LAST WEEKEND was anything but quiet on the political front in the Czech Republic with the senior government party, Civic Democrats, debating all kinds of issues at their party congress in Prague on Saturday.
The brainstorming/grandstanding event was kicked off by the party chairman emeritus, President Václav Klaus, who came to ask for support before the presidential election early next year in which he will be seeking another term in office.
The delegates pledged unanimous support for their mentor and even passed a resolution which calls for the Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek to try and talk the junior coalition parties into supporting Mister Klaus as well instead of fooling around with the idea of fielding their own candidate.
The Deputy Prime Minister and the leader of the Green Party Martin Bursík made it clear the very next day he considers the above mentioned plan a very bad idea, indeed.
As he said in a TV debate, the presidential election has nothing to do with the three-party coalition´s program and therefore needs no common position from the coalition parties.
Bursík, who heads the Ministry of Environment, is not the only one in the Green Party who finds the idea of keeping Mr Klaus another five years in the office repulsive, if only for the fact that the Czech head of state has been actively trying to undermine the efforts to deal with the climate change, causing embarrassment home and abroad with this new hobby of his.
Čunek back in the cabinet?
Three weeks after the Deputy Prime Minister Jiří Čunek resigned from his cabinet post because of the reopening of the investigation into an act of corruption he was accused of, the case was stopped once again by the prosecutor, who concluded the alleged crime never took place.
This in turn open the way for possible cabinet comeback of the "teflon" politician, called so for his ability to shake-off each and every scandal that he finds himself embroiled in. The possibility was confirmed to Aktuálně.cz by a close aide of the Prime Minister. Mr. Čunek himself did not want to comment on the matter, but it will be his Christian Democratic Party who will have the last say.
Analysts have warned it could harm the party´s image to have their disgraced leader return to the cabinet so soon after the public outcry over his latest scandal which had him admit he was claiming welfare benefits from the state in the 1990s while at the same time depositing millions in his bank account.
Baťa to push for family compensation
Tomáš Baťa, the heir to the Baťa shoe empire, which once had headquarters in the Moravian city of Zlín, told Aktuálně.cz last week he is preparing legal steps against the Czech state in order to get compensated for his family's wealth, confiscated after the Second World War on a pretext of a war-time collaboration with the Nazi occupiers.
The announcement was preceded by a recent annulment of the 1947 sentence against Jan Antonín Baťa, uncle of Tomáš by a court in Prague, clearing both his name and the way to claim back the family property.
Its estimated worth runs in billions of Czech crowns and according to the well informed sources, the family will seek financial redress, leaving the many functionalist buildings which make the city of Zlín an atraction for architecture-buffs, in the hands of the state.
Czech national football team shines again
Beating Cyprus 2-0 at their home turf last Wednesday, Czech national football team secured the first place in their qualifying group for the European championship next year. With the recent humiliating defeat of German team in Munich, Czechs have once again propelled themselves among the football elite.
Besides, their ambitions might not end with the Euro 2008 tournament. After Sunday´s draw placed them in the role of a clear favorite to win the 2010 World Cup qualifying group (with Poland, Slovakia, San Marino, Slovenia and Northern Ireland), the road to South Africa seems to be wide open. And sky is the limit, as the say. Until they face Brazil, of course.
