Austerity package signed into law

Meanwhile, Mr Klaus has signed the government’s austerity package into law, allowing the state to work with a reduced deficit of 163 billion crowns for 2010. The so-called “Janota Package”, named after its patron, interim Finance Minister Eduard Janota, amends some 15 legislative acts from the areas of tax, social security and healthcare applicable for 2010 and that year alone. Had the package not passed, the budget deficit for 2010 would have reached 230 billion crowns.