Thursday News Briefing

NEWS  

TREATY A joint monetary policy will only work if the European Union becomes a truly federal entity, Prime Minister Petr Nečas wrote in a Feb. 2 editorial for daily Lidové noviny, explaining his reasons for refusing to sign on to an EU fiscal responsibility pact agreed on by 25 out of 27 member states in Brussels Jan. 30. Federalization appears to be the only way forward in Nečas' opinion, since no one could truly wish for the EU to break up. "By accepting the fiscal treaty, we would agree not only to the eurozone's eventual move toward fiscal federalization, but also to the fact that we ourselves want to take part in this project," he wrote.  

ANONYMOUS Hackers from the international group Anonymous took control of the Civic Democratic Party's (ODS) website on the night of Feb. 2, posting protest messages against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which the Czech Republic signed in Tokyo along with 21 other countries. Some 6,000 Facebook users have said they will attend a protest against the treaty in Prague today, the Czech News Agency (ČTK) reported.  

STRIKE Several hundred students from six Brno universities demonstrated Feb. 1 against controversial changes to the tertiary education system proposed by Education Minister Josef Dobeš, the daily Právo reported. Students fear the reform will lead to greater political control over university leadership and assets, and oppose plans to introduce an up to 10,000 Kč per semester tuition fee at public schools.  

BUSINESS  

JOBLESS RATE Unemployment in the Czech Republic grew to up to 9.2 percent in January from 8.6 percent in December, which means the number of jobless people registered at the employment office could exceed 540,000, a level where it last stood in March 2011, analysts told ČTK. The Labor and Social Affairs Ministry will make the January unemployment data public Feb. 8. "January and February mean a seasonal peak in terms of jobless numbers, which will be confirmed this year," UniCredit Bank Chief Economist Pavel Sobišek said. Sobišek estimates around 33,000 people have recently lost their jobs,  

GAS Energy group ČEZ has become the largest alternative distributor of electricity and natural gas in Slovakia, following its entry last year into the market for power supplies to households and small and midsize enterprises (SMEs), ČEZ Slovensko told ČTK Feb. 1. ČEZ Slovensko, a unit of the Czech group, has so far signed 74,000 contracts with clients. The company entered the Slovak power sale market in the summer of 2011, and early this year, it supplied gas and electricity at more than 51,000 supply points.  

ADVERTISING As part of the PIAF advertising festival April 25-26, Prague City Hall is  looking for a promotional slogan, daily Hospodářské noviny reported Feb. 1. There will be a special category at the festival for coming up with a slogan for Prague that the city will retain the rights to use. The slogan must be in English and must be accompanied by graphics.  

WEATHER  

Prague, Czech Republic; clear skies; High: -8 C, Low: -17 C

News Desk can be reached at
news@praguepost.com