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This paper focuses on sustainable public procurement (SPP) and its role in public procurement of the members of the Visegrad Group (Hungarian, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic). Sustainable public procurement is a current trend in public purchasing around the world. The European Union's sustainable development policy, which respects the objectives of the 2030 Agenda, seeks to influence the public procurement policies of the members of the European Union. Every country, including the Visegard Group countries is trying to implement sustainable development criteria in its procurement process and to change legislation. The aim of this paper is to compare the implementation of public procurement in the Czech Republic with other members of the Visegrad Group (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary) and analyse how the public procurement (tenders) respects the criteria of sustainable public procurement in the case of the selected public procurements (tenders) in rail transport. We analyse the public procurement process and investigate the possibility/appropriateness of using social responsibility criteria in the individual phases of the procurement process (award criteria). The results show that there are different methods of implementing SPP in the V4 countries. There are significant differences between the regions. Based on the results of our research and analysis of the selected tenders, we concluded that the principle of social responsibility needs to be reflected in all steps, i.e. in the formulation of the subject of the public contract, the preparation of the contractual terms and the selection of evaluation criteria in their qualitative form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population health and food safety is one of the main priorities of the agro-industrial complex and the economic policies of governments. This is also reflected in the health safety of the meat in the event of infectious diseases. Food safety policy is linked to public spending by the state, which also takes responsibility for the health of the population. This paper deals with the analysis of the economic impacts of the Mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy - BSE) occurrence in Czech Republic, namely the financial compensations to the farmers whose herds had been affected and the costs of animal killing and carcass disposal in the rendering plant. The data were obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture of Czech Republic, the State Veterinary Administration and the Czech Statistical Office. Original scientific research reflects the period from the first occurrence of the disease to the end of 2019. Between February, 2001 and the end of 2019, a total of 1 977 881 cows were examined and 30 cases of the BSE were detected. Consequently, 4243 cows in cohorts were killed and their carcasses were safely disposed of. The total of the compensations in this period reached EUR 8 013 000. Of these, 80.6% (EUR 6 458 000) were compensations for the value of the killed animals, 12.7% (EUR 1 020 000) for the related costs, i.e., killing, safe disposal of carcasses and the examination for the BSE, and 6.7% (EUR 535 000) for the losses due to non-materialised production. The costs associated with the payment of compensations are therefore significantly lower than if the real effects of the disease on the health of the population were affected. The fact that in the last 10 years the disease has not occurred in the Czech Republic corresponds to the improving situation in EU countries, so the Czech Republic has been recognised as BSE negligible risk country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the issue of a new business entity's entry into the agricultural sector, dealing specifically with the viniculture industry. A new entering company has to confront itself with high capital costs and has to ensure appropriate access to all sources and distribution channels. Very significant barrier makes also government policy and legislation. The other barriers are variability of the labour market. It highlights current market trends towards increased labour demand, while unemployment remains low. Employees, those born in the 1980-90s (the Y Generation) in particular, have begun to require more employer activity in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The study is based on a survey of selected agricultural and vinicultural holdings in the Czech Republic, focusing on their engagement in CSR activities pursued within the HR scope. Despite the awareness of the CSR concept among respondents reaching 55%, survey outcomes suggest that the overall participation in most of the CSR activities is below 40%. Firms are not particularly concerned with the activities that the Y Generation tends to lay emphasis on, such as those associated with the work-life balance. Overall it is possible to state that existing barriers of entrance discourage potential now companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local service centres play a vital role in shaping the quality of life in urban neighbourhoods. They offer access to essential everyday services (shops, education, healthcare, personal services) and to public spaces. If they are properly planned and managed, they can bring particular added values to a local community, such as social integration and territorial identification. The history of urban planning has produced several patterns of local service centres (ancient agora, mediaeval market square, neighbourhood unit, modern agora) but today a question arises: how can a local service centre be successfully planned and organised in post-modern political practice? How can its potential be realised and the ever-changing needs, expectations and preferences of local communities be met? Who should be involved in those processes? To answer those questions in this paper we refer to citizen participation and public communication concepts, where selecting the appropriate stakeholders emerges as a necessary starting point for effective urban governance. We present the results of in-depth interviews with local actors (local authorities, municipality officials, town planners, non-governmental organisations, local leaders) in Poland (Wrocław, Siechnice, Ostrów Wielkopolski, Warszawa and Zabierzów), Czech Republic (Prague) and Denmark (Copenhagen). Depending on the specific local context, various stakeholders are perceived as essential to the decision-making process. The power relations and problems encountered in implementing public policy in particular locations have been summarised in three sections: relationships between stakeholders, leadership, and good practices. The paper concludes with a list of typical actors who should be involved in planning, building and managing a local service centre in an urbanised neigh-bourhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Palliative care is insufficiently integrated in the continuum of care for older people. It is unclear to what extent healthcare policy for older people includes elements of palliative care and thus supports its integration. Aim: (1) To develop a reference framework for identifying palliative care contents in policy documents; (2) to determine inclusion of palliative care in public policy documents on healthcare for older people in 13 rapidly ageing countries. Design: Directed documentary analysis of public