Summary of newspapers of the previous day – 18.1.2012

The government suspend negotiation about a draft budget of the Land Fund of the CR (PF ČR) again today. A department of the Office of the Government communicated it to ČTK after the government´s meeting. The Cabinet suspended negotiations about this proposal already last week. Functioning of the Fund was criticized at the end of the last year by the Ministry of Agriculture which disliked a slow pace of transformation of the Fund as well as waste of public means. The Fund should end by the end of 2012 and to merge with land offices.

Grapes for ice wine have to pass a temperature below seven centigrade degrees at least for one day so that water would freeze and only sugar concentrate would remain. In these days they stay only in a few of vineyards in South Moravia. Some vine-growers do not want to forego production of the expensive delicacy. “When it is possible and grapes are healthy, we let them in vineyard”, Pavel Vajčner, a chief of Znovín Znojmo, told. His firm as one of the last still preserve grapes on an ice vineyard. For the rest, he does not have to hurry; grapes do not require any treatment, they just hang in the vineyard.

The program Green to savings, bad air quality in Moravian-Silesian region, or a new law on National Park Šumava – they were key topics solved by Tomáš Chalupa in the office of the minister. He manages the Ministry of Environment for one year – from the 17th January 2011. “When the Premiere Petr Nečas called me and asked if I had taken a position of the minister of environment, I had some my own idea about this department, however, I was not able at all to imagine problems what I would have to solve immediately. When I entered into the office, three main tasks lied on my table – to re-set in motion a program Green to savings, to solve smog in Ostrava region and an action for the National Park Šumava. Very sharpened disputes proceeded around it”, the Minister Tomáš Chalupa tells.

Breeding of laying hens in unenriched cages is forbidden in the European Union since the 1st January 2012. However, the original cage batteries are still in operation in 15 member states. The last example is Great Britain. According to information of Agra Europe, approximately 30 of almost 2 300 British agricultural enterprises still stable hens in unenriched forbidden cages. On the whole it is dealt with approximately 420 000 hens which corresponds to one percent of all laying hens kept in the country. British ministry of agriculture wants to interfere against the offenders now. However, Great Britain is not the only country where despite the ban laying hens are still kept in unenriched cages.