Press Review

All of today's papers report on the plight of some 150,000 people in eastern Bohemia who are currently without heating and hot water after a ceiling collapsed over the weekend at a local power station. Otherwise there is a mix of headlines, which include the first signs of winter that caught motorists by surprise and the possible merger of several smaller right-of-centre parties. On an international note, it's the anti-globalisation protest that took place in Florence and the Iraqi parliament's emergency session on a tough UN resolution on disarmament that are making the headlines.

But back to local politics. MLADA FRONTA DNES features an interview with TV magnate Vladimir Zelezny who was recently elected as an independent Senator. Although he refuses to state outright who he would favour as the next president after President Havel's term ends early next year, he does not make a secret of his support for Civic Democrat Party leader Vaclav Klaus, who Mr Zelezny says is the most competent candidate so far for the post. When asked about his future plans as General Director of the private TV station NOVA, Mr Zelezny says that he has no intention of giving up the post.

LIDOVE NOVINY reports that anti-globalisation protesters not only plan to flock to Prague during the NATO summit but are also preparing demonstrations outside Czech embassies and organisations abroad. It writes that anarchists have been using the Internet to call onto their counterparts all over the world to target Czech interests during the summit, which is to be held on November 21st and 22nd. It quotes one site, which states that if police use violence to put down demonstrations in Prague, there will be protest demonstrations abroad to express solidarity among anarchists around the world. The paper writes that anarchists also plan to blockade military buildings in the NATO member states.

"Kasl wants to unite the right against the ODS" writes a headline on PRAVO's front page. The paper refers to recent steps taken by former Prague Mayor Jan Kasl, to have his newly established European Democratic Party merge with the Civic Democratic Alliance, the ODA. The paper writes that it is a first step in an attempt to unite all the smaller right-of-centre parties into one big party that will counter the currently strongest opposition Civic Democratic Party, the ODS. Mr Kasl left the party just a month before the general elections in June. His new European Democratic Party enjoyed a strong showing in the Senate and regional elections last month.

LIDOVE NOVINY is a little more critical and looks at the reason why the Civic Democratic Alliance would agree to a merger. The former member of the Four-Party Coalition, which was dissolved last year, is in debt and is losing support. A merger with the European Democrats would put it back onto the Czech political scene and would furthermore solve the debt problem as it would allow it to be paid off from state subsidies for senators and regional representatives, the paper concludes.

HOSPODARSKE NOVINY writes that Czech MPs want to reduce the age at which criminals should be made fully responsible for their actions from 15 to 14 years. It gives the example of one case where police in the Moravian town of Brno were not able to charge a boy with 28 crimes simply because he was under fifteen. The paper notes that the number of crimes committed by school-aged children is rising dramatically. Last year alone, twenty-three thousand crimes were recorded, half of which were committed by children under fifteen. Experts, however, feel that a more effective solution to this problem would be the introduction of more preventive measures.