News

The government has approved the lease of 14 Gripen fighter jets from Sweden for ten years at a cost of around 20 billion crowns. The leasing contracts will also include offset programmes of Swedish investment into the Czech economy. The fighters will replace the aging Czech fleet of MiG-21 planes, which must be decommissioned by the end of 2004. The government chose the Gripens over a Belgian offer of updated F-16 fighters and similar planes from the Netherlands. Canada offered F/A-18 fighters and the United States offered an older variant of F-16s. Although Sweden is not a NATO member, the British-Swedish maker of the planes says the Gripens are fully compatible with the alliance's air forces.

The largest Czech lorry maker, Tatra, has signed a 6 million-dollar contract to supply 62 lorries to the Iraqi government. Tatra, whose participation in the tender was sheltered by its parent Terex Corporation, must supply the first six lorries to Iraq by November. Tatra board member Ronald Adams said the company had beaten U.S., German and Ukrainian rivals. The Czech Foreign Ministry has said Tatra's success could open the way to the Iraqi market for other Czech companies. Besides support from the Czech government, Tatra probably also benefited from the fact that it has an American owner. Only two Czech companies besides Tatra have managed to win contracts in Iraq to date.

The Czech Republic has fielded a record number of candidates for the upcoming elections to the European Parliament. A total of 31 Czech parties and movements will compete in the June 11-12 elections — far more than any other EU member state apart from Spain, the daily Hospodarske noviny reports. Whereas Spain has a long tradition of fielding regional candidates, the Czech field is exceptionally wide due to the low cost of registering a political entity, which is 15,000 crowns (about 500 euros). In Slovakia, registration costs three times as much and only 17 parties will vie for seats in the European Parliament; in Austria, the deposit is equivalent to 119,000 crowns, and only six parties are running, the paper notes.

The Czech Republic has launched an international campaign to promote a planned issue of "eurobonds", by which it hopes to help fund reform of its public finances. A tour promoting the bonds in several European capitals got under way on Monday. The minister of finance, Bohuslav Sobotka, told the Czech BBC the bond issue could raise a billion crowns.