News

Sunday is the 20th anniversary of the dissolution of the Narodní fronta or National Front, a grouping which served as a kind of bogus alternative to the Communist Party during the latter’s four-decade rule in Czechoslovakia. The National Front of Czechs and Slovaks was originally a coalition of democratic and anti-fascist groupings which made up the country’s first government in 1945 following the end of World War II. However, after the Communist takeover of 1948 it was turned into a puppet party under the control of the totalitarian regime.

Prague’s Rudolfinum is celebrating the 125th anniversary of the day it was first opened to the public. The neo-Renaissance building was designed by the architects of the National Theatre Josef Schulz and Josef Zítek and was named after the Austrian crown prince Rudolf, who attended its opening on February 7, 1885. It has been used as a concert venue by the Czech Philharmonic since the orchestra’s foundation in 1896; its Dvořák Hall is named after the composer, who conducted many concerts there. The Rudolfinum is today also home to one of Prague’s leading art galleries.

President Václav Klaus has announced Friday May 28 and Saturday May 29 as the dates for general elections in the Czech Republic. That weekend was the last possible time elections could have been held as the Chamber of Deputies is due to be dissolved on June 3. Some political parties had pushed for the polls to be held two weeks earlier, saying it would give the next cabinet more time to prepare the 2011 budget. The Social Democrats head opinion polls, though no party is expected to win an outright majority.

The football associations of the Czech Republic and Slovakia are holding discussions over the possibility of setting up a joint league, which would recreate the situation before the two countries split in 1993. The idea was first put forward by the Slovak FA, the newspaper Sport reported. The deputy chairman of the Czech FA Miroslav Kříž said after talks in Bratislava that the matter was in its early stages and its very feasibility was currently being examined. European football’s governing body UEFA has never agreed to the establishment of a joint league in two countries, and there have been suggestions in the Czech media that it would be unlikely to make an exception in this case.