Politics & Economics

Czech Government Re-Declares State of Emergency

The Czech government re-declared a state of emergency for two weeks to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. The decision comes in defiance of the lower house of Parliament, which has refused the minority government’s request to extend the powerful tool that gives the Cabinet the extra powers needed to impose nationwide restrictions and limit people’s travel and rights. Despite the dire situation, some lawyers and politicians, including Milos Vystrcil, the Senate speaker, say the government’s move violates the country’s Constitution. The government denies that, saying its legal advisers support such a solution. “I’m really glad that common sense has won,” the country’s prime minister Andrej Babiš said. The current state of emergency would have expired on Sunday. The government could use other legal options to reimpose some coronavirus restrictions but not all of them. Without the state of emergency, service businesses could resume, the nighttime curfew would end and a ban on more than two people gathering in public would be cancelled. “We can’t afford that to happen,” Babiš said. The government warned that the restrictions are needed to keep the country’s outbreak from getting worse and causing the health system to collapse. Sunday’s move comes at the request of the...

by Prague Morning Feb 14, 2021

State of Emergency Extended for Two More Weeks

The regional governors agreed to extend the state of emergency for 14 more days. Interior Minister Jan Hamáček (CSSD) said that the priority will be the return of children to school. “Today we agreed that all governors will ask for a state of emergency. At the moment, it is the only way to manage the crisis situation in our country,” said the Moravian-Silesian Governor Ivo Vondrák (ANO). The current state of emergency expires on Sunday, February 14. In the morning, the governors discussed the conditions under which they would request the declaration of a new state of emergency with the Minister of Health, Jan Blatný (ANO). The South Bohemian governor and chairman of the Association of Regions Martin Kuba (ODS) stated that “the governors are asking the children to return to school on March 1.” The governor of Pardubice Martin Netolický remarked that the regions require the government to communicate to the public a plan for the coming days and weeks regarding the release of certain measures. “We want to have a clear timetable for gradual release at further negotiations. We also require self-testing in companies and large employers.” The governors want regular meetings every ten days of the association...

by Prague Morning Feb 14, 2021

The Latest: State of Emergency to End on February 14

The Czech lower house of parliament on Thursday rejected the government’s request to extend a state of emergency underpinning pandemic measures beyond February 14. The Chamber of Deputies rejected the extension of the state of emergency in force in the Czech Republic due to the coronavirus epidemic. The minority government said the decision would mean the end of nationwide limits on movement, including a night-time curfew, the lifting of a ban on public gatherings, and a reopening of retail stores. Some other measures may still be extended under different legislation. The government of PM Andrej Babiš (ANO) asked to extend the state of emergency for another 30 days. The entire opposition did not support the government’s request. At least 54 parliamentary votes were required for its adoption. Babiš told MPs that” anyone who voted against extending the state of emergency would be directly responsible for the loss of human lives.” Early today, Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said that “the refusal to prolong the state of emergency implies a tremendous risk of collapsing healthcare and a negative development of the coronavirus pandemic in the Czech Republic”. “We will make history as a country that demobilized in the middle of a war,”...

by Prague Morning Feb 11, 2021

Babiš: “We Need to Wait for the Sputnik V Approval by the European Union”

On Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) said that the Czech Republic will wait for the Sputnik V approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). “We will therefore not follow the example of Hungary, which will start vaccinating people suffering no chronic diseases with Russia’s Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine.” Hungary’s drug regulator granted the shot emergency use approval rather than waiting for the EU’s European Medicines Agency (EMA) to give it the go-ahead. PM Babiš will visit Serbia with a team of experts on Wednesday, to discuss the country’s experiences with the pandemic Russia’s vaccine. The team includes the main epidemiologist of IKEM Petr Smejkal, the head of the Department of Infectious Parasitic, and the chief surgeon of the infectious diseases of the University Hospital in Bulovka, Hana Roháčová. Serbia has already vaccinated more than half a million people. In Belgrade, the Prime Minister will meet with the Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, and President Alexander Vučić. “On average per capita, they are among the best in the world, so we are interested in their experience. They have experience with vaccines that have not been approved in the EU,” Babiš said before leaving for Serbia. “Whether [vaccines] come from...

