News

Wednesday night was the coldest so far this winter in Czechia, with several long-standing temperature records broken.

According to the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, the average minimum temperature at stations below 600 metres was around minus twelve and a half degrees Celsius. Six stations with more than thirty years of measurements recorded new lows.

The coldest spot was Kvilda in the Šumava mountains, where temperatures dropped to minus 29.6 degrees Celsius, just short of a record.

Forecasters say freezing conditions will continue overnight into Friday, with snow expected across parts of Czechia.

President Petr Pavel and his wife Eva will visit the Vatican on Monday, January 19, where they will be received by Pope Leo the Fourteenth, the presidential office announced on Thursday. President Pavel will also meet the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Pope Leo the Fourteenth was elected last May. President Pavel later invited him to visit Czechia, saying he believed the new pope would be a strong voice for those facing oppression, injustice and suffering caused by unjust aggression.

Last year, President Pavel also criticised a treaty between Czechia and the Vatican on the status of the Catholic Church. In a submission to the Constitutional Court, he said the agreement was unconstitutional and granted the Church a privileged position. A group of senators asked the court to review the treaty last March over possible human rights concerns.

President Petr Pavel emphasised the need to align official foreign-policy statements so that they correspond to Czechia's  foreign policy priorities and commitments, the Presidential Office reported after a New Year’s lunch between the president and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO). Pavel's statement comes in connection with the anti-Ukrainian New Year’s address by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Tomio Okamura (SPD) and the government’s stance on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

According to the Presidential Office, the president and the prime minister agreed to establish mechanisms for coordinating and sharing information on foreign and security policy, as well as to coordinate foreign trips.

However, Okamura again defended his New Year’s address before journalists, calling it excellent.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) is waiting for approval from abroad in order to place his shares in the Agrofert holding into a trust fund. Babiš told reporters on Wednesday that he informed the Ministry of Justice about this on Monday. The deadline for resolving his conflict of interest  is Thursday.

Shortly before Christmas, Babiš announced that he would transfer his Agrofert holding to the RSVP trust fund by January 8, 2026. The fund was established for this purpose by the Czech consulting firm Roklen.