• 06/26/2004

    First deputy chairman Stanislav Gross is the man most likely to succeed Vladimir Spidla as chairman of the Social Democratic Party. The 34-year-old interior minister has received the backing of the party's central committee to begin negotiations on the formation of a new government. He is believed to favour a two-party minority coalition with the Christian Democrats. Mr Gross has recently expressed his opposition to maintaining the coalition with the Christian Democrats and the Freedom Union which Mr Spidla formed after the last general election in June 2002.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 06/26/2004

    Meanwhile, the outgoing leader of the right-of-centre Freedom Union, Petr Mares, said the party was prepared to go into opposition. But Pavel Nemec, who many expect to be elected new Freedom Union chairman on Sunday, said he was prepared to play a part in a coalition government which would have a majority in the Chamber of Deputies and not have to rely on the support of the Communist Party.

    The Communist Party would be prepared to support a minority government under certain conditions, said chairman Miroslav Grebenicek. He also said he welcomed Mr Spidla's resignation and said it was good that he was departing the political scene.

    The biggest opposition party, the Civic Democrats, are in favour of the establishment of a caretaker government which would remain in place until the holding of early elections, said chairman Mirek Topolanek.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 06/26/2004

    On the eve of the Czech Republic's quarter-final clash with Denmark at the European Football Championships in Portugal, assistant trainer Miroslav Beranek said the Czechs would be keen not to concede the first goal, as they did in their three group games. He said it was necessary for the Czech team to avoid individual blunders in Sunday's match. If the Czech Republic beat Denmark they will face Greece in the semi-finals on Thursday.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 06/25/2004

    The leadership of two of the three parties in the governing coalition will be decided this weekend, with most attention focused on the battle for the top post in the Social Democrats. Party chief Vladimir Spidla faces a vote of confidence on Saturday - if he is loses and is replaced by challenger Stanislav Gross, Mr Spidla says he will also step down as prime minister and bring down the government.

    Meanwhile, the smallest party in the coalition, the Freedom Union, are choosing a new leader, after Petr Mares resigned in the wake of their disastrous showing in European Parliament elections. The man most likely to succeed Mr Mares is Local Development Minister Pavel Nemec. Mr Nemec is in favour of the Freedom Union remaining part of the government, though the issue is sure to be hotly debated at this weekend's party conference in Hradec Kralove.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 06/25/2004

    The Foreign Ministry and President Vaclav Klaus's office have reached an agreement under which the president's wife Livia can stand in for him on trips abroad, the newspaper Mlada fronta Dnes reported on Friday. Mrs Klausova is due to attend the inauguration of President Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines on Monday when Mr Klaus will be at a NATO summit in Istanbul.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 06/25/2004

    Prague Airport saw a record number of 521 take-offs and landings on Thursday, said a spokesperson. Last year the record number of flights was also recorded in June, though the number was 20 percent lower than that recorded on Thursday.

    In related news, the Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air has opened a low-cost route between Budapest and Prague. It will fly between the two capitals four times a week.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 06/25/2004

    Two new stations were opened on the C line of the Prague metro system on Friday. The new stations are at Kobylisy and Ladvi in the north of the capital. Prague's underground rail network recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of its opening; in 1974 the system consisted of just nine stations, and ran from Kacerov to Florenc.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 06/25/2004

    The Czech football team are preparing for a quarter-final clash with Denmark at the European Championships in Portugal on Sunday evening. Czech striker Milan Baros said on Friday he hoped the footballers would not go the same way as the country's ice hockey team, who promised a lot but were beaten in the quarter-finals of this year's World Championships.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 06/24/2004

    The Czech Senate has approved the deployment of the Czech anti-chemical unit in operations of NATO rapid-response forces for the second half of the year. The Senate's vote enables the government to decide by itself on the unit's deployment. However, parliament will have to vote separately on the deployment of around 100 Czech military chemical specialists to Greece to protect the summer Olympic Games, on which the government decided last Wednesday. Defence Minister Miroslav Kostelka said Greece was not interested in having the multinational NATO unit guard the events, just the Czech specialists. Minister Kostelka added that the chemical experts would stay longer in Athens than the assumed 60 days, since they will also have to guard the Paralypmic Games scheduled for immediately afterwards. The Senate is due to vote on the deployment at a special session on July 13, shortly before the unit's scheduled departure at the end of the month.

  • 06/24/2004

    Genetic information is going to be included among sensitive personal data, under a draft amendment to the law on personal data protection that was passed by the lower house on Thursday. Approved by the Senate earlier, the bill will take effect once it is signed by President Vaclav Klaus. Under the current law, sensitive information includes people's national, racial and ethnic origin, political stance, trade union membership, religion, criminal record, state of health and sexual life. The amendment changes the fines imposed for breaching the law. Under the current law, the fines range between 25,000 and 20 million crowns. Under the amendment, the lower and the upper limits are 100,000 and 10 million crowns.

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