News

Prime Minister Petr Nečas has been re-elected chairman

Prime Minister Petr Nečas defended his post as the chairman of the Civic Democratic party, having received 351 at the party conference in Brno on Sunday. Mr Nečas’ contender MP Ivan Fuksa won 178 votes from the party delegates. Mr Fuksa announced that he will challenge the incumbent chairman late on Saturday night. Mr Nečas said that the government should continue with its fiscal policies in his speech before the vote.

The old-new chairman of the Civic Democratic party Petr Nečas confirmed that the government is prepared to make changes to the 2013 budget in case the tax reform package is not passed by the lower house of parliament next week, in an interview with Czech Television’s Vaclav Moravec on Sunday.

Kuba replaces Němcová as the first vice-chairman

Industry and Trade Minister Martin Kuba was elected as the new first vice-chairman of the Civic Democratic, replacing lower house speaker Miroslava Němcová. 363 delegates at the party conference voted for the new vice-chairman on Sunday. In a brief interview with the press after his victory, Mr Kuba said that he believes that the government may find a way to find a compromise with the rebel Civic Democratic MPs, but gave to further details.

Later on Sunday the conference delegates voted in four new vice-chair people: former Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil, current Justice Minister Pavel Blažek, Environment Minister Tomáš Chalupa, and Ms Němcová, who received the least number of votes of the four.

Government to begin discussing new budget proposal

Members of the Czech cabinet will be discussing a new proposal for the 2013 budget on Monday. Despite the expected decline in tax revenue, the proposal will be based on a 100 billion crown deficit. Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek had said earlier that the main cuts will be in transportation, science and research, as well as co-financing of EU projects. Mr Kalousek is preparing an alternative budget proposal given the possibility that VAT rates will not be raised and also considering the estimated slower growth of the economy. The lower house returned the original budget proposal to the cabinet for reworking because of disagreements within the coalition over the tax reform package. The government has to present the new budget proposal by November 23.

Rebel Civic Democratic MPs who have been refusing to support the tax reform package will continue talks with the government over the reforms, said one of the rebels Ivan Fuksa, although they are unlikely to change their stance. The lower house will renew deliberations on the reform package on Tuesday

Šafářová wins her second match securing Czech victory

Lucie Šafářová secured the Czech women’s team’s second Fed Cup victory in a row, after she beat Jelena Janković 6-1, 6-1. The Czechs beat Serbia 3-1 on Sunday, with a single loosing match between Petra Kvitová and Ana Ivanović. Both Šafářová and Kvitová won their matches on the first dame of the final. The Czechs won the Fed Cup last year against Russian, receiving thetitle for the first time since the Czech Republic became an independent state. The Czechoslovak women’s team won the Fed Cup title three times in a row in 1983-1985. The Czech men’s team is also in the final of the Davis Cup this year, which they will play against Spain in Prague on November 16-18.

Czech Table tennis player in World Tour final

Czech Table tennis player Iveta Vacenovská beat the Belorussian Viktoria Pavlovich in the World Tour semi-final in Bremen, Germany. Vacenovská will be playing in the final of the World Tour for the first time in her career, facing ninth seed Shen Yanfei of Spain on Sunday.

Number of Saint Martin feast wines much bigger than last year

This year will see a record number of bottles of Saint Martin’s wines going on sale, up by almost 200 thousand bottles from last year. 380 samples from 122 vinyards received the designation of Saint Martin wine, the majority were from the Müller Thurgau grapes. The feast of Saint Martin, which is celebrated in the Czech Republic on November 11, has become an occasion for the country’s winemakers to present and sell their young wines. Saint Martin wines are the first new wines of the year that are supposed to be consumed within a few months after bottling. The first bottles of Saint Martin wines will be opened at celebratory events on November 11 at 11 am.

A valuable 19th century palace still on sale in Ústí

A neogothic palace in the northern city of Ústí nad Labem, which has been used as a chemical laboratory for the past 50 years, is up for sale. The palace’s current owner, the biggest Czech oil refinery Unipetrol, has announced the sale of Ústí nad Labem’s most valuable building from the 19th century. Unipetrol had to lower the selling price this week, after the building has been on the market for about a year.

Weather

Partly cloudy with possible rain showers, temperatures on Sunday will stay around 12 degrees Celsius, but the upcoming days will see colder weather and heavier rain showers.