News

A team of experts has failed to reach a final decision on approving plans by architect Jan Kaplický for a new National Library building. The team announced on Wednesday that it would refer the matter to the Office for the Protection of Competition to ascertain whether an architectural contest to come up with a design for the building was conducted in a proper and fair manner.

Kaplicky’s building, which has been nicknamed “The Blob” because of its outlandish futuristic appearance, has proven highly controversial since it was initially chosen for the planned new National Library building on Prague’s Letná Plain last year. It is not clear when a final decision on the building will now be made. Architect Jan Kaplický has since said that he will take the matter to an international court if it is not resolved soon.

The Czech Supreme Court suspended the ultra-right Republican Party of Miroslav Sládek on Wednesday. The court made the decision because the party failed to submit its annual financial reports to the lower house of parliament for the years 2004 to 2006, which is obligatory for all political parties.

The Republican Party of Miroslav Sládek – headed by the populist politician of the same name – is the successor to the populist Czechoslovak Republican Party, which was represented in the Czech parliament in the 1990s on a platform espousing nationalistic and xenophobic views. The ruling means that the party cannot be actively involved in politics for a year and it will be banned forever if it fails to get its affairs in order within the next 12 months. The motion for the party’s suspension was filed at the court by the Czech government.

The former head of the Czech police’s organized crime squad Jan Kubice has set up his own private security agency, Czech daily Lidove noviny reports. According to the paper, the agency will specialize in information and intelligence gathering activities.

Mr Kubice came to prominence as the author of a report that claimed that organized crime had infiltrated the Czech civil service. The so-called “Kubice Report” was hugely controversial as the Social Democratic Party, which was in power at the time of its publication just before the general election in June 2006, claimed it had been fabricated to damage their election chances. Mr Kubice left the police force at the end of January.

The Czech interior minister, Ivan Langer, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States which is the first step towards the Czech Republic being included in the US visa-waiver programme. Though not legally binding, the memorandum paves the way for a full deal between the two countries. US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, who co-signed the document in Washington, said if all went well Czechs would be able to travel to the States without a visa from the end of October or the beginning of November this year. However, to do so they will have to provide US authorities with personal data via the internet before being allowed to enter the country. The information in question is in line with an agreement reached between the US and the EU last year, the website Aktualne.cz reported.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, who also took part in the signing ceremony, said it was an historical moment; he said the agreement represented the fulfilment of a dream for generations of Czechs.