The Czech Republic will tighten passport checks on refugees and only grant aid to those fleeing war that have crossed the Ukraine border, the interior ministry announced following an influx of Roma people with dual Hungarian-Ukrainian citizenship. Czech authorities are currently providing financial aid worth €200 to all Ukrainian refugees coming to the country, but from Monday (16 May) will require applicants seeking temporary protection to show a stamp on their passports proving they crossed the Ukrainian border. The interior ministry decided to introduce the measure after claiming groups of Roma people with dual Hungarian-Ukrainian citizenship were entering the country from Hungary rather than Ukraine to obtain aid. “Now we have a specific group – and I will say this quite frankly – of Roma refugees coming here. There is a big problem as some of them are coming from Hungary and not from Ukraine,” Interior Minister Vít Rakušan told the daily Blesk.cz. Rakušan will discuss the issue with his Hungarian and Ukrainian counterparts to solve the problem as soon as possible, the interior ministry also said. However, among Roma people with Hungarian-Ukrainian citizenship coming to the Czech Republic are those who lived in Ukraine and fled the war. Those people...
If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to our new morning fix. The Czech Interior Ministry plans tightening checks of the passports of refugees coming from Ukraine and debates a change of the financial aid to refugees to support in kind in reaction to problems connected with the migration of the Roma from Ukraine. The current financial support is 5,000 crowns per refugee. . The refugee wave from Ukraine can bring benefits to the Czech Republic around 2025, Interior Minister Vit Rakusan (Mayors and Independents, STAN) told deputies today, referring to the basic balance sheet, included in the government strategy to tackle migrant crisis. Several events focusing on Eastern Partnership will be held during the Czech EU presidency in the second half of this year, said Czech lower house of parliament chairwoman Marketa Pekarova Adamova (TOP 09). The UN General Assembly elected the Czech Republic to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) as the replacement for Russia, which previously saw its membership suspended over its invasion of Ukraine and later left the 47-member Council. Czech Railways (ČD) is set to substantially increase its prices...
If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to our new morning fix. The number of Russian and Belarusian holders of the Czech humanitarian visas has significantly increased since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and mainly human rights advocates, independent journalists and activists receive the visas, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said today. . Prague will strip Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev of its honorary citizenship due to some of his problematic acts, such as the bombing of Mlada Boleslav, central Bohemia, after WW2 and the suppression of the 1956 protests in Hungary, the Prague Council approved today. The Prague City Assembly is yet to debate the proposal and make the final decision. There were 59 new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the Czech Republic reported last week, and only 126 cases on Sunday, the least since August 2021. Weekends are always lower in numbers as the number of tests is also lower. The Czech Republic’s foreign trade balance saw a deficit of CZK 13.8 billion in March, a drop by CZK 30.5 billion crowns year-on-year, according to data published by the Czech Statistics...
ICE Industrial Services, a Czech company, has started to build 3D printers for concrete barriers and is going to send both barriers and printers to the Ukrainian Army. As Novinky.cz reported on Monday, the barriers are resistant to small arms, grenades, and anti-tank missiles. This was confirmed by tests at the NATO ballistic centre. The printing of one barrier takes 20 minutes. About 24 hours are necessary to harden the concrete. The company plans to transfer about 20-30 of its 3D printers to Ukraine so that the army can print trench fortifications, barricades, or booths for checkpoints. If necessary, finished blocks can be used as parts of the constructor for more complex designs. Specifically, by filling the gaps between walls with a combination of sand and tunable sandwich structures, the firm has found it possible to provide them with different degrees of reinforcement. While these structures are still undergoing ballistic testing, and Vránek admits they wouldn’t survive heavy artillery fire, he maintains that they’ve shown promise, particularly in resisting machine gunfire. “We are negotiating with representatives of the Ukrainian government about the delivery of the first printer in order to teach local specialists how to handle it. We have already...
Summer weather can be expected around the Czech Republic especially in the middle of the week. Temperatures in some cities will reach up to 29 degrees Celsius. Monday will be partly cloudy. Maximum temperatures will range between 19 and 23 degrees Celsius, at altitudes above 1,000 metres around 14 degrees Celsius. It will be clear and partly cloudy at night on Tuesday, with the lowest temperatures dropping to 9-5 degrees Celsius. Tuesday will be mostly clear. Maximum daytime temperatures will go up to 25 degrees Celsius. It will also be partly cloudy on Wednesday. The lowest night temperatures will be between 13 and 9 °C. During the day the temperature can rise up to 28 degrees Celsius. Thursday will be partly cloudy. Night temperatures will be above ten degrees Celsius. The highest daytime temperatures will reach 22 to 27 degrees Celsius, while in the southeast of the country it may reach 29 degrees Celsius. On Friday the ČHMÚ forecasts cloudy skies. The lowest night temperatures will be between 16 and 12 degrees Celsius, in the west and northwest it will be cooler. During the day temperatures will reach 19 to 23 degrees Celsius, in the southeast it may be 25...
As of 1 May, the Czech City of Plzeň has banned the consumption of alcoholic beverages in several public spaces. The goal of the new decree is to increase the safety of citizens and protect young people. In addition to this, the ban further aims to reduce vandalism as individuals who commit offences against property typically do so whilst under the influence of alcohol. Beyond this, the ban should also contribute to the creation of a cleaner city as people will no longer litter or throw away empty bottles in Plzeň’s parks and streets. In other words, the decree will improve the overall quality of life in several areas in the municipality. On its municipal website, the City lists four key areas where people can no longer consume alcohol. The affected localities are parts of the city centre, the Czech Brothers Square, the area around the Luna na Bory Shopping Centre, and the U Ježíška area along the banks of the Radbuza River to the Malostranská Bridge. To protect children and young people, the decree also prohibits people from consuming alcohol within a 50-metre radius from schools and school facilities as well as public transport platforms. Commenting on the ban, Mayor of Pilsen Pavel Šindelář shared: “I believe that with the help of this...
