News

The Czech government approved a change to legislation on Wednesday that will prevent Russians and Belarusians who also possess another citizenship from receiving Czech visas, the press office of the Office of Government informs.

The government already decided to halt the issuing to Russian and later Belarussian citizens last year, with the exception of humanitarian cases. The validity of this order is being extended until March of next year.

At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has proposed expanding visa exceptions to Ukrainian citizens, to include the possibility for these national to receive a visa for reasons of connecting families, scientific research and study.

Agriculture businesses in Czechia registered a 142 percent increase in profits last year, from CZK 9.1 billion in 2021 to CZK 22 billion in 2022, the Agricultural Association of the Czech Republic announced on Wednesday. The profits were largely down to the rise commodity purchasing prices and the fact that farmers were using fertilizers that were purchased before the energy crisis.

Next year, the association expects profits to fall significantly, due to an inevitable rise in costs.

June’s IFSC Climbing World Cup, that is set to take place on Prague’s Letná plain, will feature Czechia’s best climbers, including four-time world champion Adam Ondra, the head of the Czech Mountaineering Association, Jan Bloudek, said at a press conference on Wednesday. He said that preparations for the tournament have been in full swing for over half a year already. The full list of foreign contestants is not yet known, but organisers expect it will feature major stars as well.

The last time that Czechia hosted the competition was in 2009 in Brno. However, last year the country was the venue of the IFSC Europe Cup in 2022, which Bloudek says was a great success and helped Prague secure this year’s competition.

Labour Minister Marian Jurečka said on Wednesday that he does not intend to push through a rise in the pension age from 65 to 68 into new relevant legislation that is being prepared. He added that the age when people become eligible for the state pension should take average life expectancy, length of work and the nature of the profession into account. The statement came after he met with representatives of the opposition Freedom and Direct Democracy party.

The state’s pension deficit currently lies at around CZK 78 billion and the government is pushing through a change in legislation that would slow down the annual rise in pensions. A pension commission has been set up to discuss the relevant amendments and the labour minister stated today that it will be expanded to include representatives of opposition parties in the lower-house.