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Outgoing Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová was presented with the Vision for Europe award in Prague on Thursday, given to people dedicated to furthering European ideals and values. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský gave her the award at the Prague European Summit which took place at the Foreign Ministry.

For her part, Čaputová said in her speech at the summit that EU consensus had been weakened by many crises, and that although there was overall agreement that Europe should be strong, secure, democratic, and socially just, the challenge was translating that vision into reality in times of crisis, as only extremist forces stand to benefit from the polarisation of society.

Later on Thursday, the Slovak president was awarded the Order of the White Lion, Czechia’s highest state distinction, by Czech President Petr Pavel at Prague Castle for her contribution to the development of relations between the two countries. Ms. Čaputová in turn then awarded the Czech president with Slovakia's highest state award, the Order of the White Double Cross.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský and seven of his European counterparts have called on EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to introduce swift restrictions on the movement of Russian diplomats in the Schengen Area. Czechia has long been pushing for such restrictions to be part of the EU's 14th sanctions package against Russia.

Many Russian "diplomats" in the European Union abuse their positions to gather intelligence, carry out espionage, disseminate propaganda and even plan acts of sabotage, the foreign ministers said in their letter addressed to the head of EU diplomacy. The EU should maintain the principle of reciprocity and restrict the movement of Russian diplomats and their family members exclusively to the territory of the country where they are posted, they wrote. This measure would substantially reduce the operational space of Russian agents and make it more difficult for them to carry out activities harmful to EU security, according to the ministers from Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania.

Czechia’s Jakub Vadlejch has taken gold in the javelin at the European Athletics Championships in Rome. The 33-year-old had been third in the standings but went on to win with his final throw, of 88.65 metres, on Wednesday evening.

It is the first major gold of Vadlejch’s career and also the first gold won by the Czech team in Rome.

The driver of a passenger train involved in a fatal head-on collision in Pardubice last week realised he had missed a signal and managed to stop the train. However, the driver of a second, cargo train received no warning and did not manage to brake before the accident, the head of the Railways Inspectorate said on Wednesday.

Four women died in what was the most deadly two-train collision in Czechia in several decades. Over two dozen people were injured.