Copyright (c) 2010 Radio Prague (Cesky Rozhlas 7 - Radio Praha)
News Monday, May 31st, 2010
By: Sarah Borufka
* President Vaclav Klaus has said that he considers a right-of-centre
coalition the only option for a new government at this point.
* The prime minister has called on deputies of the caretaker cabinet's
lower house to not propose any new measures that could deepen the state
budget deficit.
* The negotiating teams of the Civic Democrats and the TOP 09 party
have agreed on six points that their future government coalition would
focus on.
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President: Right-of-center coalition currently only option for
government coalition
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President Vaclav Klaus said on Monday that currently, he considers a
three-party coalition of the Civic Democrats, TOP 09 and Public Affairs
the only viable option for a government coalition. He added that he was
not yet ready to announce which party would get the first chance to put
together a government. The president's statement followed talks about
the formation of the next government which he held throughout the day
with the leaders of all five parties that made it into the lower house.
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President Klaus launches talks with party leaders
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On Monday, President Vaclav Klaus met leaders of all five parties that
made it into the lower house to talk about the formation of the next
government. The leader of the TOP 09 party, Karel Schwarzenberg,
informed Mr Klaus of the progress of coalition talks between his party
and the Civic Democrats, which he said were going very well. The acting
leader of the Social Democrats, Bohuslav Sobotka, said that while he is
not convinced that his party would be able to succeed in forming a
government, he still believes that, in line with tradition, the winning
party should be given the first chance to form a government. The leader
of the Civic Democrats, Petr Necas, expressed his wish to form a
coalition of fiscal responsibility with the TOP 09 and the Public
Affairs parties.
Even though the Social Democrats gained the most votes and seats in
elections to the lower house, their chances of creating a viable
coalition seem slim. It is now up to the Czech president to decide who
will get the first chance to put together a government. Mr Klaus has
not yet made any statements regarding when he is planning to announce a
decision.
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Prime minister calls on deputies to not make controversial proposals
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On Monday, the head of the current caretaker government, Prime Minister
Jan Fischer, called on deputies of the Czech lower house to not make
any further proposals or suggest initiatives that could deepen the
country's state budget deficit. Mr Fischer said that he hopes the new
government will be fiscally and socially conscious at the same time. He
added that he hopes the formation of a new government will be swift,
and that he is prepared to dissolve the current parliament after the
first session of the newly elected lower house, which could take place
on June 22.
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Civic Democrats and TOP 09 hold first coalition talks
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The negotiation teams of the Civic Democrats and the TOP 09 party met
on Monday for talks over the creation of a centre-right coalition,
which they expect will be joined by the Public Affairs party. The two
parties agreed on six basic points that would form the core of the
future coalition's program. Along with salary reductions for
politicians, the two parties declared senators and MPs should be
granted less immunity in the future. The Civic Democrats and TOP 09
both put curbing the Czech public deficit at the top of their
priorities for the future government.
The Civic Democrats won 53 and TOP 09 41 seats. A deal with Public
Affairs, with 24 seats, would give them a comfortable majority with 118
seats. Mr. Necas ruled out on Czech Television on Sunday a coalition
with the left-wing Social Democrats saying it would bring no benefit to
the country.
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Head of Public Affairs signals support for right-of-center coalition
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Following a meeting between the negotiating teams of the Public Affairs
party and the Civic Democrats on Monday, the head of the former, Radek
John, signaled his support for a three-party right-of-center coalition.
He added that forming a government with the Social Democrats would
involve seeking support from the Communist Party, which Public Affairs
considers unacceptable. Mr John said that nonetheless, negotiations
with the Civic Democrats and TOP 09 would be very difficult.
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Christian Democrats to focus on fall senatorial elections
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The Christian Democrats will focus on gaining voters' support in the
Senate, senator and Christian Democrat member Rostislav Slavotinek said
on Monday. Since the party did not gain enough votes to surpass the
five-percent threshold needed to win seats in the parliament, a number
of its candidates for posts in the lower house will now be able to run
in the elections for the Senate that are scheduled to take place in the
fall. The Christian Democrats' deputy leader said on Monday that the
party needed innovation and fresh ideas if it wanted to win back voters
in the next lower house elections. Christian Democrats leader Cyril
Svoboda stepped down on Saturday following the defeat of his party.
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President describes election results as a political earthquake
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In an interview with Monday's edition of Lidove noviny, President
Vaclav Klaus described the election results as a political earthquake
that had not left one stone standing upon another. He highlighted the
sharp drop in support for the two main parties blaming this on the
protracted stalemate after the previous tied elections in 2006, the
association of previous Civic Democrat leader Mirek Topolanek with top
business leaders, political behaviour of former Social Democrat leader
Jiri Paroubek and demonization of politicians by the media. The
president said that there were still big questions about the two new
breakthrough parties, TOP 09 and Public Affairs, and how they would
behave.
