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The leaders of three parties currently in talks on forming a coalition government have agreed on bringing in deferred tuition fees at Czech universities. During talks on Tuesday, negotiators for the Civic Democrats, TOP 09 and Public Affairs agreed on a system under which students would be able to receive loans and pay the fees per semester; graduates would then start re-paying the loans as soon as they began earning average salaries. Tuition fees at Czech universities could be introduced by 2012 or 2013.

Talks on a coalition program have been going on for almost two weeks. Bringing in tuition fees was one of the first issues the centre-right parties agreed on. Although the Social Democrats came first in lower house elections at the end of May, the party looks set to go into opposition.

In an evaluation of deficit reducing measures adopted by twelve EU member states, the European Commission said on Tuesday that the steps implemented by the Czech government were sufficient. The commission said that Czech authorities implemented deficit reducing measures in 2010 as planned, and took additional steps in the course of the year to reach the 2010 deficit target of 5.7 percent of the country’s GDP. Overall, the commission estimates the fiscal impact of these measures at more than 2 percent of GDP.

The Czech Republic faced excessive deficit procedures last December, when the budget deficit reached 5.9 percent of GDP; the European Commission requires that the deficit be less than three percent by 2013.

Documents discovered in a Prague archive might free the way for moving a significant Czech artwork, the Slav Epic, to Prague, the daily Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Tuesday. The documents suggest that the series of 20 large paintings by the Czech Art Nouveau painter Alfons Mucha were not donated to the city of Prague by the artist himself, but rather by his patron, Charles Crane. Until now it has been believed that the painter donated the paintings to the city of Prague on the condition that the city’s authorities house it in an appropriate space.

If proven right, this would mean that the city could move the paintings from Moravský Krumlov, where they have been on display for the last 50 years, to the capital, a plan opposed by Mucha’s descendants. Prague City Hall has been planning to move the paintings in mid July anyway, and display them in the National Gallery in the autumn.

An ice rink in the Prague neighbourhood of Vokovice was evacuated on Tuesday morning due to a leak of ammonia, a spokeswoman for the city fire fighters said. One person had to be taken to hospital. Fire fighters also evacuated a nearby school; they are spraying the ammonia with water and dispersing the gas. The police have warned inhabitants of a high concentration of the gas, and closed several streets in the neighbourhood.