President and PM at loggerheads

The Czech President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek are engaged in a heated dispute over the prime minister's proposal to compensate anti-fascist Sudeten Germans expelled from the country at the end of World War II, despite the fact that they had actively opposed the Nazi regime. The President has slammed the prime minister for planning to re-open sensitive WWII issues. In an interview for today's Mlada Fronta Dnes daily Mr. Klaus said the prime minister was behaving irresponsibly and putting his own interests above those of the Czech Republic. Prime Minister Paroubek countered that Mr. Klaus was inclined to behaving like an absolute monarch. He has, nevertheless, said he would like to meet with Mr. Klaus so that they could try to resolve their differences.