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03/16/2009
Czech national debt rose in 2008 by more than 107 billion crowns to nearly one trillion crowns (49 billion USD), the Finance Ministry announced on Monday. Czech loans from European investment banks and the deficit in last year’s budget were the biggest factors contributing to the level of debt. The Finance Ministry has said that this year it would like to borrow at most 148 billion crowns (7.2 billion USD) from outside sources. The ministry expects that national debt will in 2009 cross the one-trillion crown mark.
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03/16/2009
Czech and other farmers from new EU member states will have to wait until 2013 with lower subsidies compared with counterparts from older members, Commissioner for Agriculture Mariann Fischer-Boel has said in an interview in Monday’s Hospodářské noviny. She said she did not think a change before that date was possible. The subsidy differential was one of the main reasons for a massive protest by around 8,000 farmers in Prague on Thursday. The farmers want a faster change in agricultural payment rules so they can catch up sooner with subsidies in older member states.
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03/16/2009
Israeli President Shimon Peres is to visit Prague, the Czech Press Agency reported on Monday. Mr Peres is expected to visit the Czech capital between March 30 and April 1. A spokesperson for Czech President Vaclav Klaus, however, would not confirm that the Israeli head of state had accepted Prague Castle’s invitation. It was reported that Mr Peres would most likely meet Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg during a state visit to the Czech Republic, as well as visiting the former concentration camp Terezín and Prague’s Jewish Cemetery.
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03/16/2009
The Supreme State Attorney Renata Vesecká has said that it was a mistake for her to sue Shadow Justice Minister Marie Benešová. Ms Benešová criticized Ms Vesecká for her role in the trial of former deputy prime minister Jiří Čunek, who was cleared of corruption charges in 2007. Ms Benešová criticised Ms Vesecká’s intervention in the case, and called the attorney the head of a ‘justice mafia’. Ms Vesecká subsequently took the shadow justice minister to court, but lost the case. On Monday, Ms Vesecká said she now regretted the lawsuit but still believed she was right to react to Ms Benešová’s comments. The supreme state attorney said that she regretted that the public had viewed her as a top judiciary official in the lawsuit, and not as an individual who had been defamed. The Czech Ombudsman Otakar Motejl has since called on Ms Vesecká to resign, as has the head of the country’s Constitutional Court Pavel Rychetský.
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03/16/2009
The Czech national air carrier ČSA is to lend two of its airplanes to Libyan firm Nayzak Air Transport in a deal worth hundreds of millions of crowns, a spokesperson for ČSA said on Monday. The Czech firm will lend two Boeing 737s plus pilots and crew to the Libyan carrier until next May. The aircraft will fly on mostly internal routes, but will also join Tripoli with several Egyptian destinations. ČSA said that it was lending a portion of its fleet out to other airlines as the current financial climate had led to a fall in passenger numbers. The Czech national carrier has a total of 51 aircraft in its fleet.
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03/16/2009
A second Prague restaurant has received a prestigious Michelin star, it was announced on Monday. The Four Seasons Hotel’s Allegro restaurant maintained the Michelin star it was awarded last year, and was joined by Maze, which was set up by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay just over a year ago. Ramsay has just announced, however, that he is pulling out of the Prague venture, which is housed in the capital’s Hilton Old Town Hotel. Two other Prague restaurants were said to be in contention for a Michelin star, but both Aromi and La Degustation Boheme Bourgeoise came away empty handed on Monday. The Michelin restaurant guide will be officially released on Wednesday.
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03/15/2009
The country’s Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek has said that the finance ministry is currently working within an estimate of between 0 to 2 percent negative growth of the GDP in 2009, as a result of the continuing global economic crisis. He made the comment on a Sunday TV debate programme, adding that a minus two-percent drop would see a state budget deficit of between 110 and 120 billion crowns. This year’s state budget, passed in December, originally estimated on GDP growth of 4.8 percent, with a deficit if 38.1 billion crowns. In January, after the country was hit by the crisis, the ministry first revised its numbers downward to 1.4 percent.
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03/15/2009
The Czech Interior Minister Ivan Langer and the European Commission’s Vice President for Justice, Freedom and Security Jacques Barrot are set to officially visit the US on Monday. Over two days they will meet with the US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano as well Justice Minister Eric Holder to discuss a number of key issues, including US plans for prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay. It has been suggested that some could eventually be relocated to facilities in Europe, possibly the Czech Republic, after the Guantanamo detention centre is shut down. Other topics on the agenda during Messrs Langer’s and Barrot’s visit will be visa policy, migration and border security.
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03/15/2009
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek has said that the country’s Supreme Administrative Court sent a negative signal when it ruled not to ban the ultra right-wing Workers’ Party. The party is said to have ties to extremists, including neo-Nazi organisations. Speaking on TV Prima, the prime minister suggested the decision would have a negative impact on similar cases, mentioning a proposed ban on the Communist Party sought by a Senate commission. Over a period of two years the commission - headed by Green Party Senator Jaromír Štetina - gathered circumstantial evidence as proof the country’s Communist Party violated the constitution and failed to honour some laws. The government is now to assess whether to send the matter to court.
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03/15/2009
A US anti-missile radar base in the Czech Republic may be delayed, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek has said but stressed, in his view, it will eventually be built. Speaking on TV Prima on Sunday, he said the base – part of a broader defence shield proposed by the former US administration – was important for both Europe as well as NATO. Mr Topolánek was asked about the project in connection with the upcoming visit of US President Barack Obama. He said that he did not think Mr Obama would come out against the plan, put forward and strongly supported by his predecessor George W. Bush.
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