Politics & Economics

Taiwanese Delegation in Prague to Boost Ties; China Protests

Taiwanese government ministers were visiting Prague on Monday accompanied by dozens of business and research representatives to boost trade and investment, a move that has angered China. Minister of National Development Kung Ming-hsin is leading a delegation of 66 officials representing business and research groups and organizations, including biotechnology, green energy, information technology, machinery and tourism. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu will visit later in the week. China has protested, threatening unspecified retaliatory steps. Taiwan relies on such exchanges to counter China´s efforts to isolate the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own territory, to be annexed by military force if it deems necessary. The Czech Republic, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but maintains robust informal contacts. Taiwan´s high-tech companies are also significant investors in the Czech Republic. The ties between Prague and Taipei were boosted by last year´s trip to Taiwan by the speaker of the Czech parliament´s upper house, the Senate, Milos Vystrcil. He was accompanied by more than 80 representatives from government, business and academia, drawing strong criticism from China. Vystrcil and other senior officials in the Senate, together with representatives of government business and tourist agencies and business groups, are...

by Prague Morning Oct 25, 2021

The Future Czech Government Wants to Return to Václav Havel’s Values

Everything is pointing to the establishment of a fourth center-right government in the Visegrad Group following the recent parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic. The SPOLU coalition received the most votes and is comprised of the right-wing Civic Democratic Party (ODS), the Christian Democrat-People’s Party union KDU-CSL, and the liberal-conservative TOP 09. Even though a new government has not yet been formed, and the coalition agreement between SPOLU and the second election block (PirSTAN) has not yet been signed, the future ruling camp is being put under constant pressure by the liberal-left environments and media. They are demanding one thing: that Petr Fiala’s government decisively cut themselves away from Poland and Hungary’s policies and even distance themselves from the V4, separate itself from Andrej Babis’ legacy (and therefore cease referring to the concept of national interest in foreign policy), and change its approach towards the EU’s migration policy. According to Ondřej Kolář from TOP 09, the Czech Republic will seek to implement a foreign policy based on Vaclav Havel’s values, accentuating human rights and civil society, and active membership in the EU and NATO. There are plans to revise relations with Russia and China. Similar opinions can even be heard...

by Prague Morning Oct 23, 2021

Czech Lower House to Vote on Lifting Babis’ Immunity for EU Fraud Prosecution

Czech acting Supreme Public Prosecutor Jaroslav Šaroch will ask the lower house of parliament to lift the immunity from prosecution of Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) so he can be tried in the Stork’s Nest case, where he is alleged to have committed fraud with EU subsidies. This vote will take place after the constituent session of the new Chamber of Deputies on November 8, confirmed Ales Cimbala, a spokesperson for the Prague City Prosecutor’s Office, to the Czech News Agency. “The public prosecutor’s office is bound only by the Criminal Procedure Code in its activities, and for that reason it must now respect the fact that one of the accused persons has regained his parliamentary mandate and the immunity that goes with it. No criminal proceedings can currently be taken against this person,” Cimbala explained. Šaroch was originally supposed to make a decision on the police’s motion to file charges by October 20, but given that Babis regained his seat in the house after the general election with an MP´s immunity, his prosecution is now again suspended. Today’s decision to move to lift Babis’ immunity does not necessarily mean that Saroch agrees that there is now enough evidence to go to...

by Prague Morning Oct 20, 2021

Czech Government Set to Drop Tax on Energy as Prices Soar

On Monday, the Czech government authorized Minister of Finance Alena Schillerová to waive the Value Added Tax (VAT) on energy for November and December because of the rising energy prices. Schillerová announced the decision at a press conference after a government meeting on the issue, adding that it will cost the state budget 1 billion CZK a month. The VAT rate on energy is now 21 percent. With this step, the government is responding to rising electricity and gas prices, which are affecting all of Europe. The typical Czech household, which pays 1,000 CZK a month for electricity, will save about 350 CZK on their bill for November and December, said Schillerová. The tax waiver is made possible by a provision in the Czech tax code that allows the Minister of Finance to collectively waive the payment of tax in the event of extraordinary events, especially natural disasters. According to the minister, this step should be followed by an amendment to the VAT Act effective from Jan. 1, which will extend zero VAT for a necessary period of time. The government should discuss the situation at a special meeting on Wednesday. According to Schillerová, waiving the VAT is an unusual act,...

