News of Radio Prague

Czech and Slovak PMs meet in Prague

Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda is currently on an official visit to the Czech Republic. On Monday, he met with his Czech counterpart Milos Zeman to discuss bilateral issues. They discussed a dispute that has arisen recently on the Slovak side of the border where a local authority has begun selling off land containing Czech-owned properties. They urged the parties involved to resolve the dispute, otherwise the Slovak government is ready to intervene. The two countries still do not have an agreement on the mutual protection of investment that could prevent such problems in the future.

On Tuesday, Mr Dzurinda is meeting Czech President Vaclav Havel to discuss Slovak accession to NATO, the EU and the OECD.

Bomb scare at Prague Castle

The seat of the Czech president, Prague Castle, had to be evacuated on Monday evening due to a bomb threat. The news server iDNES reported that an anonymous caller warned that there were 66 kilograms of explosives planted at the castle. However, police officers carried out a thorough search and found no such device, and the castle was re-opened to the public at round 5 am on Tuesday. According to presidential spokesman Ladislav Spacek, the Castle receives hundreds of such phone-calls.

EU restricts competition in road cargo transport

Some EU member countries have begun adopting measures to prevent cargo transport companies from the Czech Republic and other non-member states from competing on EU markets. A Czech Transport Ministry spokesperson said that these obstacles include strict border checks, an imposition of visa requirements for truck drivers and other measures. Officially, European governments claim that Eastern companies compete by charging extremely low prices, do not observe so-called social rules, such as the proportion of driving and rest time, and pay their drivers low wages.

EU member states have also been reportedly considering limiting free competition in road transport after the accession of the Czech Republic and other East and Central European countries to the European Union.

Czech weather forecast

And finally, the weather forecast. We are expecting a cloudy and rainy day with afternoon highs ranging from 19 to 23 degrees Celsius. Wednesday and Thursday should be partially cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms in places, the highest daytime temperatures should hover around 20 degrees Celsius.