• 11/28/2023

    President Petr Pavel has nominated attorney Milan Hulmák, who also teaches at the Faculty of Law at Palacký University in Olomouc, to the panel of Constitutional Court judges. The presidential office made the announcement on its website on Tuesday.

    Mr. Pavel is due to discuss Mr. Hulmák’s nomination with representatives of the Senate, which will vote on the appointment, on Thursday.

    Last month, the president proposed attorney Lucie Dolanská Bányaiová and Supreme Administrative Court judge Zdeněk Kühn for the post of constitutional judge. The upper house will decide on their nomination before Christmas.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 11/28/2023

    Czechs donated CZK 15.4 billion to charity in 2022, according to a report released by the Czech Donors Forum on Tuesday. Compared to the previous year, it is an increase by more than three billion crowns.

    While private donors provided CZK 3.9 billion on charitable activities, firms donated CZK 7.8 billion and foundations and endowments contributed CZK 3.7 billion.

    By contrast, non-profit organisations raised significantly less in 2022, especially in the regions, with 42 percent of them recording a drop in donations.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 11/28/2023

    Linda Wichterlová, the wife of chemist Otto Wichterle, who is famous for his invention of modern soft contact lenses, has died at the age of 106. Her grandson Martin Wichterle told the Czech News Agency that she passed away on Friday. She will be buried in her native Prostějov in the Olomouc Region.

    Wichterlová started studying medicine before the Second World War but wasn't able to complete her studies due to the Nazi closure of Czechoslovak universities in 1939. After the war she studied dentistry and worked at the Dental Research Institute in Prague. Later she also worked with her husband on his contact lens research.

    Both husband and wife signed "The Two Thousand Words" manifesto in 1968 during the Prague Spring and were later persecuted for it by the communist regime.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 11/28/2023

    The traditional Christmas tree in Prague's Old Town Square was put up on Monday night, a process that took several hours, and will be decorated on Tuesday morning, the Czech News Agency reports. The 22-metre spruce was transported from the Prague suburb of Kbely, where it had been stored since being felled on Saturday. The tree will be lit on Saturday, December 2, marking the launch of the city’s Christmas markets, and will remain in place until January 6.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 11/27/2023

    The border services of the Visegrad Group countries as well as Germany and Austria will hold regular consultations, which will begin in the coming weeks, with the aim of improving coordination regarding illegal migration, Interior Minister Vít Rakušan stated after Monday's talks with his central European counterparts. The interior ministers of Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Austria and Germany met in Szeged, Hungary to draw up a plan on the basis of which border controls could be ended. The meeting, initiated by Czechia, was called to discuss migration solutions.

    Central European countries have introduced temporary border controls in recent months in an attempt to ease the influx of migrants, mainly from the Middle East and Afghanistan. Although all the countries in Monday's meeting are members of the EU's Schengen Area, which allows for the free movement of people and goods, reintroduction of internal border controls is permitted in exceptional cases.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 11/27/2023

    Several protests, marches and demonstrations took place in Prague in support of Monday's strike action. Several hundred Prague high school students marched to the Education Ministry in support of their teachers to protest against the proposed changes in school funding. They handed over letters to the ministry in the early afternoon, which will be read by the education minister, who will then meet the students on Tuesday afternoon.

    A trade union demonstration against the government's austerity measures also took place in Prague's Malostranská square, with workers participating from the metallurgical and textile industries and the education sector. A meeting of trade union leaders with Labour Minister Marian Jurečka was supposed to take place in the afternoon. Due to the strike, protests and possible negotiations, Mr. Jurečka canceled his trip to Brussels for a meeting of EU labour ministers.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 11/27/2023

    The government should resign immediately over the nationwide school and trade union strike, opposition party ANO leader Andrej Babiš said on Monday. The former prime minister criticised his successor Petr Fiala, saying that he is unable to communicate with partners and the public and has acted arrogantly in his approach to the trade unionists. He also stated that the protests are the result of the government failing to manage the country's high inflation rate, causing an increase in electricity prices and driving away investors.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 11/27/2023

    Vice President of the European Commission Věra Jourová arrived in Kyiv on Monday for a meeting with Ukrainian politicians. According to media sources, the main purpose of her visit is to discuss the country's fight against corruption. In a post on social media site X, formerly Twitter, she said she intends to discuss what initiatives the country has taken in order to work towards EU membership.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 11/27/2023

    More snow and wind is predicted for Tuesday, with temperatures ranging between 2 and minus 2 degrees Celsius.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 11/27/2023

    Prime Minister Petr Fiala defended the government's austerity package on Monday as school, healthcare and industrial workers across the country went on strike in protest against the measures. At a press briefing in Brno, the prime minister said that the government will not back down under pressure from the unions, calling the cabinet's public spending measures necessary steps for a financially healthy future for Czechia.

    He criticised the trade unions, saying the strikes were an attempt by leaders to make themselves more visible and there were political ambitions behind it. He also said that misinformation was circulating about what the austerity package would mean for education, which was influencing the protesters.

    He said that he was prepared to return to negotiations with union leaders once they were interested in having a constructive discussion and trying to reach an agreement, but not under the threat of further protests, adding that the unions were holding the whole country hostage and probably took the government's willingness to negotiate as a sign of weakness.

    Author: Anna Fodor

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