Summary of newsmakers of the previous day – 22.11. 2006

Farmers from Haná protected sugar beet

Sugar beet growers demonstrated today in front of German and British embassy in Prague. They are afraid of dismissing. Farmers dislike that the sugar beet company Eastern Sugar prepares to close its sugar refineries in he Czech Republic. The firm with British-German background would by its leaving shorten the Czech Republic by more than a fifth of quota for sugar production. And a result? Production decrease as well as decrease of sugar beet growing. So, about two hundred farmers asked in representative offices today so that the firm quota stays in the CR. Farmers were armed with slogan banner like “Haná doesn't want to be buried” or “European Union will was us fools; to someone more, to someone nothing.”

Number of BSE cases increases in EU

In the period January-February 2006 the EU recorded in total 210 cases of BSE. It is dealt with a fall by 62,6 % in comparison with 561 cases in 2005 and by 75,7 % with 865 cases in 2004. A permanent decrease in number of cattle afflicted with BSE is a result of measures provided in this field. It includes taking of samples and examination of animals slaughtered in slaughter houses; a ban of feeding ruminants with animal flour; trade restrictions and removal of specified risky material.

Operational programs were delivered to European Commission

The Minister for Local Development Petr Gandalovič handed over operational programs to the European commissioner for regional policy Danuta Hübner personally today in Brussels. They will enable to the Czech Republic to draw as much as 750 milliard crowns from European funds in following next years. By delivering these documents to the European Commission a process of their formal approval starts. From this moment costs expounded in frame of projects are qualified to refunding. After the Czech Republic delivers formally the operational programs to the European Commission binding time-limits start to run defined by the European Legal Order. “We agreed with representatives of the European Commission that they will speed up evaluation and approvals of these documents, crucial for our next drawing money from European funds”, said Petr Gandalovič.

Less beats forestry competition

Three quarters of all commissions from the state firm Lesy CR can get the only entrepreneur - Jan Mičánek. His firms headed by the company Less&Forest wiped out tens of other competitors in the first round. In tenders it is dealt with commissions for about six milliard crowns. “It took us by surprise. However, we overestimated competition, it did not take the trouble with preparation”, Mičánek asserts. New tenders for forestry works - from forestation to harvesting - were announced by the state enterprise after the old ones were cancelled by the antimonopoly office die to breaking the law on commissions of public orders. The state Lesy is one of the biggest firms in the country; they farm on more than half of forests. “As one our firm sent offers to all commissions. I expected that at least twenty firms will act in the same way”, Mičánek says. According to him competitors had not a prognosis of wood price development elaborated. Prices of sawn wood are said to grow and it enabled to Mičánek to offer the best prices to Lesy.

Source: Agris, 23.11.2006