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Germany will most likely make use of the full seven years that it is entitled to restrict the movement of labour from the new EU member states. The Governor of the German state of Saxony, Georg Milbradt, told journalists in Prague on Wednesday that Germany's high unemployment rate and its lack of a plan dealing with the differences in salaries make it difficult to shorten the transition period.

The lower house of Parliament has approved a series of tax cuts which will primarily benefit people whose monthly income is below 30 thousand crowns. The bill was approved unanimously, although the opposition Civic Democrats criticized the ruling coalition for not effecting tax cuts which would benefit higher income groups as well. Finance minister Bohuslav Sobotka said the measure would affect 90 percent of all tax payers and would reduce income into state coffers by an estimated ten billion crowns. Approximately four million people who make under 30 thousand crowns a month would save around four thousand crowns per year, higher income groups are expected to save less money. The bill has yet to be approved by the Senate.

The chairman of the Lower House Lubomir Zaoralek on Tuesday unveiled a deputies' Code of Ethics to the assembly but was challenged by senior members of the opposition Civic Democratic Party who said the move was an empty gesture and Zaoralek himself was untrustworthy. The proposed code is meant to set an ethical framework for relations between politicians and lobbyists, the acceptance of gifts by public figures and the practice of hiring family members as assistants. The Civic Democrats said they were willing to engage in a serious debate only if Mr. Zaoralek defended his own reputation first, apologized to the public for "his excessive use of government helicopters" and explained how he had hired his own assistants.

Senior officials from the ruling Social Democratic Party have called fugitive billionaire Radovan Krejcir a liar and coward for his claim that he had lent the party 60 million crowns (roughly 2.4 million US dollars) in return for a promise to help him obtain ownership of a state company. They also dared Mr Krejcir to file a libel suit in the Czech Republic. The Social Democrats have taken the view that Mr Krejcir aimed to intentionally harm their reputation, and coordinated their response. Krejcir who fled to the Seychelles in June is wanted for conspiracy to murder, extensive fraud and money forgery. Extradition efforts floundered after it became clear Mr Krejcir - and his family - had obtained citizenship in the Seychelles a few years ago.