Monday News Briefing

NEWS  

TREATY Prime Minister Petr Nečas of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) will meet with Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, chairman of the coalition's second-largest party, TOP 09, Feb. 7 to discuss Nečas' decision not to take part in a European Union-wide fiscal pact in Brussels. Schwarzenberg has criticized Nečas' decision, and said he refuses to take part in a government that marginalizes itself from the EU mainstream, Czech News Agency (ČTK) reported.  

WELFARE A new electronic system that pays out welfare and unemployment benefits jeopardizes the personal data of citizens, the daily Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) reported Feb. 6. Only one simple password protects information such as names, birth numbers and addresses of benefits recipients, according to MfD. The database, implemented by the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry last month, has been riddled with problems, leading labor office employees to call for Minister Jaromír Drábek's resignation.  

SYRIA Around 30 demonstrators gathered in front of the Syrian Embassy in Prague Feb. 5 as part of a worldwide protest against the government of Bashar Al-Assad, accused of committing human rights violations against the country's opposition, ČTK reported. While the Czech protest passed relatively calmly, elsewhere in the world, embassy buildings were destroyed as protesters called for regime change.  

BUSINESS

BANKRUPTCY Personal bankruptcies rose year on year 77 percent in January to 1,292 declared cases, according to the Czech Credit Bureau. The number of companies going bankrupt over the same period rose 27 percent to 226. In 2011, a total of 2,413 companies went bankrupt with small businesses accounting for the majority of claims.

ENERGY Oettinger Gunther, EU energy commissioner, said last week that Brussels should have the right to influence means of energy production in individual countries, leading some to speculate the European Commission will try to block the development of nuclear power in the Czech Republic, daily Euro 15 reported. The commission could also impose additional safety or insurance requirements that could slow the construction of additional reactors.

HOTELS Just 27,000 people were employed in the hotel segment last year, the lowest number in the past six years, though the number of hotel guests has grown in the past three years, according to a study conducted by MagConsulting. There are now 2.09 employees per 1,000 guests in Czech hotels, and at least 2.2 are needed to maintain high-quality service, according to the consulting agency. Staff at hotels started to fall in 2009 as a result of financial crisis.  

WEATHER

Prague, Czech Republic; partly cloudy; High: -9 C, Low: -15 C  

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