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10/10/2020
President Miloš Zeman will provide Prime Minister Andrej Babiš with “material evidence” on the director of the Czech Security Information Service (BIS) Michal Koudelka, which he says “will serve as an argument” for why the president has again refused to promote Mr. Koudelka to the rank of general as is common for intelligence officials of his position, President Zeman told the daily Mladá fronta Dnes in an interview published on Saturday.
The Czech head of state has continually omitted the BIS chief from the annual list of promotions for five years now. Speaking to Mlada fronta Dnes, Zeman said that he believes Mr. Koudelka should be fired, but believes such a move is now irrelevant as the head of Czech civilian counterintelligence’s term in office is set to run out in one year anyway.
Several opposition politicians have condemned the president’s controversial statement. Jan Lipavský, who is a member of the Chamber of Deputies for the Pirate Party, went as far as to say that it is “another example of the president’s treachery”, Mf Dnes writes. The leader of the Mayors and Independents party, Vít Rakušan, said he trusts the head of Czech counter-intelligence and that the reason why the president is seeking to discredit him is because Mr. Koudelka is “speaking out regarding dangers that the president does not want to hear about”.
Michal Koudelka has been in charge of the Security Information Service since August 2016. Last year, he received the George Tenet award for international cooperation from the US Central Intelligence Agency. The service he leads has been vocal in its annual reports regarding intelligence threats from Russia and China, which the president has in turn ridiculed in the media. -
10/10/2020
The Czech national football team will be missing five players from its originally selected line-up for Sunday’s away game against Israel in the UEFA Nations League tournament. Team captain Bořek Dočkal, striker Adam Hložek, midfielder Antonín Barák, defender Filip Novák and goalkeeper Filip Nguyen will all be missing either due to testing positive for the coronavirus, inconclusive test results or for capacity reasons.
This means coach Jaroslav Šilhavý currently has 18 of the original 23 selected players ready to take part in the game. A B-team, selected from Czech league players, is ready in case of further complications ahead of Wednesday’s match against Scotland in Hampden Park, the Czech Football Association has said.
The names of the three footballers who tested positive for the coronavirus have not been released officially. However, it seems that one of them is midfielder Antonín Barák, because his league team Hellas Verona has announced he has COVID-19. -
10/10/2020
A new programme is being prepared in order to help restaurants, hotels, the tourist sector and other parts of the economy affected by the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlíček told Czech Television on Friday. The government is also expected to discuss the approval of a support scheme for the culture and sports sectors. A further COVID relief programme worth between CZK 700 to 800 million is being set up for exhibitors.
The schemes are being set up with input from various chambers representing the affected sectors, Mr. Havlíček said. He also stated that the government will not set rigid criteria for eligibility, which were in place during the spring lockdown and criticised for causing complications. -
10/10/2020
As part of the Medevac programme, the Czech Republic has so far taken care of 43 Belarusians who have been injured or persecuted by the Lukashenko regime, the Ministry of Interior announced. In total, 50 Belarusian citizens are expected to be treated in the Czech Republic.
According to Interior Minister Jan Hamáček the patients’ injuries, both physical and psychological trauma, are of a larger extent than expected. He said that these include gunshot wounds, multiple bone fractures, as well as eye and ear injuries resulting from grenade explosions. Some patients even bare signs of torture, the Czech interior minister said. Acute stress reactions and post-traumatic stress disorder has been observed on many of the Belarusians, who are largely between the ages of 20 to 30 years old.
The patients were selected by a humanitory consilium made up of representatives of the Belarusian diaspora in the Czech Republic, followed by a health and security check by the interior ministry. Their treatment is paid from the Medevac budget of the ministry and amounted to CZK 2 million in September.
The Medevac programme has been in place since 1993. It is used to help people in countries affected by war, conflict or natural disasters, either through direct medical assistance, or treatment of patients in the Czech Republic. Several thousands of injured patients from 24 countries have since benefited from the programme. -
10/10/2020
Communist Party Chairman Vojtěch Filip announced on Friday that he will not be running for reelection at the November party conference. Mr. Filip, along with the entire leadership of the party offered their positions after a crushing defeat in this month’s regional elections in which it only received 4.26 percent of the national vote and lost 73 councillors. However, Mr. Filip did say he is prepared to continue to work for the party.
The Communist Party Chairman, who suffered a heart attack in February, said his choice not to run for re-election was also in part a result of his declining health. -
10/10/2020
The Czech Republic cannot afford another fall in the economy, President Miloš Zeman said in an interview with the newspaper Mladá fronta Dnes. Neither would the economy and budget survive another round of non-refundable subsidies for affected businesses and workers.
He was reacting to a question regarding a statement by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš on Friday, who said that a second lockdown could not be ruled out if the situation continues to get worse regarding the COVID-19 coronavirus.
President Zeman believes a lockdown will not take place, but that activities that are not associated with the economy will be limited. He expressed preference for a loan scheme similar to this summer’s COVID III programme, which would provide long-term, state guaranteed loans with a low interest rate. -
10/10/2020
Friday saw a record 8,618 people test positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus, exceeding Thursday’s record by more than 3,000 cases, Ministry of Health data shows. It is the fourth time in a row that a record number of cases has been registered.
Currently there are 1,893 COVID-19 patients in hospital, with 412 in serious condition. In total more than 200 have died from the disease this week and 905 since the virus was first detected in the country in March. -
10/09/2020
This year’s annual Forum 2000 conference is set to start with a speech by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, the organisers tweeted on Friday. The conference will launch on Monday and the Taiwanese president’s speech will precede a panel discussing human rights abuses in China.
Ties between the Czech Republic and Taiwan have been warm in the recent past, mainly thanks to the visit of Senate Speaker Miloš Vystrčil to the country in September.
The trip had originally been planned by the previous speaker Jaroslav Kubera, who was unable to realise his plans due to dying suddenly in January. He was awarded the Order of Propitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon posthumously by President Tsai Ing-wen when the Czech delegation visited Taiwan.
Unusually, the Forum 2000 conference will be virtual this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the Taiwanese president will not be speaking physically from Prague itself. -
10/09/2020
At 2pm on Friday, voting booths opened for the second round of Senate elections in the Czech Republic. It is already certain that government opposition parties will retain a majority in the upper house. However, the result of the elections will show whether the Civic Democrats, or Mayors and Independents will acquire a majority in the Senate. The question is important, as the Senate speaker position is traditionally selected from the members of the strongest party.
The coalition Social Democrats, also have much to lose in the elections. With 10 of their 13 senators running in this year’s elections, it is possible the party will not secure five members of the upper house, the number necessary for forming a club in the Senate. Just three Social Democrat candidates made it into the second round.
The Christian Democrats have the opportunity to become the third largest faction within the Senate. Six of its 15 senators are running in this year's election, but seven of the party’s candidates made it into round two.
Only certain districts in the country are voting, as only a third of the upper house is replaced in the bi-annual elections. Newly elected senators receive a six-year-long mandate.
The results of the elections will be announced on Saturday. -
10/09/2020
Saturday is set to see rain across central and eastern parts ofthe Czech Republic, with clouds in the west. Temperatures will range between 11 to 16 degrees Celsius in Bohemia and 17 to 19 degrees in Moravia and Silesia.
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