Finance minister strikes rescue deal for north Moravian coal mine

Finance Minister Andrej Babiš has struck a deal with NWR, the owner of the north Moravian Paskov coal mine, to keep it operational until 2017. The Czech government will pay 600 million crowns for social programmes for the mine’s employees; the mining firm NWR has agreed to spend 500 million on the remediation of the mine, Mr Babiš told reports on Monday after a meeting with NWR board chairman, Gareth Perry. The finance minister said the deal was yet to be approved by the government and the European Commission. The government was planning to spend around 1.1 billion crowns to keep the unprofitable mine operational until 2016.