• 07/02/2014

    A cut in Value Added Tax to 10 percent for books, baby food, and drugs was approved by the government on Wednesday at its regular weekly meeting. The reduce rate of sales tax should come into force from the start of 2015. Babies’ nappies did not make it into the basket of tax reduced items because of fears that a reduction here would conflict with European rules. The introduction of a reduced rate of tax is one of the government’s flagship measures. The Cabinet also agreed to abolish charges for visits to doctors and hospitals with the exception of use of emergency services.

    Author: Chris Johnstone
  • 07/02/2014

    Government coalition parties are due to meet on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the selection of a future Czech nominee for European Commissioner and the share out of posts on state company supervisory boards. All three coalition parties have put their nominees forward to be Commissioner but have so far failed to agree with each other who should get the job. Candidate of the smallest party, the Christian Democrats, Zuzana Roithová, on Wednesday withdrew her candidature with the party instead suggesting that non-party Petr Blížkovský be given the job. He is already a high placed official in Brussels. Discussions over posts on state companies has been sparked by ANO leader Andrej Babiš ignoring share out conventions and putting many of his nominees on boards.

    Author: Chris Johnstone
  • 07/02/2014

    The owner of the Czech Republic’s last large remaining miner of hard or black coal, used for making coke for steel plants, has announced that it is preparing the sale of the OKD company. New World Resources said that the sale scenario for OKD is part of contingency planning if a settlement if an ongoing capital restructuring involving major shareholders does not go through. Even so, offers for OKD and its Polish coal mining units have been invited and they will be evaluated against other options. OKD has four Czech mines producing around 10 million tonnes of coal a year. A deal with the Czech government to prolong the life of the Paskov mine and save around 2500 jobs was reached with the government earlier this year.

    Author: Chris Johnstone
  • 07/02/2014

    The government has agreed an extra 300 million crowns will be earmarked next year to help tempt foreign filmmakers to make films in the Czech Republic. This year 500 million has been allocated to bring in the foreign film companies but 2015’s budget has been raised to 800,000. The incentives allow companies to reclaim up to 20 percent of the cash spent on film making in the country. The fund was created following warnings that filmmakers were shunning the country in favour of more generous venues.

    Author: Chris Johnstone
  • 07/02/2014

    The US ambassador to Prague, Norman Eisen, is set to leave the Czech Republic in August, Hospodářské noviny reported on Wednesday, quoting a diplomat at the city’s American embassy. Mr. Eisen has been in the post since January 2011 and will be replaced by Andrew Schapiro, a lawyer with Czech roots. President Barack Obama nominated Mr. Schapiro, whom he knew at Harvard, in March. However, he is one of over 30 ambassadorial nominees currently being blocked by Republican legislators; he may not be approved until next year, following elections to Congress in November.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 07/02/2014

    Czechs Petra Kvitová and Lucie Šafářová are set to play one another for a place in the final at Wimbledon. Kvitová, who won the tournament in 2011, reached the last four after a 6-1 7-5 defeat of another compatriot, Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, on Thursday. Šafářová has reached this stage in a Grand Slam competition for the first time in her career after a 6-3 6-1 win over Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova. The last time two Czech female players got to the last four in a Grand Slam tournament was at the French Open in 1986, with Hana Mandlíková and Helena Suková. Kvitová or Šafářová will play either the German Angelique Kerber or Eugenie Bouchard of Canada in Saturday’s final.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 07/01/2014

    The Czech tennis player Lucie Šafářová has reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon after defeating Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova 6-1 6-3 on Tuesday. Šafářová, who is seeded 23rd, shed tears of joy after her win, which she described as the greatest moment of her career to date. In the semi-finals she will play one of two compatriots, 2011 winner Petra Kvitová or Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová. The Czech women have had an unusually successful Wimbledon and are now guaranteed to have a player in the final.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 07/01/2014

    The Olomouc supreme state attorney’s office has filed an objection over a case involving the abuse of the military intelligence service. It contends that a suspended sentence handed to Jana Nagyová for ordering intelligence officers to spy on the now former wife of Petr Nečas – who was then prime minister and Ms. Nagyová's boss and is today her husband – was excessively lenient. The state attorney’s office also objects to the dropping of charges against another defendant. The arrest of Ms. Nagyová was one factor in the fall of Mr. Nečas’s centre-right government in June last year.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 07/01/2014

    The Czech police have charged five people with the illegal transfer of money out of the Czech Republic, mainly to Asia, a spokesperson for the force’s anti-corruption unit said on Tuesday. The amount involved has been put at over CZK 10 billion over four years. Detectives say that the money transfer was connected to the sale of goods on Asian markets that the accused did not pay tax on. The five, who police say used front companies based in Cyprus, are also accused of money laundering. The case is linked to the previous charging of 25 Czechs and Vietnamese in May last year.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 07/01/2014

    Nine more galleries and museums in the Czech Republic have been given a virtual online presence through Google Cultural Institute technology. Prague’s Kampa Museum and the National Gallery were already accessible via the system, which puts institutions’ collections online as well as creating virtual tours of the spaces in question. They have been joined by the Václav Havel Library, Prague’s Jewish Museum, the Moravian Gallery in Brno and six other institutions.

    Author: Ian Willoughby

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