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. Prime Minister Petr Fiala says a national strategy to combat high energy prices is being prepared which will either supplement or replace any European solution. He said on Tuesday that it would depend what agreement was reached at European level. . Year-on-year growth in industrial output in Czechia slowed to 0.8 percent in July from 2.7 percent in June, according to official data. Analysts believe this is evidence of an impending economic recession, the Czech News Agency reported. Petr Pavel has officially announced that he will stand in elections to the Czech presidency in January next year. Mr. Pavel is a former Czech Army general and was chairman of the NATO Military Committee for three years. The Czech EU Presidency is ready to start negotiations on the possible extension of temporary protection for Ukrainian refugees, Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan said on Monday. The protection mechanism allows Ukrainians fleeing the war to access work, housing or education in all the EU countries. The EU agreed to introduce it annually for the first time...
Czech labour unions called on Monday for a mass demonstration against soaring energy and food prices while seeking sharp pay hikes to match, as pressure mounted on the centre-right government to do more to rein in a growing energy crisis. Europe is facing a difficult winter as falling gas supplies from Russia have spiked the price of the commodity, which in turn is boosting electricity prices and causing utility bills to surge severalfold. Food prices are also rising, and inflation is at a three-decade high and the fourth-highest in te European Union. The Czech government, like others, is scrambling to help vulnerable households and firms, but is facing mounting pressure to act quicker. On Saturday, around 70,000 attended a protest in Prague called by organisers from far-right or fringe political groups – a stark warning of how quickly political instability could rise. Union groups announced their own demonstration for Oct. 8, the first major action in a decade. “We are not happy with the current situation… We are not extremists, or anything like that; we are people that are afraid of the future for people,” Josef Stredula, head of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions, said. “Come and let’s show...
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 the second quarter of 2022, the average gross monthly wage in the Czech Republic was CZK 40,086, an increase of 4.4% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, according to data from the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ). However, due to inflation, this represents a drop of 9.8% in real terms, the biggest decrease in the nation’s history. . US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin is due to arrive in Prague on Friday, September 9. The Pentagon chief will hold talks with Defence Minister Jana Černochová and Prime Minister Petr Fiala, focusing on aid to Ukraine and the current security situation. The Czech prime minister, Petr Fiala, has congratulated Liz Truss on her new role as UK PM and leader of the Conservative Party. Mr. Fiala, who heads the right-wing Civic Democrats, said on Monday that he believed the UK would remain a valued ally of Czechia and the European Union. Union leaders have called a demonstration for Prague’s Wenceslas Square on Saturday October 8. At a meeting in the capital...
Nearly three decades after Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two states, Czechs are still looking for a proper name in English for their country. “The Czech Republic” has been widely used, though the shorter “Czechia” has slowly been catching on since its official registration by the United Nations in 2016. Today the European Union and NATO member’s current stint at the helm of the rotating EU presidency offers an opportunity for a breakthrough. “We are seeking to unify the presentation of our country abroad and at home after a long 30 years,” Deputy Foreign Minister Martin Dvorak, an advocate of “Czechia”, told AFP. “It is absurd to have 27 EU members and 29 NATO members using their short names and Czechia as the only member country stating its political status,” as a republic, he added. The foreign ministry promotes the shorter name, while Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s office has largely used “the Czech Republic” on its website and social networks. To make matters worse, at times the two names show up in tandem. When it took over the EU presidency on July 1, the government rolled out a website hailing the “natural beauty of Czechia” in one sentence and the cultural...
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. Prague saw the fifth hottest summer since records began back in 1775, the Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute reported on Thursday. Between the start of July and end of August, the oldest Czech meteorological station at Prague’s Clementinum recorded an average temperature of 22.2 degrees Celsius, the fifth highest in the past 245 years. . US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin is due to arrive in Prague next Friday, September 9, the Czech Ministry of Defence said on Thursday. The Pentagon chief will hold talks with Defence Minister Jana Černochová and Prime Minister Petr Fiala, focusing on aid to Ukraine and the current security situation. The Forum 2000 International Award for Courage and Responsibility was presented in Prague on Thursday to Chinese citizen journalist and activist Zhang Zhan, who was imprisoned by the Chinese government for reporting the truth about the Covid epidemic in Wuhan. The Czech and Polish Air Force started to patrol Slovak airspace on Thursday after the NATO member stopped using Russian-made MiG fighter airplanes. Slovakia will rely on the help of...
Almost one in five Czech companies will look at cutting staff this year as they struggle with rising costs and high energy prices, the country’s Chamber of Commerce said on Wednesday. In a survey of 493 companies, the group found 18% expected employee numbers to drop in the second half of the year, while 72% said they expected staffing to stay unchanged. “By the end of the year, almost a fifth of companies will cut their employee levels… driven by rising prices and especially high energy prices,” the chamber said in a release. Firms have been demanding help as high energy prices cut into their business, with some producers already reporting operations are becoming loss-making. Czech unemployment is the lowest in the European Union, and some surveys until recently have shown hiring still strong. In June, jobs agency Manpower’s country survey saw more companies hiring than firing in the third quarter. But companies are struggling more and seeking ways to save as energy costs surge, with a spike in gas prices amid concerns over Russian supplies driving up electricity prices to record highs. Governments are racing to help households and firms. The Czech government last week approved a discount electricity...
