Prague Morning, Author at Prague Morning

The June record for the highest single-day temperature was broken at ten stations measuring back at least 30 years on Sunday in Prague.

The June record was broken at ten monitoring stations active for at least 30 years, with 60 stations rewriting the record for June 19.

The oldest station in the country, the Prague Klementinum, where the thermometer showed 36.9 degrees, also set a new high for that day. The previous record from 2013 was more than two degrees lower, at 34.4 degrees Celsius.

Klementinum in the center of Prague has been monitoring the weather continuously since 1775.

Everywhere in Czechia had an extremely hot weekend. On Saturday, for the first time this year, temperatures in several places exceeded the
limit of a supertropic day, i.e. 35 degrees.

The temperature barely dropped overnight: in some places temperatures didn’t get below 20 degrees Celsius.

Already in the morning, meteorologists estimated that today’s highs could jeopardize the current monthly record for June, which was 38.9 degrees Celsius. It was measured on June 26, 2019, in Doksany.

Today, temperatures in most areas rose to 33 to 38 degrees Celsius, in eastern Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia to 28 to 33 degrees.

Meteorologists have issued a warning of extreme temperatures for part of the Ústí Region and Central Bohemia, including Prague.

Across the country, there is a high risk of forest fires, which should partially reduce Monday’s rains and storms. In the east of the republic, storms may be more intense and may be accompanied by hail, strong gusts of wind and torrential rain.

The site has been in operation since mid-March and aims to provide the German contingent in the Czech Republic with a reliable source of local news.

A new German-language news service called Tschechien.News is gaining popularity in the Czech Republic, focussing on business and politics targeted at German-speaking expats.

The site has been in operation since mid-March and aims to grow to provide the German contingent in Prague and the rest of the country with a reliable source of local news.

In a statement to Prague Morning, a spokesman for Tschechien.News said the service aims to fill a “gap in the market and come with a new fresh approach to deliver important and informative news to our readers”.

The site began several years ago as a simple Facebook page, posting news articles from several servers writing about Prague and the Czech Republic. By the end of last year, the decision was made to launch a website and three months later an initial version was up and running.

“Our readers are of course German-speaking expats, but also Czech locals interested in the German language,” he said. “Since mid-March, we’ve seen a growing readership coming from Germany and Austria.”

“With a good mix of politics, business, and lifestyle, we bring news relevant for people living in the country, but of course, a lot of this information is also interesting for people visiting the Czech Republic.”

He added that as the site is still new, there are plans for “continuous improvements of the service.”

“Basically, we truly bring the news to you,” he said. Tschechien.News can be found at their website as well on social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Czech Education Minister Petr Gazdík announced his resignation on Sunday following revelations that he attended several meetings with organized crime boss Michal Redl.

Along with Gazdík, who also served as a deputy chair of the Mayors and Independents (STAN) party, Czech MEP Stanislav Polčák (EPP) was also in touch with Redl. His political future is now also in question and will be addressed by the Prague organisation of STAN this week.

On Wednesday (15 June), Deputy Mayor of Prague Petr Hlubuček (STAN) and ten other people were charged with bribery and organised crime linked to the Prague Transport Company.

The scandal is particularly painful for STAN as the centre-right party performed well in last year’s general elections and became the third strongest political party in the Czech parliament.

The State Prosecutor’s Office has begun investigating a leak of documents from the corruption investigation, Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blažek confirmed the news on Twitter on Sunday, saying he would inform the government about the circumstances of the case on Wednesday.

On 1 July, the Czech Republic is taking over the Council of the EU Presidency.

“My contacts with some people cast a shadow over the STAN movement. I do not want to shake the government or the coalition on the verge of the EU Presidency,” Gazdík said in his resignation.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala welcomed Gazdík’s resignation. He sees Gazdík’s decision as a signal of the change in Czech political culture that his governing coalition wants to promote after the rule of former prime minister and billionaire Andrej Babiš, who is facing charges related to EU subsidy fraud.

