Laden...
Czechia has succeeded in adding to the EU’s 18th sanctions package against Russia a provision allowing authorities to require export licenses from exporters if there is suspicion that goods could end up in Russia via a third country. Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský announced this on platform X on Friday.
Member states approved the package today after Slovakia withdrew its opposition. The new sanctions target Russia’s energy and banking sectors, reduce the oil price cap, and ban the use of Nord Stream infrastructure. Formal approval by EU ministers is expected later today.
Slovakia had delayed the deal while seeking guarantees over a separate EU plan to phase out Russian gas imports. Those guarantees were provided recently.
Interior ministers from six EU countries, including Czechia, are meeting on Friday on Germany’s highest mountain, Zugspitze, to discuss stricter asylum and migration policies. The meeting, hosted by German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, includes ministers from France, Poland, Denmark, Austria, and Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan.
EU Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, is also attending. Ministers from the Benelux countries and Switzerland were not invited. The German interior ministry called the summit a first step toward EU asylum reform.
The aim is to agree on the “Zugspitze Declaration,” focusing on faster returns of migrants to third countries, tougher action against smugglers, stricter deportation procedures, and stronger external border controls, which are key parts of the EU’s revised asylum system due in mid-2025.
The leadership of the "Stačilo!" movement, which includes members of the Communist Party, has accepted an invitation to cooperate with the Social Democrats in the upcoming parliamentary elections in October. On Thursday, the Social Democrats' executive board (currently made up of the party chairwoman and four deputy chairs) approved its candidates for a joint electoral list.
According to the election timeline, which is based on the official election date, candidate lists must be submitted to the authorities no later than July 29. A document prepared by the Social Democrats states that the party’s chairwoman Jana Maláčová, first deputy chairman Lubomír Zaorálek, and Jiří Nedvěd should be placed in electable positions on the Stačilo! candidate lists.
Parental allowance will increase from January 2026 in the case of the birth of twins or multiples, rising from 525,000 crowns to 700,000 crowns. The increase in the total amount was confirmed today by the signing of an amendment on health services by President Petr Pavel. The inclusion of the increase in parental allowance for twins or multiples was pushed through the Chamber of Deputies just a few months before the elections to the lower house by the Christian Democrat Šimon Heller.
Most Czechs take work with them on vacation. Over 60 percent of people work at least occasionally during their time off, while 39 percent manage to completely disconnect from work. This is according to a survey by the salary comparison portal Platy.cz, based on responses from more than 2,300 participants.
The practice of referees loudly explaining their decisions to spectators, as seen at the recent Club World Cup, is expected to be tested in the Czech football league in the near future. However, this will depend on the technical ability to provide sound systems at stadiums, said Tomáš Bárta, Executive Director of the League Football Association, and Libor Kovařík, Chairman of the Referees Committee, at Friday’s press briefing.
The MotoGP championship is returning to Brno, and tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the races. The Grand Prix hasn't been held in Brno for five years. In the meantime, the event has changed organizers, and the new one is confident they can keep the famous, and sometimes criticized, Grand Prix in the city.
On Saturday, expect cloudy skies with some showers. Temperatures will range between 22 and 29 °C.
Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský symbolically received a collection of art pieces from Jan Masaryk’s former London residence, on Thursday afternoon. The roughly 30 works of art were bought out at auction by one of Masaryk’s former secretaries, after his tragic death in 1948. Radio Prague International spoke to Ivan Dubovický, host of the ceremony and cultural anthropologist at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Three years after a devastating fire stopped the popular boat trips down the river Kamenice, boating through Edmund’s Gorge is set to recommence on July 19th. The initial trips will be limited to a maximum of fifty people daily.
US academic Chad Bryant explores the recent history of Prague through the prism of diverse personalities in a book just launched in Czech. Prague: Belonging in the Modern City blends the stories of socialists, dissidents, Jews, Germans and Vietnamese with fascinating facts about the development of the metropolis from the late days of the Habsburg Empire to the present time. I spoke to Bryant when he was in town for the launch of the Czech translation.
This e-mail is sent to you automatically according to the settings you chose. To change the settings, click here.
© 2025, Radio Prague International - the external service of Czech Radio, all rights reserved.
https://english.radio.cz, e-mail: [email protected], Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram
Laden...
Laden...
