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Czech / German Relations
Tensions in Czech/German relations have continued to smoulder over the weekend after comments by Czech premier, Milos Zeman, concerning the Sudeten German participation in the discussion forum which has been set up between the two countries. Catherine Miller has been following the situation.
Chairman of the Senate, Petr Pithart, has fanned the flames of the Czech-German dispute by criticizing premier Zeman's comments about the German delegation of the bi-lateral discussion forum. Last week, Mr Zeman announced on the czech television station, Prima, that the group representing Sudeten German interests does not deserve to take part in the forum.
He said that the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft had not supported the joint Czech/German declaration which calls for reconciliation between the two countries. Zeman added that as the extremist Communist and Republican parties were not represented on the Czech side, he did not see why the Sudeten Germans should have a voice in the German delegation.
Chairman of the Senate, Petr Pithart has added a further twist to the situation by telling commercial TV station, TV Nova that he felt that there was a certain logic to Zeman's words. Pithart, however, admitted that in the premier's place, he would not have made these kind of remarks because the Sudeten German group includes Social democrats. In Pithart's opinion, German social democrats have always been anti-fascist and cannot be suspected of anything underhand.
Despite Pithart's criticism, Zeman is sticking to his guns. His main objection is to Sudeten leader, Franz Neubauer's demand that the Czech Republic renounce the Benes decrees which made way for the expulsion of much of the ethnic German population from Czech territory after the second world war. For Zeman this demand is completely unacceptable.
The Czech prime minister's comments have set off a flood of criticism in German but Mr Zeman came out fighting in today's Lidove Noviny newspaper. He has refused to retract his remarks and asserted that he would not allow his policy to be dictated either by the domestic political scene or by foreign influences.
Floods in Eastern Bohemia
The recent floods in Eastern Bohemia caused damage of more
than one and a half billion crowns but there are also people who
lost not only property, but their loved ones. More from Vladamir
Tax.
On Sunday, an ecumenical service was held in the town of Destne in
Eastern Bohemia to commemorate the victims of the floods and ask
God to have mercy on their souls. Father Pavel Rousek, who
delivered the mass, said that along with pain, the floods brought
with them something good and magnificent -- a wave of human
solidarity, love, and willingness to help those in need.
The afflicted region, of course, also needs financial help.
Environment minister Milos Kuzvart, who visited the region on
Saturday, promised that the state will provide money as quickly as
possible. He said the total damages and the amount of available
money in the state budget should be known within two weeks.
According to initial estimates, the damage amounts to about 1.5
billion crowns, which is just under 50 million USD.
Minister Kuzvart also stressed the need to respect natural
processes, for example avoiding new housing construction in flood
zones, and returning streams to their original beds, because one
of the main causes of the disastrous floods were rather
insensitive human interventions into nature, such as streamlining
watercourses during the communist regime.
The disaster has moved many people to contribute to collections of
money for the afflicted areas, as well as offering their muscles
to help with repairing damaged houses. But along with hundreds of
volunteers who arrived to help came individuals who saw a chance
to profit from the misfortune.
Police have already arrested seven people who burgled damaged
buildings and five others who had been previously charged with
other crimes and sought refuge in the flood zone. Local police
have therefore set up several checkpoints, where they now screen
everyone entering the area.
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