by Prague Morning Oct 19, 2021

Czech Election Winner Wants to Cut Planned 2022 Budget Deficit

Czech opposition parties seeking to form a new government will aim to rework the 2022 budget to cut the planned deficit to below 300 billion CZK, a top party leader said on Sunday. Petr Fiala, leader of the centre-right coalition Together which defeated Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s ruling ANO party in an Oct. 8-9 election and plans to form a new government with the Pirate/Mayors group, told a Czech Television debate show that they would reject the current administration’s budget plans. That means the budget is unlikely to be approved before year-end, causing the country to revert to a provisional plan that limits discretionary spending. Fiala said a provisional budget for up to two months would not cause a problem. Babis’s government has proposed a 376.6 billion CZK deficit in 2022, similar to the record gap seen in 2020 after the start of the coronavirus pandemic and the expected gap seen in 2021 as spending stays high. “A deficit like this is not possible,” Fiala said. “We have to count on a provisional budget, but of course it is in everybody’s interest to have the amended budget accepted at the soonest.” He said changes could be done in weeks. When...

by Prague Morning Oct 18, 2021

Babis Heading for Opposition After Losing Election

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said he wouldn’t accept an offer to try to create a new government after his centrist ANO political movement narrowly lost in the parliamentary election last week and was ready to end up in opposition. Babis announced his decision in an interview for the Frekvence 1 radio station on Friday. “We´ll hand it over to the new coalition and we´ll be in opposition,” the populist billionaire said. Babis´ decision opens the way for two coalitions of five parties that have won a majority in the vote to rule. A liberal-conservative, three-party coalition named Together captured 27.8% of the vote on Saturday, beating Babis´ ANO party, which won 27.1%. A center-left liberal coalition received 15.6% to finish third. The two coalitions have pledged to govern jointly. They´re closer to the European Union mainstream than Euroskeptic Babis. Together won 71 of the 200 seats in the lower house of parliament and the center-left alliance won 37 seats, which would give their government a comfortable, 108-seat majority. Babis´ ANO won 72 seats, six fewer than it did in the 2017 election. President Milos Zeman who is currently hospitalized previously said he would first give a mandate to the...

by Prague Morning Oct 16, 2021

IMF Lowers Growth Outlook for Czech Economy to 3.8 Percent

The Czech economy will grow by 3.8 percent this year and speed up to 4.5 percent next year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its autumn outlook. It thus worsened its estimate from the spring forecast, when it expected the Czech gross domestic product (GDP) to increase to 4.2 percent this year. The Monetary Fund sees next year more optimistically in the case of both the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In the spring, it predicted the Czech Republic to grow by 4.3 percent and Slovakia by 4.4 percent. Now, in the case of Slovakia, it is expecting an economic increase of 5.2 percent next year. In its forecast at the end of August, the Czech Ministry of Finance improved its estimate of economic development for this year and 2022. The economy is expected to grow by 3.2 percent this year and by 4.2 percent next year. In its forecast from early August, the Czech National Bank expects economic growth of 3.5 percent and next year of 4.1 percent. xosotin chelseathông tin chuyển nhượngcâu lạc bộ bóng đá arsenalbóng đá atalantabundesligacầu thủ haalandUEFAevertonfutebol ao vivofutemaxmulticanaisonbetbóng đá world cupbóng đá inter milantin juventusbenzemala ligaclb leicester cityMUman citymessi lionelsalahnapolineymarpsgronaldoserie atottenhamvalenciaAS ROMALeverkusenac milanmbappenapolinewcastleaston villaliverpoolfa...

by Prague Morning Oct 15, 2021

President Zeman Agrees to Meet Opposition Leader, But Not Date Set

Czech President Milos Zeman will meet with the leader of the opposition coalition Together, Petr Fiala, at his request at a time to be determined later, the president’s spokesman said on Twitter on Wednesday. Zeman was taken to hospital and placed in an intensive care unit on Sunday, a day after Together and another coalition group defeated Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s ruling ANO party and its allies in a parliamentary election and pledged to form a cabinet. Zeman, an ally of Babis, has not yet said who he would tap to try to form a government talks first. Election in numbers With 27.8% the SPOLU (Togеther) coalition, consisting of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL), and Liberal Democratic Party (TOP 09), received the most votes; the next largest vote share — 27.1% — went to Babiš’s movement ANO (Yes), which received 29.6% in 2017; next came the coalition of the Pirati (Pirate party) and STAN (The Mayors and Independents) at 15.6%; SPD Movement (Freedom and Direct Democracy, a right-wing Eurosceptical party) at 9.6% (10.6% in 2017). The parties that were unable to enter the Chamber of Deputies were the ČSSD (social democrats), which got 4.7% of votes (7.3%...

