A European Commission auditing review has confirmed that Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš breached domestic and EU conflict of interest legislation. The report, dated October 22 and seen by POLITICO, finds that Babiš controls the Agrofert conglomerate — which includes a wide range of companies in the agri-food sector — despite having transferred his assets into two trust […]
Czech President Milos Zeman has reportedly demanded a list of all Russian spies active in the Czech Republic, which security experts say could endanger secret sources of the Czech counterintelligence service. Czech public broadcaster Cesky Rozhlas reported on November 30 that Zeman had made the request to Michal Koudelka, director of the Security Intelligence Service […]
A tender to decide who builds a new unit at a Czech nuclear power plant may face delays after security services and opposition parties raised concerns about the possible participation of bidders from China and Russia, officials said. According to a document seen by Reuters, a working group of intelligence and foreign policy officials under […]
Czech Finance Minister Alena Schillerova said on Monday she would plead with the upper house of parliament to scale back a record tax reduction worth over 2% of gross domestic product approved by the lower house against the government’s wishes. Deputies from both ruling coalition and opposition parties voted on Friday for proposals from both […]
The Czech Republic will lower personal income tax next year as the government expects the move to help the economy recover from the coronavirus-induced recession. The parliament approved the change proposed by billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babis on Friday. He wants to broaden state stimulus beyond current measures like paying salaries of furloughed workers and […]
It would be wiser for Donald Trump to quit and not be embarrassing, allowing the new president to take office, said President Milos Zeman in an interview with Parlamentni listy. The current Republican White House chief still refuses to acknowledge the defeat in the recent US presidential election and the victory of his Democratic rival Joe […]
The lower house of the Czech parliament voted on Thursday to allow the government to extend a state of emergency until Dec. 12 as the central European country struggles with one of the continent’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks. The state of emergency is the legal basis for some government measures aimed at slowing the spread of […]
In an open letter, the International Press Institute (IPI) called on Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Health Minister Jan Blatný to improve communication on the coronavirus pandemic and open access to government press conferences representatives of all media. In October, the Czech IPI Committee criticized the government for denying access to press conferences critical of […]
Miloš Vystrčil was reelected senate president after receiving 73 out of 77 votes. He said the Senate is a proud ship with its own compass, which should not be subject to an indisputable or infallible leader, in a speech before the vote. After the election, he said he highly valued the trust he was shown. […]