The Czech Telecommunications Office (ČTÚ) will launch a price and quality index for mobile services in February. The index will compare calls, SMS, and data services. For fixed location services (ie fixed lines), the consumer will be able to to compare the prices for calling, internet, and television services. At the same time, the ČTÚ is also preparing a decree, the aim of which is to determine the scope, form and manner of transmitting information from operators for the purposes of operating this tool. In recent years, domestic prices of telecommunications services, especially mobile data, have been criticized by some government officials as being higher than elsewhere in Europe. According to a 2018 EU Commission analysis, the average EU customer spends around 33 Euro on 20 GB of data, while Czechs would have to pay almost 55 Euro for the same amount. A 2017 study by the organization telefonujici.cz found that mobile tariffs in the Czech Republic were on average 79% higher than the EU average. The arrival of a fourth nationwide operator was supposed to contribute to their reduction. In the end, the three Czech mobile operators (Vodafone, T-Mobile, and O2 Czech Republic) won frequencies in an auction linked...
Blažek, famous Czech brand for menswear, has filed for insolvency. The company registers more than 150 creditors for a total debt of almost 87 million CZK. As iHNED.cz reports, the company’s founder is considering the entry of a new investor. The company became insolvent from the forced closure of stores during the first and second waves of the epidemic. Like many retailers, Blažek was already struggling with the shift to online shopping even before the pandemic struck this spring. The company benefited from an extraordinary moratorium, which partially stabilized its situation, but even then it was unable to meet its financial obligations. Blažek Prague reported a net turnover of 455 million CZK last year and currently employs 132 people. According to the official website, Blažek has 21 stores in the Czech Republic and 8 in Slovakia. Twice a year, they launch new collections, which are offered exclusively in its own network of branded stores. Blažek offers clothing for work, social occasions, and leisure time. In addition to suits, shirts, ties, coats, and jackets, the brand offers also pullovers, shirts, jeans, underwear and other accessories. About the brand Blažek was founded in 1992 by Ladislav Blažek who has fulfilled his dream...
European Union governments approved on Tuesday a trade deal regulating relations between the 27-nation bloc and Britain, paving the way for its provisional application from January 1, Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček told the news agency ČTK. The deal, which preserves Britain’s zero-tariff and zero-quota access to the EU’s single market of 450 million consumers, was reached on December 24, 4-1/2 years after Britons voted by a slim margin in a referendum to leave the bloc. The approval is a formality after a deal between London and the EU last week. It is needed for the provisional application of the trade agreement from next year before it is ratified by the European Parliament by the end of February. The provisional trade deal is to be signed by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the chairman of EU leaders Charles Michel on Wednesday. Up to 100,000 Czech citizens are living in Britain according to unofficial data and more than 30,000 had applied for the settled status. U.K. nationals and their family members who resided in the Czech Republic before the end of 2020 can remain living in the country under the same rights and benefits provided for in EU legislation...
Zeman will be vaccinated as he considers the vaccine to be a way out of the crisis. According to Zeman, the vaccine is probably the only way out of the coronavirus crisis. He intends to get vaccinated, although not in front of television cameras. He thanked the government for its progress in the fight against the disease, although, he had dozens of reservations about the confusion caused by the representatives. “The vaccine is most likely the light at the end of the tunnel. And if the vaccine starts working over next year, we will be out of the worst,” the president said. During his vaccination, he will not do “any clown show with TV cameras”. “When people find out that the president has been vaccinated, this information is important,” Zeman said. In addition, Zeman called for a sensible marketing campaign to promote vaccination. He believes that the main reason for the Czech Republic’s delay in preparing for the vaccination of people is the frequent replacement of health ministers, when Adam Vojtěch, Roman Prymula, and Jan Blatný took turns in this position in a short time. “The slip can be caught up. There is no problem with the vaccine, the problem...
The government will take a final decision on the transition to the fifth level within the anti-epidemic PES system on Wednesday. “If the numbers will grow, the Czech Republic will enter the 5th level of the PES anti-epidemic system on December 25th,” said the Minister of Health Jan Blatný (ANO) after Monday’s government meeting. According to Novinky.cz, there would be no exceptions: all shops and services will close except those that sell basic goods. The fifth level introduces a stricter night curfew, which should apply from 9 pm. In the last few days, the situation in the Czech Republic has been deteriorating. “The growth of newly infected people continues. It is also due to the number of tests, but we cannot underestimate it,” the minister explained. The index remains at 76 points out of 100, the lower limit of the fifth level. The situation in hospitals is still stable so far, the facilities in the Moravian-Silesian region are the most burdened. Level 4 On December 18, the Czech Republic switched back to level four of the anti-epidemic PES system. Restaurants, hotels, and gyms are closed. Shops, services, and ski resorts are open. It is not permitted to consume alcohol in public, and...
A report on threats to the security of the Czech Republic was published by the Czech Security Information Service (BIS) at the end of November 2020. It was underlined that the activity of Chinese intelligence in the Czech Republic is becoming increasingly visible and that it is conducted in numerous different fields. As outlined in the report, the intensity and impact of the activity of the Chinese intelligence is not inferior to that of Russia, which has been considered the main threat of this kind to the country to date. However, there is an important difference between them – while Russia is trying to destabilize and defeat its rivals, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) wants to build a global, sinocentric community, so that other countries will recognize the validity of Beijing’s interests and “respect” PRC’s activities on the international stage. Moreover, according to the report, the Czech Republic has been a target of cyber activities conducted by groups related to China, such as APT15. It was also highlighted that in September 2019, the BIS was informed that most probably the Chinese cyberspy group penetrated the high-level infrastructure of the Czech company Avast, which deals with Internet security. Chinese intelligence...
