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21. 08. 09. - 15:00

Czech Premier to visit Vienna on Monday

By David Rogers

Czech Minister President Jan Fischer, who heads a caretaker government, will visit Vienna this Monday to meet with senior Austrian officials.

The office of Social Democratic (SPÖ) Chancellor Werner Faymann said today (Fri) Fischer would meet with Faymann, Vienna SPÖ Mayor Michael Häupl and President Heinz Fischer before leaving for Hungary on Monday afternoon. Fischer made a two-day visit to the Czech Republic this past May.

The office said Faymann and Fischer would meet at 11am at the chancellery to discuss a number of economic issues, including ways to combat the recession, the EU’s Lisbon Treaty and the Czech nuclear-power plant at Temelin in southern Bohemia close to Austria.

The Czech Republic has not yet ratified the Lisbon Treaty on reform of the European Union. Both houses of parliament have approved it, but President Vaclav Klaus has not signed it and won’t decide whether to do so until the Constitutional Court has issued a ruling on some MPs’ complaint that the treaty would violate the Czech constitution.

Ratification of the treaty by all 27 EU member states would change EU work processes and structures. Reforms would include the introduction of a President of the European Union and a High Representative for Foreign Affairs. The Treaty would also make the union’s human rights charter, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, legally binding.

Czech energy agency CEZ wants to build an additional two reactors next to the current two at Temelin. The government hasn’t yet approved its plans, and it appears the new government that will take office after this October’s general election will have to make a decision in that regard. All Czech parties except the Greens, who probably won’t make it into parliament, favour expansion of nuclear power.

The Austrian government opposes CEZ’s plans and believes the existing reactors at Temelin are not safe and pose the threat of a catastrophic accident.

Klaus picked the politically-independent Fischer, the former head of the Czech statistics office, to head a caretaker government of experts in May. The former conservative government left office after losing a vote of confidence in parliament at the end of March.

Austrian Times

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