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The Czech National Bank’s board is likely to raise interest rates by up to 1.25 percentage points on Wednesday, the Czech News Agency reported citing leading economic experts. This would bring the base rate to seven percent, the highest since 1999.

On Sunday, meteorologists measured the highest temperature in the Czech Republic in June, with 39 degrees Celsius in Řež (10km from Prague). The current record from 2019, which was recorded in Ústí nad Labem region, was one-tenth lower.

The Czech Republic has the highest rate of cannabis users among young people aged 15 to 34; 23% of young Czechs have used it in the last year. This is according to this year’s report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).

According to preliminary figures from the Czech Statistical Office (CZSO), the population of the Czech Republic grew by 3,200 to 10.52 million in the first quarter of the year. This increase was only due to the effect of foreign immigration (+10,800), as the natural population decreased by 7,600.

The Czech Republic should spend 2 percent of its GDP on defence in 2024, which demonstrates Czech meeting its 2-pecent spending goal a full year before it originally planned, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala stated.

“We are Czechs! We will never surrender, did you hear that? Never!”

Those were the last words of the paratroopers from the crypt in Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius Church in Resslova street in Prague.

On the 18th of June 1942, seven paratroopers lost their lives, among them were Warrant Officer Jozef Gabčík and Staff Sergeant Jan Kubiš, who were sent to eliminate the SS Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei Reinhard Heydrich, one of the highest-ranking nazi officers.

In October 1941 after three years of occupation, the exiled Czechoslovak government in England decided that a show of strength was required.

Operation Anthropoid was a World War 2 military operation with a specific assignment for two young allied paratroopers – Jan Kubiš and Josef Gabčík – namely the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich.

The Nazis wanted immediate payback and two villages were proven to have supported the attack on Heydrich or to have actively supported the resistance.

On June 10th the people of Lidice were rounded up, any male over 15 was shot, almost everybody else sent to death camps (young babies were adopted) and the village was destroyed. On June 24th a similar fate awaited Ležáky.

In fact, Ležáky was never rebuilt and exists today only as a memorial. Following the attack on Heydrich the Nazis enacted something called “Collective Punishment”, simply put it meant that combatants friends, relatives and neighbours of anybody connected with the resistance were arrested and in many cases killed.

262 of the friends and relatives of the paratroopers were arrested as a result of the betrayal and were executed at Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. Several plaques in Prague show the date of death as October 24th, 1942.

After the attack, Kubiš and Gabčík, together with five other parachutists, had taken refuge in the crypt of the Church of St. Cyrillus and Methodius in Prague.

Despite a massive Nazi manhunt, their sanctuary remained a secret for a long time.

On June 16th a man called Karel Čurda, a British-trained paratrooper on a separate mission, entered Gestapo headquarters and said he knew who killed Heydrich.

He named Gabčík and Kubiš plus a number of locations where they may be found.

On June 18, when the Germans entered the church, five of the paratroopers were already dead and two died on the way to the hospital.

In addition to the many others who provided aid to the paratroopers, officials from the Orthodox Church and St Cyril and Methodius Church who had helped hide the paratroopers were executed.

Hilton Prague and Hilton Prague Old Town are hosting a benefit concert and auction on Monday, the 20th of June, with proceeds supporting a summer integration camp for Ukrainian refugee children.

The event will take place at 6:30 pm in Hilton Prague’s elegant ballroom.

Seats among the 50 guests hosted by Hilton are on a first come first serve basis. Those interested should RSVP by 10 am on Monday to attend the concert and auction. Te RSVP email is [email protected].

The concert – which will star musicians from the Czech National Theatre and the International Women’s Chamber Choir Viva Voce – will be followed by a dinner and silent auction. Prizes include nights in Hilton Hotels across Europe including Rome and Paris as well as a signed copy of Czech model Tereza Maxova’s autobiography.

