While meeting with his Austrian counterpart Thomas Klestil, Czech President Vaclav Havel stressed that the issue of the Temelin nuclear power plant should not be misused for political games; both presidents welcomed the fact that the topic is being discussed at the European level. Neutral..
Separately, the Austrian Green party took a hard stance when it said that the Czech Republic must not join the EU until Temelin is halted, the Czech Press Agency reports.
The Czech Four-party Coalition (an opposition block) intends to raise the issue of energy-sector privatization transparency at the next session of Parliament; the Coalition is also calling for Cabinet to re-asses the time schedule of the privatization. This effort is unlikely to have any real effect. Neutral..
Monday is the deadline for expressions of preliminary interest in the package of government stakes in CEZ and six regional distributors.
(Jiri Soustruznik)