100 posts
Morning Briefing: Hungarian Unemployment High, Czech Government Embattled
NEW
Hungarian unemployment is slightly below expectations, latest data showed Friday, but remains in double digits, while in Prague the government faces fresh calls for a no-confidence vote.
Czech Three-Year Yield at Record Low, Government Wins Vote
NEW
Czech borrowing costs fell to record lows at a three-year bond auction showing strong demand Wednesday, shortly before the country's embattled right-leaning coalition won a parliamentary confidence vote.
Petr Nečas is hanging in there, for now
NEW
AT the congress of the ODS, the Civic Democratic Party, last weekend, Petr Nečas, the Czech Republic's embattled prime minister, defended his ODS leadership against a vocal rebellion. But his victory may prove to be a short-lived triumph:...
In a Bit of a Jam
NEW
Are you in or headed towards the Czech Republic, but still looking forward to your marmalade at breakfast time? Sorry, that’s probably not possible: iDnes: Marmeláda se nevrátí, Unie odsoudila Česko k rosolu a džemu: Ma...
Petr Nečas's battle for survival
NEW
OMINOUS clouds are gathering over the Czech prime minister’s tenuous government as Petr Nečas (pictured above on the left) faces an existential challenge from within his own party.Mr Nečas's Civic Democratic Party (ODS) is h...
Morning Briefing: Czech Central Bankers Speeches Take Center Stage
NEW
Czech views on events in Europe come into view Friday when policy makers speak in Prague.
Will the Czech government fall next week?
NEW
FOR years the Czech Republic has suffered from weak, ineffective governments. They controlled slim majorities in parliament and got bogged down in bickering and stalemates. As a rule, a handful of coalition lawmakers blackmailed their cabinets i...
A Win for All Whistleblowers
NEW
Libor Michalek,, who publicized corruption at the Environmental Ministry, won election as a senator in a landslide victory and is wondering if he should now try for president. .
Czech State Funding of Brewing Research Dwindles
NEW
Two years of fiscal belt-tightening in the Czech Republic are leading to reduced discretionary spending by the government and are putting the Czech brewing industry’s export-boosting efforts at risk, its representatives say.
A sharp rebuke
NEW
PRIME MINISTER Petr Nečas' ruling Civic Democratic Party (ODS) suffered a sharp rebuke from the electorate in regional elections on October 12th and 13th. The Communist Party (KSČM) fared surprisingly well thanks to many voters' unhappiness with fi...
Czech Right Suffers Large Losses
NEW
The ruling right-wing party in the Czech Republic, the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), suffered huge losses in regional and upper house elections, with the Social Democrats and Communists gaining a significantly greater share of the vote. Th...
Increasingly polarised
NEW
CZECH POLITICS seems to be getting nastier. Polls indicate a far-right party could enter a regional assembly in the Czech Republic for the first time during regional elections on October 12th and 13th. A recent survey of high school students fou...
Czech Left-leaning Parties Leadings in Polls Two Weeks before Elections
NEW
Two weeks before Czech regional and senatorial elections, the country’s left-leaning parties appear to be the winners from two years of fiscal austerity measures.
The attack dog in Prague's Castle
NEW
LESS than a half year before his second term ends in March, Václav Klaus, the Czech president known for his acerbic manner and unorthodox views, shows no intention of mellowing down. His attack spree on embattled premier Petr Nečas, which could hel...
Czech Republic: Roma Struggle for Roots, Resist Evictions in Ostrava
NEW
This summer, Přednádraží, a small neighborhood in Ostrava, has been the site of an intense struggle against unlawful evictions of the predominantly Roma residents. Daniela Kantorova reports.
Czech Central Bank Chief Sees More Rate Cuts, Currency Intervention
NEW
Czech National Bank Governor Miroslav Singer said the bank could cut interest rates further, after lowering them Thursday to an all-time low, and may even intervene in foreign exchange markets to continue monetary easing.
Still more deadly booze
NEW
POLICE have busted two people suspected in bootleg booze deaths (at least 26 of them by now) that have shaken the Czech Republic. But officers also warn that as many as 15,000 liters of deadly liquor may still be on the market a...
