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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Prime Minister Petr Fiala is set to attend late Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, president, Miloš Zeman told radio Frekvence 1 on Sunday. The funeral will be held on September 19, according to Reuters. President Zeman said that he had been forbidden by doctors to fly due to medical reasons and that he therefore asked the prime minister to attend instead. Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, and the nation’s figurehead for seven decades, died at her home in Scotland aged 96 on Thursday. The Queen’s state funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey in central London, after which the Queen’s coffin will be taken to Windsor for a committal. Details of who will attend as well as the order of service are expected next week. Her funeral will be a bank holiday, King Charles has announced. It is thought there are plans for the Queen’s coffin to process on a gun carriage to the abbey. The military will be expected to line the streets and also join the procession. Following the tradition of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the Duke of Edinburgh, it is expected the family will follow behind the coffin. Heads of state, prime ministers and presidents, European...
The Czech government will look at putting a limit on industrial electricity bills at the same time as it tries to help households and state institutions get through Europe’s energy crisis, Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said on Sunday. The centre-right government is readying more measures to go alongside European Union plans to ease the burden of soaring energy prices after an emergency meeting of the bloc’s energy ministers on Friday. The Czech government is due to meet on Monday. “I am for a bold solution,” Stanjura said on Czech Television’s Sunday debate show, referring to guaranteeing electricity prices for industry. He backed the move “even with the possible risk that it will be assessed that there was some unauthorized support,” he added, in a possible reference to EU competition and aid rules. This step could be in place by the end of the year and would last up to two years, he told the show. Stanjura told daily Hospodarske Noviny last week that national plans to ease the burden of soaring energy costs, including some form of price cap, could cost up to 130 billion crowns. The Czechs have started implementing a reduced electricity tariff for households as part of...
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