Brno - A highway project that would link the south Moravian metropolis Brno with Vienna was supposed to be officially ratified by the transport ministries of both countries today.

However, the project will be postponed with no definite date. The spokesman of the Czech Transport Ministry Karel Hanzelka confirmed this to Aktuálně.cz, adding that he does not know any details at the moment. 

The information about the agreement was provided by the Austrian APA news agency.

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No authorization

Moravian and Austrian highway systems were to be connected in Mikulov, a city in south Moravia, 40 km from Brno.

A source familiar with the issue informed Aktuálně.cz that the reason why the agreement was postponed was that the Czech Foreign Ministry did not authorize Transport Minister Řebíček to sign the agreement.

What is lacking is a ratification document approved by the Czech government, the Transport Ministry, the South Moravian Region authorities and Brno municipality.

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Trans-European network

The future of the controversial project that would cost Czech taxpayers CZK 10 billion (EUR 400 million) and that was supposed to be the first highway ever to connect the Czech Republic and Austria is still unknown.

Environmentalists and local municipality authorities protested against the current planned project that is expected to be completed by 2014, and their appeal is being considered by the Constitutional Court.

Regional authorities expect the highway route to be integrated into the planned Trans-European combined transport network.

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