President vetoes anti-discrimination bill

Czech president Václav Klaus has vetoed an anti-discrimination bill passed in Parliament calling the legislation “poor, counter-productive and unnecessary”. The decision was revealed by the president’s office on Friday. The European Union has called on the Czech Republic to pass legislation ensuring equal access to education, work, and health care, but the president countered the legislation proposed was already covered sufficiently under Czech law. In a letter sent to the speaker of the lower house the president contends that EU directives are “only binding with regards to results”, but that the methods of achieving goals “depended on individual member states”. The aim of the anti-discrimination law, backed by the EU, is to ensure the same opportunities for all irrespective of age, race, nationality, sex, or religious belief. The bill will now return to the lower house.