The average annual inflation in the European Union accelerated to 2 percent in April from 1.7 percent in March, the European Statistical Office announced on Wednesday. Inflation in the Czech Republic is the fourth highest in the entire EU, standing at 3.1 percent. Of the 27 member states, prices are rising fastest in Hungary, by 5.2 percent. It is followed by neighboring Poland with inflation of 5.1 percent and Luxembourg with year-on-year price growth of 3.3 percent. In the eurozone, year-on-year consumer price inflation accelerated from 1.3 percent in March to 1.6 percent. The European Central Bank (ECB) aims to keep price growth below 2 percent. Czech inflation is the fourth highest In the Czech Republic, inflation reached 3.1 percent, making it the fourth highest in the EU. The Czech National Bank (CNB) has been targeting 2 percent inflation since December 2005 but has a so-called tolerance zone between 1 and 3 percent. “Inflation has returned above the upper limit of the CNB’s tolerance zone and is even above the central bank’s forecast. At the same time, it will likely continue to stay close to 3 percent,“ said analyst Petr Dufek. “The central bank has basically no chance to do anything...
The art provocateur Ztohoven group cut a giant Pac-Man into Babiš’s rapeseed field. “Let’s stop playing his game”, they said. May 22 is not only the anniversary of the Pac-man video game’s first release but also International Biodiversity Day. Thus, the controversial art group Ztohoven justified why they chose this date for their 11th act. The group became famous for their artistically motivated pranks, including an atomic explosion live on Czech Television and hanging red boxer shorts on Prague Castle. This time, they targeted Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. A rapeseed field at the foot of Mount Říp in the Litoměřice region, which is managed by Babiš’s company Agrofert, belongs to its trust fund. Members of Ztohoven cut the yellow character in the field, which gives the name to the previously mentioned video game. According to the group, Pac-man cannot deal with individuals who “refuse to share the playing field with him”, and is supposed to represent Babiš himself, who similarly never has enough. “Pac-Man ate subsidies and he also managed to perfectly eat concepts such as capitalism or socialism, which are now freely confused,” they said. The Prime Minister also polarized Czech society and destroyed the local ecosystem with...
In 1989, Czechoslovakia secretly lent $ 1.3 billion to the Soviet Union, the newspaper Hospodářské noviny reported on Tuesday. The newspaper refers to documents from the National Archives, found in collaboration with the Aktualne.cz, the weekly Respekt and the anti-corruption organization Observation Post. The loan was arranged by the Czechoslovak Ministry of Finance, headed at the time by Václav Klaus. The money was lent on the basis of an agreement reached by the Czechoslovakian Communist government of Ladislav Adamec. It became part of a multi-billion dollar Russian debt, only part of which was ever repaid. According to Hospodarske Noviny, the idea of the loan was Zdeněk Rachač, an official of the Ministry of Finance. Klaus became Minister of Finance after the Velvet Revolution and the fall of the Communist regime when the Adamec government was replaced by the one led by Marian Calfa. Klaus told Hospodářské noviny he was unaware of any such covert loan. However, there is a letter from December 1989 in which Klaus was warned against sending the loan to Russia by the then director of the Czechoslovak Commercial Bank (ČSOB). Under the government of Prime Minister and current president Milos Zeman, Falkon Capital bought about two-thirds...
Effective 21 May 2021, Blue Air launches the new Bucharest – Prague route within the 2021 Summer Schedule. Blue Air will operate its route up to five weekly between Bucharest and Prague. Blue Air inaugurated today the Bucharest – Prague route, and the Boeing 737-500 aircraft (YR-BAG) was greeted with the traditional water salute at its landing at Václav Havel Airport Prague. As part of its positioning strategy as Romanians’ first ultra-low-cost air transport option, Blue Air focuses on expanding its network and serving Europe’s main airports, providing efficient connections with destinations of major interest for both the leisure and the business segment, at the most affordable travel rates with one free change included. As of 21 May 2021, Blue Air will connect Bucharest and Prague through three services per week, while planning to increase this frequency to five flights per week starting July 2021. “We are delighted to inaugurate our new ultra-low-cost Prague-Bucharest service for the benefit of our customers who can now have even more travel options at affordable prices,” says Krassimir Tanev, Chief Commercial Officer at Blue Air. The two capitals have traditionally developed a lot of business, cultural, family, sport and tourist relations and with our low fares and...
