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05/14/2004
Vaclav Havel has had to cancel his appearance at the opening night of a production of his play Pokuseni, or Temptation, at Prague's Estates Theatre; the former president is suffering from a lung inflammation, the latest bout of a bronchial illness which has been afflicting him for several years. Seven years ago Mr Havel, formerly a heavy smoker, had part of his right lung removed because of cancer.
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05/14/2004
The Communist Party are holding a conference in Ceske Budejovice on Saturday and Sunday, with several senior party posts up for re-election. Miroslav Grebenicek is expected to retain his leadership of the Communist Party, which has recently seen an increase in its support.
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05/13/2004
The Czech government has approved a convergence programme of gradual cuts in public budget deficits and fiscal policy consolidation. The programme is based on a strategy of joining the Euro zone at the end of the decade. The government should submit the programme to the European Commission by mid-May. The Finance Ministry said the programme was a precondition for drawing money from the EU Cohesion Fund.
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05/13/2004
On Thursday the Czech Senate approved a government bill aimed at both lowering unemployment numbers but also improving benefits for those unable to find long-term work. On the one hand the bill, which was approved by 38 out of 70 senators present, will make it difficult for recipients to receive benefits if they refuse, for example, re-qualification training or a medical exam to which they had previously agreed. At the same time, under the new bill, those on unemployment will be allowed to earn up to half the minimum wage without losing unemployment benefits.
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05/13/2004
Also on Thursday: the Chamber of Deputies passed a bill amendment that it will make it easier for Czech couples to adopt newborns by speeding up the adoption process. The amendment, put forward by the Christian Democrats, allows for mothers to consent - shortly after delivery - to their child's adoption. Until now mothers who wanted to put their child up for adoption could only give consent after six weeks, which according to critics caused delays and drew-out court proceedings. By quickening the adoption process the bill's supporters hope that new-borns up for adoption will be able to get to their adoptive families with less delay.
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05/13/2004
In related news: on Thursday the Chamber of Deputies also approved legislation enabling women to give birth in full anonymity, which supporters hope will reduce the number of abortions in the country. If the bill is passed by the Senate and signed by the president, the medical records of women requesting anonymity could be accessed only under a court order; also, their name would not appear on their child's birth certificate. The overall aim of the bill is to deter women pregnant with an unwanted child, from seeking abortions or even abandoning or murdering the child. Every year the Czech Republic sees several cases of newborns, found either abandoned or dead.
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05/12/2004
At their meeting in the Czech Republic on Wednesday, the prime ministers of the Visegrad Four countries agreed to continue cooperating within the grouping even as EU member states. The Visegrad group is a loose economic alliance of four Central European states - the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. It was established thirteen years ago in an effort to strengthen regional contacts and fill the void which emerged after the collapse of the Soviet block. Some commentators say the alliance has become obsolete with the enlargement of the EU, but the prime ministers of the four states said today that maintaining the existing contacts would prove advantageous for all concerned and better enable them to defend their economic interests within the European Union.
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05/12/2004
The EU's executive commission has placed six of the newly admitted EU member states, including the Czech Republic, under increased financial surveillance because their public deficits currently exceed EU limits. However the commission said it would be benevolent and was according the six new members several years to bring their deficits in line with the provisions of the 1997 Stability and Growth Pact. The Pact requires members of the European Union to hold their annual deficits to less than three percent of output.
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05/12/2004
Laboratory tests have confirmed an eleventh case of mad cow disease in the Czech Republic. The infected animal came from a farm in the Cesky Krumlov region, southern Bohemia. The head of the State Veterinary Office said all the necessary precautions were being taken. Since in this case the infected animal was a breeding bull there will be no need to slaughter all the cattle from the same herd.
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05/11/2004
The prime ministers of the Visegrad Four countries are due to meet at Komeriz castle in the east of the Czech Republic on Wednesday. It will be the first time the leaders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland have held formal talks since all four countries joined the European Union on May 1. A spokesman for the Czech government said the main issue at the meeting would be the future role of the regional grouping, 13 years after it was established. Some commentators say the alliance has become obsolete with the enlargement of the EU.
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