Dual Citizenship Duel
Peter J. Vanatko
http://www.praguepost.cz/
Dual citizenship duel
By Alex Friedrich
Immigration gadfly Jirina Fuchsova is stepping up her campaign to win dual
citizenship for Czech-born Americans now that dual-citizenship holders have
reached two of the Czech administration's highest posts.
Czech law prohibits Czech-born Americans from obtaining Czech citizenship,
although newly installed Foreign Minister Jan Kavan is allowed to hold
British citizenship and Deputy Prime Minister Egon Lansky holds a Swedish
passport.
Lansky said he sees no connection between their cases and his and Kavan
did not answer requests for an interview.
But Fuchsova says that their ascension was "like pouring salt into the
wounds of 30,000 Czechs living in the United States with U.S.
citizenship."
The Los Angeles-based poet, originally from Plzen (Pilsen), is fighting to
change legislation by Dec. 31 to allow her fellow Czech-Americans to gain
citizenship and have property restituted.
Although the Czech and American governments have annulled a 1928 treaty
that prohibited Czech-born American citizens from obtaining Czech
citizenship as well, the Czechs refuse to make the change retroactive to
cover those who fled the communist regime and were naturalized after May
7, 1957.
Past governments have barred such people because they feared a tidal wave
of Czech-American restitution claims, said Fuchsova. She referred to a
comment she says parliamentary deputy Jaroslav Ortman made in a February
1996 television interview: "We have closed those restitution laws as
tightly as we possibly could so that those restitution mice won't be
running here to and fro."
Fuchsova said, however, that the government has nothing to fear; the
deadlines for reclaiming real estate is already past, although 700-1,000
restitution claims remain unsettled. Czech-Americans can only have
"moveable property" restituted, and such claims would range from only $200
to $1,500 (approximately 6,600-49,500 Kc) per person.
"No one can say that the Czech government couldn't settle these," she
said.
But time is running out even for those cases. U.S. citizens such as
Fuchsova must obtain citizenship and file by Dec. 31.
Now her lobbying group, the Advisory Committee for the Czech Government
Abroad, is informing the U.S. Senate, Helsinki Committee and NATO. Though
she doesn't want those organizations to prevent the country from becoming a
NATO member, she wants to see resolution of the problem as a condition for
entry.
Former U.S. Ambassador Jenonne Walker told reporters Aug. 25 that Czech
officials had informed her they were working on a solution, but Fuchsova
sounded skeptical.
"We have been fed this line since 1993," she said. "We have been told by
the Czech government, ministers of interior, foreign affairs, etc., that
the matter is indeed urgent."
If the Czech government fails to act, Fuchsova said her organization is
prepared to file a $100 million class-action lawsuit for compensation. She
said she wasn't sure, however, where she could file the suit, as Czech
courts so far have turned down her requests to file.
While on a recent trip to this country in August, she said that Lansky
invited her to send a delegation of Czech-born Americans to discuss the
matter. But now "that's not sufficient," she said. Such an offer is "three
or four years too late."
Her organization now has three main demands drawn up in the form of a new
law on Czech citizenship:
· Anyone who has ever acquired Czech citizenship can never be deprived
of it unless he or she wishes to renounce it;
· Czech state offices abroad must provide free proof of citizenship when
presented with a Czech birth certificate or other appropriate
identification document.
· Czech law must penalize those officials who arbitrarily refuse to
provide such papers.
Lansky told The Prague Post that he's open to a discussion, but said it
would be impossible to change the law before the Dec. 31 deadline "even if
that were our first priority." He said he "could imagine" extending the
deadline but made no guarantee.
"Unlike other governments, we're prepared to grant former Czechoslovak
citizens citizenship. ... They just have to be a bit patient."
RealCzech
RealCzech
Jiri Borsky
>
> Right on!
>
> RealCzech
Left off!
BlbeCzech
:-)
Frank Bures
> RealCzech wrote (entire post replicated):
> >
> > Right on!
>
> Left off!
>
Center stand-by!
Frank Bures, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Toronto
fbu...@chem.toronto.edu (use this address for replies)
http://frank.chem.utoronto.ca/electronics
"To shutdown your system, type "win" at the prompt"
Paul J Kriha
>RealCzech wrote (entire post replicated):
>>
>> Right on!
>>
>
>
>Left off!
>
>BlbeCzech
>
>:-)
Up out!
ImaginaryCzech
(:-
--
Know what's weird? Day by day nothing seems to
change, but pretty soon everything is different.