Archive: Domestic affairs | Politics Politics
Pundit: Public Affairs has no future with or without Vít Bárta
The leadership of the junior coalition party Public Affairs is meeting to
debate the outcome of last week’s trial in which the party’s informal
leader Vít Bárta was found guilty of bribery. Although Mr. Bárta had
promised to pull out of high politics if he did not clear his name, he now
says he’ll keep his seat in the lower house and he thus remains a member
of the party’s deputies’ club. Radio Prague asked commentator Jiří
Pehe for his thoughts on how this latest development may impact the
government’s future and who is now actually running the smallest party in
government. More
Czech MPs Bárta, Škárka sentenced in bribery case
A Prague court on Friday delivered a verdict in one of the most
high-profile cases in recent years. The court found the unofficial leader
of the coalition Public Affairs party guilty of bribery, and fellow MP and
former Public Affairs chair of fraud. The case also highlighted the shady
practices within the Public Affairs party which has been behind a series of
government crises. More
Business analyst: government’s austerity plans should not undercut growth
The government on Wednesday approved far-reaching austerity plans to
gradually lower the gap in public finances to well below 3 percent of the
GDP. The strategy combines savings and tax hikes that are expected to
impact all strata of society. Radio Prague asked business analyst David
Marek whether such extensive austerity measures were called for and who
would bear the brunt of the fiscal reform. More
Government 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
Coalition leaders likely to reach deal on government’s future
The fate of the Czech government will be decided later on Tuesday as
coalition leaders are meeting in an attempt to save the cabinet. The junior
coalition Public Affairs party rocked the boat once again last week when
they threatened to pull out of the coalition. But before the week was over,
the party seemed happy to accept an offer by the Prime Minister to settle
their disputes at the negotiating table while latest reports suggest the
coalition leaders are indeed likely to reach agreement. More
Political pundit: Abolishing three ministries merely attempt at distracting attention from government’s real problems
Talks between the ruling government coalition’s Civic Democrats and
junior partner Public Affairs on Thursday failed to produce a solution to
disputes within the coalition. However, the senior Civic Democrats are
considering reducing the number of ministries by three, one of the
conditions posed by Public Affairs, which earlier this week threatened to
quit the coalition should its demands not be met. But is the step to merge
the culture, environment and regional development ministries with other
existing ministries a sensible one? We put the question to political pundit
Jiří Pehe. More
New initiative calls for probe into links between politics and organized crime
A group of Czech NGOs has launched a new initiative to fight the uphill
battle against corruption in the Czech Republic. Entitled You Stole Our
Country, Give It Back, the initiative seeks to put Czech parliamentarians
under enough public pressure to allow for a thorough probe into alleged
links between politics and organized crime. The NGOs behind the new project
include the Czech Helsinki Committee, the Romany advocacy group Romea, the
student initiative Democracy Czech-Up as well as the Anticorruption
Endowment Fund. Radio Prague spoke to the fund’s founder, the businessman
and philanthropist Karel Janeček and asked him what the main goals were. More
Latest storm in coalition government leaves junior party weakened and divided
The storm that threatened to bring down the centre-right Czech government
appears to be over, but it has left Public Affairs, the junior coalition
party that started it, badly battered. As Public Affairs leaders went back
to the negotiating table to debate what appear to be face-saving
concessions, the smallest party in government fielded questions from
reporters about the deepening split in party ranks. More
Public Affairs put themselves and the government on the edge of collapse
The Czech government is teetering on collapse as the junior coalition
party, Public Affairs, has said it will pull out unless a number of major
concessions are met. Reactions to the demands from its coalition partners
were no less than furious, and even if the party backs down - as it has on
similar occasions – it seems that either the coalition or Public Affairs
itself will soon collapse under the tension. Christian Falvey has this
report: More
Analyst: early elections not to advantage of any of the coalition parties
The latest flare-up between Public Affairs and the two senior parties Civic
Democrats and TOP 09 appears to have taken the continued existence of the
centre-right cabinet to the very brink. Are we close to early elections or
did the smallest party in government, in trying to gain concessions, simply
overplay its hand? More
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