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Three-party talks between the Social Democrats, ANO and Christian Democrats on forming a new government have hit a major stumbling block. The Christian Democrats are insisting on their party running the Ministry of Agriculture. The party, led by Pavel Bělobrádek, has 14 MPs in the new parliament, far fewer that ANO’s 47 and the Social Democrats’ 50. It has already been complaining about the number of ministries – two instead of three – it will be able to run in a future coalition government. Now a new battle is afoot, with the party threatening

With less than a fortnight to go before the end of the year, the Czech Environment Ministry has decided to allocate some of the remaining annual budget to the very last public tender for promotional items, some of which has raised eyebrows. Public institutions see these kinds of end-of-year spending sprees as necessary, but critics see it simply as a waste of public funds.

The Czech Republic is marking the two-year anniversary of the death of former president Václav Havel. Current Czech president Miloš Zeman is due to lay a wreath at his predecessor’s grave, while Cardinal Dominik Duka is serving a requiem mass from St. Anne’s Church in Prague. However, much of the local media commentary about the former president is of a far less emotional nature.

Vilém Prečan was a longtime associate of the late dissident-turned president Václav Havel. In the following interview, he discusses the reasons behind some Czechs' ambivalent attitudes towards celebrating the life of Havel.

A mammoth canal project, estimated to cost at least 300 billion crowns, which would connect three Central European rivers – namely the Odra, Labe and Dunaj – is to be advocated by Czech President Miloš Zeman in front of MEPs in Strasbourg early next year. The Czech president has long been a proponent of the controversial plan, which appears contradict the plans of the new coalition government to quietly shelve the project.

US musician Lou Reed, who died in October, is set to be remembered at a special tribute concert at Prague’s Archa Theatre on Wednesday featuring local acts such as the Plastic People of the Universe. Entitled “From the Velvet Underground to the Velvet Revolution”, the event also marks the second anniversary of the death of Czech president Václav Havel, who was a friend of Reed’s.

Former Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg visited Ukraine over the weekend, openly comparing demonstrations in Kiev’s Independence Square with the 1989 Czechoslovak Velvet Revolution. The Top 09 leader undertook the visit as an ostensible fact-finding mission in his new capacity as the chairman of the parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee. However, back home he has found himself the target of criticism for his vocal support of the opposition. I spoke to Mister Schwarzenberg about the trip and began by asking him why he went:

The emerging government coalition between the Social Democrats, ANO and the Christian Democrats officially presented their policy programme on Friday outlining broad aims such as raising the country’s minimum wage and boosting the economy. But the deal could yet go south: it has emerged that the Christian Democrats are far from happy ahead of the next round of negotiations on ministerial posts. The offer of only two ministries, they warn, will not be enough.

Nine buildings at Prague Castle sought by the Roman Catholic Church under a highly-publicised restitution deal with the Czech state will remain in state hands. According to Czech TV, the property sought within the extensive Castle complex, overlooking the Vltava River, will not be returned for reasons of security.

The Health Ministry has announced that it will be introducing two changes as of the New Year, to help mothers giving birth have more privacy and feel more in control while they are in the hospital. Mothers who experience a naturally progressing birth without complications may choose to have only nurses present at the procedure, and will be able to leave the hospital within hours of giving birth, after receiving instructions on how to care for the baby.