News

Thursday is expected to be mostly overcast in Czechia with a chance of rain and thunderstorms in the late afternoon and early evening. Daytime temperatures should range between 20 and 26 degrees Celsius.

MPs from the largest Slovak government coalition party, Direction – Social Democracy (commonly referred to as Smer), have criticised the Czech police for failing to prosecute social media users who publicly applauded the attempted assassination of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in May. The office of the Slovak government has also joined in the condemnation.

The Czech police have countered that they are bound by legal regulations in terms of which acts they can prosecute. Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan described the criticism as inappropriate, given that the Czech police are a strictly apolitical organisation and that the Czech and Slovak police cooperate frequently and smoothly.

Smer MP and former Slovak police chief Tibor Gašpar cited as part of his criticism the reaction of the Czech police to Jindřich Rajchl, the head of the Czech non-parliamentary party PRO, who published a statement he received from the police in response to his suggestion of bringing charges against people who applauded the assassination attempt on social media. The police wrote in their statement that the social media posts in question fell under the purview of freedom of speech.

Fico was hospitalised after the attempt on his life on 15 May 2024 but survived and has since been discharged. Smer is Robert Fico's own party, which he founded in 1999 and still leads today.

The Chamber of Deputies has approved a government proposal to further extend temporary protection for war refugees from Ukraine until March of 2025. The amendment to the law will now be discussed by the parliamentary committees on security and social policy. Temporary protection gives people who have fled the war in their home country access to public health insurance, education and the labour market in Czechia. According to Interior Ministry data 320,000 Ukrainian refugees currently have extended temporary protection status in the country. Those who decide to settle in the Czech Republic and do not need special protection can file for long-term residence.

The Czech government and the country’s leading opposition party ANO are united in their support for Czechia’s pro-Western orientation, the country's anchoring in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the need to be active in these institutions, President Petr Pavel said after talks with Prime Minister Petr Fiala and ANO leader Andrej Babis at Prague Castle on Tuesday. He said the talks confirmed continued support for Ukraine as well as efforts towards peace negotiations that would seek a just and lasting solution to the conflict. The talks were aimed at fine-tuning the country’s position on issues to be discussed at the upcoming NATO summit, due to take place in Washington in July.