Summary of newsmakers of the previous day – 18.10. 2006

We breathe very bad air

In a way it is an alarming news. The Czechs slowly return at time of totality. At least, concerning the air quality. Only in carbon dioxide production we belong to European record breakers with 12 tons per inhabitant a year. The air contains also more and more bulldust which is extraordinary dangerous for human health. The first consequences already manifest themselves. People still more often suffer from diseases of airways. After hopeful 90’s when the air improved significantly it is anxious turnover. According to the Minister of Environment Patr Kalaš people return to heating of coal and coal slurry within burning of which poisonous gases and fly ash arise. Gas and electricity have risen in price and people try to save – some even in such a way that they burn plastic bottles in stoves filled with wooden saw dust and waste oil.

Finnish firm considers leaving the Czech Republic

We cannot to complain about lack of interest of foreign investors. Just on the contrary. However, it does not mean that we could not lose them quickly. For example Finnish firm Myllykoski which wanted to build a paper mill in Opatovice nad Labem already considers a preliminary leaving. Today it hesitates whether it should not rather build a paper mill in neighbouring Germany. The reason is long time protractions in handling of permissions. The handling lasts 21 month in Czech offices, while in Germany the firm could start to build three month after the opening of negotiations, so seven times faster. And it is a strong allurement. Drahomíra Bačkorová spoke about probability of leaving of the Finnish investor and what it would mean for the region Ústí nad Labem with the company advisor Tomáš Šabatka.

Breweries meanwhile hesitate to raise prices

Czech breweries judge the situation and consider whether they can – the same as Plzensky Prazdroj – raise the price. “Of course we welcome that Plzensky Prazdroj raises the price. Beer is undervalued in the Czech Republic”, said the spokesman of Family brewery Bernard Stanislav Mikulášek. However, according to him, at first the situation should be analyzed – whether it is possible to raise in price also their family foamy beverage.

MZe will probably put forward possibilities to government what with Setuza’s debt

The Ministry of Agriculture will put forward possibilities to the government probably next week how to deal with roughly four-billion outstanding debt of the firm Setuza. According to the original intention it could be done this Wednesday but the term was shifted. MZe recommended in a material which had been distributed to other ministries a pacific settlement, so a negotiation with Setuza and its owners, or a sale of the outstanding debt in new tender. The ministry of Finances had some objections to the pacific settlement. “Now consultations with this ministry takes place”, said Táňa Králová, the MZe spokeswoman to ČTK.

Source: Agris, 19.10.2006