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Prime Minister Petr Fiala has said his cabinet is ready to try to find consensus across the political spectrum for the government’s pension reform, but complained that the leading opposition party ANO had refused to negotiate the proposal in the past. The prime minister was reacting to a statement by President Pavel earlier this week urging for broad political consensus on the long-awaited pension reform. The opposition parties have complained that they were left out of the debate and have labelled the proposed reform “anti-social”.

The government’s proposal envisages a gradual increase in the retirement age linked to a higher life expectancy, a different basis for calculating old-age pensions, a lower indexation of pensions and a minimum pension amounting to 20 percent of the average wage. It would also enable early retirement for people in demanding professions.

The Czech government has disclosed plans for the construction of a gigafactory for the production of batteries for electric cars worth CZK 200 billion by a foreign investor in the Karviná region in the east of the country. The project should bring new jobs, contribute to energy security and increase the Czech Republic's competitiveness, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said after Wednesday’s cabinet meeting. He declined to provide further details about the investment saying that the agreement with the investor does not allow him to disclose the company’s name.

Over 3,000 farmers are staging a major protest action in Prague on Thursday disrupting traffic and spreading manure outside the Office of the Government. Like their European counterparts they are protesting against rising costs, heavy regulation, cheap goods from Ukraine and the EU's Green Deal.

Agriculture Minister Marek Výborný said in reaction to the protests that the government is aware of the serious problems farmers face, but that it will not act under pressure. He said the government had met some of their demands to the extent that the budget allowed and was ready to negotiate further, but warned that there were limits to what the government could do.

Ahead of the protests the government announced plans to increase funding to support animal welfare at livestock farms this year and will next year support rural employment with CZK 2 billion in social insurance discounts for farm workers.

The Czech government has cancelled intergovernmental consultations with the Slovak government, scheduled to take place in late April and early May. One of the reasons behind the move is last week's meeting between Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Czech Premier Petr Fiala said on Wednesday.

Mr. Fiala said the Czech government doesn’t consider it appropriate to hold intergovernmental consultations with the Slovak government in the next few weeks or months. Mr. Fiala said that while the government is aware of the close ties between Czechia and Slovakia, it is impossible to hide the fact that there are significant differences of opinion on some key foreign policy issues.

In reaction to the move, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico accused the Czech government of jeopardizing relations with Slovakia by supporting war in Ukraine, while Slovakia advocates for peace.