News

A prison escapee is dead and his wife severely injured after a shoot-out with the police. The couple was hiding in a small village near Strakonice, southern Bohemia. The 43-year-old man died on site while his wife was severely injured; she was taken to a hospital in Plzeň in critical condition though doctors say she is now out of danger. An autopsy carried out on the man has reportedly revealed that his head wound was not caused by a police weapon.

The safe-breaker and repeat offender was sentenced to five years earlier this month. His wife helped him escape during a trip to the hospital on Tuesday after she opened fire on his guards.

The threat of a transit strike in Prague was apparently averted Thursday afternoon as trade union officials reached a preliminary agreement with the municipal government’s crisis team. The details of the agreement were not revealed, however both the unions and Prague mayor Pavel Bém are reportedly satisfied with the course of negotiations. The Prague transport authority’s trade unions have demanded, among other things, that the city cover the company’s operational loss of 1.9 billion crowns, or more than 112 million US dollars.

A survey published by the polling agency STEM suggests that a majority of Czechs consider the Velvet Revolution to be significant not only to today but in the whole of modern Czech history. Perception of the event differed widely in the poll among different political sympathies, with supporters of the Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party more reluctant to assess the events of 1989.According to the poll, most people are also of the opinion that the Civic Forum’s 1990 slogan “Back to Europe” has been fulfilled. 43 percent of people believe that the post-revolution era is among the best in Czech history.

The European Commission on Wednesday urged the Czech Republic to avoid excessive budget expenditures in the coming years. The commission also set down the year 2013 as a benchmark for the Czech Republic to lower its budget deficit to three percent of the gross domestic product. The European Commission warned that if Prague fails to do so, it might face sanctions.

The Czech Finance Minister, Eduard Janota, said that the recommendation was an unambiguous message to Czech politicians to take fiscal issues seriously. This year, the state budget deficit is expected to reach some 163 billion crowns, which is about 5.3 percent of the country’s GDP.