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06/16/2008
Czech President Václav Klaus will not be meeting his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy during the latter’s visit to Prague on Monday. In a letter to the French head of state, Mr Klaus made his apologies but cited his current state of health following a recent hip-replacement operation. In the letter, President Klaus extended an invitation to Mr Sarkozy, calling on him to make a formal state visit at a later date. He said that the last such French presidential visit took place over 11 years ago, meaning, he said, it was high time for another French delegation to be received at Prague Castle.
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06/16/2008
The Czech Republic is interested in buying more works of art from the Liechtenstein collections which formerly decorated the Valtice and Lednice chateaux, the head of the National Heritage Institute has said. According to manager Zdeněk Musil, the heritage institute has asked the Culture Ministry for some seven million crowns (449,000 USD) in order to buy back Old Master paintings previously on display in the chateaux when they go up for auction in London next month. The Czech state has just bought 13 million crowns worth of furniture from the Liechtenstein’s collection in order to refurnish the two chateaux in question. The heritage institute has said that it is interested in a total of 15 paintings.
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06/16/2008
In business news, the national debt fell in the first quarter of this year by 32.2 billion CZK to just over 860 billion CZK (55 billion USD). According to the Finance Ministry, this represents a debt worth 84,000 CZK per each Czech citizen. The national debt is made up of direct loans from other countries and various European investment banks. In 2007, the national debt actually rose by 90 billion CZK to nearly 900 billion CZK (57.7 billion USD). The Czech Republic has been told to monitor its national debt closely as a step towards euro adoption.
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06/16/2008
Czech coach Karel Brückner has said that his team ‘collapsed’ in the last 15 minutes of their group A match against Turkey in Geneva on Sunday, putting an end to the Czechs’ Euro 2008 hopes. The Czechs were leading 2:0 until the 75th minute of the game when Turkey scored to get back into the match. According to Brückner, his team were then unable to ‘cope’ with the pressure – an error by goalkeeper Petr Čech allowed Turkish captain Nihat to level the scores three minutes before the end. And then, in the final minute, Nihat scored a second, sealing the Czechs fate. The match was Karel Brückner’s final game in charge - he announced he would be standing down after the European football championships earlier this year. Turkey now join Portugal in the quarter-finals of the competition, where they will play the winners of group B.
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06/15/2008
Czech president Václav Klaus is a lone voice among the EU leaders with his stance that Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon treaty means the end of the project, BBC has reported. According to BBC, the Czech president’s views will probably resonate with many European voters who didn’t get a say in a referendum. While most EU countries top politicians have expressed their support for the continuation of the ratification process even after the Irish rejected the treaty, Mr Klaus has welcomed the decision, calling it “the victory of freedom and reason over artificial elitist projects and European bureaucracy.”
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06/15/2008
The Green Party threatened to leave the coalition in case Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek didn’t fulfil his promise not to transform the teaching hospitals into joint-stock companies. The party made the statement at the meeting of the national council on Saturday. The Chamber of Deputies last week voted down a bill aimed at blocking the transformation of teaching hospitals into joint-stock companies, a proposal put forward by shadow health minister David Rath. Prior to the move, Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek promised that neither the health ministry nor the government would transform the hospitals into joint-stock firms.
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06/15/2008
The national council of the Green Party criticised their ministers at their meeting on Saturday for supporting the Czech-US treaty on the planned US radar base on Czech soil. The party’s national council said the Environment minister Martin Bursík and Minister for human rights and minorities Džamila Stehlíková acted at variance with the congress resolution. According to unofficial information, Education Minister Ondřej Liška was the only Green cabinet member to abstain from the vote on the radar base.
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06/15/2008
Social Democrat deputy chairman Bohuslav Sobotka is against the sale of Prague's Ruzyně airport operator Letiště Praha. Speaking in a televised debate on Sunday, Mr Sobotka said the government should either lease the airport for a long period of time or it should only sell part of the company. Prague mayor Pavel Bém, on the other hand, argues that direct sell-off of the whole share in a tender would raise the chances of getting a good price. The government decided in June to sell the whole company to a strategic partner.
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06/15/2008
Prices of flats in the Czech Republic increased by 5.6 percent year-on-year in the fist quarter of this year, according to the latest data published by the Czech Statistical Office. The price growth slowed down a bit in the capital, with prices increasing by 4 percent, but accelerated in the rest of the country. The average price of a new flat last year stood at about 20,500 crowns per square metre (1,300 US dollars).
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06/15/2008
Around one hundred far-right extremists gathered in the north Bohemian town of Děčín on Saturday. The demonstration was officially announced as a protest against legalization of drugs. The group marched from the railway station to the city centre, carrying black flags and banners. The march was accompanied by several dozen police officers to prevent clashes with anarchists. Three people were detained on the grounds of disturbing public peace. The event had been approved by the town authorities.
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