News

The EU agrees on the need to review the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), Czech Transport Minister Martin Kupka said at a press conference after Friday's informal meeting of the bloc's transport ministers in Prague. The TEN-T rail network lacks a number of important cross-border rail routes, he said, and the Czech Republic is particularly advocating for the inclusion of a Berlin-Prague-Vienna line and a route from Austria to Poland via Czechia.

As well as expanding the TEN-T network, the ministers also discussed measures to reduce energy consumption on railways in response to the energy crisis, the need for further electrification of railway lines, and ways of making rail transport more attractive for passengers, such as greater comfort on trains and the possibility of purchasing a single pan-European ticket.

EU leaders met for the second day of a summit on energy, the economy and Ukraine on Friday. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said before the start of Friday's round of meetings that he considers Ukraine to be the most important point on the agenda, especially the issue of how to release the remaining three billion euros of approved aid to the country. He also said that stricter sanctions should be applied to Belarus, a country which, although not directly involved in the attack on Ukraine, does allow Russian forces to attack Ukrainian targets from its territory.

Interior Minister Vít Rakušan will ask the government on Thursday to extend border controls with Slovakia for another 15 days, the Czech News Agency reported on Friday. Mr. Rakušan said his ministry does not want to extend the situation for an unduly long time as they want to be able to re-evaluate at regular intervals. Moreover, without the consent of the European Union, Czechia can only have border checks for a maximum of two months, meaning that for an extension beyond November 28, Czechia would have to request approval from the European Commission.

Czechia introduced checks at the border with Slovakia at the end of September due to a recent influx of refugees, mainly from Syria, who use Czechia as a transit stop on their way to Germany or other EU countries. The government has already extended the controls once, until October 28.

According to the border agency Frontex, the number of migrants who illegally entered the EU via the so-called Balkan route increased by 170 percent year-on-year from January to September. In the first nine months of this year, 228,000 refugees were detained at the EU's external border without a permit, the most for this period since 2016.

The new organ for the gothic St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague will arrive in Czechia in a few weeks' time but will remain in storage for at least a year, Czech daily Lidové noviny reported on Friday. Due to the huge weight of the musical instrument, the floor where the organ will stand has to be reinforced before it can be placed there. Visitors should be able to view and hear the instrument, made by renowned Spanish organ-maker Gerhard Grenzing, in the cathedral in around a year's time.