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04/04/2007
Over fifty of the 300 employees at CzechInvest, a government agency promoting business and investment, have handed in their resignation. They include all ten members of the board of directors. The employees are protesting at the dismissal of the agency's general director Tomas Hruda. Trade and Industry Minister Martin Riman sacked Mr. Hruda last week citing poor management. The dismissed general director ascribed the decision to problematic personal relations with Mr. Riman.
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04/04/2007
Trade unions at the biggest car manufacturer in the country Skoda Auto are on strike alert to pressure management into a pay rise. The company posted a net profit of 40 percent last year and its workers are now calling for a 24 percent raise. Skoda Auto has over 26,000 employees.
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04/04/2007
The latest album by Czech Romany rap act Gypsy.cz has become the first Czech album to make the top ten of the European World Music Charts. Romano Hip Hop is eighth in the charts. The charts are drawn up once a month when radio world music specialists from twenty European countries select their individual top ten favourites out of current world music releases.
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04/03/2007
The government has approved a plan for far-reaching tax and spending reforms. The plan, which was unveiled in Prague on Tuesday, aims to slash taxes and public spending paving the way for a possible adoption of the single European currency as early as 2012. Reforms include the introduction of a flat 15 percent income tax rate, a rise in the reduced VAT rate from 5.0 percent to 9.0 percent and a cut in the basic VAT rate from the current 19.0 percent. A series of public spending cuts, mainly affecting social security payments and the health sector are expected to curb the government's overall budget. The reform plan will now have to be approved by the lower house of Parliament.
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04/03/2007
The two former Social Democrat MPs who changed the balance of power in the lower house and enabled the centre right government to win a vote of confidence in January of this year say they have not been consulted about the reform package despite the fact that their votes will be crucial for its approval in Parliament. Michal Pohanka said he was expecting to be contacted about it since the governing coalition had promised to consult all significant government proposals with him in return for his vote of confidence. He said that the little he had learnt about the package from the press did not inspire him with confidence.
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04/03/2007
The opposition Social Democrats have ruled out support for the reform package in its present form. Former finance minister Bohuslav Sobotka said that while some of the proposed reforms might win approval from the opposition they would have to be discussed independently. The reform package as a whole is unacceptable, Mr. Sobotka said.
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04/03/2007
Somewhat surprisingly, the government's reform package also came under fire from the governing Civic Democratic Party's own ranks. Former Civic Democrat finance minister Vlastimil Tlusty told journalists on Tuesday that he had serious reservations to the government's tax reform plan and would find it very difficult to raise his hand for it in Parliament.
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04/03/2007
The Christian Democratic Party leadership on Tuesday reiterated its backing for party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek who is accused of corruption and is in trouble over recent offensive remarks made to a Czech tabloid newspaper. Last Friday Mr. Cunek suggested that non-Roma wishing to earn state subsidies like the Roma needed to "get a suntan and cause trouble" to get politicians' attention. The comments were immediately denounced by the prime minister and other members of government. President Klaus said on Tuesday they were "completely unacceptable" and appealed to politicians not to accept prejudices held "in no small part by the Czech public". Jiri Cunek has tried to defend himself, arguing that his words were taken out of context and saying that his words were not aimed against Romanies but against politicians. He apologized to any Romanies who felt insulted by them.
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04/03/2007
One of the country's biggest Second World War heroes RAF pilot Antonin Spacek has died at the age of eighty-nine. Like other war veterans who flew with the RAF he met with a sad fate after his return to post-war Czechoslovakia. After the communist putsch in 1948 he attempted to flee the country with his family in order to escape communist persecution but only his British born wife and child got out. Antonin Spacek was sentenced to ten years in a show trial and sent to work in the uranium mines. After the fall of communism in 1989 he was rehabilitated and awarded the rank of major general. Antonin Spacek was chairman of the Czechoslovak Legionaries Union and in 2006 he received the highest state distinction - the Order of the White Lion.
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04/03/2007
Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek will remain in the post of chairman and is no longer thinking of resigning. In an interview for Czech television last weekend, Mr. Paroubek criticized his deputies for allegedly failing to support his plan to modernize the party and said that if he could not trust his closest co-workers then he could not remain party boss. Following Tuesday's meeting of the party leadership Mr. Paroubek said that "all differences and misunderstandings had been cleared up". The party leader took a beating at the party's national conference a fortnight ago when he was re-elected to the post by a mere 60 percent of votes, while his deputies all won 80 to 90 percent support.
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