News

Presidential candidate Andrej Babiš cancelled his planned trip to Hradec Králové on Tuesday and announced that he would not make any more public appearances until the elections runoff after having received an anonymous death threat. He said he had reported the matter to the police. Last week Mr. Babiš said his wife has received an envelope with a bullet and an anonymous note full of insults.

His rival, General Petr Pavel, had to cancel Tuesday's planned meeting with voters in Příbram due to a bad viral infection. Voters will go to the polls on Friday to elect a successor to Miloš Zeman whose second term in office ends on March 8.

The 29 Leopard tanks which Germany has assigned to Czechia and Slovakia as compensation for those they sent to Ukraine will be refurbished and delivered in the spring, Armin Papperger, head of German arms company Rheinmetall, told the news magazine Stern. Germany has promised Slovakia 15 and Czechia 14 Leopard tanks as part of a so-called circular exchange. These are supposed to be decommissioned and refurbished units from Rheinmetall's stocks. Meanwhile, Germany is facing increasing pressure to supply more Leopards to Ukraine or at least to allow their re-export from third countries.

Presidential candidate Petr Pavel has had to cancel Tuesday's planned meeting with voters in Příbram due to a bad viral infection, the ctk news agency reported. His rival Andrej Babiš will continue his election campaign in the regions as planned. General Pavel is hoping to be back in action on Wednesday for the final days of campaigning ahead of a runoff this weekend. Voters will select a successor to Miloš Zeman whose second term in office ends on March 8.

Czech interior minister Vít Rakušan has said that he does not want to decrease controls on the Czech-Slovak border too suddenly, the Czech News Agency reported on Tuesday. At Wednesday's cabinet meeting he wants to propose that checks only be carried out by police officers for the next ten days, with soldiers and customs officials being withdrawn from duty. Without a further ruling by the government, border checks would be due to end on Wednesday night.

Controls on the Czech-Slovak border have been in place since September 26 due to increasing numbers of migrants using Czechia as a transit country to get to Western Europe. Although originally only intended to last ten days, the checks have been repeatedly extended. Since December 21, the intensity of the controls has been reduced and checks are now only done at random.

The largest number of migrants last year was recorded in September, at over 9,000. After the introduction of checks, the number dropped to around 6,000 in October, 3,000 in November and less than 600 in December.