As a result of a media-driven panic campaign, the former president says society suffers from “covidism”, says former president Václav Klaus to CNN Prima News. Klaus, who served as the Czech president from 2003 to 2013 and who is known for his Euroskeptic and sometimes contrarian views, said he believes that Czech society is currently in a series of two crises. On the one hand, according to him, we are facing a crisis of “moderate influenza-type illness”, which is Covid-19. On the other hand, we are also finding ourselves in a social crisis, which Klaus known as “covidism”, as most people, in his view, react to the current situation irrationally. The ex-president, however, emphasized that he did not want to downplay the seriousness of the disease, but emphasized that the media, which act as “panic boosters”, has created an atmosphere of fear that has driven poor policy decisions. “They managed to scare people,” he said, adding that he has grown used to seeing repeated shots of paramedics in “spacesuits”, patients in the ICU, and field hospitals being constructed on television screens. In addition, the entire pharmaceutical industry is benefiting from the current epidemic. “The pharmaceutical business lives on the joy of...
The Czech Government has allowed midnight mass on Christmas Day, but churches can only be partially filled. The Cabinet will also allow shops to remain open on Christmas Eve morning. On the contrary, there will be no relaxation of control measures on New Year’s Eve. After Thursday’s government meeting, Ministers of Health Jan Blatný (ANO) and Karel Havlíček (ANO) informed that “midnight masses will be allowed for all believers. But I ask everyone who goes to Mass to observe anti-epidemic measures, ” said Blatný. Churches can use only a fifth of the total seats. The Minister of Industry Havlíček added that the government will allow shops to remain open in the morning on December 25h. The night curfew will be in place on New Year’s Eve. According to Blatný, “New Year’s Eve can be celebrated even if the restrictions are respected.” The Czech government is set to ask the Chamber of Deputies to extend the current state of emergency past December 23, for another 30 days in view of the coronavirus situation. The Czech Republic’s total death toll from the coronavirus has surpassed 10,000, the Health Ministry reported on Thursday. The ministry reported 154 new deaths, including 48 on Wednesday and revisions...
Prague is not only one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, but it is also quickly becoming one of the most expensive ones, at least as far as property prices are concerned. The price of new buildings in Prague has risen by 81% in the past six years alone. Not even the current coronavirus crisis has shifted the real estate market and analysts expect the trend of ongoing price growth to perpetuate in the future. The people’s uncertainty regarding the evolution of the current situation alongside the government’s restrictions is conversely contributing to their quest to search for apartments to invest in, while the record-breaking mortgage sales seem to be encouraging them further. According to data provided by Deloitte, the price of new buildings in Prague grew by 81% in the last six years and analysts strongly believe that the lengthy legislative process of construction plays a big role in this. “We, unfortunately, have extremely bad construction regulations, building new apartments takes very long, and this leads to inadequate response from the supply side of the real estate market. This insufficiency then led to the price lunge,” says Senior Economist of BH Securities, Štěpán Křeček. Along with numerous...
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) expects the Czech economic recovery to be slow and to reach pre-crisis levels by the end of 2022, stated the Secretary-General Ángel Gurría during a regular presentation evaluating the Czech economy. In early December, the OECD said that the Czech economy would fall by 6.8 percent this year due to the spread of coronavirus. Next year, gross domestic product (GDP) should increase by 1.5 percent, and in 2022 its growth should accelerate to 3.3 percent. In the September forecast, the Czech Ministry of Finance expected economic growth of 3.9 percent next year. In the November forecast, the Czech National Bank expects the economy to decline by 7.2 percent this year and to grow by 1.7 percent next year. According to the National Bank, the performance of the Czech economy will not reach the pre-crisis level even at the end of 2022. The OECD expects both unemployment and the number of failing companies to rise gradually. The government should thus continue to support the economy until its full recovery. “The crisis has interrupted the period of strong economic growth in the Czech Republic and approaching the average level of OECD countries. After effectively...
The Ministry of Finance and the Czech National Bank will recommend to the government not to set a date for the adoption of the euro. The decision is based on information contained in this year’s “Assessment of the Fulfilment of the Maastricht Convergence Criteria and the Degree of Economic Alignment of the Czech Republic with the Euro Area”. It is the same advice the two institutions gave the government in the past years. The government of PM Andrej Babis (ANO) had indicated that it was not planning to adopt the euro currency during the current mandate. This year’s document states that the Czech Republic will this year most probably fulfill only one of the Maastricht convergence criteria – the criterion on long-term interest rates – in the unprecedented conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic and the related global economic downturn. The Czech Republic will not meet the criterion of sustainability of public finances due to the public finance deficit. It should exceed six percent of GDP. The reason is the effects of the pandemic and the related increase in this year’s budget deficit to 500 billion CZK. Moreover, the country report one of the highest inflation rates in the EU and...
On Monday, 7 December 2020, the mayor of Prague Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates) will take part in POLITICO 28, an annual ranking of the people with the greatest impact on politics and policy-making in Europe. Among the winners in three different categories, there are also the Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán, the French President Emmanuel Macron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the writer J. K. Rowling. The winners of each category will be announced at noon today (Monday, December 7th), as well as the general winner, the most influential European of 2020. “The POLITICO 28 is our guide to the most influential people in Europe to watch in 2021,” said Stephan Faris, enterprise editor at POLITICO, who led the project. “The only criteria is relevance – but that doesn’t mean the list doesn’t contain any surprises. Power in Europe is scattered among a large number of offices and institutions. It’s also constantly in flux, as new players flex their muscles, strike up unlikely alliances or stumble and fall.” The ranking is divided into three categories: Doers: The leaders whose train of energy and affect — or inaction — will drive...
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