Yearbook 2011
Czech Republic. According to Countryaah official site, a deep crisis in the Czech health care system was revealed at the beginning of the year, when about 3,800 doctors – about one in four in the country – filed the dismissal application in protest of low wages. An average doctor’s salary corresponded to about SEK 8,000, and according to the union, a doctor received less after tax than a restaurant waiter. The protest campaign was intended to stop the emigration of doctors who have been going for years. Visit ABBREVIATIONFINDER for the acronym of EZS that stands for the country of Czech Republic.
The government feared that health care would be paralyzed, and in February a bid was made with salary increases corresponding to approximately SEK 2,000-3,000 per month. The doctors accepted and withdrew their resignations. Although wages were lowered for other public servants to reduce the budget deficit, the government had been forced to submit to doctors’ threats. But the plans were fixed on, among other things. pension degradation and tax increases in order to reduce the budget deficit (4.8% in 2010) and reach balance in the budget by 2016.
In August, the first gay parade was held in the capital, Prague, guarded by about 300 police officers. An employee of President Václav Klaus had expressed disdain for the parade and its participants, which led to a support statement for the parade from 13 Western Ambassadors.
In October, Prime Minister Petr Nečas declared that he wants a referendum on the issue of the Czech Republic to introduce the euro. He pointed out that conditions have changed since 2003, when the Czech Republic agreed to both the EU and the future euro. The crisis in the euro zone with extensive support for Greece has now become an important reason to hesitate. In the accession agreement with the EU, the Czech Republic signed a currency union, not a transfer union or a bond union, declared a Czech EU parliamentarian.
Social Democratic opposition leader Bohuslav Sobotka accused the ruling Democratic National Party (ODS) of “attacking the euro zone” to divert attention from domestic problems, as thousands of people protested in Prague against what they perceived as anti-social policies in the form of austerity. According to analysts, a referendum on the euro in the Czech Republic would probably result in a no. because of the problems in the neighboring country and the euro-country Slovakia, where the government has fallen as a result of the euro crisis.
In December, former president Václav Havel, 75, died. The playwright Havel was imprisoned during the communist regime, when he was the foremost figure in the opposition civil rights movement, Charter 77, and the leading voice against oppression throughout Eastern Europe. In 1989, Havel became president of Czechoslovakia and from 1993 in the Czech Republic.
Prague
Prague, check. Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic on the river Vltava (Moldova) in the Čechy region; 1.28 million residents (2017). Prague is the Czech administrative and cultural center with the seat of parliament, the government, the president and the National Bank, as well as the country’s leading cultural institutions. The National Museum (Národní muzeum), the National Theater (with the Theater Laterna Magika) and the Ständererteater (Stavovské divadlo), where Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni was staged in 1787, as well as the well-known symphony orchestra of the Czech Philharmonic (gr. 1894). In the city there are many higher education institutions, among others. University of Charles (Univerzita Karlova).
The city has mechanical, metal and food industries as well as pharmaceutical, electrical, electronic, graphic and chemical industries. In addition, the apparel, textile and paper industries exist.
Prague has a total area of 496 km2 and covers a heavily hilly area from 177 m to 399 m height (Bílá Hora). Within the city limits has the river Vltava a course of 31 km in a north-south-going direction. Ten small islands are located in the river, at the widest point 330 m. It is navigable via a lock system. The industrial districts are located on the eastern and northeastern outskirts, and Ruzyně Airport is 20 km from the city center. International trains arrive respectively. Prague Hlavní naddraží in the center and Prague Holešovice in the district of Holešovice. approximately 70% of the population lives in suburban high-rise neighborhoods of the 1960’s and 1970’s, which have the character of Soviet-style satellite towns. Other neighborhoods are Karlín, Žižkov, Smíchov and Holešovice, which are characterized by mixed housing and industry. The wealthier live in the fashionable Vinohrady. Together, these neighborhoods form a circle around the old medieval town and are interconnected by a public transport system of subways, buses and trams. The first line of the Prague metro was opened in 1974. In 2006, it includes three lines and a total of 53.7 km of railway, and further developments are underway.
The center consists of the districts of Staré Město (Old Town) and Nové Město (New Town) on the eastern river bank, as well as Malá Strana and Hradčany on the western. The central districts, which are largely detached from private motoring, are connected by a total of 15 bridges. The old town neighborhoods are extremely well-preserved or well-restored, and the number of visiting tourists to the city has risen sharply since 1989. The city is sometimes plagued by floods from Moldova; in the summer of 2002, several thousand residents had to be evacuated and the city’s cultural treasures were threatened with destruction.