LAST WEEK saw the hopes dashed for a Czech seat on the UN Security Council. After two inconclusive (but telling) ballots, Croatia seemed to be the preferred choice as a non-permanent representative of the Central and Eastern Europe in the 15-member body which forced the Czech diplomats to withdraw the candidacy.
Speculations as to what or who might have ruined Prague's chances at "ruling" the world for a year immediately followed. BBC correspondent in New York was certainly not the only one who saw the Czech president Václav Klaus's unorthodox views on climate change behind the fiasco.
Klaus delivered a see-no-evil-hear-no-evil speech on the topic at the UN in New York less than a month earlier and allegedly made some of the Pacific island nations, whose very existence is threatened by the projected sea-level rise, switch their support in favor of Croatia.
Political superstar(s)
Not that it matters much as far as Mr. Klaus's popularity back home is concerned. As results of a recently conducted poll show, two-thirds of Czechs want him to be re-elected for another five-year term. Which may help explain the silence of the political parties whose parliamentary representatives will be electing the head of state next February.
A trio of possible candidates has been repeatedly mentioned, consisting of the former foreign minister Jiří Dienstbier, economist Jan Švejnar and the chairman of the Academy of Sciences Václav Pačes, but none of them has been endorsed officially by any parliamentary party.
A survey conducted exclusively for Aktuálně.cz by sociology experts of Palacký University in Olomouc showed last week that people in the major cities of the Czech Republic give the anti-Klaus candidate, whoever he might be, 25 per cent chance of succeeding. Interestingly enough, the poll also found people would welcome another candidate even more, giving this Mr. Unknown some 30 per cent support.
Speaking of polls and surveys, another one of those showed last week that the opposition Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) has pulled ahead of the ruling Civic Democratic Party (ODS) by nearly five per cent. Some 30,5 per cent of Czechs would vote for the social democrats if the elections were to be held now, while the stated support for ODS among those asked was 25,9 per cent.
The communists placed third as usual with 11,3 per cent, followed by the Greens (8,8). The last party which would make it to parliament is the Christian Democratic Union-People's Party (KDU-ČSL) with 6,6 per cent.
No more nuclear reactors, no more foreign bases?
Now this is something which will make every Austrian anti-nuclear activist's blood boil: if there ever is another nuclear reactor build in the Czech Republic, it will be in Temelín. The working group of the Czech energy-producing state-controlled giant ČEZ found it the best option. The ruling coalition has made it clear there are no plans to start building new atomic-energy facilities in the Czech Republic, but you never know
The civic initiative Ne základnám (No to the bases), which is opposing the plans to build a radar site in Brdy region as part of the US anti-missile defense shield has collected more than 70 thousand signatures under its petition to date. Its representatives gave sheets with 32 thousand new names to the lower chamber of parliament last week.
More than 57 years after she had helped send a prominent democratic politician Milada Horáková to the gallows, the former communist prosecutor Ludmila Brožová-Polednová is awaiting verdict in the case where she stands accused of being complicit in Ms. Horáková's state-sponsored murder. She did not personally attend the proceedings last week, excusing herself on health grounds. Prague City Court should give its verdict on November the 1st.
Stop bugging me!
Three years ago an international study showed the Czech Republic was a leader among developed countries with 100 out of every 100,000 inhabitants being wiretapped. Legally. Or not?
Last week, the Czech Constitutional Court condemned the widespread practice and gave recommendations to courts not to automatically oblige with the police requests to allow tapping of the phone lines of individuals who are of interest to them. The ruling was preceded by a complaint made by the attorney Jaroslav Čapek who is representing a Czech aristocrat, Mr František Oldřich Kinský, in a restitution case involving property worth billions of Czech Crowns.
The biggest hotel chain in the Czech Republic, Orea Hotels, is planning a major expansion abroad together with American company Armando Hospitality Group. As Aktuálně.cz learned, the Czech company will obtain financial support and know-how from its American partner to start doing business in several European countries.
Who is afraid of the Octopus?
Civic Democratic Party found itself on a collision course last week not only with Czech-born, London-based architect Jan Kaplický but also with its own pre-election promises when it announced it is against the plans to put a new super-modern building for The National Library in Letná Park, not far from the Prague Castle.
ODS gave a promise to its voters that it would support the idea of building the badly needed library, but is started backtracking recently. On Thursday Mayor Pavel Bém met Jan Kaplický in a televised debate where they agreed on the need of further talks.
Director of the Czech Secret Service (BIS) Jiří Lang confirmed last week that the civilian intelligence agency has indeed lost sensitive data in the past as was reported by Aktuálně.cz.
At a meeting of the Parliamentary Commission for the supervision of BIS Mr. Lang explained the data including a list of agents and details of individual secret operations were lifted by a former agency employee in what has been called the scandal of the decade. It took the agency two years to find out, he added.
Munich Redemption
And last, but certainly not least: the Czech national team qualified last week for the upcoming European football championship (to be held next year in Austria and Switzerland) when it whipped one of the continent's strongest teams, the neighboring Germany, on their home turf in Munich.
An occasion for celebration, indeed, considering the negative historical connotations the Bavarian capital arouses in the Czech Republic. And we're certainly not talking about having one too many killer size beers to be had in Munich during the Oktoberfest!
