to work for more civilised, cultural solutions for the difficult social processes in our country, do not jump a hat/ahead. Other people must judge how I move between Scyla and Charypta, between the two moments, to remain nice and gentle person and citizen, and if it is necessary, then bare my teeth.

Church and State : In Poland, individual freedoms are heavily abused. Priests are in the Army, religious lessons are obligatory in schools, there is the penalisation of abortion. Are there any social forces driving your country to the Middle Ages, the same way as in my country ? If not, how do you cope with these problems in your country?
First, I would not dare agree with your opinion that Poland is returning to the Middle Ages. Concerning Czechoslovakia, our government, parliament and democratic powers have repeatedly and clearly said that we do not want to be bound with any ideology, any religion. Our democratic power is neither Marxist, nor Catholic, nor connected with any other ideology or religion. The only idea that should rule our political deeds is the idea of respecting the human and civil rights and freedoms. One of the basic freedoms is the freedom of religion. In Czechoslovakia today, we have freedom of religion. It exists today. Our new restitution laws are for more radical than in Poland and offer the possibility of returning confiscated properties to the Church. We are begining to have Church schools - which always existed in Poland, since they did not have property confiscated. Here it was brutally devastated and now we attempt to give back the position which traditionally belonged to the Church, to return its illegally stolen property. No ideology will be the ruling ideology of our state.

Is German investment healthy, considering their past involvement in the country ?
Again, it is a sort of political demagogery if people talk about German colonisation, economically. I have already said that foreign capital investment here is very low, less than 1% of our economy. It is true that 80% of this comes from Germany. Half of this, however, is represented by one single contract, that between Škoda and VW. Take this away, and German investments are not that great. It will always be bigger than investment from other countries, very simply: it is our big, powerful neighbour, with a big frontier to us, a neighbour well aware of our conditions, resolute in its investment moves. Foreign statesmen tell me sometimes they are afraid of a great German presence in our country - I alwayw say "It's a challenge for you ! To be as patient, clever, active as German capital is." It's not a unilateral political orientation - it's just how things are. If not VW, but someone else had signed the contract with Škoda, ay a French company - would anyone talk of French colonisation of Czechoslovakia ? I feel this "danger" is a psuedo danger. German capital is not purely German. To a great degree it is international capital - the big companies are to a great degree international and belong to various non-German shareholders. The situation today is that western capital is not national; there are natural geo-political reasons for it coming to us via Germany. I would not draw the conclusion that Czechoslaovakia is becoming an economic protectorate of Germany. Many people say this before the elections - those trying to catch votes by appealing to old grievances from the Nazi time.

You say your country does not send arms to countries which support terrorism. What about the sophisticated tanks you delivered to Syria, country occupying Lebanon and supporting terrorism.
I have previously mentioned this delivery of 250 tanks. I would like to consider this as having been the last. This contract had been signed when Syria participated within the anti-Iraq alliance, during the liberation of Kuwait. We have gradually been delivering. I am not terribly happy about it, but must take is as a reality and hope this is the last delivery of its type to countries with authoritarian regimes. According to my information, it is the last.

Do you feel it is possible to build a lawful state without the top Communist functionaries who have committed crime in the past being punished. You are avoiding this question, aren't you ?
I cannot speak in the name of the government or parliament. For myself I can say I am not avoiding anything. Please do understand. A crime is soemthing which has to be exactly defined in the law. Ther has to be a prosecutor, an accuser and a court which judges the case according to the law. To prosecute the prominents of the old regime at this moment, when our parliament has accepted the principle of continuity of legal order, that the law is valid unitl it is amended - it is not true that all old laws have ceased to exist. We have not created revolutionary laws. This was not our situation. We must judge everthing acorrding to the existing law, the system which we are amending by actully creating new laws. There is a lack of judges and courts. We still have many who worked during the old regime. It is a practicl question and legal question to a great degree. The representatives of the old regime can be punished on the principle of individual guilt that is proven to them in the court of law. We cannot punish them on the grounds of some revolutionary justice, to say simply that all members of the Cental Committee, all functionaries of the Communist Party are guilty. The guilt must be defined, proven and an independent court has to draw consequenses and eventually pass sentence. It is a basic principle in creating the rule of law.