• State debt
    04/10/2006

    The national debt of the Czech Republic reached 698.2 billion crowns in the first quarter of this year, the Finance Ministry said on Monday. This is an increase of seven billion crowns.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • President Klaus signs new construction law
    04/10/2006

    President Vaclav Klaus has signed a law on construction that will help facilitate and speed up numerous building projects in the Czech Republic. Current law requires that a building permit is obtained before a garage is built, a flat is renovated, or a family house (that does not exceed 150 square metres and three floors) is put up. As of January 1 2007, those planning to undertake such types of construction work will only have to put forward a notice.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Foreign and education ministries propose ESO membership by 2007
    04/10/2006

    The education and foreign ministries have proposed that the Czech Republic become a member of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) by next year. In plans presented to the government, the Foreign Ministry states it has managed to collect six of the around 8 million euros needed to become a member of this prestigious intergovernmental organisation for astronomical research. The ESO which has its headquarters in Germany's Garching and operates observatories in Chile, currently has eleven member countries.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Exhibition in Czech towns introduces international flood prevention project
    04/10/2006

    An exhibition introducing the ELLA project - a transnational co-operation of nearly all regional spatial planning authorities in the Elbe basin - opened in three Czech towns on Monday. The ELLE project, which focuses on flood prevention and integrated water management is financed by the European Union and involves cooperation between over twenty institutions. It was launched shortly after the devastating floods of 2002. The exhibition is currently on show in Ceske Budejovice, Pardubice, and Hradec Kralove. It will travel to Pilsen and Usti nad Labem next week.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • EC warns Czech Republic about nappies
    04/09/2006

    The Czech Republic and four other EU member states face legal action by the EC over children's nappies. The European Commission has warned the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Portugal and Malta that they are violating EU rules by allowing nappies to be sold at lowered value added tax levels. Earlier this year, EU finance ministers agreed to extend an agreement by five years which allows VAT on selected goods and services in several member states to be kept lower than the minimum rate of 15 percent. Nappies are not included. The Commission will give the five countries two months to respond before a second warning is issued. Any country failing to heed the second and final warning will face the European Court of Justice.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Clean up work underway
    04/09/2006

    Clean up work is underway in many parts of the Czech Republic following a week of heavy flooding. Emergency crews are working on the Znojmo dam which has become jammed with driftwood. Their work is complicated by muddy embankments which make it difficult to position heavy machinery. Meteorologists predict more rain and snow showers in the first half of the week, which could send water levels up again.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Flood damage assessment
    04/09/2006

    As the waters receded individual municipalities started assessing the degree of flood damage. The governor of south Moravia Stanislav Juranek has made a preliminary damage estimate at one billion crowns. The Czech Culture Ministry said the estimated damage to national monuments would amount to approximately 10 million crowns. The Terezin Memorial, the site of a Nazi concentration camp during the Second World War, was damaged in the floods as were several churches, castles and chateaux.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Minister for Regional Development advocates flood fund
    04/09/2006

    The Minister for Regional Development Radko Martinek said on Sunday that the state should help people living in flood-risk areas by buying up their property from a state fund or providing them with a state owned patch of land elsewhere. Martinek pointed out that many of these homes are now virtually impossible to sell and that people living in them feel trapped. The minister is in favour of establishing a special flood fund which would cover the cost of such a project. People who refused to move to safe ground would not in future be eligible for flood support from the government, Martinek said.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Number of lorries on Czech roads has doubled since EU accession
    04/09/2006

    The number of lorries on Czech roads has doubled since the country's accession to the EU in May of 2004. The situation is expected to get worse in June of this year when newly approved legislation will allow heavy trucks to cross Czech territory on Saturdays and Sundays. Traffic jams and noise pollution have become a serious problem in many parts of the country and the D1 highway from Prague to Brno is perpetually overburdened.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Health Minister says forced administration of VZP could end by May
    04/09/2006

    Forced administration of the country's largest state-owned health insurance company VZP could be terminated by May 1st. Health Minister David Rath said in a televised debate Sunday that this was realistic on condition that the company's insurance plan was completed by that date so as to prevent funds being siphoned off. The minister said that when forced administration ended the insurance company's close to 14 billion crown debt would have been reduced to 5 billion.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

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