Havel highlighted the fate of two small villages, Horni Jiretin and Cernice, threatened with destruction if existing limits set in 1991 are relaxed.

The Social Democrat (CSSD) head of the Czech coalition government, Paroubek has spoken in favour of relaxing the existing limits to save miners' jobs. A government decision is likely within a few weeks.

"The question is whether in today's conditions the one-sided and unlimited effects of mining brown coal are more important than the hundreds of year old roots of Horni Jiretin and Cernice," Havel said.

How can the Czech Republic portray itself as a cultured country if it transforms a heritage dating back hundreds of years into energy for a few years "which, what is more, is exported across the border," he questioned.

Dominant Czech power company, CEZ, is the biggest exporter of electricity in Europe, after France's Electricite de France.

"We should assume that cultural heritage has a greater value than momentary profits," Havel added.

The ex president of the former Czechoslovakia (1989-1993) and the Czech Republic 1993-2003), also attacked the culture of "growth" in consumption which seemed to motivate all governments regardless of whether they are right or left.

"Energy saving is regarded as a blasphemy because production and not conservation is valued and given priority," Havel added.

In conclusion, Havel called for Paroubek to weigh the decision about the coal limits carefully and "give priority to long lasting values rather than momentary advantages."

Havel's latest intervention, increasingly rare in Czech domestic politics, on the side of environmentalists is not a total surprise. As a dissident, he bitterly attacked the environmental damage caused by the communist regime and the fact that the then leaders did not have to answer to public opinion.

Paroubek has recently distanced himself from his warning in November that 4,000 mining jobs could be at risk if mining limits are not relaxed. Even if the limits go, it will be up to regional and local authorities to decide what mining operations can take place, his spokeswoman Lucie Organikova told the Czech press.

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