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11/29/2007
Some 300 people gathered outside the health ministry on Thursday to protest against the minister’s proposal to extend the working hours from 40 to 48 hours per week. Health minister Tomas Julinek says the measure would decrease the number of overtime hours in hospitals. But the trade unions have called his plan an introduction of a work Saturday and shadow health minister David Rath said the measures could make qualified doctors leave for abroad.
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11/29/2007
The Czech National Bank has raised the interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point for the fourth time this year. The main rate was brought to 3.5 %, the highest level over the last five years. Following the news, the Czech crown strengthened its position against both the euro and the dollar to an all-time high of 26.28 crowns per euro and 17.79 per US dollar.
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11/29/2007
The deputies in the lower house of Parliament will hold a vote of no-confidence on the coalition government on December 4. The chairman of the lower house Miloslav Vlcek convoked the extraordinary session at the request of the opposition Social Democrats. The vote on the government will be taken just one day before the vote on the draft state budget for 2008. The opposition Social Democrats and the Communists only have 98 votes; to topple the ruling coalition, they would need at least 101. It is not likely that they will succeed in winning over anyone from the ruling coalition.
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11/29/2007
Architect Jan Kaplicky met Prague councillors on Thursday to discuss his design for the new National Library Building. Among the topics up for discussion were the budget, and maintenance of Prague’s historic panorama. The Czech-born architect repeated that he was set upon the library being built in its original location, Prague’s Letna Plain.
After being chosen by the international jury in March, the winning design immediately sparked controversy. Among its most fierce opponents were the Czech president Vaclav Klaus and Prague Civic Democratic councillors. Last month, an expert team consisting of architects, conservationists and lawyers was set up to determine final location and design of the building.
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11/29/2007
The Czech Republic came 15th in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment, a survey organised by the OECD every three years. This year’s survey focused on students’ knowledge of sciences and their ability to use this knowledge in solving problems of everyday life. The programme was carried out among 400,000 students in 57 countries. The average knowledge of OECD students was equalled to 500 points, with Czechs gaining 513 points and the top-of-the-list Finns gaining 563 points. The closest to the Czech Republic were the British and the Swiss.
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11/29/2007
The Lower House repeatedly rejected the proposal of the Senate to strip International Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8, of its “significant day” status. Senators consider the day to be tinged with communist ideology and want it to be replaced by Mother’s Day. They also propose to rename the May 1 Labour Day holiday to Spring and Labour Day. The proposal was rejected both by the governing and the opposition deputies.
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11/28/2007
Czech regions are to receive 150 billion crowns, or 8.3 billion US dollars, from the EU, the CTK news agency reported on Wednesday. The European Commission approved seven operational programmes for the Czech Republic through which the funds will be distributed among the regions within next six years. The contracts between the EU and the individual regions should be concluded on December 13. The regional operation programmes were approved after several months of reviews, and although the deadline for objections formally expires on Friday, no changes are expected.
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11/28/2007
The incumbent President Vaclav Klaus was officially nominated on Wednesday by the Civic Democrats as their candidate in the presidential election to be held in February next year. All 122 Civic Democrat MPs and senators signed the nomination decree that was delivered to the parliament’s election committee. While Vaclav Klaus, who is also the honorary chairman of the Civic Democrats, remains a strong favourite in the coming vote, other political parties have not arrived at a general agreement on a single candidate. The Green Party together with the opposition Social Democrats are considering nominating economist Jan Svejnar who will announce whether or not he will accept the nomination by the end of next week.
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11/28/2007
The Chamber of Deputies of the Czech parliament is debating the draft of the state budget for 2008. The coalition parties suggested on Wednesday an increase of one billion crowns, or more than 55 million US dollars, to the budget of the Education Ministry. Opposition MPs as well as teachers’ labour unions claim the increase is not sufficient, and will not prevent a pending strike by primary and secondary school teacher planned for December 4. The final vote on the state budged, with a deficit of 71 billion crowns, or almost 4 billion US dollars, is expected to take place next week.
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11/28/2007
A court in Prague has cleared former IT minister Vladimir Mlynar of charges of misusing information and abuse of office. Vladimir Mlynar was the Czech IT minister between 2003 and 2005. In October 2003, the IT Ministry spent 3.5 million crowns (or almost 200,000 US dollars) on founding a company that would run a website with information on the Czech Republic. After the Finance Ministry warned Mr Mlynar in February 2004 that such a procedure is not legal, he withdrew the contract but was still charged with mishandling the ministry’s funds. Mr Mlynar was then prosecuted and sentenced to 5.5 years in jail by a first-instance court earlier this year.
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