by Prague Morning Oct 14, 2021

Czech Election: Here’s What Could Happen Next

The Czech Republic finds itself after Saturday’s election in the unusual position of having a combined opposition majority and a prime minister who has yet to give up attempts at forming a new cabinet. And President Milos Zeman is in intensive care due to complications caused by an undisclosed chronic illness, unable to oversee talks to form a new government. Here’s what could happen next. FIRST STEPS By convention, the president should talk to all parties and ask one of them to negotiate with partners and propose a government. But with Zeman in hospital, the parties plan to talk among themselves. The first parliamentary session will be held within a month of the election and must elect the new parliamentary speaker, a crucial test of control in the chamber. After that, the outgoing government resigns and the president appoints a new prime minister and cabinet, but there is no deadline for this process. ZEMAN APPOINTS BABIS Zeman could give his ally, Prime Minister Andrej Babis, the first chance to form a government on the basis that Babis’s centrist ANO party won the biggest single share of seats. Zeman had in the past said the biggest party would have the first...

by Prague Morning Oct 11, 2021

Babiš: “I Will Stay in the Parliament Even If We Are in Opposition”

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) said he would definitely stay in the Parliament, even if his party ended up in opposition. Before the election, however, he claimed the stated opposite: “If I will not retain power after next weekend’s elections, I’m ready to quit politics”, said Babiš to radio station Frekvence 1. “I will not give up. I have bad news for you, I will stay in that Parliament. And if we end up in opposition, I’ll be there. And we will follow all those promises of Mr. Fiala. I devoted ten years of my life to my party, I did it for the sake of this country,” he said on Facebook on Sunday. Babiš now plans to address the ODS for negotiations. “We will see if they want to cooperate or not.” However, the Pirates and Mayors, together with the SPOLU coalition, agreed on a memorandum on Saturday in which they pledged to attempt to form a government and asked President Zeman to name SPOLU leader Petr Fiala prime minister. Spolu consists of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), KDU-ČSL, and TOP 09. FORMING GOVT MAY TAKE MONTHS Under the constitution, the president can appoint anyone as prime minister and instruct them to...

by Prague Morning Oct 11, 2021

PM Babiš Dealt Shock Election Loss but May Try to Keep Power

Prime minister Andrej Babiš appears to have lost his grip on power after his populist party failed to win a majority in Saturday’s nail-bitingly close election. The results mean opposition coalitions could now join forces to grab power after a dramatic day at the ballot box. With 100% of the votes counted, the center-right alliance Spolu (Together) won the most votes with 27.79% of the ballots, followed by Babiš’s ANO party with 27.12%, and the centrist PirStan coalition on 15.62%, according to a tally of votes on the statistical office’s website. While Babiš’s party ANO won the most votes of any single party, it does not have any clear path to a majority after Saturday’s vote. “We are the change. You are the change,” Spolu coalition leader Petr Fiala said Saturday, claiming victory before a cheering crowd. The leader of the PirStan coalition, Ivan Bartoš, said talks with Spolu “on the possibilities of forming a new government” would likely begin on Saturday. “The dominance of Andrej Babiš is over, and the democratic parties have shown that the era of chaos will probably be behind us,” Bartoš said. The memorandum was a challenge to President Miloš Zeman who has said prior...

by Prague Morning Oct 10, 2021

BREAKING: SPOLU Wins Elections

With nearly all votes counted, the opposition coalition appears to have secured a slim majority, overtaking Prime Minister Andrej Babis’ ANO party. Czech Television predicts two opposition coalitions will win 108 of 200 seats. Opposition leader says they will start talks on forming a government. Both groups have said they will not work with Babis. The Czech centre-right and liberal opposition groups were set to gain a majority in the lower house holding a narrow lead during Saturday’s parliamentary election. With 99.6% of voting districts reporting results, premier Andrej Babis and his ANO party have fallen behind, holding 27.27% of the vote in the two-day election to determine 200 seats in the lower house of parliament. Meanwhile, the Pirates/Mayors coalition leader Ivan Bartos said they will begin talks of forming the next government. However, Czech President Miloš Zeman is still widely expected to task Babiš with forming a new government because he leads the individual party with the most votes. Zeman has said he believes election coalitions are “a scam.” With both the Communists and the Social Democrats out of parliament, it seems unlikely that Babiš will be able to find enough support to remain in power and a period of political...

by Prague Morning Oct 09, 2021

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