News

The Senate has rejected an amendment requiring medicines containing pseudoefedrin to be sold by prescription - an attempt to curb abuse of the substance in the production of the illegal street drug pervetine. The Senate returned the legislation to the lower house with modifications. The original amendment, put forward by the health minister, required customers to provide ID for such medicines, but an opposition MP pushed through the change that such drugs would only be available though prescription. The proposal was welcomed by Czech pharmacists, who say it would effectively block mass purchases for illegal production. But it was opposed by the health minister who contended that prescriptions would overly complicate matters for patients.

Czech President Václav Klaus accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek’s cabinet on Thursday saying that what was now important was for a new government to be formed as soon as possible. The president said that he would entrust the running of the country to whoever was able to garner more than 101 votes in the Lower House of the Czech Parliament. Mr Klaus said that he was against the idea of snap elections or a caretaker government in light of the current financial crisis and the Czech Republic’s EU presidency. He stressed that he would meet the leader of the opposition Social Democrats, Jiří Paroubek, and Christian Democrats, Jiří Čunek on Friday. Mr Topolánek agreed that time was of the essence in forming a new government. President Klaus said that no new government should be founded on the votes of rebel MPs. It was four rebel MPs who voted with the opposition on Tuesday to topple the government coalition.

Leader of the Green Party Martin Bursík also said that he believed President Václav Klaus was instrumental in the fall of Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek’s government. The Green Party was the smallest party in the government coalition which formally handed in its resignation on Thursday. Environment Minister Martin Bursík commended Mirek Topolánek for speaking out against the Czech president, saying that only now were members of the Civic Democrats starting to realize that Mr Klaus, the party’s founder, had betrayed them. Mr Bursík reacted angrily to suggestions that he would be looking to negotiate the formation of a new government with the Czech president.

In related news, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said that it is crucial that the Czech government fulfils its role as chief representative of the European Union at the upcoming G20 Summit in London. Mr Miliband said it was important that, despite the current political upheaval in the Czech Republic, Mr Topolánek’s government fulfilled its mandate at next month’s G20 Summit. The summit of leaders from the world’s largest and fastest developing economies is seen as an occasion for leaders to devise a common strategy to overcome the current global financial crisis.