News

The Czech Republic's Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra has said that the EU needs to reform in order to remain competitive on the global market. Speaking at a conference held in Prague to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which paved the way for the establishment of the European Union, the Civic Democrat senator also said that the Declaration of Berlin policy document, which is being prepared to mark the EU's 50th birthday should not hinder free economic competition and should be thoroughly discussed by member states before being accepted. Speaking at the same conference, former President Vaclav Havel said the EU should do more to speak out against human rights abuses around the world.

Eleven patients died in a hospital in the east Bohemian town of Havlickuv Brod due to incorrect medical treatment, an expert commission has concluded. The commission had been set up after it emerged that police had charged a former male nurse at the hospital Petr Zelenka last December with the murder of eight patients. Zelenka was charged with deliberately administering lethal doses of the blood-thinning drug Heparin. He has since admitted the charges and now faces life imprisonment, although his defence lawyers claim he is mentally ill. Altogether, the commission investigated more than 20 suspicious deaths. Of the 11 who died due to incorrect treatment, 10 were given excessive doses of Heparin while 1 is thought to have been given a lethal dose of insulin.

The economic daily Hospodarske noviny writes that Labour and Social Affairs Minister Petr Necas is preparing a package of measures that he believes would allow the government to annually save 23 billion crowns (over 1 billion USD) on welfare benefits. The largest sum is to be saved on parental benefits and sickness benefits and the government also intends to withdraw social security benefits from people with higher incomes, the paper says. However, the changes will be smaller than was expected, Hospodarske noviny writes.

Winter has returned with a vengeance in the regions of Moravia and Silesia, which have been experiencing heavy snowfalls. Meteorologists expect up to 20 cm of snow to fall in certain places by Wednesday afternoon. In the Moravian city of Ostrava, a covered tennis court collapsed under the weight of snow on uesday morning. No one was hurt in the incident.