News

In an interview with French paper Le Monde on Saturday, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said that he did not agree with the way his country had been portrayed in the European press in the last week, saying that Czechs were no more eurosceptic than any other nation in Europe. Mr Schwarzenberg said that President Klaus may be known abroad for his euroscepticism, but it was not the president, it was the government, which decided upon foreign policy. The Czech foreign minister said he was wary of Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans to increase the power of the Eurogroup during the Czech Republic’s EU presidency – saying that any move which split the union up into ‘old Europe’ and ‘New Europe’ could not lead to overall solidarity.

In sport, former Zenit Saint Petersburg coach Vlastimil Petrželka has been admitted to a gambling addiction clinic after losing a total of 1.8 million euros, according to the news website idnes.cz. The 55-year-old Czech coached the Russian champions from 2003 to 2006 before being replaced by Dick Avocaat. His ex-wife told idnes.cz that Petrželka had “found the courage to resolve his problem”, adding that the former Sparta star wanted to return to coaching in the near future.

Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek has cancelled his visit to the United States, planned for next week, due to political turmoil within his own party, the Civic Democrats. Mr Topolánek, who was to meet with US President George W. Bush during his visit, has come under pressure following his party’s crushing defeat in regional elections last weekend. In an attempt to get the situation in his party under control, Mr Topolánek invited one of his rivals, Petr Bendl, one of the former regional governors voted out of office last week, to join the cabinet. However Mr. Bendl declined the offer. The Prime Minister also criticized President Václav Klaus, the founder of the Civic Democrats and the party’s honorary chairman, for interfering in party politics, after the president publicly backed Mr Topolánek’s critics. Mr Topolánek will defend his position as party leader at the Civic Democrat congress due to take place in December.

A court in Brno sentenced several people to years in prison on Friday in a shocking case of child abuse. Klára Mauerová, the mother of two boys abused and tortured in an attempt to alter their personalities and make them docile, was sentenced to nine years; her sister and the boys’ aunt Kateřina, received a 10-year jail sentence. Barbora Škrlová, a 33-year-old family friend who posed as a 13-year-old, got five years. Three more persons, who participated in the bizarre case, were also given prison sentences. The abuse was discovered 18 months ago in the town of Kuřim, near Brno in Moravia. While the court had enough evidence of severe child abuse, the motive remains unclear.