Politics & Economics

Czech Opposition Party Wins Most Major Cities in Local Election

Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s opposition ANO party won most of the country’s major cities in municipal elections seen as a test for the ruling coalition’s handling of the energy crisis. The Czech Republic, similar to other European Union member countries, has been struggling with soaring inflation pushed up mainly by high energy prices. The opposition has been saying that the government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala has done too little too late to help the people. Czechs voted in more than 6,000 municipalities on Friday and Saturday, with the final results declared on Sunday morning due to a complicated system of vote distribution. The ANO party, in opposition since last autumn, won in 17 out of 27 large cities, but it came second in the two largest ones – the capital Prague and Brno, where parties of the current ruling coalition won. Of the 13 regional towns, ANO has won in eight, the ruling parties in five. The ANO party won in Hradec Králové, Jihlava, Karlovy Vary, Olomouc, Ostrava, Pardubice, Ústí nad Labem and Zlín. The most seats in the local assemblies – 38,099 out of the total 61,796 – go to various groups of independent candidates, which...

by Prague Morning Sep 25, 2022

Czech Health Ministry Proposing Lower Temperatures at Workplace

In response to the energy crisis, the Ministry of Health is proposing to reduce the minimum permissible temperatures in the working environment. As iRozhlas reports, for drivers, workers on assembly lines, or cashiers, the temperature should drop from the current 18 to 16 degrees Celsius. It should drop from 20 to 18 degrees in changing rooms, from 22 to 19 degrees in washrooms, from 25 to 19 degrees in showers and from 18 to 15 degrees in toilets. The draft amendment to the Occupational Health Regulation will be discussed by the government on Monday. “The main reason is to revise the legal framework in relation to minimum temperature requirements in the workplace in view of the current situation. Natural gas supplies are being reduced and interrupted, when a further increase and persistence of the energy crisis is expected,” the ministry said in a memorandum. The current set temperatures date back to 2007. “It is a temperature that no one is allowed to low,” added Válek. According to him, the ministry consulted sanitation workers and compared the proposal with other countries. According to Válek, the recommended temperatures have not changed for a long time, so they do not reflect global warming.”...

by Prague Morning Sep 24, 2022

Czech Government: NHL Russian Players Unwanted in Prague

The war in Ukraine threw a wrinkle into the National Hockey League’s planned return to Europe next month to play its first games outside North America since the start of the pandemic. The Czech Foreign Ministry told two NHL teams opening their seasons in Prague that any Russian players would not be welcome because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It may not amount to an outright ban and league officials downplayed the potential impact, but it added a layer of uncertainty to a Global Series the NHL is proud of. The Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks are set to play regular-season games Oct. 7 and 8 at Prague´s O2 Arena as part of the series that is intended to put the world’s top players on display, primarily in Europe. There are not many Russians on the two rosters: Nashville has forward Yakov Trenin and San Jose has Alexander Barabanov, along with Evgeny Svechnikov, who is in training camp on a tryout agreement. “We can confirm that the Czech Foreign Ministry has sent a letter to the NHL to point out that, at this moment, the Czech Republic or any other state in the (visa-free) Schengen zone should not issue...

by Prague Morning Sep 23, 2022

Lipavský: “Czechia Will Never Recognize Results of Referendums in Eastern Ukraine”

The Czech Republic will never agree to recognize the results of referendums held at liberated territories of Ukraine, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský wrote on Twitter. “The referendums were an obvious attempt to annex more Ukrainian territory as happened in the case of Crimea. They constituted a flagrant violation of international law for which Moscow must be held accountable,” added Lipavský. Kyiv’s Western allies were swift to condemn the announced referendums. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called them “sham” votes, while French President Emmanuel Macron described them as a “travesty”. The United States said they were “an affront to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity” and that Washington would never recognize Russian claims to annexed Ukrainian territory. The planned annexation referendums have been prepared for months and come as Ukrainian forces have made notable gains in the northeastern Kharkiv region and in the east. The votes follow the model of the 2014 referendum by which Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in southern Ukraine, which Kyiv and the West refused to recognize. Putin calls up reservists President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial military mobilization and vowed on Wednesday to use “all available means” to protect Russian territory, after Moscow-held regions of...

