The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic strongly condemns the decision of the Russian Federation to recognize the independence of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic. “This is a clear violation of the UN Charter, the Minsk Agreements and the Budapest Memorandum of 1994. After the illegal occupation and annexation of Crimea in 2014, this is yet another step by which the Russian Federation has long trampled on the fundamental principles of international law and its own obligations regarding the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine,” states the official website. The recognition of the independence of the so-called people’s republics is another step in the escalation of the already tense situation and threatens the security of the whole of Europe. “The Czech Republic, together with its NATO and EU allies, supports international diplomatic efforts to avert aggression against Ukraine and preserve peace. The Czech Republic will respond in unity with its allies. We reaffirm our long-standing, principled support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders,” said minister Jan Lipavsky. “We call on the Russian Federation to reconsider its steps and return to the negotiating table in the interests of...
The Czech government is prepared for all development scenarios in Ukraine, including the interruption of energy supplies, said Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) in a video posted on social media on Saturday. The solution to the situation, according to him, is not war, but even thoughtless concessions. From the side of Russia, he sees an effort to make the Czech Republic once again a weak and divided country, which he will be able to influence. The basic condition for dissuading Russia from aggression is to show unity and an uncompromising attitude. Any war conflict, according to Fiala, would undoubtedly have repercussions on the Czech Republic as well. “I would like to assure you that our government is prepared for this situation, that we can manage it together. We are prepared for all scenarios, whether there is a power cut or a refugee wave,” the Prime Minister said. He noted that no one wants such a development, and that is why the government is trying at the international level to resolve the critical situation in a diplomatic and peaceful way. At the same time, he stressed the need for unity and firmness in matters of principle. He recalled the historical experience...
Western-touted assertions about Russia’s plans to launch ‘an invasion of Ukraine’ on February 16 led to another fiasco for US intelligence agencies, President Milos Zeman of the Czech Republic said in an interview with the Mlada Fronta Dnes newspaper, published on Thursday. During an interview with the newspaper “Mlada fronta Dnes”, Zeman compared those allegations to the United States’ past claims about Iraq and Afghanistan. “My view [of the situation around Ukraine is that] there will be no war because Russians aren’t insane to launch an operation that will cause them more damage than benefits,” Zeman pointed out. “As for US intelligence agencies, this is their third fiasco. The first was the war in Iraq, where no weapons of mass destruction were found. Afghanistan was the second one, as [they] claimed that the Taliban would never take Kabul. And now this is the third one,” the Czech president noted. Zeman said that five days before February 16, he had received a secret message about alleged preparations for a Russian invasion of Ukraine. “It came from the CIA. I don’t ask the CIA what sources of information it has. But given the three [fiascos], I doubt the quality of these sources,”...
Kyiv Mayor, UDAR leader Vitali Klitschko has met with Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib and Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, who arrived in Kyiv to express their support and solidarity with Ukraine, as well as discuss Kyiv’s accession to the Pact of Free Cities with Klitschko. During the meeting, Klitschko noted that the visit of the mayors of European cities is very important for Ukrainians and for him personally. “Today is a very dramatic moment for my country. Ukraine, for all the time of independence, has never faced such a threat. A threat to its statehood, territorial integrity, its citizens. We are a peaceful state and a peaceful people. And we do not threaten anyone,” Klitschko said. “But we will protect our freedom and independence, our land from any aggressor. And today the support of every partner, every friend of Ukraine and Kyiv is important to us. And the wider and more powerful such support is, the more deterrence there will be for Russia to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the likelihood of which is very high today,” he added. He thanked his colleagues and noted that the very fact of their visit to Kyiv at such a dramatic moment is...
Former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš was re-elected as chairman of the ANO party despite defeat in October’s elections. On Saturday’s party congress, Babiš reaffirmed that ANO, affiliated to Renew Europe group, would remain a “catch-all” political party and spoke about his possible presidential candidacy. Babiš was the only candidate for the post of ANO chairman and received 76 of 95 votes. During his speech, he criticised the current five-party ruling coalition and media. “The entire carpet-bombing of our movement was carried out with the loud support and applause of many journalists,” Babiš said. “They talked about the end of democracy, about being dragged to East, about interfering in police investigations and other and other nonsense that never happened,” former PM added. Babiš also mentioned the upcoming presidential elections but did not say whether he would run in them. However, he said that the ANO party must field a candidate to unite society and represent the Czech Republic well abroad. The next presidential elections will take place in 2023. As the president is elected directly by the citizens, Babiš’s popularity among the public could propel him to the post. In October’s elections, the ANO party received 27.1 % of votes, only...
While in previous months the level of inflation in the Czech Republic was largely equivalent to that in the EU, in January the consumer price index exceeded the eurozone’s average, the Czech Statistics Agency announced on Monday. Eurozone inflation was at 5.1 percent in January. Meanwhile, in the Czech Republic, it reached 9.9 percent. It is expected that inflation next year could be between 8.6 and 10.9 percent on average and as high as 11 percent. This is due to higher energy prices, and change in price lists of goods and services and the expected rise in food prices. In December, annual inflation was 6.6 percent, and according to CZSO data, annual inflation was above ten percent last time in July 1998. “It is difficult to estimate because prices are constantly changing in the economy. This year, it is all the more complicated, as price pressures are very widespread and the revaluation of January prices can be really significant, “said Jakub Seidler, chief economist of the Czech Banking Association. He says that a 30% year-on-year increase in electricity and gas prices can be expected, as well as a significant increase in food prices. “It is thus very likely that year-on-year...
