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Prime Minister Petr Nečas has said he would be willing to accept a new flood tax proposed by the finance minister but only for one year. He made the statement in an interview for the financial daily Hospodářské noviny on Friday, stressing that he was not willing to raise taxes for a longer period. Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek raised the issue following recent flash floods which devastated parts of northern Bohemia. Under his plan, members of the workforce would contribute to a flood relief fund in the form of a 100 crown-a-month cut in their income tax break. The proposal has been a point of contention between the finance minister and the prime minister in the media since.

The Hydrometeorological Institute has issued flood alerts for the regions of Liberec and Ústí nad Labem in north Bohemia, saying rising water on local rivers could reach level one or two activity by Friday evening. Level 3 indicates danger or extreme danger due to flooding. Both regions are far from recovering from devastating flash floods just three weeks ago which caused billions of crowns in damage and claimed several lives. In connection with the latest developments, officials have warned canoeists and rafters to stay off of rivers for the next several days. The flood alerts in the regions of Liberec and Ústí nad Labem will be complemented by level one warnings on rivers in other parts of the country, including western, central and eastern Bohemia, on Friday evening.

People in North Bohemia are still cleaning up after the recent flash floods, but Czech Television warned of a new peril on its evening news on Tuesday – flood-damaged cars being sold as second hand by unscrupulous traders. Czech Television reported that driving such vehicles can be dangerous, even fatal, and experts are warning potential buyers to check used cars carefully.

Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek has spoken out against the prime minister’s disapproval of a plan to finance flood relief from income tax breaks. Mr Kalousek said that the chairmen of the coalition parties had agreed on his ministry’s flood tax two weeks earlier, and said the PM’s about-face on the issue was absolutely inappropriate in a coalition. Following floods in north Bohemia two weeks ago, Mr Kalousek said all working Czechs would contribute to a flood relief fund in the form of a CZK 100-a-month cut in income tax breaks, a move some critics slammed as nothing less than a new tax. On Sunday, Prime Minister Nečas said he had a number of reservations regarding the flood tax, and referenced a pre-election promise not to increase direct taxes.

The state body for foods inspection has forced two Czech wine producers to recall hundreds of thousands of litres of wine after the companies were unable to prove the origin of the grapes used. Inspectors found that České vinařské závody and Vinium Velké Pavlovice had used over a million kilos of grapes that were of unknown origin but used in products labelled as domestic wine. The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority said that it intends to thoroughly inspect other wine producers for violations they say are damaging both to consumers and honest domestic wine growers.

Prime Minister Nečas has raised doubts over the introduction of a solidarity fund to deal with the effects of flooding in the future. Following floods in north Bohemia two weeks ago, the minister of finance, Miroslav Kalousek, said all working Czechs would contribute to the fund in the form of a CZK 100-a-month cut in income tax breaks, a move some critics slammed as nothing less than a new tax. On Czech Television on Sunday the prime minister said he was now considering whether to go ahead with the plan, adding that the money to deal with flooding ought to be found from other sources.

The region of Liberec was reported to be entirely accessible to traffic on Thursday, nearly two weeks after severe flash floods caused more than two billion crowns in damages to local road infrastructure. A number of detours are still in place and drivers are warned that some roads remain in poor condition. Road connections to many parts of the region were completely severed immediately after the floods, which destroyed seven bridges and left another 112 damaged. Some 830 firemen and 660 soldiers are currently aiding in the ongoing cleanup. Electricity has been returned throughout the region, however 330 households remain without gas and 230 of those lack drinking water.

Pope Benedict XVI has given 25,000 euros, around 620,000 Czech crowns, to help Czech flood victims. News of the donation was released by the Bishop of Litoměřice, Jan Baxant. His diocese is one of the affected areas. The bishop sounded out the Vatican about possible help last week. The donations will be managed by the church’s local charity. The north of the country, particularly the Liberec and Ústí nad Labem regions were among the worst hit.

The Liberec region has launched negotiations with the Ministry of Transport about freeing up funds for repairs to roads and bridges damaged by recent floods. The total bill for damage has been estimated at just over 2.0 billion crowns. Three quarters of this consists of repairs to second and third class roads with the rest destined for bridge repairs. It is estimated that 119 bridges were damaged in the flash floods a week ago, of which around 30 are now in a serious state. Around 80 ridges need less costly maintenance, according to the regional governor Stanislav Eichler.

Although the Czech Republic has been hit by it own floods, the country responded fast to the much greater inundation in Pakistan. We look at the Czech aid effort so far.