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The European Commission on Friday welcomed the government-imposed ban on exports of spirits with higher than 20 percent volume of alcohol made in response to the methanol crisis. The Czech Health Ministry issued the immediate ban on Thursday night under pressure from the commission which threatened to impose their own ban that could last for up to two months, arguing consumers in other EU countries have the right to the same level of protection against methanol-laced spirits as those in the Czech Republic. Future lifting of the ban will however have to be consulted with the European Commission, a spokesman for the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy said.

The Czech government bowed to pressure from the European Union on Thursday evening, imposing an immediate ban on exports of hard alcohol. The ban came amidst warnings the European Union was planning to impose its own ban on imports of Czech spirits in the wake of a spate of methanol poisoning that’s so far claimed the lives of 23 people.

The European Spirits Organisation has complained about the order to re-issue duty stamps and called on the government to end the prohibition. The current system of duty stamps, they say, does not impede counterfeiting or the black market, as the stamps are easy to falsify, are often reused and their absence on bottles overlooked. The government imposed the ban on beverages with an alcohol content of more than 20% on September 14. The prohibition is reportedly costing the government 25 million crowns a day in lost tax revenues.

The European Parliament will open a discussion on the so-called “Beneš decrees”, which resulted in the expulsion of the Czechoslovak German and Hungarian populations and the seizure of their property after WWII. The discussion will be based on a Hungarian petition against the 2007 decision of the Slovak National Council declaring that the decrees are immutable. The parliament has asked Bratislava to send delegates to explain the circumstances around the declaration, which some Hungarian and other MEPs have called discriminatory. The Czech parliament issued a similar declaration in 2002.

Less than a week after sales of hard liquor in the Czech Republic were banned in response to the ongoing methanol crisis, the government has announced plans to ease the partial prohibition. Newly produced liquor, tested for the presence of methanol, should be made available within some two weeks’ time. The Czech authorities are also facing criticism from the European Commission which says they should ban exports of Czech spirits to protect consumers in other EU countries.

In this week’s business news: The Czech national debt has risen by almost 10 percent in the first half of 2012; Real estate prices are dropping for the second quarter this year, while land prices are on the rise; Škoda Auto will introduce a new Fabia specifically for the Indian consumer; Fuel prices are breaking record highs again this week; a number of operational programmes in the Czech Republic will not get the EU funds they were counting on.

The mayor of Ostrava, one of the most polluted cities in the country, has called on the EU’s environment commissioner for help in resolving the situation. Mayor Petr Kaynar says the town is prepared to invest in a long-term strategy to improve the environment, particularly the quality of air, but would like the problem to be addressed on a broader scale. The mayor says that according to several independent studies most of the air pollution plaguing the town originates in neighbouring Poland. Health statistics show that the air pollution in the eastern part of the country, particularly Ostrava, has resulted in a growing incidence of asthma and allergy problems.

The central satellite navigation centre of the European space agency’s Galileo program began full operation on Thursday in Prague’s Holešovice district. The Galileo system or GSA, is the European answer to the American GPS navigation system, and should be launched sometime in 2014 or 2015. The European space agency already has two out of the necessary 18 satellites in orbit and two more should be launched in early October. The Czech Republic was selected out of 12 EU countries to host it. Among those who spoke at the launch on Thursday were Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Commission, GSA head Carlos Des Dorides, and Czech Transport Minister Pavel Dobeš.

The executive board of the Czech Civic Democrats have called on Prime Minister Petr Nečas and party members to side strongly against the Czech Republic joining the planned European banking union. Many members of the Civic Democratic Party are warning that a Europe-wide banking union would be a step towards further EU integration and possible changes in European treaties. The European Commission is expected to submit a proposal of the banking union in the first two weeks of September. The union could potentially be one of the bigger issues debated ahead of regional and Senate elections to be held in the Czech Republic in the autumn.

Czech MEP Jan Zahradil will appear at the US Republican Party convention in Tampa Bay, Florida, later this week. The convention will formally nominate Mitt Romney as the party’s presidential candidate, and Mr Zahradil, who is a deputy chair of a conservative group in the European Parliament, says conservatives would welcome Mitt Romney’s becoming the next US president. Jan Zahradil will appear at a panel entitled Hey America, Don’t Take This Road. RP spoke to the Czech MEP and asked him what his message to the Republican delegates will be.