• Czech Constitutional Court starts assessment of Lisbon Treaty
    05/29/2008

    The Czech Constitutional Court has started its assessment of the Lisbon Treaty, Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra said on Wednesday. The deputy prime minister said that he expected the court to make its final decision on the constitutionality of the treaty by this autumn. According to Mr Vondra, the Czech government supports the Lisbon Treaty, which sets down a new framework for the European Union and the way it is run. But, he said, the cabinet is not ruling out the possibility that the treaty will not be ratified by the end of the year. All EU member states must ratify the treaty for it to take effect. According to factions within the government, the Czech Republic’s delayed ratification of the treaty could lead to it being viewed as a ‘problem-state’ by other EU members.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

  • Council meeting interrupted by demonstrating artists
    05/29/2008

    A meeting of Prague councilors was disrupted on Thursday when artists, unhappy with the way that culture is funded in the Czech capital, stormed Prague City Hall. The protest marks the end of a week of events titled ‘Dny neklidu’ (‘The Days of Unrest’), during which hundreds of artists demonstrated against what they considered to be flaws in the current arts’ funding system. Protesters were particularly unhappy with the way Prague’s theatres are funded, and the blanket ticket subsidies currently in place. In light of today’s upheaval at City Hall, councilors said that they were unwilling to change their stance on culture funding.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

  • Greens want referendum on direct presidential elections
    05/29/2008

    Head of the Greens Martin Bursík has said that his party has drafted plans for a referendum which would allow Czechs to decide on how their president should be elected. Currently the president is elected indirectly – by lawmakers in the Czech Senate and Lower House. According to Mr Bursík, the majority of lawmakers favour switching to direct presidential election, which would leave the decision up to the electorate. Mr Bursík said, however, that up until now, parliamentarians have been unable to agree on how to switch from indirect to direct presidential elections. He said that he was raising the issue now so that something could potentially be done before the end of the government’s term in office in 2010.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

  • Passer to head the main jury at Karlovy Vary Film Festival
    05/29/2008

    Czech scriptwriter and film director Ivan Passer will chair the main jury at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival this year, it was announced on Thursday. A spokesperson for the festival said that both Petr Zelenka’s film The Karamazovs, and Michaela Pavlatová’s Children of the Night would be representing the Czech Republic in the feature-film competition. The competition jury will also include British actress Brenda Blethyn, Isreali film-maker Ari Folman and US producer Ted Hope.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

  • Czechs gamble on average 12,900 crowns each in 2007
    05/29/2008

    Czechs spent some 108.3 billion CZK (6.7 billion USD) on the lottery and other forms of gambling last year, suggest statistics released by the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday. This figure was 10.2 billion crowns (635 million USD) higher than that of 2006. According to the ministry, the amount Czechs spend on gambling has more than quadrupled in the last 15 years. Each Czech flutters on average some 12,900 CZK (802 USD) a year. According to analysts, the sharp rise in the amount wagered can be attributed to a rise in living standards and income in the Czech Republic over the last couple of years.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

  • Singer Gott becomes a father for the fourth time
    05/29/2008

    The king of Czech pop, Karel Gott, has just become a father for the fourth time. On Thursday afternoon, his wife Ivana gave birth to a healthy baby girl, which the couple named Nelly Sofia Gottová. Nelly Sofia weighed 3.16 kg at birth and measured 49 centimeters, a spokesperson for the couple said. The baby girl is the couple’s second – her older sister Charlotte Ella is now two years of age. This is Gott’s fourth daughter, Nelly Sofia joins not only Charlotte Ella, but also Dominika and Lucie, children from previous relationships who are now both grown up.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

  • Jankulovski voted Czech Footballer of the Year 2007
    05/29/2008

    AC Milan defender Marek Jankulovski was named Czech Footballer of the Year for the first time on Wednesday. The 31-year-old won the Champions League, European Super Cup and Club World Cup with his Italian side last year and was a pillar of the Czech national team in their successful Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. Jankulovski, who is the first defender to win the award in 17 years, beat Chelsea’s goalkeeper Petr Čech, who won the award in 2005. Arsenal midfielder Tomáš Rosický was third.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

  • Two fired over Lithuania-Latvia football mix-up
    05/29/2008

    The Czech Football Association has fired two press officers for confusing Lithuania with Latvia during a Czech-Lithuania friendly in Prague on Tuesday. The match organizers played the Latvian national anthem and flew the Lithuanian flag upside down. In the programme, the organizers printed the Latvian flag instead of the Lithuanian one. The Czechs went on to win the match 2-0.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

  • Football: Patrik Berger to return to Sparta
    05/29/2008

    Thirty-four-year-old former Czech international Patrik Berger is to return to the Czech Republic next season, to play for his very first club, Sparta Prague. The footballer made the statement at a press conference on Thursday, adding that he had signed a two-year contract with this year’s runners-up in the Gambrinus Liga. Berger has been playing club football abroad now for 17 years, the last ten of which he has spent in England. The player said he was leaving Aston Villa and the English Premier League for family reasons.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

  • Health care fees do not contradict constitution, rules court
    05/28/2008

    Health care fees introduced by the centre-right government do not contradict the Czech constitution, the Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday. However, a provision under which patients receive no health insurance payment for the first three days of an illness has been declared illegal. The opposition Social Democrats had taken the case, arguing that fees implemented in January were unconstitutional. Both the Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and Health Minister Tomáš Julínek testified during the court hearing. Reacting to Wednesday’s verdict, the latter said he regarded it as a mandate to continue with the reform process.

    Czechs have to pay CZK 30 (almost USD 2) per visit to the doctor’s, and twice that amount per day spent in hospital, under health reforms introduced at the start of the year. They are one plank of a broader reform programme which also takes in the social welfare and taxation systems.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

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