News

The Senate is to start debating a constitutional change to the election law which would open the way to direct presidential elections. There is general agreement across the board that this should be done but there is still controversy over whether the president’s mandate should be broader once the head of state is elected by the people. Several amendments are being proposed. Opinion surveys indicate that the majority of Czechs want to elect their president in a direct vote. However making the change will not be easy. All constitutional changes must be approved by three fifth of deputies in the lower house and three fifth of senators.

The Czech prime minister, Mirek Topolánek, is making a three-day visit to the Olympic Games in Beijing next month. However, Mr Topolánek told reporters he would arrive on August 13, meaning he will miss the opening ceremony, which takes place five days earlier. The Czech cabinet had recommended that the prime minister stay away from the opening following a violent Chinese crackdown on Tibet earlier this year. Mr Topolánek said on Tuesday he had accepted an invitation from the Czech Olympic Committee to support the country’s athletes in Beijing.

An audit that seemed to clear controversial politician Jiří Čunek of corruption has not actually been completed. The website tyden.cz reported that 700 pages of information about his personal finances had not been supplied by Mr Čunek to the US agency investigating his books. Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg – who threatened to quit the cabinet if the Christian Democrats leader was not exonerated – said the audit would continue. Mr Schwarzenberg told the newspaper Lidové noviny on Tuesday that he had also ordered an audit into the work of the police and the state attorney’s office in connection with Mr Čunek. The latter resigned as deputy prime minister and minister for regional development in November because of an investigation into allegations that he took a bribe while he was mayor of a town in Moravia. When the state attorney definitively halted that probe he returned to cabinet. Jiří Čunek has been involved in a series of controversies, including over seemingly racist comments he made about Romanies.

A coach driver who caused a crash in which 20 people died has been denied an early release from prison. A court in Brno refused Pavel Krbec’s petition to be freed half-way through an eight-year jail term. The judge said the driver had not shown remorse for causing the accident which occurred in south Bohemia in March 2003.