News

The vice-chairperson of the lower house, Miroslava Nemcova of the opposition Civic Democrats, has said that the Prime Minister Stanislav Gross should clarify the origin of the money he used to pay for his luxury flat in Prague. Speaking in a televised debate on Sunday, Ms Nemcova said her party will demand that the matter be discussed as an extraordinary item on the agenda of a forthcoming parliament session. Ms Nemcova said the controversy surrounding the purchase of the prime minister's flat was casting a bad light on the whole country.

Recently the daily Mlada Fronta Dnes discovered that Mr Gross's flat cost more than he had officially earned. The controversy surrounding the purchase took a new turn on Friday when former journalist Rostislav Rod said he had lent almost one million Czech crowns to Mr Gross's uncle, who in turn lent some of the money to the prime minister. The daily Mlada Fronta Dnes says this is a third explanation the public have been given by Mr Gross's family since the controversy broke out.

The Prime Minister and acting head of the Social Democrats Stanislav Gross has been nominated for the post of party chairman by the Central Bohemian branch of the party. So far Mr Gross has received eleven nominations from regional branches while his challenger Labour and Social Affairs Minister, Zdenek Skromach, has received only one. The Social Democrat Party will elect its new chairman at a national congress in March.

Czech officials have refused to reveal details about the companies that had submitted preliminary offers for the state's 51.1 percent stake in the telecommunications company Cesky Telecom. The deadline for submitting non-binding offers passed on Thursday. Six European telecommunications companies - France Telecom, Belgacom, Swisscom, Telefonica, TDC and Vodafone - as well as four financial groups had shown interest in taking control of Cesky Telecom. Denmark's TDC, however, announced that it had decided to pull out of the tender.

There was good news for the Czech economy on Friday, when figures were released showing that 2004 saw the lowest foreign trade deficit since 1993. Both imports and exports increased last year after the Czech Republic joined the European Union, with exports rising particularly sharply. The industry and trade minister, Milan Urban, said in terms of euros per capita, the Czech Republic's foreign trade results exceeded those of countries like Spain and Greece, and were on the same level as the United Kingdom.