News

President Petr Pavel on Tuesday received several new ambassadors at Prague Castle. Among them was the new ambassador of Ukraine to the Czech Republic, Vasyl Zvaryc, who previously served in the same capacity in neighbouring Poland. The post has been vacant for almost two years after the previous ambassador, Yevhen Perebyjnis, was appointed Ukrainian deputy foreign minister.

Zvarych previously served as ambassador to Poland, the United States and Turkey. María Pérez is the new Spanish ambassador to the Czech Republic. India will be represented by Ravish Kumar, who previously served as ambassador to Estonia and Finland.

Fruit growers will lose around CZK 1.3 billion in revenues as a result of extreme frost-damage this year, which may threaten many farmers’ livelihood, Martin Ludvík, chairman of the Fruit Growers' Union told the ctk news agency. According to the latest estimates, 77 percent of the fruit harvest has been damaged and fruit growers are expected to harvest only around 31, 000 tons of fruit compared to the average 138, 900 tons. According to statistics the damage to the fruit is one of the worst in the last 100 years. Agriculture Minister Marek Výborný said earlier that the government would provide farmers with state aid to the tune of CZK 70 to 100 million. He said that while the state cannot afford to compensate farmers fully, it wants to help them survive.

Justice ministry employees are going on strike alert on Wednesday July 3, in protest against low pay. The unions claim that wages at the ministry are significantly lower than those in other state institutions. They have warned that unless they receive  guarantees of pay increases by the end of August, the ministry’s employees will enter into a one-day strike. According to the unions the decline in real incomes of justice ministry employees reached 25 per cent in the years between 2021 to 2023 and has been deepening further in recent months.

The General Inspectorate of the Security Forces (GIBS) is investigating multiple cases of possible professional misconduct by officers from the protective service unit - an elite police body guarding politicians and strategic government buildings. According to media reports, some of the cases involve, for example, reporting overtime on shifts when the officers in question were actually at home, and security guards who were supposed to be protecting the American ambassador disappearing without permission. There are also witness reports of commanders abusing their position and using official cars for leisure purposes, such as their wives using them to get to the international film festival in Karlovy Vary. Czech news site Seznam Zprávy writes that some of these practices, such as the false reporting of overtime, thanks to which the officers managed to get up to CZK 40,000 extra per month added to their salaries, have been going on for years.