Politics & Economics

New Kurzarbeit Law Should Take Effect From November

A new law that would partially subsidize salaries of employees on reduced work schedules, should take effect ideally in November

by Prague Morning Sep 08, 2020

Czech President Slams Senate Leader for ‘Boyish Provocation’ on Taiwan Trip

A visit by the Czech senate speaker to Taiwan was a “boyish provocation,” the country’s President Miloš Zeman said Sunday. Miloš Vystrčil, the president of the Senate, traveled to Taiwan last week for a six-day trip as part of a 90-strong delegation aimed at boosting trade relations. Read: Slovak President Shows Support for Czech Delegation’s Taiwan Visit During the trip, Vystrčil is reported to have told the Taiwanese parliament “I am a Taiwanese,” according to Reuters. Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi called the trip “an act of international treachery,” warning Vystrčil would “pay a heavy price.” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned that Vystrcil would “pay a high price for his short-sighted behaviour and political speculation”, while Beijing summoned the Czech ambassador. Amid fears China will announce economic retaliation, Zeman said Vystrčil will now be excluded from foreign policy briefings. “I consider it boyish provocation,” Zeman told the Prima broadcaster. Read: ‘I Am Taiwanese’: Czech Senate Speaker Channels JFK in Taiwan Speech The Czech government did not formally arrange Vystrčil’s Taiwan trip but as a member of the right-wing opposition Civic Democrats, is was not bound by the protocol. Taiwanese parliamentary leader Yu Shyi-kun called Vystrcil’s...

by Prague Morning Sep 07, 2020

Germany May Take Czech Republic Off “Safe” Destinations List

Germany may put the Czech Republic on the list of countries with a high risk of COVID-19 infection, as people returning from the Czech Republic could undergo a 5-day-long quarantine. Emerging scientific evidence has made a rethink on the rules necessary, according to Karl Lauterbach, health spokesman for Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) — the junior coalition partner to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives. “If we limit the quarantine time to five days, social acceptance for the measure would be significantly higher,” Lauterbach told German daily Die Welt. “We know that the vast majority of people are no longer contagious five days after the start of symptoms, even if the PCR test is still showing a positive result,” said Lauterbach, who is also a professor of health economics and epidemiology at the University of Cologne. The presence of the virus does not necessarily mean the patient is infectious. In Germany, the number of new Corona infections per day is still at a relatively high level, compared to the numbers in June and July. But few local outbreaks are being reported these days. In Dresden, the virus hit the ‘St. Benno-Gymnasium’ secondary school. At least 100 persons are being sent into quarantine in their homes....

by Prague Morning Sep 04, 2020

Slovak President Shows Support for Czech Delegation’s Taiwan Visit

Slovak President Zuzana Caputova has voiced support for the Czech Republic’s ongoing visit to Taiwan, calling Beijing’s threats to Czech Senate speaker Milos Vystrcil “unacceptable.” In reaction to the 89-member Czech delegation to Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday (Aug. 31) during a press conference with his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, that Vystrcil had “crossed a red line.” He said the Czech Senate leader would “pay a heavy price” for publicly challenging Beijing’s “one-China policy” and encouraging supporters of Taiwanese independence. Read: ‘I Am Taiwanese’: Czech Senate Speaker Channels JFK in Taiwan Speech Despite the threats, Vystrcil said the Czech Republic will not bow to Beijing’s inappropriate demand and described his visit as a domestic affair. He also said the trip was made to honor the memory of the Czech Republic’s first president, Vaclav Havel, who was a strong advocate of Taiwan’s re-entry into the United Nations. In a Twitter post published on Tuesday (Sept. 1), Caputova emphasized that “Slovakia stands by the Czech Republic” and said Beijing’s relations with the European Union are based on “dialogue and mutual respect.” She said Wang’s threat to Vystrcil was contrary to the nature of this partnership. Read: Czech Senate Leader’s...

