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05/12/2009
Czech unemployment rose to 7.9 percent in April from March’s 7.7 percent, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs announced on Tuesday. The latest rise takes the jobless total to just over 445,000. April’s jump was bigger than most analysts expected and is the highest rate since April 2007. They warn that the unemployment total will creep up to around 9.0 percent by the end of the year.
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05/12/2009
The Catholic Church has lodged a complaint over the Supreme Court’s March decision that the state is the rightful owner of Prague’s St. Vitus’ Cathedral. The complaint alleges that the procedures leading to the decision were unfair. The move is the latest round in a long-running legal battle between church and state over the famous landmark. Prague’s cathedral, which is both a religious symbol and an historic symbol of the Czech kingdom and state, is the most visited cathedral in the country and home of the Czech crown jewels.
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05/12/2009
Czech industrial output fell for the sixth time in a row in March on a 12-month basis, but the pace slowed down to 17 percent from 23.4 percent in February, official data showed on Tuesday. On a monthly basis, output slid by 0.2 percent. Car production continued to decrease with a 14.3 percent fall on the year, metal production fell by 32.1 percent and machinery output dropped by 26.1 percent. Poland, Hungary and Slovakia have also reported slower declines in industrial output for March, indicating that the worst of the crisis is over.
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05/12/2009
The 64th Prague International Spring music festival was launched on Tuesday with a commemoration ceremony at the grave of Czech composer Bedřich Smetana at Prague’s Vyšehrad cemetary. This year’s festival offers more than 50 concerts and eight theatrical presentations. Star performers include Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez, American mezzo soprano Susan Graham and Czech soprano Martina Janková. The festival lasts until June 3.
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05/12/2009
In football, František Straka has been named the new national manager in a surprise move by the country’s federation. Straka takes over from Petr Rada who was sacked in April after winning just two of his six World Cup qualification games. That left the Czech Republic with a mountain to climb and the fiery 50 year old now charged with leading that assault. Straka has a mixed managerial record. He managed Teplice between 2002 and 2004 followed by a stint in charge of his beloved Sparta Prague. He picked up the Czech Cup with both. Most recently he has taken charge at a series of small clubs abroad. He was sacked at the latest of these after a series of eight games without a win in the Greek league.
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05/11/2009
The new Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer will visit EU headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday in a bid to shore up confidence in his country's EU presidency, following a change-of-guard in Prague. The interim prime minister will meet with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, employment commissioner Vladimir Špidla and Belgian's Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy. Mr. Fischer has repeatedly stressed that his interim government would do its utmost to ensure a smooth transition and fulfill the country’s role as EU leader.
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05/11/2009
The Czech EU presidency says that a normalization of EU-Cuban relations should be conditioned by respect for human rights on the island. Following a meeting with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriques in Brussels, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout said it was important to maintain pressure on Havana to respect human rights. He said that when the EU delegation inquired about the health of political prisoners in Cuba, they had been told there were no political prisoners on the island. Despite this, the block’s development commissioner Luis Michel is pushing for the EU to normalize relations with Cuba as swiftly as possible on the grounds that the US is doing the same.
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05/11/2009
The Czech president and the Senate are engaged in a war of words over the ratification of the Lisbon treaty in the Czech upper chamber last week. Shortly after the vote, President Klaus said the treaty’s ratification was a failure by the country’s political elite to defend Czech interests. On Monday Senate chairman Přemysl Sobotka hit back, reminding the Czech president that the upper chamber was a sovereign legislative body to which Mr. Klaus owed his reelection as head of state. Earlier, Senate Deputy Chairwoman Alena Gajdušková voiced the opinion that impeachment proceedings could be started against the president if he failed to respect Parliament’s decision and sign the Lisbon treaty. Mr. Klaus has made it clear he would not be signing the Lisbon treaty any time soon, and pronounced it to be “dead” on the grounds of the Irish referendum.
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05/11/2009
The Czech president is to receive the head of the eurosceptic party Libertas Declan Ganley at Prague Castle on Tuesday. Mr. Ganley last week welcomed the Czech president’s decision to not sign the Lisbon treaty, despite its ratification by both houses of Parliament. Libertas’s leader said President Klaus was standing by the people of Ireland and would not ratify the treaty without their consent.
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05/11/2009
Prime Minister Jan Fischer has promised to review a controversial article of the penal code that critics say restricts press freedom. The so-called “muzzling law”, which took effect on April 1 of this year, prohibits the publication of police wiretappings and bans media from naming the victims of crimes. Sentences for breaking the legislation run to five years behind bars and fines of up to five million crowns (225,000 dollars). Politicians claim the amendment was approved to protect crime victims, but critics say its primary function is to protect politicians from unwelcome publicity. In response to a joint appeal from the Czech media, Prime Minister Fischer said he viewed the legislation as problematic and would have it reviewed by the cabinet.
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