Morning Briefing │ Thursday, March 28th, 2024

* POLITICS:

The cabinet has added three more names, two individuals and one legal entity, to the national sanctions list created on the basis of the Czech Magnitsky Act approved by Parliament in 2022, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Wednesday.They are Russian politician and businessman Viktor Medvedchuk, politician, media producer and propagandist Artyom Marchevsky, and the company Voice of Europe.

* CULTURE:

The tourist season officially kicks off in Czechia. Hundreds of castles, palaces and other national monuments administered by the National Heritage Institute are opening up to the public this Thursday, March 28. Privately owned chateaus that still belong to their original aristocratic owners are also opening.

* WEATHER:

Twenty out of 167 long-term measuring stations in the Czech Republic rewrote temperature records yesterday, March 27th. The warmest temperatures were in České Budějovice – Rožnov, where they measured 22.1 degrees Celsius, over 21 degrees in Strakonice and more than 20 degrees in Doksany in Litoměřice. This is according to information published on Facebook by the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ).

* ECONOMY:

Apartment prices in the Czech Republic rebounded in Q4 last year, rising 6.9 percent quarter-on-quarter to an average of CZK 95,000 per square meter. Deloitte’s Real Index data reveals increases in the Hradec Králové and Pilsen regions while decreases were noted in five areas, particularly in the Liberecký region. Factors include fading inflation, energy prices, and high demand. Prague remains the priciest.

* EDUCATION:

About 411,000 Czechs have participated in international exchanges as part of the European Erasmus+ scholarship programme in the last 25 years. By 2023, the programme had taken university students on 121,540 study visits and 22,628 practical placements. Staff from Czech universities went on more than 56,800 training and educational trips.