by Prague Morning Sep 02, 2020

‘I Am Taiwanese’: Czech Senate Speaker Channels JFK in Taiwan Speech

Czech Senate speaker Milos Vystrcil invoked a famous Cold War-era phrase by late US president John F. Kennedy as he delivered a landmark speech to Taiwan’s parliament Tuesday during a visit that has incensed Beijing. Vystrcil channeled Kennedy’s 1963 challenge to communism when he declared “Ich bin ein Berliner” to West Berlin citizens worried about the Soviet Union’s looming presence behind the Iron Curtain. Kennedy “used the phrase ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ to show his support for the people of Berlin and the highest values of freedom”, Vystrcil said. “Maybe I can be more humble, but allow me to use the same determined phrase to conclude my speech in your country’s parliament, in Taiwan — I am Taiwanese.” His final declaration — “I am Taiwanese” — was delivered in Mandarin and received a standing ovation from lawmakers on the self-ruled island. As a precaution against coronavirus, he gave his speech wearing a facemask, which was decorated with the flags of the Czech Republic and Taiwan. Vystrcil is leading a 90-member delegation to Taiwan that Beijing has slammed as a “despicable act”. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned on Monday that Vystrcil would “pay a high price for his short-sighted behaviour...

by Prague Morning Sep 01, 2020

Czech Industry Is Recovering, and How About the Stock Market?

In late February 2020, the Prague Stock Exchange had the worst slump in the record since the June 2016, Brexit referendum. The PX index declined by 2.81 percent on February 26, its lowest since October 2019. The Czech stock market’s worst performance in years was brought on by increasing global anxiety over the spreading coronavirus epidemic already ravaging Europe. Luxury and tourism shares were first in the line of fire and were soon followed by mining and automobile shares. On February 25, because of a privacy scandal, the shares of Avast, fell by 3.2 percent wiping out close to one-fifth of the software maker’s value and dragging the PX Index to new lows. The Prague Stock Exchange has been facing years of waning interest from traders, rights issuers, investors, and analysts. The central European country has a risk-averse citizenry and an underdeveloped pension fund. Consequently, there is a lower demand for equities. Businesses in the Czech Republic also prefer to finance their operations and expansions through debt rather than share sales. For this reason stocks investment in this landlocked country has shrunk by 77 percent in the last decade. Prague more than ever needs more IPOs to bring in more...

by Prague Morning Aug 31, 2020

Czech Senate Leader’s Delegation Arrives in Taiwan

Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil and his delegation landed at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport at 11 a.m. on Sunday (Aug. 30), kicking off the highest-level and highest-profile visit to Taiwan by Czech government officials in the history of the countries’ bilateral relations. Vystrcil will deliver a speech in Taiwan’s parliament and meet President Tsai Ing-wen during a five-day trip described by Taipei as standing up to “the intimidation of authoritarian China”. “The aim of this trip is to show that the Czech Republic is a free, sovereign and democratic country, and our parliamentary diplomacy, in particular the Senate, wants this country to act as Vaclav Havel and [Foreign Minister] Jiri Dienstbier set out. This means defending our democratic principles and sovereignty. At the same time, to try to work together with all democratic countries, regardless of what anyone else wants us to do,” the senator said at a press conference before his trip. Beijing views Taiwan as its own territory — vowing to one day seize it by force if necessary — and bristles at any moves by foreign governments to recognize or conduct official exchanges with Taipei. “Such a visit is deliberately undermining the political foundation between China and...

by Prague Morning Aug 30, 2020

President Zeman Discharged From Hospital After Surgery

Czech President Milos Zeman has been discharged from hospital on Saturday, where he underwent hand surgery after an injury on Wednesday night. Zeman broke his right arm on Tuesday night after falling. “In the evening, the president watched television news and after the end, he did not use the support in the form of a stick nor the help of security, he tripped and broke his right arm,” said Zeman’s spokesman, Jiří Ovčáček. At the beginning of September, the Castle planned a presidential visit to South Moravian Region as Zeman was to start the school year at an event at a secondary school in Rajhrad. “We will solve that next week,” said Ovčáček, however, he is rather skeptical about making a three-day visit to the region. “It’s not even a general state of health, but of course if you have a broken arm and it is fixed, it causes discomfort,” the spokesman said, adding that convalescence is now a priority. Zeman has been President of the Czech Republic since 2013. His health has been a frequent topic of media speculation, especially in the run-up to his reelection as president in 2018. Zeman, 75, suffers from a nerve condition in his...

