Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Tuesday he had tested positive for COVID-19 and would isolate for seven days. “I want to return to my work program as soon as possible, at least from home,” Fiala said on his Twitter account. The news comes as the government’s proposal for extending the state of emergency in the country is set to be debated in the Chamber of Deputies, in order to ensure the successful management of the massive Ukrainian refugee influx. “It is unlikely that the Ukrainian refugee wave will slow down in the next two months,” said Interior Minister Vít Rakušan. The government says if the legal instrument is not extended a system under which Ukrainian refugees can get accommodation via regional assistance centres would cease to function. Emergency purchases of essentials would also be impossible, says a government paper. 8,812 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the Czech Republic on Monday, which was a fall of 15 percent on the same day last week. There was a similar week-on-week percentage fall in the number of tests conducted. There were 1,857 people in hospital with the coronavirus on Monday.
Czech Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian Ambassador Alexandr Zmejevskij to Prague to protest against the unacceptable behaviour of authorities in Moscow. According to the Ministry, Czech diplomats are facing severe harassment. “The staff of our embassy in Moscow have been the target of gross harassment by the Russian authorities,” Czech Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Lenka Do said on Saturday (26 March). The Foreign Ministry is convinced that Russia’s behaviour breaches international law. “We will not give details for security reasons, but we appeal to the Russian side to respect the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” she added. Zmejevskij has been the Russian ambassador to Prague since 2016. Before that, he served as President Vladimir Putin’s advisor on international cooperation in the fight against terrorism and transnational organised crime. In the past, he has made several critical statements about the Czech Republic. Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Czech Television that Russia’s treatment of Czech diplomats is unacceptable. Prague has so far applied strict sanctions against Russia, which goes beyond the common European response. For example, the Czech Republic is no longer issuing visas for Russian citizens, except for humanitarian cases. “We have reduced diplomatic contacts to a bare minimum, and we will...
The Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovenia have prepared a list of measures the EU should carry out to end the war in Ukraine, including granting Russian deserters asylum. The EU, US and other Western democracies have already imposed harsh sanctions on Russia, but Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia would like to go even further. “If we want to restore peace, Putin needs to know where the red line is — the line he cannot cross,” Morawiecki said. “The fact that Russia has a nuclear arsenal cannot be an excuse for passivity,” he added. “We must be cognizant of this threat, but it cannot hold us back,” Morawiecki said, adding that “otherwise, Putin will only go further.” According to the prime minister, the plan prepared by Warsaw, Prague and Ljubljana is both viable and necessary. First, we must cut off all Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system. Otherwise, the Russian economy will adapt to the new conditions within a few weeks. Second, we must put in place a common asylum policy for Russian soldiers who refuse to serve the criminal regime in Moscow. Third, we must completely stop Russian propaganda in Europe. Freedom of speech does not mean...
“As Czech Republic, we understand that we are one of the priority countries. Those people seek refuge where it is linguistically and culturally close to them,” states Czech Labor Minister Marian Jurečka. Czechs who offer to accommodate refugees in their own homes or vacant apartments will receive a contribution of 3,000 crowns per person per month to cover costs, the Czech government announced on Wednesday. Discussing the help available for refugees in an interview with the SeznamZprávy news outlet, Czech Labor Minister Marian Jurečka explained that the government expects part reimbursement of the cost from the European Commission through the EU budget. “The ceiling amount of 12,000 crowns can already cover the basic costs,” Jurečka said about the maximum amount someone can claim from the state for housing refugees. “Those people will also have access to the labor market and will be able to pay some of their future income, but we leave it to the agreement between them and those who sheltered them,” said the minister. “Mandatory quotas have not been discussed in Brussels in three weeks. We do not consider this mechanism. As the Czech Republic, we understand that we are one of the priority countries,” Jurečka explained....