Minister of Health Petr Arenberger announced on Tuesday morning that he is stepping down.
The students of art universities in Prague united and created the new digital gallery Vyšeart which was launched on 5th of May 2021 and will last until 31st of August 2021. Vyšeart connects 28 students of various art fields who created 14 pairs where 1 musician and 1 visual artist collaborate with each other. Each pair made one piece of art which consisted of musical aspects and visual art. The final artworks are displayed in the park of The National Cultural Monument Vyšehrad. Visitors of Vyšeart discover the artworks with their own smartphone and through QR codes which are installed in the park. The project is supported by The Borough of Prague 2, The National Cultural Monument Vyšehrad, HAMU, UMPRUM, AVU, and OSA. The idea of a multifaceted project has arisen among students of art who felt the need and desire to meet other students and to gain new creative experience. The organizers are students Magdaléna Ochmanová from Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU), Hana Sommerová from Academy of Fine Arts (AVU), Eliška Hanuš, Jarka Straková and Mariana Pecháčková from Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague (UMPRUM) who have started and developed the idea of Vyšeart. The...
The annual music festival United Islands of Prague will run June 25–26 offering free music on stages around the city. The 18th edition will feature 35 concerts on 5 different stages by talented performers across musical genres. After five years, the festival will move from Karlín back to the islands right in the very heart of Prague: Střelecký Island, Kampa, Children’s Island and Janáček Embankment The organizers will also prepare a unique non-musical program, which will thematically link sustainability and diversity. Besides music, you can look forward to lectures by inspiring speakers. “This year’s return to the islands will only be a harbinger of a full return in 2022, but we hope to enjoy it with the audience. It will be an opportunity to reminisce about the old days or, conversely, to experience music for the first time in places that have long been part of the main idea of the United Islands of Prague,” said David Gaydečka, the festival’s organizer. Between concerts, you will definitely not be bored, as we have a lot of activities for you in cooperation with our ambassadors and partners. During the festival, you will be able to try out various disciplines under the auspices of...
The first few hundred clients of the Čedok travel agency will be able to fly to one of the four exclusive holiday places Čedok has added to its summer package breaks today. For the first time, Czechs will enjoy exotic holiday trips without a stopover aboard comfortable Airbus A330-200 aircraft operated by Luke Air. Passengers will have the option to choose from interesting remote holiday destinations and fly from Václav Havel Airport Prague without a stopover to the Dominican Republic, the Maldives, Zanzibar, Madagascar and, in the winter season, to Cuba. “I am very pleased we are able to offer our clients several ‘feel the vibe’ flights to exotic destinations this summer. Čedok customers will thus be able to experience the comfort of long-haul aircraft, which will become our travel standard to distant places this winter flight schedule,” Stanislav Zeman, Čedok CEO, said. “Today, we started selling week-long summer stays with departures scheduled on 3 July – to the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana Airport; on 21 July – to the Maldives; on 5 August – to Madagascar, Noise Be Airport, and on 22 August – to Zanzibar. We will launch the exotic holiday offer for the 2021/2022 winter season in the coming...