by Prague Morning Sep 21, 2022

EU Council Approves Additional EUR 5 Billion for Ukraine

The EU Council approved the plan to provide Ukraine with additional 5 billion euro in the form of macro-financial assistance (MFA). EU finance minister approved the move at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) Council meeting earlier this month in Prague, the Council reminded in a statement on Tuesday. The body pointed out that the latest MFA package “complements other EU support to Ukraine in the humanitarian, development customs and defence fields.” Zbyněk Stanjura, Czech Minister of Finance, noted that the EU supports Ukraine. “We deliver on our promises and help ensure that the Ukrainian state and its key infrastructure can continue to function despite Russia’s war of aggression,” he added and announced “at the next ECOFIN meetings, I will push for a swift agreement on the provision of the remaining 3 billion euro.” The Council stressed that the latest MFA aid will be provided “in the form of highly concessional long-term loans…. it constitutes the second stage in the implementation of the planned full Union’s exceptional macro-financial assistance to Ukraine for up to 9 billion euro, announced by the European Commission in its communication of 18 May.” Risk absorption included The body pointed out that its latest decision provides the...

by Prague Morning Sep 20, 2022

Czech Nationalists, Populists Dominate Opinion Polls

A new opinion poll suggests that the populist ANO party of former prime minister Andrej Babiš is most popular among voters just a week ahead of municipal and senate elections. Conducted by the STEM agency for CNN Prime News, the poll which was published on Sunday found that Babiš’ enjoys 30% of voter confidence, followed by the anti-EU Freedom and Democracy Party (ID) with 14.3%. “The Freedom and Democracy Party is gaining ground at a time of heated moods and uncertain prospects thanks to its long-standing anti-establishment basis,” the STEM agency commented. Both parties are very critical of the EU, particularly amid the current energy crisis. They favour nationalistic and populistic solutions while promising lower living costs to their potential voters. The ruling party of Civic Democrats (ECR) got only 14.2%. Their coalition partners, Pirates (Greens/EFA), reached 9.4%, but other parties of the five-party coalition government would barely reach the 5% threshold to enter the Czech Parliament. On the other hand, the ANO movement is preferred among Czech voters over 60 and those with a lower education rate. ANO is also very popular in small towns, while the governing parties are more successful in big cities and among people with...

by Prague Morning Sep 20, 2022

Czech PM Fiala Calls for Public to Limit Use of Energy

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala called on Czechs to handle gas and electricity in a rational manner to save their own money and help lower state expenditures, while also helping the Czech economy. He added that the state would set a positive example by economising on the use of energy. The Czech government’s recently decided to cap the prices of energy for households, small and medium-sized enterprises and public institutions. “Over CZK 100 billion is involved, which we have to get from somewhere. We don’t want to borrow money once again, as previous cabinets did repeatedly,” Fiala said. The government is also discussing options to compensate large high-net-worth Czech companies and industrial enterprises for lost profits due to rising energy costs. Besides using the planned windfall tax, targeting extraordinary profits among energy companies, the state should finance the electricity and gas price caps from increased dividends from state-controlled companies, including the CEZ energy provider, Fiala said. The soaring price of energy in late August is a direct consequence of Russia’s economic war against the West, said Fiala. “Its goal is to threaten the social certainties of people in European countries, paralyse our economies, undermine citizens’ trust in the state and democracy itself, and...

by Prague Morning Sep 19, 2022

Czech EU Presidency Calls for War-Crimes Tribunal Over Russia’s Actions in Izyum

The foreign minister of the Czech Republic, current holder of the presidency of the Council of the EU, called for a “special international tribunal” after evidence of torture on civilians emerged from a mass burial site in Izyum in northeastern Ukraine. “Russia left behind mass graves of hundreds of shot and tortured people in the Izyum area. In the 21st century, such attacks against the civilian population are unthinkable and abhorrent,” Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský wrote in a Twitter thread on Saturday. “We stand for the punishment of all war criminals. I call for the speedy establishment of a special international tribunal that will prosecute the crime of aggression,” he said. Izyum was one of Moscow’s main strongholds in the area until September 10, when a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive aimed at recapturing the Kharkiv region drove Russian troops out of the city. Following the discovery of a mass grave in a nearby wood containing the remains of over 440 people — mostly thought to be civilians — Ukrainian forces started exhuming the bodies on Friday. According to Ukrainian officials, some of the bodies recovered so far show signs of torture. The chief of the prosecutor’s office for the Kharkiv region told the Reuters...