by Prague Morning Feb 10, 2021

Central Europe Presidents Mark 30 Years of Visegrad Group

The presidents of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia gathered in northern Poland on Tuesday for two days of debates to mark the 30th anniversary of the Visegrad Group, an informal body of political and economic cooperation in the region. Their talks will include the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, building energy security, protecting the climate, and international and trans-Atlantic relations. The group, also known as V4, often works out joint positions in international ties, especially within the European Union. Polish President Andrzej Duda welcomed counterparts, Zuzanna Czaputova of Slovakia, Janos Ader of Hungary, and Milos Zeman of the Czech Republic, at a residence on the Baltic Sea coast, on the Hel Peninsula. Next week, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will host the V4 group’s government leaders’ anniversary meeting with European Council President Charles Michel at the Wawel Castle in Krakow, southern Poland. The meeting is set to work out a declaration of future goals for the group and discuss issues related to the internet and online games, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek. The V4 was founded in February 1991 from a declaration of cooperation that then-Presidents Lech Walesa of Poland, Vaclav Havel of then-Czechoslovakia,...

by Prague Morning Feb 09, 2021

Jewish Museum Criticises Czech Minister for Comparing COVID to WWII

Labour and Social Affairs Minister Jana Maláčová said Sunday the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic were worse than those of World War II as she argued in favour of reopening schools. Prague Jewish Museum director Leo Pavlat raised objections to the statement of Ms. Maláčová comparing the coronavirus pandemic consequences to World War II. Maláčová said in a TV debate on Sunday that not even the Second World War had prevented children from going to school. Pavlat reminded that Jewish children were banned from attending all types of schools during WWII. “Covid is a disease that has made the country stop working for a year, the country is at a standstill, the entire economy is struggling. Even World War II did not do what the virus did. No other situation stopped us from sending the children to school,” said Maláčová in a television debate on CNN Prima News. Mr. Pavlát reminded that Jewish children were prevented from studying in all schools during the war. The statement also aroused criticism from journalists, labeled as “extremely insensitive” toward victims of the Holocaust. Maláčová later tried to backpedal, saying she did not mean to dishonor the more than 70 million victims of World...

by Prague Morning Feb 09, 2021

Pietro Filipi and Kara Went Bankrupt

The owner of C2H retail group Michal Mička said that the company entered insolvency proceedings due to coronavirus. The group owns the Kara and Pietro Filipi fashion stores The E15.cz server stated on Monday that the C2H group owes around 722 million crowns. The main creditor is Česká spořitelna. Negotiations on new investors were unsuccessful. Czech fashion brand Pietro Filipi will lay off all employees of its 23 stores. According to the latest financial statements, Pietro Filipi Stores employed 138 people at the end of 2018. At the end of 2018, another 64 people worked for the company Pietro Filipi sro, which procures clothing designs for the brand. The dropout of last year’s sales at Kara amounts to 200 million crowns while Pietro Filipi turnover fell to 227 million crowns from the previous 434 million in 2019. Employees of Pietro Filipi stores received a letter in January the day before payment stating that they were out of work and without money. “The employment relationship with you will be terminated,” according to the daily, the company’s human resources director Jan Zipser wrote to the employees. “Pietro Filipi Stores does not have funds left in the account, so unfortunately we will not...

by Prague Morning Feb 08, 2021

Raiffeisenbank Acquires 100 Percent of Equa Bank

Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) has signed an agreement on the acquisition of 100 percent of the shares of Equa bank from AnaCap Financial Partners (AnaCap), a specialist financial services private equity investor. Equa bank focuses on consumer lending and serves 480,000 customers. The proposed acquisition is part of RBI’s strategy to expand its presence in selected focus markets. The business models of Equa bank and Raiffeisenbank are very complementary, which is why the transaction would ultimately lead to strategic synergies as well as enhanced digital capabilities. “The acquisition would increase the synergy effect, especially in the area of cost savings and revenue growth,” said Equa bank spokeswoman Petra Kopecká. As of year-end 2020, Equa bank had total assets of more than EUR 2.8 billion, while Raiffeisenbank a.s. reported total assets of EUR 15.7 billion. “Although Equa bank is significantly smaller than Raiffeisenbank in terms of asset volume, the bank’s high level of customer satisfaction and impressive loan growth make it an attractive acquisition for us,” states Raiffeisenbank website. Closing is expected around the end of the second quarter of this year. On the basis that deal completion is successful, there is a plan to merge Equa bank with Raiffeisenbank...

