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06/24/2004
The Czech Statistics Office has said that even though nearly 1,000 more babies were born in the first quarter of 2004 than in the same period in 2003, birth rates in the Czech Republic continue to remain among the lowest in Europe and the world. Despite the recent slight increase, the average number of births per woman between the ages of 15 and 49 has not risen, and remains at 1.18 children. During the 1990s, experts explained the low number of births by a tendency among young people to delay parenthood and enjoy the increased career and study opportunities that opened up after the fall of communism. However, after over a decade, the situation remains unchanged. One of the reasons cited by the Czech Statistics Office for Czech women's reluctance to have more children is a lack of part-time employment opportunities.
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06/24/2004
The lower house of parliament has rejected the draft amendment increasing radio and television licence fees. The fees were last raised in 1997, to 75 crowns per month and household for owning a TV set, and to 37 crowns for owning a radio. The public service broadcaster Czech Television says that if the fees do not increase soon, it will have to limit the production of original programmes. Czech Radio has also expressed worries about financial troubles.
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06/24/2004
Around 4,000 Czech football fans are expected to arrive in the Portuguese city of Oporto on Sunday to watch the quarterfinal match between the Czech and Danish team in the Euro 2004 football tournament. A representative of the Czech Football Union has said that 3,800 tickets for the match were sold in the Czech Republic, but there may be many other Czech fans in Oporto who bought their tickets from other sources.
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06/23/2004
Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has said he will not ask Parliament for a vote of confidence in the Cabinet this Thursday. The future of the coalition government will thus be decided at a crucial meeting of the Social Democrats' executive committee this Saturday. The Prime Minister has said that if he fails to defend his position as party leader he would step down as head of government. His resignation would signal the end of the three-party governing coalition. The government crisis was precipitated by the governing parties' humiliating defeat in the recent Euro elections.
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06/23/2004
Czech and Slovak police have charged 25 people with running an internet-based global prostitution ring using 230 women, many of whom were forced into selling their bodies for sex, officials said on Wednesday. The group posed as the Eli modelling agency, luring girls with promises of work as hostesses at events round the world, but then forcing them into prostitution, Slovak Police First Vice-President Jaroslav Spisiak told Reuters news agency. "They were invited to castings, where they had pictures taken, mostly in underwear or naked -- then they were gradually told that they will have to offer sex if the client wants," he said. The girls were offered over the internet and spent up to a week with clients wherever they requested them, including Japan, western Europe, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
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06/23/2004
Poland has expressed interest in several dozen L-159 fighter jets from the Czech aircraft manufacturer Aero Vodochody, the company's spokesman told Czech Radio on Wednesday. A Polish Air Force official confirmed a proposal to purchase the jets has been put forward to the Defence Ministry but noted that a decision has not yet been made. L-159 jet cockpits are similar to F-16s that Poland is adding to its fleet. Poland can use the L-159s to train its pilots at a new training base that it plans to build within the next two years, for pilots of the four Visegrad countries - the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland.
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06/23/2004
The leading Czech airline, CSA, is the first airline at Prague's Ruzyne airport to allow passengers check-in one day before their flights. The Czech Airport Authority has welcomed the move as the country's main international airport has been overwhelmed by growing numbers of passengers. In the first five months of this year, CSA recorded over 30% more passengers than in the same period last year.
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06/22/2004
The future of the coalition government remains uncertain as the Lower House awaits the Prime Minister's decision on a confidence vote in the Cabinet. The government crisis was precipitated by the governing parties' humiliating defeat in the recent Euro elections. The Prime Minister earlier announced his intention to ask Parliament for a vote of confidence this Thursday, but he has come under pressure from coalition members who are against such a move. The last 24 hours have shown that the governing coalition would have a problem securing enough votes to pass the test. The opposition Civic Democrats, say they have already prepared a no-confidence vote proposal, should the Prime Minister fail to take action himself.
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06/21/2004
Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has said he will resign from his post if he fails to gain a vote of confidence from the Social Democrats at their party executive committee meeting next weekend. Following coalition party negotiations on Monday Mr Spidla told journalists he felt he'd be unable to lead the government if he didn't get an affirmation of support from his own party, and he added that the future of the current coalition would definitely be decided by the end of the week. According to constitutional procedure, the prime minister's resignation would signal the end of the current coalition, which counts the senior Social Democrats, and two junior right-of-centre parties, the Christian Democratic party and the Freedom Union.
The government enjoys only the slimmest of majorities in Parliament.
The weekend meeting of the Social Democrat's executive committee was to weigh replacing Mr Spidla as chairman but leave Mr Spidla at the head of the government. As Mr Spidla has now made clear, he finds that option unacceptable.
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06/21/2004
In related news it is unclear whether Mr Spidla will call for a confidence vote on the government in an attempt to steer it out of the current crisis stemming from the government's poor showing in the recent European Parliament elections. The prime minister has been weighing the confidence vote as an option to reconfirm the government's mandate, though this is an option not entirely supported by the coalition's junior parties. They say, however, they will respect Mr Spidla's decision. It is not certain at this time whether Mr Spidla can count on all 101 coalition MPs' votes in the 200 member Chamber of Deputies.
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