Czech President Milos Zeman was receiving treatment in an intensive care unit on Sunday, creating uncertainty at a time when he is due to lead political talks about forming a new government after a parliamentary election. Director Miroslav Zavoral of the Central Military Hospital in Prague said Zeman, 77, was admitted due to complications related to an undisclosed chronic condition. “We know the diagnosis precisely, which allows us to target treatment,” Zavoral said, adding that he did not have the president’s approval to disclose details of the diagnosis. Zavoral did not say how serious the president’s condition was. In the Czech Republic, the president leads talks with party leaders after elections to find a workable majority. Under the constitution, his authority to appoint the prime minister passes to the speaker of the lower house if the presidential position is vacated. Reporters saw an ambulance leaving the presidential chateau at Lany, west of Prague, soon after Zeman met Prime Minister Andrej Babis. The presidential office had previously said Zeman had been ill, and he spent eight days in hospital last month. The presidential office said at the time he had no life-threatening condition but was dehydrated and slightly exhausted. Babis’ centrist...
Czech president Miloš Zeman has been taken to hospital, according to a hospital spokesperson. Zeman was taken by ambulance from the castle in Lány to the Central Military Hospital (ÚVN) in Střešovice on Sunday shortly after noon. The first lady Ivana Zemanová and daughter Kateřina arrived at the hospital immediately. The 77-year-old recently cancelled a live television interview scheduled for 10 October over health issues. Just before that, he met with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. Hospitalization was confirmed by ÚVN spokeswoman Jitka Zinke. The hospital’s director would give a media briefing at 2 p.m. The president plays an important constitutional role during this post-election period, as it is he who names a prime minister to form a government. It is not clear what medical condition the president is currently in and whether there have been any serious complications. “On the basis of a recommendation from his attending physician professor Miroslav Zavoral, Milos Zeman agreed to be hospitalised at the Central Military Hospital in Prague,” Zeman’s spokesman Ovcacek said on Twitter. Zeman spent eight days at Prague’s Central Military Hospital last month after suffering from what his office described as dehydration and exhaustion. Zeman is a heavy smoker who has suffered...
Prime minister Andrej Babiš appears to have lost his grip on power after his populist party failed to win a majority in Saturday’s nail-bitingly close election. The results mean opposition coalitions could now join forces to grab power after a dramatic day at the ballot box. With 100% of the votes counted, the center-right alliance Spolu (Together) won the most votes with 27.79% of the ballots, followed by Babiš’s ANO party with 27.12%, and the centrist PirStan coalition on 15.62%, according to a tally of votes on the statistical office’s website. While Babiš’s party ANO won the most votes of any single party, it does not have any clear path to a majority after Saturday’s vote. “We are the change. You are the change,” Spolu coalition leader Petr Fiala said Saturday, claiming victory before a cheering crowd. The leader of the PirStan coalition, Ivan Bartoš, said talks with Spolu “on the possibilities of forming a new government” would likely begin on Saturday. “The dominance of Andrej Babiš is over, and the democratic parties have shown that the era of chaos will probably be behind us,” Bartoš said. The memorandum was a challenge to President Miloš Zeman who has said prior...
With nearly all votes counted, the opposition coalition appears to have secured a slim majority, overtaking Prime Minister Andrej Babis’ ANO party. Czech Television predicts two opposition coalitions will win 108 of 200 seats. Opposition leader says they will start talks on forming a government. Both groups have said they will not work with Babis. The Czech centre-right and liberal opposition groups were set to gain a majority in the lower house holding a narrow lead during Saturday’s parliamentary election. With 99.6% of voting districts reporting results, premier Andrej Babis and his ANO party have fallen behind, holding 27.27% of the vote in the two-day election to determine 200 seats in the lower house of parliament. Meanwhile, the Pirates/Mayors coalition leader Ivan Bartos said they will begin talks of forming the next government. However, Czech President Miloš Zeman is still widely expected to task Babiš with forming a new government because he leads the individual party with the most votes. Zeman has said he believes election coalitions are “a scam.” With both the Communists and the Social Democrats out of parliament, it seems unlikely that Babiš will be able to find enough support to remain in power and a period of political...
