Friday News Briefing

NEWS

TEMELIN A classified Security Information Service (BIS) report leaked to the news site Aktualne.cz Oct. 13 said a Russian consortium has the edge in the bid to expand the Temelín nuclear power plant. The tender calls for the construction of two new reactors, with the possibility of building three more in the future. Three groups - U.S. firm Westinghouse, Areva of France, and the consortium led by Russia's Atomstroyexport, which also includes Czech nuclear engineering firm Škoda JS - are vying for the estimated 500 billion Kč ($27.7 billion) tender to expand the South Bohemia nuclear complex. The Aktualne.cz report quoted an anonymous intelligence source who said, "The Russians are offering know-how and are planning on maximum participation of [Czech] firms." Prime Minister Petr Nečas is expected to visit the United States later this month to discuss the tender.

PATRIOTISM Education Minister Josef Dobeš says he will go ahead with plans to institute the teaching of patriotism and national pride in elementary schools despite criticism from teachers and Prime Minister Petr Nečas, the Czech News Agency (ČTK) reported. Nečas (Civic Democrats, ODS) said Oct. 13 that patriotism "cannot be forced," and teachers associations have derided the ministry's plan, claiming patriotism is personal and should be taught within the family. They also feared that the teaching of national pride could increase racial intolerance. Dobeš said he does not plan to introduce the subject as a new or additional course in the schools but would like to include it with other lessons, similar to sex education. He said he hopes to incorporate the plan within the next two years.

EXTRADITION A Prague Municipal Court judge denied the request of Belarusian prosecutors to extradite Ales Michalevič, an ex-Belarus presidential candidate who sought and received asylum in the Czech Republic in early 2011. Judge Bohuslav Gorki said he did not believe Michalevič would receive a fair trial in Belarus. Michalevič was originally arrested in Minsk shortly after the disputed elections of Dec. 19, 2010, which saw longtime President Alexandr Lukashenko win another term. The elections were thought to be rigged, and hundreds were arrested in the sometimes violent protests that followed. A number of those arrested were Lukashenko's opponents in the election.

BUSINESS

AUTOMOTIVE Škoda Auto, the largest Czech automaker, sold 664,800 cars between January and September this year, an annual increase of 16.8 percent, though domestic sales declined by 300 units year on year, ČTK reported Oct 12. The number of cars sold in the manufacturer's major export countries like Russia and India for the same period was higher than for all of 2010. Russian sales rose 63 percent to 6,500 cars in September, the second-best monthly result. Sales in India were 37.5 percent higher at 2,200 cars for the month. Škoda Auto representatives said the company aims to reach a record of 800,000 units sold this year.

RETAIL Sales at Marks & Spencer's Czech stores were stable in the first half of the year, but retailers have experienced more difficult times since this summer, M&S General Manager Dušan Mrozek told the daily Lidové noviny Oct. 14. He said the retail results for 2011 are very difficult to predict financially because of the importance of the last three months of the years. M&S recently announced a 14 percent price cut across the region on 4,000 items. He said he sees no potential for new stores to be opened in 2012.

INVESTMENT A new nonprofit organization called Czech Republic of Finance (CRFF) aims to attract alternative investment funds managing assets of up to 300 billion euros to the Czech Republic, the daily Hospodářské noviny reported Oct. 14. Board members of the organization say a new opportunity has arisen to attract these types of investments to Europe because new EU directive will require offshore funds to be registered in the EU.

WEATHER

Prague, Czech Republic; Cloudy; High: 10 C, Low: 1 C 

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