• Folk singer Zuzana Navarova dies
    12/07/2004

    The well known Czech folk singer and song writer Zuzana Navarova has died at the age of 45. She entered the Czech music scene in 1980, when she set up the folk group Nerez. Fascinated by Latin American music and culture, she studied Spanish and paid frequent visits to that part of the world. Navarova had a devoted audience here in the Czech Republic. She regularly toured the country and has several CDs to her name. In recent years she performed with the group Koa with whom she recorded the popular CD All colours, which won her the 2001 Angel award for folk music from the Czech Music Academy.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Prime Minister, EU Commissioner discuss European social policy, Lisbon Strategy
    12/06/2004

    The Czech Prime Minister Stanislav Gross has met the Czech Republic's EU Commissioner, Vladimir Spidla in Prague to discuss above all the European social policy and the Lisbon Strategy - the European Union's action and development plan. Mr Spidla, who was Mr Gross's predecessor in the post of prime minister and head of the ruling Social Democratic Party, refused to comment whether the current situation in the party, which is losing public support, was also discussed.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • New Czech soldiers leave for Kosovo
    12/06/2004

    The first 90 members of a new Czech and Slovak contingent have left Prague for the southern Serbian province of Kosovo to replace the members of the battalion who have served in the province since May. A special unit trained to suppress demonstrations will also operate in Kosovo. The new contingent will stay in the Balkans till July. It will guard a section of the provincial Kosovo-Serb border.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Conscripts symbolically part with military at Prague Castle
    12/06/2004

    Several dozen conscripts have symbolically parted with the military at Prague Castle, on the eve of the abolition of compulsory military service in the Czech Republic. As of January 2005 the Czech military will become fully professional. The soldiers, coming from around 70 units from all over the country, represented the last 2,000 conscripts whose service will end before Christmas. Defence Minister Karel Kuehnl presented the conscripts with commemorative plaques and watches to mark what he called a closing of a historical period. Czech men were subject to universal conscription for the past 140 years. The length of the service had been gradually reduced to one year after the 1989 collapse of the communist regime.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Topolanek re-elected Civic Democratic Party leader
    12/05/2004

    The country's main opposition party, the right wing Civic Democrats overwhelmingly re-elected Mirek Topolanek party leader at a national conference over the weekend. In a rousing speech to the assembly Topolanek vowed to lead the party to victory in the next parliamentary elections, in June of 2006. With the Civic Democrats far ahead in the polls and having scored decisive victories in the Senate, regional and European elections, Topolanek is a strong candidate for prime minister. He was recently voted one of the country's most popular politicians.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Civic Democrats want to fight European Constitution
    12/05/2004

    The Civic Democratic Party, which is slated to win the next general elections, has made it clear that it would fight the European Constitution. Addressing the conference the party's deputy chairman Petr Necas voiced radical opposition to the EU Constitution and said the party should explain its drawbacks to the public and recommend that people do not vote for it in a national referendum. The party's shadow foreign minister Jan Zahradil, said that the Civic Democrats did not want a federation of European states but a flexible structure in which countries could integrate according to their needs.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • PM attempts to rally his party with eight point plan
    12/05/2004

    Meanwhile, the head of the ruling Social Democratic Party Stanislav Gross attempted to rally the weakened and divided party for a crucial confrontation with their main rivals in the remaining 18 months to elections. At a meeting of the party's executive leadership, Gross unveiled an eight-point plan which should help the Social Democrats to regain lost ground and restore public trust. Stanislav Gross strongly emphasized his party's pro-EU policy, warning Czechs that the right wing Civic Democrats would plunge the country into political isolation.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Communists soften their rhetoric in order to attract more supporters
    12/05/2004

    The Communist Party also planned its strategy for the months ahead at a meeting of its central committee this weekend. Opinion surveys suggest that the party would come second in elections if they were held today. Party leader Miroslav Grebenicek is advocating a change of style and rhetoric, which would attract more voters. He told the gathering that the party should make a point of distancing itself from the past and condemning the crimes committed in the 50s and in 1968. In advocating this new policy line, Miroslav Grebenicek has partly yielded to the party's reform faction headed by Jiri Dolejs and Miroslav Ransdorf. He made no mention though of wanting to change the party's name.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • President slams court ruling
    12/04/2004

    President Vaclav Klaus has said he is appalled by the Supreme Court's decision to invalidate the Senate elections in the Prague 11 constituency. The court ruled on Friday that the elections in that constituency were invalid and would have to be repeated because the election campaign had been conducted in a dishonest manner, in violation of the election law. One of the unsuccessful candidates in the elections said he had been damaged by slanderous articles in the press. President Klaus described the decision of the Supreme Court as "a dangerous precedent" and "intervention into the country's political freedom", adding that mud-slinging in the press was not unusual in the run up to elections and was no reason to invalidate them.

    Meanwhile, Justice Minister Pavel Nemec said he understood the Court's decision and urged the President to think about the rules of fair play. He said that in criticizing the Court's decision, Vaclav Klaus had acted like a party leader, rather than a president.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Civic Democrats hold party conference
    12/04/2004

    The opposition right wing Civic Democratic Party is holding its national party conference this weekend. Addressing some 400 delegates, party leader Mirek Topolanek said the party was "on the brink of success", set to win the next general elections. He urged them to make good use of the party's victory in regional elections and so to convince the public that the Civic Democrats were a party with a vision and a future. Topolanek is running for re-election, the only candidate for the post of party leader.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

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