This morning, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Tomáš Petříček, informed the Italian Ambassador Nisio that the Czech Republic will send 110,000 masks for the Chinese community in Italy will be delivered as soon as possible. The load will depart within 48 hours. According to Petříček, the police will continue the investigation. “We need to clarify how it is possible that that load appeared illegally in the warehouse in Lovosice,” said the Foreign Minister. “Today (ie on Sunday) I am sending a letter to the Italian Foreign Minister explaining the whole situation. We won’t send the seized equipment but similar gear, which corresponds exactly to the one that was intended for Italy,” added Petříček. “Italy will not lose anything”, said Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamáček. The Czech government in close coordination with the Italian Embassy in Prague has decided to immediately send the load destined to Italy without waiting for the conclusion of the police investigation still in progress. The complexity of the case would require a few more days but the situation in Italy does not allow for waiting. What happened On March 17, the Ministry of the Interior and the Usti nad Labem Region detained...
The Czech government is preparing to offer CZK 100 billion of aid for businesses and CZK 900 billion more in loan guarantees to help the economy withstand the impact of the coronavirus. The combined package could be worth nearly 18% of the central European country’s economic output in 2019 — a huge amount. “The direct assistance could be up to 100 billion crowns and loan guarantees up to 900 billion, in our estimate, which we would offer to business people, individual entrepreneurs and firms,” Babis told a televised news conference. He also called on companies not to start firing workers, as labour offices started to report an influx of new job seekers, mainly from the tourism, hospitality, and other service sectors. Industry Minister Karel Havlicek said the loan guarantees would also be available for self-employed individuals. The government has started taking applications for a loan program for small and medium-sized enterprises and offered firms and individuals the option to postpone some tax payments. The Ministry of Finance expects to raise the projected state budget deficit for this year, Minister Alena Schillerová said. A deficit of CZK 40 billion had been envisaged but that will now increase by tens of billions,...
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says up to 70 percent of the population could eventually become infected by coronavirus.
European Parliament President David Sassoli said Thursday he will complain to Commission and Council leaders about “unacceptable” comments by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. Babiš on Friday branded as “traitors” two Czech lawmakers who took part in a Parliament fact-finding mission to Prague to look into the potential mismanagement of EU funds. The mission from the Parliament’s budgetary control committee was the result of growing concerns about possible irregularities and conflicts of interest. Babiš has come under scrutiny for his links to an agricultural conglomerate he founded, Agrofert, which has received millions in EU funds. The prime minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. One of the two Czech MEPs, Tomáš Zdechovský from the European People’s Party (EPP), said that he and his family had received death threats following Babiš’ comments. He said his family now needed police protection. Green MEP Mikuláš Peksa, the second Czech lawmaker, said he had contacted the police because of a growing number of death threats. A spokesperson for Sassoli said the issue had been discussed at Thursday’s meeting of Parliament leaders. “The general agreement was that the attitude toward the delegation was unacceptable,” the spokesperson said, adding that Sassoli “takes this question very seriously and will raise the point with the President of...
The prime ministers of Poland, Czechia, Hungary, and Slovakia vowed to aid Greece to combat the growing migrant crisis at its border and use all measures to fight coronavirus during a Visegrad Four summit in Prague yesterday. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said that the situation in Greece was serious and that all four Visegrad countries, which are known for their tough stance on migration and opposition to migrant quotas in Europe, are ready to help. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said, “Even if Greece’s attempt to hold back migrants is successful, we shouldn’t forget about the 130,000 people who are already north of the Greek border and who want to get into Europe.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen even called Greece the “shield” of Europe over its efforts to combat illegal immigration, which is a big departure for her harsh words for Orbán during the 2015 migration crisis, when she criticized his efforts to halt the migrant wave Europe was facing at the time. Europe has now pledged €700 million in funds to Greece to help combat the crisis. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stressed that given the current situation on the EU’s southern border, Greece has begun to speak...
