On July 1, the Czech Republic will take over the six-month presidency of the EU Council, and the motto “Europe as a task” will then replace the current “We will sweeten it for Europe.”
What the task is, the government has not yet revealed. In an interview with Czech news outlet Deník N, Minister for European Affairs Mikuláš Bek said that the Czech ambition for Ukraine is for the war-torn nation to become an EU candidate country.
According to Bek, there is a second part to the new motto that will be released as a surprise on June 15. What is not surprising is the main task of the Czech presidency: confronting Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The fallout from the invasion will likely continue to accelerate as debates surrounding the issue start turning into concrete proposals.
“We want the process of Ukraine’s rapprochement with the European Union to move forward. I cannot say how realistic it is that the European Council will be able to reach an agreement in June on granting candidate status. I would very much like that, but there is still a certain divergence of views. If that does not happen in June, we will do everything we can to make it happen during our presidency,” stated Bek, adding that giving Ukraine a candidate status could be a cherry on top of the Czech presidency.
Other countries with the candidate status, like Moldavia or Georgie, will participate in the talks too. Bek stresses that each country has its own, specific trajectory.
V4 is not a group of same-minded countries
Energy security will be a crucial issue. The main task will be to ensure fairness and solidarity in the case of Russia stopping deliveries. While a solidarity mechanism will likely not be needed for oil, it would be necessary for gas.
Bek said that the European Commission should be the coordinator in such a case. Czechia will also prioritize innovation and competitiveness for the sake of the resilience of the European economy.
The next priority of the presidency should be the strengthening of the European defense and cyber defense. This task lies in the purview of the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, but according to Bek, there is plenty of space for talks about shared purchases and eventually even shared military units.
Bek dodged the question regarding the potential vote against Hungary over the EU’s new rule-of-law mechanism, claiming that there will be a governmental debate as the decision could have massive consequences. Bek also said that the V4 is more a communication platform than a group of same-minded countries.
Economist and former Rector of Brno’s Mendel University Danuše Nerudová has announced her candidacy for president.
“I do so after considering all the pros and cons and with all seriousness. We need a head of state who has the ability and energy to stand on the side of the people in economically difficult times. We all deserve hope for better times,” Nerudová said on Twitter on Tuesday.
Nerudová, who is 43, will start to collect the 50,000 signatures needed to officially register as a candidate.
She highlights that, as a respected economist, it can help bring the Czech Republic out of the economic crisis. At the same time, she wants to improve the situation of the poorest. “I believe in a state where everyone, from young people to seniors, has the hope of a decent life,” said Nerudová.
Czechs will be voting for the future head of state in a direct election at the beginning of next year. Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Petr Pavel, a former high-ranking Czech army and NATO official are regarded as the favorites, but they have not yet officially announced their candidacies.
Earlier in May, trade union leader Josef Středula also began collecting the signatures needed to run for president.
Danuše Nerudová was born in Brno in 1979 into a family of computer technicians. She is the eldest of four siblings.
Her expertise is in the field of international taxation and tax policy. She has contributed and led numerous projects analyzing the impact of tax harmonization on the Czech Republic or the European Union.
Her research primarily focuses on tax harmonization especially in the field of direct taxation, possibilities of financial sector taxation and on taxes as the revenues of national and EU budgets.
Since 2002, Nerudová has been married to Robert Neruda, lawyer and co-owner of the law firm Havel & Partners.
At the beginning of February 2018, she became the first woman in history to head Mendel University in Brno and at the same time the youngest rector in the Czech Republic. She held the position until the end of January 2022.
Prague City Tourism, together with the operator, is launching a historic carousel, lent to Prague by its Italian owners, on Children’s Day!
On this occasion, children can enjoy a free ride on the carousel if they purchase a ticket to the Petřín Lookout Tower or the Mirror Maze. The attraction will be in operation from 1.6. 2022 by the end of September.
The voucher can only be used on June 1 and it’s valid for youngsters under the age of 18. Non-paying children under 5 years of age get registered on the ticket of their accompanying person and so are also entitled to the free-ride carousel voucher.
