Monday, 1 August 2016 Spring chicken graduates Issue 126 l newsstand price CZK 24/¤ 1 l www.e15.cz 126 Companies beset by 0 unworldly job candidates, 40 says Hays chief FACE TO FACE pages 10–11 45431 771803 ‘Little Prague’ 9 Remind you of some place? Daytrippers drawn to Poland’s picturesque Kłodzko SPECIAL REPORT pages 12–13 Banks back the proton prize Profimedia.cz Photo: Financially stretched eded in striking a new agreement with Immorent and PTC have agreed and the proton therapy deployment creditor Immorent, an Erste financial long-term leasing and a debt maturi- success worldwide,” said PTC director PTC cancer treatment group member. Immorent provided ty extension. “We perceive the agree- Iva Taťounová. loan finance for constructing the cli- ment as a positive development as it The negotiations with Immorent facility has been given nic’s CZK 3.5bn building. takes into account the existing and may have been assisted by the conclu- Three-year-old PTC specialises in expected numbers of patients treated ded VZP contract. It included a deal a second chance proton particle therapy. The pione- at the facility and helps to financially to terminate legal proceedings the ering treatment is far costlier than stabilise both PTC and its operator,” two parties were pursuing against Adéla Čabanová conventional radiotherapy but it can said Kristýna Dolínek Havligerová, each other. “That provides the bank deposit radiation doses aimed at disea- a spokesperson for Erste subsidiary with another important instrument of Prague’s private proton beam radiothe- sed tissue over a far narrower range. Česká spořitelna, speaking on behalf security,” Taťounová told E15. rapy clinic, which sprang to internati- British toddler King was successfully of Immorent. The problem of securing returns on onal attention during the 2014 Ashya treated at PTC after his parents, denied The new deal means loan repay- investments sunk into PTC has long King case, has taken a big step towards proton therapy by the UK National ments will be stretched to 2033. “The plagued the clinic and its creditors. financial stability. Five days after agre- Health Service, removed him from hos- bank has agreed favourable long-term “We searched long and hard for a vi- eing a standard contract with health pital and went abroad in search of the funding conditions primarily because able solution to the situation,” added insurer Všeobecná zdravotní pojišťovna treatment, sparking an international of the ever increasing volume of the- Dolínek Havligerová. (VZP), the Proton Centre (PTC) succe- manhunt. rapeutic care provided by the centre Continues on page 4 2/3 news Chinese doctors clear to practice Medical chamber’s series of firm objections get nowhere health alists in acupuncture, herbal Adéla Čabanová medicine and other Chinese methods – promoted as infor- othing now lies in the med by modern medicine but way of the vision which built on 2,500 years of Chine- Nsees the Czech Repub- se medical practice – work in lic becoming the centre of tra- Hradec Králové on the basis ditional Chinese medicine for of “temporary” exemptions, Central and Eastern Europe. usually only given to foreign The Czech Medical Chamber specialists on short visits to the [ČLK] may be rather upset country. “The doctors at the at the prospect, but it has Fear of Hradec Králové hospital are failed with a whole litany of pseudoscience. practising according to heal- complaints over how Chinese Most Western th ministry permits which can practitioners are not subject physicians be issued for a period of one to standard conditions and have little faith year,” stated health minister have no ČLK membership, in traditional Svatopluk Němeček (Social screened qualifications or Chinese medicine Democrat). It is said that the Czech language exam passes and describe it Chinese practitioners are sub- to their name. as an alternative ject to the specialist oversight Traditional Chinese medi- medicine. But of Czech colleagues. cine doctors are, for instan- plenty of patients The path to a further ex- Profimedia.cz ce, thus clear to continue to can not praise it pansion of traditional Chinese practice at University Hospital Photo: enough medicine in Czech hospitals is Hradec Králové. “The ČLK clear. Seven Chinese doctors chamber has unfortunately, head Jan Mach wrote in the state prosecutors and the he- a planned clinic, stem from are to work at the new clinic in vain, exhausted all avai- chamber’s internal magazine. alth ministry. a cooperation between the being created at University lable legal means to bring Objections were raised with A project that runs a tra- university hospital, the health Hospital Hradec Králové with this matter in line with the le- regional government officials, ditional Chinese medicine ministry and private conglo- a financial injection of