• State budget surplus for first half of 2005
    07/01/2005

    The Finance Ministry has revealed that the Czech state budget has shown a surplus for the first half of 2005, a total of 3.7 billion crowns. The result was unexpected, the first time the state budget has been in H1 surplus since 1998. The Finance Ministry has attributed the result to fast growing revenues and lower spending.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Former PM, several govn't ministers, fail to declare auxiliary income, donations, for 2004
    07/01/2005

    Thee government ministers and former prime minister Stanislav Gross are among politicians who have so far failed to declare auxiliary income and donations for 2004. The deadline, set by legislation on conflict of interest, is set for July 1st. The government ministers who failed to hand in declarations on Friday include Education Minister Petra Buzkova, Trade Minister Milan Urban, and Health Minister Milada Emmerova. There are no sanctions for the failure to meet the deadline: the Constitutional Court recently struck down a fine for those who failed to declare additional earnings in time, of around 30, 000 crowns, the equivalent of about 1,200 dollars US.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Students receive recognition for essays on Turkey and EU
    07/01/2005

    Four Czech university students have received recognition for their work in an essay competition on the subject of Turkey and the European Union. Prizes were awarded at the Turkish ambassador's residence in Prague by the Turkish ambassador, Sabri Cenk Duatepe and by euro MP Jan Zahradil. The first prize in the competition went to Petr Preclik, a student of international relations at Brno's Masaryk University, who is said to have addressed questions of identity and cultural shift towards Turkey and the Balkan states.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Social Democrats winning back support, suggests poll
    06/30/2005

    A new opinion poll suggests the governing Social Democrats are slowly winning back support, after hitting a low-point earlier in the year. In a poll by Factum Invenio this month, almost 23 percent of respondents said they would vote Social Democrat. Meanwhile, the right-of-centre Civic Democrats remain ahead in the polls, with 34 percent. Third are the Communists, with just under 20 percent.

    Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek said on Thursday he did not want to take polls too seriously, but said he believed the Social Democrats would form the next government. Elections are set for June next year.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Kinsky gives up fighting property disputes in Czech courts
    06/30/2005

    Franz Ulrich Kinsky says he wants to take property disputes against the Czech state to the courts in another European Union country, after years of failure in the Czech courts to win back for property confiscated from his aristocratic family after World War II. Mr Kinsky has made over 150 property claims in the Czech Republic. The Czech authorities say his father was a Nazi sympathiser, a suggestion strenuously denied by Mr Kinsky.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Structure of growth in Czech economy changing, says central bank head
    06/30/2005

    The structure of the growth of the Czech economy has changed significantly in the last couple of years, the governor of the Czech National Bank, Zdenek Tuma, said on Thursday. Household consumption has slowed as exports have become the main driving force of growth, he said. Mr Tuma also said the Czech Republic must intensify preparations to adopt the euro - otherwise it will not meet its stated target of joining in 2009 or 2010.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • One in seven drivers asked for bribe by police: poll
    06/30/2005

    One in seven Czech drivers has been asked for a bribe by traffic police, suggests a poll published in Thursday's Mlada fronta Dnes. The poll found that young drivers and the owners of big cars were more likely to be asked for bribes than other motorists.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Schools out for summer
    06/30/2005

    Almost one and a half million school pupils around the Czech Republic began their summer holidays on Thursday afternoon. Their two-month break ends on September 1st. As every year, psychologists have warned of the dangers of parents being excessively critical of their children's end-of-term grades, and help lines for worried kids have been advertised.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Only Czech in basketball's NBA changes club
    06/30/2005

    The only Czech basketball player in the NBA, Jiri Welsch, has changed clubs. Welsch joins Milwaukee from Cleveland, in his fourth transfer since beginning his NBA career in Oakland in 2002.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Prescott meets Paroubek and Svoboda in Prague
    06/29/2005

    Britain's Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott held talks with the Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek and Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda during a brief visit to Prague on Wednesday. The ailing EU budget for 2007-2013 and the need for a re-evaluation of spending priorities were the main topics of discussion. All three politicians also agreed that the European integration and enlargement processes must continue despite the rejections of the EU constitution by France and the Netherlands. Britain takes over the EU presidency from Luxembourg this Friday.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

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