Unemployment in the Czech Republic in January 2020 was 2 percent, up from 1.9 percent in January 2019
The growth of the Czech economy posted the weakest figures since 2016, down to 2.4% year-on-year in 2019 from 2.8% in 2018, driven by the domestic demand, according to the Czech Statistics Office (CSO). In 4Q19, GDP increased by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter and by 1.8% y/y. The dynamics of the economic growth was gradually decreasing during 2019. “The annual growth of the Czech economy in 4Q19 was 0.1 percentage point [pp] below the CNB’s forecast. The only slightly lower-than-expected GDP growth overall is a result of contrary deviations of the individual expenditure components from the forecast,” noted Czech National Bank Monetary Department Executive Director Petr Kral. “Given the rising uncertainty amid Covid-19 outbreak, we expect growth to dip below 2% this year but the market pricing of almost four rate cuts are a bit too aggressive and premature in our view,” ING Chief Economist Jakub Seidler said. “The y/y growth of GDP (1.8%) was contributed to by final consumption expenditure of households (1.3pp), investment expenditure (0.7pp), and the general government expenditure (0.4pp). On the contrary, external demand (−1.9pp) had a markedly negative influence,” commented CSO Director of the National Accounts Department Vladimir Kermiet. According to Seidler, domestic demand came in above...
Several thousand people protested in Prague on Sunday against the Czech Republic’s billionaire PM Andrej Babis
The organization Million Moments will hold a protest in defense of democratic institutions on Sunday, March 1st, in Prague. The event starts today at 4 p.m. with a march from Hradčanska to the Old Town Square, which will be followed by a demonstration. The demonstration is in response to the election of Stanislav Krecek to the Public Defender of Rights. Křeček defeated the Senate’s candidate, Vít Alexander Schorm, who serves as the Czech Government’s representative before the European Court of Human Rights. Attorney Jan Matys was also proposed by the Senate and lost during the first round. “The Prague event will not be primarily a protest against Stanislav Krecek. The election of S. Krecek by the is ‘just’ blatant example of how government and major institutions are systematically and intentionally torn down and politically privatized step by step. KSČM and the Castle, with the assistance of a part of the CSSD, are gradually and systematically tearing down prestigious democratic institutions that are supposed to control the rules and serve all citizens, not just select politicians,” said Million Moments. The movement is concerned that the Czech Republic is headed in the same direction as Poland and Hungary, where the consolidation of media...
Center-right Ordinary People party captures 25% of vote and 53 of 150 seats in parliament, ending the reign of country’s long-dominant but scandal-tainted leftist party. The center-right populist opposition claimed victory in the parliamentary election in Slovakia, ending the reign of the country’s long-dominant but scandal-tainted leftist party that governed on an anti-immigration platform. According to nearly complete results released by the Statistics Office early Sunday, the Ordinary People group captured 25% of the vote and 53 seats in the 150-seat parliament in a move that steered the country to the right and could make a local ally of France’s far-right National Rally party led by Marine Le Pen a part of the governing coalition. The election campaign was dominated by public anger over the 2018 murder of an investigative journalist, Jan Kuciak, and his fiancée, Martina Kusnirova. Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini has admitted defeat. “We will try to form the best government Slovakia’s ever had,” Ordinary People chairman Igor Matovic told a cheering crowd of 2,000 supporters in a sports hall in his hometown of Trnava, located northeast of the capital. During election night, Matovič said that he would like to start the initial talks with his potential coalition...
In the first half of this year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) is about to visit Prague, with the visit planned to take place during the Czech presidency of the Visegrad Four.
On 31 January 2020, the formal departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union took effect. Subsequently, on 1 February began a transition period to reach an agreement on trade, aviation rules and other issues related to Brexit which will go on until the end of 2020. During the withdrawal agreement, the rights of British citizens living in the Czech Republic are guaranteed. After the end of the transition period, all British citizens who have been residing and will continue to reside in the Czech Republic after 31 December 2020, will keep their existing rights, however, it will be necessary to prove a legal stay in the Czech Republic. Throughout this article, we will compile some measures and precautions that you need to take to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Residency In case you live in the Czech Republic and after 31 December 2020 you intend to stay for more than three months, you should apply for a Certificate of Temporary Residence. And if you have been living in the country for more than five years, you should apply for a Permanent Residence Permit. Besides that, you must register your stay with the Czech Foreign Police first, because you will need this confirmation of your registration when you apply for Czech residency status. If...
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