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Speakers at a commemorative meeting at the site of a former World War II ghetto at Terezín in central Bohemia have warned of a rise in neo-Nazism and racism in the Czech Republic. The director of the Terezín Memorial, Jan Munk, said that today the victims were Romanies; next will be Jews, and then other people. He said as a Jew and a citizen he felt threatened by neo-Nazism, and called on state bodies to take greater action against the danger. Some of Prime Minister Jan Fischer’s own family members were killed after being interned at Terezín. He said at Sunday’s ceremony that he had been disappointed by the results of a mock election held in Czech schools which suggested over 7 percent of 15- to 19-year-olds would support the far-right Workers’ Party of Social Justice. Mr Fischer said the area of values was being emptied out in Europe, thanks to an over-emphasis on so-called real politics; this area was being left to those who are against freedom and democracy, he said.

Around 144,000 Jews were sent to Terezín (Theresienstadt) by the Nazis during the war. Fewer than 17,300 survived. Around 1,000 people attended Sunday’s commemorative meeting, which was the 64th.

The right-wing TOP09 party faces criminal complaints over an election gimmick that went wrong. In an effort to emphasize the grave state of the country’s public finances, the party sent thousands of people in the Czech Republic mock bills asking them to pay their share of the public debt –amounting to 121 thousand crowns – without delay. Friday’s papers report that many senior citizens were shocked and upset by what they thought was an authentic payment slip and one elderly woman required psychiatric attention. Two thousand people are reported to have called emergency help lines and the police have confirmed receiving dozens of criminal complaints relating to fraud and scaremongering.

The Social Democrats have said they will freeze a 13 million crown gift from a private sponsor following media claims that he may have a shady past. The news site Aktualne.cz recently reported that Tomáš Melich – a Czech businessman now living in Austria – had collaborated with the communist secret police. Social Democrat leader Jiří Paroubek said on Friday that the party leadership had decided not to use the gift – which was a contribution to the party’s election campaign –until Mr. Melich had cleared his name in court.

The results of mock elections held in 135 schools around the country indicate that young people favour right wing parties. The most popular party with the 15- to 19-year-olds who took part was TOP09, followed by the Civic Democrats and the Public Affairs party. The Czech Pirate Party – which is against copyright protection – and the far-right Workers’ Party of Social Justice would likewise secure several seats in Parliament, while the Green Party and the Social Democrats would only cross the 5 percent threshold by a very narrow margin. Turnout was 50 percent with more than 20,000 young people taking part. The mock election was organised by the NGO People in Need.

Ex-president Vaclav Havel has shot a video-clip in support of the Green Party. In it Mr. Havel criticizes what he calls money- driven city planning which he says is changing the face of Prague without any consideration for the needs of future generations. He says he is happy to see that at least one party in the Czech Republic feels as strongly about the problem as he does. Prague councillors have frequently come under fire from the Greens for being unsympathetic to the environment and pandering to the demands of lobbyists. The popular ex-president is making no secret of the fact that he intends to vote for the Greens in May’s general elections.

In this week’s Business News: pace of price rises forecast to speed up; central bank fights independence slur; the Czech Republic climbs competitiveness ladder; phone giant sees earnings slump; and the surprise debt payment demand.

Two weeks before general elections, the NGO People in Need has just released the results of a mock election held in Czech schools last month. The results suggest that if pupils between 15 and 19 could all go to the polls, many would back right-wing parties. TOP 09, the Civic Democrats and Public Affairs all fared well. By contrast, the Social Democrats would barely scrape into the lower house, and the Communists would be shown the door.

The NGO people in Need which organized mock elections in 135 schools around the country has said it will make the results public on Friday. The NGO was criticized for the project by left-wing parties who argued that mock elections politicized the classroom. Many schools dropped out under pressure, but more than 20,000 students took part anyway. The NGO originally promised not to make the vote public until after the real elections, but faced with criticism that he feared the outcome, the leader of the Social Democrats Jiri Paroubek urged the NGO to make the results public right away. The results from a number of schools that broke the agreement and published them separately, suggest that students generally supported right-wing parties.

The Public Affairs party has announced it is scrapping its controversial street patrols initiative, after coming under widespread criticism from rival parties and the media. The vigilante-style uniformed patrols appeared in the streets at the beginning of May, reportedly to help the police maintain law and order as well as helping people who live on the margins of society. The move was widely criticized as a populist gesture ahead of May’s general elections and a poll among the party’s own supporters suggested it should be terminated.

There is continuing controversy between the two main rivals in the upcoming general elections with regard to who is responsible for the aggressive tone of the election campaign. The right-wing Civic Democrats warned on Thursday that provocateurs posing as their supporters could launch a physical attack against Social Democrat leader Jiří Paroubek and his wife Petra at the close of the election campaign. A spokesman for the party said the Civic Democrats had heard disturbing rumors of a possible attack at their recent election rally. The Social Democrat leader countered that if that were the case it was their duty to report it to the police.

The Civic Democrats have distanced themselves from all forms of physical aggression at election rallies. The party has now filed a criminal complaint against the Social Democrat election leader, Jaroslav Tvrdík, for alleging that they were operating paid commandoes in the campaign. Ever since the recent physical attack on a senior Social Democrat leader, the party has been holding meeting with the public inside buildings in order to better guarantee security.