Friday News Briefing

NEWS

Representatives of the Václav Havel Library and the Charter 77 Foundation have agreed with the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly to establish an international prize bearing Havel's name for contribution to human rights. They will sign the respective agreement in Prague March 25 and the prize should be annually presented in October. The agreement will be signed by Jean-Claude Mignon, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Marta Smolíková on behalf of the Václav Havel Library and František Janouch on behalf of the Charter 77 Foundation. Both the library and the foundation announced their intention to found the Havel prize after his death in December 2011. Last year both institutions reached consensus and decided to award it jointly. According to previous information, the library and the foundation will be the main organisers of the prize.

New Pope Francis will probably decide after Easter on his visit to the celebrations of the 1150th anniversary of SS Cyril and Methodius missionaries' arrival to be held in Velehrad, south Moravia, in July, general vicar Josef Nuzik told reporters today. The preparations of the celebrations of SS Cyril and Methodius, Slavic missionaries who brought Christianity to the Czech lands in 863, are being completed. "We have not given up the hope. At the end of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, when it became apparent that he was losing strength, I thought that the visit would not to occur. However now the idea has been revived also thanks to the openness and immediacy of Pope Francis. So we cherish the hope that he will nod to the invitation to such a significant event as the celebrations of the arrival of SS Cyril and Methodius in Moravia," said Nuzik, general vicar of the Olomouc Archbishopric, north Moravia.

BUSINESS

The police today passed the proposed corruption charge against Ronald Adams, head of the Czech branch of the Tatra lorry maker, to the state attorney's office, Jan Petrášek, the state attorney who is responsible for the case, has told CTK. Under the law, Petrášek has two weeks to examine the charge. Petrášek said he was likely to pass the indictment to the Regional Court in Brno in the days to come. Adams has come under the suspicion of having offered a 20-million bribe during the talks on the delivery of Tatras to the Czech military. Former defence minister Martin Bartak raised the accusation against Adams. Bartak is also facing charges within the case. They allegedly spoke about the bribe at the IDET defence and security technologies trade fair in Brno in 2009. The police came to believe Bartak's testimony that Adams had offered the bribe to him four years ago, the server IHNED.cz said.

Czech power utility ČEZ does not intend to leave the Bulgarian market, server Patria.cz said today referring to ČEZ operating director in Bulgaria Petr Baran. According to Baran, ČEZ wants to avoid the threatening loss of distribution licence in Bulgaria and intends to remove all shortcomings for which it has been criticised by Bulgarian authorities. The Bulgarian chief prosecutor's office has been investigating foreign power distributors in Bulgaria, including Czech companies ČEZ and Energo-Pro, over suspicion that their errors had caused a steep rise of energy prices which led to mass protests in the country. The final report of the prosecutor's office might be a basis for a revocation of distribution licence from ČEZ in Bulgaria. ČEZ has dismissed the accusation, saying it complies with all Bulgarian laws as well as EU regulations.

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