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A group of Czech NGOs has launched a new initiative to fight the uphill battle against corruption in the Czech Republic. Entitled You Stole Our Country, Give It Back, the initiative seeks to put Czech parliamentarians under enough public pressure to allow for a thorough probe into alleged links between politics and organized crime. The NGOs behind the new project include the Czech Helsinki Committee, the Romany advocacy group Romea, the student initiative Democracy Czech-Up as well as the Anticorruption Endowment Fund. Radio Prague spoke to the

The latest flare-up between Public Affairs and the two senior parties Civic Democrats and TOP 09 appears to have taken the continued existence of the centre-right cabinet to the very brink. Are we close to early elections or did the smallest party in government, in trying to gain concessions, simply overplay its hand?

The Czech government is teetering on collapse as the junior coalition party, Public Affairs, has said it will pull out unless a number of major concessions are met. Reactions to the demands from its coalition partners were no less than furious, and even if the party backs down - as it has on similar occasions – it seems that either the coalition or Public Affairs itself will soon collapse under the tension. Christian Falvey has this report:

Angela Merkel’s current visit to Prague is the fifth since she became German chancellor. But Ms Merkel often stayed in Prague even before she entered politics. In the 1980s, she spent some time at the then Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences where she worked at the department of theoretical physics. Professor Rudolf Zahradník recalls the times when the future German chancellor was a member of his team.

On a brief working visit to the Czech Republic, German chancellor Angela Merkel met with Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas and President Václav Klaus in Prague on Tuesday. Two issues dominated the agenda: a new EU fiscal compact that is being pushed by Germany as well as differing approaches to energy policy in both countries.

Major changes to the health care system in the Czech Republic came about this week when the government’s reform package took effect. Called the biggest reform in the last 45 years, the aim is a redefinition of how health care services are provided, and the role of the state, the facility and the patient therein.

The Czech Constitutional Court has delivered a breakthrough verdict which aims to put an end to a much-criticized yet lucrative business that in recent years has plagued the Czech Republic. The verdict dramatically lowers the ceiling on the costs law firms can charge for collecting small debts. That means they will no longer will able to inflate their fees which often far exceeded the original debts.

Finding a successor to outgoing Education Minister Josef Dobeš, who resigned over planned budget cuts at the ministry, is seeing delays and most definitely will not be sorted by the end of the month. The Public Affairs party, headed by Radek John, wants assurances that Dobeš’ successor won’t be without options – arguing that extra funds should be found so that teacher salaries are untouched. By contrast, others within the centre-right coalition charge there is plenty of room within the Education Ministry to save; in their view, slashing teachers’

In the Czech hockey league, the semifinals best-of seven series are under way, with the Liberec White Tigers going ahead 2:1 against Pardubice on Wednesday in some really nerve-wrecking action. In the other series, however, Kometa Brno is set to surprise just about anyone including their most devoted fans. Having finished 10th in the regular season, Kometa knocked out the winners Sparta Prague. Now, the Brno side is leading the regular season runners-up Plzeň 2:0. RP spoke to Czech TV commentator and Philadelphia Flyers forward Martin Hosták about

The Czech government on Wednesday approved a bill on automatic referenda, something the public as well as politicians from across the board have been calling for for years. Under the draft legislation, it would take 250,000 signatures and an approval by the country’s Parliament to call a plebiscite. But critics say the bill is so restrictive that it makes it nearly impossible to launch the process, and that it stand very small chances of being approved by the legislature.