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The psychological drama Arved has received the most nominations for the Czech Lion Awards 2022, followed by Il Boemo a musical biopic about the life of Mozart's contemporary Josef Mysliveček. Five films are in the running for Best Film. The psychological and mystical thriller Arvéd, inspired by the controversial personality of occultist and Nazi collaborator Jiří Arved Smíchovský tops the list with twelve nominations followed by Il Boemo with eleven nominations. Banger, which tells the rap story of a drug dealer received eight nominations. The remaining two nominees are The Victim, a drama about xenophobia, and Bright Night a drama with a supernatural edge. The winners will be announced at a gala ceremony at Prague's Rudolfinum on March 4.

Support for EU membership has strengthened across the bloc, according to the results of a survey conducted by London University and cited by The Guardian. In Czechia 70.8 percent of respondents expressed support for EU membership. The number of those in favour of leaving the alliance has dropped by 4.5 percent in the past six years. In some countries support for exiting the EU has dropped dramatically. For instance in Finland the number of people who want out of the EU has dropped from 28.6 to 15.4 percent.

The Czech minister of defence, Jana Černochová, has called on presidential candidate Andrej Babiš not to refer to soldiers in his electoral campaign.

Mr. Babiš states on billboards that he will not lead Czechia into war and is “a diplomat, not a soldier”; the latter is a reference to the former career of his opponent in next week’s runoff, Petr Pavel. The ANO boss also says he would organise a Ukraine peace conference if elected.

Ms. Černochová said that soldiers were not bloodthirsty warmongers but professionals who deserved respect.

The minister said that when she and Mr. Babiš had been present at the return of soldiers’ remains at Prague’s military airport both had been in tears. She said he knew then they had died for the country and that they didn’t deserve insults now.

The Czech minister of finance, Zbyněk Stanjura, says a change to the VAT system being considered by the government would have a neutral effect on the budget.

Speaking on CNN Prima News on Sunday, Mr. Stanjura said the aim was to simplify the taxation system and that he would have a draft bill on the matter ready in spring.

The government is contemplating replacing the current reduced 10 and 15 percent VAT rates with a single reduced rate of 13 or 14 percent. It would exist alongside the basic VAT rate of 21 percent that applies to most goods and services.