News

Former Czech football international Patrik Berger is set to stay at English Premiership club Aston Villa for another season. Villa manager Martin O'Neill said he would offer Berger a new contract after being impressed with his performances in the second half of the season. Berger, who is 33, has had a number of injury problems in recent seasons but has been playing regularly this year.

Representatives of the Czech government, trade unions and employers have not reached agreement on the planned government reform of the tax and welfare systems. At an extraordinary tripartite meeting on Wednesday, the trade unions rejected the government proposal, arguing that the prepared changes would badly affect the situation of people with low and mid-level incomes and would reduce the budget revenues. The employers welcomed the reform steps but voiced a number of reservations. In order to reduce the country's fiscal deficit, the Civic Democrat-led cabinet intends to introduce a 15-percent tax on personal income and cut corporate tax from 24 to 19 percent. The basic five-percent VAT imposed on food, drugs and some services is to be raised to nine percent. The package will be submitted to the lower house in June. A vote should take place at an extraordinary session during the summer recess.

Police say they have filed charges against four supporters of the far-right Narodni odpor movement who were detained on Tuesday during clashes with the police in the Moravian city of Brno. They are suspected of attacking a public official and face up to five years in jail if found guilty. Seven police officers and two journalists were injured during Tuesday's violent clashes in Brno.

President Vaclav Klaus has signed an amendment to the law on public health under which doctors from EU countries, who temporarily work in the Czech Republic, will not have to pay membership fees to professional chambers - a fact previously criticised by the European Court of Justice which ruled in January the Czech Republic had failed to harmonise its legislation with EU law in this respect. The amendment also enables patients to see their medical records and make copies of them. Patients' relatives will have access to their medical records after their death, including information on the cause of death and the autopsy results, unless the patient explicitly forbids it. So far doctors were obliged to inform patients on their health condition, but they did not have to show their medical records to them.