Czechia

Czech Republic Declares State of Emergency in Response to Refugee Crisis

The Czech government has declared a state of emergency as it awaits a massive influx of Ukrainian refugees.

 by Prague Morning Mar 03, 2022
Ukrainian workers czechia

Czech Construction Industry Faces Labor Shortage Due to Conflict in Ukraine

Men of working age are returning to Ukraine and women with children are heading to Czechia causing a labor shortage, complains the vice president of Czechia’s Confederation of Industry. Although most Ukrainian workers living in Czechia are not yet leaving to fight in Ukraine, the Czech construction industry lacks labor, with hundreds and perhaps thousands of them being unable to return to the Czech Republic due to closed borders. According to a number of construction companies contacted, a large percentage of Ukrainian workers return to their homeland every year at the beginning of January to celebrate Christmas, which takes place from Jan. 6 to 19. Many stay in Ukraine for a month or two, after which they return to work in the Czech Republic. However, due to the Russian invasion, a significant number have remained in their homeland. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a general mobilization on the night of Feb. 25; the country has closed its borders and men between the ages of 18 and 60 are currently explicitly forbidden from fleeing the country. “The bigger problem than the outflow of Ukrainian workers itself is that many of them were supposed to return here, but they are not,” said Ondřej Wachal, CEO...

 by Prague Morning Mar 03, 2022

Expressing Support for Russia or Putin Could be Prosecuted in the Czech Republic

Public support for Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine could constitute a criminal offense in the Czech Republic, the country’s Prosecutor General’s Office has confirmed. Igor Stříž, the current prosecutor general of Czechia, published a statement on February 26, in which he warned Putin sympathizers that support of the Russian attack or expressed support or praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin and others, could see them face criminal liability, according to Verenjnazaloba.cz. Striz’s statement cited sections 365 and 405 of the Czech Criminal Code, which state that whoever publicly approves a crime or publicly praises the perpetrator can be imprisoned for up to a year, and that anyone who “publicly denies, questions, approves or seeks to justify Nazi, communist, or other genocide” can face a jail sentence of up to three years. This means that “under certain conditions”, anyone publicly supporting or praising the leaders of the Russian Federation regarding the country’s attack on Ukraine could face criminal charges, including at demonstrations or even online, Striz said. “Freedom of speech is enshrined in the constitutional law level in Article 17 of the Charter fundamental rights and freedoms,” Stříž told Czech residents, insisting that “everyone has the right to express their views in a way...

 by Prague Morning Mar 03, 2022

Top Czech News Headlines: Thursday, March 3, 2022

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.    In order to make the ongoing support for people fleeing from war-stricken Ukraine more effective, it may be necessary for the state to declare a state of emergency in the Czech Republic; Interior Minister Vít Rakušan tweeted on Wednesday.   Around 300 people have requested an exemption from the Czech law preventing citizens from serving in foreign armies in order to join the fighting currently going on in Ukraine.   The Financial Administration has stopped transferring money to the accounts of Sberbank, whose banking license has been revoked by the Czech National Bank. This concerns, for example, the payment of tax overpayments or compensation bonuses. For this reason, people should provide the Administration with a new bank connection.   Air traffic at Prague Airport will, once again, be redirected to the secondary 12/30 runway for three months. From 28 March to 1 July, scheduled maintenance and postponed repairs will be performed on the main 06/24 runway and connected areas. The airport webcam will also be moved to the side runway.   A group of public...

 by Prague Morning Mar 02, 2022

Two Czech Breweries Stop All Exports to Russia

The two largest breweries in the Czech Republic, Budějovický Budvar and Plzeňský Prazdroj, have stopped accepting applications to supply their products to Russia. “In the current crisis and extremely uncertain situation, we have suspended all production and supplies intended for the Russian market. We consider commercial issues as secondary. First of all, we need to think about providing accommodation to Ukrainian refugees,” said the representative of the state company Budějovický Budvar Barbora Blahova. “We have decided not to accept orders for our products from Russia, which was one of the export markets for Pilsner Urquell and Kozel brands. This also applies to Belarus. We will focus on humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine”, said the spokesman of Plzeňský Prazdroj Zdeněk Kovarž. Both companies did not specify what volume of production they used to deliver to Russia. According to the Czech Statistical Office, recently the Russian market accounted for about 10% of all Czech exports. Last year, various breweries from the Czech Republic delivered 513 thousand hectoliters of beer to Russia. Beer Prices Could Rise The price of beer could rise significantly because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Reports point to how the potential increase in the cost of beer would...

