CZECH REPUBLIC: Prague Exits USA Missile Defense Plans; Austerity Strikers Shut Down Metro.

AP/ B.GLOBE

The Czechs are withdrawing from US missile defense plans in Eastern Europe...because of a diminished role offered to them.

Backing away from an actual Bush-era missile proposal, the USA offered to let Prague host a separate early warning satellite information system.

Defense Minister Alexander Vondra said that the Czech Republic wanted to participate but “definitely not in this way."

AND: For the first time in history, strikers have shut down Prague's metro.

The strike halted trains across the country...and 60% of Prague's trams and 80% of buses.

Schools and post offices joined the austerity protest because of cuts and reforms by PM Petr Necas. 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j8bN6Nc4OjYdHltwuK528A9TbLVQ?docId=CNG.7f55475450cb72752302481aad82821f.21

CZECH REPUBLIC: PM Necas Believes Euro Opt-Out Is Possible.

BLOOMBERG/
     PM Petr Necas (pictured) claims that in practice the Czechs can opt out of joining the euro and shouldn’t hurry in making a decision on adopting the single currency.
   Recently Poland's central bank Governor Belka said the Poles would not hurry  to adopt the euro because of the currency's uncertainties.
    “Nobody can force us into the euro, de facto we have an opt-out,” Necas said in a on state tv. The switch to the euro must be preceded by spending at least two years in the exchange rate mechanism to prove currency stability, and “nobody can force us to enter this mechanism,” he said. “It’s solely up to our will, it’s our decision, and there is no reason to rush.”
    Polls show that 70 percent of Czechs now oppose dropping the koruna for the euro.

CZECH REPUBLIC/HUNGARY: PMs Oppose EU Dictating Budgets; Support Croatia's Entry.

PRAGUE DAILY MONITOR/
      Both Czech PM Petr Necas (pictured far left) and Hungary's Viktor Orban (pictured 2nd from right) oppose having Brussels dictate their future budgets and support Croatia's entry in the EU.
     "We do not want the tax unification... we do not want the national governments to become a postman who will take over orders from an EU body and work out a budget to be submitted to parliament," stated Necas.

CZECH REPUBLIC/ POLAND: 1ST UPDATE: 11 Dead From Floods; More Than 5 Billion Crowns Damage In CR.

BLOOMBERG/ UPDATE: 10 Aug/    At least eleven have died and at least three are missing after heavy flooding in the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. Early damage estimates for the Czech Republic's Liberec Region are more than two billion crowns and for the Usti Region, also in north Bohemia, more than one billion crowns. Total damage may exceed 5 billion crowns. Two water treatment plants have also been destroyed. Southwestern Poland’s Bogatynia has suffered the  worst flood damage. (Foto of Czech PM Necas)

CZECH REPUBLIC: New PM Necas Balking At Euro Adoption.

BLOOM/     New PM Petr Necas, 45, won’t commit to a target date for joining the euro despite pressure from exporters hurt by a rising currency, the koruna. “The government program will not include any target date or a promise to join the euro area,” Necas said "Exports are important, but this country is not only a country of exporters. With the current state of the euro zone, it wouldn’t be politically wise to say that we will join on a certain date,” Necas said. “After all, nobody knows what will happen with the euro zone in two or three years, so a cautious approach is appropriate.”

CZECH REPUBLIC: PM Necas May Reduce Dependence On Russian Energy.

BLOOM/    PM Petr Necas says the Czechs want to reduce dependence on Russian energy and will balance security interests along with price when building new nuclear reactors. The government is soliciting bids to build two reactors at its Temelin Nuclear Power Plant and possibly another at the older Dukovany facility at a cost of $26 billion usd.