From January 2023, prices for water and sewage services in Prague will increase significantly. The price increase for this service will be 18.5%. According to the new tariff, the cost of a cubic meter of tap water (including sewage) will go up by 20 CZK to 128.13 CZK, compared to the current price. The company estimates that in 2021, the average Prague resident will spend about 113 liters of water daily. This means that today, each citizen of Prague is paying about 12.22 crowns a day or 4,460 crowns a year for water and sewerage. From the new year, the cost will rise to 14.48 crowns a day or 5,285 crowns a year. That is an increase of 825 crowns per person per year. According to Pražské vodovody a kanalizace (PVK) spokesman Tomáš Mrázek, the company was forced to take this step because of increased costs. Particularly, the price of chemicals, construction work and materials, as well as electricity went up noticeably. It should be noted that PVK is foreign-owned. It is 51% owned by the French firm Veolia and 49% by the PVK. The length of the water supply network it operates is 4,444 km and the sewerage network is...
The eurozone unemployment rate declined slightly in September, a sign of a resilient labor market even as an economic recession looms. The eurozone jobless rate fell to 6.6% in September from a revised reading of 6.7% in August, according to data from the European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat released Thursday. The reading matched economists’ consensus forecast in a poll by The Wall Street Journal. The number of unemployed people fell by 66,000 in September to 10.99 million, the statistics agency said. The youth unemployment rate–among people under 25–rose to 14.6% in September from a revised reading of 14.4% in August, Eurostat said. The eurozone unemployment rate stands at a record-low level. Economists expect joblessness to increase as the region’s economy falls into a recession around year-end, but any rise in unemployment is likely to be modest. Czechia continues to have the lowest unemployment rate in the whole of the European Union, according to newly released data by the European statistics agency Eurostat. The unemployment rate dropped to 2.2 percent in September, compared to 2.4 percent in August. The country has had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU for several years now. xosotin chelseathông tin chuyển nhượngcâu lạc...
European households are feeling the pain from higher gas and electricity prices, but some nations are worse off than others. The average price of electricity in the European Union rose sharply year-on-year in the first half of the year, but the Czech Republic saw the biggest increase, amounting to 62 percent, according to data published on Monday by the European statistical office Eurostat. Analysts ascribe the 62 percent rise to speculation on the energy exchange and limited state action. According to ENA analyst and executive director of the Association of Independent Energy Suppliers Jiri Gavor, the statistics for the first half of the year show that unlike other EU countries, the Czech government avoided across-the-board forms of aid. Electricity prices rose steeply despite the fact that Czechia exports electricity and the CEZ Group is one of the largest energy groups in Europe, having produced 55.9 terawatt hours of electricity last year. Behind the Czech Republic was Latvia with an increase of 59 percent and Denmark at 57 percent. Russia’s invasion has significantly influenced energy prices upward, with European households paying €25.30 for 100 kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2022, while in the same period last year, it was €22 per 100 kWh. Household customers...
According to an analysis by Sodexo Benefity, lunch in a restaurant in September cost CZK 172 on average, CZK 5 more than in August and CZK 15 more than in January. People spent the most money on a lunch meal in a restaurant in Prague, at CZK 195. On the other hand, the cheapest price, on average CZK 153, was paid in establishments in the Olomouc region. “Given that the annual inflation rate reached 18 percent in September, and experts expect it to fall below the 10 percent mark by the middle of next year at the earliest, it is certain that people in Prague will pay an average of CZK 200 for lunch later this year. And with a high degree of probability, Central Bohemians will join them,” said Jan Michelfeit of Sodexo Benefity. At the beginning of this year, the average lunch cost CZK 157. The cheapest in September was in the Olomouc Region (CZK 152.6) and the Vysočina Region (CZK 154), the analysis showed. “Lunch prices have been rising continuously for the twelfth month in a row. They headed upwards in autumn last year, shortly after all covid restrictions were relaxed,” Michelfeit pointed out. The price is...
