CZECH TELEGRAPH

Last Week in News

5. 4. 2010

Center-right Civic Democrats` Leader Resigns Under Pressure

Former premier Mirek Topolánek has stepped down as leader of the center-right Civic Democrats party (ODS), being substituted by veteran member and former Minister of Labour Petr Necas (45). Topolánek's decision came under intense internal party pressure and media buzz about the need for his stepping down after having given up the May general elections position on the top of the ballot list and the post of prime minister in case of victory, following controversial remarks done to a gay magazine, which offended the current caretaker premier Jan Fischer, making insulting references to his character and Jewish origins, besides other unkind words uttered at the Catholic Church's influence over the masses.

The former premier will officially leave his post as party leader on April 12th, one month and a half before the national elections. Political analysts say that Toplánek's departure from all party posts is likely to help the Civic Democrats in the upcoming election.

A meeting between Prime Minister Fischer, Social Democratic party leader Paroubek and the Civic Democratic party election leader Nečas to discuss changes to the interim government ministry body ended up inconclusive. The politicians could not reach a deal on the filling of two ministerial posts left open after two Green Party nominees resigned.

After premier Fischer made his Agriculture Minister Jakub Šebesta also the Environment Minister and considered himself to take over as the Minister for Human Rights and Minorities the Civic Democrats protested against the choice of minister Šebesta, because he is a Social Democrats nominee.

Topolánek, who became ODS leader in November 2002, will receive a so-called golden parachute (around 500,000 Czech crowns, or 20,000 euros). Rumours that former Minister of Interior Ivan Langer may be the next to be forced out have been dismissed by Petr Nečas.

Because Nečas is seen as a conservative and even prudent politician, experts believe he may turn the attention away from ODS's various scandals towards its center-right policy programme. His non-confrontational attitude may become an evident contrast to Social Democratic chairman`s aggressive style. Nečas and Paroubek are to have a pre-election debate on public Czech TV (ČT) on April 11th.

Both the Civic and Social Democrats are heavily in the red. ODS has a debt of 165 million Czech crowns and the Social Democrats 158 million. Both parties took out big loans to be able to finance the current election campaign.

Suspicions Over Pandur Deal Continues

Although not having confirmed yet produced any evidence supporting the allegations so far, investigations of possible corruption into the Pandur public tender awarded by the Czech Ministry of Defence will continue. Czech daily Mladá fronta Dnes published earlier this year that members of the Ministry of Defence had signed a 14.4 billion crown contract with the Austrian company Steyr to buy armoured personnel carriers and had earmarked two to three percent of the tender as kickbacks for the two strongest political parties.

Gypsies Sent to Special Schools Because of Wrong Tests

The Czech School Inspection concluded that many Gypsy children are unnecessarily sent to attend special schools tailored to attend students with mental and physical disabilities. Those schools are better fit to educate mildly mentally-handicapped children or with developmental disabilities. Poor diagnostics resulting from faulty and badly conceived tests often ranks Gypsy children, whose cultural traditions focus on other kinds of knowledge, leads to sending them to schools for kids with mild disabilities.

Obama Meets Also Other Leaders While in Prague

American President Barack Obama will not only come to Prague sign a disarmament agreement with thr Russian President Dmitry Medveded, but will also meet leaders of Central and East European countries Thursday, April 8th. He will be talking personally to Hungarian Premier Gordon Bajnai, with the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and Romania's President Constantin Stefanoaie. Also leaders from Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and the Baltic states have been issued invitations. Obama returns to the Czech capital almost exactly a year after making a key speech on nuclear weapons in front of the Prague Castle. The Czech army and air force are preparing for the upcoming visit. Gripen fighters, police and army helicopters will be securing the air space. More than one thousand policemen will be working to provide security for the meeting.

Public finance gap up to 5.93 percent of GDP

The Czech Republic's public finance deficit grew to 5.93% of the GDP last year, up from 2.72% in 2008, according to figures from the Czech Statistical Office. Brussels voiced concerns over the country's state deficit being almost double the limit set down for euro adoption. Czech Republic's caretaker government has proposed a convergence plan that would cut the deficit to 3 percent of the GDP by 2013 but its implementation will depend on the government which will emerge from May's general election.

IMF Fueled Crisis, says Central Bank Vice Deputy

Czech Central Bank Vice Deputy Mojmir Hampl declared in an interview for Der Standard that the IMF fueled Eastern Europe's crisis to create a situation that would compel regional states to request the help of the international institution and that that the institution, which offered emergency funds for Hungary, Romania, Ukraine and Lithuania misinterpreted some data because they are looking for new clients as the leadership changed. Hampl explained that the IMF underlined some data which exaggerated the exposure of West European banks in emerging European states. He said that the misinterpretation was unpleasant and corrected the data after he signaled them. At the same time, Czech Republic has signed an agreement with the IMF to give up to 1 billion euros to lend the institution's lending capacity.

Škoda Auto will continue the partnership with Tour de France until 2013

Škoda Auto extends the cooperation which started in 2004 and remains the main partner of the most famous bicycle race in the world. In 2010, Škoda Auto continues to support 8 professional cycling teams - Cofidis, Cervélo Test, Francaise des Jeux, Euskateltel -- Euskadi, Milram, Rabobank, Saxo Bank, Omega Pharma-Lotto and two technical assistance teams -- Shimano, Mavic. The so-called "Grand Départ" start of the 97th Tour de France will take place on July 3rd in the Dutch city of Rotterdam and, besides the Netherlands, the Tour will visit France and Belgium as well. The riders will cover a distance of 3,596 kilometres in 20 stages.

Czech Prime Minister Met NATO`s Supreme Allied Commander Europe

Prime Minister Jan Fischer and Admiral Stavridis have met in Prague to discuss NATO's new Strategic Concept as well as the strategy of the process in Afghanistan with a focus on strengthening civilian presence. The Admiral said the goal of his visit was to support and value the Czech units operating within allied missions, thanking that over the decade Czech Republis has been part of NATO it has shown itself as "an active contributor to its building", adding that the work of Czech units in Kosovo and Afghanistan is among the best.

ČEZ for Poles

Czech Republic's major energy company ČEZ has been shortlisted by Polish authorities in the tender for 50% of Polish power plant complex Patnow-Adamow-Konin. Among others, the Polish treasury ministry has admitted ČEZ` Polish peer Enea, boiler maker Rafako and Cyprus-registered RPG Partners Limited.

Meta-amphetamine Biggest Problem for Police

Mass production of meta-amphetamine in illegal laboratories is the top problem faced by the Czech drug police. The availability of over-the-counter medicines containing pseudo-ephedrine, which is used to make meta-amphetamine, has been pointed out as the main reason for the difficulty in curbing its production. Czech Republic continues to be Europe's biggest producer of the meta-amphetamines, or pervitin (often called "piko" among users) and the difficulty of securing convictions is a bigger issue than the 314 labs that were uncovered by the police in 2009 (in 2008 there were 434).

A Czech court sentenced a pharmacist to 8 years in prison and to pay a fine of 3 million Czech crowns for selling over-the-counter medicines containing pseudo-ephedrine to customers who he knew were using the medicines to produce meta-amphetamine. The 50-year-old pharmacist sold about 6 million pills of the medicine to meta-amphetamine producers. He denied having sold the drug Nurofen at all, claiming to not know that the medicine could be used in the production of illegal drugs.

Possible Prison for Neglect on Charles Bridge Repairs

The head of the Prague Town Hall Preservation Department, Jan Knežinek, has been charged with obstruction and neglect of his office and faces potential 3 years behind bars. The Plzeň Regional Authority announced that the City of Prague is to pay a 3.25 billion Czech crown fine for damages made during the repair of the traditional Charles Bridge. The fine was imposed because of the damages caused to original blocks used in the bridge's construction and for the use of modern materials, ignoring the fact that Charles Bridge is listed as one of UNESCO's World Heritage List sites. The repairs were done by a company called Mott MacDonald, pointed as not being responsible for the damages.

The End of the Telegram in Czech Republic

After 160 years the Czech Postal services ended its telegram service on Wednesday. Mobile phone text messaging and email have caused the number of people sending telegrams in the Czech Republic to a mere few dozen a month. However, telegrams will not disappear completely - the Telefonica O2 companu announced it will continue to offer a version of the service.

Czech Railways Hires1st Female Driver Since 1980s

The only woman driver working on the Czech Republic's rail system passed the necessary test last week and should drive a train for the first time in the middle of April.

Sports? Neeeee!

Czechs are among EU nations that least practice sports, according to a survey by the Eurobarometer agency. Czechs Republic ranked 20th out of the 27 EU nations in the research. The EU average is 39%. Swedes, Finns and Danes are the most sportish Europeans, while Bulgarians and Greeks the least.

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