Politics

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According to the portal czechposition.com (http://www.ceskapozice.cz) Josef Dobeš,  former Minister of Education, resigned from his position. Officially the resignation followed decision to cut down on the Ministry of Education’s budget, which would mean according to the former Minister “unacceptable cut in teachers’ salaries”. Czech media, however, speculate that financial cuts at the Ministry were just an excuse for Dobeš to resign. Former Minister was criticized for inefficient management of the European funds. Another criticism towards…

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According to The Sofia Echo during a visit of Bulgarian PM Boiko Borissov to Ankara 17 documents were signed. Bulgarian government delegation headed to Turkey for the meeting of the Bulgarian-Turkish High-Level Co-operation Council. Signed documents covered a wide scope of issues, such as gas transmission, economic and military cooperation and culture. Bulgarian and Turkish Ministers of Foreign Affairs issued a joint statement expressing support for the Arab people fighting for freedom and democracy. More…

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Ruling coalition in Lithuania is not going to be dissolved after Minister of the Interior Raimundas Palaitis resigned on March 19, as The Lithuania Tribune writes. Raimundas Palaitis resigned after making a controversial hasty decision to fire heads of the Financial Crime Investigation Service – Vitalijus Gailius and Vytautas Girzadas. Former Minister said: “I would like to say that I have no regrets whatsoever over my decision. I feel I was acting legitimately and rightly…

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John Nadler writes in Time that young Hungarian, dissatisfied with ruling Fidesz, are becoming more and more active protesting and demanding change. Surprisingly, a lot of young people are attracted to extreme right-wing, anti-Roma Jobbik. According to research of the think tank Demos and Hungary’s Political Capital Institute done on the group of Jobbik’s FB fans 36% of them were students, 22% held university degrees and 6% had postgraduate or professional degrees. Experts find reasons…

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The results of BBSS Gallup’s survey from March 19, 2012 can be found in The Sofia Echo. Polls show that ruling party GERB has 30% of support while the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) would gain 18% of votes if the parliamentary elections were held now. The Sofia Echo points out that the support for the ruling party is stable in spite of controversies such as Cabinet changes, negative outcome of the European Commission report…

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As Bloomberg Businessweek writes current coalition government may be dissolved, which brings about an option of early elections or working in minority government until elections in October. Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, leading Homeland Union requested Internal Affair Minister Raimundas Palaitis to resign, which he (with support of President Dalia Grybauskaite) refused to do. It led to tensions between Homeland Union and the Liberal Center Union which seem to make the further work of coalition impossible….

picture: Lauris Kaplinski
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As The Slovak Spectator writes Robert Fico was asked to form a one-party government – situation like this has not happened since the fall of communism in 1989. Robert Fico initiated last week talks with other parties in the Parliament but all of them refused to be a part of coalition with Smer. 83 seats in the Parliament which Smer gained in the latest elections will suffice to set up a government of one party….

picture: Lauris Kaplinski
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On March 15, 2012 Wenseclas Square in Prague became a gathering point for thousands of demonstrators against the coalition government and President Vaclav Klaus. Estimations as to the number of participants vary from 2,500 to 5,000 people. As The Prague Post writes protests were organized in various cities in the whole country under the name “Holešov Appeal”. According to the newspaper demands of the protesters include among others government’s resignation, halt of the church restitution,…

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On Saturday March 10, 2012 Smer won parliamentary elections in Slovakia receiving 44.41% of votes. The Slovak Spectator publishes today official results, confirmed by the Central Electoral Commission (ÚVK). They are as follows: 1. Smer – 44.41% 2. The Christian Democrats – 8.82% 3. The Ordinary People and Independent Personalities – 8.55% 4. Most-Hid – 6.89% 5. SDKÚ – 6.09% 6. Freedom and Solidarity – 5.88% The Slovak National Party SNS received 4.55% and Hungarian…

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According to The Budapest Times 15th March (national holiday in Hungary commemorating 1848 War of Independence) 2012 will be marked by two demonstrations held in Budapest. One is organized to protest against Viktor Orban’s policy under the title “Let’s wash away the shame”. On the same day supporters of Orban will gather on Kossuth tér for government-sponsored celebrations. On 15th March Budapest will also see a rally of extreme-right Jobbik. More information in The Budapest…