News

Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek has challenged the president to do a number of one-on-one radio and TV debates with him on the European Union. In an interview for the Frekvence 1 radio programme, the Social Democrat prime minister, who is pro EU-integration, said he and the president, who is strongly critical of the direction in which the EU is heading, should put their arguments to the nation in a language that people could understand. Debates at closed meetings or articles in the media do not have the desired impact, Mr. Paroubek said. The daily Lidove Noviny recently published a lengthy article in which President Klaus presented his vision of a future Europe- an organization of European states benefiting from free trade but not restricted in their sovereignty.

The Czech Republic is lagging behind in adopting EU legislation, according to data released on Monday. The Czech Republic has the worst results of the ten new member states that joined the European Union in May last year. The statistics relating to June 1 show that the Czech Republic has failed to introduce in time 3.6 percent of EU regulations, which means 57 laws. Slovakia is performing much better, with 1.4 percent of legislation remaining to be adopted. The first three places with 0.7 percent were occupied by Hungary, Slovenia and Lithuania. Behind the Czech Republic are Greece, Luxembourg and Italy.

Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek has rejected President Klaus's view that multiculturalism is the fundamental cause of terrorism. Mr Klaus said in an interview for Saturday's edition of the paper Mlada Fronta Dnes that multiculturalism is a tragic mistake of Western civilization for which all pay dear. He said it was the fundamental if not direct cause of terrorism. The prime minister told journalists that he did not share the president's view of the world.

The second reactor of the Temelin nuclear power plant in South Bohemia has been connected to the grid, ending a three-month planned shutdown, a spokesman for the plant said. During the reactor's closure a quarter of fuel was replaced and equipment checked. But according to the spokesman, the reactor will not be running at full capacity because of a defect found on the turbine's rotor. Temelin switched to full operation on October 11, 2004. Since then, the second reactor has had to be closed twice due to technical faults. The Temelin nuclear power plant has been a cause of controversy in recent years because it combines Soviet and American technologies, and critics have claimed that it is unsafe.