News

Czech President Petr Pavel on Monday paid tribute in New York to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Speaking to journalists at the memorial, Mr. Pavel said the aim of the attacks had been to shock people and spread fear. He stressed that experience from conflicts and terrorist attacks in different parts of the world showed that giving in to violence only encouraged further aggression.

President Pavel travelled to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, which he is due to address on Wednesday.

Czechia will respect Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty on collective defence, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) said after Monday’s cabinet meeting. He declined to comment on remarks by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who said last week that he did not want Slovakia to “become part of some military conflict because of some Article 5.”

According to Babiš, Czechia currently faces no immediate danger. The head of the Czech Security Information Service, Michal Koudelka, told The Guardian that a possible Russian attack, including a limited invasion of the territory of a NATO member, could come not in years but within months.

Babiš said he had received no such information from Koudelka through official channels.

Speaking in New York, President Pavel said he does not believe there is currently a risk of a direct Russian military attack on a NATO member. Moscow could, however, carry out a large-scale hybrid attack, he said. Pavel described questioning NATO’s Article 5 as dangerous given the current security situation.

The government will restore price regulation at petrol stations in response to soaring fuel prices. From October 1, it will cap retail margins at 2.50 crowns per litre and simultaneously cut the excise tax on diesel by 2.35 crowns, including tax, the Finance Ministry said on Monday.

The cabinet is also introducing an extraordinary sectoral tax on oil processors.

Diesel and petrol prices have risen sharply in recent weeks due to a further escalation of the conflict in the Middle East and insufficient refinery capacity.

According to CCS, which monitors fuel prices over the long term, the most widely sold Natural 95 petrol was selling for an average of 45.94 crowns per litre on Sunday, while diesel cost 49.23 crowns. Since the beginning of September, petrol has therefore risen by more than four crowns per litre and diesel by 3.70 crowns.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is due to visit the Czech Republic on September 29, Czech Radio reported, citing the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Meloni and her Czech counterpart Andrej Babiš (ANO) are expected to sign an agreement strengthening cooperation between the two countries in several areas.

It will be their first meeting on Czech soil. The agreement has been under negotiation since February. Babiš and Meloni have already met for bilateral talks at prime-ministerial level, when the Italian premier hosted her Czech counterpart in Rome in early February. It was there that they agreed to prepare the now-completed agreement.

Two-way trade between the Czech Republic and Italy is worth a total of 7.7 billion euros, equivalent to around 188 billion Czech crowns at the current exchange rate.