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Head of TOP 09 party expresses concern over vague party program of
Public Affairs party
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The head of the right-of-center TOP 09 party, Karel Schwarzenberg, said
in an interview published in Monday's edition of Pravo that he did not
know what the Public Affairs party stood for and what it hoped to
achieve in a centre-right government coalition. He added that before he
enters into talks with someone, he likes to know who he is dealing with
and that he fears that agreeing on details with the Public Affairs
party may prove somewhat difficult.
Some analysts believe that the Public Affairs party led a populist
election campaign with a rather vague party program.
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Constitution court confirms ban of far-right Workers' Party
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The Constitutional Court has turned down an appeal from the far-right
Workers' Party, which was banned by the Supreme Administrative Court in
February on grounds that it promotes xenophobia and racial hatred. This
is the final verdict and cannot be appealed within the Czech court
system. The head of the Workers' Party said that the party would now
appeal this decision at the European Court for Human Rights in
Strasburg. Some members of the banned Workers' Party are now active in
the Workers' Party for Social Justice, which has a similar party
program and uses some of the same symbols as the banned party. It
gained 1.14 percent of votes in the recent elections.
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50th Zlin children's film festival launched
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The 50th International Film Festival for Children and Youth started in
Zlin on Sunday. A large part of this year's programme looks at the film
creations of Czechoslovakia and in particular the work of animation
pioneer Karel Zeman. This year is the 100th anniversary of his birth.
One of this year's star guests is British actor Sir Christopher Lee.
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Czech goalkeeper rumored to join Russian ice hockey club
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The Russian sports newspaper Sovetsky Sport reported that the Czech ice
hockey player Dominik Hasek is set to travel to Moscow in the next few
days to sign a contract with Spartak Moscow. The 35-year-old
goalkeeper, who won gold at the Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, has not
yet commented on speculations of his possible move to Spartak. His
personal trainer said last week that Mr. Hasek was thinking about the
offer but had not made a decision yet. The Czech goalkeeper returned
from a one-year break last year, after ending his career at the NHL.
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Tomas Berdych in French Open last eight
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Czech tennis player Tomas Berdych has made it for the first time into
the last eight of the French Open Men's Singles competition. He beat
the number four seed, Scot Andy Murray, in straight sets 6:4, 7:5, 6:3.
The game played late in the evening was interrupted by rain with Murray
later hitting out at tournament organisers and saying it should have
been postponed till the next day because of poor light. Berdych, seeded
15, now faces the 11th seeded Russian, Mikhail Youzhny.
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Weather
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The next days will bring rainy conditions with cloudy skies, before
brightening up by Wednesday. The maximum daytime temperature will be
around 18 degrees Celsius.
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Articles posted on www.radio.cz today
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One on One
Amcham's Weston Stacey: Corruption concerns changed Czech political
environment
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Ahead of the Czech general elections, the Prague-based American Chamber
of Commerce, or Amcham, came up with an initiative to curb corruption
and to reform Czech public procurement legislation. The main Czech
political parties welcomed the initiative and committed to implementing
the proposed reform in Parliament. On Monday, with negotiations about
the new government in full swing, Radio Prague spoke to Amcham's
executive director Weston Stacey, and asked him whether he thought
corruption had been an important issue for Czech voters.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/128489
Current Affairs
Public Affairs party remains a mystery to many
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One of the winners of these elections and a newcomer to Parliament, the
Public Affairs party, clearly owes its success to its leader Radek
John, a former TV journalist who is a household name in the Czech
Republic. His investigative programme on commercial TV NOVA focused on
uncovering corruption, something the party has promised to do in top
politics as well. However, aside from its self-proclaimed role of
watchdog, the party's background and ambitions remain unclear even to
its potential coalition partners. I spoke to political analyst
Vladimira Dvorakova and first asked her what made Public Affairs so
appealing to voters.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/128482
Current Affairs
Voters shake-up status quo, pave way for government of "fiscal
responsibility"
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In the final weeks ahead of the election, polling agencies in the
country repeatedly predicted a major win for Jiri Paroubek's Social
Democrats but the reality at the weekend was different. The Social
Democrats did come first, but only barely, far from the overwhelming
success they had expected. Within hours of the polls closing, it became
clear that the party had a marginal chance of forming the next
government and that instead the country was now headed for a
centre-right coalition promising wide-reaching reforms.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/128478
Sports News
Sports News 5.31.2010
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In Sports News : Tomas Berdych has enjoyed a tremendous run in the
French Open to equal his best ever Grand Slam performance; Czech
handball star Filip Jicha has a European Championship medal with Kiel,
and Usti nad Labem have made it back to Czech football's top
competition after more than half a century.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/128469
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