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. Czech President Milos Zeman signed the ratification documents on the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO. The lower and upper houses of Czech parliament approved the NATO enlargement by the two countries in the past weeks. Both Nordic countries filed their request for NATO accession in early July due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, thus deciding to end their neutrality. . Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has bestowed the Order of Princess Olga, 2nd class, on Czech Defence Minister Jana Cernochova for her contribution to enhancing interstate cooperation and support for the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Zelenskiy also bestowed the Order of Merit, 1st class, on Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky. Czech politicians have hailed former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, who died in Moscow late on Tuesday aged 91, as one of the key figures of the 20th century who contributed to the collapse of communism. Gorbachev was inspired by the Prague Spring communist reform movement from 1968. He gave the hope of freedom to people in the Soviet Union,...
Food self-sufficiency is unrealistic for Czechia due to the world’s interconnectedness. Czechia, therefore, needs to focus on food security, such as maintaining adequate stocks of key foodstuffs, said Prime Minister Petr Fiala at the beginning of the agricultural fair Země živitelka in České Budějovice. According to Fiala, the effects of the war in Ukraine on Czech agriculture can only be estimated. The prices of inputs are increasing. At the same time, the demand from abroad is growing, and thus does the value of goods. In Fiala’s view, Czechia will have to deal with the risks arising from the conflict for a long time. Grain flows from Ukraine not only affect the European continent but also Africa, which especially depends on it. According to the prime minister, Czechia cannot be independent when it comes to food. The customer is not ready to pay for it, and products from abroad bring more choices and lower prices. “Customers vote by choosing goods,” Fiala said. Czechia is self-sufficient in only three food groups According to the latest data from the Czech Statistical Office for the year 2020, the Czech Republic was fully self-sufficient in only three food groups: beef, milk and milk products, and sugar....
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 economy grew year-on-year by 3.7 percent in the second quarter of 2022 and by 0.5 percent when compared to the previous quarter, the Czech Statistics Agency reported on Tuesday. . Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky met his Ukrainian counterpart and assured him of the continuing Czech support for Ukraine facing the Russian invasion, before informal summit of the EU countries’ diplomacy heads in Prague on Tuesday, Lipavsky has tweeted. The Prague City Hall wants to intensify the integration of Roma people into public life, fight against the majority society’s prejudices against Roma and provide social aid to them, based on the Roma integration concept for 2022-2030 which the City Council approved today. Czech Chief of Staff Karel Rehka has visited Ukraine with his delegation, in particular Chernihiv and Kharkiv near the Ukrainian-Russian border and the front lines. Ukrainian Chief of Staff Valerii Zaluzhnyi said he appreciated the involvement and help of the Czech Republic both in the military area and in the hospitality the Czechs gave to the Ukrainian refugees. ...
Last year, the Czech Republic was the fastest growing EU country in terms of debt, and while Italy and Greece take the crown for the most debt overall, there are fears that Czechia could soon be facing trouble over its public finances. Last year’s budget deficit surpassed 2020’s record high, the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ) states in its opinion published on Monday on the draft of the Czech Republic’s final state of accounts for 2021. NKÚ also pointed out that Czechia ranked among the countries with the lowest economic growth in the EU last year. On the other hand, the report positively evaluated the country’s low unemployment rate. The ratio of Czech public debt to GDP increased by 4.2 percentage points year-over-year in 2021, the highest among all EU countries. “While 20 EU countries were able to reduce their debt to GDP year-over-year in 2021, ours increased by more than four percentage points,” said the president of NKÚ, Miloslav Kala. According to Kala, the high share of mandatory and quasi-mandatory state expenditures prevented a better result. Expenditures established by law and necessary for running the state absorbed almost 94 percent of state budget revenues in 2021. Thus, the government had only approximately...
The Czech Republic will convene an extraordinary meeting of EU energy ministers on September 9, Reuters reported with reference to the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, Jozef Sikela. Prague announced its intention to convene an urgent meeting on August 26. Earlier, Prime Minister Petr Fiala on Twitter also said that the Czech Presidency of the EU would convene an extraordinary meeting of energy ministers. According to him, this meeting it is planned to consider specific emergency measures to address the energy situation. On August 28, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer called to stop the madness that is happening in the energy market and work out a common solution for the EU. He also called for abandoning the principle of linking the price of gas to the cost of electricity. Fiala and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed on Monday that a Europe-wide solution to the issue of energy prices had to be found. Mr. Scholz said that present electricity prices were unjust because the cost of production was not so high, adding that structural change was needed. Mr. Fiala reiterated that Czechia wished to be involved in the development of a European energy infrastructure and to acquire capacity in...
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 General Health Insurance Company (VZP) paid about 593 million crowns for some 104,600 Ukrainian refugees’ health care by late June, each less than 5,000 crowns, the insurance company representatives said at a press conference after the board of directors meeting today. The health care of 16 refugees cost more than a million crowns. . Prague will in the near weeks host the first session on the establishment of a new European political group that will regularly meet to debate security problems facing Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron said today. The new group was also mentioned by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a lecture at Charles University during his Prague visit. Czechia’s second city Brno is seeking to become a European Capital of Culture in the year 2028. It is running under the slogan Brno With You. The organisers of the project will find out on 14 October if the Moravian capital has made it into the second round Last year, Czechia saw its government debt rise the fastest out of all...
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