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02/19/2008
The runner-up in last week’s presidential elections, Jan Švejnar, has said that he will now return to his post on the supervisory board of ČSOB bank. Mr Švejnar quit the post in November during his presidential campaign when accusations of a conflict of interests emerged. Over the last year ČSOB has been locked in a legal dispute with the Czech state worth billions of crowns. Mr Švejnar’s spokesperson said he would be reinstated as chairman of the bank’s supervisory board as of March 1. The Czech-American economics professor has not ruled out a future career in Czech politics, but has said that he first wants to have a rest after an exhausting presidential campaign.
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02/19/2008
The parents of two baby girls who were swapped at birth in a Třebíč maternity ward have been unable to agree with the hospital concerned on damages and are taking the matter to court. Each set of parents has demanded 12 million CZK (nearly 700,000 USD) from the hospital, while it says it is willing to give the parents 1 million CZK (58,000 USD) each. The hospital’s lawyer says that no long term psychological damage had been caused by the mix-up, and thus the hospital could not consider handing out such a high amount. The parents are asking for 1 million crowns for each month they were separated from their own biological child. Veronika and Nikolka were swapped back only days before their first birthdays on December 9 last year.
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02/19/2008
The Czech government has sold more of its stake in the energy-giant ČEZ. In the last week, the government has gone from owning 67.61 percent of the company to 65.75 percent. In March 2007, the Czech cabinet passed a resolution allowing it to sell off seven percent of the power producer in order to raise funds to be spent on the country’s road system. The amount expected to be generated by the seven-percent sale is 31 billion CZK (1.8 billion USD). ČEZ is the largest Central European energy producer and the most profitable Czech company. In 2007, it was estimated to have made a profit of 42.6 billion CZK (nearly 2.5 billion USD).
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02/19/2008
The opposition Social Democrats have launched what they call a ‘battle’ to stop their deputies switching allegiance to other parties. Three Social Democrat MPs have defected to the ruling Civic Democratic Party since the elections. On Tuesday, the head of the Social Democrats, Jiří Paroubek, pledged that his party would not try and entice deputies from other political parties to defect, he asked the other parties in the Czech parliament to pledge the same thing. He said that enticing MPs to switch allegiance was ‘undemocratic’. It remains unlikely that the other parties in the Czech parliament will enter into the proposed pact.
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02/18/2008
The recent Czech presidential elections, in which Václav Klaus defeated economist Jan Švejnar were a battle against forces seeking to undermine the post-1989 development in the Czech Republic. So said the Czech president in an interview with the Czech daily Mladá fronta Dnes. Addressing the issue of a president to succeed him, Mr Klaus also suggested that he would be willing to continue the fight for what he deemed the correct political direction of the country even after his second term expires in 2013.
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02/18/2008
The Civic Democrat senators group has announced that it intends to press charges against European Democrat senator Josef Novotný. The charges centre around public claims made by Mr Novotný that an as yet unnamed Civic Democrat senator offered him a two-million-crown bribe (around 116,000 USD) to vote for Václav Klaus in the recent presidential elections. The senator’s claims are already being investigated by the police and Josef Novotný has indicated that he will only reveal the name of the alleged person to the police for fear of being accused of slander.
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02/18/2008
According to the German-based Bertelsmann Foundation, the Czech Republic tops the list of the world’s most successful transforming countries. The survey, which evaluates the quality of democracy, market economics and political management in 125 developing or transforming countries, placed the Czech Republic at the top of its list, right above Slovenia and Estonia. However, the accompanying report also strongly criticised the Czech political sphere, noting that the Czech public apparently feel a continued sense of alienation from their political elite.
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02/18/2008
Former adviser to Social Democrat leader Jiří Paroubek, Jiří Koskuba remains in a critical condition after being shot at his family home. Reports have emerged suggesting Mr Koskuba was shot by a gun belonging to him, although police are still investigating the exact nature of the incident. Mr Koskuba, a doctor by profession, worked in the health Ministry under the former Paroubek-led government.
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02/18/2008
A report by the Czech Republic’s highest governmental oversight body has criticised the Czech Environment Ministry for failing to create a promised unified information system related to environmental matters in the country. According to the report, the Ministry also failed to undertake any audit of government money allocated to information and technology improvements in the last three years. Environment Minister Martin Bursík is said to be taking the report seriously.
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02/18/2008
A team from the UN’s education, science and culture body is set to travel to Prague to assess if the Czech Republic is doing enough to protect its historical landmarks. UNESCO has already expressed concern over the number of skyscrapers being built in the Czech capital’s Pankrác region. In the worst case scenario, the Czech Republic could be struck of the UNESCO list of countries that are actively preserving protecting their architectural heritage.
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