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The average monthly wage in Czechia in the first quarter of 2023 rose by 8.6 percent year-on-year to CZK 41,256, the Czech Statistics Office reported on Monday.

In real terms, taking into account inflation, earnings fell by 6.7 percent. However two-thirds of employees earn less than the average wage.

The median wage, a midway between the highest and the lowest levels, increased by 8.9 percent year on year to CZK 34,741. It was CZK 37,696 for men and CZK 31,856 for women.

Dozens of people gathered in Prague's Old Town Square on Sunday afternoon to support the jailed  Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny on his 47th birthday. On display was a replica of the cell where the politician is imprisoned. The aim of the event was to provide moral support for Navalny and to draw attention to the inhumane conditions in which he is being held, the organizers told the ctk news agency. Similar protest actions took place in other world cities.

The parties of the SPOLU coalition (Civic Democrats, Christian Democrats and TOP 09)  which won the last general elections and are now in government may run together in next year’s European elections as well, Prime Minister Petr Fiala told CNN Prima News on Sunday. “We are considering the possibility so as to increase our chances of success and to represent the country well in the European Parliament," Fiala said adding that nothing had yet been settled. According to the Interior Ministry the European elections in Czechia will take place on June 7-8, 2024, but the date must still be formally announced by President Petr Pavel.

The growing gap in public finances in the first five months of the year is reason for concern, but the cabinet may still be able to keep the deficit within the projected 295 billion crowns in 2023, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said in a debate on CNN Prima News. The prime minister said the months of June and July would bring revenues from windfall tax, dividends from the state-owned power utility ČEZ and money from European funds, which would make a difference to the state of the budget. He said the canbinet was also planning further cuts in spending this year. According to the Finance Ministry, the deficit reached 271 billion crowns at the end of May.

According to ANO leader Andrej Babiš, the Fiala government is responsible for the fact that Czechia has the third highest inflation in the EU, has failed to draw the EU funds to which the country has access and is trying to curb the deficit by taking money from the weakest groups in the society such as pensioners and families with children.