by Prague Morning Aug 29, 2020

Czech Republic to Send Financial Aid to Belarusians Protesting Against Lukashenko

The Czech government has approved the creation of a fund to help Belarusians affected by the restrictions of President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime. The Czech Republic will set aside CZK 10 million korunas for this purpose from this year’s budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The money will be used to help persecuted people, treat the injured, and support independent media. “The priorities at the moment are, in particular, the support of independent media. There is a need to ensure that citizens in Belarus have access to independent information. It is generally a support for civil society,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs Tomáš Petříček. “In practical specific areas, it is legal assistance to people who have lost their jobs because they have reported how elections have been manipulated, legal aid for journalists exposed to persecution, psychotherapeutic assistance to people who were arrested and, according to all testimonies, were subjected to torture by the local authorities, “said Petříček about the use of the money before a government meeting on the topic. The Czech Republic also intends to provide medical care for Belarusians in Czech hospitals. “The Ministry of the Interior will coordinate the selection of persons, cover the costs of admission...

by Prague Morning Aug 27, 2020

Czech Billionaire Křetínský Becomes Largest Shareholder in Royal Mail

Daniel Křetínský, the billionaire known as the Czech Sphinx, has quietly become the largest shareholder in Royal Mail, heaping more pressure on the troubled postal service as it faces calls for a break-up. Křetínský, who owns Sparta Prague football club and who made his fortune in energy, has amassed a CZK 7,4 billion stake in the historic FTSE250 company. The company is seen as particularly vulnerable to a break-up because it has been without a permanent chief executive since May when it ousted former boss Rico Back, who had overseen a decline in letter volumes and a breakdown in relations with unions. Křetínský has been slowly building his stake and now owns more than 13 percent of Royal Mail. The Czech businessman, who controls Vesa with his business partner Patrik Tkac, made his fortune in energy in Eastern Europe. His company EPH then embarked on a major expansion, snapping up energy transmission networks and gas pipelines, as well as power plants in the UK. EPH now owns four UK power plants: Eggborough in North Yorkshire, Lynemouth in Northumberland, Langage in Devon, and South Humber Bank in Lincolnshire. In March, the company also bought an underground gas facility in Hampshire. And...

by Prague Morning Aug 26, 2020

Czech President Zeman in Hospital Over Arm Injury, Expects Surgery

Czech President Milos Zeman was hospitalized on Tuesday after an arm injury and he will undergo surgery, the president's spokesman said.

by Prague Morning Aug 25, 2020

Czech Government Extends Jobs Support for Coronavirus-Hit Companies

The Czech government has extended its job support program for coronavirus-hit companies until the end of October, Labour Minister Jana Malacova said on Monday. The job furloughing scheme, together with direct compensation payments to the self-employed, represent the two biggest chunks of the government’s effort to help the economy hit by the global pandemic. “(The government’s scheme) Antivirus (was) approved until the end of October,” Malacova said on her Twitter account. In the two main legs of the Antivirus program, the Labour Ministry has paid out 17.3 billion crowns as of Aug. 24, data on the ministry’s website showed. “There are still companies that need help. But nothing lasts forever and we are mainly fine-tuning a permanent kurzarbeit to help in a crisis whenever needed. Like there is in Germany,” Malacova said. Under the Czechs’ kurzarbeit scheme, companies get compensated for part of their workers’ salaries, enabling them to reduce the workload in order to save funds during the crisis. A permanent program could be implemented as of next year. The Czech economy is expected to shrink by 8% this year, according to central bank forecasts. The main hit came in the second quarter when the economy ground nearly to...

by Prague Morning Aug 25, 2020

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