Retired football legend Pavel Nedvěd, regarded as one of the most successful players to emerge from Czechia, celebrates his 50th birthday this Tuesday.
Nedved burst onto the world scene at Euro 96, when he was just 23 years old. Drawn in a group alongside Germany, Italy and Russia, the Czechs were tipped to struggle, but instead made it all the way to the final and even led against Wembley before falling to Germany in extra-time.
The player left Sparta Prague straight after the Euros, completing a seven-figure move to Lazio, and he developed into a Serie A star during his five years in Rome.
During his time at Lazio, Nedved helped the club end a 26-year title drought. The Scudetto arrived in the 1999-2000 campaign under Sven Goran Eriksson, with Nedved’s five goals including a vital equaliser in the derby against Roma as Eriksson’s men overturned a nine-point deficit to beat Juventus to the title.
Eriksson remained a fan of Nedved, even reportedly trying to coax him out of retirement to join Notts County nearly a decade later. And it was the Swedish manager, then in charge of the England national team, who urged Chelsea to move for him after Roman Abramovich’s takeover in 2003.
That was easier said than done, though. By that point, the midfielder was 30 and around his peak, and had continued to thrive without missing a beat after trading Lazio for Juventus as a replacement for Real Madrid-bound Zinedine Zidane.
Over his 19-year career, Nedvěd played 501 league matches at club level and made 91 appearances for the Czech Republic.
He received a number of awards, including the Medal of Merit from President Miloš Zeman. In 2003 he became only the second Czech to win the Ballon d’Or as European footballer of the year.
He joined Juve’s board of directors in 2010 and, five years later, took on a new role as vice president.
After leading by example on the pitch, he has learned about the commercial elements of the game as quickly as he picked up the skills needed to become a world-class midfielder, and was able to watch on as Juve reached their first Champions League final in more than a decade in 2015.
Last year, the Czech Republic was the fastest growing EU country in terms of debt, and while Italy and Greece take the crown for the most debt overall, there are fears that Czechia could soon be facing trouble over its public finances.
Last year’s budget deficit surpassed 2020’s record high, the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ) states in its opinion published on Monday on the draft of the Czech Republic’s final state of accounts for 2021.
NKÚ also pointed out that Czechia ranked among the countries with the lowest economic growth in the EU last year. On the other hand, the report positively evaluated the country’s low unemployment rate.
The ratio of Czech public debt to GDP increased by 4.2 percentage points year-over-year in 2021, the highest among all EU countries.
“While 20 EU countries were able to reduce their debt to GDP year-over-year in 2021, ours increased by more than four percentage points,” said the president of NKÚ, Miloslav Kala.
According to Kala, the high share of mandatory and quasi-mandatory state expenditures prevented a better result. Expenditures established by law and necessary for running the state absorbed almost 94 percent of state budget revenues in 2021. Thus, the government had only approximately 95 billion korunas left to respond to current economic and social problems or to kickstart the economy with investments. According to NKÚ, if steps are not taken to achieve savings on the expenditure side of the state budget, it will be necessary to strengthen the state’s income, likely through taxes.
The state budget deficit reached almost CZK 420 billion in 2021.
“Thus, it surpassed the worst result from 2020 by more than CZK 52 billion. And this even though the economic restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic last year did not reach the same level as in 2020,” NKÚ pointed out. According to the amendment approved by the government, this year’s budget should end with a deficit of CZK 330 billion. The Czech House of Representatives will discuss the budget amendment in September.
Economic growth is slow while unemployment remains low
The auditors also pointed out that the Czech Republic ranked among the countries with the lowest economic growth in the European Union last year. While the GDP of the Czech Republic grew by 3.3 percent year-over-year, the EU average was 2.1 percentage points higher. Only Slovakia and Germany recorded slower growth than Czechia last year.
A significantly worse year-over-year foreign trade balance prevented a higher year-over-year GDP growth. In contrast to the high surpluses in previous years, the balance ended in a deficit of 1.5 billion korunas (€61 million) in 2021. The reason was higher prices of imported goods, especially oil and natural gas, and lower foreign demand.
