Insight Central Europe News

Unpopular Hungarian PM sacked

Hungary's ruling socialists have sacked the unpopular Prime Minister, Peter Medgessy. As Hungarian markets wavered, the Finance Minister, Tibor Draskovics, gave assurances that Hungary would continue in its policies of fiscal discipline. Mr Medgessy is the third left-of-centre Prime Minister to lose his job in Central Europe this year, following Poland's Leszek Miller and the Czech Republic's Vladimir Spidla.

New Czech government ready to present policy statement to parliament

The new Czech government has agreed on the final version of its policy statement, following prolonged talks between the coalition partners. The agenda calls for more fiscal restraint than did earlier drafts. The government, a coalition of the centre-left Social Democrats with two smaller right-of-centre parties, is to present the programme for parliamentary approval on Tuesday.

Slovak government moves to break deadlock over construction of car plant

The Slovak government has decided to press ahead with the expropriation of land for a planned Kia car plant in the western town of Zilina. Work on the plant has been delayed, because some of the owners of the land have been refusing to sell, demanding a higher price from the state. The dispute has jeopardized the huge construction project, which is the largest single foreign investment in Central Europe this year.

Polish soldiers killed in Iraq

There have been further Polish casualties in Iraq. Two soldiers were killed in a road accident after their patrol was fired on in the south of the country. Another seven people were injured when Poland's main military base in Iraq came under mortar attack on Wednesday. 2,500 Polish troops are currently serving in the country as part of the US-led coalition.

Austrian children enjoy school

And finally, a new poll suggests that Austrian children have a taste for the academic life. In the poll, sixty percent of 11-year-olds questioned, said that they really enjoyed school.