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The second reactor at the Temelin nuclear power station in south Bohemia will go into operation this year, the Trade and Industry Minister, Jiri Rusnok, said on Friday. Also on Friday, several Austrian anti-nuclear groups criticised statements made in a press interview by the Czech Environment Minister, Libor Ambrozek; Mr Ambrozek said Temelin was safe and should be put into operation. The plant has been forced to shut down several times since the launch of the first reactor began in October 2000. Critics say it is unsafe as it combines Soviet design and western technology.

Czech MPs have elected six deputy chairpersons of the lower house of parliament, completing the seven-member leadership of the chamber chaired by Social Democrat Lubomir Zaoralek who was elected last Thursday. The election-winning Social Democrats have another member in the leadership, deputy chairwoman Jitka Kupcova. Two of the deputy chairpersons of the lower house, Miroslava Nemcova and Ivan Langer, are members of the right-of-centre Civic Democrats, the second strongest party in this year’s elections. Christian Democrat Jan Kasal and Hana Marvanova of the Freedom Union represent the two-party bloc which has formed a coalition government with the Social Democrats. And for the first time since the fall of communism, the Communist Party has a representative in the lower house leadership, Vojtech Filip.

On Tuesday, the lower house of parliament voted Civic Democrat Ivan Langer and Communist MP Vojtech Filip as lower house deputy chairmen. This brings the total number of elected deputy leaders to four, although the new lower house of parliament passed a proposal last Thursday allowing for six new parliament deputy chairpersons. In secret ballots, Mr Langer received 161 votes and Mr Filip 105. The two other candidates, the Freedom Union's Hana Marvanova and Civic Democrat Miroslava Nemcova, failed to get the mandatory 100 votes. The two MPs hope to receive the necessary number of votes in the next round of secret balloting.

Another opinion poll, this time conducted by the STEM agency on the education system, has revealed that half of the Czech public believes they do not enjoy equal opportunities when pursuing university degrees. According to the results released on Tuesday, eighty percent of those polled claim to be discouraged from pursuing a higher education because they lack enough money to do so. Another reason stated in the poll was corruption. Many believed that a place in a good university can only be gained by offering bribes.