News

The debts of Czech households with banks have increased eight times since the year 2000, and now amount to more than 973 billion crowns, or over 52 billion US dollars, according to figures released by the Czech Statistical Office on Friday. Analysts believe that the situation is not dramatic as around 70 percent of the debts are mortgages. However, the fastest growing types of loans are those used to pay for mobile phones, education and health care. The relative rate of Czech household indebtedness is at about 53 percent of eurozone levels.

The head of the Czech ice hockey association’s disciplinary committee, Stanislav Šulc, stepped down on Friday. Mr Šulc resigned over criticism concerning the committee’s decision to punish a top league player who purposefully injured his opponent in Tuesday’s play off game between Liberec and České Budějovice. The committee banned Liberec’s Stanislav Bartovič for one game but other extraliga teams as well as many fans thought the penalty was too light.

The Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, has rejected an offer by the minister for human rights and minorities to resign, after discussing the possibility face-to-face late Wednesday. The human rights minister, Michael Kocáb, handed over a letter of resignation after a Czech tabloid published allegations he had been having an affair with his spokeswoman, Lejla Abbas. She has already stepped down from her post. A government spokesman said that the prime minister valued Mr Kocáb’s attempt to deal with the situation fairly, but that he had made clear there was no reason for him to resign at this time.

Michael Kocáb, who was nominated to the cabinet by the Green Party, also served as human rights minister in the previous Czech government.

A rock musician by profession, he headed the government commission in the early 1990s that oversaw the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia following the fall of communism.

The head of the right-of-centre Civic Democratic Party Mirek Topolánek has called on Interior Minister Martin Pecina to resign from the county’s caretaker cabinet if he opts to run for the Social Democrats in the upcoming election. The right-wing politician was reacting to apparent confirmation by the Social Democrats’ Petr Hulinský on Thursday, that Mr Pecina would head the candidates list in Prague. Interior Minister Pecina was nominated to the current caretaker government by the Social Democrats, after Mirek Topolánek’s government fell in a vote of no confidence roughly one year ago. Mr Topolánek has charged that if the interior minister runs, all his remaining actions in office will fall under the election campaign.

Reacting to the development on Thursday, Interim Prime Minister Jan Fischer said he was not prepared to recall the minister from his post if he decided to take part in the election but stressed he expected him to be apolitical and neutral while in office, staying outside of the election campaign. He also made clear that such a move on the part of the minister would not strengthen the position of the caretaker government.