Daily news summary

Sobotka: EU can only offer Turkey visa-free travel if it meets conditions

The European Union can only offer Turkey visa liberalisation if it fulfils a number of conditions, the Czech prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka said on Tuesday. The BBC reported that the European Commission was planning to offer visa-free travel for Turkish citizens inside the Schengen zone in exchange for Turkey taking back migrants who crossed the Aegean Sea to Greece. In a tweet Mr. Sobotka also said the Czech Republic opposed quotas and sanctions for failing to fulfil them. The Financial Times said on Tuesday that EU members would have to pay a EUR 250,000 charge for every asylum seeker that they rejected. The Czech foreign minister, Lubomír Zaorálek earlier said that he had told Johannes Hahn, the European commissioner for European neighbourhood policy and enlargement negotiations, that Prague was concerned about the Commission’s plans for a new relocation mechanism for the distribution of migrants.

Mining company OKD files for bankruptcy

The mining company OKD has filed for bankruptcy, a spokesperson announced after a board meeting on Tuesday. The Czech government had rejected appeals from the firm – which employs around 10,000 people – for financial support to help it close lossmaking mines and restructure its business. OKD’s mines in North Moravia are set to keep running. CEO Dale Ekmark said the company lacked the funds to carry on and blamed the situation on historically low coal prices.

Miners hold underground protest over future of OKD

Miners at the Darkov mine in North Moravia held an underground protest on Tuesday when they refused to come to the surface following their night shift. The men said they were demanding to know the plans of mine owners OKD, which is threatened with insolvency. The miners emerged after an underground meeting with an OKD executive that the company described as a “working briefing”. The firm has around 10,000 workers in a region with relatively high unemployment.

Poll: Only one in four Czechs thinks EU decisions in state’s interest

Only 26 percent of Czechs believe that the decisions of the European Union are in their country’s interests, suggests an opinion poll conducted by the CVVM agency. The same survey last year indicated that almost a third of Czechs shared that view. CVVM said the change was due to critical perceptions of the EU’s handling of the migrant crisis. Some 60 percent of respondents in the latest poll agreed that the EU defends democratic values and that EU integration is beneficial to the defence of the state and the environment.

Police seeking to question MP Stupčuk over traffic accident

The police have requested that the Chamber of Deputies lift the immunity of MP Štěpán Stupčuk so they can question him. The Czech News Agency reported that the investigation likely centred on a traffic accident in February involving the Social Democrat politician. Mr. Stupčuk confirmed to the newspaper Právo that he was facing charges of endangerment under the influence. The TV station Nova reported that the police had found him alone at the scene of an accident but that he had denied being the driver and refused to take a test for alcohol.

Health sector salaries to grow by 10 percent from January

Health sector workers in the Czech Republic are to receive a pay rise of 10 percent from January next year. The news was announced on Tuesday by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka following a meeting between representatives of the government, the regions, the Czech Medical Chamber and health workers’ trade unions. Finance Minister Andrej Babiš said that an extra CZK 9 billion would be raised from employees’ health insurance in 2017, while his ministry would provide another CZK 2 billion toward salaries in the sector.

Old Prague pub Baráčnická rychta set for closure

The traditional pub Baráčnická rychta in Prague’s Malá Strana district is set for closure at the end of June, E15 reported. The old society of baráčníks (cottage owners) to which the pub belongs failed to reach agreement on extending the contract of the current operator and instead made a deal to lease it to an upmarket Italian-owned hotel located next door, the newspaper said. A hall joined to the pub is a well-known venue for social events and concerts.

Nuclear energy a significant opportunity in Czech-Iranian relations, foreign minister says

Cooperation between the Czech Republic and Iran in nuclear energy is an important opportunity for Czech-Iranian bilateral relations, Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek and Iranian Vice-President Ali Akbar Salehi agreed at their meeting on Monday. Mr Zaorálek told reporters that Czechs can offer expert know-how to Tehran. Mr Salehi, who visited the Nuclear Research Institute in Řež near Prague before his meeting with Mr Zaorálek, also praised the work of Czech nuclear researchers. He referred to the agreement between Iran and the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, from last July, in which Tehran pledged to limit its nuclear activities and make them more transparent in exchange for the of lifting of U.S. and EU sanctions. As a result of the agreement, relations between the Czech Republic and Iran have become dynamic, Mr Zaorálek said.

Study: Companies named after their owners benefit from greater trust

Companies in the Czech Republic named after their owners more easily nurture customer trust, which translates into increased profit, a study by the analytical firm Bisnode suggests. The study examined limited private companies with majority owners and other firms. It suggests that profitability among companies named after the owner was 0.5 percent higher than those with neutral names. Eleven percent of company founders 60 or older name their firm after themselves; while those under the age of 30 who do so are just five percent. Consumers seemed more likely to trust a company where the CEO was unafraid to put his or her name up front, standing fully behind their product, the analysis suggests.

Hockey: Forward Červenka named best player

Chomutov hockey forward Roman Červenka received three awards at a gala event on Monday evening, including best player of the regular season in the Tipsort Extraliga. Most of the awards, however, went to Liberec, who won this year’s playoffs; the team’s Radim Šimek clinched the award for MVP in the postseason.