Fi er, a professor at the medical school at Masaryk University in Brno, will assume office on Monday 14 February. At the meeting with the Prime Minister, President Havel also expressed his wish to see Minister of Trade and Industry Miroslav Gr gr resign . However, this proposal was refused by Prime Minister Zeman. If implemented, these will be the biggest cabinet changes made by any of the Czech post-Communist governments . But although it may be good to bring new faces into the cabinet, they won't be much use if they fail to improve the country's already alarming economic crisis.
Time is of the essence.
Kavan Welcomes Statement of the Austrian Cabinet Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kavan on Friday 11 February welcomed the official statement made by Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel that his Cabinet's programmes will not contain the controversial passages urging the Czech Republic to return the property of Sudeten Germans expelled under the Bene Decrees at the end of the Second World War before entering the European Union. Relations between the Czech Republic and Austria worsened when leader of the Freedom Party J rg Heider repeatedly said that his country is ready to compensate labourers forced to work for the Nazis in Austria if Sudeten Germans and Austrian war prisoners also receive their compensation. This was fiercely criticised by the Czechs. In a joint-statement, Czech President V clav Havel and Prime Minister Milo Zeman expressed their support of the EU sanctions to be imposed against Austria . Zeman stated that although officially not written on paper, the threat remains a threat.