Prime Minister Topolanek opposes plans to build Berlin expulsions centre

New Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek opposes plans by a group representing Germans forced out of eastern Europe after World War Two to build a permanent centre on the expulsions. Reiterating a long-standing Czech position, the prime minister, leader of the right-wing Civic Democrats, said his government wanted relations with Germany to focus on "the present and the future". The Centre Against Expulsions, a foundation linked with the League of German Expellees, plans to build a permanent centre on the subject in Berlin.

The League represents 12.5 million Germans evicted from eastern Europe after the war, including about three million from former Czechoslovakia. Mr Topolanek said he would coordinate the Czech position with Poland, which also opposes the plan.