Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Czech Republic
Newsline: Czechs embassy opens in Armenia
The Czech Republic has opened its diplomatic mission in Armenia in the building of the Polish embassy in Yerevan. The Czech embassy in Yerevan will have only one employee, charge d’affaires Petr Mikyska. Formally it will be subjected to the Czech embassy in Tbilisi in the neighbouring Georgia. Given the limited capacity of the new mission in Yerevan, Armenia will continue to fall under the consular office in Tbilisi. Short-term visas for Czechs would be issued by the consular office of the Polish embassy. Armenia opened its diplomatic mission in Prague in 2011. Armenia is one of the six former Soviet republics participating in the Eastern Partnership project launched in 2009. The Czech Foreign Ministry said the new mission in Yerevan is the first example of Czech-Polish cooperation in this respect. It said it was one of the models of having missions in some parts of the world and cutting the running costs at the same time.
http://praguemonitor.com/2012/05/17/czechs-embassy-opens-armenia
Newsline: Czech former embassies don’t sell
The Czech Foreign Ministry has not managed to sell the closed-down embassy and consulate buildings, since potential buyers find the price too high.Praguehas offered ten such buildings, situated all over the world, for sale for almost 290 million crowns altogether. The Czech Republic has offered for sale the seats of its former embassies in countries such as Venezuela, Yemen and Brazil, and of former consulates in Germany, Slovakia and Canada. The Czech building in Bonn costs the most of all, 105.7 million crowns. The lowest price, 6.8 million crowns, is that of a villa in Congo. The Foreign Ministry says the scrapping of selected diplomatic missions will save tens of millions of crowns a year. However, the still unsold buildings continue to burden the state budget as spending is necessary on their maintenance and on real estate agents. Members of the lower house foreign committee have criticised the sale of the Czech diplomatic seats abroad as a step cutting Prague’s connection with foreign business.
http://praguemonitor.com/2011/07/19/hn-%C4%8Dr-fails-sell-former-embassies
Newsline: Ukraine calls Prague’s decision to expel its diplomat as inappropriate
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has called a decision of the Czech Republic to expel an employee of the Ukrainian Embassy in Prague as absolutely inappropriate. “The decision by the Czech side to expel an employee of the Embassy of Ukraine in the Czech Republic is a totally inappropriate response to Kyiv declaring personae non grata two military attaches of the Czech Republic in Ukraine, who were engaged in espionage in our country,” reads a statement issued by the information policy department of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Ukraine. On the other hand, the Ukrainian diplomat who faces expulsion from the Czech Republich as strictly complied with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and “for this reason there can be no question of reciprocity in this case,” it said.
Newsline: Ukraine expels two Czech diplomats for spying
Two Czech diplomats have been expelled from Ukraine on suspicion of spying, Ukraine’s security service said. Col. Zdenek Kubicek and Maj. Petra Novotna were accused of spying and trying to gain access to Ukraine’s military secrets. ‘The Czech diplomat [Kubichek] was also interested in classified data related to Ukrainian projects in the tank industry and satellite navigation for Oplot tanks,’ security service spokeswoman Marina Osypenko said. Osypenko said the diplomats – both defense attaches at the Czech Embassy inKiev– were also caught buying confidential documents linked toUkraine’s ambitious Antonov An-70 transport plane and Antonov An-178 cargo aircraft. Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwartzenberg said later Friday that the expulsion was a retaliation measure to the Czech Republic granting asylum to former Ukrainian economics minister Bohdan Danylyshyn in January.
http://www.inewsone.com/2011/05/14/ukraine-expels-two-czech-diplomats-for-spying/50412
Consular affairs: Switzerland will terminate consulates in Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia Herzegovina
The Swiss government reached a decision to terminate consulates in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia from September 1. According to John T.C. McGough, member of the ASR for Switzerland and also as a member of the board of the Swiss Club of Hungary, the move is irrational and would place Swiss citizens living or working in the region in an unacceptable position. The cited motive behind the measure is the reduction of expenses. Swiss citizens are required to register with the nearest consulate when traveling abroad and these offices are also in charge of visas and the administration necessary for foreigners to travel to Switzerland. In the revised structure, taking care of whatever bureaucratic affair in the eastern part of Hungary would require traveling all the way to Vienna.