Musical highlights include soprano Markéta Klaudová who will perform Terinka’s Aria in Autumn’s Hazel Shrubs from the opera Jacobin. The concert will also feature Sláva Korsak, a Ukrainian song which translates as “So Sweet, So Sour” in English as well as several Ukrainian folksongs sung by the International Ladies Chamber Choir.

The Tereza Maxova Foundation is also providing other items for auction including framed stamps celebrating the organisation’s 25th anniversary.

Hilton Hotel stays up for grabs include rooms in Milan, Barcelona and Amsterdam.

The integration camp set to take place in August is organized by the House of Children and Youth Prague and will support 15 Ukrainian refugee children.

It will be followed by a dinner and silent auction. Prizes include nights in Hilton Hotels across Europe as well as a signed copy of Czech model Tereza Maxova’s autobiography.

The Tereza Maxova Foundation is also providing other items for auction including framed stamps celebrating the organisation’s 25th anniversary.

Hilton Hotel stays up for grabs include rooms in Milan, Barcelona and Amsterdam.

The integration camp set to take place in August is organised by the House of Children and Youth Prague and will support 15 Ukrainian refugee children.

The Prague City Hall will build the first city-supported cooperative housing project, in which two blocks of houses with up to 266 flats should be built near Radlická Street in Prague 5.

Today, Prague representatives OK’d the construction, development and funding of a cooperative housing project. The aim of the project is to improve the availability of affordable housing.

Prague has long struggled with a shortage of flats as prices rise even higher. Now, it is looking to co-ops to help keep costs low. In the future, the city also wants to launch other similar projects.

“This is the first ready-made pilot project of affordable housing. Together with the Prague Development Company (PDS), we have selected land and the most prepared one is in Radlická. We have a step ahead of competing for a partner who will set up a team with us. The aim is to ensure affordable housing because the situation is alarming. It is not a single project, but the first one,” said Councilor Hana Kordová Marvanová.

Marvanová also said that Prague is the last in terms of housing availability in Europe and that 17 gross monthly wages are needed to buy an apartment. According to her, Prague cannot replace the work of the state, but it can contribute in the mentioned way by providing land for the city and then also obtaining flats in houses for the necessary but often underpaid professions, such as teachers and nurses.

The house in Radlická will have a gross floor area of 20,000 square meters and will consist of at least two blocks with separate entrances. Inside, there will be 221 to 266 apartments and their average area should range from 54 to 65 square meters. Civic amenities are also taken into account. He estimates the costs at CZK 950 million. Given the deposit of 25 percent of the price of apartments, the city initially put tens of millions into the cooperative.

The residents will have to pay a quarter of the price of the apartment immediately and will repay the rest as a share of the loan that the cooperative will take out with the bank for the construction.

Applicants for membership will have to have a permanent residence in Prague and will not be able to own other housing. In addition to repaying the loan, the cooperative will also send money to the municipal fund for the development of affordable housing, thus repaying a kind of advance payment for the future purchase of land.

The plan for the support of affordable cooperative housing was approved by the Prague City Council in December 2020. The entire project is intended to support people who do not reach for supported urban rental housing but are also unable to obtain or pay a mortgage.

At the same time, a third of the flats will go to the city, which will use them for rental housing.

Deputy Mayor Petr Hlaváček said that unfortunately, cooperative housing projects cannot become massive construction. The reason is that the city owns very little land. According to him, this has a number of reasons, including, for example, the sale of land by the city in recent decades or poor cooperation with the state, when state companies such as Czech Railways and the like sold land to private investors, not the city. Going forward, we can only hope that private developers also see the value in such living arrangements.

Powerful storms in Olešnice in the Blansko region have left the town looking like winter. The streets were covered with hail, making many of the streets unnavigable.

Firefighters worked until late at night dealing with the aftermath of the storm, which according to meteorologists was possibly a dangerous supercell. Other regions are also dealing with the aftermath of the storm.

This is not the first time that a freak storm has wrought havoc in Olešnice. Twenty years ago, another severe storm brought heavy rainfall and flash floods, leaving two dead.

