Outgoing prime minister says Czech Republic should wait before implementing scrap premium

In an interview with Mladá fronta Dnes on Saturday, the outgoing prime minister, Mirek Topolánek, said that he did not expect a scrap premium, included by the government in its anti-crisis stimulus package, to be implemented this year. The scrap premium, akin to subsidies already in place in Germany and Slovakia, was proposed by the opposition Social Democrats in return for their support of the package in the Czech Lower House. The scheme would encourage those with cars over ten years old to scrap them for a newer vehicle. The Social Democrats want to see the scheme in operation in this country by the autumn. But on Saturday, the outgoing prime minister said that Czech carmakers were already having difficulty meeting demand, and that the scrap premium should be implemented next year, or at least when that demand dried up, and not before.