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Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas, in a Sunday TV appearance, defended his government’s reform policies, stating that he opposition’s criticism of them is unjustified. The opposition Social Democrats had ample time to weigh in on the reforms; their recent challenge of the reform package in the Constitutional Court is merely an attempt to block the lower house’s work for several months, he said. He added that the changes in unemployment legislation had created a system that motivates persons without work to seek employment, citing figures that put the Czech Republic at the sixth-lowest unemployment rank within the EU. Mr. Nečas said that in the future, the country needed to further invest into research and innovation to remain competitive.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg has called on Germany to adopt a more modest and careful approach in its European policy. In an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel, Mr. Schwarzenberg said that smaller EU countries felt taken aback by the private meetings between German chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nikolas Sarkozy. It was not appropriate for these two big countries to discuss issues amongst themselves and then merely inform other EU member states of their decisions, he said. He also criticized Germany for presenting itself as a role model for the rest of Europe. He added that this was no time for small-mindedness in EU politics. The interview with the Czech politician will be published in Germany on Monday.

Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek has announced that additional cuts of 30 billion Czech crowns will have to be made to the 2012 state budget. In a debate program on Czech TV on Sunday, Mr. Kalousek said that cuts would have to be made in administration and government budgets and that the state would also have to freeze some of its investments. The Finance Ministry is set to present its further austerity measures at the end of this month.

The 2012 state budget deficit of 105 billion crowns was approved in December. However, it was tailored to April’s growth forecast and MPs conceded that it would most likely have to be revised.

The Jizerská padesátka cross-country skiing race was held on Sunday, attracting hundreds of amateur enthusiasts as well as professional skiers. Czech cross-country skier Stanislav Řežáč won the race for the third time in his career. Previously, he had taken the title in 2000 and 2001. Commenting on his victory, he said it was the domestic title he considered most important and that he was pleased with his achievement. The Swedish Jimmie Johnsson came in second, ahead of Norway’s Jörgen Aukland.

Czech speed skater Martina Sablíková, world-record holder in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters speed skating discipline, on Sunday won the European speed skating championships in Budapest. She came in first in the 5,000-meters race, ahead of the German Claudia Pechstein and the Dutch Ireen Wüst. This is the fourth time that the two-time Czech Olympics winner is taking home the title in the European championships.

Czech cross-country skier Lukáš Bauer has come in sixth at the Tour de Ski. Martin Jakš, also of the Czech Republic, came in ninth at the cross-country skiing event, which finished with the final climb up the Italian Val die Fiemme on Sunday. Swiss Dario Cologna won the competition, the Swedish Marcus Hellner came in second. Bauer has won the Tour de Ski twice in his career, in 2011 and in 2009.

Heavy snow that has been falling in the north of the country as well as in the Hradec Králové region is causing traffic complications. Several accidents happened on Saturday afternoon, among them two bus accidents as well as a collision of two cars. No one was injured. Road maintenance crews are struggling to deal with the consequences of the heavy snow. For the Moravian-Silesian region, meteorologists have issued an ice warning and have called on drivers to exercise caution.

Some 200 people attended a funeral ceremony for a 22-year-old Romany man that took place in Tanvald on Saturday. The man was shot in the north Bohemian town on New Year’s Day. After an emotional service in the local church, hundreds of people, among them Romanies from across the country, accompanied the man’s coffin to the cemetery, where a minute of silence in honor of the murder victim was held. Police presence in Tanvald was heightened during the funeral and local police forces were monitoring the situation closely. The funeral ended without any clashes between Roma and right-wing extremists, who some feared would travel to the town. Tensions between Czechs and Romanies have been building in Tanvald in recent years.

On New Year’s Day, a 63-year-old man shot the 22-year-old Romany man and his 24-year old brother, killing one and wounding the other. Police are investigating the case and have stated that there is no evidence of racial motives for the murder.

Former prime minister Jan Fischer has confirmed that he is planning to run for the office of president if the Senate approves a proposal for direct presidential elections. In an interview in the Saturday edition of the Czech daily Mladá front dnes, Mr. Fischer said that he would most likely be submitting his candidacy as an independent candidate, but was also open to the possibility of teaming up with a political party. The proposal for direct presidential elections is pending a February vote in the upper house of Parliament. If it is approved, Czechs would be able to elect their president directly for the first time in 2013.

Mr. Fischer is currently the vice-president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. A statistician by profession, he headed the interim government which preceded Petr Nečas’s right-of-center coalition that took office in July 2010.

The annual Forum 2000 conference, which was co-founded by the late Czech president Václav Havel, will continue taking place after Mr. Havel’s death. The director of the Forum 2000 conference, Oldřich Černý, said that the late president’s legacy will retain its importance. He added that it remains to be seen how often the conference will take place and what form it will take. Forum 2000 will also be collaborating with the Václav Havel Library, he said.

The Forum 2000 conferences have been held in Prague since 1997, bringing prominent thought leaders, Nobel laureates, and former and acting politicians to the Czech capital. Among the conference’s speakers in the past were the Dalai Lama, Shimon Peres and Bill Clinton. Its mission is to map the globalization process and to note its positive results as well as the perils encountered by an increasingly interconnected world.