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09/05/2019
The Finance Ministry has sent the government a proposal to introduce a 7% digital tax for large Internet companies such as Facebook and Google as of mid-2020. According to the ministry the tax could bring approximately five billion crowns to state coffers annually.
The proposed tax would concern internet companies with a global turnover of over € 750 million (CZK 19.1 billion), and an annual turnover of at least CZK 50 million for taxable services in the Czech Republic. Some digital economy platforms, such as Airbnb and Uber, would also be taxable.
The ministry’s proposal is based on a draft prepared by the European Commission, which however failed to win approval in the European Parliament.
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09/05/2019
The deputy head of the State Environmental Fund Leo Steiner, who suspended state subsidies to a company in the Agrofert conglomerate due to a possible conflict of interest on the part of the Czech prime minister, Andrej Babiš, has left his post, the news site Seznam.cz reported on Thursday.
Steiner himself confirmed that he had left at the end of August, saying that his superior wanted to start disciplinary proceedings against him for giving the media information about the suspension of the subsidies. Steiner said he had broken the internal regulation intentionally.
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09/05/2019
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) and Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček (Social Democrats) will represent the Czech Republic at the upcoming UN General Assembly session.
The UN General Assembly session opens on 17 September with the first day of the high-level General Debate set for 24 September.
Mr Babiš is due to deliver a speech to the body sometime between 24-30 September and take part in multilateral delegation head-level events, including a possible meeting with UN Secretary General António Guterres.
Apart from attending UN events, including a Climate Summit and a Sustainable Development forum, both Mr Babiš and Mr Petříček will travel outside of New York City.
Mr Babiš is set visit the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), meet representatives of the Boston Chamber of Commerce, and tour General Electric's R&D centre in Schenectady, New York.
Foreign Minister Petříček will attend meetings of foreign ministers from EU and NATO member countries in New York but also travel to Washington, D.C, for a conference of the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), and to Miami, for a conference on democratic alternatives for Cuba.
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09/05/2019
China has cancelled the scheduled tour of another Czech music ensemble, most likely due to an ongoing feud with Prague’s mayor, Czech Television (ČT) reports.
Mayor Zdenek Hřib (Pirate Party), a vocal supporter of Taiwan and Tibet, has pushed for the removal of a clause in a Prague-Beijing cooperation agreement requiring the Czech capital to respect the “one-China policy”.
In response, Beijing in July ‘indefinitely postponed’ an autumn tour of China by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
Now, China has done the same with the chamber music ensemble Guarneri Trio Prague, led by Ivan Klánský, the dean of the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts (HAMU).
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09/04/2019
Supreme State Attorney Pavel Zeman says no decision has been taken regarding whether to prosecute Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) over the so-called Stork’s Nest case, regarding an alleged EU subsidy fraud a decade ago.
On Monday, the news portal DeníkN reported that State attorney Jaroslav Šaroch had halted the prosecution against Mr Babiš and others. That was only an interim step that must be approved by higher authorities in order to come into force, Mr Zeman said.
As Supreme State Attorney, Mr Zeman has the right to invalidate the decision. He declined on Wednesday to say what the likely outcome would be but expressed regret that a preliminary decision had been made public.
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09/04/2019
European Commission president-elect Ursula von der Leyen has offered the Czech Republic’s Věra Jourová a portfolio focused on democracy issues, Politico reported. The post would concern the rule of law and connected issues, such as disinformation and hate speech, the news site said.
Ms. Jourová has hitherto been European commissioner for justice, gender equality and consumers. The Prague government has been hoping she receives an economic or trade portfolio during her second stint. Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček (Social Democrats) reiterated that preference on Wednesday in response to the article.
Politico said the offer on the table could be part of an effort by Ms. von der Leyen to reach out to Central European states, whose leaders have accused the outgoing commission of overly concentrating on the region with regard to rule of law probes.
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09/04/2019
The Criminal Code may be amended to prevent women prisoners who become pregnant in jail from being automatically released to care for their babies, as is now the case.
MPs from the ANO party of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš aim to change the law so that courts will decide on a case by case basis whether to release such inmates. They plan to submit the draft proposal to the lower house of Parliament in October.
The move comes in reaction to the recent case of one Petra Janáková, who was sentenced to prison for 30 years for shooting a man and attempting to murder three others.
The 29-year-old was released into civilian life for about 15 months in accordance with current law, which allows pregnant convicts to suspend their sentences until their child’s first birthday.
The Prison Service director said a special facility for pregnant inmates and mothers with children under one year could be established in Světlá nad Sázavou within months of a change in the law.
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09/04/2019
Tuesday should be relatively cool and cloudy throughout most of the country. Rain is likely in northern and southern Bohemia, while clear skies are forecast for south-eastern Moravia. Daytime highs should range from 18 to 26 degrees Celsius.
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09/04/2019
The average monthly salary in the Czech Republic, which has risen steadily in recent months, has just passed the 34,000 crown mark, equivalent to 1,313 euros or 1,439 US dollars.
According to the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ), that represents a 7.2 percent increase in annual terms. In real terms, the average monthly salary grew by 4.3 percent compared to the second quarter of 2018.
However, two-thirds of full-time employees make less than 34,000 crowns, and the median salary is just 29,127 crowns, an increase of 6.9 percent.
As for salaries in the capital, Prague, the average monthly salary reached of 42,297 crowns in the second quarter of this year.
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09/04/2019
The Railway Infrastructure Administration (SŽDC) plans to install a new CCTV system at selected railway crossings in a bid to reduce traffic fatalities. Drivers filmed making dangerous crossings will face fines, the Administration said.
The move comes following a spate of lethal train accidents involving motorists this summer. More than 740 collisions and other extraordinary events were recorded on the Czech rail network from January through end July. Those crashes left 130 people dead.
Apart from looking to encourage responsible driving at railway crossings, plans are also afoot to install barriers at most of the country’s first-class roads by 2023.
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