News

The Czech government has been downplaying financial aid provided by the EU to entrepreneurs and companies hit by the COVID-19 crisis, the news site Neovlivni.cz writes.

Neovlivni says a substantial part of the aid packages which the government presents as state assistance within the COVID I and II programs are financed by the European Union. In COVID I, close to half of the total sum of one billion crowns, comes from EU funds; COVID II, amounting to five billion crowns, draws entirely on EU finances, according to Magdalena Frouzová from the Czech Representation of the European Commission.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš previously wrote on Twitter that there is nothing to "thank" the European Union for since the money that goes into the COVID programs had already been allocated to the Czech Republic within the 2014-2020 period and had not been used up.

The outbreak in the Silesian Darkov mine, which has been one of the main centres of the coronavirus pandemic in the Czech Republic over these past two weeks, seems to be slowing down, according to newly released information from the Regional Hygienist Office in Ostrava.

As of Sunday evening, 347 people from the mine and nearby settlement had been infected with the coronavirus. Aside from miners, this included some of their family members and workers commuting from abroad. However, Saturday saw just four new infections.

In relation to the outbreak, hygienists ordered increasing the rate of disinfection in the public places of surrounding towns and districts. Some towns, such as nearby Karviná asked people to stay in quarantine and not to leave their homes.

The Social Democrats, who are currently in a minority government with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’s ANO party, will not support the government’s proposal to ease the legislation regarding the issuing of some public tenders, the leader of the Social Democrat deputies in the lower house Jan Chvojka told Czech Television on Sunday. He said future support could only come if the current proposal were further amended by the Chamber of Deputies.

Meanwhile, Pavel Kováčik,the leader of the deputies of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, which supports the minority government, said that his party would be in favour of the proposed change in legislation. However, only under the condition that it would be used in a state of crisis, such as the one declared during the coronavirus pandemic.

The government justified the amendment by saying it would ease the administrative burden on issuing tenders in times of crisis. The proposal has been condemned by anti-corruption organisations Transparency International and Reconstruction of the State (Rekonstrukce státu).

Temperatures are expected to rise markedly on Monday, ranging between 18 to 23 degrees Celsius. Minor clouds are expected above most of the country, except for parts of North West Bohemia which could see completely open skies.