On February 25, 2018, Milion chvilek pro demokracii (lit. ‘A Million Moments for Democracy’) was conceived as a petition for Andrej Babiš’ resignation from parliament, arguing that someone under criminal investigation should not be allowed to hold the position of Prime Minister. Although they fell short of their goal for one million signatures, the organization has continued to maintain a strong civic presence within the Czech republic, urging for greater accountability in government and greater civic participation. They are predominantly funded through private donations and fundraisers. We met Hana Strašáková, spokesperson for Milion chvilek pro demokracii. “Over the five years of our activity, we have gathered know-how on how to talk to those who do not vote for democratic political parties and who do not agree with Million of Moments. … Our goal will undoubtedly be to unite all the people who care about the future of our country. And that will undoubtedly require a greater focus on non-urban citizens.” Earlier this year, Petr Pavel was elected President of the Czech Republic after two rounds of voting,receiving 35.40% of votes in the first round and 58.31% in the second. Prior to being elected President, Petr Pavel served as the Chairman...
Czechia hosts the most Ukrainian refugees with temporary protection status per population among European Union nations, Eurostat data shows. By the end of last year, there were over 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees with temporary protection status on European Union territory. Among them, one-half stayed in Germany and Poland, roughly one quarter in each, followed by Czechia, which had an 11% share. Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February last year, the EU decided to activate for the first time rules that enabled refugees to get temporary protection – a mechanism that gives access to public health insurance, education and the labour market. EU countries even decided to prolong the temporary protection scheme until March 2024 due to continued fighting in Ukraine, despite it initially being set to end in March this year. Germany and Poland granted temporary protection status to 968,000 and 961,000 Ukrainian refugees at the end of last year, while Czechia granted 432 000, Eurostat data shows. According to the most recent data from the Interior Ministry, about 500,000 war refugees from Ukraine have secured temporary protection visas in Czechia. The ministry also estimated at the end of 2022 that, about one-fifth of refugees had already returned...
Data provided by the Czech National Tourist Board reveals that a total of 19.5 million tourists visited the Czech Republic last year, thus marking an increase of 71 per cent compared to 2021. In spite of such an increase, the number of tourists is still 12 per cent less than before the pandemic. Compared to 2019, the Czech Republic welcomed nine per cent more domestic tourists in 2022. At the same time, amongst the number of travellers that the country hosted 12.1 or 62.2 per cent of Czech were female tourists, and 7.3 million or 37.8 per cent were foreign visitors. Aside from Czechs, the largest number of tourists consisted of Germans, Slovaks and Poles. In this regard, the director of the Czech National Tourist Board Jan Herget said that as far as internal tourism is concerned, it was led by local tourists, where last year 12,109,732 of them traveled around the country, which means nine per cent more than 2019. “Last year, Germans, Slovaks and Poles visited us the most. However, tourists from Asia were still missing. We are working on long-distance direct flight connections with Asia, the first “swallow” means the resumption of direct flights Prague – Seoul...
The Czech Republic has disclosed the amount and type of military aid provided to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion. The assistance includes tanks, light armored vehicles, artillery, and ammunition. According to the Czech government, military aid provided to Ukraine totals 10 billion Czech crowns, with an additional 30 billion crowns worth of arms and equipment transferred from the Czech defense industry. This marks the first time the government has reported in such detail on the amount of military aid given to Kyiv, including cooperation between the state and private companies. “The first delivery we organized took place 14 days after the invasion began, and in this way, we showed others that it is possible and that this is the right way,” stated Fiala, a Czech politician. The list of military aid provided to Ukraine includes 89 tanks, 226 other armored vehicles, and 38 howitzers. About a third of this weaponry came from the country’s military stockpiles. In addition, six air defense systems and four helicopters were handed over to Ukraine. The Czech defense industry also supplied Ukraine’s Defense Forces with 33 multiple rocket launchers (MLRS), and half a million units of ammunition, including 60,000 missiles for MLRS....
