Politics

Czech GDP Plunges Record 10.7% In Q2

The Czech economy shrank by a historic margin in the second quarter after COVID-19 thrust the country into lockdown. According to a preliminary estimate from the Czech Statistical Office, the GDP contracted by 10.7 percent year-on-year and by 8.4 percent quarter-on-quarter. The decline is the worst on record in the country’s history. The negative year-on-year […]

Czech COVID-19 Cases Surpass 16,000

The number of COVID-19 cases in the Czech Republic has surpassed 16,000 since the beginning of the pandemic. On Wednesday, there were 278 confirmed cases to a total of 16,093. The second highest daily increase since June, according to data from the Ministry of Health. The country of 10.7 million has faced a rise in […]

Foreign Minister To Lead Trade Mission To Middle East, North Africa

Tomáš Petříček, Minister of Foreign Affairs, plans to lead a trade mission to the Middle East and North Africa by the end of 2020. It is also necessary to focus on European markets and countries such as France, Portugal, and Kosovo, the Minister said at the Czech Export Forum. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, most […]

Tomio Okamura SPD
YouTube Bans Tomio Okamura

YouTube banned SPD Chairman Tomio Okamura from the platform on Friday. Okamura says the reason was that he portrayed the crimes committed by migrants in Europe. Okamura announced on Facebook, where he is in danger of losing his page for similar reasons. According to the site, YouTube policy prohibits the posting of violent or cruel videos that are primarily intended […]

CEZ Secures Interest Free Loan From State

The Czech government approved on Monday a plan to give an interest-free loan to majority state-owned utility CEZ to push down the cost of building a new nuclear power station it wants to replace the country’s ageing coal and nuclear plants. The Czechs have been adamant about keeping nuclear power despite a shift to renewable […]

Tomio Okamura SPD chairman
Facebook Threatens To Ban Far-Right SPD Party

Facebook is threatening to ban the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party and its chairman Tomia Okamura for violating community standards. The SPD Facebook page received a warning that “Your site is at risk of being revoked due to continued violations of community standards,” an SPD spokesman said. “We consider it an attack on our […]

Andrej Babis
Babis Blasts EU For Meddling In Czech Affairs

Prime Minister Andrej Babis accused the European Parliament of “interference” after it voted for mechanisms to stop the misuse of EU subsidies. Babis is suspected of a conflict of interest as the owner of the Agrofert food, chemicals and media holding receiving EU subsidies, and a politician deciding on where the subsidies will end up. […]

Digital tax czech republic
Ruling Coalition Agrees On 5% Digital Tax

The two Czech ruling coalition parties agreed on Wednesday to introduce a 5% digital tax on the local revenues of global internet giants such as Amazon and Google, news agency CTK quoted Labour Minister Jana Malacova as saying on Wednesday. The government has long planned to impose the tax on firms with global revenue over […]

Senate President To Visit Taiwan

Senate President Milos Vystrcil will visit Taiwan later this year despite warnings from China. Mr. Vystrcil will be accompanied by a business delegation on his trip which is scheduled for August 30 to September 5. Vystrcil said he was also planning to meet Taiwan’s leaders, but didn’t immediately give details. Vystrcil’s predecessor in the post, […]