News

Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda has indicated that the Czech embassy in Baghdad will reopen in the near future, saying that he was now looking to raise Czech diplomatic representation in Iraq from the post of charge d'affaires, to ambassador. Mr Svoboda indicated that he was already considering several possible candidates. Meanwhile, Mr Svoboda added that the Czech embassy in Baghdad had not been hit by looting like the Slovak embassy last week. The Czech site had been closed down a month before the US-led military action against Iraq began in March.

Police have charged two men in connection with the kidnapping of Giuseppe Roselli, chairman of the board of directors of the Union Group, which controls some 75% of the troubled small lender Union Banka. The kidnapping, which took place one week ago, saw Mr Roselli and his personal bodyguard held for 24 hours, before being released unharmed. Police so far are revealing no further details as to possible motives for the kidnapping, though Mr Roselli's spokesman has indicated that the banker had been forced to sign a number of documents for alleged misuse.

Czech Ombudsman Otakar Motejl has warned against the introduction of a direct presidential election in the Czech Republic. Mr Motejl cited potential dangers of a public vote, including manipulation with public opinion. Under the current law, Czech presidents are elected at a joint session of both houses of parliament. However, a bill on direct presidential election was approved by the lower house in the first reading earlier this week and politicians across the political spectrum suggested that the next president will be elected in a direct election after Vaclav Klaus's term expires in 2005.

Foreign Minister and the leader of the junior coalition Christian Democrats Cyril Svoboda said his party would push its leftist coalition partners to agree to public spending cuts to speed up the adoption of the euro currency. Svoboda said his party would urge the government to approve major fiscal reforms aimed at joining the euro between 2007 and 2009. This is a more ambitious target than has been proposed by the ruling Social Democrats who have largely spoken against radical spending cuts, especially in social welfare, and favoured the period between 2009-2011 as possible target dates for euro zone entry.