PM addresses Senate

Prime Minister Petr Nečas on Wednesday addressed the Senate for the first time since taking office. He informed the upper house on the position of the Czech government regarding issues to be discussed at a meeting of the European Council in Brussels in mid-September and responded to questions from senators. The prime minister faced criticism from the opposition benches for making Roman Joch one of his advisers. Mr. Joch raised an outcry last week when he told the media that he would advise the prime minister to scrap the post of government human rights commissioner since he considered it redundant. Mr. Nečas said Mr. Joch was not in an executive post though he admitted that as his advisor he should have expressed his views in a more moderate fashion.