Czech President Rejects Commission Proposal For Deeper EU Integration
NEW
By Daniel Mclaughlin The dream of European Commission president José Manuel Barroso of turning the European...
Aug. '12 updt: Commission vetoes Czech regulator's plans to regulate access to its broadband networks
NEW
"The European Commission has ruled that the Czech telecoms regulator (ČTÚ) must withdraw its plans to include wholesale broadband services based on cable and Wi-Fi platforms into its definition of the wholesale broadband access product market. I...
Lethal hooch
NEW
BOOTLEG booze laced with deadly methanol has killed at least 20 Czechs (three more deaths await autopsy confirmation). Many are now asking if politicians and authorities do enough to protect consumers from black market poisons disguised as legal tipp...
QE3 Spillover May Fuel Czech Inflation Worries
NEW
Eva Zamrazilova, a member of the Czech Central Bank's monetary policy board, tells us why she is wary of any further monetary easing ahead of the bank's rate-setting meeting.
No more Mr Nice Guy
NEW
FOR two decades, Czech foreign policy bore the influence of the country's first democratic president, the late Václav Havel. A Communist-era dissident and political prisoner, Havel preferred to stand up for dictators' victims regardless of the econo...
The Czech Republic: Still Coming Up Short on Civility
NEW
Preferring to analyze more meaty indicators that purport to represent the depth and breath of democracy, some academics sometimes ignore all those little things that also represent, in their way, the success of the transition.
More tug, more war
NEW
POLITICS in the Czech Republic is about legality not ideology. The latest twist is the sacking on August 29th by the interior minister, Jan Kubice, of the country's top law-enforcement official, the Police Presidium President Petr Lessy.The pair had...
Fortuna Threatens to Leave Czech Republic if Gambling Tax Stays in Place
NEW
The steady stream of tax increases implemented by the Czech government of right-leaning Prime Minister Petr Necas is facing more criticism and could lead to companies that currently pay taxes domestically offshoring to tax havens.
Czechs, Render Unto the Churches …
NEW
A group of 30 intellectuals, Protestant ministers, and theologians even released a petition calling for the bill to be withdrawn, saying it would turn Christ’s teachings on their head.
Another Czech VAT Rise Likely Despite Concerns
NEW
A sales taxes increase is likely to pass eventually into law as the recession-hit Czech Republic seeks to try and boost state revenue while keeping the coalition government together ahead of autumn elections.
Morning Briefing: Czech Bond Auctions, PPI Eyed
NEW
The Czech finance ministry will reopen its floating-rate bond maturing in 2023 Wednesday, as well as debt due in 2018 carrying a 4.6% coupon.
Gay pride in Prague
NEW
WHAT a difference a year makes. When Prague became the last European Union capital to host an event celebrating lesbian, bisexual and gay and transsexual (LBGT) culture last year, the inaugural event was greeted with a combination of indifferenc...
Olympic Medals Handed Out but Czech Rain Boots a Big Winner
NEW
The London 2012 Summer Olympics have drawn to a close, but there was one winner of this year's Olympic games that hasn't won a medal--the Czech Olympic team's official galoshes.
Tit for tat asylum? Ukraine and the Czech Republic
NEW
Now like almost all governments these days, the Czech Republic political class is struggling to cope with accusations of corruption and maladministration within its ranks. The most recent of this class to come under scrutiny is Vlasta Parkanova, the...
"The Youth Unemployment Situation in the Czech Republic" by Pavel Janicko
NEW
The issue of youth employment and unemployment in the Czech Republic is a topic whose importance has increased particularly with crisis phenomena that began to be visible in late 2008 and especially during the years 2009-2010. In this period signif...
Czech Officials at odds Over Impact of Tax Increases
NEW
The Czech government's efforts to increase tax revenues via sales tax increases this year and next are now pitting the finance ministry against the central bank.
Prague's new prosecutor
NEW
IN a move backed by anti-corruption activists and the public, Pavel Blažek the Czech justice minister, appointed Lenka Bradáčová to head the Prague prosecutor’s office on July 30th. Some optimists see this as a sign that decades of clientelist...
Czechs Won’t Meet VAT Targets, Says Finance Ministry
NEW
Fresh data from the Czech finance ministry again show that the government's attempts to reduce the fiscal deficit by increasing sales taxes are backfiring.
