News

The creation of the Czech caretaker government has hit a last minute hitch with a dispute over whose nominee should fill the post of Minister of Culture. The post was originally earmarked for the Christian Democrats but with the party not nominating candidates for the government of experts a battle has erupted over who should fill the post. From the outgoing centre-right coalition, the Civic Democrats and Greens have put forward candidates as has the left wing Social Democrats. Prime Minister designate, Jan Fischer, Thursday rejected a call from the Greens that he convene a meeting of party leaders to thrash out the issue. Meanwhile, Mr Fischer’s target to name his ministerial line-up by the end of the week appears in peril.

Health officials are investigating more than 16 suspected cases of swine flu in the Czech Republic. An additional three people have been hospitalised - two in Prague and one in the city of Ostrava – on the suspicion they could have the illness. On Wednesday, the country’s chief health inspector Michael Vít warned the first case of swine flu in the Czech Republic could be confirmed within a week. So far, the deadly virus has spread to several EU states, including Austria and Germany. Prague’s Ruzyně international airport is preparing additional steps, including the introduction of thermal cameras, to help detect flu cases.

The Czech state budget gap could reach up to 200 billion crowns (just under 10 billion US dollars) if the economy drops by 2 percent in 2009, Tomáš Uvíra, the candidate for finance minister, has said. He made the statement at a conference on EU and state aid to companies on Wednesday. The forecast is bigger than a 150 billion crown deficit predicted by the outgoing Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek. Mr Uvíra, a department head at the Finance Ministry, is expected to replace Mr Kalousek when the country’s new caretaker government is named to office on May 8.

The central state budget gap is the main part of the country's overall fiscal system. Outgoing Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek has predicted the total public sector deficit to reach 4.5 to 5 percent of gross domestic product this year.

The Czech Republic and the United States exchanged ratification documents on the treaty on extradition of criminals in Prague on Tuesday, part of an agreement between the US and the EU. The ratification process is yet to be completed by two remaining EU member states, Greece and Belgium. The Czech justice minister, Jiří Pospíšil, said that both parties will maintain the right to refuse to extradite their citizens; also, countries without capital punishment will only be able to extradite their nationals provided they will not be sentenced to death.