Former Czechoslovak cooperative farm head to assist Zeman

Prague, Feb 19 (CTK) - Czech president-elect Milos Zeman said Tuesday Frantisek Cuba, former chairman of the south Moravian agricultural cooperative in Slusovice, an economic empire under the late communist regime, will be his close aide for agriculture and economy.

Zeman said he would make Cuba his aide for agricultural affairs already during his election campaign last year.

But Cuba told journalists after meeting Zeman Tuesday that Zeman did not offer him any official form of cooperation.

Zeman also said he knows whom he will choose as head of the Presidential Office, but he did not release the name yet.

He only said Jiri Weigl who has been heading the Presidential Office during Vaclav Klaus's presidency will be helping the new head for the first two or three months.

Zeman will replace Klaus as president on March 8.

Cuba, 77, is a member of the extra-parliamentary Party of Citizens' Rights (SPOZ) whose honorary chairman Zeman is. Cuba was elected a regional councillor for SPOZ last autumn.

The Slusovice cooperative farm that Cuba headed from 1963 to 1990 was considered the most dynamic company in the former Czechoslovakia. It was also labelled "the socialist miracle."

Daily Lidove noviny (LN) wrote in September that the Slusovice farm moved towards market economy under the communist regime and it was the first firm that provided the Czechoslovak market with computers.

But the Slusovice farm was highly prosperous because it had a contract with the communist secret police thanks to which it easily gained embargoed technology and the results of industrial espionage, LN wrote.

Cuba promotes the building of a canal connecting the Labe (Elbe), Danube (Donau) and Odra (Oder) rivers, considering it an opportunity to develop Czech industry.

Zeman said during his campaign before the direct presidential election that he would support the canal project as it would create 60,000 jobs and improve anti-flood protection in Moravia.

Apart from Cuba, Zeman Tuesday also met Supreme Audit Office (NKU) vice-president Miloslav Kala who temporarily heads the office.

Zeman said he supports Kala's appointment as NKU president. Kala is a former Social Democrat (opposition CSSD) politician.

The lower house of parliament Tuesday again discussed the vacant post of NKU head. None of the candidates received enough votes to win the post.

The NKU has been without a proper head since February 2012 when controversial Frantisek Dohnal was forced to leave because a suspended sentence was imposed on him. The coalition parties said shortly after Dohnal's dismissal that his replacement should be chosen as soon as possible.

The parties in parliament have also been discussing the possible extension of the NKU's powers. Under a proposal that has not won sufficient support until now, the NKU would newly check local and regional self-rule bodies, health insurance companies, public research centres, public media and the Czech National Bank.