News

Czech opera singer Soňa Červená has died at the age of 97. The news was announced by the National Theatre in Prague where she started her career and to which she returned after the fall of communism.  After emigrating from Czechoslovakia in the 1960s, Červená sang in some of the world's leading opera houses. Her most famous role was Carmen which she performed more than 100 times on the world's leading stages.

Efforts to undermine EU unity play into the hands of Vladimir Putin, Czechia’s new minister for European Affairs, Martin Dvořák, said in an interview for Czech Radio. Minister Dvořák said on taking office that one of his key goals would be to boost support for the EU on the domestic scene and dispel myths that Brussels is excessively authoritative and is robbing us of our traditional values. Dvořák expressed the view that Czech Euroscepticism stems from the influence of former president Václav Klaus and a general feeling of frustration with everything around us. The mismanagement of European funds also plays a role, he said.

According to a May poll, conducted by NMS Market Research, 49 percent of Czechs currently support EU membership, 38 percent see it as more or less problematic.

According to the national coordinator for the integration of Ukrainian refugees, Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková, the integration process would benefit from a wider range of Czech language courses and more psychological support.  Laurenčíková said the language barrier remains a big problem for some refugees and limits their chances of finding employment. She said that it also restricts their chances of getting psychological support which many of them badly need. There are presently around 300,000 Ukrainian refugees in the country.

Dissident, journalist and translator Petruška Šustrová has died at the age of 75.  News of her death was confirmed by the chairman of the Syndicate of Journalists, Adam Černý and the newspaper  Lidovky.cz where she published editorial columns in recent years.

Šustrová was a vocal critic of the communist regime and was jailed for her views and her activities. She later became a signatory and one of the spokespersons for Charter 77. After the fall of communism in 1989, she worked at the Independent Press Centre and also briefly served as deputy interior minister. She translated  from English, Russian and Polish.