Current Affairs | All stories

Artěl was a turn-of-the-century collective of young Prague-based designers sometimes referred to as the ‘Czech Bauhaus’. The movement is nowadays most famous for its cubist ceramics, which are still much sought after, and for its colourful wooden boxes and toys. In this, Artěl’s centenary year, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague has launched a major retrospective of the movement, whose impact is still felt on Czech design today. Museum director Helena Konigsmarková showed me around:

Some disaffected Civic Democrats as well as some of the party’s conservative voters – disappointed with the current direction of their party under leader Mirek Topolánek – could soon have new options available on the political right. Figures close to the Czech President, Václav Klaus, made clear earlier that they were planning to found a new party tough on EU integration and tough on the Lisbon treaty – now that will be a reality. On Monday, the 33-year-old economist Petr Mach, a former advisor to Mr Klaus and the head of the conservative think-tank

This weekend saw the Czech Prime Minister breathing a notable sigh of relief as he managed to stave of a challenge to his leadership at the Civic Democrat party conference, held in Prague’s Vysočany. But the troubles do not end there for the embattled PM: a fractured party, a disgruntled electorate and a deep ideological split - those are just some of the issues that Mirek Toplánek must face in the months ahead. I spoke with political commentator Jiří Pehe to gauge his reaction to the weekend’s events and began by asking him if the results of the

Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek was re-elected chairman of the ruling Civic Democrats at a crucial party conference over the weekend, defeating a eurosceptic faction within the party that pushed for a change of direction. He beat challenger Pavel Bém whose influential supporter, Czech President Václav Klaus, quit as the party’s honorary chairman.

Less than a month before it is due to take up the EU presidency, Prague hosted the first event linked to its new role. The President of the European Parliament, along with the heads of the Parliament’s political groups, came to Prague to discuss the Czech agenda for Europe, with the Lisbon treaty high on the list.

The Czech Republic is hosting a sports world championship from Saturday until the end of next week, though it’s quite possible you may not be familiar with the sport – floorball. Floorball was only invented three decades ago, but its popularity is spreading fast, and the world championship being held in Ostrava and Prague is set to be the biggest ever.

Prague’s Divadlo na Zábradlí is best known for staging plays by the former Czech president Václav Havel, but recently, it has started producing English-language plays for the benefit of the Anglo-American community and foreign visitors. This Saturday will see the premiere of Edmond by American playwright David Mamet performed by the Black Snow theatrical company. Ruth Fraňková spoke to its director David Peimer.

NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday affirmed their support for US plans to install anti-missile defenses in central Europe saying that the deployment of a tracking radar in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in neighbouring Poland would make a "substantial contribution" to protecting Europe from the threat of long-range ballistic missiles. Despite the clear implication that the US missile defense components would be incorporated into European defense structures, the statement has left critics in the Czech Republic unconvinced.

All eyes will be on Prague’s Clarion Congress Hotel this weekend as delegates from the right of centre Civic Democrats gather for a crucial party conference. The Civic Democrats are still licking their wounds from disastrous regional and Senate elections, and will meet to elect a new leadership amid a war of words between party leader and Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and President Václav Klaus.

Consumers fearful of rising energy prices have now been offered a choice by the Czech energy giant ČEZ: the possibility of freezing electricity prices through 2010. Not long ago ČEZ came under fire for an announced 10 percent electricity price hike, and this is its answer to critics. Anyone wishing to avoid a further rise in two year’s time, can now sign up. The question is, will it be worth it? The international financial crisis is likely to see energy prices drop before they go up. As a result, anyone signing up for the freeze now could end up