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Press ReviewPress Review
The first ever trial of a left-wing radical commands a great deal of
attention since a regional court in North Moravia is now expected to set
an important precedent - can people be jailed for propagating communism?
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Press ReviewPress Review
All the main dailies today lead with reports of heightening tensions
between the government and the trade unions nation-wide over the planed
fiscal reforms. On the international front, the papers carry shocking
photos from the Indian port city of Bombay, which was hit by two huge bomb
blasts.
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Letter from PragueSummer's getting hot
It's been an extremely hot summer here in the Czech Republic. Well, the
older generation would say just another hot summer - only young skeptics
talk about a possible climate change. Many enjoy the amount of sun we've
been having, but for others, it is yet another reason to complain about
their plight - such as farmers who never fail to be surprised by the
seasonal changes in the weather, and are always demanding compensations
from the government for what other entrepreneurs have to take as business
risk. Nevertheless, the farmers only add to the countless hands stretched
towards the treasury.
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Press ReviewPress Review
"Prime Minister Spidla wins first battle", that's how today's
papers describe the approval of a package of government-proposed public
finance reforms by the Lower House. The cabinet has pegged its future on
parliamentary approval of the reforms. But, as the papers point out, this
was only the first out of three readings.
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Business NewsUncertain future of fiscal reforms weakens Czech koruna
This week, Czech lawmakers started debating a package of fiscal reforms as
proposed by the centre-left government of Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla.
Mr. Spidla has staked the future of his three-party coalition cabinet on
the success of the reforms which are vital for cutting a widening public
finance deficit to meet the Maastricht criteria for euro adoption.
However, the government has only the tiniest majority of one vote in the
Lower Chamber. Some coalition MP have already voiced their objections to
the shape of the reforms and suggested they may seek alterations to some
of the dozen or so bills, combining tax hikes with wage freeze in the
state sector and cuts in social welfare. Although the reform has been
criticised from both right and left for being either too mild or too
radical, pundits agree that it is a step in the right direction. However,
the uncertain future of the reform package and fears of potential collapse
of the government has had a negative impact on the Czech currency, which
fell to 32.40 to the euro, its weakest level in a year and a half. I
discussed this and other aspects of the current uncertain situation with
economic analyst Vladimir Pikora from the Prague branch of Volksbank.
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Current AffairsOpposition Civic Democrats will strive to bring down government
The strongest opposition party in Parliament, the centre right Civic
Democrats have declared their intention to try to bring down the
three-party coalition government and trigger early elections. The public
announcement made by the party's leader Miroslav Topolanek, comes in the
wake of a fresh blow for the governing coalition: one of its deputies
broke ranks on Tuesday, seriously endangering the government's razor thin
majority in the Lower House.
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Press ReviewPress Review
Two stories dominate Wednesday's front pages: the killing of Saddam
Hussein's two sons by United States forces in Iraq, and the threat to the
governing coalition posed by the surprise resignation of Josef Hojdar from
the Social Democrats' group in the Chamber of Deputies.
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Current AffairsCoalition government reels under new blow
As the Lower House prepared to debate the government's fiscal reform
package on Tuesday, a deputy for the ruling Social Democratic Party let
off a bombshell. He announced that he was leaving his party's deputies
group and might not support the crucial reform package all the way. For a
government with a razor thin majority in the Lower House this news could
mean the end of the road.
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Current AffairsThe government faces a new test: pushing through public finance reform
Regardless of the final outcome July will be remembered as a month in which
the government once again put its political future on the line. After a
turbulent year that saw the fragile coalition weather discord over a
proposed tax hike, and further disunity during presidential elections, the
government has now rested its future on the passing of its public finance
reforms, a process that begins today expected to culminate in September.
This time: have coalition members agreed to agree? Or will the government
fail from within, eventually facing embarrassing defeat?
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Current AffairsShadow defence minister expects further budget cuts and introduces his own military reform plan
The Czech defence sector is in dire need of reform. The Defence Ministry's
plan to transform the Army into a fully professional one has been dealt a
heavy blow by the government, which has drastically cut defence spending
as part of an attempt at reducing the state budget deficit and reforming
public finances. As a result, Defence Minister Miroslav Kostelka has come
up with a new reform plan, which calls for soldiers to be laid off and
army bases to be closed down. Steps that shadow Defence Minister Petr
Necas says do not go far enough, given that more defence budget cuts can
be expected. Dita Asiedu reports:
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