News

Renáta Kellnerová, widow of the late billionaire Petr Kellner, who died in a plane crash in the U.S. last year, has topped the list of the richest Czechs and Slovaks for the second year in a row in a ranking compiled by Czech publication Euro Weekly that was released on Monday. Ms Kellnerová became the administrator of her husband's estate after his death on March 27, 2021 and inherited his vast fortune, including the investment group PPF, which he founded. The heiress heads the list once again with a worth of CZK 265 billion.

Real-estate tycoon Radovan Vítek came in second, while Karel Komárek, the owner of the KKCG financial group, which recently became the official operator of the UK National Lottery, moved into third place. Daniel Křetínský, the owner of Energy and Industrial Holding came in fourth, while former prime minister Andrej Babiš improved his position in the ranking, moving from sixth to fifth place to round out the top five.

The billionaires on the list collectively own property worth CZK 2.1 trillion, an amount roughly corresponding to the planned expenditures of the Czech state in the next year.

The EU's Fundamental Rights Agency is conducting ongoing research into the situation of refugees who have fled the war in Ukraine, for example in the areas of housing, work, and education, in order to better understand their needs and to help countries respond to those needs.

The Czech Ombudsman's office in Brno wants to make Ukrainians who have fled to Czechia aware of the survey, which can be filled out online:

https://fra.europa.eu/limesurvey/index.php/712669?lang=en (access to online survey - available in English, Ukrainian or Russian)

https://fra.europa.eu/en/project/2022/online-survey-persons-displaced-ukraine (general information about the survey)

Confidence in the Czech economy is at an all-time low, according to data published on Monday by the Czech Statistical Office. It continued to decline in September, falling by four points month-on-month to 90.1, and has also declined in a year-on-year comparison. Entrepreneurs and consumers are the most pessimistic - confidence among these sample groups has fallen to 72.7 points, the lowest since polling began in January 2003. In addition, almost a third of households report that they can barely make ends meet.

However, there was a slight decrease in the number of respondents who rate their current financial situation as worse compared to the previous 12 months.

Coalition talks have started in municipalities around the country in the wake of the weekend's municipal elections. Although independent candidates dominated the elections in smaller municipalities, coalitions in the big cities will involve the ruling parties and the opposition ANO party, which won considerable gains in the large regional cities.

The ruling parties won in the biggest cities Prague and Brno, as well as Plzeň, Liberec and Česke Budějovice, while the opposition ANO party dominated in eight regional towns: Hradec Králové, Jihlava, Karlovy Vary, Olomouc, Ostrava, Pardubice, Ústí nad Labem and Zlín.

The first coalition deal was agreed in the west Bohemian town of Plzeň, where the ANO party, the Mayors and Independents and the Pirate Party agreed to form a coalition government, bypassing the winner in the municipality, SPOLU.