News

The number of Czechs who never follow political events in the media has significantly increased, suggests a new survey conducted by the CVVM agency at the end of last year.

According to the poll, some 20 percent of respondents never follow political news in the media, which is 11 percentage points more than in 2020, and the highest figure in two decades.

Nevertheless, following political issues in the media remains the most common activity of the Czech public in relation to politics. The second is discussing politics with friends and the least frequent activity is working for a political party.

In terms of public engagement, most Czechs (26 percent) participate in sports organisations, followed by civic and interest associations and charitable activities, in which less than a fifth of citizens are involved.

Czechia and Poland violate the EU election law as their national laws do not enable citizens of other EU countries to join Czech, respectively Polish political parties, preventing them from running in local or European elections, the Court of Justice of the European Union Advocate-General, Jean Richard de La Tour, said on Thursday.

According to the European Commission, which turned to the European Court of Justice in June 2021, this entails discrimination on grounds of nationality. The executive claims Czechia and Poland are the only two EU countries where such restrictions apply.

While Mr. La Tour backed the European Commission’s position, his view may not coincide with the ruling of the court.

Most anti-flood measures employed in Prague in response to rising river levels were discontinued on Thursday. All the city’s embankments were reopened to the public at 8 am, while cars are also now allowed to drive on riverside walkways. The flood gates on Čertovka stream have been reopened.

Only the pedestrian walking section of the Rašín embankment will remain closed for the time being, an official said. The Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute will end a flood alert for Prague on Thursday evening.

In view of the crisis situation, the Czech police and the Ministry of the Interior handled communication correctly with regard to a mass shooting at a Prague university last month, the interior minister, Vít Rakušan, said on Wednesday.

The minister told reporters that he would task the head of the Czech police force with improving channels of communication with other “soft targets” in case of future tragic events.

Fourteen people lost their lives when a student at the Faculty of Arts in central Prague went on a shooting spree before killing himself. He had earlier murdered a man and his two-month old baby as well as his own father.