• Gross government to call a vote of confidence
    04/03/2005

    The minority government of Prime Minister Stanislav Gross will ask for a vote of confidence in parliament, Mr Gross said on Sunday. The cabinet made the decision following Friday's demand by Czech President Vaclav Klaus that a confidence vote is called before he appoints new ministers, including replacements for the three Christian Democrat ministers who resigned on Thursday. Mr Gross said the confidence vote will be held in order to stop the government crisis and stressed that the president did not have the right to make such a demand under the constitution.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Freedom Union threatens to leave government if ministers fail to resign
    04/03/2005

    The leader of the Freedom Union, Pavel Nemec, has asked Prime Minister Stanislav Gross to hold a meeting to discuss the future of the government. The Freedom Union, which is the smaller party in the coalition with the Social Democrats, has decided to leave the government if the entire cabinet refuses to resign. On Friday, the minority government narrowly survived a vote of no confidence, thanks to the Communists who abstained from the vote. On Saturday, Freedom Union Information Technology Minister, Vladimir Mlynar, sent his resignation to the government office, saying he could not be in a government that needs the Communists to stay in power.

    Meanwhile, a senior Social Democrat MP, Michal Kraus, said in a TV discussion programme on Sunday that the cabinet would not resign as it would lead to the fall of the government and the rise to power of the opposition right-of-centre Civic Democrats. Mr Kraus stressed that his party would stay on as a minority government even if the Freedom Union were to depart. In such a case, the Social Democrats would have a mere 70 seats in the 200 seat lower house.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Gross rejects call from President Klaus for confidence vote before cabinet appointments
    04/02/2005

    Meanwhile, President Vaclav Klaus has demanded that Prime Minister Stanislav Gross call a vote of confidence, before Mr Klaus appoints new ministers, including replacements for the three Christian Democrat ministers who resigned on Thursday. Mr Gross said he would not hold a confidence vote and noted that the president did not have the right to make such a demand under the constitution.

    The prime minister has already announced some of his new cabinet appointees. Jan Kohout is to become foreign minister, Radko Martinek will be environment minister and the transport ministry is to be headed by Pavel Svagr.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Visegrad Group Presidents reschedule annual meeting
    04/02/2005

    The Presidents of the Visegrad Four group - Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, have decided to postpone their annual meeting due to the ailing health of Pope John Paul II. Alexander Kwasniewski, Ivan Gasparovic, Ferenc Madl and Vaclav Klaus were scheduled to discuss further Visegrad cooperation, the EU, US-European relations, and developments in Ukraine, in southern Poland this Sunday and Monday. The offices of the heads of state have yet to decide on a new date.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Communists keep minority Gross government in power
    04/01/2005

    The Czech prime minister, Stanislav Gross, has survived a vote of no confidence called by the opposition Civic Democrats. Friday's vote came two days after his government lost their majority with the departure of the Christian Democrats from the coalition. The remaining parties, Mr Gross's Social Democrats and the Freedom Union, won less than half the votes, but survived thanks to the Communist Party, who abstained.

    Civic Democrat leader Mirek Topolanek later slammed what he called a "red coalition" of the Social Democrats and Communists.

    The no-confidence vote followed a period of instability in the coalition government, after Prime Minister Gross became embroiled in a scandal over his family's finances.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Bures, Mlynar announce resignation from cabinet, Buzkova considering future
    04/01/2005

    Two ministers said they would resign from the government after Friday's vote. Minister for Legislation Jaroslav Bures, an independent nominated by the Social Democrats, and Freedom Union Information Technology Minister Vladimir Mlynar said they would not remain in a government tacitly supported by the Communists. Social Democrat Education Minister Petra Buzkova said she was considering her future.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Gross rejects call from President Klaus for confidence vote before cabinet appointments
    04/01/2005

    Meanwhile, President Vaclav Klaus has demanded that Prime Minister Gross call a vote of confidence, before Mr Klaus appoints new ministers, including replacements for the three Christian Democrat ministers who resigned on Thursday. Mr Gross said the president did not have the right to make such a demand under the constitution, and said he would not hold a confidence vote.

    The prime minister has already announced some of his new cabinet appointees. Jan Kohout is to become foreign minister, Radko Martinek will be environment minister and the transport ministry will be headed by Pavel Svagr.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • NPF: Privatisation of Cesky Telecom to be completed by end of June
    04/01/2005

    The privatisation of the state-controlled Cesky Telecom should be completed by the end of June, an official at the National Property Fund said on Friday. The cabinet is expected to announce the sale of the state's 51 percent stake in the company to Spain's Telefonica in the middle of next week. The sell-off of Cesky Telecom is the last remaining privatisation of a major state concern.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Chronicle of Dalimil on public display for first time
    04/01/2005

    The valuable 14th century Chronicle of Dalimil has been shown to the public for the first time since being acquired by the Czech National Library last month. The Latin manuscript, which describes the history of Bohemia, was written around 1340, and is believed to have been commissioned by either King John of Luxembourg or his son Charles IV. It is on display at the Mirror Chapel at Prague's Clementinum.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Fate of Czech PM, government in hands of Communists
    03/31/2005

    The chairman of the Communist Party Miroslav Grebenicek has said the party's executive committee has recommended to Communist deputies to abstain in Friday morning's no-confidence vote in the government of Prime Minister Stanislav Gross. If all Communist MPs follow the recommendation, the opposition will fall far short of the 101-vote majority needed to topple the government of Prime Minister Stanislav Gross.

    Mr Gross lost his parliamentary majority on Wednesday when the Christian Democratic Party dropped its support for his coalition government after the prime minister ignored calls to quit. Mr Gross's coalition government of his Social Democrats and the Freedom Union is now down to 80 seats in the 200-member lower house of parliament. The Communists, who have had a low profile since the end of their rule in 1989, have become the country's powerbrokers as they will decide on Friday if Stanislav Gross's government survives the no-confidence vote.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

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