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03/31/2004
The Rossmann pharmacy chain has been ordered by a Prague court to pay 50, 000 crowns as well as offer a formal apology to compensate for discriminating against a Czech Romany woman. Renata Kotlarova was discriminated against by the multi-national company when she applied for work at one of the chain's stores in Cheb but was refused point blank and not given a requisite interview. Mrs Kotlarova filed suit against the multi-national firm with the aid of the Prague-based Counselling Centre for Citizenship, Civil, and Human Rights. The organisation sent one of its employees carrying a hidden tape recorder into the store to apply for the same job. Unlike the Romany woman, however, she was given a regular job interview, although she presented identical job qualifications.
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03/30/2004
The Senate on Tuesday overturned a proposed bill that would have banned abortions in the Czech Republic. The bill was drafted by the Christian Democrats and would have sent a doctor who performed an illegal abortion to five years in prison. Anyone found guilty of helping a woman to get an illegal abortion or persuading her to have it would have faced up to a year in prison. 134 out of 170 senators present in the upper chamber voted against the bill.
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03/30/2004
On a visit to Finland, the Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla criticized movement of labour restrictions within the enlarged EU. Of all the EU member states only Britain and Ireland have opened their labour markets to the newcomers. The Czech Prime Minister said the restrictions introduced against the new EU countries were ungrounded and based on prejudice. The Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen countered that although his country had introduced a two year restriction period it is at the same time very flexible in granting labour permits. 8o% of all applications submitted have been granted, he said.
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03/29/2004
The country's civil servants may go on strike to protest against Sunday's Cabinet decision to give them only limited end of year bonuses, in line with the government's fiscal reform plan. Despite protests from trade unions the Cabinet agreed to pay the country's 450,000 civil servants only 10 percent of their so-called 13th monthly salaries, a special end of year bonus which was guaranteed by law in the past. Civil servants say their annual incomes will drop significantly without this supplement to their wages and have threatened to launch various protest actions. At a meeting of trade union representatives on Monday, trade union leaders agreed to call onto all union members and civil servants to go on a one-hour strike after the Easter holiday.
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03/29/2004
Czech students have launched a week of public protests demanding more funds for the education sector. They argue that under the given conditions the quality of education in the Czech Republic will suffer a serious setback. The lack of funds is already said to be affecting the state of school laboratories, school books and staff. While the majority of EU member states devote an average 1,5 percent of GDP to the education sector, the Czech government has released only O, 7 percent of the country's GDP. The planned protests include marches, public debates and happenings.
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03/29/2004
Investigators have come to the conclusion that no one can be held responsible for last December's fall of a 30-metre Christmas tree, which left five people injured. The tree crushed to the ground on Prague's Old Town square after a strong gust of wind snapped it at its base. One of the people injured, a 54-year old British tourist, is now in a wheel chair after suffering fractures to both femurs and the spine. A Prague police spokesperson said on Monday that the tree snapped because it was made of bad wood and not because it was not stabilised properly.
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03/29/2004
Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has begun an official two day visit to Finland. He is scheduled to meet with the Finnish President Tarja Halonen, members of Cabinet and the country's business leaders. On Tuesday the Czech Prime Minister is expected to present a lecture on what the Czech Republic expects of EU membership.
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03/29/2004
Four seriously ill children from the town of Basra, southern Iraq, are expected to be flown into the Czech Republic on Wednesday to get free medical attention. The children will be treated as part of a humanitarian programme under which Iraqi citizens are offered free medical care in the Czech Republic. Eighteen children, mainly with heart problems, already benefited from the programme last year. This year, the government has reserved five million crowns for the project.
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03/29/2004
The South Bohemian Border Police have decided to have more guards along the Czech-Austrian border, in reaction to the increasing number of foreigners attempting to migrate to Austria. A border police spokesperson said on Monday that ever more Chechens and Georgian nationals, sometimes entire families, apply for asylum in the Czech Republic, only to cross the country's border into western European states.
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03/28/2004
Speaking at the close of a two day conference on Czech-German relations, President Vaclav Klaus called on the two nations to reconcile with the past and look to the future. Mr. Klaus said that although no nation could afford to bury its history, it was vital to accept what could not be changed. He reminded both nations that in the long history of Czech German relations there had been more good than bad. The times of cooperation were longer than the times of adversity, the Czech president said, adding that it was the Germans who came in peace who had made the deepest mark on life and developments in the Czech Republic. In the interest of EU enlargement and our common future in Europe we should build on what was positive, the Czech president concluded.
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