Daily news summary

Re:publika festival opens in Brno

The city of Brno is marking the centenary of the birth of Czechoslovakia with a three-week festival titled Re:publika, which opens this Saturday.

The festival offers dozens of exhibitions, concerts and outdoor events which are expected to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Moravian metropolis.The opening was attended by the Czech and Slovak prime ministers, Andrej Babiš and Peter Pellegrini.

Most of the events are taking place are at the Brno exhibition grounds, among them an exhibition of Czech and Slovak literature over the past 100 years, an exhibition of veteran cars, the work of Alphonse Mucha and 100 years of Czech and Slovak architecture.

Czech and Slovak prime ministers say common state was beneficial

The birth of Czechoslovakia in 1918 as well as its break-up in 1993 benefitted the Czech and Slovak people, the prime ministers of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Andrej Babiš and Peter Pellegrini agreed in a debate on Czech TV on Sunday.

Prime Minister Pellegrini noted that in 1918 his countrymen had gained independence after 1,000 years of oppression and that when the time came for Czechs and Slovaks to go their own ways they had done so in an exemplary manner without conflict or bloodshed. The years apart have brought us even closer together, the Slovak prime minister noted.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš rejected the idea that the break-up should have been sanctioned by a referendum, saying the Czechs would have voted to stay in the common state, while Slovaks would have opted to leave, which would have resulted in deadlock and created further complications.

Flood damage expected to reach tens of millions of crowns

Insurance companies say the damage caused by Thursday’s flash floods is likely to reach tens of millions of crowns.

Insurers say hundreds of insurance claims were made in the course of Friday and more are expected in the coming days, since many people and institutions were engaged in emergency clean-up work and are only now taking stock of the damage.

Flash floods hit dozen of towns and villages in the central, southern and western parts of Bohemia.

Civic Democrats debate election strategy

The centre-right Civic Democrats are meeting to outline their strategy and select candidates for the Senate and local elections due to take place in the autumn.

At the start of the party’s weekend conference in Libeznice near Prague, party leader Petr Fiala said it was vitally important to prevent extremists and populists getting the upper hand in the Senate.

The Senate must perform its role in the system of checks and balances in order to counterbalance the actions of the undeclared coalition of ANO, the Communists and Freedom and Direct Democracy Party, Fiala said.

Mezi Ploty festival addresses mental illness stigmas

Over 140 singers, bands and theater ensembles are performing at the Mezi Ploty, or Between Fences, cultural festival at Prague's Bohnice psychiatric hospital this weekend.

Mezi Ploty is an annual open-air event held with the aim of increasing awareness and understanding of mental illness, alcoholism and drug addiction. Over the past quarter of a century the festival has grown year by year and now attracts thousands of visitors.

This year's performers traditionally include Tomáš Klus, Lenka Dusilová and Vojtěch Dyk. Among the theatre ensembles taking part are actors from the Bolek Polívka Theatre, Theatre in Dlouhá street and Studio Ypsilon.

Meeting Brno wants more statues erected to women

Within this year’s Meeting Brno festival people will be invited to vote on which woman from Czech history would most deserve to have a statue erected in her memory in the Brno metropolis.

The festival organizers want to draw attention to the fact that the vast majority of statues in town honour male politicians, scientists or writers. On the list of female candidates are Queen Eliška Rejčka, who founded a hospital in Brno, Franciscan nun Maria Restituta, who was executed by the Nazis or one of the most popular Czech female composers Vítězslava Kaprálová.

Meeting Brno takes place every year in late May and offers a platform for people of different views, cultures and religions to meet and address various isues. The festival include public readings, theater and music performances, visual arts and discussion forums.

Weather forecast

Sunday should bring clear to partly cloudy skies and day temperatures between 25 and 29 degrees Celsius.