Government to spend one billion crowns on EU presidency

The government has decided to earmark one billion crowns (the equivalent of around 66 million US dollars) for the EU presidency the Czech Republic takes up in the first half of 2009. Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek said made the announcement on Friday. He also said an additional 656 million crowns would be spent by individual ministries on related activities. The allotted funds will help finance the rental of premises for the hosting of conferences and ministerial meetings, as well as promotion, interpreters, cultural events, technical support and more. They will also cover security measures and the reinforcement of personnel at selected embassies. The government’s overall expenses for the presidency are projected at 1.9 billion crowns, from 2007-2009, plus 1.4 billion crowns provided by individual ministries - a total sum of 3.3 billion which the government has said is en par with other countries which have been at the EU’s helm.