The administration of U.S. president George W. Bush confirmed May 3 it will proceed with negotiations this month to build a U.S. radar base in Bohemia and a missile base in Poland as part of the U.S. missile defense system. John Rood, assistant secretary of state for international security, told lawmakers he will lead the U.S. delegation traveling to Warsaw and Prague in late May.

A bill proposing to create an institute documenting periods of communist and Nazi oppression passed in Parliament’s lower house May 2. The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, originally called the Institute of National Memory, was fiercely opposed by deputies from the Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), who boycotted the vote.

Members of the ODS-led Cabinet have criticized a financial reform plan proposed by ODS Deputy Vlastimil Tlustý including a 12 percent flat tax, daily Právo said May 5. Tlustý has threatened to vote down Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek’s planned reforms, and came up with his own instead. Kalousek’s plan, unveiled April 3, includes a 15 percent flat tax.

President Václav Klaus praised the May 6 election of center-right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy as France’s new president. Sarkozy will bring positive reforms to both France and the European Union, Klaus told the Czech News Agency.