News

The Czech government agreed on Wednesday to extend a lorry ban, ending a 15-month dispute which has threatened to topple the government coalition. The issue provoked the Greens’ leader Martin Bursík to threaten to walk out of the cabinet in July, when he accused PM Mirek Topolánek of backing down on a promise. The Green Party has long wanted to widen the lorry ban, which they say lessens air and noise pollution and dramatically cuts accidents. The proposed new law agreed upon on Wednesday extends the current Friday summertime ban on lorries between 3:00 pm and 8:00 pm to a year-round one and widens an existing Sunday ban to cover almost the whole day. The move will help bring the Czech ban into line with countries such as Germany, Austria and Slovakia, Environment Minister Martin Bursík said.

Škoda Power has gained a contract worth nearly half a billion crowns (30 million USD) to upgrade a power plant in Cuba, it was revealed on Wednesday. The plant is situated around 150 kilometers from Havana, and is expected to be back in operation after its facelift in May 2011. According to a spokesperson for Škoda Power, which is based in Plzeň, the firm has an excellent reputation in Cuba, where it has already upgraded several power stations in the last decade. The firm has been making turbines for power stations since 1911.

In related news, South Korean auto giant Hyundai said this Wednesday that it was expecting to open its first European plant sited in the Czech Republic earlier than expected, perhaps in December this year. The Nošovice plant, near Ostrava, will produce 200,000 cars a year in its first phase, rising to 300,000 cars by 2011. It was originally expected to go into operation in March 2009.

Tensions have been mounting in the Green Party ahead of leadership elections on Friday. Martin Bursík, who currently heads the party, is vying to retain his post in the face of a challenge by strong critic Dana Kuchtová. Observes warn that the party has become increasingly splintered as both candidates have stated that they do not want the other in their team if they are elected to lead the party, while supporters of Mr Bursík are warning that a victory by Ms Kuchtová will jeopardise the current government coalition. Supporters of Ms Kuchtová have voiced strong opposition to what they view as an increasingly centralised form of leadership by Mr Bursík. Friday will see the Greens hold their party conference in the town of Teplice. Mr Bursík is viewed as being moderately to the right of the political spectrum, while Ms Kuchtová is viewed as being more to the left, opposing current Green Party policy on the proposed US radar base, nuclear power and several other issues.