2011-01-25T13:36:06+01:00 Radio Prague http://radio.cz/en/section/talking/czech-foreign-policy-review-searches-for-new-directions urn:uuid:f4e4d2dc-d393-5ea7-9aa5-ab48db43ac4b 2011-01-25T13:36:06+01:00

The Czech Foreign Minister has announced a wide ranging review of foreign policy to take account both of changes in the Czech Republic and those in the wider world. The review comes with the jury still out on whether a more streamlined EU foreign policy can deliver, the outcome of Afghanistan still unclear and questions still up in the air about relations with Russia. We look at what might be questioned in the review and what changes might follow.

urn:uuid:46dd99fa-9291-588e-ac53-62f9f42bb9a6 2010-11-23T17:08:43+01:00

President Václav Klaus has been a dominant figure on the Czech political scene ever since the early 1990s. The founder of the Civic Democrats was finance minister and later prime minister, before becoming head of state seven years ago. It is perhaps surprising then that the first political biography of Mr Klaus has only now been published. “Klaus: A Portrait of a Politician in Twenty Images” by the political analyst Jiří Pehe has provoked heated debate between the president’s supporters and opponents.

urn:uuid:5ae26304-e748-5492-8cda-3063ede5491b 2010-11-09T13:41:34+01:00

Prague’s National Gallery, one of the country’s most respected cultural institutions which includes a number of venues including Veletržní palace, has, along with other state-funded organisations, been told by the austerity government to save 15 percent of its budget next year. The cuts, following the earlier financial crisis, are expected to hit the gallery hard. While some steps have already been taken – a reduction in the number of exhibitions, a cutting back on acquisitions, a lowering of the number of staff – it is not likely to be enough. As a result, this week gallery head Milan Knížák warned of a more drastic solution if additional funds aren’t found.

urn:uuid:c0df1663-b394-55e5-8ef5-264e2618e4f6 2010-10-26T14:20:37+02:00

One of the most startling features of recent elections in big cities, towns and local councils across the Czech Republic was the success of independent citizens’ groups in winning seats. Many campaigned on a simple ticket of throwing the incumbent big parties or coalitions, often tarnished with mismanagement or corruption, out of power. So do those elections mark a radical change or just a blip and is there any reason to hope that the blight of local government corruption can be conquered? In this week’s Talking Point we look at the phenomenon and chances of a Czech anti-corruption drive.

urn:uuid:86116235-c3b6-5d2d-85d8-57869b01c919 2010-09-14T17:02:55+02:00

The long-awaited video game Mafia II, produced by the Brno-based 2K Czech studio, came out last month and has since become a huge success with gamers around the world, acclaimed for its mature and realistic story line and top-notch graphics. In this week’s Talking Point, we explore the world of Vitto Scaletta and his adventures in the American underworld of the 1950s.

urn:uuid:1b336243-d30e-524c-aa52-5a88ab25115b 2010-08-31T12:01:58+02:00

A storm of outrage erupted in mid August when Prague city council gave the green light for a camp to be created for the capital’s homeless. Human rights groups said it was a throwback to a darker era, non-profit groups argued the step would simply not work. This week’s Talking Point looks at the arguments stirred up about the homeless camp.

urn:uuid:87baabd6-0612-5e06-b8ca-6299a1866e05 2010-07-13T17:09:57+02:00

Czech scientists have come up with an interesting theory about the relation between a man's character and the colour of his eyes. According to the study which appeared in this month's issue of the journal Personality and Individual Differences, brown-eyed men are perceived as more dominant than blue-eyed ones. The main author of the study is Karel Kleisner from the Science Faculty of Prague's Charles University.

urn:uuid:2e975571-9592-59fd-a0e0-8f5c097f3be6 2010-06-29T14:26:30+02:00

The contract to build two new nuclear reactors at the current south Bohemian site of Temelín with the option for another three elsewhere has been described as the tender of the century. The deal will be worth hundreds of billions of crowns, but there is more than the money at stake. The decision offers a stark choice between US, French and Russian companies and technology with the Czech Republic looking to get key strategic know-how and spin off contracts from the winner.

urn:uuid:c88380b3-aecb-5078-aba5-4c4a6cf3b8d3 2010-06-15T13:00:04+02:00

One phrase, fiscal responsibility, and one word, cuts, dominate Czech economic and political life following elections to the lower house at the end of May. The right-wing coalition government in the making has pledged the former, with public spending on the block in all post-election rhetoric. We look at the rationale behind the obsession with cutting public spending, and whether the likely next Czech government is choosing the right path.

urn:uuid:b506fb27-092f-55cd-b731-15d3c74048e1 2010-03-30T13:56:18+02:00

The Green Party has recently brought forward a proposal to change legislation so that gay and lesbian individuals in the Czech Republic who live in a registered partnership would be able to adopt children. The proposal is based on an analysis by the Committee for Sexual Minorities. Within Europe, individual adoption for gays and lesbians in registered partnerships is legal in a number of countries, including Germany, Norway and the UK.