policy documents (legislation, policies/strategies, guidelines, white papers) on healthcare for older people. Using existing literature, we developed a reference framework and data extraction form assessing 10 criteria of palliative care inclusion. Country experts identified documents and extracted data. Setting: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, England, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain. Results: Of 139 identified documents, 50 met inclusion criteria. The most frequently addressed palliative care elements were coordination and continuity of care (12 countries), communication and care planning, care for family, and ethical and legal aspects (11 countries). Documents in 10 countries explicitly mentioned palliative care, nine addressed symptom management, eight mentioned end-of-life care, and five referred to existing palliative care strategies (out of nine that had them). Conclusions: Health care policies for older people need revising to include reference to end-of-life care and dying and ensure linkage to existing national or regional palliative care strategies. The strong policy focus on care coordination and continuity in policies for older people is an opportunity window for palliative care advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the current state of provision for homeless people in Prague. Design/methodology/approach – This is primarily a narrative account, though supported by and referenced with contemporary Czech social policy scholarship. It first traces the roots of the current situation through the history of the Czech legal framework for citizenship; the effects of communist-era ideology, when homelessness was simply hidden; and the post-communist (new-era) economic and political climate. The range of existing services is then described and analysed with respect to the difficulties in the demands posed for people in this situation. Findings – The paper outlines the current approach with outreach (“terrain”), engagement (“threshold”) and “accommodation” (support and rehab) services; and the challenges in transition from one to the next. Many systemic barriers remain for the re-integration of homeless people, stemming from attitudes within the community and amongst professionals, as much as a sheer lack of resources, or the psychological and emotional difficulties of the homeless themselves. Originality/value – There are few papers published internationally on homelessness in the new EU states. The similarity in the structure of services to what are sometimes called “staircase models” may therefore be instructive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of democracy depends on both politicians and citizens. While most attention has focused on politicians, this paper looks at citizens. There has been some scepticism about whether the postcommunist public is prepared to rule their countries. The legacies of communism and the rigours of the transition may have produced citizens whose opinions are unstable and ill-informed and therefore a poor basis for democratic policy making. This paper tests this proposition by considering the nature of public opinion in the Czech Republic. Its main conclusion is that postcommunist public opinion is more reasonable than conventional wisdom suggests. Opinions on most policies change slowly if at all and when they do change the changes are prompted more by gradual shifts in mores than by political manipulation. This suggests that citizens in the region are prepared to have a significant voice in policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent can a country’s effectiveness in reducing child poverty be attributed to the size of family cash transfers (that is, both benefits and tax advantages) or to their design? In this paper, we disentangle the importance of each of these two factors, focusing on the family support system in Lithuania and comparing it with four other new member states. Both single parent and large families are increasingly susceptible to poverty in Lithuania. This contrasts with other former communist countries, namely Estonia, Hungary, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, which protect these family types much better. This paper examines whether their family transfer systems would achieve similar results in Lithuania. We employ the EUROMOD microsimulation tax-benefit model to swap family policies across countries and test whether size or design has greater effects on child poverty reduction in Lithuania. Hungarian, Slovenian and Czech policies would considerably improve the poverty situation among large families. Single parent families would only gain if Lithuanian spending on family transfers increased radically. Estonian policies would lead to mixed results: small gains for large families and losses for single parent families. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This conceptual paper discusses key instruments for territorial cohesion in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) from a comparative historical analytical perspective amidst the neoliberalisation of EU Regional Policy, which has implications for the production and reinforcement of spatial inequalities in regional development. The neoliberalisation processes unfolding in the diff erent political-institutional contexts of CEE have implications for the movement, transformation and eff ectiveness of policies such as Regional Policy, complicating the holistic understanding of policy eff ects. Increasingly neoliberal regional policies across Europe, and in the diff erent path dependent political-institutional contexts of CEE in particular, raise questions about the eff ectiveness of Regional Policy to achieve territorial cohesion. Comparative historical analysis provides a method of inquiry into path dependent processes shaping institutions and aff ecting policy outcomes, and is therefore a useful approach for conceptualising regional political-institutional contexts and their implications for Regional Policy. Operational Programmes encompassed in national strategic documents from the Czech Republic, Estonia and Hungary over three programming periods are examined as the key instruments for the implementation of Regional Policy, the comparison of which reveals a diff erence in perspectives towards the common EU goals of competitiveness and growth as a means of achieving territorial cohesion. The research thus points to the need for deeper comparative understanding of the political-institutional contexts in the three countries in order to identify factors of eff ective policies and to tailor eff ective policy solutions to specific regional contexts, a task to be advanced in future studies of Regional Policy and political-institutional contexts of CEE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with small and medium enterprises in relation to the attitudes perceived by business owners in their immediate neighbourhood, society, in relation to banks and the government. The key question is the difference between entrepreneurs who started their businesses voluntarily and those who entered the business out of necessity. The majority of governmental policies, including Czech policies, focus more on the questions of financial support, however the support of entrepreneurs can be broader and may include the efforts to influence perception of an individual and the society so that they have a more positive attitude towards entrepreneurial