Czech crowdfunding initiative Gift for Putin (Dárek pro Putina) started a campaign to collect money for a mobile rocket launcher and 365 rockets to help Ukraine prepare for the spring counteroffensive. The campaign has already collected CZK 2 million in donations just hours after its start. “You sent CZK 2 million in four hours from the start of the collection for Přemysl. No previous collection had such a massive start. Thank you very much. Every koruna helps kick those murderous scoundrels in the backside,” the fundraising organizers said on Twitter. The money is newly being collected by the Gift for Putin group, which will pass it to the Ukrainian embassy after the whole required sum is collected. In the past, a tank and an air defence system were bought within the Gift for Putin campaign launched by entrepreneur Dalibor Dedek last May and held under the aegis of the Defence Ministry. Za 4 hodiny od spuštění sbírky na Přemysla (raketomet RM-70) jste poslali 2 000 000 korun.😍 Žádná předchozí sbírka neměla takhle masivní začátek… 👏Moc děkujeme. 🫡 Každá koruna pomáhá, těm …… lůmpům vrahounskejm nakopat ….. pozadí. 🇨🇿❤️🇺🇦 https://t.co/RyCyPqJczC pic.twitter.com/HAqtj32hmB — Dárek pro Putina (@DarPutinovi) February 20, 2023 According to...
UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) was founded on November 16, 1945, as a result of the Second World War, which had just ended. The organization’s main goal was to strive to maintain international peace by fostering cooperation in the fields of education, science, and culture and by advocating respect for human rights. UNESCO is based in Paris and today has 195 member countries and 9 affiliated members. The Czech Republic became a member state on February 22, 1993. In July 2021, UNESCO decided on new sites to be inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Czech Spa Triangle and the Primeval Beech Forests of Jizerské hory became new successfully nominated Czech Republic sites. At present, there are 15 Czech sites in total on the list: Historic Centre of Český Krumlov Český Krumlov is a city in the South Bohemia region, situated on the banks of the Vltava river. Its historic centre was added to the UNESCO List in 1992. The city is most famous for its castle complex built in the 13th century which boasts Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque elements. Český Krumlov is a beautiful example of a Central European small town originating in the Middle...
A new policy aimed at the mitigation of light pollution will be introduced later this year. The Czech Republic will introduce new light pollution legislation in March 2023. These policies will apply to newly-built public and private infrastructure and will outline the maximum and minimum lumens for light sources. Outlined in the EU’s official publication on the matter, these new measures were “composed based on desktop research by a team at the Ministry of Environment of the Czech Republic”, and were designed to be in accordance with the EU’s Light Pollution Reduction Measures in Europe, which were set forth during the Czech Republic’s presidency of the EU. These regulations will take effect in March 2023, and all new private and public construction projects will be obliged to conform to the maximum and minimum brightnesses set out in the law. Not retroactively enforced, all current and existing infrastructure will be exempt. This isn’t the first time the Czech government has introduced legislation with the goal of mitigating light pollution. 2002 saw the enactment of the ‘Dark Sky Law’, which was one of the first laws in Europe that recognized this issue. I t was included in an Act which regulated air...
The Czech tourist board is changing its branding and website from Visit Czech Republic to Visit Czechia, as part of a wider rebranding across the central European country. The new branding and #VisitCzechia will be seen online, in publications and at travel trade events. A statement from the tourist board said Czechia and the Czech Republic are synonymous and are both official names. “The decision on whether to use the shorter or longer version depends on the area and whether there is an obligation attached to the state designation,” it said. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the longer name, Czech Republic, must be used only in official government documents, in the names of embassies, and other legal documents. “The Czechia brand will be used in all other cases. It is more practical and less formal,” added the statement. Czechia will also be seen when people represent the state in culture, science, sports and other spheres. For example, the Czech Olympic Committee has already switched to Czechia.
