Eurostat: Czechia has the fourth highest inflation rate in the EU

Annual inflation in the European Union reached a record 9.6% in June 2022, compared to 8.8% year-on-year in May. A year earlier, the annual inflation rate was 2.2%, according to Eurostat, the EU’s statistical arm. The Czech Republic has the fourth highest inflation rate in the EU, at 16.6%. The first three places went to the Baltic countries: Estonia at 22%, Lithuania at 20.5% and Latvia at 19.2%. On the other hand, the lowest inflation is in Malta at 6.1%, followed by France at 6.5% and Finland at 8.1%. The main contributors to inflation in June were energy; food, alcohol and tobacco tracking; services; and non-energy industrial goods.

Czechia has seen the first case of a new coronavirus subvariant BA.2.76, which is closely related to subvariant BA.2.75, also called Centaur, and a previous coronavirus infection is unlikely to protect against it, the National Institute of Public Health (SZÚ) said. The Centaur sub-variant has not yet been confirmed in the Czech Republic. Currently, 96% of positive tests are made up of the most infectious subvariants of Omicron, BA.5 and BA.

Accessible foreign data shows that the BA.2.76 subvariant is resistant to antibodies acquired by the previous Covid disease. Even the immunity acquired by Omicron infection, especially the BA.1 variant, is also not effective enough. Find out more in our Covid update.

The damage caused by the night fire at a sawmill in Rokytnice in the Hradec Králové region will amount to millions of crowns. Firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze, which also affected the residential area, after more than six hours. Firefighters are investigating the cause of the fire. A firefighter was slightly injured while extinguishing the fire. Firefighters arrived at 10 p.m. Monday and the fire was already at an advanced stage. It was fully extinguished by 4:35 a.m. The fire reached the third highest of four alarm levels and 14 units responded. The cause of the fire is not known.

The police have established the identity of a deceased man found in the ruins of a house destroyed by an explosion in Olšany in the Olomouc region. The police announced that he was a 57-year-old resident of the home. The victim was found with the help of canine experts after an eight-hour attempt to extricate the rubble on Monday evening. The house next door was demolished by the detonation, and two other houses in the neighborhood were also hit. Another twenty houses were damaged. Preliminary damage was assessed at CZK 10 million.

Poděbrady Mayor Jaroslav Červinka’s controversial comments about Roma will be dealt with by the police, news server Aktualne.cz reported, adding that the police had received several criminal complaints in this regard. The Central Bohemian Police, under the supervision of the Prosecutor General, will investigate whether Červinka may have committed a crime. Červinka made an anti-Roma comment after a traffic accident and later apologized. For the crime of defaming a nation, race, ethnicity or other group of people, or for the crime of fomenting hatred against a group of people or restricting their rights and freedoms, the courts can impose a sentence of up to three years in prison.

On Sunday, Červinka said he was leaving the Movement of Mayors and Independents (STAN) for which he was re-elected in the upcoming local elections in Poděbrady. He did not rule out running as an independent candidate.

The European Union has officially launched accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after talks with the two countries’ prime ministers and Prime Minister Czech Minister Petr Fiala. Czechia now holds the six-month EU Presidency. Both parties will start working today on adapting these Balkan states to EU rules. Fiala said both countries have their European future within reach and their integration will strengthen the EU.

Fourteen candidates for the Czech presidential election from January 13-14, 2023 have launched web pages with a transparent electoral count, the authority overseeing the campaign said. The 14 candidates include retired general Petr Pavel, former president of the Energy Regulatory Office (ERÚ) Alena Vitásková, former rector of Charles University Tomáš Zima, entrepreneur and mathematician Karel Janeček, Senator Marek Hilšer, former rector of Mendel University Danuše Nerudová, labor leader Josef Středula, and former Senator Libor Michálek. The oversight authority will monitor campaign spending and can impose fines for violations.

Taiwan’s parliament speaker You Si-Kun has come for a three-day visit to the Czech Republic, during which he and the parliamentary delegation will discuss cooperation in business, culture and technology . Czech Senate President Miloš Vystrčil and You Si-Kun agreed that it was important to maintain democracy and ensure territorial integrity. “Both countries are democratic countries that share common values ​​and should support each other,” Vystrčil said. He called the Taiwanese delegation’s visit symbolic. The meeting between Czech politicians and representatives of the island country is expected to be criticized by mainland China, which considers Taiwan its province.

Public debt rose to CZK 2.7 trillion in the first half of the year, an increase of CZK 242 billion, reports ČT24. According to information published by the Ministry of Finance, each Czech has a debt of about 257,000 CZK.

The national debt is made up of the debts of the state and comes mainly from the accumulation of state budget deficits. It is financed by treasury bills, government bonds, direct loans and loans from the European Investment Bank.

The Czech Financial Analysis Bureau (FAÚ) seized CZK 2.03 billion worth of fraudulent transactions last year, down about CZK 1.9 billion year-on-year. There have also been a record number of investigation suggestions. The authors of the FAÚ report said the number of suggestions had doubled over the past five years, reaching 5,693 complaints this year. The Ministry of Finance noted that 2021 was heavily influenced by the coronavirus pandemic.

An explosion demolished a terraced house and damaged neighboring houses in Olšany in the Olomouc region. Two people passing or driving by were reportedly injured. Two dozen nearby houses have broken windows. Police and firefighters are on site. According to police information so far, the house was being renovated, it is not yet clear if anyone was there. Due to the incident, police cordoned off the area and a freeway exit above the accident.

The Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) will sell Lanna Palace in central Prague to current tenant Finep for CZK 201 million, CNN Prima reports. The news server Seznam Zprávy wrote in March that the ČSSD wants to get rid of past debts, which makes political activity impossible for the party. At the time, ČSSD had obligations of more than CZK 200 million in its current account with Fiobanka and paid more than CZK 1 million per month in interest alone.

Prague Waterworks and Sewerage has announced an overview of planned drinking water supply shutdowns for July 19. The list of streets affected by the repair and maintenance works can be found here.

Transport Minister Martin Kupka presented a draft amendment to the Road Traffic Act. It includes the possibility of driving from the age of 17 under the supervision of a mentor and a clearer adjustment of penalty points according to the seriousness of the offense committed. Fines for serious traffic violations could increase to CZK 25,000 from 2024 instead of CZK 20,000 today. The draft amendment is now subject to a comment procedure.