News

It should be mainly overcast in Czechia on Wednesday, with an average high temperature of 8 degrees Celsius. Similar weather is expected on the following days.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala has called a conciliation procedure of the ruling parties in government following disagreement over the decision of European Affairs Minister Martin Dvořák, from the Mayors and Independents, to appoint a commissioner for euro adoption without consulting his coalition partners. The move came not long after Prime Minister Fiala made it clear that this coalition will not set a date for euro adoption during its term in office.

The remaining four parties in government have slammed the Mayors and Independents for breaking coalition ranks in order to boost their image ahead of the European elections. The conciliation procedure on Tuesday is to clarify the competences of individual parties and ministers and focus on the need to maintain a common position on key issues.

Minister for European Affairs Martin Dvořák has appointed one of the country’s leading economists, Petr Zahradník, commissioner for joining the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) and adopting the euro. The commissioner's main task will be to engage in a public debate on euro adoption and explain why it is in the country’s best interests to fulfil the Maastricht criteria, as soon as possible. Minister Dvořák noted that engaging the public in such a debate and responding to public concern was an important step on the road to Czechia’s future adoption of the single currency.

The Czech health ministry has announced it is preparing to ban the sale of sweets containing the psychoactive substance HHC which is now freely available in vending machines. There have been close to a dozen cases in the past fortnight of young people being rushed to hospital after overdosing on them. Some of the youngsters ended up in intensive care. The symptoms include vomiting, confusion and partial memory loss that may last for up to 48 hours.