Daily news summary
Babiš not to nominate Poche as foreign minister candidate
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš will not suggest Social Democrat MEP Miroslav Poche as a candidate for the post of foreign minister. Mr Babiš told the daily Právo on Saturday that the reason was Poche’s stance on migrants.
Prime Minister Babiš se set to present President Zeman with the new cabinet line-up on Sunday. He plans to ask the lower house for a vote on confidence on July 11. President Zeman has opposed the Social Democrat’s choice of foreign minister, arguing that Poche backed immigrants coming to the country and has been critical of Israel.
Social Democrats not to support former leader Jiří Paroubek in Senate elections
The Social Democratic Party will not support its former chairman, Jiří Paroubek, in the Senate elections due to take place in the autumn, the party decided on Friday. Mr. Paroubek wanted to run as an independent candidate with the support of the Social Democrats for the Senate seat in the region of the Ostrava region.
Jiří Paroubek, who is now 66, headed the Social Democratic Party from 2006 to 2010 and served as Prime Minister between 2005 and 2006. After leaving the Social Democrats in 2011, he established his own left-oriented party LEV 21, which failed to win seats in the lower house in the past general election.
Czech Republic scores another victory in Diag Human arbitration battle
The Czech Republic has achieved another victory in its international arbitration battle with the blood product company Diag Human, the Ministry of Health announced in a press release on Friday.
The Dutch Supreme Court has dismissed a complaint from the company over alleged damages amounting to around 13 billion crowns (approximately 500 million euros).
Diag Human has been conducting a drawn out series of legal actions against the Czech Republic over a blood plasma deal it sealed with the state in the early 1990s. It was already awarded 327 million crowns in 1997.
Czech PPF acquires Serbia’s Telenor banka
The Czech-based investment group PPF will acquire 100 percent in Serbia’s Telenor banka, which is part of the Telenor Group. The deal is part of an acquisition of Telenor’s telecommunication assets in Central and Eastern Europe, namely in Hungary, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia. PPF, owned by the Czech Republic’s richest man, announced the news on Friday.
The deal still needs to be approved by the National Bank of Serbia and the relevant antimonopoly authorities. With over 390,000 clients, Telenor ranks among the second ten largest banks on the Serbian market.
Czech actress Gabriela Vránová dies at 78
Czech film and theatre actress Gabriela Vránová has died at the age of 78, her son announced on Saturday.
The well-know actress spent the best part of her career at the Vinohrady Theatre in Prague, but she also performed in dozens of films and TV series and frequently worked for Czech Radio.
She was also respected for her work as a voice artist, for which she received the František Filipovský award for lifelong mastery.
Czech-US couple announce comeback at Wimbledon
Czech tennis player Lucie Šafářová and her US doubles partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands have announced a comeback after a one-year pause caused by Mattek-Sands knee injury. Šafářová announced on Saturday that she will pair up with her US partner at Wimbledon, which gets underway in July.
The pair last played together at the French Open in 2017, picking up their fifth Grand Slam title. Mattek-Sands subsequently suffered a serious knee injury during her second-round singles match at Wimbledon, which kept her out of action for almost a year.
Weather
Sunday will be mostly sunny with daytime highs ranging between 24 to 28 degrees Celsius.
