News

The designated Czech vice-president of the European Commission, Věra Jourová has been approved by MEPs for the European values and transparency portfolio in the new European Commission.

Ms. Jourová was grilled by members of the Constitutional Affairs and Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committees on how she would secure rule of law and media independence across the EU.

Potential measures mentioned by the vice president-designate included anti-censorship legislation, as well as legal and financial aid for those facing rule of law violations.

Ms. Jourová also responded to questions pertaining to the Czech prime minister, Andrej Babiš, who, according to a preliminary EU audit has a conflict of interest.

The Czech nominee said she was determined to address rule of law issues across the block impartially and would not favour any state in defending the EU‘s core values.

The Prague City Council has approved the loan of the famous Slav Epic cycle of paintings by Art Nouveau painter Alphonse Mucha to Moravský Krumlov for a period of five years.

The city of Moravský Krumlov, which was in charge of the cycle of 20 outsize paintings from the 1950s to 2010, has said it can ready them for a public exhibition within a matter of months.

The two cities have disputed the right to house the famous paintings since 2010, when they were moved to Prague, despite the fact that the city is still looking for a permanent exhibition site for them.

The paintings were also at the centre of a drawn-out ownership dispute with the painter’s grandson John Mucha, but last year the Prague Municipal Court definitively ruled that they rightly belong to Prague to whom the painter donated them in 1928.

Prague City Hall has announced it will terminate the sister-city agreement between Prague and Beijing, because the Chinese authorities are unwilling to drop an article of the document in which Prague recognizes the policy of One China.

The agreement was signed by the city’s former mayor, Adriana Krnáčová, and the Pirate Party, which heads the Prague ruling coalition, has been critical of it from the outset.

The dispute has caused a rift in Czech-Chinese relations with China recently cancelling a number of planned tours by Prague cultural ensembles.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček say that while the government respects the “One China” policy it cannot dictate anything to the democratically elected Prague leadership.

As in 2018, two Czech women will take part in this year’s WTA Finals, which involves the top eight women’s tennis players from the season. Petra Kvitová has just qualified and Karolína Plíšková had already made the cut-off for the prestigious tournament, which this year is being held in China’s Shenzhen.

Kvitová, who is 29, has taken part in the WTA finals seven times and lifted the trophy in 2011.