Daily news summary
Czech PM says Frontex no longer needed
Speaking ahead of a joint session of the Czech and Slovak governments in the town of Košice on Monday, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš questioned the need for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex, saying that in his view the agency was obsolete. The Czech prime minister has previously criticized Frontex for allegedly doing too little to guard EU borders during the migrant crisis, despite receiving large sums of money to do so.
Mr. Babiš also praised cooperation within the Visegrad Group states, noting that the V4 represented the interests of 65 million Europeans.
The Czech and Slovak governments held a joint session to discuss celebrations marking the centenary of Czechoslovakia in October, bilateral relations and Visegrad Group priorities. The tradition of holding an annual joint session of the two countries' governments was established in 2012.
Czech MEP says taking in Syrian orphans would be show of solidarity
Czech MEP Michaela Šojdrová of the Christian Democrats, has asked for a meeting with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš to try to persuade him that the Czech Republic should take in 50 Syrian orphans from a migrant camp in Greece.
Šojdrová, who first floated the idea, said that taking in child migrants would be a show of solidarity.
Prime Minister Babiš, who is strictly against taking in migrants, sharply rejected the idea at the weekend saying the Czech Republic was ready to help these and other orphans in their country of origin, where the migrant crisis should be resolved.
His stand elicited strong criticism from opposition parties who called it selfish and inhumane. Even his coalition partner, acting foreign minister Jan Hamáček from the Social Democrats, said a country of 10 million should be able to accommodate 50 orphans.
Czech job market has highest number of vacancies
The Czech Republic has the highest number of job vacancies in the European Union, according to figures released by Eurostat on Monday.
According to quarterly data on the ratio of job vacancies and the number of occupied posts, the Czech Republic had 5.4 percent unoccupied positions compared to the EU average of 2.2 percent.
A year ago the Czech Republic had 3.6 percent unoccupied positions. It is followed by Belgium (3.5 percent), The Netherlands (3.1 percent) and Germany (2.9 percent).
Festival of public readings on trains
A festival of public readings by writers on trains to promote Czech literature kicked off early on Monday as Czechs boarded trains on their way to work.
The event is supported by close to 30 Czech authors who have agreed to read selected parts of their work to the public. The festival will last until Thursday.
One of the novelties this year is public readings of micro-stories by students on the Petřín funicular in Prague, where the ride lasts just five minutes.
Czech ornithologists preparing for Collision Count Week
The Czech Ornithological Society is urging citizens to take an active part in international Collision Count Week starting September 24.
During the course of that week people will be able to report glass panes which present a threat to birds and thus help lower bird mortality on the continent and beyond. Reportedly tens of thousands of birds die every year after flying into glass panes.
Nine Czech towns still have streets with identical names
Nine towns in the Czech Republic have streets with identical names, despite a 2011 regulation issued by the Interior Ministry that this must be corrected, Czech Television reported.
Identically named streets present a problem for postal workers, police and paramedics, and a surprisingly large number of towns had them.
This is due to the merging of satellite villages with bigger towns in the vicinity and the fact that streets are often named after famous figures in history.
At one point the town of Kladno near Prague had 31 twin streets with the same name which were only distinguished by their locality.
The Interior Ministry is pushing to resolve the problem, but does not have the right to order towns to change the name of a given street.
Weather forecast
Tuesday should bring clear skies around the country with day temperatures between 25 and 29 degrees Celsius.
