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Prague mayor Pavel Bem was honoured on Saturday evening for having successfully climbed Mount Everest earlier this year. He was presented with an award by the head of the Nepalese Mountaineering Association, Ang Tshering Sherpa. Mr Bem was also given a new state-of-the-art climbing jacket at the ceremony. The Mayor of Prague said after the ceremony that he wasn’t sure he really deserved the award, but that he was very happy with it nonetheless.

Pavel Bem took two months unpaid leave to climb Everest in March of this year. Reaction to Mr. Bem’s expedition was mixed, with some criticising the mayor for neglecting his duties at Prague Town Hall.

The Czech Republic has been drawn alongside its neighbour Slovakia in qualifying for World Cup 2010. Also in the Czech Republic’s group – group 3 – are Poland, Slovenia, Northern Ireland and San Marino. The Czech press has reacted to the draw by calling the group ‘manageable’ and identifying the Poles as the Czech Republic’s biggest threat. Only the outright winner of the group is guaranteed to go through to the World Cup, which will be held in South Africa in 2010. On Sunday, the preliminary draw for the qualifying stage of the competition was held in Durban.

Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek opened the Civic Democrats’ conference on Saturday morning by announcing that all of the party’s deputies and senators had pledged their support for Vaclav Klaus in next year’s presidential elections. Mr Klaus, the current president, who is seeking a second term in office, responded to the unanimous support of his party by saying that this proved that he had fulfilled the mandate he was set for his first term in office. Mr Klaus is currently the only candidate for next year’s presidential elections, but it is thought that economist Jan Svejnar may well run against him, should he gain enough support from other political parties. The ruling Civic Democrats have a total of 122 representatives in the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament. To win the presidential election, Mr Klaus would need the vote of all of these representatives, as well as 19 other MPs.

In contrast to what he called a ‘strong’ Civic Democratic government, Mr Topolanek said that he had been ‘too weak’ to prevent the adoption of the EU reform treaty, which grants the European Union some powers which previously belonged to its individual member states. Mr Topolanek said that he knew he had not acted in accordance with the Civic Democrats’ 2006 manifesto when he voted for the reforms. But, he added, vetoing the treaty would have isolated the Czech Republic in Europe, which he was not prepared to do. Deputy PM for European Affairs Alexander Vondra insisted that the Czech delegation had succeeded in watering down the final version of the treaty, which it went on to approve. He added that the EU treaty, in its final form, was acceptable and in harmony with the policies of the Civic Democrats.