Daily news summary

Slovenia asks to prolong Czech policemen’s mission

Another group of Czech policemen will depart to Slovenia in March to help guard the Schengen border with Croatia, Czech Police President Tomáš Tuhý said on Thursday. Slovenia has asked the Czech government to prolong the mission of Czech police officers during a meeting of the Czech and Slovenian presidents at Prague Castle on Thursday. After the meeting, the Slovenian head of state Borut Pahor decorated several Czech police officers who took part in the previous missions.

V4 foreign ministers support European solution to migrant crisis

The V4 supports the European solution to the migrant crisis, the foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary agreed at a meeting in Prague on Thursday. The ministers met at Prague’s Czernin Palace to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Visegrad and evaluate the previous cooperation among the V4 partners. Czech Finance Minister Lubomír Zorálek said after the meeting that the so-called plan B, an alternative back-up plan to stop refugees at Greece’s borders with Bulgaria and Macedonia, has not been discussed.

Slovenian President visits Prague

President of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, arrived in Prague Thursday for a one day official visit to the Czech Republic. During a meeting with the Czech head of state Miloš Zeman, Mr Borut said that accepting at least a minimum number of refugees within the EU quota was essential in order to find a European compromise on solving the migrant crisis. The Slovenian president is also set to meet with Jan Hamáček, the head of the lower house of parliament. Among the topics on their agenda will be bilateral relations, the migration crisis, and cooperation between the EU and Turkey.

Czech Republic can transport its diesel oil reserves from Germany

The Czech Republic can transport its oil reserves worth over one billion crowns from the bankrupt storage facility of the Viktoriagruppe company in Germany’s Krailling, spokesman for the State Material Reserves Administration Jakub Linka told the Czech News Agency on Thursday. However, the insolvency administrator for the German company, which was managing the Czech oil reserves, has still not officially recognised that they belong to the Czech Republic, the weekly Dotyk said on Thursday. According to the weekly, the deadline for the transport was April 30, which will be difficult to meet since it is expected to take at least six months.

PM Sobotka: Britain’s EU exit would spark separatism and nationalism

Nationalism and separatism can be expected to rise in Europe in the case Britain decides to leave the EU, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said at a meeting of the European Committee of the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday, adding that he fears a domino effect running across the whole of Europe. Mr Sobotka also said that if the migration flow doesn’t slow down, EU countries will be forced to gradually close their borders. The European committee was debating the government’s position ahead of the European Council summit.

Prague committee sees 1.0 billion crowns spent on security cameras

Around 1.0 billion crowns could be spent in Prague over the next decade on developing the capital’s security camera system, according to Prague City Hall’s security committee. At the moment there are around 1,000 security cameras in the city, most of them, around 220 each, are in the central Prague 1 district and Prague 8. The system has been gradually rolled out since 1997 but critics complain there is no overall plan and much depends on how local district councils want to encourage surveillances systems. The committee’s plans would have still to be cleared by the executive and city council.

Czech police, Finance Ministry and Mattel given Big Brother Awards

The Czech Ministry of Finance, along with the Czech police have been selected for this year’s Big Brother award, handed out by the Iuridicum Remedium civic association to companies and institutions who spy on their employees. The police received the price for its automatic vehicle monitoring system used for recording car movement and other data on the drivers, which the police keep on record for many months for no justifiable reason. In the private sector, the Mattel toy manufacturer was awarded the prize for its Hello Barbie doll, which uses voice recognition technology to record and analyse children’s speech.

Companies sue Prague over Blanka tunnel

Two companies have filed a complaint against the city of Prague over unpaid invoices for the construction of the Blanka tunnel. The engineering and construction company IDS and ČKD Praha DIZ, a company which supplied cables for the tunnel, are suing the city for roughly a billion crowns. The news was confirmed by Deputy Mayor Petr Dolínek, who said the city hall did not recognize their claims. The controversial tunnel opened in September 2015 after years of delays. Its cost increased from a projected 17.8 billion crowns to 43 billion.

Fuel price reach lowest levels in seven years

Gas and diesel prices at the filling stations in the Czech Republic have reached the lowest level in nearly seven years, according to the data released by CCS, a company monitoring sales, on Thursday. The average price of top-selling Natural 95 fell by 35 hellers over the past week to an average 26.88 crowns per litre, while diesel dropped by 23 hellers to an average 25.07 crowns a litre. Czech fuel prices have been steadily falling since November 2015; the fall speeded up since last Wednesday.

Tomáš Berdych courts Karolína Plísková for Olympics mixed

In tennis, Tomáš Berdych has raised the prospect of playing in the mixed doubles Olympics competition with Czech Karolína Plísková. The top Czech men’s singles player said the choice of partner was difficult but Karolína Plísková was an experienced doubles player and has a strong serve. Plísková said she had not yet started to consider the Olympics this year in Brazil. Berdych is already committed to play in the men’s doubles and singles events.

British media: Petr Čech could be named Arsenal new captain

In football, Czech international goalkeeper Petr Čech could become the new Arsenal captain next season, British media have reported. The Gunners are set to appoint a new captain in the summer as the veteran Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta is set to retire when his contract expires. According to local media reports, the club’s manager Arsene Wenger is impressed with Čech’s communication skills and already regards him as one of the primary leaders of the squad.