Prague Daily Monitor

Although the information hasn’t made front page headlines yet, the biggest behind-the-scenes swarm of lobbyists is now hovering over the construction of two additional reactors at the Temelín nuclear plant. The actual deal looks "somewhat" different. The state-owned energy giant ČEZ is looking to secure five nuclear reactors: two for Temelín and another three for power plants that the energy company plans to build abroad, altogether, a contract worth CZK 500 billion. It’s a gigantic tender, the biggest in Czech history.

In connection with the proposed dissolution of the Communist Party filed to the Supreme Administrative Court by a group of senators headed by Jaromír Štětina, Interior Ministry's officials presented the government with a danger assessment of the Communist Party for democracy.

Monday's papers featured the results of a survey by STEM polling agency which show that only a quarter of Czechs adheres to religion. Nothing new under the sun, you'd say. Czechs are after all "the most atheist nation in the world". Are they really?

Seven years of Slušovice's IT underground

The hustle around Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the Czech Republic did not match with the constantly repeated notion that the Holy Father was coming to Europe's most atheist country.

Politicians want to get back at the Constitutional Court

The story of Jakub Tomeš, who got a licence even though he only uses his legs to drive a car, has called attention to something interesting. If there are overall winners after 20 years of freedom, then they are people with disabilities. The quality of their lives has changed significantly. And society has been realising that the handicapped do not represent a burden, but rather unexploited resources.

The Americans changed their mind and gave up the planned anti-missile defense shield in the Czech Republic and Poland.

The Social Democrats made a surprising u-turn once again. From one day to another, the party changed stance on early elections. Why?

Dad's trainers are the hit of the summer

Wealthy firms are starting up day-care centres outside the system

A behind-the-scenes look at the expulsion of two Russian diplomats

The image and reputation of the Czech Republic in Europe and the world is beginning to sink significantly and fast. Rumors have it that the Czech Republic will not meet – as it promised – its deadline set for 15 December to launch the monitoring system for drawing EU funds which flow to the Czech Republic. We could lose dozens of billions of crowns and not just that. We could end up on the same boat together with Romania and Bulgaria, both of which have already been shortened funding from the EU for various reasons.

Two events expected to take place on Thursday 10 September can be perceived as symbolic of the development in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in the past 20 years. Czech Constitutional Court should decide on the constitutionality of the early elections and Slovak Prime Minister will meet his Hungarian counterpart over the dispute between the two countries.

Will Czech Airlines be privatised or go bankrupt before Jan Fischer's cabinet picks the tender winner? Regardless of the outcome, there’s a moral to take away from this: One should not lie, even if the lie could earn one hundreds of millions after selling the airline into private hands.

Budget cuts as the solution to avoiding the woes of Hungary and Latvia

Sophisticated billboards offering advertising space on either side or those that alternate between two different images are wonderful tools in an election campaign. Thanks to these technological wonders, we can see DSZ candidate Olga Zubová on one side and Prague Zoo's seals on the other.

Prague's Libeň bridge, which connects Palmovka and Maniny, is about to undergo reconstruction. This isn't exactly material for a column on politics, but I feel urged to issue a public warning: Watch out, someone's going for our wallets again.

The Constitutional Court dealt with a unique case on Tuesday. A convicted murderer complains about having to deal with cigarette smoke from his fellow prisoners and demands a compensation from the state. Lower courts shook their hands at the case, but the highest legal authority in the country concluded that they should look into it and ordered them to do so.

Jiří Paroubek's statement about "other cultures" whose members "shouldn't get jobs" can't compete with the comments of Paroubek's friend and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico last week that Roma "commit a substantial chunk of crime" in relation to the total population, and since prevention doesn't work, "suppression will take hold". Still, both statements convey the same unfortunate stance of the current Czech and Slovak left.

Young Czechs flock to the countryside for a simpler life

Are the ODS and ČSSD covertly planning a grand coalition?

An observer of European affairs chimes in on what went wrong with the EU presidency

University students kicked out for political reasons began to rebel in 1989.

Drivers in south Moravia should be able to drive with blood alcohol content of 0.3 permille (0.3 grams of alcohol for every 1,000 grams of blood; the current law is zero tolerance). This unusual proposal came in the run-up to October's elections from KDU-ČSL candidate to the Chamber of Deputies Jiří Koliba, who says the residents of south Moravia are accustomed to alcohol.

The scandal surrounding the Italian holiday of Czech politicians and lobbyists, stuffed with so many coincidences that one could start believing in an almighty hand of fate, is developing as other remarkable statements have emerged.

The state agency Czech Invest reports that the value of investment from private funds in the Czech Republic fell by half year-on-year reaching CZK 10.5 billion in the first half of 2009. And as the national debt is growing sharply, analysts are beginning to threaten state bankruptcy filing.

Mirek Topolánek's vacation should be his own private matter. It should be a time for him to take a break from all the political battles and the constant pressure of responsibility that he experiences as a public figure. It should be a break from the attention of Czech media.