Former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and his former adviser Jana Nagyová are facing potential prison terms in the Čapí hnízdo (Stork Nest) case, which is being pursued by Prague prosecutor Jaroslav Šaroch. However, even if he is convicted, he may have constitutional grounds for becoming president, a position he is likely to seek in the upcoming election. According to the indictment, Babiš illegally drew a subsidy worth 50 million crowns and used it to build the Stork Nest. In an interview with the SeznamZprávy news outlet, constitutional lawyer Jan Kysela stated that Babiš could become Czech president even if he was convicted. As stated by lidovky.cz news outlet, Babiš is accused of subsidy fraud and damage to the financial interests of the EU, while the actions of Nagyová are qualified as helping Babiš in this criminal activity. Babiš and Nagyová have been rejecting such accusations for a long time. Babiš meets the basic requirements to run for president Constitutional lawyer Jan Kysela commented on what the lawsuit means in terms of Babiš’s presidential candidacy. Babiš is one of the favorites in the upcoming elections, which will take place at the beginning of 2023. According to Kysela, it is presumed that a person facing criminal charges would not...
Petr Fiala told The Daily Beast that Western allies need to rush more anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles to Ukraine to halt the Russian advance. Petr Fiala has powerful early memories of tanks. In August of 1968, the Soviet Army invaded Czechoslovakia and crushed an uprising against the Soviet Union’s dictatorial rule. More than 100 people died in the street while resisting the soldiers. Back then, Fiala was just 4 years old, but he can still recall his parents’ shock and distress, which lingered long after the Soviet soldiers had withdrawn to their nearby barracks. Now, Fiala is 57 and prime minister of the Czech Republic, which split peacefully from Slovakia in 1993. The Soviet invasion that went down in history as the “Prague Spring” has left Fiala extremely vigilant when it comes to Russia. This is why Fiala did not hesitate when the idea of going to war-torn Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came up at the European Union summit in Versailles. “I saw the Soviet tanks in the streets of Prague and I know very well what it did to my country for the next 20 years. I don’t want to see Russian tanks here or anywhere else in Europe again,”...
Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who was a native Czech, has died of cancer at the age of 84. Albright was a central figure in President Bill Clinton’s administration, first serving as US ambassador to the United Nations before becoming the nation’s top diplomat in his second term. She championed the expansion of NATO, pushed for the alliance to intervene in the Balkans to stop genocide and ethnic cleansing, sought to reduce the spread of nuclear weapons, and championed human rights and democracy across the globe. She was a face of US foreign policy in the decade between the end of the Cold War and the war on terror triggered by the September 11, 2001, attacks, an era heralded by President George H.W. Bush as a “new world order.” The US, particularly in Iraq and the Balkans, built international coalitions and occasionally intervened militarily to roll back autocratic regimes, and Albright — a self-identified “pragmatic idealist” who coined the term “assertive multilateralism” to describe the Clinton administration’s foreign policy — drew from her experience growing up in a family that fled the Nazis and communists in mid-20th century Europe to shape her worldview. She saw the US as the “indispensable nation” when it...
An influx of Ukrainian refugees into the Czech labor market will aid the country’s economy, but it could also compress wages, Štěpán Křeček, the adviser to Prime Minister Petr Fiala has told Czech news outlet Echo24. For several years, employment offices have been offering more places than registered jobseekers across Czechia. There are current 360,000 job vacancies with just 260,000 applicants. Sectors such as gastronomy, healthcare, industry, logistics, and IT have been most affected, however, the current conflict in Ukraine has the opportunity to rectify this with many skilled workers returning home. So far, an estimated 270,000 people have come to Czech Republic, with more refugees expected to arrive in the longer term. “Thanks to the arrival of the Ukrainians, positions can be filled in which the Czechs no longer want to work. If we manage the integration of the Ukrainians, it will ultimately help our economy,” Štěpán Křeček told the news outlet. According to Křeček, employers welcome the arrival of a new workforce, however, current employees will face tougher competition and may perceive the opposite. Businesses are currently needing to satisfy the requirements of prospective employees, however, a redress of the balance of power could see working conditions and wage...
