News

The British newspaper The Guardian has reported that European leaders including Germany’s Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy were “incensed” over a letter the head of the British Conservative Party David Cameron sent to Czech President Václav Klaus. The move, taken in September, was seen as a clear attempt to delay and help scupper the EU’s Lisbon treaty. The criticism by the EU leaders, the daily reported, came to a head at the EU summit in Brussels.

The Czech President Václav Klaus said on Friday he would raise no further conditions for the treaty’s ratification, after the EU granted the Czech Republic an opt-out on the treaty’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. The move means Mr Klaus could sign after the Czech Constitutional Court issues a ruling on a final complaint next week. The British Conservative Party itself is now moving away from earlier plans to hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty, The Guardian reported. The Czech Republic is the only country remaining to ratify the document, which reforms the running of the 27-member bloc.

The legendary Czech theatre Semafor celebrated its 50th birthday in style on Friday evening with a gala concert featuring Semafor songs and hits. On hand were stars associated with the theatre such as Eva Pilarová, Pavlína Filipovská and Karel Štědrý. The two-hour event was hosted by two of Semafor’s most well-known entertainers, Jitka Molavcová and Jiří Suchý. Over the course of the evening, they and other Semafor members paid tribute to the famous theatre and remembered departed members such as Waldemar Matuška, who died earlier this year.

The D2 highway in the direction from Brno to Bratislava was blocked for two hours on Saturday following a crash involving a 30-year-old motorcyclist and an automobile driver. The motorcyclist suffered serious head injuries in the accident and lost consciousness. He was transported to hospital, suspected of suffering internal bleeding.

The Czech government has issued a statement saying that the opt-out from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights granted to the Czech Republic by EU leaders on Thursday will not put Czech citizens at a disadvantage or in any way put their rights at risk. The statement comes in response to suggestions that the opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights demanded by President Vaclav Klaus would in future prevent Czech citizens from defending their rights in European courts of law.

The opt-out, similar to those granted to Britain and Poland, was approved as a last-minute concession to Czech President Václav Klaus who refused to sign the Lisbon treaty without guarantees that it would not allow ethnic Germans forced out of the former Czechoslovakia after World War II to reclaim their property. The president says he is satisfied with the arrangement but there have been mixed reactions from the country’s political parties.