The carousel is located in the park in the sandy area near the Petřín Lookout Tower.
The carousel, which has been on Petřín for the second year now, enjoyed great interest last year.
“We are glad that Petrin Hill will revive the historic carousel after a year. Visitors have the opportunity to ride this unique attraction over the next four months. It is not only an experience for children, but also for adults because you will find its history and uniqueness, “says Klára Malá, spokeswoman for Prague City Tourism.
It is an ancient carousel that originally belonged to the Italian family Degli Innocenti. It boasts hand-carved horses and carriages that will amaze you with the level of their preservation.
Thanks to the excellent work of German craftsmen, the carousel maintained its shine and vivid colors regardless of time, weather, or frequent modernization.
The lights that once shone by burning acetylene were later replaced by electric ones. Music that used to come out of a pneumatic organ has been replaced with today’s more orthodox playback device.
Nevertheless, the Carousel is in excellent condition, and so is able to bring joy to the present day.
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- Over 40,670 hectares of forests were planted in the Czech Republic last year, according to data released by Czech Statistics office on Tuesday. That is an increase by 7,000 hectares on the previous year and a record-high figure in the modern history of the country.
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The Czech Republic has so far granted 360,370 temporary protection visas to Ukrainian refugees fleeing from the war since its start on February 24, the Interior Ministry tweeted today. Between 75 and 80 percent of the originally registered refugees still stay in the Czech Republic, Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said.
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“The EU agreement on a partial ban on Russian oil imports is an excellent result for the whole EU and the Czech Republic that will be granted an 18-month exemption from the ban on trading in products made of Russian oil”, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala told reporters on Tuesday. The embargo will entail an exception without a time limit for the oil imported through oil pipelines, Fiala said.
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The German fashion retailer Orsay is leaving the Czech and Slovak markets. Last week, Forbes magazine reported the news, citing anonymous sources familiar with the situation. The company is expected to sell its Czech stores by the end of June and the Slovak ones even a month earlier.
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The upcoming Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will honour the late film historian and its long-time artistic director for Eva Zaoralová, her successor Karel Och said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Thirty-three films comprise the eclectic lineup for the 56th Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival, the programming team led by the artistic director Karel Och revealed Tuesday.
The selection includes 27 world premieres, three international premieres, and three European premieres, covering five continents.
In addition to the Crystal Globe Competition and Special Screenings section, KVIFF’s new competition, Proxima, will make its debut in this year’s edition.
Proxima aims to be “an inclusive space for pictures by young filmmakers and renowned auteurs alike, presenting bold works that defy categorization,” the festival said. In contrast to the East of the West competition, which it replaces, Proxima has no geographical restrictions. (East of the West was for films from Central and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.)
Thirteen titles in the official selection are directed by filmmakers who have competed in KVIFF before. Nine films are debut features. Melodramas, dystopian sci-fi, romantic comedies, and essay documentaries are part of the wide-ranging lineup.
“From the 1,500 films that have been submitted this year, we have chosen 33 brand new works of cinema that offer the accurate reflection of our taste – a taste derived from a belief in a meaningful edginess and the championing of new means of cinematic expression that nonetheless do not stand in opposition to the audience’s receptiveness and inclinations,” Och said.
In Memory Of… Our “Doctor” Zaoralová
The Karlovy Vary festival is honoring its longtime artistic director Eva Zaoralová with an exhibition of photographs documenting her lifelong relationship with cinema, her activities in the management of the festival, and her relationship with the festival’s president Jiří Bartoška.
Among other things, the photographs record her meetings with dozens of international stars from the world of cinema.
Zaoralová (1932-2022) was a respected film critic, translator, teacher and author. In 1994, she and Bartošká took over at the helm of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, and she went on to play an important role in saving the festival and transforming it into an internationally acclaimed survey of film.
Zaoralová headed KVIFF, first as the festival’s programming director and then as its artistic director until 2011, and remained active as artistic advisor after that.
