• 07/12/2024

    Ex-prime minister and ANO leader Andrej Babiš accused the government in parliament on Thursday evening of rewriting history with its planned Council for the Preservation of Historical Memory. In a speech as part of a lower house debate on television and radio licence fees, he turned to the topic of the Velvet Revolution, describing the events of November 17, 1989, as having started with the permission of the communist authorities and saying the participants had "arrived as members of the Socialist Youth Union and left as revolutionaries".

    His statements provoked an angry response from MPs who had participated in the Velvet Revolution or whose parents were dissidents. At the time of the revolution, Mr Babiš was in Morocco as a prominent member of the then regime, according to Czech news site Deník N.

    The formation of the Council for the Preservation of Historical Memory, approved by the cabinet this week, is intended to commemorate the victims of the totalitarian communist and Nazi regimes, pursue a systematic and conceptual approach to the preservation of their historical memory and support relevant educational, lecture and museum projects.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/12/2024

    With only one exception, all countries at the NATO summit in Washington agreed that Ukraine should be given whatever support it needs to defend itself militarily, Czech President Petr Pavel said at a press conference at the close of the three-day meeting of member states. He later clarified on social media site X that all countries in the alliance pledged further support for Ukraine with the exception of Hungary. He said the main topic of discussion was how concretely to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

    The Czech head of state also spoke about the need to stand up to Russia, saying that the Russian plan to assassinate the head of the German arms company Rheinmetall, uncovered by Germany and the United States, is further incontrovertible proof that Russia is waging a hybrid and information war against the West. He emphasised the need to let Russia know that none of these tactics would deter Western countries from doing what they consider to be right.

    The three-day summit of NATO leaders took place from 9–11 July.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/11/2024

    Czech tennis player Barbora Krejčíková has made it to the Wimbledon final for the first time in her career. She beat Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the semi-finals on Thursday evening 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

    The 28-year-old native of Moravia, ranked 31st in the world, will now face the Italian Jasmine Paolini in Saturday’s final.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/11/2024

    Czechia plans to supplement the aid for Czech fruit growers proposed by the European Commission with an additional CZK 100 million from the state budget, Agriculture Minister Marek Výborný announced on social media site X on Thursday.

    Fruit harvests were massively damaged by severe frost this spring and lost revenues were estimated at over CZK 1.3 billion. According to estimates from June, the Czech fruit harvest will amount to 31,430 tonnes this year, down 77 percent compared to the five-year average.

    The EC had previously proposed releasing EUR 15 million (around CZK 378 million) from reserves to help Czech fruit farmers who had suffered losses due to the frost. With the additional CZK 100 million from the Czech state, that will mean a total of almost half a billion Czech crowns at their disposal. Výborný noted that it would not be possible to compensate 100 percent of the damage, but he said the money would at least help fruit growers survive this difficult period.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/11/2024

    Friday should be mostly clear in the morning with the chance of rain increasing throughout the day. Storms are expected once again in the evening. Daytime temperatures are predicted to reach a maximum of 28 degrees Celsius.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/11/2024

    In the first six months of this year, the Energy Regulatory Office (ERU) handed out fines amounting to CZK 12 million to energy suppliers and intermediaries for anti-consumer practices, the office said on Thursday. The most common problems had to do with suppliers not fulfilling their obligations regarding billing and complaints. In its more than 20 years of existence, this is the largest amount of money it has ever imposed in fines in a six-month period.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/11/2024

    Jewish people in Europe still encounter a lot of antisemitism and many hide their Jewish identity over concerns for their safety, according to a report published on Thursday by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). However, safety concerns were less pronounced in Czechia than elsewhere in the EU.

    In Czechia, only 11 percent said they were very concerned about harassment and five percent said they were afraid of being assaulted, the lowest proportion out of all the countries surveyed (the average was 53 and 44 percent respectively). While 80 percent of respondents from the 13 EU countries surveyed said they felt antisemitism had increased over the last 5 years and 84 percent said that antisemitism was a big problem in their lives, in Czechia those proportions were also significantly smaller - 43 percent and 27 percent respectively.

    The survey was conducted among the 13 EU member states where 96 percent of the EU's Jewish population lives - Czechia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Austria, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Sweden. The surveying took place before the Hamas attack on Israel last October.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/11/2024

    The Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Amir Ohana, came to Prague on Thursday to discuss the current situation in Israel and the Gaza Strip with some of Czechia's top politicians, including the prime minister. Meanwhile, several activist groups, including the Jewish Voice of Solidarity, protested against Ohana's visit, saying in an open letter that by receiving the speaker of the Israeli parliament, the Czech state was expressing support for Israel's war crimes and genocide in Gaza.

    Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who met with Mr Ohana in the late afternoon, wrote on social media site X afterwards that they talked about the need to remove Hamas as the ruling force in Gaza. Mr Fiala expressed the opinion that peace could only be achieved without the presence of terrorists. The government office added that the pair also discussed defence and industry cooperation between their two countries.

    The Speaker of the lower house Markéta Pekarová Adamová said after her morning meeting with Ohana that it was important to keep reminding people of what Hamas did last October because it seems people are starting to forget the "barbaric and brutal" origins of the current Israel-Hamas conflict.

    The Speaker of the upper house Miloš Vystrčil, who met with Mr Ohana in the Senate in the early afternoon, said afterwards that assurances were given that Israel is doing everything possible to provide humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza and that the country is complying with international law. When asked about some other countries' reservations regarding Israel's actions, Mr Vystrčil said they talked both about the fact that Czechia will continue supporting Israel and also, "as true friends", about what actions could potentially weaken that support. They also discussed Israel's plans in the Gaza Strip, but according to the house speaker, it is impossible to say how long it will take to find a way out of the conflict as the mood in the region is not conducive to finding a solution soon.

    Ohana praised Czechia's unconditional support for Israel and said the country was standing "on the right side of history." He added that Czechia had shown what real friendship between countries looked like through its words and actions.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/11/2024

    Czechia experienced the hottest day of the year on Wednesday. A third of the measuring stations that have been keeping records for more than 30 years saw their warmest temperatures for the day. The highest temperature, 36.1 degrees Celsius, was measured in the South Moravian town of Strážnice.

    The heat was replaced by strong thunderstorms with hail in the afternoon, which caused flash floods and complicated traffic around the country.  By Thursday morning, fire officers have responded to around 950 calls, clearing roads, removing fallen trees and pumping water from cellars.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 07/11/2024

    Czech President Petr Pavel held talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington on Wednesday. They discussed, among other things, the implementation of President Zelensky's peace plan, the current situation on the battlefield, the Czech munitions initiative, as well as the launch of accession negotiations on EU accession.

    The meeting was also attended by other members of the Czech delegation, including Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský, Defence Minister Jana Černochová and Chief of General Staff Karel Řehka.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková

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