 by Prague Morning Mar 02, 2022

March 2, 1978: Vladimír Remek Became the First and Only Czech to Fly to Space

On March 2, 1978, Czech cosmonaut Vladimír Remek became the first and only Czech to fly to space, and the first non-Soviet and non-American astronaut to make the trip to outer space. After graduating from aviation school as a lieutenant in 1970, Remek began active service for the Czechoslovak air force. From 1972 to 1976 he continued his studies at the Gagarin Air Force Academy in Monino, U.S.S.R. In 1976 he joined the Soviet cosmonaut unit as part of the Intercosmos program. The non-Soviet cosmonauts of Intercosmos flew alongside Soviet crews on missions intended to demonstrate unity between Warsaw Pact and other countries sympathetic to the Soviet Union. After a three-day delay, Soyuz 28 took off from Kazakhstan on March 2, 1978, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the 1948 Prague coup. The crew docked with the Salyut 6 space station, where the cosmonauts conducted scientific research and experiments. After nearly eight days in space, Remek and Gubarev returned to Earth on March 10. “Before me there was the same number of Soviet and US cosmonauts, 43. So I became the 87th earthling to see our planet from outer space,” he later said. “I was doing something for my country. It was, to use sporting terminology, a place on the podium, third spot....

 by Prague Morning Mar 02, 2022

Top Czech News Headlines: Wednesday, March 2, 2022

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.    This February saw the second-highest number of coronavirus infected since the outbreak of the infected in March 2020, over 543,000. In all, COVID has been detected in 3,587,871 people. The highest occurrence was recorded this January when the total number of positive tests reached 560,000.   The Czech Republic has been setting up its consular agencies in Przemysl in Poland near the border with Ukraine and in Kosice, east Slovakia, to aid refugees from the war-stricken Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry tweeted today. The evacuated staff of the Czech diplomatic missions in Ukraine will move to them.   Czechia has evacuated 88 Volhynian Czechs from Zhytomyr, Malinovka and other towns in northwest Ukraine, who will stay either with their contacts in Czechia or be accommodated like other refugees from the war-stricken Ukraine. Volhynian Czechs are the offspring of the Czechs who settled in Tsarist Russia in the past.   The Prague 6 municipal district asked Prague City Hall to rename the street near the Russian Embassy on Monday. The current name of the street is Korunovační,...

 by Prague Morning Mar 01, 2022

Czech Festival to Strip Kusturica of Award for Cooperating With Russia

The Prague International Film Festival Febiofest has decided to strip renowned Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica of an award for “cooperatng with Russia,” the Serbian agency Tanjug reported on Tuesday. The decision to strip the Serbian director of the prize was made over the fact that on February 21, Kusturica agreed to occupy the post of chief director of the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army. Febiofest Director Kamil Spachil said that the move to yank the award from Kusturica was proposed by the founder and honorary chairman of the festival Ferro Fenich. In turn, the representatives of the festival “welcomed this initiative.” Kusturica received the Christian Award in 2017 for his contribution to world cinema. However, Fenich opposed this award even back then. Today, he urged his colleagues to follow his example and deprive Kusturica of the award. Emir Kusturica is a well-known Yugoslav and Serbian film director and actor, having been awarded by the major film festivals across Europe, including two Golden Palm awards from the Cannes Film Festival. He was also made chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and is a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of the Republika Srpska. On February 21,...

