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The Czech president, Miloš Zeman, says he is opposed to the idea of Ukraine joining the NATO military alliance. Speaking on Tuesday on a visit to Kazakhstan, he said Ukraine should be neutral and ought to undergo “Finlandisation”, meaning it should have a position analogous to Finland during the Soviet era, when it retained its sovereignty but subordinated its policies to those of its powerful neighbour. Mr. Zeman said he agreed with Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who said at the weekend that he could accept NATO cooperation with Ukraine, but not membership.

Petr Vokřál of ANO has been elected mayor of the Czech Republic’s second city Brno. He replaces the Social Democrats’ Roman Onderka, who held the post for eight years. Mr. Vokřál’s party came first in local elections last month and he stood unopposed for mayor. ANO is in coalition at Brno City Hall with Žít Brno, the Christian Democrats, and the Green Party. The Social Democrats, the Civic Democrats, the Communists and TOP 09 make up the opposition.

The Ustí branch of the Social Democratic Party has thrown its weight behind local party representatives in the town of Duchcov, north Bohemia, who raised the ire of the party leadership by entering into a coalition with the ultra-right Workers Social Justice Party. Social Democrat leader Bohuslav Sobotka slammed the decision saying no Social Democrat would enter into what he described as a racist coalition in this town or any other. The national party leadership recommended that the Duchcov cell be scrapped and its members expelled from party ranks for having violated the party’s statutes. However the Usti leadership which dealt with the matter on Monday said it had found no reason to comply with the request since the Workers Social Justice Party was a legitimate political entity which had won support from the locals. Reacting to the news from Israel, Prime Minister Sobotka said he would not let the matter rest.

A proposed 14 percent increase in pay for lawmakers and officials in the executive branch is dividing the Social Democrats of the ruling coalition. The proposed monthly wage increase was proposed by the budget committee of the lower house following an agreement by parliamentary groups across the board. The 14 percent pay increase is seen as a compromise because if no agreement is reached MPs salaries would automatically grow by 26 percent next year in the wake of a wage-freeze affected during the economic crisis. The leader of the Social Democrats, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka has slammed the proposed wage hike as excessive and is in favour of an increase of 3.5 percent, which the government approved for all state employees.