• Minister Julinek promises better times for the health sector
    11/22/2007

    An additional 13 billion crowns should be available for medical treatment in 2008 thanks to the new regulations which will come into effect next year, Health Minister Tomas Julinek told reporters on Thursday. Heath care insurers will release more money for treatment and doctors and hospitals should gain further money – approximately 4 billion crowns – from patients’ cash payments, Julinek said. The health minister has promised that doctors will be better paid and patients better taken care of but there is still considerable opposition to his planned reforms from both doctors and patients. Doctors are opposed to the idea of having to collect cash in person and critics say that some people will simply not be able to afford the care they need.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Czech Republic lacks facilities for the elderly
    11/22/2007

    The Czech Republic is not sufficiently prepared for the aging of its population, Jitka Hoplickova, the head of a foundation that builds houses for the elderly, told journalists today. She pointed out that facilities for the elderly are lacking and the state has done little to remedy the situation. Many former facilities were lost due to restitution of property after 1989, and replacements were never found. Capacity was reduced by 6,000 beds in this manner but social workers say that 10,000 beds are now lacking and the need will grow as the population ages.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Czechs brace for 2008 price hikes
    11/22/2007

    Czechs are gearing up for a dramatic increase in energy costs as of January 2008. Electricity, gas and heating costs are expected to go up by as much as 10 percent. The hike has been triggered by higher production costs, a higher VAT tax and a newly-introduced environmental tax.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Heineken seeking to acquire Drinks Union
    11/22/2007

    Dutch-based global beer giant, Heineken is seeking to acquire the Czech Republic's biggest locally owned brewery in private hands, Drinks Union, the daily Mlada Fronta Dnes reported on Thursday, citing two independent sources. The paper said the deal was close to being signed. Drinks Union has refused to comment on the report. Heineken announced the acquisition of the local Krusovice brewery for an undisclosed sum in June, a move making it the third biggest brewery on the Czech market.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Bata demanding compensation for post-war seizure of property
    11/21/2007

    Tomas Bata Jr. says he plans to demand compensation from the Czech state for the property confiscated from his family after World War II. Speaking to the website aktualne.cz, the Czech-born shoe magnate said the Bata family wanted compensation for the value of the property nationalised under the post-war Benes decrees. Mr Bata, who is 93, previously mentioned the possibility of demanding compensation when a Prague court reopened a case from 1947 in which his uncle Jan Antonin Bata was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison for collaboration. Recently the state attorney’s office cleared Jan Antonin Bata’s name, when it said no crime had been committed.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Bata wins award for ‘responsible capitalism’
    11/21/2007

    On Tuesday Tomas Bata Jr. received the Award for Responsible Capitalism from Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer, Alistair Darling. The award is bestowed by an international jury and was created by the business magazine FIRST. Mr Bata told reporters that honesty and ethics should always be part of business. His father, also named Tomas, started the Bata shoe empire with the opening of a plant in Zlin, south Moravia.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Mafia attempting to increase pressure on state bodies, says counter-intelligence
    11/21/2007

    Organised crime is putting increased pressure on state bodies as it attempts to influence the awarding of public tenders and grants, suggests the 2006 annual report of the Czech counter-intelligence service BIS. The report, released on Wednesday, said mafia attempts to influence state bodies and the court system at local and national level represented one of the country’s biggest security risks. The 2006 BIS report also said that attempts by the Russian intelligence services to influence Czech-Russian business relations were a serious issue.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • BIS report: far-right groups lack national structure, strong leader
    11/21/2007

    The subject of far-right extremism was also covered in the report. Its authors found that neo-Nazis in the Czech Republic were organised in small groups at regional level and did not have one strong leader. Far-right concerts and other public events decreased in number in 2006, with skinheads preferring to meet at private parties. Meanwhile, the sale of neo-Nazi paraphernalia had moved from gatherings to the internet.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Prague transport tickets to be sold via mobile text message
    11/21/2007

    From next year it will be possible to buy tickets for Prague’s public transport system by mobile telephone text message, Lidove noviny reported. Prague’s transport authority has already signed deals with the country’s three mobile operators, the newspaper said. Only basic one-journey tickets will be sold by SMS and passengers should receive replies within two minutes of texting a transport authority number.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czechs hand over three helicopters to Afghanistan
    11/21/2007

    The Czech Republic handed three helicopters over to Afghanistan in a ceremony at Prague’s Kbely military airfield on Wednesday. The presentation was made by the Czech defence minister, Vlasta Parkanova, and the chief of staff of the Czech Army, Vlastimil Picek. There are plans to give the Afghans another nine helicopters no longer required by the Czech military. All 12 aircraft need to be refitted.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

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