News

The interior minister Ivan Langer has told journalists that the Czech Republic will not be able to do without nuclear power in the future. He made the announcement following a meeting of the National Security Council which deals with the country’s energy policy, among other things. The nuclear power issue is a thorny one for the governing coalition. The Greens oppose the construction of any further nuclear power plants, while Mr Langer’s own party, the Civic Democrats, have said they are not against it. Head of the Green Party Martin Bursik declined to comment on Mr Langer’s statement, while the Green’s foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, said that the Czech Republic’s priority must be considering other sources of energy alongside the development of nuclear power.

The minister of labour and social affairs, Petr Necas, is planning significant reform of the Czech Labour Code, the news website iHNed.cz reported. Mr Necas wants to make it easier for both employers and employees to terminate contracts. His plans also envisage cutting the period of notice from three to two months and extending the trial period beyond the current three months. On top of that, Minister Necas is targeting the jobless who turn down offers of retraining or short-term work – under his reform plans such a refusal would mean the unemployed would lose all benefits. Furthermore, social welfare payments would gradually decrease the longer somebody is out of work.

Czech law should be changed to give the government the power to shut down the country’s mobile telephone networks in the case of a terrorist attack, the minister of the interior, Ivan Langer, said on Tuesday. Speaking after a meeting of the government’s security council, Mr Langer said, however, that such a move should only be made under the strictest of conditions. The security council discussed among other things the state’s anti-terrorism plan for the period until 2009.

The former secretary of Jiri Cunek is taking the Czech Republic to the European Court of Human Rights in Starsbourg, Pravo reported. Marcela Urbanova was the chief witness in an investigation into alleged corruption on the part of the Christian Democrats leader; she alleges that state bodies did not proceed correctly in the matter and did not treat her fairly. Ms Urbanova’s lawyer said her client was seeking 10,000 euros in damages. Mr Cunek stepped down as deputy prime minister and minister for regional development because of the investigation, which has now been dropped definitively.