If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to our new morning fix. Satisfaction with the performance of Czech President Miloš Zeman stands at 20 percent, suggests a poll conducted by Kantar CZ for Czech Television that was published on Sunday. This is the lowest figure since the polling agency began tracking such data. . The 26th Prague Marathon was won on Sunday by Nobert Kigen of Kenya in the men’s category with a time of 2:07:54 and in the women’s category by Ethiopia’s Bekelech Borecha in a time of 2:22:56. As of 1 May, Pilsen has banned the consumption of alcoholic beverages in several public spaces. The goal of the new decree is to increase the safety of citizens, and reduce vandalism as individuals who commit offences against property typically do so whilst under the influence of alcohol. Almost 90% of Czechs support humanitarian help for Ukraine to defend against Russia and help refugees fleeing the conflict, according to an April survey conducted by the agency Focus. However, at the same time, 60% of respondents said that they see the level of support for Ukraine as...
A Czech MMA fighter is being investigated by local law enforcement for praising Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while also yearning for the war to reach his homeland. Filip Grznár, 37, made his controversial statements in a video uploaded to Facebook. He celebrated the ongoing war in Ukraine before launching into an explanation of why war represents the purest form of “freedom.” “There is no right in a war. In a war, you can commit angry crime, which I like, it’s a dream,” Grznár said. “And only the strongest will survive. I just want there to be a war in the Czech Republic. I want a war. It’s the only freedom, because you know you can grab at any time and kill anyone at the same time. And that’s just good. I want a war in the Czech Republic and I will do everything for it.” Grznár’s comments quickly drew the attention of Czech police, who charged him with inciting crime. “ He is accused of an offense of incitement to a crime, for which he faces a maximum of two years if he is found guilty,” a source close to the investigation informed Práva. The MMA fighter and former bodybuilder later...
The Czech Republic is ready to raise its stake in a key pipeline and invest to increase its capacity and bring an end to the country’s partial dependence on Russian oil, Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Sikela said on Friday. The TAL pipeline carries oil from the Italian port of Trieste to Austria and Germany, from which another pipeline links it to the Czech Republic. Czech refineries, owned by PKN Orlen now take about half their crude oil through TAL, and the rest through the Druzhba pipeline from Russia. The Czech government holds a stake of 5% in TAL, which is also owned by major European and other oil companies. “We are ready to invest more than our proportionate part,” Sikela said in a briefing shown online. “We are also prepared to raise our stake, because one of the things we are seeking is to get almost all the extra capacity.” Negotiations were being held “non-stop”, he added. Partial dependence on Russian oil has prompted the Czech government to seek a temporary exemption from a European Union ban on such imports that is being discussed as part of sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. The European Commission proposed...
In May 1945, western Czechoslovakia was liberated by US forces under General Patton in World War II. Amid a week of commemoration in Pilsen, a new monument to the US forces now stands in nearby Konstantinovy Lazne. The town of Konstantinovy Lazne is a sleepy spa town in western Czech Republic. From appearances alone, the town doesn’t particularly stand out, but historically, Konstantinovy Lazne played a significant role in the liberation of Czechoslovakia in World War II. Seventy-seven years ago, American General George S. Patton’s Third Army rolled into Konstantinovy Lazne and set up command posts for several divisions. While many American troops were eager to head east and liberate the capital city of Prague, they were told to stay put in Konstantinovy Lazne. President Harry Truman and General Dwight Eisenhower were both keen to avoid conflict with Stalin, who saw eastern Europe as the spoils of war after sacrificing millions of Soviet lives to defeat the Nazis. General George Patton was ordered to halt his advance west of Prague. In the end, most of Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Red Army, sealing its fate as a Soviet satellite state. Being told to stay out of Prague was a source...
Czech President Miloš Zeman has called Romani refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine “economic migrants”, local advocacy group Romea reported. Talking on CNN Prima News, Zeman praised “the support of the Czech nation” towards the more than 300,000 Ukrainian refugees who came to the Czech Republic since the start of Russia’s invasion. Zeman also mentioned that Muslim refugees have been healthy young men, while those fleeing Ukraine are children and women. “The third difference is that, after all, the Ukrainians fall into our cultural circle, not just linguistically, but also because of their Christian roots and the like, while Muslim refugees live in a very different, Islamic culture,” he added. The Czech President said he expects that the war will end and many Ukrainians will return to their homeland. “Because they are not economic migrants, because they are really refugees from war who, under normal conditions, want to live in Ukraine,” the Czech President explained his prediction. “I would make one little exception here in terms of Romani Ukrainians, I am not sure whether they aren’t more economic migrants. However, they are a very minor exception, about two thousand people,” Zeman said on Terezie Tománková’s program on CNN Prima News. According to the...
If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to our new morning fix. Health Minister Vlastimil Valek will propose next week that the duty to wear respirators in health and social care facilities in Czechia be lifted at the latest on May 11 by a government resolution if the lower house does not pass the end of pandemic alert, he told reporters today. . Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blazek is to leave for the Hague within two weeks to debate details of joint steps in the prosecution of war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine, he told reporters before the government meeting today. Blazek has arranged talks at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague in this respect. The operating profit of Škoda Auto fell by roughly a quarter to EUR 337 million in the first quarter of 2022, the car brand’s owner Volkswagen Group announced on Wednesday in its interim report. Škoda delivered 186,170 automobiles to customers during the first quarter of this year, around 25 percent less than in 2021. Almost 90% of Czechs support humanitarian help for Ukraine to defend against...
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