Great news for Christmas lovers – the famous Prague Christmas Markets are set to make their return this year. The markets will officially be open to the public on Wenceslas Square and Old Town Square from Saturday 27 November to Thursday 6 January. Last year’s markets in 2020 were, unfortunately, cancelled due to the pandemic that put all our lives on hold. “We are glad that this year we will be able to offer Praguers and tourists to the traditional Advent celebrations in the center of Prague, and thus contribute to the rebirth of tourism in the capital,” said Libor Votruba, board chairman of Taiko, which organizes markets. “People will just want to get together in a safe way. We’ll make sure that it’s safe – and just enjoy being human again and enjoying Christmas,” added Votruba. Christmas markets (Vánoční trhy) are a key ingredient of the festive magic in the Czech Republic, and the Prague markets are the most impressive in the country. You can find goods such as handmade soaps and lotions, jewelry, wooden toys, ceramic decorations, crystals, scarves and so on. Food stands are offering grilled meat or sausages; please your sweet tooth with apple strudel, gingerbread, cookies, waffles, roasted almonds, cotton candy.
The oldest part of the Orloj, the mechanical clock and astronomical dial, dates back to 1410 when it was made by clockmaker Mikuláš of Kadaň and Jan Šindel, then later a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Charles University. The first recorded mention of the clock was on 9 October 1410. Later, presumably around 1490, the calendar dial was added and the clock facade was decorated with gothic sculptures. The Prague Astronomical Clock is a unique medieval monument. It was built during the last breaths of the cultural boom in the Bohemian lands that began under the reign of Charles IV, Bohemian king and Holy Roman Emperor, who transformed Prague into a European centre of learning, culture and power. The Old Town Astronomical Clock was built as one of the last medieval archaic astronomical clocks. These served a different purpose and were of a different character than the modern astronomical clocks that emerged in Europe with the onset of the Renaissance. Its main dials – astrolabes – were not designed to work like accurate astronomical instruments, but were to be used above all for astrological purposes. Their design is also fundamentally opposite to the construction of astronomical astrolabes. Unlike most astronomical clocks of the...
Interior ministers from 12 member states are demanding the EU finance border-wall projects to stop migrants entering through Belarus, in a further push towards creating a fortress Europe. In a letter dated 7 October, the ministers asked the European Commission to tweak external border-entry rules to include walls and fences. “Physical barriers appear to be an effective border protection measure that serves the interest of the whole EU, not just member states of first arrival,” they said in their letter to EU commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas and EU home-affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson. “This legitimate measure should be additionally and adequately funded from the EU budget as a matter of priority,” they said. The four-page letter was signed by the interior ministers of Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Slovakia. It comes as the regime of Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko is shuffling migrants mainly from Afghanistan and Iraq to its shared borders with Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, leading to standoffs that have resulted in the loss of life of would-be asylum seekers. Around 4,000 people have entered Lithuania, some 1,400 have gotten into Poland, and around 400 came to Latvia over the past few months. All...
Since the outbreak of COVID, cities have changed tremendously. During lockdowns, businesses remained closed and residents stayed home. In other words, the streets suddenly became quiet and empty. With the introduction of vaccines, many thought that life would soon return to normal. As TheMayor.eu reports, the City of Prague announced that it has collaborated with the metropolitan Hitradio City to launch a new project: My City – Discover Prague. According to Mayor Zdeněk Hřib, the aim of this new initiative is “to stir up the city” after the events of the past year and a half. The new website lists countless venues, sights, activities, and services. Prague’s residents can now find inspiration when wondering how to spend their free time. The website allows them to find information about restaurants, cafes, galleries, theatres, and lesser-known places in the capital. In addition to this, one can also find invitations to various cultural and social events. Councillor Hana Třeštíková commented on the new website, sharing that it has been designed to facilitate the process of going out: “Thanks to this [the website], we can easily plan a busy weekend or just go to the theatre after work and choose a restaurant with the best...
