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Six months after the country’s first direct presidential election, many Czech politicians are already questioning the wisdom of having introduced a popular vote for the highest office in the land. The authoritarian manner in which President Miloš Zeman has handled the drawn-out political crisis has raised concerns for the country’s parliamentary democracy and opened up a debate on restricting the powers of the president.

Michal Babák, an MP and a deputy chairman of the Public Affairs party, responding to a question about the new Finance Minister Jan Fischer on Czech Television and attempting to criticize his predecessor Mirsolav Kalousek, made a provocative statement. He said: “No Jew can be as bad for the state coffers as Kalousek.” It is important to note that Mr. Kalousek is a Catholic, while Mr. Fischer is Jewish. Although a number of politicians have distanced themselves from Mr. Babák’s statement, which he has since defended, no serious repercussions have

The finance minister in the new Czech interim government, Jan Fischer, has come under fire over his own financial record. Soon after he was linked with the post, Mr Fischer received over five million crowns from sponsors to settle debts stemming from his presidential campaign. That has earned him conflict of interest accusations, and could also threaten the future of the cabinet.

President Miloš Zeman was at loggerheads with former Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg on making Livia Klausová ambassador to Bratislava and Communist MEP Vladimír Remek the country’s envoy in Russia. The freshly appointed interim government backed by Mr. Zeman should now rubberstamp those appointments. But what else can we expect from the president and new minister Jan Kohout in the foreign policy field? I discussed those questions with Petr Drulák, director of Prague’s Institute of International Affairs.

Today would have been the eightieth birthday of Olga Havlová, first wife of the late former president Václav Havel. Olga died in 1996 at the age of 62, after devoting much of life to helping others and sacrificing large parts of it for her husband’s unpredictable career, first as an anti-communist dissident and later as a political leader. Still fondly remembered by many, Olga’s life is being commemorated with a new book and documentary.

When the freshly installed caretaker government was first mooted, it was widely assumed that it would have virtually zero chance of winning a confidence vote in the lower house. However, with the parties divided and individual MPs wavering, the prospect that the new ministers could rule for the best part of a year appears to be becoming more realistic.

One of Prague’s defining buildings of the late communist era is set for demolition, its new owners, the PPF group, have confirmed. Hotel Praha, a large, curved concrete structure, will make way for a park for pupils of an elite school run by PPF. However, many architecture enthusiasts say the building is of great value and are up in arms over the decision.

The country’s new caretaker cabinet was sworn in at Prague Castle on Wednesday, two weeks after economist Jiří Rusnok was named to head it. As the new prime minister had pledged, 14 days was all it took to put together a government from scratch. Now it will face its first test – winning a confidence vote in the lower house.

Following a recent food safety scandal in Poland dubbed the “Antibiotic Affair” and a similar revelation in neighbouring Slovakia, where traces of antibiotics were uncovered in animal farming, the Czech authorities last week launched tests on imported poultry. The inspection team tested an overall 61 samples – luckily all were found to be negative.

Just three weeks after the collapse of his government, outgoing PM Petr Nečas faces criminal prosecution. The high state attorney’s office on Monday asked the lower house to strip Mr. Nečas of his parliamentary immunity, so that he can be charged with alleged corruption, one of the causes behind the fall of his cabinet. While his own party is sticking behind the embattled former government leader, the opposition Social Democrats want to allow the police to do their job.