Czechs close to compensating churches
NEW
MORE than two decades after the end of Communism, Czechs are close to compensating churches for properties seized during the four decades of Communist rule. A long-awaited restitution bill cleared the parliament's lower house after a lengthy debate i...
Castle man
NEW
Early next year Czechs will vote for their president: the first direct election for the head of state in the country's history. In the past, the person in Prague castle has always been chosen by politicians. Now the race is on to replace Václav...
Czech corruption continued
NEW
AMID signs of a continued struggle between lawmakers and the judiciary, Miroslav Kalousek, the Czech finance minister, is denying reports he threatened a police detective investigating a member of his own party for signing-off on a questionable milit...
Volts and jolts
NEW
Czech officials confirmed on July 3rd that all three bidders for one of the country's biggest and most important contracts, building two new reactors at the Temelin power plant, have met the tender's requirements. They comprise Westinghouse (American...
Quick Reality Czech
NEW
The Czech Republic is the first economy in central and eastern Europe to slide back into a full technical recession during the current downturn (evidently it is unlikely to be the last), with a 0.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter GDP decline in R...
Is there a Czech Berlusconi in the wings?
NEW
A recent report I read suggested that the travails of Public Affairs (VV) party had put voters in the Czech Republic off new political parties: VV, which burst from nowhere onto the political scene in the 2010 elections as an … Continue reading...
The Lion sleeps tonight? Former Czech PM’s new party launches
NEW
I share a bias with many political scientists working on political parties: I tend to over-rate new parties with political organisation and some real grassroots presence and under-rate those which are top-down vehicles created for individual poli...
EU Czechs and balances
NEW
I’m sitting listening to Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg. I look up occasionally at the map on the wall and wonder what projection it is. Europe seems big and fat compared to the more politically correct/geographically accurate cartograp...
S&P’s Czech Upgrade Deserved, but No Surprise
NEW
The Czech Republic’s “government of fiscal responsibility”, as Prime Minister Petr Necas dubbed it upon election victory last year, has finally received the international stamp of approval it’s been seeking, an upgrade of the country’s long...
Italy and Czech Republic back Gaddafi despite bloodbath
NEW
The EU is struggling to speak with one voice following a massive loss of life in Libya over the weekend and the regime's vow to fight protesters to the "to the last bullet. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has spoken of her "extr...
Czechs Worry Over Government Debt
NEW
The frugal Czech public worries if its government is frugal enough, a public opinion poll shows.
Sleaze no, austerity maybe
NEW
Czech voters flinched at the government's austerity programme but kept up the pressure on dodgy local politicians...
Czech local elections: Another flicker on the seismograph?
NEW
Did you miss them? How could you? Perhaps you were distracted doing something this weekend? The Czech local elections - spiced up by brace of Senate contests, which will (mostly) conclude with run-off elections next week - have been and gone. Admitte...
Prague Mayoral Front Runner Promises More Transparency
NEW
Municipal elections in Prague will likely change the political landscape in the city, bringing a mayor who promises to improve the municipality's tarnished image and increase transparency.
Support for the Euro collapses amongst Czechs
NEW
Thems doughty Czech types seem to be getting less and less impressed with the EU and its works.The survey, conducted in September by the Stem polling agency, found that 70 per cent of 1,228 respondents oppose the switch, the Czech news agency CTK rep...
Czech history lessons?
NEW
Lack of time and lack of expertise means I don't take more than a passing interest in academic history, but I note with interest the apparent outrage caused by a paper presented by French historian Muriel Blaive at a recent symposium held in London t...
Czech politics: The urge to merge?
NEW
The ink's hardly dry on the Czech coalition agreement and the Civic Democrats (ODS) haven't even yet been routed in the local elections - although we still haven't the foggiest who their candidate for mayor of Prague is - and already ODS MEP Hynek Fa...
Czech and Poland Decoupling From Region, or Vice Versa
NEW
Assets in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary have long been lumped into one basket by investors. But with Hungary on its own adventure and Slovakia firmly entrenched in the euro zone, Polish and Czech markets are decoupling.
Czech Far Right Has-Bean
NEW
Sládek as Bean After a long period of exam season induced hibernation - if that's the right word in the summer - I've completed a conference paper for a workshop on populism The Czech Republicans 1990-1998: Rise and Fall of Populist Radical Rig...
Irish YES and hopes from Czech
NEW
Constant endeavour of inducing Irish voters and ongoing economic turmoil ultimately ended up with so much desired referendum results… Irish citizens casted their votes for YES! Even in a time of particularly unpopular government. Moreover, explici...
Prague.
NEW
Just back from Prague, where I spent a gorgeous weekend with the love-of-my-life. I won’t give a travelogue, as there are those capable of being far more comprehensive than me, but a few observations. Stayed in the Park Inn (www.prague.parkinn.
Czech parliament: Public Affairs and Communists do best on women and youth
NEW
And how new are those new Czech parties? In terms of youth and greater representation of women - both useful tools in the content-free populist's political toolbox, but also genuinely important in terms of democratic quality - a quick glance at the n...
Czech Republic: What the elections mean
NEW
So, what does the Czech 'earthquake election' mean for Czech and Central European politics? As with the famous Ho-Chi Minh quote on the French Revolution, it is basically too early to tell - and probably will be for about another 10 or 20 years, but,...
News from Prague: Europe swings further to the right
NEW
The Czech elections have just confirmed a further swing to the right in Europe amid fragmentation with the rise of new right-wing parties. Since the start of the financial crisis in 2007, only two Conservative governments have been defeated by the le...
Czech election brings big political shake-up
NEW
Czech center-right parties are beginning talks on forming a coalition government, after their surprising success in the polls this weekend. They have promised severe budget cuts to trim the country's growing deficit. READ MORE...
Czech elections: How I got it wrong (again) - and why
NEW
The Czech election have happened and as soon as the exit polls came in, it was clear something pretty unusual had happened. When the results came in the Social Democrats 'had won', but both big parties' score were way down on what had been predicted...
Czech Elections: another mess
NEW
Yesterday and today, the Czech Republic elected a new lower house of parliament. Polls closed...
Czech elections: Mind my Wordle
NEW
So what are the Czech elections about? Well, as glance at the rash of orange billboards - and milder outbreak of blue ones - will tell you "It's the welfare state, stupid". And especially the health service, where the nominal charges introduced by th...
EMU convergence programme Czech Republic
NEW
On 26 April 2010 the Council examined the updated convergence programme of the Czech Republic, which covers the period 2009 to 2012: COUNCIL OPINION on the updated convergence programme of the Czech Republic, 2009-2012; published OJEU 28.5.2010 C 13...
Czech elections: More new old politics
NEW
The Czech elections are on the horizon and they promise to be interesting, if, as ever, deadlocked and inconclusive. They should perhaps tell catetaker Prime Minister Fischer and his government of technocrats not to packs their bags just yet.Over a...
Regional poll suggests Czech Christian Democrats face electoral oblivion
NEW
Lidovci příliš nezáří ani na jihu Moravy - ve své tradiční baště reports ČT24, the Czech CNN (as if). Translated this means that the Czech Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) are - according to regional polling - down to a grim six percent ev...
Exit Topolánek followed by a geek?
NEW
So in the end, Czech Civic Democrat leader Miroslav Topolánek met the same fate as the hands of his more illustrious predecessor Václav Klaus - booted out by regions for electoral failure. Only this being Topolánek it more clumsy, disasterous and...
Czech politics: How to be a successful loser
NEW
Karel Schwarzenberg tells Slovakia's Sme that he doesn't plan on leading his TOP09 party to victory in the forthcoming Czech parliamentary elections SME.sk | Schwarzenberg: Nechceme vyhrať voľby.Which is frankly just as well, as with 10-15% per ce...
Conservatively speaking
NEW
The paper on Czech conservatism in Liblice has now appeared in a conference paper archive on the website of the Henrich Boell Foundation, who jointly sponsored the event with the Institute for Contemporary History in Prague. There are also some much...
Dr Novák Goes to Prague
NEW
As the last 2009 issue of the news magazine Respekt points out, one of the few political players who will be able look back on difficult, confusing and not very good year for Czech politics is caretaker Prime Minister, Jan Fischer. Chosen for his...
