News

The country’s Supreme Audit Office has found shortcomings in how Prague used EU funds drawn in the years 2007 – 2013. Improperly accounted for are several million crowns from an operational programme called Prague – Competitiveness, the bureau’s spokeswoman Olga Málková said on Monday. The probe launched by the office covered 17 projects worth a total of one billion crowns, which were divided among 12 recipients. The funds made up 19 percent of the total spent within the operational programme, the Czech News Agency said. The district of Prague 11, for example, received more than 33 million crowns for the revitalization of city parks but was unable to provide documentation for how more than 10 million were spent. Other shortcomings were found in other areas; a spokeswoman for the city said steps would be taken to avoid similar developments in the future.

Fresh snow and icy conditions are complicating traffic around the country. The regions of Usti nad Labem, Liberec and Karlovy Vary are having the most problems with poor visibility and snow drifts on less frequented roads. Drivers setting out for the mountain regions have been warned to exercise extreme caution. Day temperatures have been forecast at between -4 and -9 degrees Celsius.

The draft of a new foreign policy concept outlined by the Czech Foreign Ministry and leaked to the press has evoked criticism from opposition parties and the media. According to the weekly Respect, which has acquired the document, the planned changes reportedly include a change-of-guard at ambassadorial posts in London, Beijing, Paris and Washington. The Czech ambassador to Ukraine, who has been criticized by President Zeman, is also to be replaced. The weekly says the new foreign policy concept fails to draw on the legacy of the country’s first post-communist president Vaclav Havel. The Foreign Ministry has refused to comment on the document until it has been finalized and officially unveiled.

The Czech Justice Ministry is planning a broader use of electronics bracelets which were originally to have enabled the courts to use alternative means of punishment in the form of house arrests. Deputy Justice Minister Vladimir Zimmel told Czech Television that the ministry would like to see the bracelets used in cases of psychiatric patients who are allowed to leave mental homes for a certain period or in the event of transportation of prisoners to a workplace or hospital outside the prison facility. The purchase of around 1,000 bracelets has been delayed due to a series of problematic tenders.