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President Petr Pavel has requested that some of his presidential funds for representation purposes be transferred to his wife, Eva Pavlová, to assist her in her services as First Lady, according to a post on the social network X. The president stated that it is “unfair” that his wife must pay for expenses occurred as part of official visits. The president emphasized that he had never asked for an increase in financial resources. The request comes at a time of increased scrutiny of the salaries of public officials and has stirred some controversy.

The South Korean company KHNP, which won the tender for the construction of two new reactors at the Dukovany nuclear power plant, has rejected claims by its unsuccessful French rival EDF that it received unfair subsidy support from its government that helped it win the tender. EDF has said the European Commission should examine whether the Korean firm's bid in the Dukovany tender "complied with the fundamental principles, laws and regulations of European law". As Euractive reported, EDF filed the complaint under the European regulation on foreign subsidies.

KHNP has denied getting any aid from its government. "KHNP has not received any subsidies from the South Korean government in connection with the bid for the construction of new nuclear units in the Czech Republic that could influence the results of the tender, nor has it received any promises of such subsidies," KHNP spokesman Kryštof Navrátil told Czech Radio on Tuesday.

Tomio Okamura, the leader of the Freedom and Direct Democracy Party (SPD), has been fined for a statement made at the beginning of May in the Czech Chamber of Deputies, in which he compared Deputy Speaker Jan Bartošek to a modern-day Hitler. Okamura was fined 20,000 crowns by the parliamentary Mandate and Immunity Committee, which recognised his remark about Bartošek’s morals and manner of speaking as a disciplinary offence. The committee has the power either to impose a monetary penalty or demand an apology. Pavel Staněk, the vice-chairperson of the committee, said “we found it entirely more rational to impose a fine than an almost possibly unenforceable apology”. Okamura has the right to appeal the verdict.

Unemployment in Czechia rose to 3.9 percent this September, which was 0.1 percentage point higher than in the previous two months, according to data published by the Czech Labour Office.  The primary reason for the increase was the arrival of approximately 3,000 recent school graduates on the labour market. There were 290,905 people without work at the end of September, 4585 more than in the previous month. But the number of vacancies also increased; compared to August, it rose to 264,654, an increase of 1,400. In September last year, unemployment was lower, at 3.6 percent. According to analysts, the increase in unemployment indicates the weak performance of the Czech economy.