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Juraj Chmiel, the minister for European affairs, stated on Tuesday that cooperation with the Czech ambassador to the EU, Milena Vicenová, was very positive. He criticized the weekly Respekt for the manner in which it reported on her possible dismissal on Monday. The minister’s statement comes shortly after Foreign Minister Jan Kohout dismissed claims that the ambassador was to be fired for incompetence. Minister Kohout, currently on a visit to Ethiopia, said that a change of guard at ambassadorial posts was standard procedure and expressed regret that the issue had been politicized in the press. He refused to disclose any further details until his return. Ms. Vicenová’s alleged dismissal was confirmed indirectly by the two strongest parties on the Czech political scene, the Civic and Social Democrats, who are at odds over the plan. The centre right Civic Democrats, who nominated Ms Vicenová to the post, even suggested her dismissal was an act of revenge by the foreign minister who himself was dismissed from the same post by them a few years ago.

The Czech Republic’s infrastructure lags behind the EU average, according to an analysis published by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The analysis points to poor quality roads, energy and telecommunication infrastructures as possible factors in slowing down economic development in the Czech Republic. The country ranks 19th in terms of quality of overall infrastructure and it placed 79th for quality of roads and motorways. The percentage of the population that uses broad-band internet is also below the EU average. The ministry has recommended investments into new high-speed railway lines to improve the country’s transport capacity. As far as energy transmission is concerned, the ministry stated that connections to German and Austrian systems had to be improved.

The Czech Parliament will not participate in the international initiative “A Flag for Tibet” that is to take place Wednesday, which marks the anniversary of the 1959 uprising against the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Green party deputy Kateřina Jacques tried to garner support for the initiative, but only 74 deputies voted in favor of it. The initiative calls on ministries and other government buildings to display the Tibetan flag as a sign of support for the nation’s struggle for freedom. Last year, over 350 institutions in the Czech Republic took part and displayed the flag.

Czech unemployment rose to 9.9 percent in February, hitting a five-year high, official data showed on Monday. The rate rose from 9.8 percent in January 2010 and from 7.4 percent in February last year, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs said. Employment offices registered over 500,000 job seekers ready to start work immediately. Analysts expect unemployment to hit 10 percent before the end of this year. The Czech jobless rate has been rising steadily since the global crisis hit the economy in November 2008. At that time, it stood at 5.3 percent.