Business briefs

EU wants Czechs to give up 'golden shares'; State budget for 2005 signed into law; Eurotel ordered to pay 48m crown fine; Eurotel ordered to pay 48m crown fine; Record-high Czech beer exports in 2004

EU wants Czechs to give up 'golden shares'

The European Union wants the Czech government to give up its custom of retaining "golden shares" in state-owned companies considered to be "family jewels". The practice allows the government to maintain some influence in the formerly sate-owned companies after their privatisation. According to the European Court of Justice, however, "golden shares" are incompatible with EU directives on the free movement of capital.

State budget for 2005 signed into law

President Vaclav Klaus has signed the state budget law for 2005. The law envisages a deficit of 84 billion Czech crowns. However, opposition parties and most economists say the deficit will be much higher, over 100 billion crowns, once the state has covered the losses of the Czech bailout agency, Ceska Konsolidacni Agentura, which primarily ensures the privatisation of state-owned companies.

Eurotel ordered to pay 48m crown fine

A Czech court said this week that mobile operator Eurotel must pay a fine of 48 million crown (more than 2 million dollars) which was imposed for anti-competitive practices by the anti-monopoly office in May 2002. Eurotel was fined for agreeing with a competitor, Radiomobil, to charge their clients less for calls between the two operators than for calls to the third operator, Cesky Mobil.

Record-high Czech beer exports in 2004

Czech breweries expect to export a record 2.4 million hectolitres of beer this year, up by 12 per cent from the previous year. The chairman of the Czech Association of Breweries and Malt Houses, Jan Vesely, said that in 2004, exports of Czech beer to neighbouring Germany and Slovakia, as well as to the UK and the US, rose from 5 to 20 percent. Meanwhile, breweries are preparing a campaign to promote their beer abroad and plan to ask the EU to grant Czech beer the geographical indication of origin "Ceske pivo" (Czech beer), Mr Vesely said.