“On the other hand, even in 2021, the Czech Republic maintained the lowest unemployment rate within the EU, at 2.8 percent,” reports NKÚ. The share of unemployed people in the Czech Republic was 4.2 percentage points lower than the average unemployment rate in the EU.
The auditors also said that the finances of municipalities and regions ended last year with a surplus of CZK 41.3 billion, CZK 27.3 billion more versus 2020. At the end of last year, local governments had CZK 367.5 billion in their accounts, an increase of CZK 47.4 billion year-over-year.
“Local budgets need a certain reserve. However, it is necessary to ask whether the current reserves are not already excessive, moreover devalued by high inflation,” said Kala.
A clear signal needs to be sent as European Union ministers debate tightening the issuance of visas for Russians, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Monday, adding that suspending tourist visas would be a step in the right direction.
Speaking after talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and before EU foreign ministers discuss the issue in Prague on Tuesday and Wednesday, Fiala said a facilitation agreement on visas for Russians should be suspended, and that EU talks on the issue were continuing.
Germany, Greece, Cyprus on the other hand, have been more reserved and oppose a strict travel ban against Russians.
Last week German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that it was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war, and for that reason it was difficult for him to support a blanket travel ban that would also impact innocent people.
A suspension of the visa agreement would complicate applications for short-term visas in the Schengen Area and make them more expensive. The diplomats also stated that a blanket travel ban, which would require unanimous support, isn’t expected.
In the meantime, the policies of individual EU states won’t make much of a difference. Short-term tourist visas are valid in all 26 countries in the Schengen Area, no matter which EU country issues them.
How big is the problem?
According to the EU border control agency Frontex, almost a million travelers with Russian passports have come to the EU since the war in Ukraine started six months ago. The overwhelming majority of these travelers arrived in Finland (333,000), Estonia (234,000), and Lithuania (132,000).
Entering the EU with a Russian passport could become more difficult under new rules being debated by the bloc
These have mostly been tourists who visit for a few days at a time. However, fewer than a million visas were issued because Russian citizens can travel in and out of the Schengen Area many times with the same 90-day visa. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, countries in the Schengen Area issued around 500,000 new visas to Russians every year.
Which restrictions are already in place?
Lithuania isn’t the only country restricting visa issuance to Russians. Latvia, Finland, Poland the Czech Republic and Denmark want to restrict visa issuance as well.
According to the immigration-focused law firm Fragomen, the Netherlands, Belgium Spain and Romania have already greatly restricted their issuance of visas to Russians. Many EU member states have already thinned out the staffing of their consulates and embassies in Russia, making it more difficult to book the required personal appointments prior to getting a visa.
An agreement between the EU and Russia that streamlined the issuance of visas for Russian diplomats, government officials, and business people was suspended, though it’s technically still in effect.
If the agreement were terminated, it would become more complicated and expensive for Russian citizens to apply for a visa. Since Russians already can’t use western credit cards or bank accounts anymore, a lack of financial resources can be used as a justification for rejecting visa applications.
The Czech Republic will convene an extraordinary meeting of EU energy ministers on September 9, Reuters reported with reference to the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, Jozef Sikela.
Prague announced its intention to convene an urgent meeting on August 26. Earlier, Prime Minister Petr Fiala on Twitter also said that the Czech Presidency of the EU would convene an extraordinary meeting of energy ministers.
According to him, this meeting it is planned to consider specific emergency measures to address the energy situation.
On August 28, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer called to stop the madness that is happening in the energy market and work out a common solution for the EU.
He also called for abandoning the principle of linking the price of gas to the cost of electricity.
Fiala and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed on Monday that a Europe-wide solution to the issue of energy prices had to be found.
Mr. Scholz said that present electricity prices were unjust because the cost of production was not so high, adding that structural change was needed.
Mr. Fiala reiterated that Czechia wished to be involved in the development of a European energy infrastructure and to acquire capacity in natural gas terminals that Germany plans to build.
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The Czech General Health Insurance Company (VZP) paid about 593 million crowns for some 104,600 Ukrainian refugees’ health care by late June, each less than 5,000 crowns, the insurance company representatives said at a press conference after the board of directors meeting today. The health care of 16 refugees cost more than a million crowns.
