Section Archive Current Affairs
Czech politicians offer different interpretations of left-wing landslide in Slovakia
Voters in neighbouring Slovakia made a powerful statement at the weekend
when they handed an overwhelming victory to the centre-left party SMER,
which now has a strong enough mandate to form a single-party government.
What that statement means though has been interpreted variously in the
Czech Republic, where the current centre-right government has reached
record lows in popularity. In the view of Foreign Minister and chairman of
the TOP 09 Party Karel Schwarzenberg, the poll should be a lesson for the
Czech government that corruption doesn’t pay, even amid positive
right-wing policies. The Czech Social Democratic Party on the other hand
was quick to interpret the election result as an indictment of failed
policies that have often mirrored the reform measures passed and proposed
in the Czech Republic. For an expert’s view on both those statements we
turned to political scientist Jiří Pehe: More
Bárta trial adjourns after an ugly week
The first round of the trial of leading Public Affairs member and former
transport minister Vít Bárta comes to a close on Friday. Over the course
of the week no less than six past and present government ministers have
taken the stand to give testimony in the biggest corruption case in recent
memory, which will be adjourned on Friday while the court goes over the
evidence. More
The Czech Republic investigates the impact of Poland's "saltgate"
The Polish media have dubbed it “saltgate” – revelations that at
least three Polish companies have been selling industrial salt (normally
used to de-ice roads) to milk, fish, meat and bread producers. Several
countries to which Poland may have exported potentially contaminated food
products have been identified: Lithuania, Ireland, England, Germany and the
Czech Republic. This week, the Czech Agriculture Ministry decided to
temporarily block the import of salt from Poland, while tests are carried
out by the State Veterinary Administration to determine if harmful
substances such as dioxins and heavy metals found in road salt have made
their way into the food chain. Meanwhile, five people have been arrested in
Poland in connection with the affair, while the remaining salt in question
has been impounded while the country’s own Chief Sanitary Inspectorate
continues its own tests. More
“Radioactivists” – a documentary at the One World festival explores Japanese protests in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster
As part of this year’s edition of the One World International Human
Rights Film Festival, which is currently on in Prague, the German-produced
independent documentary Radioactivists – Protest in Japan provides a rare
and up-close look at Japanese protests in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear
disaster. It is being shown in the Youth Quake category, which features
films that portray young people’s struggle for change in countries around
the world. I asked co-director Clarissa Seidel, who made the film together
with her good friend Julia Leser, about Japanese protest culture and
whether she was at all interested in the country prior to the film project. More
Study warns of possible new attacks against Roma as neo-Nazi movement gains traction
A new study commissioned by the Interior Ministry has suggested that the
neo-Nazi movement in the Czech Republic (estimated as 4,000 strong with 400
hardcore members) is successfully pushing an agenda of hatred and racism in
troubled parts of the country. As it stands, the last decade or so saw a
number of arson attacks against ethnic Roma families including a
highly-publicised case where a toddler barely survived and was left with
lifelong disabilities. According to the latest report, unless more
comprehensive measures are taken soon, racially-motivated attacks spurred
by the neo-Nazi movement, may increase. More
Protest, rebellion, revolt – Arab Spring takes center stage at the One World International Human Rights Film Festival 2012
The One World International Human Rights Film Festival has just started in
Prague. This year’s edition brings over a hundred films from 72 countries
to the Czech capital, where documentary lovers can visit special festival
screenings until March 15. With such an abundance of interesting
documentaries, it’s something difficult to determine what to see first
– we asked program director Kateřina Bartošová about her highlights
and about the theme of this year’s main category. More
Trade 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
Daily Telegraph: Prague fourth best city for young expat life
Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper has just published a list of the top
twenty places for young people to emigrate, and the Czech capital Prague
came in fourth. "Beautiful and only a short flight away from Britain,
Prague offers all the stability of Europe with not requiring a new
language, and it has the best beer in the world," that's according to
the Telegraph at least. So is Prague as an expat destination all it's
cracked up to be? More
De-facto leader of Public Affairs stands trial for corruption
The junior coalition party Public Affairs, which won seats in Parliament on
a strong-anti-corruption agenda, is facing a major test of its credibility.
The party’s de facto leader, former transport minister and present head
of the party’s parliamentary group in the lower house Vít Bárta is
standing trial on charges of corruption. The court hearings which began on
Monday will hear testimony from ministers and MPs and the outcome of the
much anticipated trial could shake the party in its foundations. More
Czech Republic and Britain alone withhold signatures from EU treaty
Twenty-five of 27 EU member states signed the European Union’s new fiscal
compact in Brussels on Friday - but the Czechs were not among them. Prime
Minister Petr Nečas together with British Prime Minister David Cameron
have opted not to support the treaty, which is aimed at enforcing budget
discipline in the union and prevent meltdowns within the eurozone as was
seen with Greece. More
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