(Ondřej Schneider) Today's Cabinet meeting has a very ambitious agenda, when the government is supposed to discuss and eventually approve following documents:
1. Medium-term fiscal strategy,
2. Accession strategy of the Agriculture Ministry,
3. Medium-term strategy of the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications,
4. Industrial policy blueprint,
5. Medium-term economic policy of the MIT,
6. Competitiveness plan for the Czech industry,
7. Government soft credits for exports,
8. Energy policy blueprint.
All matters are of great importance and we are expecting the government decisions eagerly. We learned that the Minister of Finance expects the state budget deficits to balloon to CZK 80 bil next year and possibly even higher later. It remains to be seen how this could be accommodated with the ambitious plans of other ministers. Also, the Minister of Industry and Trade is expected to suggest to wait until 2005 with liberalization of the power sector - a big blow to all energy firms in the country. These question should be given a comprehensive hearings and definitely should not be taken in a hurry. Let's hope that the Cabinet will treat them accordingly and will not waste all of its precarious time on discussing the central bank's monetary strategy, which is on the agenda as well.