Daily news summary
Prague to sign sister city agreement with Vienna
The City of Prague wants to sign a sister city pact with Vienna, Prague mayor Zdeněk Hřib told the Czech News Agency on Sunday. The cooperation with the Austrian capital will concern mainly the areas of transport, housing and ecology. The city also plans to cooperate with the other V4 capitals, Bratislava, Warsaw and Budapest.
Following the cancellation of a sister city agreement with Beijing, Prague councillors on Monday approved to sign a sister agreement pact with Taiwan’s capital Taipei, concerning economic, business and cultural cooperation. The Prague-Taipei agreement still has to be approved by the Prague assembly members, who are to deal with it on December 12.
Politician’s salaries to increase by 10 percent next year
The salaries of senior officials will increase next year by about one tenth, the Czech News Agency reported on Sunday. According to the data released by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the average gross monthly salaries on MEPs and Senators will increase by 8,400 crowns to CZK 90,800.
The president’s wage will increase next year to CZK 302,700, while the ministers will earn CZK 173,200 a month, just like the heads of both houses of parliament. The average gross monthly salary in the Czech Republic reached CZK 33, 697 in the third quarter of 2019.
Number of non-EU doctors working in Czech Republic keeps increasing
The number of doctors from countries outside the European Union working in the Czech Republic keeps increasing. According to the Institute for Postgraduate Medical Education (IPVZ), there were nearly 1,650 doctors from the third countries working in Czechia in 2018, compared to 200 a decade ago.
Most of the doctors come from Ukraine, Russia or Belarus. In order to work in the Czech Republic, they have to pass an aptitude test. The number of those who pass the exam has dropped in recent years, with the success rate currently ranging between 20 and 30 percent.
Poll: Tricolour party would cross five-precent threshold in elections
The new conservative Tricolour party established by Václav Klaus Jr. this year would cross the five-percent threshold needed to win seats in the Chamber of Deputies, according to the latest poll carried out by Kantar agency. Support for the ruling ANO party dropped by three percentage points in November to 28.5 percent.
The centre-right Civic Democrats came third with 14,5 percent, up by two percentage points. Meanwhile the opposition Pirate Party has dropped to the fourth place and is currently polling at 13.5 percent.
Ledecká comes fourth in second downhill at Lake Louise
Czech skier and snowboarder Ester Ledecká finished fourth in the second women’s World Cup downhill at Lake Louise on Saturday.
The race was won by Nicole Schmidhofer of Austria. Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States was second, followed by Francesca Marsaglia of Italy.
It is the second-best result in the Alpine Ski World Cup for Ledecká, who was the surprise winner of Friday's season-opening downhill, clinching victory from the 26th starting position.
Sáblíková wins 1500 meter race in Nur Sultan
Czech speed skater Martina Sáblíková on Sunday won the women’s 1500m race at the speed skating World Cup in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan.
The three-time Olympic winner, who finished second in the 5000m event on Friday, covered the track in a time of 1:57,507, ahead of Isabelle Weidemann of Canada.
Weather
Monday is expected to be partly cloudy to overcast with daytime highs ranging between five and nine degrees Celsius.