Andrej Babiš, former Prime Minister and leader of ANO, confirmed yesterday that he will run in the upcoming presidential election in January 2023. Speaking to TV NOVA on Sunday evening Mr. Babiš said the government’s inaction at a time of crisis had led him to accept the challenge. He said he would ask the party leadership to officially support his candidacy on Monday. General Petr Pavel would win the first round of the presidential election according to the latest election model from the Median agency. Pavel is polling at 25.4% support, with Babis at 23.5%. Economist Danuse Nerudova follows in third, with 10%. The poll also indicated that Pavel would win the second run-off round, with 59%. Support for Pavel has been increasing over time, while support for Babis has been stagnating. Respondents were asked which of two candidates they would prefer in the second round, in a variety of scenarios, and Babis would also lose against some other candidates. However, Median stressed that many voters have not yet made their final decision, and so the final result could be different. Senator Pavel Fischer stood at 8% in the poll, union leader Josef Stredula 7.5%, Senator Marek Hilser 5.5%, and...
Czech inflation, while likely to stay high until year-end, is near its peak and should not rise much further before dropping in 2023, central bank board member Karina Kubelkova said in a newspaper interview to be published on Monday. Kubelkova, who joined the board in July, said while a rise in domestic demand would signal the need for a further tightening in monetary policy, this was not materialising. “Latest data show that people are ceasing to spend and consumption is beginning to slow, and is even declining in some market segments,” she told daily Lidove Noviny in her first public remarks since joining the board. The bank halted a previous cycle of rate hikes under new Governor Ales Michl, who also took his post in July, and signalled rate stability for an extended period. The bank had raised its main rate to 7% by June this year, while inflation reached 18% year-on-year in September. Wage growth surprised on the upside in the second quarter, Kubelkova said, though she added she was not as worried as some of her board colleagues about a wage-inflation spiral, as she expected a compromise in wage talks between employers and unions. Kubelkova said the central...
The Czech Republic and Germany are close to reaching an agreement on sharing gas in times of emergency, Czech Industry Minister Jozef Sikela said on Monday, as the countries seek to bolster energy security amid dwindling supplies of Russian gas. “I believe we have made significant progress in this issue, and that we will be able to close our mutual deal soon,” Sikela said in a joint news conference with German Economy Minister Robert Habeck in Prague. Bilateral pacts are a part of European Union plans to cope with any gas supply shock, although deals have been slow to materialise. Sikela said the two countries had defined conditions under which they would start sharing gas as well as what compensation the Czech Republic would pay Germany for use of the mechanism, without disclosing further details. Germany had been a large destination and transit country for Russian gas supplies before Moscow began reducing exports to the European Union in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions from Brussels. The Czech Republic was nearly entirely dependent on Russian supplies via German routes, but it has diversified supplies, like other EU countries. The landlocked country continues to receive nearly all...
Czech lawmakers approved the Magnitsky Act on Friday, allowing the Czech government to impose sanctions on foreign entities violating human rights, supporting terrorism, or committing cyber crimes. The Czech government planned to adopt the Magnitsky Act by the end of next year, but the preparation of the draft was accelerated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “It will make the Czech Republic the first Central European country to have its instrument to sanction serious human rights violations,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said. Among EU countries, France, the Netherlands, Latvia and Estonia have similar laws. The law sets out the conditions for the inclusion of entities on the national sanctions list and the procedure for preparing proposals for the inclusion of entities on the EU sanctions list at the Czech initiative. According to the proposal, the inclusion on the sanctions list will be decided by the Government on the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For example, the state will be able to prevent sanctioned individuals from entering and staying in the country or freezing their assets. Czech law was inspired by the US Magnitsky Act, named after a Ukrainian-born lawyer and tax advisor who died in Russian state custody...