Mayor Zdeněk Peša says the storm was very similar to the other, fatal one twenty years ago. “I have to say, it looked very dramatic, similar to twenty years ago. It started to rain, hail was falling, and it was getting dark. At that time it lasted about 40 minutes, today it could have been five to seven minutes.”

Damage has been extensive. “Road drains quickly became clogged, so all the streets became streams. In some places, the water probably got into the houses,” the mayor added.

Clean-up will take time, and many residents are now salvaging their possessions, clearing out roads, and taking stock of the aftermath of the storm.

The availability of drugs in European Union countries remains high, and in some cases is higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to this year’s report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).

In the Czech Republic, 23 percent of people between 15 and 34 have tried marihuana at least once. Compared to the other 24 states in the European Union, the Czech Republic ranks first and is on par with the United States.

The EMCDDA estimates that around 30% of EU citizens aged 15 to 64 have tried at least one banned substance in their lifetime. The most commonly used substance is cannabis, which 79 million people have tried at least once in their lifetime. In the past year, 22 million people (7% of the EU population) have used cannabis at least once. Among young people aged 15 to 34, the figure was 15.5%.

Hallucinogenic mushrooms are also very popular among young people in the Czech Republic. Around 5% of people aged 15 to 34 have used them at least once in the past year.

The EU average is below 1%. The Czech Republic also has the highest rate of at-risk methamphetamine (crystal meth) users – 4.84 per 1,000 inhabitants.

Could the Czech Republic be Europe’s Most Progressive Medical Cannabis Market?

Medical cannabis sales in the Czech Republic increased year-on-year by 63% in 2021. And the space is expected to show potential for further growth in the next 12 months on the back of a recent law change that could see prices driven down for medical cannabis as the country’s legal market opens up to growers.

Official figures reveal that a total of 109.4kg of medical cannabis was released to Czech patients last year compared to 66.9kg in 2020, as the country now adopts one of the most broadminded attitudes in Europe towards cannabis legalisation. On average, 9.1kg of medical cannabis was distributed every month in Czechia last year, compared to an average of just 5.6kg in the same time frame in 2020.

The State Agency for Medical Cannabis (SAKL) statistics also reveal that the last three months of 2021 saw the most prescriptions issued, with 5,500 dispensed between October and the end of December. The total for the year was 19,441 – a 37% rise on 2020 – with November the busiest month with 1,976 prescriptions handed out by doctors.

Overall, more than 1,000 prescriptions were issued every month – the first time this has happened since medical cannabis was legalised in Czech Republic in 2013.

Patients & Prescriptions

The overwhelming majority of medical cannabis prescribed to patients – 80% – was to help alleviate chronic pain, followed by multiple sclerosis at 12%. Parkinson’s disease was also in the top three.

Curiously, according to official data from 2020, 61.8% of Czechia’s medical cannabis patients are female, with just 38.2% men. This demographic data is different to most other countries in Europe, with most having a majority-male patient population for medical cannabis. The same report noted that 43.3% of all patients are aged 56-75, followed by 19.84% in the 45-55 age group, and 17.3% between 76-85.

The steady increase in the issuing of prescriptions, and both patient and doctor numbers since 2019, can be attributed to the fact that since the beginning of 2020, 90% of the price of medical cannabis has been covered by health insurance up to a limit of 30g per month.

The Czech government has also set a price cap of €6.41 per gram, making the nation one of the most affordable markets in Europe for medical cannabis.

The upcoming weekend will be sunny in the Czech Republic, and meteorologists expect tropical temperatures.

According to the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, on Friday, there is a low chance of showers in the east and temperatures will be slightly lower.

Day temperatures range between 23 and 27 degrees Celsius.

It will be clear on Saturday, and temperatures will be around the tropical thirties. It should be warmest in the northwestern half of Bohemia, where thermometers may show up to 33 degrees Celsius.

