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03/31/2008
The Czech Republic’s foreign debt amounted last year to 1,349 billion CZK (84.2 billion USD). This figure constitutes 37.9 percent of last year’s GDP. The announcement was made by the Czech National Bank on Monday, who added that, year-on-year, Czech foreign debt had risen by 151 billion crowns.
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03/31/2008
In related news, the Czech National Bank announced on Monday that household debt in this country had risen by 9.3 billion CZK (581 million USD) month-on-month in February to 744.4 billion crowns (46.5 billion USD). The statistics were released as part of the central bank’s monthly monetary survey, based on balances supplied by commercial banks, money-market funds and credit unions.
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03/31/2008
People living in Prague 11 are allegedly being bribed to join the opposition Social Democratic party, Hospodářské noviny reported on Monday. According to the newspaper, those from a socially disadvantaged background are being targeted and offered 1500 CZK (94 USD) should they agree to sign up to the party. The head of the Social Democrats in Prague 11, Kosta Dimitrov, denies all allegations. The newspaper claims that those within the party have voiced their bafflement at the unusually high number of new party members within this one Prague district.
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03/31/2008
Interior Minister Ivan Langer unveiled the design of the Czech Republic’s new police cars on Monday, calling the image-change an ‘historic event in the Czech police’s history’. The new cars will hit the country’s roads as early as November 2008, and will be silver, yellow and blue instead of the current green and white. Around 1,400 vehicles have been commissioned by the Interior Ministry, in a deal worth nearly 1.5 billion crowns (94 million USD).
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03/31/2008
Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Slovak prime minister Robert Fico will be in Prague this Wednesday, to celebrate the 130th anniversary of the Czech Social Democrat Party. The head of the Social Democrats, Jiří Paroubek, made the announcement on Monday, adding that the celebrations would offer a chance to reflect, as well as to look forward to the future. Celebrations will take place on Wednesday at Prague’s Žofin Palace. The Social Democrat Party has commissioned a special commemorative medal to mark the occasion.
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03/31/2008
More than 50 percent of Czechs support a smoking ban in restaurants, while 39 percent support such a ban in bars. The figures come from a poll conducted by the CVVM Agency released on Monday. An overwhelming majority of Czechs, some 95 percent, believe that there should be a ban on smoking in theatres, cinemas and public transport, while as few as 24 percent of those polled said that they would support such a ban in open public spaces. The Czech Chamber of Deputies has recently been discussing whether to change the anti-smoking law. A smoking-ban in restaurants could be introduced as part of the overhaul. The bill has, however, been returned to government health committees for further discussion, and thus its future remains unclear.
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03/30/2008
The Czech prime minister, Mirek Topolánek, says he will push for the government to recognise the independence of Kosovo this Wednesday, before he leaves for a NATO summit in Bucharest. In an interview for Hospodařské noviny, he said there was no alternative to recognising the breakaway province now, adding that it would be better to do so before elections in Serbia. However, Mr Topolánek was critical of Kosovo, describing it as a boil on the western Balkans for which there was no good solution. He said the Serbs were traditional partners of the Czechs, and if the Czech Republic did not grant recognition of Kosovo’s independence Czech soldiers there would in effect become an occupying army. He said the only reason Prague would recognise Kosovo was so as not to tarnish relations with partners in the European Union and NATO.
Meanwhile, the Czech foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, said he would not insist on a decision being reached on the matter this Wednesday. He said he would like to give ministers time to consider such an important matter.
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03/30/2008
Speaking on a TV debate programme, Mr Schwarzenberg also said there was no need for Mr Topolánek to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing in August. On Thursday the prime minister said he would ask the cabinet to vote on the issue; following a Chinese crackdown on protesters in Tibet, the question of whether leaders should attend the ceremony has been debated internationally. The Czech minister of education and sport, Ondřej Liška, has said he will not go to Beijing. The Czech president, Václav Klaus, will miss the opening ceremony for health reasons.
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03/30/2008
President Klaus had a meeting with the Russian chess champion and opposition figure Garry Kasparov in Hluboká nad Vltavou, south Bohemia on Sunday. Speaking afterwards, Mr Kasparov said the Czech president had expressed interest in the situation in Russia, adding that the two men had discussed United States plans to build a radar base in central Bohemia; Russia is steadfastly opposed to the idea.
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03/30/2008
Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, said on a visit to Prague on Sunday that his country was also against the planned US radar. He said the project was causing a split in NATO. Mr Fico also said America’s anti missile defence shield was not sufficiently developed and that some of its elements were unreliable.
The Czech Parliament has yet to vote on whether to allow the US to build the base in Brdy, central Bohemia. Minister Schwarzenberg said on Sunday the only outstanding issue in talks with Washington was a Czech demand for a guarantee the US would clean up any potential environmental damage.
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