by Prague Morning Sep 18, 2022

Zelensky Unlikely to Attend Prague EU Summit in October

The first summit meeting of the new EU-plus forum is to take place in Prague, as the Czech Republic currently holds the rotating EU presidency, just ahead of an informal meeting of EU leaders on 7 October. “Invitations will be sent out soon” for the summit, scheduled to take place on 6-7 October in Prague, with leaders of the six Western Balkan countries, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan expected to receive them, the EU official told reporters. The idea for the new forum, a brainchild of French President Emmanuel Macron, is to provide a platform for political dialogue and cooperation while including countries aspiring to join the EU and those happy remaining outside the bloc. The main aim is “to have a political discussion on strategic issues of common interest for the European continent,” the EU official said, adding that the main issues will include Russia’s war against Ukraine, the energy crisis and Europe’s economic situation. Macron had pitched the idea earlier in May, amid the debate whether to grant Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova EU candidate status, as an option that would allow those EU neighbouring countries currently outside the EU framework to be more closely...

by Prague Morning Sep 17, 2022

Czech Republic’s Electricity Price Cap Explained

The Czech government, led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala, presented a plan to relieve citizens from unprecedentedly high energy prices, with ministers finally moving to put a cap on the country’s electricity and gas prices. At the same time, proposals for price caps also came from Brussels. Jakub Kajzler, the advisor to the prime minister, spoke in an interview for Echo24 about how the Czech and European paths are related, who will not be spared by taxation, and how the Czech consumer will benefit from this. Answering the question as to why the EU price cap being lower than the one approved by the Czech government, Kajzler said that the EU price cap is a reference figure that allows governments to tax revenues from sales for prices higher than €180 per megawatt-hour. The number, however, does not say anything about what the electricity price for the consumers should be. He indicated that the European Commission is only saying that governments can use the money from the taxed income of some producers to compensate the final consumers, i.e., citizens and entrepreneurs. The Czech and European price caps are thus not comparable. A large part of the electricity that is currently being supplied was already...

by Prague Morning Sep 16, 2022

Czech Government Plans CZK 60 Billion in Aid for Companies

The Czech government plans to provide 60 billion crowns in aid to companies hit by soaring energy prices, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Wednesday. The Czech Republic, like other European Union nations, is grappling with soaring energy prices following a sharp reduction in natural gas flows from Russia amid Western sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. The package adds to a cap on power prices for households and the public sector announced on Monday. The Czech government agreed larger companies would draw from a 30 billion crown package, and a further 30 billion should be made available for smaller companies within a framework proposed by the European Commission, Fiala told reporters. Aid schemes in EU countries need to be aligned with a bloc-wide agreement expected to be based on a proposal by the Commission, which is seeking more than $140 billion from energy firms to help shield households and businesses from soaring prices. Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said the government would, on top of EU plans for a windfall levy on companies in the fossil fuels sector, also aim for a windfall tax on some banks, as well as electricity producers and traders. “The firms will receive...

by Prague Morning Sep 14, 2022

Former Czech PM Babiš Stands Trial Accused of EU Subsidy Fraud

Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has gone on trial over fraud accusations connected to a two million euro European Union subsidy that has marred his political career for the past five years. Prosecutors allege that Babis, owner of a chemicals, farming, food and media empire, now held in a trust, illegally tapped the subsidy to build a conference centre near Prague before he formed his anti-establishment ANO party in 2011. Babis has denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly said the case against him is political. “I am glad all will see this, my arguments against this untrue charge,” Babis said as he entered the court building on Monday, according to Czech Television footage. “It was of course politically motivated criminal investigation.” Potential presidential hopeful Babis, 68, is a potential presidential hopeful in an election early next year and still heads parliament’s biggest party even though he sits in opposition after five parties combined in an election last year to remove him from government. Babis may face a jail term if found guilty, although prosecutors asked for a suspended sentence and a fine. The trial is expected to last into at least mid-October, and any verdict is subject to appeals. The...

by Prague Morning Sep 13, 2022

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