urn:uuid:d39fa3b4-08c5-57af-8626-d5a8e4d5421a 2010-03-23T15:59:41+01:00

The Czech Roman Catholic Church recently joined an on-going debate about sexual abuse of minors by priests. Several church officials, including both the outgoing and the newly appointed archbishops of Prague offered their views on the scandal, and on what the church should do to prevent such cases in the future. Although only a few cases of sex abuse have been disclosed in the Czech Republic, the debate now centres on how to tighten the rules of accepting candidates for priests.

urn:uuid:7b26d948-30d2-57aa-921a-2f90872cf4d5 2010-03-16T17:28:17+01:00

The conditions in which the Czech Republic’s Roma minority lives have not improved in the last decade, in fact many of the groups working with Roma issues say their situation in Czech society, and relationship with Czechs, is in a gradual downward spiral. Unemployment among the Roma is said to be at more than 80%, high debt is rampant, and this has fostered social exclusion and breeding grounds for crime and drug use. And in turn violent crime against Roma communities has become, if not more prevalent, then more extreme. In this week’s Talking Point we check up on the situation in the South Bohemian town of Český Krumlov, often cited as the best example of Czech-Roma coexistence in the country.

urn:uuid:556c3ca1-5c4d-545f-82a6-760490235acc 2010-03-09T14:09:30+01:00

Last month Prague hosted a major international conference on the crimes committed by the communist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe. Delegates from both sides of the former Iron Curtain discussed their research into atrocities that in many cases had been swept under the carpet for decades. To give a couple of examples: how many Europeans today remember that up to 130,000 people were executed in the Yugoslav republic of Slovenia in the aftermath World War II, or that in Romania hundreds of opponents to the Stalinist regime were shot by the Securitate and buried in unmarked mass graves between 1948 and 1952? Raluca Grosescu from Romania’s Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes points out that her institute’s work has involved a great deal more than just sifting through archives:

urn:uuid:294bcb6f-c221-51e3-85af-39aa637dbcf3 2010-03-02T17:00:12+01:00

Not that long ago in the Czech Republic, parents with young children - babies or toddlers - were often hard-pressed to find venues catering specifically to their needs, but more and more that situation has changed. Arguably, more services are now available than ever – from restaurants offering children’s corners to centres organising all manner of activities for toddlers.

urn:uuid:1b854d1d-0de5-5745-8930-2d6d864138e0 2010-02-23T17:23:52+01:00

Two former foreign employees of the Prague-based, US broadcaster RFE/RL are fighting a legal battle against their former employer, accusing the radio station of discrimination. The argument is related to their contracts with the radio station, and the way the Croatian and Armenian nationals were fired. They claim that they and hundreds of other RFE Prague-based employees from non EU countries find themselves in a legal vacuum. But it seems that they fell into a gap in the system – which in the meantime has been fixed.

urn:uuid:0d7d690b-7b28-5634-8216-17958c3c2a98 2010-02-16T12:18:50+01:00

If you are looking for somewhere for Christian worship in Prague, there are several places where you can attend regular Sunday services in English. One thriving English-speaking Christian community is the Anglican congregation, which meets every Sunday at St Clement’s Church in the Old Town. Services are well-attended, but in the twenty years since the fall of communism, the Anglican chaplaincy has not always had a smooth ride, and for the second time in just over a decade its future is uncertain.

urn:uuid:150a1cb7-7315-585f-b143-1841e656e9a2 2010-02-02T13:11:14+01:00

In 2006 the Czech Republic took four medals at the Winter Olympic Games in Turin. This year the Czech team is the biggest, and perhaps the strongest, in history. So what can the Czechs hope to achieve at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, which get underway on February 12?

urn:uuid:aba02412-eba6-5fc8-b62b-cd08ebc8258e 2010-01-26T14:50:39+01:00

One of the most important documents concerning the future of Prague is the rather unimaginatively named “Development Plan”. Since 1999, the plan has been the key public document laying out the broad rules for what can be built where in the city and its suburbs. For investors, developers, property owners and Prague’s 57 local authorities, the plan outlines development and environmental priorities: in terms of land-use, new building and the transport infrastructure. Since the plan was first drawn up in the early days after the fall of communism, Prague has changed immensely, and sweeping amendments are currently under discussion. The form the final document takes could define the character of one of Europe’s most historic cities for several generations to come.

urn:uuid:30cc9009-b5ba-51b6-bb50-aeb1d616aee1 2010-01-19T13:44:15+01:00

In this week’s Talking Point we examine the future of shortwave broadcasting. Shortwave has undoubtedly been on the retreat in developed countries, forced to share its former primacy with upstart mediums such as the internet and satellite radio. But are its days numbered even in the developing world?

urn:uuid:943666b1-77dd-5c08-b0f3-cd82ebd721bb 2009-12-22T14:46:50+01:00

The number of HIV cases in the Czech Republic has been steadily rising, and 2009 could see the biggest jump in HIV infection in the country’s history. The Czech health authorities say that the surge is fuelled by ignorance and complacency within high-risk groups. But critics point out that following a recent overhaul of the government’s HIV/AIDS prevention programme, the situation has fast deteriorated.