The “European Starlink” called IRIS² will be based in Prague, writes Hospodářské noviny. It plans to send 170 satellites, starting next year. The Czech Republic will thus expand its activities in this area, as the EUSPA space agency already operates in the capital. The multi-orbital constellation, IRIS² (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnection and Security by Satellite), is projected to be operational in 2024 and will be focused on providing secure satellite communications to EU governmental users. “IRIS² establishes space as a vector of our European autonomy, a vector of connectivity and resilience. It heightens Europe’s role as a true space power”, Internal Market Commissioner and the real driver of the initiative, Thierry Breton, said. Allowing the private sector to facilitate the rollout of high-speed broadband to “dead zones” that currently lack connectivity is also listed as a critical goal of the project. “IRIS² will provide connectivity to the whole of Europe”, said Breton, “including areas that do not currently benefit from broadband Internet, as well as to the whole of Africa, using the constellation’s North-South orbits.” The system is also set to contribute to the EU’s broader goal of heightened strategic autonomy, outlined as a key motivation at the project’s announcement earlier this year....
Purchasing an e-car in the near future is completely unimaginable for most Czechs as the high cost of e-cars and misunderstandings on emissions rules ensure they remain skeptical about e-mobility, said Czech expert Helena Truchlá. According to Ekovozy.cz, which monitors the number of e-vehicles in the Czech Republic, around 12,000 electric cars were in the country by mid-2022. “The Czech public perception of electromobility is still negative. This is related to the fact that electric cars are still simply too expensive for a large part of the population, and a bit too sci-fi for everyday life,” added Truchlá, an analyst at sociologist agency STEM. “For more than a third of the (Czech) public, such a purchase is completely unimaginable,” Truchlá pointed out. The Czech public is also opposed to plans to restrict the sale of new cars with internal combustion engines from 2035. According to the expert, people’s attitude towards restricting the sale of conventional cars is often linked to a misunderstanding of the regulation. “Only 27% of people in our survey last year correctly said that after that date (2035), everyone can still drive whatever they want in Europe,” Truchlá said. Half of those surveyed also believed the change...
The Czech Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has recently put forward two draft bills that could bring significant amendments to employment law in the republic. These proposed changes have been designed to address a variety of issues and concerns within the current system and aim to improve the overall conditions for both employees and employers. A Year of Change for Czech Employers The proposed changes to employment law in the Czech Republic are wide-ranging and significant. They are designed to provide better protection to whistleblowers, increase the rights of on-call workers and employees requesting flexible working arrangements, and simplify the exchange of employment-related documentation in electronic form. If approved, the proposed draft Bills will bring a new level of flexibility to the labor market and could have a positive impact on the economy as a whole. It is an exciting time for the Czech Republic as they move towards creating a more modern and dynamic workforce. The Czech Republic offers mandatory employment benefits that refer to those covered by Social Security Insurance, which is financed through contributions from employers and employees during their employment. Czech Employers should begin preparing for upcoming changes as the new regulations will take effect...
Beginning next year, Czech Universities may be required to issue new diplomas to people who have undergone a gender transition. This policy marks significant progress for transgender and LGBTQ+ rights in the Czech Republic. Starting from January 2024, anyone who has undergone gender reassignment surgery is eligible to apply for a new diploma which contains their new name and preferred pronouns. The proposal was created as a joint effort between The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports – led by Vladimír Balas, and the Minister of Science, Helena Langšádlová. There are currently no stipulations in Czech Law which lay out the procedure to modify one’s diploma, and subsequently, Czech Universities are reluctant to issue new diplomas. This issue was noted by former ombudsman Anna Šabatová in an open letter addressed to the Minister of Education at the time, Robert Plaga. A proposed amendment to the Higher Education Act could change this though, contributing to equal treatment of students and graduates, as well as minimising discrimination against transgender people when they present their original diplomas. “The amendment responds to the difficult situation of persons who have undergone gender reassignment in proving their educational qualifications through educational documents obtained before gender reassignment,”...
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