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05/29/2003
The government is to launch the final stage of its campaign to encourage citizens to take part in the referendum on joining the European Union in two weeks' time. The final stage will be launched on Sunday, with a series of adverts on television. Most Czechs are in favour of their country joining the EU, but public apathy has raised fears of a low turnout in the referendum. The existing government campaign has been criticised by the opposition and President Klaus as superficial and naïve.
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05/29/2003
Meanwhile a concert in support of EU membership planned for Prague's Old Town Square has been cancelled, after councillors on the opposition-controlled council decided not to allow the event. They said the concert, to be opened by former President Vaclav Havel, would be too loud. Prague City Council is controlled by the opposition Civic Democrats. The party supports EU membership, but says it's opposed to further European integration.
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05/29/2003
President Klaus met diplomats from around a dozen Arab countries on Thursday at a lunch hosted by the Saudi Arabian embassy. The diplomats included representatives of Syria, Egypt, Libya and the Palestinian territories.
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05/28/2003
The government has approved a plan recommending that up to 400 Czech soldiers participate in a multi-national stabilisation force in Iraq to help maintain the peace. The recommended include personnel from the Czech 7th field hospital, as well as 50 military police officers and 15 soldiers form the CIMIC unit for civil-military co-operation. On Wednesday government spokeswoman Anna Starkova said the government had also approved measures for the protection of Czech employees from the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Post-War Iraq. Both measures will still have to be approved by Parliament.
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05/28/2003
The Czech government has called upon Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda, along with Trade and Industry Minister Milan Urban, to appeal to the European Commission on behalf of the Trinec Steelworks. The government would like to see the troubled steelworks receive public funds for needed re-structuralisation. According to Minister Milan Urban the Trinec steelworks should be added to a list of recipient steel companies that include Nova Hut, Vitkovice, and Valcovny Frydek-Mistek. In the minister's view the addition of Trinec to the list would divide EU funds already pledged, which some sources say amount to 150 million euros.
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05/28/2003
The deputy to the country's public ombudsman Anna Sabatova has revealed that public ombudsman Otakar Motejl is in hospital. The ombudsman was reportedly taken to hospital on Tuesday suffering from fever; details are not known. He had been scheduled to speak in the lower house on Wednesday, to give a report on recent office dealings, which in the end was provided by Mr Motejl's deputy Ms Sabatova. Otakar Motejl is 71, a former chairman of the Supreme Court, as well as former minister of justice in the previous minority government.
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05/27/2003
Agriculture Minster Jaroslav Palas has said the Czech Republic supports European Union Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler's proposals to reform the EU's farm policy. Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, Mr Palas added, however, that it was necessary to make clear how the reforms would affect new member countries. The Czech Republic is set to join the EU in May next year, subject to a referendum in three weeks time.
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05/26/2003
The President of the UN General Assembly Jan Kavan has rejected calls for him to resign in connection with a scandal concerning classified documents at the Czech foreign ministry. Classified documents which were believed to have been shredded under the former foreign minister Jan Kavan have unexpectedly come to light. During his ministerial term Mr. Kavan reportedly signed orders for some 400 documents classified top secret to be shredded. Two thirds of them have unexpectedly come to light. The materials in question allegedly include NATO documents. Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda told the CTK press agency it was not clear whether the act was intentional or simply a matter of gross negligence, but he said that in any case the incident had damaged the country's reputation. Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has reportedly asked the National Security Office to look into the matter.
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05/26/2003
Attending a NATO Parliament conference in Prague, NATO Secretary General George Robertson said that the EU's emerging defense force and NATO will be "two sides of the same coin" with "no inconsistency". One example, he said was a Czech bio-chemical warfare detection battalion which had been requested last week by NATO and the United States and which would also be able to accept EU defense assignments. Many units would be complementary since the EU and NATO would not necessarily need them at the same time, Mr. Robertson said, addressing the question of how EU states could finance two defense structures.
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05/25/2003
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Prague has said the U.N. should play an important role in the reconstruction of Iraq. Members of the Assembly, representing the 19 NATO countries, said a new U.N. Security Council resolution would help stabilise the country. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999, and last year hosted the first ever NATO summit to be held in the former Soviet bloc.
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