News

Leading Civic Democrat and Deputy Prime Minister Vlastimil Tlustý has suggested that the government’s church restitution plan may be illegal. The comments represent a serious blow to the government plan to compensate the church for confiscated property under the communist regime. The proposals were pushed by the coalition Christian Democrats and highlight continued infighting within the fractious coalition. Specifically, Mr Tlustý stated in an interview with Czech Television that the way the government had calculated the property or financial compensation which the church is set to receive is against the principles which underpin the concept of restitution and may be illegal. Mr Tlustý has been a consistent critic of the current plan, last week joining forces with the opposition Social Democrats and several other Civic Democrat MPs to put the brakes on the proposals as they currently stand.

The Czech Culture Minister Václav Jehlička has stated that there is no money to build the controversial new national library designed by Jan Kaplický. He noted that 1.9 billion Czech crowns are available for the building, while Kaplický’s design would cost around four billion crowns. Speaking in an interview on Czech Television, Mr Jehlička stated that he could not approve a project for which there was no money. Critics have noted that the delays in building the library have themselves increased the potential costs. The comments by the Culture Minister represent another blow for the prospects of the controversial “blob” as it has been nicknamed, ever being built.

A Boeing 737 was forced to make an emergency landing on Saturday evening after a stray bird was sucked into one of its engines. Following takeoff, the plane circled above Brno before landing with only one engine functioning. Around 80 people were on board. The plane, bound for Britain’s Stanstead airport was then held at the airport overnight. Passengers finally took off for London on Saturday. Brno airport has stated that the incident was not particularly serious.

Skiers in the mountainous northern Czech resort of Špindlerův Mlýn have been enjoying their very last day of skiing in what has proven to be a surprisingly long season. Although the winter was mild, temperatures proved ideal for skiing, with the last suitable snow surviving in the Krkonoše mountains up to May. Last year, there were 115 skiing days, this year 150. However, mountaineers in the area remain keen to point out that this is largely due to new systems for mechanically preparing the slopes which were used for the first time this year. The skiing season will finally conclude after Sunday’s skiing.