activities. The attitudes in the Czech Republic are so far rather negative and such a change may be positively reflected in the level of the entrepreneurial activity which strongly affects economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extant research on social movements has highlighted activists' discursive tactics to challenge the state, yet little analytical attention focuses on elite efforts to dominate the discourse arena through the deployment of oppositional frames. This paper analyzes elite oppositional framing surrounding the placement of a highway bypass in the Czech Republic. Our research examines how democratic states deploy oppositional frames and enlist elite countermovement support for their efforts to obstruct challenges. Using a range of data sources, we delineate the mechanisms used by these elite actors to vilify and stigmatize environmental activists, paving the way for more violent forms of public harassment. The concept we initiate, discursive obstruction, adds the critical dimension of power relations to analyses of both framing processes and discursive opportunity structures. We conclude by discussing the implications of our results for social movement research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: The Czech Republic has one of the poorest tobacco control records in Europe. This paper examines transnational tobacco companies' (TTCs') efforts to influence policy there, paying particular attention to excise policies, as high taxes are one of the most effective means of reducing tobacco consumption, and tax structures are an important aspect of TTC competitiveness. Methods and Findings: TTC documents dating from 1989 to 2004/5 were retrieved from the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library website, analysed using a socio-historical approach, and triangulated with key informant interviews and secondary data. The documents demonstrate significant industry influence over tobacco control policy. Philip Morris (PM) ignored, overturned, and weakened various attempts to restrict tobacco advertising, promoting voluntary approaches as an alternative to binding legislation. PM and British American Tobacco (BAT) lobbied separately on tobacco tax structures, each seeking to implement the structure that benefitted its own brand portfolio over that of its competitors, and enjoying success in turn. On excise levels, the different companies took a far more collaborative approach, seeking to keep tobacco taxes low and specifically to prevent any large tax increases. Collective lobbying, using a variety of arguments, was successful in delaying the tax increases required via European Union accession. Contrary to industry arguments, data show that cigarettes became more affordable post-accession and that TTCs have taken advantage of low excise duties by raising prices. Interview data suggest that TTCs enjoy high-level political support and continue to actively attempt to influence policy. Conclusion: There is clear evidence of past and ongoing TTC influence over tobacco advertising and excise policy. We conclude that this helps explain the country's weak tobacco control record. The findings suggest there is significant scope for tobacco tax increases in the Czech Republic and that large (rather than small, incremental) increases are most effective in reducing smoking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on a case study of a long-term public controversy over the construction of a highway bypass (around Plzeň, Czech Republic). Two principal variants of the bypass were proposed. One of them began gradually to appear preferable, increasingly attractive for experts, but remaining only on paper. In the meantime, however, the other variant became more realistic, pushed through mainly by local politicians and actually constructed. This article shows how purification of science from politics (and vice versa) played a key role in the development and ending of the case. Initial expertization of the case switched to its sharp politicization, when people got frustrated from protraction and indecisive evidence of accumulated expertise. This turned to be fatal for those who consistently staked everything on "pure facts." This article concludes by outlining some general consequences of such a development for both democratic decision making and the political relevance of expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of the development of Czech innovation policy which started to get its shape in the first years of the 21st century. The article traces its origins to a number of interlinked factors - the introduction of European regional policy in the Czech Republic, the increased inflow of foreign direct investment into R&D-intensive sectors and also the devolution of power to Czech regions that were established in 2001 and gave a new, regional dimension to research and innovation policy. It pays particular attention to the process through which the regionally-based innovation policy advocated by the European Union (EU) has been translated and adapted in the context of a new EU member state. As an illustration of the efforts at the regional level to make a better use of the potential of R&D and innovation in the regional development, a case study of a regional innovation strategy of the City of Prague is analysed. The City of Prague was selected for a critical analysis of an innovation system and innovation policy due to the fact that it is a region with significant but until now not fully exploited innovation potential and, in addition, its first innovation strategy has been recently adopted. The innovation strategy is closely scrutinized and the process of its elaboration is critically examined within the European and especially national context. The authors demonstrate that there is a lot of conceptual ambiguity and confusion associated with the process of transferring the experiences of Western European regions to the Czech Republic. The authors believe that at least some of their observations and analysis of weaknesses of the process through which the regional innovation strategy (RIS) has been carried out will have relevance for other Czech regions and even for other regions in the new EU member states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human resource management is a crucial factor that determines the success of small and medium-sized enterprises in the market and its competitiveness. Small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic form a significant group of employers in the Czech Republic since they employ two thirds of employees out of the total number of the work force and represent over 99% of the overall number of active business entities. The main objective of the article is to evaluate the level of human resource management in small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic. Partial objectives of the article are to define a human resource management profile of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic and to test dependencies between selected qualitative features. The data (n = 499) was collected by means of a questionnaire technique. The results of the survey confirmed important human resource management internal factors (the size of the enterprise, the position of the HR manager in top management and the existence of the HR department) and helped to define the human resource management profile of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]