Zeman: solar power support biggest robbery in history of state

In a 50-minute address to the lower house of the Czech Parliament on Tuesday, President Miloš Zeman said that a system to support solar power had amounted to the greatest robbery in the history of the Czech state. He said “solar barons” had cheated the state out of around CZK 200 billion and called for a commission to look into the background to the scheme, which has been scaled back considerably. In his first speech to the Chamber of Deputies, the head of state also discussed the issue of Czech envoys, over which he is locked in a dispute with the minister of foreign affairs, Karel Schwarzenberg; he said the cause of the disagreement was his support for what he called “economy diplomacy” and made a number of digs at Mr. Schwarzenberg, who he defeated in January’s presidential election.