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02/06/2009
A referendum bill on the Lisbon treaty, proposed by the Communist Party, has passed in a second reading, meaning that the lower house’s legal committee will now deal with the legislation. The Communists are seeking a referendum on the Lisbon treaty on the grounds the document, which aims to reform the functioning of the 27-member bloc, will fundamentally change the conditions of the Czechs’ membership. A recent poll suggested that a majority of the public (64 percent) is in favour of ratifying the treaty. In all, 25 other countries have now backed the document in parliament, while Irish voters rejected it in a referendum last June.
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02/06/2009
Czech politicians on Friday strongly criticised a proposal by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to “re-localise” French carmakers' foreign units to France, an apparent aim to boost domestic employment in the current economic downturn. The French president made the comment on Thursday on French TV, referring directly to the Czech Republic, where PSA Peugeot Citroen has a joint venture with Toyota, building cars for the export market. On Friday, Czech Industry and Trade Minister Martin Říman said he did not believe the carmaker would relocate. He called Mr Sarkozy’s statement “dangerous” citing it as evidence that “protectionism [was] gaining strength in Europe”. Others, such as shadow trade minister Milan Urban, also criticised the French president.
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02/06/2009
The Czech business daily E15 has reported that the country’s centre-right government is allegedly ruling out the possibility of the country accepting suspects from the United States' prison in Guantanamo Bay. The Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg told the newspaper that the decision to accept [prisoners] would “not be fortunate” for the Czech Republic, saying he did not support such a solution. US President Barack Obama ordered the controversial prison to be closed within a year, after he was sworn into office in January. The European Parliament this week welcomed the decision for the prison to be closed and called on EU countries to accept some of the inmates.
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02/06/2009
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek is to meet with the head of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso and other commission members next week to discuss the global economic crisis. The meeting is to take place on Wednesday – roughly a month after the Czech Republic took up the rotating EU presidency. The EU has earmarked 200 billion euros to help boost the European economy but will now focus on how the funds will be applied. Next month will see an EU summit in Brussels on the issue.
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02/06/2009
The Odien financial group, which owns the Čedok travel agency in the Czech Republic, has expressed an interest in buying the national carrier, ČSA. Others interested in the Czech national airline include Aeroflot and Travel service. The Finance Ministry announced the official tender on the carrier on Thursday. The Czech government is hoping to sell its 91-percent stake in the airliner for 5 billion crowns, or more than 260 million US dollars.
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02/06/2009
The DPA news agency has reported that Czech-born film director Dana Vávrová - best known for her performance as a child actor in the children’s film Ať žijí duchové – has died in Germany at the age of 41. During her career Mrs Vávrová also directed numerous projects in Germany as well as the more recent children’s film Hurá na Medvěda (Bear on the Run). Mrs Vávrová had been suffering from cancer.
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02/06/2009
The Czech Republic lost against Finland in its first match of the final leg of the Euro Hockey Tour, the LG Hockey Games. The Czechs led the match on goals from Čajánek and Vrbata, but the Finns rallied several times to tie the game and outplayed the Czechs in the 3rd period to win 5:3.
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02/05/2009
The Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee on Thursday demanded an immediate end to surgical castration for sex offenders in the Czech Republic. In a report following two fact-finding missions to Czech psychiatric hospitals and prisons, the committee said the practice amounted to “degrading treatment” and that it was questionable whether the patient’s consent was always truly free and informed. The use of surgical castration for sex offenders has stirred ethical debate around the world, with Britain, France and Poland favouring chemical methods of treatment for convicted sex offenders. In the past eight years around 300 Czech patients have undergone chemical castration, with around 50 undergoing surgery. In response to the criticism the Czech minister for human rights and minorities, Michael Kocáb, said he would push for chemical castration to be used exclusively, though only if it was proven to be as effective as surgical castration.
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02/05/2009
The Czech National Bank slashed its benchmark interest rate by 0.5 percentage points to a record low of 1.75 percent on Thursday. The new rate is lower than the eurozone benchmark which the European Central Bank cut to 2.0 percent in January. The steep cut by the Czech National Bank was expected because of low inflation and a slowdown of the economy. Analysts polled by the CTK news agency said that lending rates may well continue to fall this year, possibly to 1.0 percent.
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02/05/2009
Hosting talks between the EU and Ukraine on Thursday, the Czech foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, warned Kiev it would need to work hard to regain the trust it lost during the recent gas crisis. Minister Schwarzenberg urged Ukraine to push ahead with political, economic and judiciary reforms and stabilize its internal policy. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko maintained that his country was not to blame for the gas crisis since it had been Russia who halted gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine. He said his country was aiming for fully-fledged EU membership and would strive for visa-free relations with all EU member states.
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