The foreign ministers of Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia voiced unanimous support on Saturday for North Macedonia and Albania to start EU membership talks, arguing that bilateral issues should not block the EU’s enlargement into the Western Balkans. Bulgaria on May 21 said it did not plan to lift its veto on long-delayed accession talks between North Macedonia and the EU over a language and history dispute with its neighbor Bulgaria, which joined the EU in 2007, wants Skopje to acknowledge that both its identity and language have Bulgarian roots. Skopje has long insisted Macedonian is a distinct South Slavic language that forms part of the country’s culture and national identity, while Sofia says Macedonian is a regional dialect of Bulgarian. Unanimity is required from all EU member for the adoption of the negotiating framework. The Czech Republic’s Kulhánek said it is “not fair” for one EU member nation to condition the enlargement process on a bilateral dispute. “This is a crucial time, and we cannot allow [the process] to be stuck with such demands,” he said. On Friday, Zoran Zaev, North Macedonia’s prime minister, said the two EU officials (Olivér Várhelyi, commissioner for enlargement, and Augusto Santos Silva,...
Prague 3 decided to fight cigarette pollution in a creative way. In the past few days, the City Hall has created and installed ten unique ashtrays. The ashtrays are in the form of cigarettes – and they’re huge. The move was inspired by a similar project in Vienna, which had been running for several years already. The prototype for the large cigarette ashtrays was made by Jaromír Frek. “I wouldn’t say the production was demanding. We did two versions, one pilot and one final. We were tinging paint and adjusting technical things,” he says. The ultimate aim is to get people to throw the cigarette butts in the ashtrays, instead of leaving them on the ground. “Cigarette butts are garbage like any other and do not belong in public space. Cleaning from some surfaces is practically impossible,” explains Jiří Ptáček, mayor of Prague 3. A loose cigarette butt only decomposes in 15 years. If the project is successful, the cigarette ashtrays will be installed in more locations. A total of ten ashtrays are located on Kostnice Square, in Seifertova, Lipanská, Koněvova and Biskupcova streets, two are on Jiřího z Poděbrady Square, another at the intersection of Táboritská and Ondříčkova streets and at...
From today, Monday 24th, restrictive measures for cultural and sports events will be relaxed. Outdoor events can be watched live by up to 1,000 seated spectators, while a limit of 500 spectators will now apply to indoor events. Visitors will be expected to have certificates of vaccination, negative Covid tests or proof of post-Covid immunity and must not mingle. Small, single-hall cinemas will also be able to open, but will not be allowed to sell snacks. However, large multiplexes, such as Cinestar, Cinema City, and Premiere Cinemas, have stated that they do not wish to reopen until they are again allowed to sell refreshments. Guesthouses, hotels, and other accommodation facilities are also allowed to reopen. Guests must prove in advance that they are not infected, using either a negative test, a certificate of completed vaccination, or proof of past illness and they will be accommodated for seven days. If they wish to prolong their stay Covid tests will have to be repeated every seven days. Unlike pubs and restaurants, the responsibility of checking those certificates will lie with the respective venue. Whether the client uses a PCR certificate or antigen test, the document must not be older than 48 hours....
Czech Health Minister Petr Arenberger is taking heat for dismissing an interdisciplinary group of experts who had been advising him on the coronavirus crisis. Arenberger — the country’s fourth health minister since the start of the pandemic — dismissed the group on Tuesday without warning or explanation. Deputy Health Minister Martina Vašáková later told journalists that he made the decision because the public health situation is improving, and said the ministry would deal with the pandemic without outside experts from now on. But the move immediately prompted a backlash, with many pointing out it came a day after the group’s head, Petr Smejkal, had blasted the government for mismanaging the crisis. Smejkal, the chief epidemiologist at the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, told Czech Television on Wednesday that he believed the October general elections probably played a role in the panel getting the boot. “We are probably uncomfortable to [the government],” he said. “We’ve done all the necessary work, and since there’s probably nothing serious ahead of us now, why should they continue to have us?” Roman Prymula, one of Arenberger’s predecessors, told Czech Television the move was “a mistake” given that the upcoming summer holidays and increased travel meant...
Don’t have an account? Register
[swpm_registration_form level=”6″]
Already have an account? Log In
How Would You Like to Promote Your Business? PR ArticleDisplay bannersVideo productionNewsletter adsJob ListingsInfluencer Marketing
Your Email
We will come back to you within 24 hours with our proporsal