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Prague will in the near weeks host the first session on the establishment of a new European political group that will regularly meet to debate security problems facing Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron said today. The new group was also mentioned by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a lecture at Charles University during his Prague visit.
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Czechia’s second city Brno is seeking to become a European Capital of Culture in the year 2028. It is running under the slogan Brno With You. The organisers of the project will find out on 14 October if the Moravian capital has made it into the second round
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Last year, Czechia saw its government debt rise the fastest out of all EU member states, by 4.2 percent of GDP, the Supreme Audit Office announced on its website on Monday. However, it highlighted that the country’s debt still remains one of the lowest in total among EU member states.
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50 million vaccine doses had been ordered for the Czech Republic so far; 17 million have been used and covered by health insurers, Health Minister Vlastimil Valek (TOP 09) told Czech TV yesterday.
Qatar Airways celebrated its 5th anniversary of operations in Prague on August 26, 2022. Since 2017, the world’s best airline has been connecting Prague with destinations all over the world via its award-winning hub in Doha, Hamad International Airport. T
The special day was celebrated with an event at the airport for the anniversary flight QR292.
In addition to Ronny de Lange, Qatar Airways Regional Manager Central Europe, other high-ranking PRG Airport employees, including PRG Airport CEO Mr. Jiri Pos, Menzies Aviation Czech Republic Vice President Mr. Jiri Petrzilka, and Menzies Aviation Director of Ground handling Mr. Petr Chochola were also present at the gate event.
Eric Odone, Qatar Airways VP Sales Europe, said: “In an already special year for Qatar Airways, we are pleased to also recognize and celebrate the 5th anniversary of our flights to and from Prague. For five years, the connection between Prague and Doha has consistently provided travelers from Prague throughout Qatar Airway’s network. It is important for us to provide passengers to and from Prague with an excellent travel experience on board as well as at our hub, Hamad International Airport.”
“In the second half of August 2017, a Qatar Airways Airbus A320 landed on the runway of Prague Airport. That was the first time the carrier connected Prague with the capital of Qatar, Doha, by a regular service. Direct flights have provided passengers with a significantly greater option of transfers to the rest of the world, making it easier to reach the Far East, South Asia, and Australia. The potential remains high. Thanks to this route, Prague has been able to offer connections to other 100 destinations with only one transfer. We are very happy that we can celebrate the five-year anniversary of this beautiful cooperation together. We believe that it will soon continue to develop successfully in both the passenger and the cargo segments,“ said Mr. Jiri Pos, Chairman of the Prague Airport Board of Directors.
“We are proud partner of Qatar Airways as one of the most demanding customers in the World. We do appreciate our long-term partnership since the route started and are honored to support Qatar Airways on their successful journey to deliver the best passenger experience. I would like to thank Qatar Airways as well Prague airport for an exceptional cooperation delivering exceptional results.”, said Mr. Jiří Petržilka, VP Menzies Aviation, Czech Republic.
Qatar Airways currently offers one daily flight to and from Prague and Doha operated on the Airbus A320. In another milestone for the Prague airport and Qatar Airways, the route between Prague and Doha reached 500,000 passengers in August 2022, just before the five-year anniversary of the launch in Prague.
The national airline of the state of Qatar is steadily expanding its global route network again, which currently comprises more than 150 destinations. With increased frequencies to major hubs, Qatar Airways offers its passengers unmatched connectivity, making it easy for them to seamlessly get to the destination of their choice.
In addition, Qatar Airways is the first global airline to receive Skytrax’s prestigious 5-star COVID-19 airline safety rating. This follows Hamad International Airport (HIA) becoming the first airport in the Middle East and Asia to be awarded Skytrax’s 5-star COVID-19 airport safety rating.
The awards reassure passengers around the world that the airline’s health and safety standards are subject to the highest possible standards of professional, independent scrutiny and assessment. Detailed information on all measures implemented on board and at HIA is available at www.qatarairways.com/safety.
Fifty-seven thousand Ukrainian children and students have signed up to attend Czech schools in the new school year, according to Czech Education Minister Vladimír Balaš.
At the start of June, it was estimated that 130,000 Ukrainian students and children were on Czech territory.
However, it is still unclear how many children will start attending school.
