News

The Lower House on Friday passed an amendment to the bill on civilian aviation that will soften the conditions for the security clearance of pilots and flight attendants. Under the law, pilots and attendants will not have to pass as demanding security vetting carried out by the National Security Office in the future. They will be vetted under more standard procedures by employers themselves. In this way MPs have reacted to demands by civilian pilots who have long sought to abolish Security Office vetting. Pilots objected to the demand of a high number of personal documents including information about their families, short and long foreign trips or contacts with persons living abroad. The NBU has already screened most of the 14,000 pilots and stewardesses who applied for clearance. If passed by the Senate and signed by the president the bill will take effect in July 2006.

On Friday the XX Olympic Winter Games will officially open in Torino, Italy, lasting from the 10th of February until February 26th. The Czechs have an unprecedented 82 athletes competing. Medal hopefuls include the ice hockey team lead by Jaromir Jagr and Dominik Hasek, who will be attempting a gold-medal run similar to the Czech team's success in Nagano, Japan, in 1998. Team representatives are approaching the challenge cautiously, saying that the Czech team is only one among a strong group of favourites that includes Canada, Sweden, and the United States.

The Council of Judges of the Supreme Court has approved the Justice Ministry's request that Jaroslav Bures become a judge of the Supreme Court. Mr Bures is scheduled to be appointed judge by President Vaclav Klaus on Tuesday and so fulfil all legal conditions to be appointed chairman of the Supreme Court. The post has been vacant since Iva Brozova was dismissed by President Klaus last week. Mr Bures has been cited as a successor to Ms Brozova, but neither the president nor the Justice Ministry have confirmed it. Mr Klaus said at the beginning of the week that the new Supreme Court chairman would arise from the 30 judges whom he would appoint on February 14.

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic's Constitutional Court has decided that Iva Brozova will remain acting chairwoman of the Supreme Court, until the Constitutional Court rules on her complaint against her dismissal.

Czech expatriates who lost Czech citizenship after they left communist Czechoslovakia can still ask for its renewal. President Vaclav Klaus has signed an amendment which abolishes the five-year deadline for the applications which expired last September. Czech legislators decided to amend the law because they expected that some Czech expatriates living in more remote parts of the world may not have learnt about the possibility to apply for the renewal of Czech citizenship.