British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed his opinion on the Benes decrees yesterday after his meeting with the Chairman of Parliament. According to him, the decrees are a part of history, which should not be changed. At the meeting with Premier Milos Zeman Blair added that the decrees posed no obstacle to the Czech republic’s EU accession. Tony Blair confirmed the British cabinet's stand of 1996, which declared World War Two results unchangeable and the Potsdam conference unchallengeable.
Foreign direct investments to Poland dropped to USD 7.2bn last year from USD 10.6bn in 2000 (fall by 32.1%). However, Poland still remains for foreign investors a main destination in post-communist era. Poland has swallowed USD 56.8bn of foreign direct investments since 1989.
Iraq announced its oil export suspension yesterday. Saddam Hussein said Iraq suspended its oil export on Monday for one month in protest at Israels invasion of Palestinian areas. After 30 days the stoppage could continue if Israel forces would not withdraw from the Palestinian territories. The reaction of oil prices were eased by OPEC Secretary-General proclamation that the member states could fill the gap in supply. Crude oil shipments from Venezuela were at halt throughout the weekend because of protests of employees at state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela. The OPEC group will probably hold an emergency meeting on Iraqi stoppage.
Slovakian CPI fell in March at the historical minimum level of +3.6%. Prices rose by 4.3% in February. CPI rose in March at a same pace as in previous month.
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Radim Krejčí