News of Radio Prague

Czech Prime Minister heads for Brussels to lobby Czech interests

The Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla will be in Brussels on Monday to lobby for Czech interests, just as the European Union begins debating the precise financial conditions that will apply after the next wave of applicants is admitted. At a series of meetings with EU and Belgian officials, including EU Commission President, Romano Prodi, Mr Spidla will be putting forward such Czech concerns as subsidies for the country's farmers and quotas for milk and beef exports. The Czech Republic's chief negotiator with the EU, Pavel Telicka, said that the visit was extremely well timed, as it would be the Czech Republic's last top-level opportunity to influence EU decisions on its finances after expansion. The country is widely expected to join the union in 2004.

Albright speaks of Havel's significance after awards ceremony

The former US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, has received an award in Prague in acknowledgement of her contribution to international understanding. The award was given by the Prague Society for International Cooperation which is chaired by former South African President F.W. de Klerk. Mrs Albright devoted the financial part of the award to the respected Czech journalist Petra Prochazkova, who has spent several years working in Chechnya and more recently in Afghanistan. Ms Prochazkova said that she would invest the donation, worth around 5,000 US dollars, into a centre she has set up to help children in Chechnya's war-torn capital Grozny.

At a later press conference Madeleine Albright, who was born in the Czech Republic and is a close friend of President Vaclav Havel, said that Mr Havel's departure next year from the Czech political scene will leave a vacuum that will be hard to fill:

“President Havel has made Czech people very proud and certainly made me very proud of having been born Czech and I think he will be very very missed on the international scene. There will be an adjustment in many ways because to a lot of people the word “Havel” and “Czech” are synonymous. Havel really put the Czech Republic and Prague on the map in the post-Cold War period.”

NATO summit ends in Prague

Prague is gradually returning to normal after the two day NATO summit on Thursday and Friday. Traffic is again flowing normally through the city, where many streets were cordoned off, and shops, which were boarded up in anticipation of violent anti-NATO demonstrations are gradually reopening. In the end the summit passed without serious incident, and police officers, brought in from around the country are now returning home.

The NATO summit witnessed the historic decision to invite a further seven countries to join the alliance, and for the first time the expansion is to include countries which were once part of the Soviet Union. NATO leaders also decided to create a rapid response force to be used in global anti-terrorist missions, and issued a statement backing UN efforts to disarm Iraq. The statement was cautiously worded and fell short of overtly endorsing military intervention. At talks on Friday NATO and Russia said they would continue in the path of cooperation set up in Rome six months ago.

NATO press conference protestors released from police custody, Havel apologises for incident

Two men who disrupted a news conference concluding the NATO summit on Friday have been charged with breaching the peace. During NATO Secretary General George Robertson's closing speech, the men attempted to throw a tomato at Mr Robertson and shouted anti-alliance slogans in Russian. The two protestors were attending the summit as journalists. Both were released from police custody on Friday evening. Czech President Vaclav Havel apologised to Lord Robertson after the incident.

Spidla: Poland and Hungary could join Czech-Slovak co-operation in airspace protection

The Czech Prime Minister, Vladimir Spidla, has said he will not be against Hungary and Poland participating in a Czech-Slovak joint plan to defend their airspace. Mr Spidla was speaking at a meeting of students from NATO member states and countries in the Partnership for Peace in Prague. On Friday, the Czech and Slovak defence ministers agreed to start talks on the project. The Czech government came up with the idea after budget pressure forced it to cancel a planned contract to purchase 24 Gripen fighter jets to replace the country's ageing fleet of Soviet MIGs.

Police still investigating chemical plant fire

Czech police are still investigating what caused a fire at a chemical plant on Thursday night. The Spolchemie plant in the North Bohemian town of Usti nad Labem manufactures synthetic resins, dyes, and cosmetics. The residents of the town were told to close all windows and stay indoors to avoid toxic smoke. No injuries were reported. The fire burnt down one of the plant's buildings leaving some one hundred employees temporarily without work.

Sport: basketball victory and defeat

The Czech women's national basketball team has guaranteed itself a place in next year's European finals, after a convincing fifth-round victory over Lithuania on Sunday. They have yet to be defeated and lead group D. Their male counterparts failed to share their form over the weekend, losing against group leaders Italy in their seventh qualifying round. On paper the Czech men still have a chance of getting through to the finals from third place in their group, despite losing five of their seven matches so far.

Weather

The grey overcast weather continues, with mist and drizzle, and we can expect more of the same in the first half of the coming week. It will be quite mild with temperatures as high as 12 degrees Celsius.