News

Large companies in Czechia will have to ensure a more balanced share of men and women in leadership positions if a proposed bill published on the government's website is approved, the Czech News Agency reported on Saturday. According to the draft law, women should make up at least a third of representation in upper management.

On average, women hold 32.2 percent of leadership positions across the EU, while in Czechia, it is only 21 percent. It ranks 20th out of the 27 EU member states when it comes to representation of women in upper management and has long been criticised for failure to do anything to improve the situation.

The new regulation is required by last year's EU directive on improving the gender balance among directors of listed companies, and Czechia must adopt it by December 28. According to the accompanying documents on the government's website, the law is being adopted in the most minimal form required for it to still comply with the EU directive and the changes would only affect five companies and banks in the country. However, in their justification for the law, the authors noted that more progress towards gender balance was made in countries where the measures were mandatory and that, according to studies, an increase in the proportion of women in top management positions leads to higher performance, success and competitiveness.

The Jizerská padesátka, a 50-kilometre-long cross-country ski race held every year in the Jizera Mountains since 1968, will not be taking place next Sunday as planned due to unfavourable weather conditions. The organisers announced their decision to cancel the 57th edition of the event on Facebook, saying that the lack of snow and warm weather made holding the event unfeasible, especially given the even worse weather forecast for next week.

Thousands of people had registered to participate in the four-day event, which was supposed to start on Thursday and culminate in the main race on Sunday, which is part of the Ski Classics series. Registered competitors will receive up to 70 percent of their entry fee back.

Czechia has a huge diplomatic advantage in Africa in that it does not have a dark history of colonialism in any African country, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said in Brussels on Saturday at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers about the EU's relations with Africa. He pointed out that the former Czechoslovakia helped a number of African countries during decolonisation, with many African leaders having studied at universities in Prague or Brno.

The Czech foreign minister also emphasised that if Europe did not find the right diplomatic tools to act in Africa, then it would not be able to influence developments for the better or help solve problems that lead to migration to Europe, saying that these were "sensitive issues". He added that military coups had taken place in several African countries over the last two years and that Russia was gaining power in Africa at the expense of Europe.

Outlining what the meeting would be about, Lipavský said that the primary discussion would not be about migration, but about "Europe's overall geostrategic approach". EU relations with Turkey and the situation in Ukraine are also on the agenda.

Saturday should be partly cloudy to overcast with day temperatures between 7 and 11 degrees Celsius.