News

Two hundred Czech soldiers are to be made available to assist police during the Czech presidency of the EU, it has been announced. Most of the soldiers will work as drivers for official delegates, writes the ČTK news agency. The Czech Republic is set to assume a six month long presidency of the EU from January 1 2009. As part of its presidency, the country will host various delegations from Europe and across the world, which will require additional security.

The two main political parties, the governing Civic Democrats and the opposition Social Democrats have begun talks over the impending Czech presidency of the European Union. The move is widely viewed as a temporary ceasefire between the two rivals. According to media reports, both parties have dispatched two emissaries who will be tasked with agreeing on a series of principles that the rival parties can agree upon - including approving the Lisbon Treaty - as the Czech Republic assumes the presidency of the EU on January 1. However, the move has been met with criticism from Pavel Bém, the mayor of Prague who is set to challenge the current head of the Civic Democrats Mirek Topolánek for his leadership post later this year. Mr Bém described the talks as a kind of second “opposition agreement” referring to the notorious pact between the two major parties which enabled the minority Social Democrats to govern between 1998-2002 with the tacit backing of the then opposition Civic Democrats. However, this comparison has been dismissed by those involved in the talks.

The Czech president Václav Klaus, along with his wife Livia are to face to a court proceeding over an apartment the couple owns in Prague’s Libeň district. The action has been launched by a housing co-op in Prague 8, which believes that the Klaus’ did not obtain the apartment fairly. The co-op is seeking the return of the apartment, which the presidential couple obtained back in 1998, before Mr Klaus became president. The court action centres on the transfer of rights to the flat from its previous owner Ivan Přikryl – a close colleague of Social Democrat leader Jiří Paroubek - to the Klaus couple. Mr Přikryl’s wife has since complained that she was a co-owner of the flat and that her husband’s deal with the Klaus couple was done without her knowledge. The court action undertaken by the co-op along with Přikryl’s wife is seeking to nullify the ten-year-old ownership agreement between the Czech president and Ivan Přikryl.

There has been a mixed response to recent comments made by the French president Nicolas Sarkozy regarding a proposed US missile defence system to be located in the Czech Republic and Poland. On Friday, Mr Sarkozy signalled his opposition to the plan, saying that it would not help European security. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has reportedly welcomed the comments – Russia remains a vocal opponent of the plan, threatening to install its own Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad if the system goes ahead, something that many fear will lead to a new Cold War. On the other hand, former Czech president Václav Havel stated that he was surprised and worried by the French president’s opposition.