 by Prague Morning Mar 01, 2022

Czechs to Join Ukrainian Foreign Legion, President Zeman is Supportive

In what could mark a serious escalation in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, a number of Western countries are authorizing sending foreign volunteers to fight in the war, with Czechia now likely to give consent as well. According to the Czech Ministry of Defense, the first citizens who want to go with weapons in hand to defend Ukraine are now volunteering. Czech law allows it, but every volunteer needs the president’s consent. The current president, Miloš Zeman, will not prevent Czechs from going to Ukraine to fight if the government authorities approve it, he has stated. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the establishment of an international legion over the weekend. Zelensky is also calling for NATO to implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine and for Ukraine to be granted EU membership. “The applicants are turning to the Ministry of Defense, which will assess the application together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior, and only then will it go to the military officials and President Zeman. Therefore, it will undoubtedly depend on the recommendations of the government ministries that the president would hear,” said the President’s spokesman, Jiří Ovčáček. The matter is currently being dealt...

 by Prague Morning Mar 01, 2022

Sputnik Czech Republic Website No Longer Accessible in the Country

Earlier, Sputnik Polska became unavailable to users in Poland, as, over the weekend, multiple Sputniks, including Sputnik International, Sputnik German SNA, Sputnik Ceska Republika reported large-scale DDoS attacks amid Russia’s ongoing special operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine. Sputnik website is no longer accessible in the Czech Republic. Instead, users could see signs that read, “we can’t find this page” and “this site is unavailable.” This comes as on Monday, Sputnik Polska became unavailable to users in Poland. Following the European Commission’s recently-announced action against Russian state-backed media channels over developments in Ukraine, Instagram has restricted access to multiple accounts that belong to Sputnik News Agency, according to an e-mail distributed late on Monday by the platform. The service has been unavailable for Sputnik in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the Czech Republic. Sputnik departments in Ukraine and Turkey were also sent such e-mails. As part of the broad crackdown across social media platforms, the TikTok accounts of Russia-affiliated media resources, including RT and Sputnik, are also currently unavailable to users in the European Union, according to Sputnik correspondents in...

 by Prague Morning Mar 01, 2022

Have You Worked Abroad in the Past 5 Years? Neotax Has an Interesting Offer for You

If you worked abroad, you have paid a part of your income as a tax advance. Actually, your employer paid this on your behalf directly to the tax office. Tax “advance” is the keyword here. Your employer deducts every month some percentage, as set by the tax law in a foreign country. But, at the end of the year, it will be clear that you have not worked for the entire year, or had a low income (and thus, were not supposed to pay the tax), or various tax discounts could be used in your case. This is the reason why your tax paid is higher than what you were actually supposed to pay. You can correct this by filing a tax return and asking for the overpaid tax back. In a lot of countries around the world, this is a possibility for any employee. What documents do I need? Every country has its own type of earning document. For example in Poland it is PIT11 or in Germany -Lohnsteuerbescheinigung. But this is the main document needed. Sometimes you will also need to attach your Personal income statement. You can get it in your tax office or use Neotax service...

 by Prague Morning Mar 01, 2022

Monthly Sirens Test Called Off to Avoid Creating Panic

The regular test of public emergency sirens in the Czech Republic will not take place this week, the country’s fire service said on Monday. It was decided by the Director-General of the Fire and Rescue Service, Vladimír Vlček, because of the situation in Ukraine. He wants to avoid the possible panic that the sirens could cause. “The reason for this decision is an effort to prevent unwanted panic among the public, also concerning citizens from Ukraine who are seeking safety in the Czech Republic,” the fire service said. “There are currently 200,000 citizens of Ukraine living in the Czech Republic. Others are fleeing Putin’s aggression to us. We do not want to remind them of the horror they have left in their homes with sirens,“ added Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN), who welcomed the decision. Ukraine is facing air strikes after being invaded by Russia, among other things, and residents have repeatedly encountered the sound of sirens in recent days. This is not the first time the regular siren test has been canceled. The sirens remained silent during the floods of 2009 and 2013. They also did not sound in 2010, during the visit of the US and Russian presidents,...

 by Prague Morning Mar 01, 2022

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