Petr Nováček

Put Parkanová on trial – for her own good

Petr Nováček — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 10:54:47 +0000

The lower house’s Mandate and Immunity Committee interviewed former defense minister and fellow MP Vlasta Parkanová on Wednesday for a second time over the 2009 purchase of CASA transport aircraft, said to have been deliberately overpriced by at least Kč 658 million.

8th Communist Party Congress: No red threat to the Czech Republic

Petr Nováček — Thu, 31 May 2012 08:11:54 +0000

As of the beginning of May, Czech political parties to the left of the political spectrum must be in seventh heaven (the David Rath case aside). The results of the latest opinion polls conducted by the agencies STEM, SANEP, Median and CVVM into the likely outcome were an election to be held to the Chamber of Deputies right now all put the Social Democrats (ČSSD) in front.

Rise and fall of David Rath

Petr Nováček — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:32:53 +0000

As recently as the morning of May 14, people at the headquarters of the Social Democrats (ČSSD) could be forgiven for thinking that the doors were opening to the Straka Academy, the seat of the Czech parliament, based on the party’s strong showing in opinion polls (30 percent) at the expense of the center-right coalition.

A new ‘red glow’ over the Czech Republic?

Petr Nováček — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:01:56 +0000

At this year’s May Day celebrations in Chomutov, Communist (KSČM) party chairman Vojtěch Filip made his first speech at a meeting hosted by the Social Democrats (ČSSD).

Now is the season of Czechs’ discontent; protests will resolve nothing

Petr Nováček — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:01:43 +0000

Some unholy information made the rounds of the Czech media on Holy Wednesday (April 4).

Gov’t proposal blocks rather than opens path to national referenda

Petr Nováček — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 05:35:02 +0000

It was heralded as a major step when the Cabinet of PM Petr Nečas (Civic Democrats, ODS) approved the proposal for a constitutional change paving the way for nationwide referenda. But the move on March 28 did not perhaps get all the attention it deserved after a previous 20 attempts to do the same had stumbled.

Communists a dilemma in Social Democrats’ quest for power

Petr Nováček — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 09:48:46 +0000

If Senator Jaromír Štětina (elected for the Green Party and now a representative of TOP 09 and the mayors union, STAN) continues in his heuristic activities, on February 24 he will have noticed Marta Semelová’s statement at the grave of

Will Czechs elect a worthy president, or a führer?

Petr Nováček — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:51:37 +0000

Some people are delighted, others talk of the greatest breakthrough in the Constitution of the Czech Republic in its 19 years of existence, while President Václav Klaus calls it a “fatal mistake.” The subject in question is the changeover to direct presidential elections, which, despite all the skeptical predictions, was approved by the upper house of the Czech parliament, the Senat

Europhobes won’t be stopped by early elections (because there won’t be any)

Petr Nováček — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:18:42 +0000

The quarrel that recently raged between President Václav Klaus and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg (TOP 09), does not just concern whether or not the Czech Republic joins the Treaty on Fiscal Responsibility.

Czech politics in 2011

Petr Nováček — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:32:12 +0000

Not even two weeks after his death, the lower house of Parliament (Chamber of Deputies) was presented by the government with a draft law, which states “Václav Havel contributed to freedom and democracy.” Artist Lukáš Gavlovský plans to create a giant heart sculpture from the wax of the thousands of candles people lit on Wenceslas Square in tribute to the leader of the Velvet Revolut