News

Thousands of volunteers around the Czech Republic are participating in a spring clean-up of the countryside this weekend. More than 40 such operations are taking place, with the highest concentration in the South Moravian, Moravian Silesian and Central Bohemian regions. The rubbish clearance drives are part of the international campaign Clean Up the World and have in the past drawn 18,000 people.

The Czech Finance Ministry has asked the central bank to investigate whether the Prague Interbank Offered Rate (PRIBOR), the main benchmark for the country's money market, may have been manipulated, the Reuters news agency reported on Friday. In a letter sent to central bank Governor Miroslav Singer, Deputy Finance Minister Martin Pros referred to "unsettling reports concerning PRIBOR rates, of which the most serious ones include concerns of their manipulation" and asked the bank for a thorough investigation. According to Reuters Pros did not accuse any individual or institution of wrongdoing or spell out in the letter what his allegation was based on.

The head of the Office of the President, Chancellor Vratislav Mynář, has said he will make public his salary and that of all the senior office employees once he gets permission to do so from the Office for the Protection of Private Data. Mr. Mynář is a highly controversial figure on the president’s team. He has come under fire for failing to get security clearance, which is a precondition for his post, and recently raised speculation over the purchase of a villa at a surprisingly low cost from a controversial Prague businessman who is now in prison for hit-and-run.

Finance minister and leader of the ANO party Andrej Babiš continues to top the ladder as the most popular politician in the Czech Republic, according to the results of a poll conducted by the STEM agency. Mr. Babiš enjoys the trust of 64 percent of those polled, down by 8 percent from a previous survey, he is followed by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka whose current trust rating is 54 percent and Defense Minister Martin Stropnický who got 52 percent. Despite often coming under fire over a possible conflict of interests, the Czech finance minister, who owns a multi-billion crown business enterprise, has consistently topped the popularity ladder since January of last year.