Daily news summary

Notaries no longer required to have Czech citizenship

Notaries who want to work in the Czech Republic will no longer have to have Czech citizenship, but can come from any EU member state, under an amendment to the notary code signed into law by President Milos Zeman.

The Justice Ministry prepared the amendment in response to a ruling by the European Court of Justice, which said the Czech citizenship condition for notaries was at variance with the agreement on freedom of movement for workers.

However, notaries who would like to work in the Czech Republic will still have to graduate from a Czech faculty of law, pass a notary exam in Czech and have good command of the language.

Czech soldiers to undergo close to 200 training sessions in 2019

Czech soldiers will take part in close to 200 training sessions at home and abroad in 2019, according to information released by the Army-Chief-of Staff.

A Czech paratroopers unit will take part in a special forces training session in Kenya aimed at securing the release of hostages on foreign territory.

The biggest training session in the Czech Republic will be Czech Lion involving 500 soldiers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland.

Czech anti-monopoly office cancels CZK 250mn police car tender favouring Škoda

The Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) has cancelled a 250 million crown tender to provide 4x4 drive passenger cars to the police.

The anti-monopoly office ruled that the tender requirements set by the Ministry of the Interior unfairly favoured Škoda Auto against other bidders. The office had acted on a complaint filed by an importer of Hyundai brand vehicles from South Korea.

Ministry spokesman Ondřej Krátošek told the daily E15 that the central contracting authority would not oppose the decision. But he said launching a new tender would negatively impact operations of the police, as their fleet of vehicles is aging.

According to E15, the initial tender set requirements that specified interior dimensions of the cars that only Škoda Auto, a Czech subsidiary of Volkswagen Group, could meet.

Leading researcher urges greater accent on technological development

The deputy head of the Council for Research, Development and Innovation, Karel Havlíček, has criticized the authorities for presenting the country abroad as a land of beer and crystal glass, arguing that the future lies in technological development.

In an interview for the CTK news agency Havlíček said the government should make better use of European funds in advancing technological development and promote the country’s successes in the field better.

Who knows that the Czech Republic has over 500 experts working in the field of artificial intelligence, Havlíček says arguing that video spots advertising the Czech Republic as a land of beer and ceramics are hopelessly outlived and the money spent on them is wasted.

Ski resorts filling up for New Year celebrations

Czech ski resorts are in operation despite the thaw, offering visitors good conditions for both cross-country and downhill skiing, the CTK news agency reported on Friday.

Thanks to both natural and artificial snow most ski tracks are covered by around 70 cms of snow and resorts are quickly filling up for the New Year celebrations.

The biggest Czech ski resort at Spindleruv Mlyn and the well-known Černá hora and Pec pod Sněžkou in the Krkonoše Mountains offer visitors tens of kilometres of maintained trails and numerous side activities for children.

Czech former champion boxer Lukáš Konečný wins comeback fight

Super welterweight Lukáš Konečný, widely considered to be the most successful Czech boxer in modern history, won his comeback fight in Prague on Thursday evening, beating his Slovak opponent Matúš Babiak by unanimous decision.

Konečný, who turned 40 in July, once held the WBO interim, European and European Union light-middleweight titles. Four years ago, he also challenged for a middleweight world title in what would be his final fight until his comeback match this week.

The Czech boxer, whose record now stands at 51 wins, 5 losses, and 20 knockouts said that despite Thursday’s win, he does not intend to return to the ring again.

Weather forecast

Saturday should be overcast with rain in places and day temperatures between 3 and 7 degrees Celsius.