A video clip tagged “farewellcomrades” has gone viral ahead of this week’s Czech elections as the Communist Party faces a parliamentary wipe-out, 32 years after being toppled in the 1989 Velvet Revolution. The clip features a queue for food reminiscent of the long lines seen during the former Communist command economy in then Czechoslovakia between 1948 and 1989. More than three decades since the Czechs overthrew the regime, the party now risks crashing out of parliament for the first time since World War II. “Their voter base is dying out or deserting them for other parties,” said Otto Eibl, an analyst at Masaryk University in the second Czech city of Brno. “And they’re obviously not able to revamp themselves in a way that would ensure their survival,” he told AFP. The Communist Party currently has 15 seats in the 200-seat Czech lower house of parliament, down from 33 in 2013-2017. Opinion polls ahead of the parliamentary election show that it risks failing to muster the five percent voter support required for any political party to enter parliament despite its efforts to woo young voters born after Communist rule. It is also fighting with something of an image problem for its...
The Czech Republic has been awarded the international “Safe Travels Stamp” by the World Tourism & Travel Council (WTTC) and now holds the status of a safe destination. CzechTourism, the national tourism headquarters of the Czech Republic, applied for this stamp, and along with input from the Czech Chamber of Commerce, industry associations and the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, developed a set of preventive safety and hygiene recommendations for individual tourism sectors, which are binding for obtaining the Safe Travels stamp. “It is wonderful that the Czech Republic is today celebrating World Tourism Day having secured the Safe Travels Stamp. I believe that the Safe Travels Stamp will bring more foreign tourists to the Czech Republic”, says Klára Dostálová, Minister of Regional Development. Businesses and associations in the tourism industry can apply for the Safe Travels Stamp from 1 October 2021 via the registration form on the CzechTourism website, where they can also find recommendations and the resulting terms and conditions for the use of the Safe Travels Stamp for individual sectors (e.g. retail outlets, hotels, restaurants, saunas, swimming pools, golf resorts, cinemas, cable cars, etc.), which they commit to adhere to by submitting the form. The receival and use of the Safe Travels Stamp are free of charge. Compliance with...
Czechs are voting in a parliamentary election as polls show PM Andrej Babiš has a good chance of keeping his job, despite a new scandal over his financial dealings. Two days of balloting are being held to fill 200 seats in the lower house of parliament, the main legislative body in the Czech Republic. Babiš, 67, has had a turbulent term in office, featuring numerous scandals. Police have recommended that he should be indicted over alleged fraud involving EU subsidies, and a recently published EU report concluded that Babis has a conflict of interest over subsidies from the bloc involving his former business empire. However, all polls favor his centrist ANO movement to come first with at least 25% of the vote. But it is not clear if Babis will have a big enough margin of victory to be able to form a new coalition government. The latest scandal links Babis to offshore accounts. Findings by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, dubbed the “Pandora Papers”, alleged that Babiš put 22 million dollars into shell companies to buy 16 properties in southern France. The Pandora Papers presented details of how many of the world’s richest and most powerful people allegedly...
The Czech Republic has frequently served as the backdrop for Apple commercials in the past, and to showcase the new iPhone 13’s cinematic mode, Apple returned to the country to film inside the local castle at Průhonice. The cinematic mode allows users to focus more steadily between several levels in a scene, facilitating a base process of film narration. To demonstrate the new feature in action, the company took to Průhonice near Prague, focusing specifically on the local park and castle as a focal point. The castle appears at the beginning and end of the advertisement for a few seconds each time. Inside the castle, Apple demonstrated the cinematic mode with a commercial inspired by the 2019 film Knives Out. Slovak actress Vlastina Svátková appeared in Apple’s advertisement, an experience she called “exciting” on her Facebook. Svátková now joins the ranks of such Czech creatives like Yemi AD who, two years ago, played a role in an Apple advertisement of the iPad Pro. Beyond these collaborations, Apple also filmed near the National Theater in Prague earlier this year.
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