News

The Bulgarian energy regulator has ordered an inspection into pricing at the Czech energy distributor ČEZ and the Austrian EVN in the wake of growing complaints from the public. People claim their electricity bills are excessively high and accuse the distributors of overpricing. A similar inspection was ordered last year under threat of revoking ČEZ’s license but the inspection uncovered no irregularities. The Czech power giant ČEZ said late last year it would appeal a decision by the Bulgarian energy regulator to cut energy prices for consumers from January 2014. The Bulgarian State Energy Commission had announced a plan to reduce electricity prices for Bulgarian households by one per cent starting January, at the same time cutting the night-time rate by 10 per cent and electricity prices for industrial consumers by 1.5 per cent.

Czech hockey legend Karel Gut has died at the age of 86. As defenseman Gut scored 34 goals in 114 international games for Czechoslovakia and was named the best defenseman at the 1955 world championships. He won three bronze medals with the national team at major tournaments but became more successful as a coach. He was in charge of the national team from 1973-79, winning world titles in 1976 and '77 and a silver medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck.

Social Democrat leader Bohuslav Sobotka says that after the signing of a coalition agreement on a new centre-left government on Monday it will be up to the president to make the next step. In an interview for Czech Television on Sunday, Mr. Sobotka said that the ball was now in the president’s court and the logical next step would be for President Zeman to appoint him prime minister. Should the president have legitimate reservations to any of the ministerial nominees, Mr. Sobotka said he would be prepared to take office and temporarily administrate their portfolios as well until a new candidate was agreed on. However he stressed that he would only be prepared to make changes on the list of nominees for legally justifiable reasons, not personal animosities.

TOP 09 leader Karel Schwarzenberg has called for greater public responsibility for the future of the country. In a speech delivered on Three Kings Day, Mr. Schwarzenberg said that in the past year certain groups and individuals had tested and sometimes crossed the limits of their powers in a democratic state and it was disconcerting that the public had reacted with apathy and disinterest to this threat. The TOP 09 leader said he realized that people had good reason to be disenchanted with Czech politics, as he himself often was, but he said the only way to affect a moral rebirth was for the public to be more aware and take greater responsibility for the fate of democracy in the country.