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Dutch Ambassador to the Czech Republic Daan Huisinga stated on Twitter on Thursday that Czechia’s lease of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in the Netherlands should cover up to a third of the country’s annual gas consumption – equivalent to roughly 3 billion cubic metres of gas. This, he says, will help reduce Czechia’s dependency on Russian gas.

The LNG terminals will be moored off the Dutch coast from the autumn, according to news site Deníkn.cz.

Car sales in Czechia fell year-on-year by 12.3 percent during the first half of 2022 to a total of 98,916 vehicles, according to the Car Importers association (SDA). The downturn was especially noticeable during the second quarter of the year. Meanwhile, transport vehicles saw a slight uptick in sales.

The SDA reported that demand is still above the capabilities of most car manufacturers and importers, with problems in production, component deliveries and logistics prevailing as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the military conflict in Ukraine.

34 percent of Czech companies that use gas in their business operations are not able to run without this resource, according to a survey conducted as part of the Index of business expectations (Index očekávání firem) project, which is organised by one of the largest Czech commercial banks ČSOB. A further 4 percent of respondents said that they would also not be able to operate, but have the necessary gas reserves. A halt to gas deliveries could therefore lead to serious problems for the Czech economy, the survey claims.

Around 40 percent of small and medium business enterprises use gas in some way in their activities. Meanwhile, 55 percent of businesses with revenues exceeding CZK 40 million are reliant on gas, according to the survey. A quarter of respondents said that they would be able to tackle an end to gas deliveries with slight technology and processing tweaks. 37 percent said that a loss of access to the supply would necessitate major investments.

The survey was conducted among 400 companies and entrepreneurs.

The Czech Defence Ministry is organising a two-day conference on security in the National Museum in Prague, which is being attended by leading public officials and academics active in the Czech and wider EU defence establishments. The conference, titled Responsive CSDP: Navigating through Troubled Waters of Geopolitics, is centred on the future direction of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy, with the implementation of the union’s Strategic Compass roadmap for becoming a stronger security and defence actor one of the main topics.

Putting the Strategic Compass into practice is one of the main targets of Czechia’s EU presidency. It counts on implementing instruments and resources that will enable the EU to face current and future security threats as well as deepen cooperation between the EU and NATO, the ministry writes on its website.