Morning News: Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Some 28 percent of Czech households can only afford basic foodstuffs, suggests a study by the company KRUK, which administers debt claims for financial institutions and corporate clients, cited by the Czech News Agency.

Presidential candidate Senator Marek Hilšer has rejected calls for him to withdraw from the presidential race and support either Petr Pavel or Danuše Nerudová in order to boost their chances of beating Andrej Babis in the first round of the presidential elections.

Czech President Miloš Zeman says he would like to visit Serbia in January or February and would like to open a Czech House in Belgrade during the trip. The head of state, whose term ends in March, made the comment on CNN Prima News on Sunday.

To mark the first anniversary of his five-party coalition cabinet, PM Petr Fiala (ODS) took to social media to acknowledge that the past year was not easy for anyone, and the difficult situation would continue into the next months, though he promised that the government was doing its utmost to cope with the situation.

The Czech minister of foreign affairs, Jan Lipavský, says that Vítězslav Pivoňka will remain the country’s ambassador to Russia. Speaking on Czech Television, Mr. Lipavský said that Jiří Čistecký would serve as deputy ambassador at the Moscow embassy.