Sunday may be the hottest day of the year, with meteorologists expecting up to 36 degrees Celsius.

In the evening, occasional showers or thunderstorms will occur in the northwest, which, according to the CHMI, can be severe.

Sunbathers have been warned against ‘overdoing it’ while enjoying the warm weather, with very high UV levels expected.

The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute have issued a heat alert warning people about the dangers of heat – with those looking to swim in open water or use public transport warned to be wary.

Doctors have warned the elderly, people with chronic illnesses and children to stay out of the sun, increase their intake of fluids and avoid exertion.

A spokesman of the Institute added: ‘The June record is firmly under threat. It’s around a 50/50 call as to whether history record books are rewritten.’

According to meteorologists, the heatwave should break on Monday bringing some degree of relief.

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Fuel prices in the Czech Republic are at an all-time high, with a litre of the most popular Natural 95 petrol currently selling for an average of CZK 47.69 per litre, according to data from the company CCS.

Car production in the Czech Republic increased by 12.8 percent year-on-year in May to 120,186 vehicles, according to data released by the Automotive Industry Association on Thursday.

The Czech Republic has the highest rate of cannabis users among young people aged 15 to 34; 23% of young Czechs have used it in the last year. This is according to this year’s report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).

According to preliminary figures from the Czech Statistical Office (CZSO), the population of the Czech Republic grew by 3,200 to 10.52 million in the first quarter of the year. This increase was only due to the effect of foreign immigration (+10,800), as the natural population decreased by 7,600.

Year-on-year, they rose by 16.0%, up 1.8ppt from April. In the housing division, prices of natural gas rose mainly by 49.2% (44.2% in April) and solid fuels by 30.1% (24.1%). In the catering and accommodation division, prices of food services and accommodation services increased by 22.8% (19.5%) and 18.1% (14.4%), respectively.

At midnight, the Prague Assistance Center, one of the largest organizations in the country dedicated to helping refugees, will close.

Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates) claimed that the capital is no longer able to accept more refugees. He has said that at Friday’s meeting with Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) he will demand that the refugees be distributed to other regions based on their population. Fiala called the closure of the center “unreasonable”.

One of the primary objectives of Friday’s meeting is to discuss who bears the financial and political responsibility of taking in and providing for refugees.

“Not only in Prague but in other regional capitals too, there are also increasing rents. This is pushing up the cost of living in the context of the energy crisis and inflation, so I wonder who will solve it? ” Hřib declared.

The Prague Assistance Center has helped almost 100,000 refugees since the beginning of its operation. Recently, that has meant that over 500 people a day will check in to the center. For example, on Tuesday, 622 people were checked in in Prague. The accommodation was provided for 60 and 41 were transferred to other KACPUs for clearance.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, almost 8 million people have left the country, with almost as many displaced internally. Almost 400,000 have been granted temporary protection visas in Czechia, allowing them to stay for up to a year.

Dozens of people, including a group of siblings from Transcarpathian Ukraine, were waiting in front of the assistance center on Wednesday afternoon. They hoped that Prague would be their final destination. “We have a sister here who has lived here for a long time, so here we are. All people are very good here, they will show you where to go, what to do.”

According to the authorities, while the center has been temporarily closed, much of its infrastructure remains in place. There is little to stop a speedy reopening of the center if it is allowed. In the meantime, the center will be replaced by an information service starting on Thursday.

The center serves both Prague and the Central Bohemian Region. According to President Petra Pecková (STAN), the regional government will step in to manage the situation.

“The mayor has been warning for a long time that Prague has not been able to do this. He is the mayor of Prague and is defending the interests of the capital,” she said.Both Prime Minister Fiala and Minister of the Interior Vít Rakušan (STAN) have sharply criticized the closure of the assistance center.

Fiala has previously stated that this is an election campaign. “The government is trying, and it is, to register in places other than Prague,” he said. According to Rakušan, the Department of Asylum and Migration Policy and the Aliens Police should intervene and help.

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