The capacity of schools should be sufficient in most places in the Czech Republic, thanks to the law amendment called Lex Ukraine II, allowing principals to create separate classes.
For the 2021-2022 school year, about 965,000 primary school pupils have enrolled, statistics from the education ministry show.
In the last school year, only a fraction of Ukrainian children attended classes – 19% of children were enrolled at the kindergarten level, while 38% were at the primary school level.
Low parental awareness was a barrier to the participation of Ukrainian children in lessons, as were rejections by schools and kindergartens.
The situation was also complicated by the ongoing Ukrainian online classes. Some Ukrainian principals insisted on “distance” attendance for their students, including those in exile.
This overlap, therefore, led to pupils focusing exclusively on online learning from Ukraine.
The positive news is that according to the PAQ Research study, most parents whose children have not yet attended school want to bring them in this autumn. The number of children going to school will significantly expand.
Closer cooperation in teaching organisation is one of the points of the recent meeting between the Czech Minister of Education and his Ukrainian counterpart Serhiy Shkarlet.
The number of Ukrainian refugees who have found protection in the Czech Republic is around 400,000.
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The Czech Interior Ministry will give out 200 million crowns to regions for running their assistance centres of aid to Ukrainian refugees that the regions have so far funded from their own budgets, the ministry has written on its website.
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The amount of money Czechs donated to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion six months ago has exceeded 4 billion Kč (over €160 million), the Czech News Agency (CTK) reported.
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Czech senior opposition ANO deputy group leader Alena Schillerova handed a proposal for convoking a lower house session on a no-confidence vote in the government, signed by 74 MPs, to lower house head Marketa Pekarova Adamova (TOP 09). Out of the 74 MPs signing the motion, 56 were from ANO and 18 from the junior opposition Freedom and Democracy (SPD).
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Defence ministers of Czechia, Poland and Slovakia signed a joint declaration on Saturday that, starting from September, Czech and Polish aircraft will help Slovakia in the defence of her skies, Czech Radio reports.
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Canoeist Gabriela Satková won the water slalom World Championships race in Pau, France, on Sunday. Satková came in first in the semi-final round, going on to win the category after finishing the race 4.4 seconds ahead of Slovakia’s Zuzana Paňková, who took silver.
The Prague City Court declared bankruptcy on Sberbank CZ, the Czech subsidiary of the Russian Sberbank.
In late July, the court launched proceedings in the Sberbank CZ bankruptcy case. The bank is insolvent and, according to June’s data, it has overdue liabilities of more than EUR 2.3 million.
On 6 October, the Prague City Court will hold a second hearing on the lawsuits filed by creditors.
“During bankruptcy, the debtor’s assets are sold, and the proceeds are distributed among his creditors,” the report reads.
In early May, the Czech National Bank (CNB) revoked Sberbank CZ’s banking license, after which the Prague City Court took appropriate measures to liquidate the bank.
With measures to revoke the license, the Central Bank of Ukraine reacted to the deterioration of the situation in the Sberbank subsidiary due to the outflow of deposits in the wake of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
As reported, in July the European Union extended sanctions against the Russian Sberbank as part of the seventh package of economic restrictions.
Sberbank closed its branches in the Czech Republic on February 25. The 25 branches of Sberbank CZ, which is part of the Sberbank Europe group, have a customer base of 120,000 people.
Sberbank left the European market on March 1.
Despite the war with Ukraine and central banks printing trillions of euros in dollars in recent years, Czech President Miloš Zeman believes the primary cause of the energy crisis is “green fanaticism.”
“Whether it’s called the Green Deal or whatever, I’m afraid. However, I won’t be here anymore when we find out where the green madness will take us. The abolition of cars with internal combustion engines will lead to the advent of far more demanding electromobility. The biggest consumers of electricity will be electric cars with a short range and a high price,” said Zeman while receiving Czech ambassadors at Prague Castle on Tuesday.
According to Zeman, the solution to the energy crisis is not to succumb to the Green Deal and to pursue a sovereign foreign policy. He considers it crucial that issues affecting the country’s sovereignty continue to be voted on unanimously in the European Union.
