News

Golf’s European Tour will take in Prague next year after the city’s Albatross course signed a new five-year contract with the organisation. The first event – under the title D+D Real Czech Masters – will take place in a year’s time, with total prize money set to reach one million euros. The Czech Republic was last involved in the European Tour two years ago, when Čeladná in South Moravia hosted the Czech Open. The Karlštejn club near Prague hosted the same event in 1997.

If MPs next week vote to dissolve the lower house of Parliament, President Milos Zeman will call an early election for October 25 and 26. Mr. Zeman announced the possible date in an interview for Haló Noviny, a paper with ties to the Communist party, saying he saw no reason why the lower house should be left idle for another month. The motion to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies would need a constitutional majority of 120 votes to pass and according to present estimates 122 deputies are likely to support it. Some commentators have expressed surprise that the president announced such an important decision in a party publication.

President Zeman also told Haló Noviny that he did not rule out future involvement of the Communist Party in government. The president said that in his view the Communist Party could first support a minority Social Democrat cabinet in office as a “transitional phase” to direct participation in government. On the grounds of a resolution passed in 1995, the Social Democrats have consistently rejected cooperation with the Communist Party on a national level but the Zeman faction in the Social Democrats, which has been gaining strength, could move to scrap the ban.

Anti-Romany rallies are to be held in five Czech regions on August 24, a police spokeswoman said. Far-right extremists said they wanted to protest against alleged high crime levels among the Romany community, and against police brutality. The police have not disclosed the exact locations but rallies are expected in České Budějovice, Jičín, Plzeň, and other cities. In Ostrava, local authorities have banned an anti-Romany rally; they said several Romany groups had already booked public space for the same time. A series of rallies targeting the Romany community has been held in places across the Czech Republic in recent months, prompting international criticism. Several organizations have asked the Czech authorities to protect the Romany community against violence and intimidation.