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08/24/2004
Ahead of the Czech National Bank's meeting later this week, Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said on Tuesday the National Bank should not rush an interest rate hike. It has been widely expected the bank will raise rates by a quarter point to 2.50 percent. But, the finance minister said he had a more optimistic prognosis for inflation in 2004 and 2005, expecting the inflation rate would stay below 3.00 percent.
The Czech National Bank is an independent institution on which the government wields only limited influence. Nevertheless, on Tuesday Minister Sobotka suggested the bank should "act responsibly" in lieu of the cabinet's plan to kick-off high growth.
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08/24/2004
Thousands of Czechs - including the current line-up for the Czech national hockey team - paid final respects to the late Ivan Hlinka on Tuesday at Prague's Zofin Palace. The charismatic Hlinka, the coach who led the Czech Olympic ice hockey team to victory in Nagano, Japan, in 1998, was killed in a car accident last Monday.
This Tuesday he remembered by his wife, mother, son, and former team mates as well as current players.
Ivan Hlinka was just 54 when he died.
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08/24/2004
Czech football star Pavel Nedved, who plays in the Italian league for Juventus, is expected to return to play for the first time since he suffered a knee injury at Euro 2004 in July. Nedved's team currently faces the Swedish side Djurgarden in the prestigious Champions League. Two weeks ago Juventus was only able to eke-out a 2:2 tie against the Swedish team, so it is expected his return could provide his team with a necessary boost.
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08/23/2004
President Klaus has vetoed a bill on the European arrest warrant. The bill would have made it possible for Czech citizens to be extradited to other EU countries to face trial. The President said that to pass such a bill would mean to hand over a part of the country's sovereignty and its right to protect its citizens. The bill was introduced in some EU states for the first time last year. It is designed to tackle the problem of cross-border crime within the European Union.
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08/23/2004
The Lower House of Parliament is to meet on Tuesday to discuss the government's policy agenda, ahead of a confidence vote in the new administration. Since neither of the two opposition parties are expected to support the government, the coalition will have to rely entirely on its own deputies. Although at present two Social Democrat deputies are in hospital they are expected to be in their benches for the vote itself. With all coalition deputies present the new administration has a slim majority of 101 votes in the 200 seat Lower House.
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08/23/2004
The Speaker of the Lower House Lubomir Zaoralek has called a meeting of all parliamentary party leaders, ahead of Tuesday's debate. They are to discuss a scandal which erupted in Parliament last week when Freedom Union deputy Zdenek Koristka accused the opposition Civic Democrats of offering him a ten million crown bribe to bring down the government in Tuesday's vote.
Mr. Koristka said later he was not the only one approached and he urged other MPs with similar experiences to speak out. The incident has resulted in counter accusations levelled against the Social Democrats, and the Civic Democrats say they will file charges against Mr. Koristka for allegedly spreading lies about them. The Speaker of Parliament said the accusations were a serious blow to Parliament's credibility and should be thoroughly investigated.
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08/23/2004
Ales Sulc, the current head of the interior ministry's security department, is to replace Pavel Pribyl as head of the government's office. Pribyl was forced to resign from the post due to growing public pressure when it emerged that in 1989 he commanded a riot police unit sent to break up anti-communist protests in the streets of Prague. Ales Sulc is a former dissident and signatory of the Charter 77 human rights manifesto. Mr. Sulc has confirmed that he accepted the Prime Minister's offer on Friday. His appointment has yet to be approved by the government.
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08/23/2004
The police have arrested a youth who beat up a doctor called out to attend to an intoxicated man. The emergency medical team was called out to attend to a man who had allegedly collapsed but when they arrived on the spot they found a group of highly intoxicated men - with the alleged patient being merely very drunk. When they were getting back into the ambulance one of the men - a 19 year old - attacked the doctor and smashed the ambulance window. A night watchman who arrived on the scene and attempted to help was injured in the face by bits of flying glass. The doctor suffered concussion and a broken nose. There have been several cases of doctors and ambulance personnel attacked by drunks since the beginning of this year.
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08/22/2004
Freedom Union MP Zdenek Koristka, who says he was offered a bribe by the opposition Civic Democrats to bring down the government, has called on other coalition deputies who have had similar experiences to say so publicly. Mr Koristka says the Civic Democrats offered him 10 million crowns (over 300,000 euros) not to support the government in a vote of confidence on Tuesday.
The party strongly denies the claim, and chairman Mirek Topolanek said he was considering filing slander charges over the matter, which is currently being investigated by the police.
President Vaclav Klaus commented on the issue on Sunday, saying he knew Mr Koristka and did not regard him as completely trustworthy. Mr Klaus said he hoped people would think twice before starting "artificial affairs".
Tuesday's confidence vote will be the first test of the three-party coalition led by Stanislav Gross, which - like the previous government - has a majority of just one seat in the Chamber of Deputies. Two Social Democrat MPs are seriously ill and may not make the vote.
On Sunday, senior Civic Democrat Vlastimil Tlusty said the party would consider "pairing" with one of the ill deputies, Hana Orgonikova, thus cancelling out her lost vote. But he said his party would not pair with Miloslav Vlcek, who has been ill for a long time and had "plenty of time" to resign his seat.
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08/22/2004
The Czech Republic took two silver medals at the Olympic Games in Athens on Sunday. Lenka Smidova came second in the women's Europe sailing category, while a silver medal was also awarded to the Czech men's coxless quadruple sculls comprising Tomas Karas, Jakub Hanak, David Jirka and David Kopriva. This brings the Czech team's tally at Athens to five medals - two silvers and three bronzes.
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