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03/28/2009
The war of words between Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and President Václav Klaus over the government’s fall was splashed across the pages of Saturday’s Mladá Fronta Dnes. In an interview with the paper President Klaus said the Prime Minister’s accusations that he plotted to topple the government with opposition leader Jiří Paroubek and Prague mayor Pável Bem were “simply lies.” He added that Mr Topolánek had never identified with the Civic Democratic Party’s basic ideas. Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek told the paper President Klaus had campaigned to get rid of him as soon as he was elected party leader in 2002 but he had tried to cover up the poor state of their relations.
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03/28/2009
The Czech state veterinary service has announced a new case of so-called mad cow disease or BSE in a cow in the north of the country. The State Veterinary Office said around 200 cattle would have to be killed as a result. The infected cow was detected during a regular check after it had already been slaughtered. The Czech Republic last reported two cases of BSE in cows in 2007.
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03/28/2009
The Japanese electronics giant Hitachi has announced it will shut a recently opened Czech plant producing plasma televisions because of falling prices and demand. The plant, employing 800 in the unemployment black spot of Žatec, should shut by the end of March. Hitachi only opened the 85 million dollar plant in 2007. The Czech government has said that the incentives used to attract the Japanese company, such as tax breaks and cheap land, will have to be repaid. The closure is one of the biggest announced in the country since the onset of the world economic crisis.
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03/28/2009
The Czech football team will take on Slovenia on Saturday evening in Maribor for a key World Cup qualification match. Much of the pre-match attention has been on whether Czech striker Milan Baroš will lead the attack after the manager’s comments that his place was not certain. The two teams are both among a group of four countries with seven points so far with group leaders Slovakia on nine. The Czech Republic won the home game against Slovenia 1 – 0 in October.
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03/28/2009
In ice hockey, Slavia Prague booked their place in the extra league finals after taking a 4-1 lead in the semi-final play-off series against Pilsen on Friday night. The exhilarating match went to penalties after Pilsen star Martin Straka equalized at 5-5 in the last minutes. The star of the penalties was none other than Vladimír Růžička, the son of the Slavia team manager, who gave his team the 6-5 victory on the night.
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03/27/2009
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, meeting with EU counterparts at Hluboka nad Vltavou in the Czech Republic on Friday, expressed support for the Czech EU presidency, despite the fall of Mirek Topolánek’s government this week. He told reporters that it needed full backing until the end of its term in June, stressing that a weak presidency would be disastrous. Mr Frattini made clear the Czech EU presidency needed to lead in a number of areas, including the holding of the upcoming EU-US summit, which will see US President Barack Obama in Prague.
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03/27/2009
The leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party Jiří Paroubek has said he wants to meet with the heads of all the parties in parliament to agree on a way out of the current political crisis. He made the statement on Friday after meeting with Czech President Václav Klaus – one day after the country’s centre-right government tendered its resignation. Mr Paroubek said he would try to negotiate with others on an interim government, with the aim of leading the country to early elections. Those are also favoured by outgoing Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek. In addition, Mr Paroubek said his party would be prepared to put forward a bill on dissolving parliament – a move that would help pave the way for elections. Those could be held this autumn.
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03/27/2009
In related news, the leader of the Christian Democratic Party Jiří Čunek said before meeting with President Klaus on Friday that the ousted government should be allowed to stay in power until the end of the Czech EU presidency. The country is to hand over the role to Sweden at the end of June. Mr Čunek cited the need for the government to deal with the continuing economic crisis as a primary reason. But the Czech president made clear earlier he was not in favour of such a solution. Instead, he is pushing for the formation of a new cabinet as soon as possible.
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03/27/2009
The Civic Democrats, the strongest party in the lower house, want Czech President Václav Klaus to task outgoing Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek with forming a new government. The party leadership reacted to Mr Klaus’s decision on Thursday to entrust whoever was able to secure 101 votes in Parliament with forming the new cabinet. The Civic Democratic Party executive council agreed on Thursday that Mirek Topolánek was the only party member with a mandate to form a new government. It also recommended that MPs Vlastimil Tlustý and Jan Schwippel be expelled from the party; the two voted with the opposition in the no-confidence vote on Tuesday.
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03/27/2009
The European Commission has revealed it has not yet decided whether or not to invite Belarussian President Alexandr Lukashenko to an “Eastern Partnership” summit set for May. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, taking part in a two-day meeting of EU foreign ministers in southern Bohemia, said on Friday that it was too early to take a decision on the leader. Some have dubbed Mr Lukashenko the “last dictator in Europe”. Mrs Ferrero-Waldner said the informal meeting, hosted by Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, was a good opportunity to debate the issue. Some have already expressed opposition to the idea: Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen suggested that an invitation to the Prague summit would trivialise Mr Lukashenko’s dismal record on human rights.
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