EUR gal code,” ČLK’s legal office the regional governor, police, outpatients department, and merate CEFC China. Speci- 10m from CEFC China. UK court agrees Savov extradition Pavel Otto The High Court of Justice in London has refused the ap- peal against extradition to the Czech Republic made by busi- nessman František Savov. He stands accused of tax evasion and the legalisation of the pro- ceeds of crime. A Westminster court initial- ly ruled for extradition a year ago, but Savov – who controls the Mladá fronta publishing house which, until earlier this year, included this publicati- ČTK on among its titles – took up Photo: his right to appeal to a higher court. Ooh-aar, time to bet the farm on the Traktoriáda Police are pursuing Savov as A year is not quite a year for the village of Žebnice, near Pilsen, should the annual “Traktoriáda” – a tractor race up a hill – fail to take part of the “Octavian” case in place. Happily the 14th such contest (back)fired into life for the event’s many enthusiasts, a fair number of whom were ducking salvoes which 11 people are accused of of mud as farmers chucked in pulling heavy farm machinery for the day and instead fought their way up the treacherous, half-kilometre eliciting gains made from the il- course. Many of the tractors had been customised for the big occasion, while others were custom-made contraptions altogether legitimate overpayment of VAT amounting to CZK 770m. Minimum wage Have your say helen Rodwell positions staked out Jana Havligerová A juridical challenge A minimum wage rise from the current monthly CZK 9,900 to CZK 11,000 has been proposed called Brexit by labour minister Michaela Marksová, with the backing Under the article 50 process, Brexit is likely to have two of prime minister and fellow distinct parts to it. The first part is the process of extricating Social Democrat Bohuslav So- the UK from its status as a member state of the EU, which botka. But the proposal, made also has potentially significant implications for the remaining at a tripartite meeting of the 27 member states as well as the EU institutions. The second government, trade unions and part is how those exit discussions “take account of” the employers’ representatives, was framework for the UK’s future relationship with the EU. It is not to the other parties’liking that secondary part of the Brexit process that presents the Čtk (see Opinion, page 6). main challenges for UK lawyers and their clients. The unions pushed for CZK Photo: the main challenge is that a large body of EU law will – 500 more and the employers, It must pay to work. One argument used in support of a higher post-Brexit – no longer apply in the three legal jurisdictions while content to see an increa- minimum wage is that it would reduce the number of people who of the UK (England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland). se, were not minded to go any find it more rewarding to stay on welfare rather than get a job The process we are likely to see in addressing this challenge higher than CZK 10,600. The can perhaps best be viewed as equivalent to the process for employers’ view was suppor- behind her recommendation, petitive, they say. “Regularly the accession of new EU member states, which a number of ted by finance minister Andrej reasoning that a country like increasing the minimum wage CEE countries have relatively recent experience with. The UK Babiš (ANO), the billionaire the Czech Republic must not creates pressure to increase must decide what new national laws and new international owner, of course, of a business be at the “EU’s tail end” when pay in general,” said Vladimír agreements will be needed to fill the created legal vacuum. empire. The final decision will it comes to the minimum wage. Dlouhý, chairman of the Czech A key issue here will be how big that vacuum is and what rest with the cabinet. Since its The PM, meanwhile, asserts Chamber of Commerce. alternative laws are best suited to fill it. members are far from singing that it must pay to work. On the The government’s goal, spel- from the same hymn sheet, other hand, the employers insist led out in its program, is to lift If the UK wishes to maintain full access to the EU single getting there could well prove that they must keep costs un- the minimum wage to a level market, it will need to accept that it cannot modify certain a bumpy ride. der control. Hiking wages could equal to 40 percent of the coun- national laws, at least not in substantive terms. The closest Marksová is standing firmly make some industries uncom- try’s average salary. analogies are to the bilateral (e.g. Swiss) or multilateral (e.g. European Economic Area – EEA) arrangements. the UK will also have to separately negotiate new trading deals with the 53 markets with which the EU has standing Free Trade Agreements.