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Czechia is not dependent on Russian gas, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has told Czech Television. This is despite the fact that official figures show that imports of gas from Russia have risen sharply; some recent reports have suggested that over 60 percent of total gas imports in January came from that country.

Some imports into Czechia are of gas from Slovakia, which may come from Russia, Czech Television said. A representative of the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade told the station that some of this could be gas that was in storage in Ukraine during the summer, or other transit gas.

The Czech government has agreed to increase care allowances as of July this year, Labour and Social Affairs Minister Marian Jurečka announced on Friday. He said the planned increase would not be across the board but would vary according to the level of dependency, going up from 11 to 40 percent. The allowance is intended for disabled and elderly people to help them cover the cost of care in a social facility or at home.

The number of forced evictions from homes due to domestic violence increased by 181 to 1, 268 cases last year, according to a police report  This is the highest number since 2018.  According to statistics, the number of children affected by domestic violence also increased last year. Police identified 2,612 people as being at risk of domestic violence in 2023. The largest number, 1,251, were women, followed by children, who numbered 1,180. Police also identified 181 men as being at risk. The law enabling the police to evict a person from their home over domestic violence for a period of 10 days was introduced in 2007.

Hundreds of dissatisfied Czech farmers are preparing to join in the ongoing farmers’ protests around Europe against EU policy and the Green Deal.  According to the organizer of the protest, Zdeněk Jandejsek, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the agricultural holding Rabbit and former president of the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic, close to a thousand tractors are expected to take part in the protest ride on Monday, February 19.

The protest is to be centred around Prague’s Malostranske square and may last for several days. Some agricultural organizations and the Czech Chamber of Agriculture have distanced themselves from the protest saying they want to negotiate with the government first. Like elsewhere in Europe, Czech farmers are protesting against falling sale prices, rising costs and heavy regulation.  Jandejsek said their main demand is that the government withdraw from the Green Deal, a Europe-wide agreement that aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.