News: Wednesday, June 26th, 2024

New Slovak President on first official visit to Czechia

The Czech and Slovak stances on the war in Ukraine aren't as different from each other as has often been made out, Czech President Petr Pavel said after meeting with his Slovak counterpart Peter Pellegrini at Prague Castle on Wednesday. Both presidents agreed that relations between the two countries are not defined only by foreign policy and that the two neighbouring states are still linked historically, culturally and economically. Mr Pellegrini said that the special relationship between them cannot be damaged or threatened by differences of opinion over certain foreign policy issues.

The pair met to discuss bilateral relations as part of the Slovak head of state's first official visit to Czechia since taking up office. The Slovak president began his visit on Wednesday morning by paying his respects to the victims of the December shooting at Charles University's Faculty of Arts in Prague.

It is a tradition that the first official foreign visit made by new Czech and Slovak presidents after assuming office is to each other's respective countries. Mr Pellegrini took up office on 15 June this year. Shortly before this, his predecessor Zuzana Čaputová made a farewell visit to Prague.

Bratislava criticises Fiala for statements about intergovernmental consultations with Slovakia

Bratislava has criticised Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala's statement on Tuesday that resuming intergovernmental consultations with Slovakia, which the Czech government suspended in March, is not on the agenda for Wednesday's meeting with Slovak President Peter Pellegrini and that it is premature to consider it given the health status of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. The Office of the Slovak Government told the Czech News Agency that it finds his statements disrespectful.

A spokesperson for the Czech government said that on the contrary, Mr Fiala's statement was an expression of respect for the Slovak Prime Minister, who is currently convalescing at home after the assassination attempt on him in March.

Slovak MPs criticise Czech police for not prosecuting social media users who applauded Fico assassination attempt

MPs from the largest Slovak government coalition party, Direction – Social Democracy (commonly referred to as Smer), have criticised the Czech police for failing to prosecute social media users who publicly applauded the attempted assassination of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in May. The office of the Slovak government has also joined in the condemnation.

The Czech police have countered that they are bound by legal regulations in terms of which acts they can prosecute. Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan described the criticism as inappropriate, given that the Czech police are a strictly apolitical organisation and that the Czech and Slovak police cooperate frequently and smoothly.

Smer MP and former Slovak police chief Tibor Gašpar cited as part of his criticism the reaction of the Czech police to Jindřich Rajchl, the head of the Czech non-parliamentary party PRO, who published a statement he received from the police in response to his suggestion of bringing charges against people who applauded the assassination attempt on social media. The police wrote in their statement that the social media posts in question fell under the purview of freedom of speech.

Fico was hospitalised after the attempt on his life on 15 May 2024 but survived and has since been discharged. Smer is Robert Fico's own party, which he founded in 1999 and still leads today.

EC: Czechia meets only one of four criteria necessary for euro adoption

Czechia has so far met only one of the four criteria necessary for admission into the eurozone, that one criterion being the convergence of long-term interest rates, the European Commission stated on Wednesday in its Convergence Report 2024. The country has however not achieved price stability, healthy public finances or exchange rate stability, although the EC expects that it will soon achieve the second of these three unmet criteria.

In its report, the Commission assessed six EU member states that have pledged to eventually switch to the euro as their primary currency, the other five being Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden. Not one of these countries yet fulfills all the necessary criteria, and in the case of Poland and Hungary, not a single criterion has been met.

Foreign minister slams Russia’s decision to block Czech TV and Seznam Zpravy on its territory

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský has slammed Russia’s decision to block 81 EU media outlets, including Czech Television and Seznam Zprávy, on the territory of Russia. The ban was imposed in retaliation for the EU Council's decision to enforce sanctions on a number of Russian media outlets, including RIA Novosti, Izvestia, and Rossiyskaya Gazeta in May of this year.

Mr. Lipavský described Moscow's decision as "scandalous". He said that while the Russian media are openly  spreading disinformation and propaganda, the EU media outlets blacklisted are independent, have a strict code of ethics and are objective and critical.

Lower house extends temporary protection for war refugees from Ukraine

The Chamber of Deputies has approved a government proposal to further extend temporary protection for war refugees from Ukraine until March of 2025. The amendment to the law will now be discussed by the parliamentary committees on security and social policy. Temporary protection gives people who have fled the war in their home country access to public health insurance, education and the labour market in Czechia. According to Interior Ministry data 320,000 Ukrainian refugees currently have extended temporary protection status in the country. Those who decide to settle in the Czech Republic and do not need special protection can file for long-term residence.

Weather forecast

Thursday is expected to be mostly overcast in Czechia with a chance of rain and thunderstorms in the late afternoon and early evening. Daytime temperatures should range between 20 and 26 degrees Celsius.