Current Affairs | All stories

The government's human rights commissioner, Jan Jarab, has called for the establishment of a new institution to monitor conditions in orphanages, old peoples' homes, psychiatric clinics, prisons and other establishments. asked him why he considered it necessary to create yet another organisation in the Czech Republic to protect human rights.

There have been frequent reports recently on serious problems within the Four-Party Coalition, a group of four right-of-centre opposition parties that currently dominates the opinion polls. The Coalition was dealt a blow recently when Christian Democrat Cyril Svoboda, the group's newly elected leader, stepped down after just two months in the job, and on Thursday Miroslav Kalousek, also a Christian Democrat, announced his resignation from all party and coalition functions.

News of the resignation of Finance Minister Pavel Mertlik broke on Tuesday. But it was not until Wednesday afternoon that Mr Mertlik held a press conference to explain the reasons for his decision, reports. Apart from - in his view - unnecessary delays in key privatisation projects, Mr Mertlik complained of a lack of support from Prime Minister Milos Zeman.

Thursday's edition of the daily carries fresh statistics revealing how Czechs spend their money. An average Czech family spends about 20 percent of their monthly expenditures on food, with accommodation payments in second place. But only 0.5 percent is spent on education. From these statistics, it would appear that education is not a high priority for the Czechs. spoke to economic analyst Jan Sykora of Wood & Company, and asked him for his opinion on these results: