Ivan Pilip and Jan Bubebník were accused of being agents of United States by Cuba and will be tried in court for "counter-revolutionary" plotting.
The state budget finished with the deficit of CZK 46.1 billion (approx. 2.4% GDP) in 2000. The planned deficit of CZK 35.2 billion thus was exceeded almost by CZK 10 billion. The main reason of higher deficit was lower excise tax revenue resulting from lower fuel sales and tobacco and spirit consumption.
Countries waiting to join the European Union would be eligible to join the EU's environment agency under a proposal released by the European Commission on Tuesday.
The measure, if adopted by EU ministers, would make the European Environment Agency the first EU institution open for membership by candidate countries even before they join the bloc.
The European Union's top official for enlargement said on Tuesday the bloc was on track to admit new members by 2004, but urged candidate countries to redouble efforts to meet the tough membership requirements. European Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen also said he was concerned about the slow pace of administrative and judicial reform and about treatment of the Roma minority in many of the candidate countries.
The Czech crown was broadly weaker after news the Czech central state budget deficit more than doubled in December to CZK 46.06 billion. The Czech koruna weakened to 37.60 per dollar, its lowest in over a week. It slipped to around 35.40 against the euro.
(David Marek)