Zeman considers cooperation in the Visegrad Group beneficial. According to him, it is foolish to question it. The V4 prevented, for example, the mandatory introduction of migration quotas a few years ago.
“I condemn the attacks coming from some in Brussels against Poland and Hungary,” he noted.
“Let’s not play superpower. Let’s not look at the central issues of our foreign policy through the lens of great power. We would be ridiculous. We are a small to medium-sized country with 80 percent of our gross domestic product being exported. I have always expressed that the main task of our ambassadors is to take care of the promotion of our exporters on foreign markets and, on the other hand, to bring effective foreign investments to the Czech Republic,” the president stated.
Zeman criticized the “provocative gestures of unsuccessful Prague municipal politicians,” which allegedly complicate exporters’ access to the market in China.
Zeman also addressed the war in Ukraine, which he said is due to Russian aggression. According to him, it is necessary to ask why this aggression occurred. Attacking Ukraine, Russia gains nothing and loses practically everything.
“The Israeli president offered me a plausible explanation for this aggression. He told me that Putin attacked Ukraine in connection with NATO’s capitulation in Afghanistan,” Zeman noted.
According to the Czech leader, Russia expected that NATO would capitulate again. Fortunately, according to Zeman, this did not happen.
Zeman fully supports the supply of weapons to Ukraine and the reception of Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic; he also believes Czechia will participate in the invaded country’s reconstruction. However, the Ukrainians must expect a rather long and exhausting war.
The meeting of Czech ambassadors started on Monday with a speech by Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who encouraged the Czech ambassadors to look for all, even hitherto overlooked, opportunities in the energy sector. He also talked about helping Ukraine to withstand Russian aggression with as few losses as possible.
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The Czech Interior Ministry will give out 200 million crowns to regions for running their assistance centres of aid to Ukrainian refugees that the regions have so far funded from their own budgets, the ministry has written on its website.
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The Czech Republic and Ukraine plan an agreement on cooperation in education to harmonise their steps in instruction that is to be signed in the autumn. According to the original estimates, up to 130,000 pupils from Ukraine were expected to start attending schools in the Czech Republic in the new school year.
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The Czech civil servants trade union ended the strike alert it had declared in support of its demand for a pay rise in early June, its leader Pavel Bednar told journalists today, following the Czech government decision to increase the relevant salaries. The frozen salaries will be raised by 10 percent as of September not only for people working in the public sector but also for civil servants.
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At the upcoming Expo 2025 world exhibition in Osaka, Japan, Czechia is planning to present its accomplishments in the fields of robotics, artificial intelligence, information technologies and also computer gaming, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said on Thursday.
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The Czech Ministry of Defence has signed a CZK 1.9 billion contract with Tatra Trucks for the purchase of 209 815-7 6×6 vehicles from the company. A further CZK 1.2 billion contract for 80 heavy off-road transportation vehicles is expected to be signed in the next few days.
Cycling lovers know how liberating it can feel to zip along a bike path, taking in the charm of a city without the downsides of crammed public transport or traffic jams.
And as governments worldwide try to cut carbon emissions, more and more cities are encouraging people to ditch cars and making it easier for them to hop on bikes instead.
But which are the most bike-friendly cities out there? They’re overwhelmingly in Europe, according to this year’s Global Bicycle Cities Index.
Digital insurance company Luko looked at 90 cities around the world and ranked them based on six main parameters: the percentage of bicycle users, weather conditions, crime and safety (such as accidents and bike theft rates), infrastructure, bike-sharing opportunities and special events such as “no car days”.
The final results are presented on a scale from 0 to 100, where the higher the score, the more bike-friendly the city.
European cities topped the list, mainly thanks to quality cycle paths and weather conditions that include a high number of “cyclable” days.
While it may not come as a surprise for cyclists used to navigating the treacherous streets of the Czech capital, Prague was ranked at a disappointing 73rd place out of 90 cities, just ahead of the likes of Istanbul, Cairo, or Johannesburg.
It is the least bike-friendly city from Europe included in the index.
In Prague, the number of cyclists has increased by more than 70% since 2019, with half of the city’s adult population now believed to ride a bike at least once a month.
Municipal authorities are slowly addressing this boom, including by planning new dedicated bicycle lanes or extending bike-sharing programs.