News
Government to seek confidence vote next Friday
The ruling centre-right coalition will seek a vote of confidence in the lower house of Parliament next Friday, according to the speaker of the lower house Miloslav Vlcek. The government of the Civic Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Green Party, which was appointed on Tuesday, holds only half of the 200 seats in the lower house of Parliament and needs at least one vote from a Communist or a Social Democrat deputy.
Though the leaders of both parties have said they would not support the coalition, two Social Democrat MPs - Milos Melcak and Michal Pohanka - have not made it clear whether they share their party's official stance. Prime Minister Topolanek has sent all Social Democratic Party deputies in the lower house a letter asking them to support his cabinet or tolerate it by absenting themselves from the vote.
Lower house to meet on Wednesday for government's policy programme
The new cabinet is expected to present its policy programme to the lower house next Wednesday. On the same day the speaker of the lower house Miloslav Vlcek will resign from his post. Before his election to the post of speaker Mr. Vlcek pledged to fill the post on a temporary basis. That was because it is the speaker of the lower house who would have the task of selecting a prime minister designate for the third attempt should the centre right government fail to win its confidence vote next Friday. As a Social Democrat, Mr Vlcek's choice would be open to allegations of a party bias. The parliamentary parties will now need to reach some kind of consensus on who should succeed Mr. Vlcek.
Green Party wants to re-open debate on Lety pig farm
The Green Party says it wants to re-open debate on the relocation of a pig farm built on the site of a former concentration camp for Romanies in Lety, south Bohemia. The Lety pig farm is a long-standing problem which past governments failed to resolve. Several alternatives were considered in the past including the purchase of the farm by the state and its subsequent removal. None of the suggestions were taken up because they were allegedly all too costly. Romany organizations have been calling for the farm's relocation for many years. According to historical documents over 300 people died in the camp and 500 of its inmates ended up in the extermination camp at Auschwitz.
New Menzel film goes on general release
I Served the King of England, the new film by Czech director Jiri Menzel, goes on general release in the Czech Republic on Thursday. The film, based on the novel of the same name by Bohumil Hrabal, tells the story of a Czech waiter from the inter-war period, through World War II up until the 1960s. Menzel, who has made several adaptations of works by Hrabal, fought a ten-year-legal battle for the film rights. His most famous Hrabal movie is Closely Observed Trains which won an Oscar in 1967.
President Klaus in Slovakia
President Vaclav Klaus is on an official three-day visit to neighbouring Slovakia, where he has been meeting with the country's top officials. The two countries have exceptionally close relations since Czechs and Slovaks spent 73 years in a federal state before breaking up and going their separate ways 14 years ago. The president is accompanied by his wife Livia, who herself is Slovak.
Weather:
The next few days should be partly cloudy to overcast with some rain and daytime highs between 9 and 12 degrees Celsius.
