Press Review

All today's papers analyse the current tension in the governing coalition. Similar headlines in Mlada Fronta Dnes, Lidove Noviny and Pravo say that the junior coalition partner Freedom Union has decided to stay in the government after all. Lidove Noviny writes that after a five-hour long meeting on Sunday night, the national committee of the Freedom Union gave its chairman and Deputy Prime Minister Petr Mares a vote of confidence.

Pavel Nemec, Frantisek Pelc and Petr Mares at Freedom Union meeting, photo: CTK

While one part of the leadership suggested that the Freedom Union should leave the cabinet before it is thrown out, another part said that this move would pave the way for the communists to gain power. Lidove Noviny says it is widely expected that if the current coalition government collapsed, the Social Democrats would form a minority government supported by the Communist Party.

Mlada Fronta Dnes writes that Sunday's extraordinary meeting of the Freedom Union's national committee was called at short notice after two Freedom Union MPs left the party, threatening the government's frail one-vote majority in the lower house of parliament. The paper reports that the national committee agreed to postpone any personnel changes in the Freedom Union leadership until after the European Parliament election in June.

Czech Women´s Union celebrates the International Women's Day, photo: CTK

Today's papers also pay attention to the "return" of International Women's Day to the Czech Republic. Lidove Noviny carries commentaries with opposing views on the re-introduction of International Women's Day in the Czech official calendar. While commentator Katerina Jonasova points out that International Women's Day commemorates women's uprisings against injustice throughout history, author Alexandra Berkova writes that it's genuine equality and not a token festival that women need.

The director of the winning film 'Nuda v Brne' Vladimir Moravek and the best actor Jan Budar, photo: CTK

Pravo gets back to Saturday's Czech Lion award ceremony. The paper says that, for the first time in the eleven-year history of the Czech Republic's most prestigious film awards, the organisers failed to mention every film that was produced in the country in the past year. Pravo comments that viewers might have had the impression that apart from the 8 nominees, no other movies were produced in the Czech Republic in 2003.

Pravo writes that in recent years the award-winning films themselves have been increasingly overshadowed by the accompanying programme at the awards ceremony. The paper sees it as disrespect for the work of filmmakers and predicts that one day films may disappear altogether from the Czech Lion's prize-giving ceremony.

Mlada Fronta Dnes brings good news for those who are planning to buy a flat in the Czech Republic. After years of steadily rising prices, the paper says that real-estate agents are expecting a fall in property prices. Free market rents have been decreasing for several months and the prices of flats for sale should follow. According to Mlada Fronta Dnes, six weeks ahead of the Czech Republic's accession to the EU, the grim expectation that there would be a hike in property prices doesn't seem to have materialised.