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08/31/2009
Former presidential candidate Jan Švejnar has definitively rejected a nomination by the Christian Democrats to become the new Czech EU commissioner, party leader Cyril Svoboda told reporters on Monday. Although Mr Švejnar originally accepted the nomination, he later changed his mind realizing the controversy that is likely to break out over the post, which must be approved by all parties.
The new Czech EU commissioner, who will replace Vladimír Špidla, will most likely be appointed after the elections. According to some diplomats, this will narrow the negotiation options about the commissioner’s portfolio.
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08/31/2009
The Social Democrats lead the polls ahead of October’s early general election with an estimated gain of 29 percent of the votes, according to a survey by the STEM agency released on Monday. They are followed by the Civic Democrats with 24.1 percent, the Communists with 11.2 percent and the new party TOP 09 that would receive 6.8 percent of the vote. The only other party that would cross the five-percent threshold to get into the Chamber of Deputies are the Christian Democrats with 5.7 percent of the vote. The agency said the survey also included the preferences of undecided voters as well as of those who said they would not vote for any party in the upcoming election.
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08/31/2009
The Czech Prime Minister, Jan Fischer, is scheduled to meet with members of the Czech scientific community on Monday for a new debate on science and research funding. The Czech Academy of Sciences has recently staged several protests against a planned 50 percent cut in funding over the next three years, while Czech universities said that any drop in state subsidies would dramatically decrease the quality of education. Monday’s round table will also be attended by Education Minister Miroslava Kopicová and the head of the Confederation of Czech Industry. Jaroslav Míl.
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08/31/2009
The head of the Finance Ministry’s international legal department, Radek Šnábl, resigned on Monday over the fact that in April, he received a two year suspended sentence for tax fraud. Radek Šnábl said he had tendered his resignation to the then finance minister, Miroslav Kalousek, shortly after the verdict was announced but Mr Kalousek did not accept it. Mr Šnajbl represented the state in several international arbitration disputes. He has signed a non-competition clause that he would not work against the Finance Ministry.
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08/31/2009
The Social Democrats, whose campaign trail stop in Český Krumlov, southern Bohemia, on Sunday was disrupted by a group of people with sirens and fireworks, said on Monday the incident was a breach of the law. Social Democrat leader Jiří Paroubek said that people with “ideological links” to the Civic Democrats and TOP 09 were behind the disturbance while the party’s South Bohemian ballot leader, Vítězslav Jandák, compared them to the Nazi SA troops. While both rival parties have denied responsibility, the police are investigating the incident as a misdemeanour.
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08/31/2009
At least 68 people have died on Czech roads in August, which is the lowest number for the month in five years, according to preliminary police figures. More than 6,000 road accidents were registered in August, which was about 50 percent less than in the previous year. Police say the drop is due to a lower damage cap for reporting road accidents introduced this year.
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08/30/2009
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be closing between five and ten Czech embassies and consulates as a cost cutting measure. Speaking to Czech Television on Sunday, Foreign Affairs Minister Jan Kohout said the embassies in question had not yet been chosen, however they would be places where the Czech diplomats “do not see a great deal of added value”. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs closed six consulates and embassies in recent years, reportedly saving 120 million crowns. Mr Kohout said the choice of which diplomatic centres to close would depend on the final version of the 2010 budget, which is currently being discussed by the government.
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08/30/2009
Czech Finance Minister Eduard Janota signed a bilateral agreement on Saturday with the Republic of Georgia for support and protection of mutual investments. The treaty is the culmination of several years of negotiation between the two countries and establishes the legal basis for the investment activities of each state, and protects investments from illegitimate encroachments on the part of either country’s institutions. The agreement also opens the door to Czech companies interested in working in the energy and health care sectors in the former Soviet republic. Mr Janota’s delegation was in the Georgian capital three days, during which time the interim finance minister also held talks with Georgian Prime Minister Nikoloz Gilauri and met with President Mikheil Saakashvili.
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08/30/2009
Upon returning from Georgia Finance Minister Janota presented two alternative budget plans for 2010 to an informal meeting of the government Sunday. One proposal anticipates a record budget deficit of 230 billion crowns, while the other, promoted by the caretaker government, includes legal amendments intended to decrease the deficit to 160 billion. Mr Janota has said however he does not expect the government’s proposal to pass through parliament. The government proposal would see an increase in VAT rates and an increased tax on automobile fuels, as well as cuts to budget expenditures of 40 billion crowns. While not rejecting the proposal, the leaders of the Czech Republic’s two largest political parties have said that they do not want to make any amendments to existing budgetary legislation.
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08/30/2009
The president of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, was awarded honorary citizenship on Saturday at his place of birth, Smilovice, near the north-eastern Czech-Polish border. The former Polish prime minister was born in Smilovice in 1940 and moved to Poland five years later, after the village was re-annexed by Czechoslovakia. Mr Buzek became president of the European Parliament in mid July, becoming the first person from a post-communist country to hold the position. He was the prime minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001
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