Press Review

There's no single theme that would dominate the headlines today - each daily leads with a different top story from economic slowdown in the Czech Republic to the latest Austrian protest against the Temelin nuclear power plant. But, we begin with a look at PRAVO which writes about the growing hullabaloo surrounding investigations into the Office of the President. A police anti-corruption unit has been investigating the possibility that some key documents may have been distorted in connection with presidential pardons, although evidence, so far, is far from conclusive.

According to PRAVO the story peaked on Tuesday when the Czech Republic's most successful commercial TV station TV Nova aired information on the investigation, citing statements by Interior Minister Stanislav Gross. And though there is no direct connection with President Vaclav Havel himself, the paper writes the president was surprised - and not at all pleased - that he hadn't been informed.

Since then Havel's spokesman Ladislav Spacek has suggested that a strange game is being played, indicating, in his view, that the manner in which TV Nova dealt with the information was questionable. It now remains to be seen whether investigators' suspicions will be confirmed, and if so, what that would mean in the case of individual pardons, as well as for guilty parties, which could include staff at the Office of the President.

Officials at four border crossings between the Czech Republic and Austria and Germany have braced themselves this Thursday for farmers' blockades in protest of EU accession terms. LIDOVE NOVINY writes that Czech farmers are angry that the Czech Republic was only able to secure what they see as inadequate subsidies in the agriculture sector, significantly less than what current member states receive. The paper says that farmers today will mainly make life difficult for truck drivers, although the demonstration is expected only to last two hours.

LIDOVE NOVINY quotes the head of a local agriculture chamber as saying "We want to make clear our country imports too many agriculture products from other countries." And of course the timing of the protest is no accident: the EU's Copenhagen summit has gotten underway, which will see a rounding-up of talks on EU accession, so farmers would like to send Czech representatives a clear message. But, the paper writes, farmers could get themselves in trouble for organising the blockade, since it will break an agreement with the EU on open trade between the union and candidate countries.

Turning to other stories now - you may be young and retirement is the last thing on your mind, but HOSPODARSKE NOVINY reports that if you have a higher income now you could be even better off in the future - according to a proposal being put together by the Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs, aimed at reforming the pension system; the financial daily points out the current system favours individuals lower down the social ladder.

That could change if Minister for Labour and Social Affairs Zdenek Skromach finds wider support for reforms to the pension system, that would include setting a number of minimum for paying social security, for example 25 years, but not enforce a specific retirement age. Under the system retirees could also make some extra money on the side, and says Minister Skromach, pensioners could receive as much as 55 percent of their former salaries, favouring those who make more now. So, if you're Czech, and around forty or under, these changes could soon apply to you. The financial daily writes that the ministry will begin looking for support for its new programme in January.