The Visegrad group, which includes Czechia, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, should expand to include Slovenia, President Miloš Zeman said at the first joint V4 meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine. During the meeting in Bratislava, leaders discussed energy security, inflation and the potential expansion of the Visegrad group to other countries. Zeman said he appreciated that all V4 countries had assisted Ukrainian refugees, noting that cooperation within the group is as useful as other similar formats, such as those within the Benelux countries. “Visegrad has proven its role by preventing attempts to distribute illegal migrants by quotas among individual European countries,” said Zeman, who also spoke in favour of expanding the V4 group to include Slovenia, which he said belongs to Visegrad cooperation. The presidents of Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, used the post-summit press conference to praise Zeman, whose second presidential mandate ends at the beginning of the next year. Polish President Andrzej Duda described him as a witty politician, while President Katalin Nováková said Zeman would be missed at the meetings. Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová pointed to the inconsistent position of the V4 countries on military aid to Kyiv. Hungary had earlier refused to allow Western arms supplies to flow...
Year-on-year inflation in the Czech Republic reached 18 percent in September, according to data published Wednesday by the Czech Statistical Office (CSU). While the previous month saw the first dip in inflation for more than a year, it grew by 0.8 percent in September, reaching the highest year-on-year rate since December 1993. In year-on-year terms, rising food and energy prices remained the major causes of inflation. Flour prices, for example, jumped 64.1 percent from last year. In its commentary on the inflation report, the Czech National Bank (CNB) noted that the published figure is below their forecast of 18.8 percent. Still, the CNB predicts that inflation will peak at just above 20 percent in the coming months and slow down in the next year. The bank also predicts that in the first half of 2024, inflation should decrease close to its 2 percent target. Inflation in the euro area reached ten percent in September up from 9.1 percent in August, according to the preliminary data released in September by Eurostat. As stated in the relevant announcement, looking at the main components of inflation in the euro area, energy is expected to have the highest annual growth rate at 40.8 percent...
Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and several other major cities have been hit in a barrage of missile attacks that hit civilian targets and killed several people, according to Ukrainian officials. Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country had launched long-range missiles against Ukrainian energy, military and communications infrastructure. He said the barrage of missile fire on Monday was a response to “terrorist attacks” on Russian territory and warned an even harsher “response” could come. Prime Minister Petr Fiala stated that the attacks on Ukrainian cities are not aimed at damaging military infrastructure. “It’s about murdering the civilian population and spreading fear,” he said. Deputy Premier Ivan Bartoš called the bombings “nothing else than a vengeful war crime” and offered his condolences to the victims. Meanwhile, the chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security, Pavel Fischer, said that the extensive rocket strikes against Ukraine show these are not accidents but an intentional “war crime”. Missiles tore into Kyiv, the most intense strikes on the city since Russia abandoned an attempt to capture it in the early weeks of the war that started in late February. Explosions were also reported in Lviv, Ternopil and Zhytomyr in Ukraine’s west; Dnipro...
Leaders from nearly all European countries gathered in Prague, on October 6 for the inaugural meeting of the European Political Community (EPC). What’s The Purpose Of The EPC? Many, including some officials from various European countries, wondered beforehand what the point really was of this meeting. It was something of an unknown. Besides, weren’t there already enough summits, institutions, and organizations bringing the continent’s politicians together? Apparently not. Judging from the background briefings and official statements during and at the end of a day full of plenary sessions, bilaterals, and roundtables, the verdict appeared to be that the EPC indeed was a good thing and that leaders liked the “freer” format in which everyone seemed to bump into each other in the labyrinth of corridors in the Prague Castle. “An informal platform” is how the host, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, described it and noted that it offered a space to discuss all sorts of pressing issues among countries that rarely meet. French President Emmanuel Macron, the driver behind the new community, called his oeuvre, “an opportunity to build a strategic intimacy in Europe.” Was Anything Really Achieved? Roughly, three things. Firstly, that it makes sense to continue. Secondly, the...
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