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Current AffairsNo Velvet Divorce in sight as government crisis deepens
On Wednesday afternoon a crowd of about two hundred braved the cold and
gathered outside the Czech government offices, demanding the resignation
of Prime Minister Stanislav Gross. They are part of a group of citizens
gathering signatures to put pressure on Mr Gross to step down over his
family's personal finances. So far they have gathered about 25,000
signatures. In the meantime the main players in the government crisis, the
leadership of the three coalition parties met on Wednesday evening to
discuss ways out of the current deadlock. David Vaughan is with me in the
studio. Was there any progress?
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Business NewsPolitical crisis could put Cesky Telecom privatisation on hold
The crisis in government—triggered by media inquiries into the personal
finances of the Prime Minister and his wife—came just as Czech companies
were making public their 2004 full-year results. Not surprisingly, stock
in blue chip companies that ended last year in the black—such as the
chemicals producer Unipetrol—did very well on the Czech bourse. But the
share price of Cesky Telecom, which boasted record profits last
year, suffered from concerns that Prime Minister Stanislav Gross might be
forced to resign. More
Current AffairsKlaus, Gross in Brussels as George Bush attempts to patch up ties with Europe
The president of the United States, George Bush, is in Europe at the
moment, on a visit that is being seen as a concerted effort to patch up
US-European relations. On Tuesday he was in Brussels for a NATO meeting,
which was also attended by the Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, and the
Czech prime minister, Stanislav Gross. I spoke to Radio Prague's Gerald
Schubert, who is in Brussels, and began by asking him what Mr Klaus and Mr
Gross had to say on the issue of US-European relations.
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Current AffairsGovernment crisis: faint signs of compromise
On Monday another voice was added to the row over Prime Minister Stanislav
Gross's private finances. The veteran of the Czech political scene with
the reputation of one of Central Europe's elder statesmen, Vaclav Havel,
added his voice to the debate. Interestingly, he was sympathetic towards
the beleaguered prime minister.
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Current AffairsLoan Sarka? Business interests of the Prime Minister's wife takes centre stage in coalition crisis
They say that behind every great man is a great woman: much of the current
row about the Czech Prime Minister has revolved around his wife's business
dealings. Sarka Grossova is often portrayed in a negative light; as a
former "cafeteria worker" who married well and shamelessly
trades on her husband's name and political connections. More
Current AffairsGovernment crisis: is there a way out of the deadlock?
The heated row over the Czech Prime Minister's personal finances took a
dramatic twist over the weekend. Just as it looked as though Mr Gross's
Social Democrats had made peace with their smaller coalition partners, the
Christian Democrat leadership emerged on Saturday morning with a shock
demand: either Mr Gross should stand down as prime minister or dissolve
the government altogether. They said that questions over how he had paid
for his new apartment five years ago had led to a collapse of confidence
even within his own coalition. So is this the death knell for the
government and the end of the line for Europe's youngest prime minister?
David Vaughan is following the story. David, what do you think?
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