• Slovak, Czech PMs protest possible delay in Schengen expansion
    09/14/2006

    The prime ministers of the Czech Republic and Slovakia voiced their opposition on Thursday to any possible delay in the proposed enlargement of the borderless Schengen area to include the 10 new European Union member states. At a joint news conference, the prime ministers responded to suggestions from Brussels that the extension of the Schengen zone could be delayed until 2008. The Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico said the Czech Republic and Slovakia were "technically ready" to join the zone next spring. Currently, the former 15 nations of the EU, with the exception of Britain and Ireland, but with the addition of Norway and Iceland make up the Schengen Zone.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Vondra criticises Schengen delay on Berlin visit
    09/14/2006

    The Czech foreign minister, Alexandr Vondra, on Wednesday also criticised the postponement of the enlargement of the Schengen area by at least a year. Speaking after talks with his German counterpart in Berlin, Mr Vondra told reporters the Czech Republic did not like the delay and was requesting an explanation. The European Union has said it cannot open its borders to the new EU 10 until 2008 - a year later than originally planned - because of technical reasons; Mr Vondra described that justification as weak and unsatisfactory.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Health Minister plans extensive changes in sector
    09/14/2006

    The new Health Minister Tomas Julinek of the Civic Democrats has said he wants to introduce extra fees for above-standard health care, while the standard treatment, which must be specified first, will be fully covered by insurance. His deputy Pavel Hrobon said that the ministry also plans to introduce individual accounts for patients. Mr Julinek on Thursday presented the ministry's plans for another five years. However, it is not certain whether he would succeed in fulfilling his long-term vision as the Civic Democrat minority cabinet has yet to win confidence in the lower house where the left and right forces are equally balanced.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Pope to visit Prague next September
    09/14/2006

    Pope Benedict XVI will visit the Czech Republic in 2007, Cardinal Miloslav Vlk said on Wednesday. The pope will make a one-day visit in the first half of next September, he revealed. The pontiff's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, visited this country three times.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Czech rabbi ordained in Germany
    09/14/2006

    Czech rabbi Tomas Kucera was among the three rabbis ordained in Germany on Thursday in the first such ceremony in the country since the mass murder of Jews in the Holocaust six decades ago. The three, a German, a Czech and a South African, were ordained in the new synagogue in Dresden as 25 Jewish leaders from all over the world watched. The newly ordained rabbis said they planned to serve congregations in Munich in southern Germany, in Oldenburg in the northwest of the country and in Cape Town in South Africa.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Prague to invest more in extension of metro line
    09/14/2006

    The Prague City Hall has decided to invest another 500 million crowns in the construction of a new stretch of the C metro line in the north of Prague. The extension of the Prague metro is one of the city's priorities. The new stretch is going to be 4.6 km long, with three stations. The overall costs are estimated at 15.5 billion crowns. Construction started in 2004 and the new stations should be in operation in 2008.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Government recommends that MPs pass bill facilitating early elections
    09/13/2006

    The government of Mirek Topolanek has recommended to the lower house to pass a Senate-proposed bill that would simplify the path to early elections. The proposed constitutional amendment is supposed to enable the President to dissolve the lower house of parliament after the cabinet has resigned and the lower house has approved its dissolution. The Civic Democrat minority government wants to lead the country to early elections next year in order to solve the political stalemate produced by the June general elections. The Constitution now offers four methods to reach early elections but all of them require lengthy procedures.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Government approves foundation of National Memory Institute
    09/13/2006

    The government has agreed with the establishment of an institute that would be responsible for administering and publishing documents concerning the communist era. The foundation of a National Memory Institute was proposed by the Senate at the instigation of the senators for the Civic Democratic Party. Similar institutions exist in Slovakia, Poland and Germany. The institute would among other things store the lists of collaborators of the former Communist secret police StB. Unlike its Slovak counterpart, the Czech institute is not to be authorised to conduct investigation. The costs of the institute are being put at tens of millions of crowns annually.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • EU regrets delay in opening borders to newcomers
    09/13/2006

    The European Commission expressed regret on Wednesday for a postponement in the opening of its internal borders to new member states, saying it will seek to minimise the delay. The EU had originally planned to allow the ten states which joined the bloc two years ago into its border-free "Schengen" area in October 2007. But technical and legal problems in building a new central police database look set to delay the expansion of the borderless area for at least a year, which prompted harsh criticism from the newcomers led by the Czech Republic. A spokesman said the European Commission is aware of the frustration of the citizens of new member states. He responded to a statement from the Czech Foreign Ministry, which said the delay meant Czech citizens could not take full advantage of free movement, one of the EU's fundamental freedoms.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Topolanek says Paroubek wants to discredit him to gain power
    09/13/2006

    The new Prime Minister and Civic Democrat chairman Mirek Topolanek told reporters on Wednesday that Social Democrat head and former Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek wants to discredit him over the case of the VAE company to regain power with his Social Democrats. At a special news conference, Mr Topolanek said that he had never been asked to meet commitments towards the creditors of the VAE company whose shareholder he had been and that he had never committed a credit fraud. Mr Topolanek added that police had investigated the case and had not found him guilty. He stressed that the Social Democrats were politicising the whole case to discredit him before the approaching October Senate and local elections and the Civic Democrat party congress. The police anti-corruption squad are investigating the suspicion that Mr Topolanek and his former partners in the VAE company gained a bank loan fraudulently in the late 1990s.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

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