Brief news from June 23: Czechia and EU countries call for faster accession of the Western Balkans to the EU

The Czech Senate announced today that it will vote on the defense cooperation agreement between the United States and the Czech Republic on July 13, with discussions beginning next week.

The treatise, approximately 40 pages long, covers various topics related to the potential presence of American troops in Czechia and cooperation between American and Czech armed forces on Czech territory in the event of an emergency. Defense Minister Jana Černochová promised earlier this year that the deal would not allow the establishment of a US military base on Czech soil.

The government today agreed to increase parental allowance by CZK 50,000, bringing it to CZK 350,000 in total. However, the allowance must now be used within three years (instead of the current four years).

If passed, the amendment to the law will come into force in early 2024. The coalition is currently deciding whether the law will only apply to children born after January 1, 2024 or whether it will be retroactive. Last year, parental allowance cost the state 33 billion Czech crowns.

President Petr Pavel today appointed Veronika Křesťanová, vice-president of the Prague City Court, to the post of judge at the Constitutional Court.

Křesťanová expressed her gratitude for the nomination, considering it a significant recognition of her previous work, particularly in the areas of personality protection, copyright and media law – topics in which she specializes . an amnesty text and – recently – a decision on a nurse’s complaints against a media publisher for violation of the presumption of innocence.

Czech Radio’s websites – Rozhlas.cz and iRozhlas.cz – have been operating on a limited basis since a computer attack on Thursday evening, according to the company. Although the textual content remains intact, only some of the audio and images stored on the compromised data center disk arrays are accessible.

Czech Radio spokesperson Jiří Hošna said they were actively working to restore functionality by migrating images from their platform and seeking data from external sources. It is unclear how long this will take. Technical details and the identity of the attacker remain confidential pending an investigation. The attack is believed to be linked to a conference between media outlets and Ukraine, with the aim of disabling state media’s web services.

PPF Group, a global investment company founded in the Czech Republic, announced today that it is considering the acquisition of Packeta, including its subsidiary Zásilkovna, a logistics company in Czechia. PPF CEO Jiří Šmejc said he would only be interested in acquiring the entire company. Packeta saw its turnover increase by 23 percent to CZK 6.1 billion in 2022.

Shipments increased 25 percent to nearly 90 million, and the company operated more than 15,000 delivery points in four countries. Packeta aims to maintain double-digit sales growth in the coming years. The founders, along with other stakeholders, announced Packeta’s availability for sale in May.

Prague has received a new delivery of spare parts and components for modern military helicopters of the American H-1 system, which will replace the obsolete Soviet Mi-24V/35 models in the Czech army. State-owned company LOM Praha, which will maintain the helicopters, confirmed the news today.

The Ministry of Defense will spend around 1.3 billion Czech crowns on maintenance until 2030. Czechia will purchase eight Venom helicopters and four additional Viper fighters, and will also receive six used Vipers and two Venoms as gifts from the States -United for helping Ukraine against Russia. assault.

At a meeting of EU foreign ministers today in Austria, the foreign ministers of Czechia, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece and of Italy called for a faster process of enlargement of the EU to the Western Balkans. They stressed the need for accelerated integration with concrete measures to be taken from 2024.

Ministers expressed concerns about the slow and bureaucratic nature of the enlargement process, which has led to disillusionment and alienation among the populations of these countries, particularly among young people. They also highlighted the threat posed by Russian aggression against Ukraine, both for the EU and the Western Balkan countries. Candidate countries for EU membership in the Western Balkans are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania.

According to a recent investigation by the Median agency, the parties of the current government coalition will not obtain a majority in the elections to the Chamber of Deputies. The ANO movement is in the lead with 34.5 percent of voters’ preferences, followed by the ODS (15 percent), the Pirates (10.5 percent) and the SPD (8.5 percent).

The coalition parties enjoy 41 percent total support and would win 92 parliamentary seats, a narrow majority of nine votes. The survey was conducted online and during home visits from May 1 to June 2, 2023, among 1,012 respondents. Dissatisfaction with the functioning of democracy was also highlighted in an Ipsos survey.

Severe thunderstorms in the Czech Republic have brought relief from recent hot temperatures. Despite initial concerns, the storms turned out to be milder than expected. Rainfall totals were high in some areas, causing falling trees and localized damage. However, the storms mainly affected Germany and reached the Czech Republic later that night.

Train services were disrupted due to damaged traction lines and safety equipment. The storms gradually eased and cooler temperatures were forecast for the weekend. Wednesday’s storms had already caused disruptions, with gusty winds and lightning leading to damage and power outages in some areas.

Prague Zoo celebrated the birth of bush dog puppies after a five-year hiatus. The pair of cubs, born April 8, are the first offspring of a newly introduced breeding pair of these difficult-to-rear wild dogs. Visitors have not yet been able to see the puppies because bush dogs are sensitive when raising their young.

The zoo has confirmed that people can now view the pups in the outdoor enclosure of the Small American Carnivores area. Bush dogs, native to Central and South America, are threatened by habitat loss, prey decline and disease transmission. The species is classified as near threatened on the IUCN Red List.

Prague criminal investigators have released images of the suspects, a group of five men, who attacked a stranger on December 28 in Prague’s Old Town. The attack left the victim injured for life and blinded in one eye. Authorities have released CCTV footage of the suspects, urging the public to come forward with any information.

The police spokesperson stressed that the consequences of the attack were serious and that the victim’s loss of vision was irreversible. The investigation is focusing on charges of disturbing public order and causing bodily harm, which carry a prison sentence of up to eight years.

The PPF Group incurred significant costs for leaving Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, amounting to hundreds of millions of euros. Despite this, without the Russia-related expenses, the group would have made higher profits last year than before the pandemic, according to PPF director Jiří Šmejc. PPF reported a net profit of €140 million in 2022, down 49% from the previous year, while assets decreased by 5.5% to €39.9 billion.

Šmejc stressed the importance of leaving Russia quickly, saying that principles outweighed financial gains. PPF’s investment strategy will continue to focus on telecommunications, media, financial services and e-commerce, with an emphasis on the long-term influence of company results.