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12/12/2025
The population of the Czech Republic fell by 12,300 in the first three quarters of this year, dropping to just under 10.9 million. At the end of September, the country had exactly 10,897,178 inhabitants. The decline was caused by a significant excess of deaths over births; there were nearly 25,100 more people who died than children born from the beginning of the year through the end of September. This was the deepest natural population decrease recorded for the first three quarters since the establishment of the independent Czech Republic, the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ) announced on Friday.
Even the fact that roughly 12,800 more people moved to Czechia than left for abroad did not offset the decline. Year-on-year, both births and marriages decreased, while deaths and divorces were slightly higher compared to the same period last year.
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12/12/2025
The Czech ice hockey team won its firsts game of the Swiss Ice Hockey Games 3–1 over Finland in Liberec. Captain Roman Červenka, Ondřej Kaše and Lukáš Rousek scored, with Červenka becoming only the third Czech to score after turning 40, following Jaromír Jágr and Petr Nedvěd.
The team will play against Switzerland in Zurich on Saturday, before finishing the Euro Hockey Tour against Sweden on Sunday.
The Swiss Ice Hockey Games is an annual tournament within the Euro Hockey Tour, featuring Switzerland, Czechia, Finland and Sweden.
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12/12/2025
A ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court has confirmed that, during Andrej Babiš’s (ANO) first term (2017-2021) as prime minister, his conflict of interest barred Agrofert companies not only from receiving subsidies but also from bidding for small-scale public contracts.
The court rejected an appeal by the Moravian-Silesian Region, which had hired Navos Farm Technic—part of Agrofert—to build school workshops in Bruntál. The Ministry for Regional Development then refused to pay part of a state subsidy. The argument behind it was that, at the time, although Babiš had placed Agrofert in a trust, an EU audit found he still indirectly controlled it.
Agrofert firms have recently filed a string of such unsuccessful appeals over withheld subsidies.
Now incoming prime minister Babiš, has announced he will sever ties with Agrofert to avoid further conflict-of-interest disputes. Opposition politicians and some experts doubt whether this new arrangement truly cuts his economic links to Agrofert.
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12/11/2025
On his visit to Brussels, newly appointed Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš rejected the claim that he belongs to a “problematic club” with Slovakia’s Robert Fico and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. He called such foreign-media assertions untrue and said he would seek allies across all EU member states, the Czceh News Agency reported. Babiš noted, for instance, that he had spoken with Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen two days earlier.
During his visit, Babiš also said that he did not understand why Czechia had requested the lowest sum from the EU’s new defence fund, SAFE. After meeting Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, he asked whether Czechia could apply for a larger amount. SAFE offers €150 billion in loans for military equipment; Prague has submitted a plan to draw up to €2 billion.
Babiš has signalled he wishes to attend the EU summit beginning on December 18, where leaders will discuss further financial support for Ukraine.
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12/11/2025
The ministers of the likely future government of Andrej Babiš (ANO) will meet at the Government Office on Monday, immediately after being appointed by President Petr Pavel, for their first planning session. Babiš, who has been Prime Minister since Tuesday, will then introduce them to their respective offices. This was stated in a press announcement released by the Government Office on Thursday.
The new government formed of ANO, the Freedom and Direct Democracy Party (SPD), and the Motorists is expected to consist of 14 ministries. The appointment ceremony at Prague Castle is scheduled for Monday at 9 a.m. According to the announcement, the subsequent inaugurations will continue until the evening.
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12/11/2025
At a press conference on Thursday, outgoing Health Minister Vlastimil Válek (TOP 09) said the main challenges of his four-year term had been Covid-19, the impact of the war in Ukraine, the Czech EU Council presidency and stabilising the pharmaceutical market during global medicine shortages. He admitted it had been a mistake not to push through the so-called “patient choice”, which would allow patients to pay extra for certain treatments.
Health unions and the Czech Medical Chamber argue he is leaving the sector in worse shape that when he stepped in, citing funding problems and shortages of doctors and nurses. His successor, Adam Vojtěch (ANO), has also warned about the growing deficit in public health insurance and raised concerns about several laws due to take effect in January that were introduced under Válek.
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12/11/2025
In 2024, living standards in Czechia moved slightly closer to the EU average, according to data from the Czech Statistical Office. GDP per capita, measured in purchasing power, increased by one percentage point to 91 % of the EU average. This puts Czechia on a level with Slovenia and Spain and makes it the highest-ranked country in the Visegrád Group (Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary).
By comparison, Luxembourg has the highest GDP per capita in the EU at 242 % of the average, while Bulgaria remains the lowest at 66 %.
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12/11/2025
The warm temperatures of this week will very gradually start to drop. Friday will be mostly cloudy with occasional light rain. Low cloud and fog are expected across much of the country, partly clearing by the afternoon. Sunshine will be limited to the mountains. Daytime highs will reach around 8°C.
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12/11/2025
Leaders of the future Czech opposition travelled to Slovakia on Thursday in response to last week’s Bratislava visit by Chamber of Deputies Speaker and SPD leader Tomio Okamura, which included only MPs from the incoming ANO, SPD and Motorists coalition.
The delegation – Marek Benda (ODS), Jan Jakob (TOP09), Michaela Šebelová (STAN) and Tom Phillip (KDU-ČSL), and Katerina Demetrashvili (Pirate Party) – is travelling independently to meet Slovak opposition parties, including Progressive Slovakia, Freedom and Solidarity, and the Christian Democratic Movement, news server iRozhlas.cz reports.
The opposition aims to demonstrate its commitment to strong Czech–Slovak relations and discuss broader bilateral issues.
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12/11/2025
The police will investigate discrepancies in vote counting at a polling station in Blansko (near Brno) during the October parliamentary elections. The case was referred to the police by a city prosecutor, the Brno City Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman announced. The criminal complaint was filed by the Supreme Administrative Court, which carried out a recount of votes in Blansko’s election district n.28 following a complaint from the Pirate Party.
Originally, the electoral commission had not credited the Pirates with any votes in the district, which one resident, who had voted for them, found suspicious. The recount showed the Pirates received 20 votes more than originally recorded, ANO 21 fewer, with minor adjustments for other parties. Although the overall election result was unaffected, there are suspicions that the errors may have been deliberate.
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