News

Green Party leader Ondřej Liška resigned from his post at a meeting of the party leadership on Sunday. Mr. Liška, who has led the party since 2009, announced his decision shortly after the party’s poor showing in elections to the European Parliament. The party won only 3.7 percent of the vote, failing to cross the five percent margin needed to win seats in the assembly. Ondřej Liška said he was taking personal responsibility for the party’s defeat and noted that was greatly disappointed by the low voter turnout. The party will be run by its first deputy Jana Drápalová, until a new leader is elected in the autumn.

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka has rejected an appeal by Bavarian Social Affairs Minister Emilia Müller for Prague to consider rescinding the Beneš decrees which sanctioned the post-war expulsion of 2.5 million Sudeten Germans from the border areas of Czechoslovakia. Ms. Müller said at a meeting of the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft that the decrees were unjust and have no place in the European legal order. The Czech prime minister countered that this painful chapter of Czech-German history had been addressed in the 1997 Czech-German declaration and the Czech government had no reason to question the validity of the decrees or reopen painful issues relating to WWII.

Attending Ground Forces’ Day at the military training ground in Strašice, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka pledged to increase defence spending, saying the government should earmark 43.5 billion crowns for military spending in 2015 and gradually raise the sum is subsequent years. The Czech Republic has cut its military spending in recent years and at present spends just over 1 percent of the equivalent of its GDP on defence. This falls short of the 2 percent target set by NATO. According to the army chief-of-staff, Petr Pavel, the military would need at least 50 billion crowns a year to fulfil its commitments to the alliance.

Beekeepers in the Louny region report loosing thousands of bees in the past week and have voiced the suspicion that this may be due to an as yet unidentified chemical spray that was used on fields in the vicinity. The company that farms the crops has denied any connection saying it had applied a standard spray commonly used in the area. The Veterinary Office has taken samples of the crops and the matter is being investigated. If dangerous toxic substances were used in the area the firm would face a steep fine and possibly lose its state subsidies.