The Association of Bakers and Pastry Chefs called on the authorities to limit wheat exports, as the price of the grain has almost doubled year on year due to the fighting in Ukraine. If no measures are taken, the country may face a deficit of this key product, which will lead to a sharp increase in the price of bread, up to 60 crowns per kilogram. Many countries in Asia and Africa depend on imports of cereals from Russia and Ukraine, but now due to the war, they have to buy raw materials in other countries, including the Czech Republic. According to Bohumil Hlavatý, executive director of the Association of Bakers and Pastry Chefs, “the Czech Republic is completely self-sufficient in the production of wheat, which is an essential raw material for Czech pastries, and exports a significant part of its production. Unfortunately, the current situation affected by the war in Ukraine has increased the price of wheat year-on-year by 100 percent.” As a result of the increase in the prices of raw materials, fuel and energy, Mr Hlavatý says bakeries saw their costs rise by more than 30 percent in January compared to the same month last year. The...
A total ban on trade with Russia proposed by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is not realistic as the EU’s four sanction packages are working well, said Czech finance minister Zbyněk Stanjura. “From what I have heard from fellow finance ministers from other countries, I do not think this proposal will get support,” Stanjura said. While the Czech government claims that it promotes the strictest sanctions against Russia, a complete ban on trade would mean the end of gas and oil imports from Russia – a move unacceptable for several EU countries, including Germany and Austria. Further measures against Russia will be discussed at the European Council summit on 24 and 25 March. In its latest package, the EU widened sanctions to more Russian and Belarusian oligarchs and banned exports of luxury goods, iron, and steel, as well as investments in the Russian energy sector. EU sanctions are landing a devastating blow to the Russian economy, said Czech National Bank Governor Jiří Rusnok. European and US sanctions will set the Russian economy back twenty years, he added. Stanjura added that the fifth package of EU sanctions is being prepared. Czechia proposes to exclude all Russian banks from the SWIFT international...
Czech Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš will face trial after the prosecution indicted him in a fraud case involving European Union subsidies. The move announced on Monday by Prague’s public prosecution office came weeks after lawmakers in the lower house of the Czech Parliament agreed on March 3 to lift Babiš’ immunity from prosecution for his alleged involvement in the $2 million fraud. That decision allowed the prosecutors to complete their review of the case and go ahead with Babiš’ indictment. It was repeatedly recommended by police investigators. Babiš denies any wrongdoing and has repeatedly said the allegations against him were politically motivated. “I’ve never done anything illegal, in the past or in politics,” he said on Monday. “I’ll prove it at the court.” The prosecution said Prague’s Municipal Court will take over the case. A date for the trial has not been immediately set. The allegations involve a farm that received EU subsidies after its ownership was transferred from the Babiš-owned Agrofert conglomerate of around 250 companies to Babiš’ family members. Later, Agrofert again took ownership of the farm. The subsidies were meant for medium- and small-sized businesses and Agrofert wouldn’t have been eligible for them. Lawmakers twice...
Prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia will travel to Kyiv on Tuesday to meet President Volodomyr Zelenskiy as representatives of European Union leaders, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on social networks. “The purpose of the visit is to confirm the unequivocal support of the entire European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” he said. “The aim of this visit is also to present a broad package of support for Ukraine and Ukrainians.” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Petr Fiala, and Slovenia’s Janez Jansa will also meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal during the visit. The trip was organized “in agreement with” European Council chief Charles Michel and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, it added. The agenda of the talk is expected to revolve around Ukraine’s immediate needs. “The purpose of the visit is to confirm the unequivocal support of the entire European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine and to present a broad package of support for the Ukrainian state and society,” the statement said. Today, we are going together with PM of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki, deputy PM Jarosław Kaczyński and PM of Slovenia Janez Janša to Kiev...
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