Kristina Alda

PM Mirek Topolánek announced radar talks are all but complete, following his Wednesday meeting with US President George W. Bush. An agreement could be reached before Bush’s term ends to station the planned US anit-missile radar on Czech soil, according to Topolánek. The PM’s words triggered few strong reactions from commentators this week. Everyone still seems to be wrapped up in the US visa waiver kerfuffle, now that the European Commission is threatening to sue the Czech Republic for its bilateral visa negotiations with the US. Pundits remain at odds over whether or not the recently signed memorandum on abolishing visas was a reward for the Czech cabinet’s positive radar stance. They do agree, however, that Topolánek’s Washington visit wasContinue Reading

Czech commentators didn’t bother trying to suppress a certain level of glee in their op-eds and editorials upon finding out the results of Poland’s election. On all ends of the political spectrum, there seemed to be a consensus that Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczinsky’s ouster was a good thing. While those on the left noted with satisfaction that Poland’s move closer to the centre might prove inconvenient for the current right-leaning, ODS-ruled Czech cabinet, conservative commentators argued that the Poland’s victorious party, the Civic Platform, is actually closer to the ODS than Kaczinsky’s Law and Justice party. The Poles booted Kaczinsky out of office Sunday in an election with a record-high participation – 54% – sending a clear message thatContinue Reading

With poised pens and bated breaths, Czech commentators watched the Green Party’s national meeting Sunday, expecting a power struggle between party leaders, a brawl over the Greens’ position in government, something. After all, just days ahead of the meeting Matěj Stropnický – self-appointed party rebel known for being, well, stroppy – accused Chairman Martin Bursík of not being green enough and moving the party too far to the right. Following Green MP Dana Kuchtová’s recent resignation as education minister, some voices within the party also began saying that the Greens should quit the ruling coalition. Lidové novniny’s Martin Zvěřina even painted a grim scenario of what could happen if the Greens were to leave (the three-party cabinet falls apart andContinue Reading

With the US presidential race well under way and the Czech presidential vote fast approaching, many commentators couldn’t help but compare the two very different election systems this week. Others were happy to just weight in on the US campaign, which seems to be drawing more excitement among Czechs than the election of their own head of state. It’s not so surprising. Czech Repubic’s representative democratic system means citizens can’t do more than sit back and watch as senators and deputies – the only ones who will be voting for the president next month – make inter-party and intra-party deals. And while the outcome of the US election will have world-wide impact, the results of the Czech race will likelyContinue Reading

The long-planned, City Hall-banned neo-Nazi march that took place Saturday may have been anticlimactic, with right-wing extremists vastly outnumbered by police, anarchists and members of the press, but it still left many with a bitter aftertaste. Czech commentators said as much in op-eds and editorials this week. Some 1,600 police officers were stationed in the streets that day. Police detained 395 people, but most of them were left-wing anarchists protesting the march. A quarter of those arrested were foreigners, who journeyed to the Czech Republic to take part in the rally. Six of those detained have been accused. Of those six only one was a neo-Nazi and the rest were anarchists. Of the thousands of people gathered in Prague’s downtown,Continue Reading

Protestors pelted Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg with tomatoes Tuesday after he and US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice signed a deal to build an anti-missile radar on Czech soil, but otherwise relative calm ruled Rice’s Prague visit. This might seem surprising given the unpopularity of the project – some 75% of Czechs are opposed, according to recent opinion surveys. But it’s summer and even radar opponents need holidays. Writing in Hospodářské noviny Wednesday, commentator Petr Kamberský said the half-hearted protests show that the anti-radar sentiment in this country is not that deep. “People don’t want the radar, but they’re not willing to get out of their seats over it,” he wrote. “Apathy is stronger than pacifism.” The deal signing, moreover,Continue Reading

The country watched with morbid, self-flagellating fascination, as President Václav Klaus took the microphone at the UN conference on climate change in New York Monday. Knowing Klaus, the Czech Republic’s most vocal global warming sceptic, everyone was prepared for what might come. Politicians like ČSSD Chairman Jiří Paroubek and Green Party head Martin Bursík pleaded with the president to tone down his speech and embarrass the country as little as possible. Bursík even worried that Klaus’s unorthodox opinions might jeopardize the Czech Republic’s chances to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2008 to 2009. But anyone expecting Klaus to shock conference attendees was disappointed, pundits agreed.While reinstating his belief that climate change is not the productContinue Reading

Some 80% of Czechs would like to elect their president directly in a public vote. Over the years, various politicians have proposed switching to a direct system. The popular – some would say populist – proposal usually came from MPs running for reelection. Once parliamentary elections were over, plans for a direct presidential vote were safely filed in the dustbin. The Czech population, therefore, could be forgiven for being somewhat sceptical about the latest proposal, under which Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil has been tasked with drafting a bill over the summer that would institute a direct vote. Most commentators say change is unlikely. In Právo Thursday Petr Uhl noted that making changes to a constitutional law calls for the supportContinue Reading

The results of the Russian parliamentary election last weekend served only to reaffirm pundits’ and analysts’ fears that Russia has veered dangerously far from the path to democracy. President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party won a sweeping majority of parliamentary seats Sunday, paving the way for Putin to carve out an influential political role for himself, once his term ends in March. With 64% of the vote, United Russia charged miles ahead of the communists, the runners up, who took just under 12% of the vote. Opposition parties maintained that the election was manipulated through bribery, coercion and ballot stuffing. Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, leader of the Other Russia opposition movement, called the election “dishonest” and “dirty”. Others have calledContinue Reading

The Communists are keeping everyone in suspense. Especially Jan Švejnar. Many are beginning to resent that. Czech-American economics professor Švejnar officially announced last weekend his intent to run against President Václav Klaus next February. The left-leaning opposition ČSSD, who will do everying in their power to prevent Klaus from getting reelected, already promised Švejnar their support. But without the support of the Communists, Švejnar stands almost no chance of ousting Klaus (founder and honorary chairman of the right-leaning ruling ODS) from the Castle, according to analysts. Although Švejnar can probably count on the full support of the Klaus-hating Greens, the votes of the KDU-ČSL are anything but guaranteed, since Klaus has some strong supporters within that party. Since the fallContinue Reading