News

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who was re-appointed to the post on Wednesday, said that he would sue Slovakia in the European Court of Human Rights over allegations that he had been an informer for the Communist-era secret police.

The Regional Court in Bratislava last February rejected a petition from Mr. Babiš, who argued that he was wrongly listed as an agent of Czechoslovakia’s Communist-era secret police in the records of the Slovak National Memory Institute, which handles historical archives.

Babiš, a Slovak entrepreneur who now has Czech citizenship, maintains that, as an employee of a foreign trade firm, he had met with the secret police, but never pledged to cooperate.

Prague City Hall will radically reduce the price of public transport costs for students, deputy mayor Petr Dolínek announced on Wednesday.

As of September 1, students will pay 365 crowns for an annual pass instead of the current 1,200 crowns per six months. The city hall will also introduce shorter intervals on the metro’s B and C lines.

Nicholas Ilett, Director-General of the EU's anti-fraud office OLAF, has strongly objected to claims by the newly appointed Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš over the investigation into alleged subsidy fraud at the Stork’s Nest complex linked to his Agrofert empire.

Mr Babiš said earlier this year that OLAF was biased, arguing that the case was politicised both in the Czech Republic and in Brussels. His company Agrofert has lodged a complaint with the European Union ombudsman and at the EU’s Court of Justice over OLAF’s handling of the investigation.

ANO leader Andrej Babiš and nine others are suspected of having orchestrated a plan for his Stork’s Nest farm to acquire a 50 million crown EU subsidy which should technically have gone to small and mid-sized businesses. Mr. Babiš has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Czech adjusted industrial production fell in April compared with the same month in 2017.

Factoring in the difference of two working days, the annual drop in production was 0.2 percent year-on-year. Unadjusted, there was an increase of 5.5 percent. The main increases in production were focused on auto production, manufacturing of electrical equipment and production of metal products.

The value of new orders rose at an annual rate of 0.6 percent. While there was a slight drop in foreign orders this was more than compensated for by a 2.9 percent rise in domestic orders. This confirms that Czech domestic demand is still strong and one of the biggest factors fuelling economic growth.