News

Crowd of fans welcomed Czech snowboarder Zuzana Maděrová at the Olympic Festival in České Budějovice, a day after she won gold in the parallel giant slalom at the Winter Olympics in Italy. The 22-year-old greeted supporters from the stage and later surprised them by pouring beer for members of her support team. “I still can’t really take it in that I’m an Olympic champion,” Maděrová said. “But when I see how many people are here and how many messages I’m getting, I’m starting to believe it.” She admitted the success would change her life, but said she enjoys meeting people and public events.

Companies from Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary will be allowed to take part in defence contracts financed by an EU loan for Ukraine, despite the three countries refusing to guarantee the €90 billion loan, diplomatic and EU sources told Czech Press Agency. The European Commission decided the contracts must remain open to firms from across the EU and Ukraine to avoid distorting the bloc’s internal market. EU leaders approved the loan for 2026–27 after failing to agree on using frozen Russian assets. Ukraine will be able to use up to €60 billion for defence investments and military purchases.

Bavarian Premier Markus Söder is likely to attend the Sudeten German gathering to be held in Brno in May, he said after talks with Czech Prime Minister and ANO party leader Andrej Babiš in Munich. Söder noted that the significance of the event is different today than in the past. Babiš said the Czech government views the gathering as a civic initiative and is not dealing with it at cabinet level. The event, taking place in Czechia for the first time, will include commemorative and cultural activities and is expected to draw representatives of Sudeten Germans, Czech politicians and civil society figures.

The government has decided to abolish the National Economic Council of the Government (NERV), Finance Minister Alena Schillerová of the ANO party said after a cabinet meeting. Under the previous cabinet led by Petr Fiala of the ODS, NERV advised on structural economic reforms, including pensions and public finances.

NERV was first set up in 2009 by the government of Mirek Topolánek as an independent advisory body. Its activity was repeatedly suspended and revived by successive governments, most recently in 2020 under Andrej Babiš. Under Fiala’s cabinet, it operated from May 2022 and had 17 members.