The Czech Republic is preparing to sign a Declaration on Ukraine’s European Prospect in support of the country’s EU accession. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský told this in an interview with Yevropeiska Pravda, a Ukrainian media outlet. “We are currently negotiating on the issue (of signing a declaration, – ed.) with Ukraine. And I am very optimistic about the results of these talks,” Lipavský said. He stressed that if Ukraine does not stop carrying out reforms, joining the EU will become a “simple documentary formality.” Lipavský also underlined the most crucial areas, subjected to the reforms. “The rule of law, judicial reform, anti-corruption spheres. This is a difficult task, yes, but we will repeat it again and again. Once you have a milieu that EU companies feel safe in Ukraine, you will see the robust growth of the Ukrainian economy,” the minister assured. Seven EU countries have already signed Declaration on Ukraine’s European Prospect – Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Croatia, and Slovenia. February 7-8, the Slavkov trilateral – Foreign Ministers Jan Lipavský (the Czech Republic), Alexander Schallenberg (Austria), and Ivan Korčok (Slovakia) – paid a joint visit to Ukraine to coordinate policies on deterring Russian full-fledged invasion. The Czech Republic assured Ukraine of support...
The Czech government plans to continue supplying weapons to Ukraine after the decision to provide 4,000 artillery shells as European Truth reported citing Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský. “I don’t know exactly what form this will take yet, but our government has the political will to help Ukraine withstand this crisis. Part of this effort is aimed at changing the “loss calculations” for Putin so that he decides not to physically attack Ukraine,” the Czech minister said. According to him, there was no discussion in Czech society about whether to provide shells to Ukraine. “Of course, people may have different opinions, but there was no political debate at all about supplying weapons to Ukraine. So I’m glad that the Czech Republic has finally joined the club of states that help Ukraine in this way. As you mentioned, not all states do this. But our club is not bad – we are there together with the United States, Britain, Poland, the Baltic States,” the minister said. The diplomat added that the Czech Republic helps Ukraine because local events affect Central Europe. “Migration is changing, economic interaction – everything is changing. We are in a close neighborhood with you, so everything that happens in your country matters to...
The Czech Republic is the ninth most advanced economy in the European Union. Sweden ranks first, followed by Germany and Denmark. This is according to the first pillar of the new Prosperity Index focused on the economy, compiled by analysts at Česká spořitelna and Europe in Data. The Czech Republic can achieve a better ranking by investing in changing the structure of the economy, innovation, and education. David Navrátil, the chief economist at Česká spořitelna, added that the Czech Republic’s strongest points include economic complexity (ranked 2nd) or the investment-to-GDP ratio (ranked 3rd). On the other hand, weaker results are in terms of the share of national income in domestic product or the level of value-added of the economy. A higher level of investment does not automatically mean a higher rate of modernisation of the economy, especially in comparison with other countries. This can be seen, for example, in the robotization of the Czech economy. The number of robots per worker in the Czech Republic is growing, but not enough. This is why the Czech Republic has fallen out of the top 20 most robotized economies in the world. Currently, Germany is the European leader in robotization with 371 robots...
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments to Europe late last year showed Russia could not use gas as great leverage over Europe, and the gas shortfall supported efforts to build more LNG capacity on European shores, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on Wednesday. Lipavsky told Reuters in an interview that diversion of LNG cargoes to Europe after prices surged late last year amid lower supplies from Russia showed there were alternatives to Russian gas and supported the argument for investing in infrastructure. “I like to say (Russian President) Vladimir Putin gave Europe a great Christmas gift because he showed that we are not dependent on Russian gas,” Lipavsky said. “I am not saying we can only be dependent on LNG, but this is a very good example that Russia cannot afford to use gas as some fundamental economic lever, because if Europe builds sufficient mechanisms, terminals, it will diversify its energy security.” The Czech Republic consumes around 8.7 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year, most of which comes from Russia through Germany. Lipavsky, whose ministry has a special envoy for energy security, said the Czech government aimed to gain access to an LNG terminal in some neighbouring country....
Almost ten thousand flats were given the green light in Prague last year. And even though this does not make up for the shortage the capital is currently facing, this fact is still worth mentioning – it is a record. The reasons are various. Firstly, it is a reduction in the time taken to amend the zoning plan, but the coronavirus pandemic may also have played a role. “The reality has exceeded my expectations, with the construction of 9,698 flats in Prague starting in 2021, which, as far as I know, is the highest number in the history of the independent Czech Republic,” said Adam Zábranský (Pirates), the Czech Housing Councillor, on his Twitter account. Last year, 4,335 flats received building permits, which was a decrease compared to 2019 – when 6,487 flats were started, the most since 2008. The chart shows that it is only the fourth time since 1997 that the seven and a half thousand permits have been exceeded. Before last year, it was in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The city’s quicker approach in amending its zoning plan probably helped. “We were the first to drastically reduce the time it takes to address a project within the...
Poland and the Czech Republic on Thursday tamped down their dispute over the environmental impact of a coal mine close to the Czech border. The Polish government agreed to pay the Czech government 45 million euros in exchange for withdrawing a lawsuit brought by Prague against Warsaw at the Court of Justice of the European Union. Under the deal, 35 milion euros will be used to analyse and monitor the effects of the mine while the state-owned Polish energy group (PGE) will pay 10 milion euros directly to the affected region. The settlement also involves the building and testing of an underground wall to protect Czech villages from the effects of the mine. But local civil society and green groups slammed Prague’s acceptance of the deal, saying there was a risk it would not address all of the groundwater supply problems around the mine, at Turów. “It’s a shame that the Czech government is unprepared to stand firm on its citizens’ rights,” said Zala Primc from the environmental campaign group Europe Beyond Coal. Underlying the sensitivity of the issues around Turów is Poland’s continued dependence on coal. The mine operator, PGE, says the power station supplied by the mine provides...
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