In her memory, this year’s festival will be showing Federico Fellini’s “La Strada,” which according to her was of key importance to her relationship to cinema and to Italian film in particular, and which significantly influenced her future professional career. Fellini and his work would become a lifelong love for Zaoralová. She did the Czech translation for the film’s subtitles.
After all-day talks lasting into the early hours of Tuesday, the European Union agreed on the sixth embargo package against Russia, while Hungary scored a major diplomatic success as it got the exemption on pipeline oil deliveries it requested.
Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, which provided the institutional framework for the summit, announced the success of the negotiations shortly after midnight. The punitive measures are effective immediately, with two-thirds of Russia’s oil exports to the European Union expected to be affected.
French authorities explained that 90 percent of Russia’s oil imports would disappear by the end of the year.
Russian oil exports to the EU account for a quarter of the European Union’s total oil imports — they were worth $108 billion (€99 billion) to the Russian economy in 2021 alone.
The most controversial element of the sanctions package was the embargo on oil imports from Russia, which was rejected by the Hungarian government. Since top-level EU decisions require unanimity, Hungary was the only member to veto the entire sanctions package.
Less loudly and without waving a veto, Slovakia and the Czech Republic did not fully support the oil embargo either, as these two countries, like Hungary, also rely heavily on the Russian oil pipeline called Friendship, but there have also been reports of serious concerns from Croatia and Bulgaria.
To convince the Hungarian government, the draft sanction included the stipulation that the embargo would only apply to Russian oil coming through tankers, and that oil coming through the pipeline would be exempted from the import ban.
“We managed to repel the commission’s proposal which would have banned the use of Russian oil in Hungary,” Orbán said in a Facebook post as the negotiations concluded.
Czech PM Petr Fiala has described the agreement as an “excellent result” for the European Union and the Czech Republic.
The Czech Republic negotiated an 18-month exception from the ban on purchasing products made out of Russian oil. Fiala said that while oil deliveries coming from the sea will immediately be discontinued, those coming in via pipelines will be gradually discontinued.
Classical Music at Werich’s is a festival of outdoor chamber music recitals and concerts taking place from May 31 to 13 September 2022, always at 7 p.m., in the Werich Villa Garden on Kampa Island.
The second edition of the classical music cycle is performed by exceptional and talented young artists in the Werich Villa garden – the former home of the incomparable actor, philosopher, and writer Jan Werich.
For the first time with international guests, an accompanying program for children and “Echoes”, i.e. concerts of the Prague programs in selected locations in the Czech Republic – in the “Horácké divadlo” theatre in Jihlava and the Schwarzenberg Tomb in Třeboň.
The opening concert on Tuesday, May 31 (you can buy your tickets here) will present Lithuanian, Czech, Slovak, and Polish songs. The aim is to provide a colorful picture of Slavic authors on the axis of Lithuania – Poland – Czechia – Slovakia.
Following this are two concerts devoted to the sung repertory. The first, the Nordic Evening (30 August), features mezzo-soprano Arnheiður Eiríksdóttir.
On 13 September is a concert in tribute to Austrian music. Kristýna Kůstková (soprano) and Lukáš Bařák (baritone) will perform breathtaking songs.
The pianist Ahmad Hedar will accompany all three concerts in Prague.
Find the full program here
Milada Horáková (25th December 1901– 27th June 1950) was a Czechoslovak politician who was executed for alleged conspiracy and treason during the communist political trials of the 1950s.
Milada Horáková was born in 1901, in what was then still the Austrian-Hungarian Habsburg Empire, into a middle-class family. She managed to study law at a time when very few women did and became active in women’s emancipation movements.
Czechoslovakia, which emerged in 1918 from the Habsburg Empire, allowed women’s vote as early as 1920, ahead of many other European states, thanks to Senator Františka Plamínková, the founder of the Women’s National Council for whom Horáková started working in 1924.
From 1927, she worked in the social welfare department, promoting reforms aimed at women’s equality. During World War II, she entered the resistance movement against the Nazis, along with her husband, but both were arrested in August 1941.
