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Current AffairsGovernment reaffirms commitment to extensive fiscal reforms
The centre-right Czech government weathered the latest in a series of
crises on Tuesday, putting aside its differences in the interest of what
the prime minister called its sole raison d’être – putting the
country’s finances in order. The three parties reaffirmed their
commitment to implementing budget savings and tax hikes which should bring
the budget deficit below 3 percent of GDP next year and down to 1.9 percent
in 2014. More
Current AffairsEducation Minister Josef Dobeš resigns “over budget cuts”
The embattled Czech education minister, Josef Dobeš, has announced he will
step down. Mr Dobeš, who has come under severe pressure over a number of
issues including EU funds and his planned university reform, cited further
austerity measures as the reason. But observers point out that the minister
just seized the opportunity to resign before he would be forced out of
office. More
Current AffairsPolice warn investigations will suffer if next year’s budget cuts goes through
The police have warned of tremendous impacts if the government’s
wide-ranging budget cuts go ahead. The current plan calls for a cutting a
four billion crown slice from the police budget in 2013 and an additional
two and a half billion the year after that. According to an internal police
risk assessment reported on this week by the daily Právo, those cuts in
practical terms will mean closing a quarter of the country’s police
stations and laying off a corresponding amount of the force, some 10,000
police officers. The report warns that that would leave the police unable
to properly fulfil one of their main tasks – investigations. More
Current AffairsTrade union group fears that government cuts will weaken stagnant Czech economy
The Czech government is debating continued austerity measures, hoping to
save 23 billion crowns in 2012, 42.4 billion in 2013 and a whopping 84.4
billion in 2014. But the plans have been met with opposition from trade
unions, who are highlighting that the cuts could lead to as many as 24,000
public sector job losses and include layoffs of as many as 17,000 teachers
as well as 3,500 police officers within the next two years. Jaroslav
Zavadil, head of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions recently
called this “a path to hell, which will destroy the public sector.” More
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