by Prague Morning Feb 08, 2021

State of Emergency May End Due to Communist Party Opposition

The Czech government faced the threat that parliament may tie its hands in efforts to combat the coronavirus outbreaks, after a key ally in parliament said on Friday it would not support the extension of emergency executive powers. The Communist Party, which supports Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s minority coalition government, said it had decided to withdraw backing for the powers in response to the government ignoring its calls to reopen schools and ski resorts. “The government did not take our conditions seriously and decided otherwise,” the party said in a statement. The state of emergency provides a legal framework for some of the government’s key measures against the coronavirus spread, such as limits on freedom of movement, and deploying the army to help hospitals overstretched by COVID-19 patients. The Communists said that some of the measures can be implemented by regional governments, while the troops helping in hospitals could go there on a voluntary basis. If the government fails to find the votes in parliament, the state of emergency will expire on February 14. Babis said earlier on Friday that expiration of the state of emergency would be a “catastrophe” which could put lives in danger. Some hospitals have been...

by Prague Morning Feb 06, 2021

Old Houses and Flats Only 6% Cheaper Than New Properties by End of 2020

2020 brought with it several major trends. Despite the continuing rise in real estate prices, the Czechs’ desire to invest in real estate did not decrease – especially in smaller apartments and older houses with good public transport connections. Their number increased by 36% year-on-year, supported by greater availability of rental apartments and declining rental prices. In the largest Prague market, rents returned to the level of 2018 at the end of the year. Key reasons for this development lies in the greater availability of rental apartments and decreasing rental prices. Rent prices equivalent to prices in 2018. On another note, sale prices of old houses and flats increased despite the Covid-19 pandemic, with a year-on-year increase of 13%, the average price of a house went up to 37 635 CZK per square meter, while apartments increased to 67 517 CZK per square meter. Real estate prices increased the most, year-on-year, in the Hradec Králové Region (houses by 31%, flats by 24%), in the Ústí Region (houses by 33%, flats by 18%) and the Plzeň Region (houses by 26%, flats by 16%). Flats in the capital remain the most expensive, where the average price in 2020 was around 95,196 CZK...

by Marielle F. Feb 04, 2021

Czech Currency Strongest Since Outbreak of Coronavirus Crisis

The Czech currency strengthened below 26 korunas per euro on Wednesday morning for the first time since the declaration of a state of emergency due to coronavirus last March. According to Patria Finance analyst Tomáš Vlk, the exchange rate may be affected by the statement of the Governor of the Czech National Bank, Jiří Rusnok, on the possibility of raising interest rates. According to Vlk, the assumption that the koruna may become one of the few currencies for which interest rates will rise is gradually becoming known to investors. “Lately, Governor Rusnok drew attention to the possibility of raising rates,” he added. The base interest rate, on which the interest rate on commercial loans is based, remained at 0.25 percent even after the December meeting of the Bank Board of the Czech National Bank (ČNB). In an interview published on Wednesday by the E15 daily, Rusnok stated that the rate-setting does not need to be changed yet. However, he admitted the possibility of raising rates this year, albeit at a slower pace than the ČNB predicted in November’s forecast. According to Miroslav Novák, an analyst at the Akcenta CZ financial company, it does not matter when the ČNB will actually...

by Prague Morning Feb 02, 2021

Minister of Health Blatný Supposedly to Quit in 14 Days

Czech Television (ČT) presenter Václav Moravec claims that the current Minister of Health, Jan Blatný, will quit and leave his position in 14 days. Moreover, ČT also claims that the current Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Andrej Babiš, will take over the Health Ministry department and that Blatný will be replaced by the former head of Ministry, Roman Prymula. Prymula was the Minister of Health for the duration of a month last year in 2020, however, he has since then resigned after being spotted leaving a restaurant during Covid-19 lockdown. Additionally, ČT claims that Prymula has been attending government meetings in the past weeks. Prime Minister Babiš has publicly denied the information given by ČT, stating that he has no intention of leaving or replacing the current Minister of Health. “It’s all just speculation and gossip on the Václav Moravec show. I suppose he was trying to raise the profile of his show, which is not much talked about anymore”, commented PM Babiš. President of the Chamber of Deputies, Vondráček, has also publicly stated that the show’s claims are all just gossip and rumors and that there has not been any information between government officials claiming that this would...

by Marielle F. Jan 31, 2021

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