Under the Nazi Occupation: resistance and incarceration
Shortly before the Occupation, she was forced to leave the Prague City Council. During the Occupation she joined the resistance group We Remain Faithful, finding secret housing for illegals and passing on information to an espionage agency. On August 2, 1940, she and her husband were arrested and imprisoned in Prague.
After the governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Reinhard Heydrich was assassinated in 1942, she was transferred to the Terezín concentration camp in central Bohemia. There, she met up with Plamínkova again, though the former senator was executed in 1942.
Horáková’s husband had been sent to Terezín, too, but the couple was not allowed to meet. In October of 1944, she was sentenced to the death penalty, but a Dresden court changed the decision to eight years’ incarceration. When the US army liberated Horáková, she was in a concentration camp in Germany.
Back in politics from 1945 to the Communist coup of 1948
In 1945 she was reunited with her husband. Czechoslovak democratic President Edvard Beneš convinced her to return to the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party, and she became a member of Parliament in 1946, a post she would hold until the February 1948 Communist coup.
After joining the Union of Friends of the Soviet Union, Horáková realized that Czechoslovakia had to solidify its relations with the West in order to fight against Joseph Stalin. She also chaired the Council of Czechoslovak Women and served as deputy chairperson for the Union of Liberated Political Prisoners.
As the Communists gained power in February of 1948, Horáková rallied citizens to support Beneš, but on February 25, 1948, the day the Communists took over, she was expelled from all organizations.
The arrest and her trial
Although Horáková had the opportunity to flee abroad, she decided to remain in Czechoslovakia and continue to support democratic ideals. While working with illegal political organizations and maintaining contacts with exiled politicians, she was arrested during September of 1949 on a fabricated charge of conspiring to overthrow the totalitarian government.
Her trial began on May 31, 1950.
Horáková, who spent four years in camps and prisons, managed to represent herself at her own trial, and therefore avoided the death penalty. She returned to her work in 1945 and agreed to run as a member of parliament for the Czech National Socialist Party.
She quickly became a target of the communists for her outspoken criticism of their agenda to curb democratic freedom in post-war Czechoslovakia.
She gave her final speech on June 8, 1950, during her trial, in which she refused accusations of treason with strong determination. Here is a segment of her speech in this video in Czech:
She was eventually sentenced to death. On June 27, she was given 20 minutes to see her sister and her daughter before she was hanged.
She was cleared of all accusations posthumously in 1991, when she was awarded by President Václav Havel the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the highest state honor made for outstanding contributions to the development of democracy, humanity and human rights
In 2017, an English-language movie was made about her life by David Mrnka:
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Reinforced Czech police patrols found another 31 illegal migrants from the Middle East in a van on a border crossing with Slovakia on Friday, police spokesman Petr Jaros told journalists. The van with a Czech licence plate was driven by a man, 35, who may be sentenced up to five years in prison if convicted.
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Czechia saw fewer people who drink alcohol daily or once or every other day in 2020 and 2021 and the average amount of consumed alcohol per capita dropped as well, a report by the National Institute of Public Health (SZU) shows today. Nevertheless, one in six Czechs over 15 drank every other day or more frequently, the report reads.
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The Czech Telecommunication Office (ČTÚ) has prepared a proposal to regulate the Czech mobile phone market. In its analysis, the regulator argues that retailer mobile service prices, especially when it comes to mobile data, is disproportionately higher than the EU average.
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The Czech Republic’s main public health insurance company, VZP, expects that the influx of 350,000 Ukrainian refugees could raise this year’s expenditures on care by around CZK 6.9 billion.
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Tomáš Zima, the former rector of Charles University, has told daily Deník that he intends to run for the office of Czech President. The statement was made in an interview which is set to be published on Friday.
The Czech Telecommunication Office (ČTÚ) has prepared a proposal to regulate the Czech mobile phone market, news site Lupa.cz reported on Monday.
In its analysis, the regulator argues that retailer mobile service prices, especially when it comes to mobile data, are disproportionately higher than the EU average; collusion, and high wholesale prices (even higher than retail ones) make it impossible for virtual operators to offer competitive tariffs.