Newsline: Czech Foreign Minister brushes aside German embassy row
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg refused on Monday to let an embassy row stand in the way of relations during talks in Berlin, his first foreign destination after taking office earlier this month. The two countries had previously agreed to a property swap which would allow Germany to take ownership of its “historically charged” Prague embassy, 300-year-old Lobkowicz Palace. In return, the Czech Republic would have the chance to move its Berlin embassy from a run-down 1970s building into the former US embassy. However the deal which was agreed last year has since stalled, amid rumours that the Czech Republic does not consider the two buildings to be equivalent in value. In September 1989, West Germany’s then foreign minister Hans- Dietrich Genscher addressed thousands of East Germans who had sought refuge in the Prague embassy, granting them permission to travel to the west. The event proved a decisive step leading towards the fall of the Berlin Wall months later and German reunification the following year. “Our embassy in Prague is a historically charged location for Germany in a way that few other places are in the world,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said, expressing his desire for a mutually agreeable settlement between the countries. The Czech minister, who was exiled in Austria under communism, spoke German during his Berlin visit.
Newsline: Czech Republic to close some embassies
The government of the Czech Republic announced plans to begin closing embassies, consulates and cultural centers around the world to save money. Deputy Foreign Minister Hynek Kmonicek said the embassy in Angola, the consulate in Montreal and the cultural Czech Center in Dresden, Germany, were among the facilities slated for closure. “At the end of September, we also plan to close our embassy to Colombia in Bogota and also our consulate general in Sydney, Australia,” Kmonicek said. The government has already closed its embassy in Zimbabwe. Kmonicek said the government would be looking to expand a project called Visegrad House, which is an agreement by the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary to pool foreign ministry operations.
http://m.globe-democrat.com/news/2010/apr/02/czech-republic-to-close-some-embassies/
Newsline: Czech ambassador to Ukraine seeks dismissal for health reasons
Czech Ambassador to Ukraine Jaroslav Basta, who was suspected of being involved in a scandal with visa issuance, has asked for dismissal from the diplomatic post for health reasons, Foreign Minister Jan Kohout said. Kohout added he would meet Basta’s request. He refused to speculate about the possibility that not health reasons but the affair around the issuing of Czech visas in Ukraine might be behind Basta’s decision. Basta previously rejected the media reports on of his involvement in the affair. Basta said then he and Kohout agreed that the situation was serious and that it complicated Czech-Ukrainian relations and his position as the embassy head. However, Basta added he would not like to resign since he would thereby admit he had committed a mistake, which was not true. The Czech consulate in Lvov allegedly demanded that Ukrainian applicants for Czech visas register by phone via a call centre run by a private company from June 2008 to January 2009. The registration cost 310 crowns and the money was sent to the account of the company, seated in Brno, that was chosen without a tender.
Newsline: Canada starts issuing visas for Czechs in Prague
Canada has started issuing tourist visas at its embassy in Prague, as a result of which the Czechs travelling to Canada will no longer have to apply for visas via Vienna. The visa department is being opened in Prague almost half a year after the reintroduction of visas for Czechs by Canada in mid-July. Canada reimposed visa requirements on Czechs on July 14 because a high number of Czech citizens, mainly Romanies, applied for asylum after arriving in Canada. In Prague, Ottawa’s decision caused displeasure. The Czech Republic will continue calling on other EU countries to help it press on Canada that reintroduced visas for Czechs even after Canada opens a visa office in Prague. Canada has not stated so far when the visa would be lifted. The EU has threatened to introduce visas for Canadian diplomats unless Canada facilitates the issuing of visas for Czech citizens and sets clear conditions for the renewal of visa-free relations. Brussels set the end of 2009 as a deadline for Ottawa in this respect.
http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/zpravy/canada-starts-issuing-visas-for-czechs-in-prague/413095
Newsline: ‘Consulate can’t claim diplomatic immunity’
The legal dispute over the Czech consulate premises on Pedder Road witnessed a lengthy hearing in the Bombay high court. Senior counsel V A Thorat appearing for Khemka Exports Pvt Ltd, which claimed to be a tenant for 37 years at Marcopia building (also the consulate premises), argued that it was contrary to the laws of the land to physically throw someone out, as was done to his client. He said it was also against the law to allow the consulate to get immunity for such action. Khemka had moved the small causes court to be declared as a legal tenant and challenged the consulate’s action of changing locks on the company’s ground-floor shop in the building. The consulate had taken the plea that no court should entertain the suit here on the grounds of diplomatic immunity. This plea, said Thorat, was not valid in this case as the consulate’s action was not official and hence could not get protection under the international treaties or Diplomatic Mission laws. Additional solicitor-general Darius Khambatta said diplomatic immunity was on a reciprocal basis between different countries and if India denied the Czech consulate immunity, then India stood to lose similar immunity elsewhere.
