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09/20/2007
More than 50% of Czechs expect changes brought about by the recent public finance reform bill to negatively affect their lives, concludes a poll conducted by the Factum Invenio agency, and released on Thursday. The least popular facets of the reform bill were the rise in the lower rate of VAT from 5% to 9%, and the introduction of medical fees, with over 80% of Czechs saying that they would be negatively affected by these changes. Respondents to the poll accepted the introduction of flat income tax as the best of all of the changes to be made, though this was still relatively speaking. The reforms will come into effect in January next year.
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09/20/2007
Slavia Prague celebrated a 2:1 win over Steaua Bucharest in their Champions League debut on Wednesday night. They now join London team Arsenal with three points at the top of Group H. Despite their early success in the competition, Slavia are aiming, according to their manager Karel Jarolim, to finish third overall in Group H. This would rule them out of the knockout stages of the competition, but would provide them with the consolation of a UEFA cup slot. Slavia's next Champions League match is away against Spanish team Seville, on 2nd October.
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09/19/2007
President Vaclav Klaus has dismissed the Czech Republic's ambassador to the European Union Jan Kohout. A spokesman for Mr Klaus told the Czech Press Agency on Wednesday that the President had recalled Mr Kohout in accordance with the government's instructions and that he would be replaced by the former Agriculture Minister Milena Vicenova by the end of the year.
Mr Kohout's tenure as Czech ambassador to Brussels had been due to expire in May 2008. Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra had previously said that Mr Kohout was being dismissed early to give his successor time to prepare for the Czech Republic's presidency of the EU at the beginning of 2009. Some critics have claimed, however, that the move is politically motivated. Mr Kohout is a member of the opposition Social Democratic Party.
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09/19/2007
As expected the government's financial reform package has been passed by the Czech Senate. 49 out of 80 senators present voted for the legislation, which will introduce controversial new changes to the countries tax and welfare systems. The Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek has repeatedly said that the reforms are needed to curb a rampant public-spending deficit. The reforms will now have to be signed by President Vaclav Klaus before they can be enacted.
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09/19/2007
A spokeswoman for the Czech government has told journalists that the ruling cabinet has unanimously approved the draft budget for 2008. The draft budget submitted by the Finance Ministry reckons on a deficit of 70.8 billion Czech crowns or 3.5 billion US dollars. This amounts to 2.95 percent of GDP just below the crucial 3-percent limit set by the EU as one of the criteria for adopting the euro.
Areas that will be receiving significantly more money include education, culture and agriculture. The budget still has to pass a vote in the lower house of parliament where the centre-right governing coalition has a slender majority, which depends on the support of rebel MPs from the Social Democrat opposition.
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09/19/2007
The Czech Republic's largest health insurer VZP has bowed to demands from general practitioners to increase its payments to doctors for treating its subscribers. The moves take place after doctors across the country staged their third one-day strike of the year on Wednesday in protest at what union representatives say are poor pay conditions. The Association of Czech GPs maintains that primary medical care is deeply undervalued in this country, which puts financial pressures on doctors and limits their ability to provide quality services.
In bowing to the doctors' demands for higher fees, the VZP health insurer said it would now have to cancel planned extra payments for doctor's surgeries that were performing particularly well or operating in areas where there was a shortage of medical services.
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09/19/2007
Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek announced on Wednesday that the Czech Ministry for Foreign Affairs is to establish a new centre to coordinate development and humanitarian projects abroad. Foreign aid experts had complained in the past that Czech humanitarian aid was inefficient because it lacked a unified system, which led to individual ministries often drafting and implementing projects independently of each other. A draft bill on establishing the development centre is expected to be ready by the end of the year.
The Czech Republic allocated around 3.6 billion crowns (approximately 180 million US dollars) for foreign development aid last year. This money mainly went to projects in so-called priority countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yemen, Moldova, Mongolia, Serbia, Montenegro, Vietnam and Zambia.
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09/19/2007
Buckingham Palace has informed the Czech Press Agency that Princess Anne is to visit the Czech Republic next month. The princess will be here from the 14th to the 16th of October. Her schedule includes a meeting with President Vaclav Klaus as well as a number of meetings with representatives of various charities. Princess Anne, who is a keen horsewoman, is also expected to attend the Czech Grand National in the east Bohemian town of Pardubice.
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09/19/2007
The Environment Minister and Green Party leader Martin Bursik announced on Wednesday that the ruling cabinet had approved a draft bill, which would make polluters liable for any environmental damage they cause. It will also require businesses to take out mandatory insurance to cover the risk of their causing damage to the environment. The move is in response to EU directives that have been in effect since April and which require countries to enact legislation that clearly stipulates liability for environmental damage.
The EU directives were approved in 2004 in response to a number of major ecological disasters in Europe such as the sinking of the Erika oil tanker off the coast of France in 1999 which caused extensive damage to coastlines and marine life.
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09/19/2007
A new opinion poll by the CVVM institute suggests that the opposition Social Democrats are now the most popular party in the country. According to the survey, if an election were to be held now, the Social Democrats would win 33 percent of the vote ahead of the Civic Democrats who would get 31 percent. The Civic Democrats' partners in the coalition government, the Greens and the Christian Democrats would get 10 percent and 9 percent respectively. The Communist Party would receive 14.5 percent.
It is the second opinion poll in a week to show that the Social Democrats have overtaken the Civic Democrats as the most popular party. Before that, the last time the Social Democrats had been ahead of their main rivals was in December 2002.
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