According to the CTU, a new and fourth nationwide operator, will not enter the market until the end of 2024. “Data wholesale offers not only do not allow access to voice services, which currently still require most customers but also in the case of the theoretical possibility of their integration into one SIM, do not allow the replication of tariffs for MVNOs, “admits the CTU.
The Czech mobile operator market is currently composed of three major providers – O2, T-Mobile, and Vodafone.
The Office is therefore again proposing to regulate the wholesale market, including the possibility of directly setting maximum prices for the services that network operators sell to virtual machines.
This is the CTU’s third attempt to regulate the mobile market in a short time. The first analysis was rejected by the European Commission in February this year.
The Authority published a second proposal in which it tried to circumvent the Commission in a non-standard way. For this, it earned a warning against a possible official proceeding for violation of European law. In the end, the Czech Antimonopoly Office did not support the analysis, and subsequently, the CTU Council itself rejected it.
The Czech Republic has among the most expensive mobile tariffs
Czechs pay much more than the majority of EU countries, according to a 2018 EU Commission analysis. The average EU customer spends around 33 Euro on 20 GB of data, while Czechs would have to pay almost 55 Euro for the same amount. A 2017 study by the organization telefonujici.cz found that mobile tariffs in the Czech Republic were on average 79% higher than the EU average.
To put it bluntly, mobile tariffs in the Czech Republic are among the most expensive in the EU, along with countries like Hungary or Greece.
According to some analysts, many Czech mobile customers actually pay lower tariffs by negotiating and receiving customer specials and discounts. However, no one can say how many people are able to benefit from such deals.
Prague Castle is hosting a two-day festival of mini-breweries. The festival will offer the production of 50 Czech and Moravian breweries and four foreign brewers.
Every year, the Czech-Moravian Association of Mini-Breweries organizes the Festival of Mini-Breweries at Prague Castle, which aims to introduce the production of mini-breweries from all over the country to the public.
The number of visitors is limited due to the location and security of Prague Castle. Every day, 1.200 visitors can attend the event; 600 tickets will be sold at the venue. The price includes a catalog of mini-breweries, a degustation glass and unlimited tasting.
The festival takes place in the beautiful premises of the Royal Garden of Prague Castle, on Střelecká cesta under the Royal Summer Palace, on Friday 10 June from 2 pm to 8 pm and on Saturday 11 June from 12 pm to 8 pm.
Participating breweries include favorites like Clock, Purkmistr, U Medvídků, Hoppy Dog, Joe’s Garage, Faltus, Permon, Kocour, and countless others. Brewers and owners from each brewery will be on hand to provide detailed information about their beer.
You can find out more information about the event and breweries on Facebook.
The Czech central bank will probably need to raise interest rates again next month, possibly above 6%, if new data confirm persistent inflation risks, according to Governor Jiri Rusnok.
The Czech National Bank has lifted borrowing costs by a cumulative 550 basis points in eight steps since June last year. The latest move this month brought the benchmark rate to 5.75%, the highest since 1999.
Rusnok said on Sunday that the rate-setting panel will debate how economic data compare with the bank’s latest forecast at the next policy meeting on June 22, which will be his last before his term ends.
There is a “very high” probability that rates will rise again if inflation pressures develop as outlined in the bank’s spring projections, the governor said in a debate on public television.
Since the forecast was published, data showed consumer prices growing an annual 14.2% in April, more than the central bank expected.
When asked whether the benchmark rate will rise above 6% next month, Rusnok said: “It may happen.”
The Czechs are experiencing the fastest inflation in nearly three decades as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drives up energy and raw-materials prices. While the key manufacturing industry grapples with component shortages and the economy may stall this year as a result, central bankers are concerned about signs that high prices are becoming entrenched.
The Czech monetary outlook has become more clouded after board member Ales Michl, an opponent of the current rapid policy tightening, was appointed as the next central bank governor.
Michl said he wants to keep rates stable for “some time” after he takes over in July. The remarks triggered a sell-off of the koruna.
President Milos Zeman, who has the sole right to pick central bankers, has echoed Michl’s critical views of the tightening. Zeman will decide on three board positions by the end of June, and an additional two by February.