Category Archives: Czech Republic

Andrej Babiš to hold talks with other Czech parties on forming government

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Billionaire faces tricky task trying to secure enough support to become PM after ANO wins elections without majority

Andrej Babiš has met the Czech president, Petr Pavel, and is to hold talks with other party leaders as the billionaire populist begins the tricky job of trying to form a stable government after his ANO (Yes) party won parliamentary elections, but failed to secure a majority.

Final results showed ANO won 34.5% of the vote, held on Friday and Saturday, translating to a provisional 80 seats in the 200-member parliament. The centre-right Spolu coalition of the outgoing prime minister, Petr Fiala, came second on 23.4%.

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Populist billionaire Andrej Babiš wins Czech parliamentary election

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With Babiš’s victory the Czech Republic looks set to join Hungary and Slovakia in refusing support for Ukraine

Populist billionaire Andrej Babiš has won the Czech parliamentary election in a political comeback that puts the country on a course away from supporting Ukraine and towards Hungary and Slovakia, which have taken a pro-Russian path.

With the votes from almost 98% of polling stations counted by the statistics office, Babiš’s ANO (YES) movement captured 35% of the vote followed by the pro-western coalition of the prime minister, Petr Fiala, with 23.0%. The coalition defeated Babiš in the 2021 election.

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Czechs begin voting in election that could return populist to power

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Billionaire Andrej Babiš hands out doughnuts on first day of voting as polls predict his ANO party will win

Czechs have begun voting in an election likely to oust their centre-right government, with polls favouring the populist billionaire Andrej Babiš to return to power on pledges to raise wages and improve growth while reducing aid for Ukraine.

The change would boost Europe’s populist anti-immigration camp and could complicate consensus on climate policies in a country where no sitting government has won a second term since 1996.

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Four rare Barbary lion cubs born at Czech zoo

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Lion that once roamed northern Africa has been extinct in the wild since 1960s

Four Barbary lion cubs were born recently in a Czech zoo, a vital contribution for the small surviving population of a rare lion that is extinct in the wild.

The three females and one male were seen playing in their outdoor enclosure at Dvůr Králové safari park on Wednesday under the watchful eye of their parents, Khalila and Bart.

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Thousands in Greece and Turkey evacuate as winds and heat fan wildfires

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Czech firefighters and Italian aircraft join rescue effort in Greece, and firefighter among those killed in Turkey

Thousands of people in Greece and Turkey have been forced to evacuate homes as firefighters in the countries battled to contain wildfires fanned by strong winds and searing heat.

As temperatures in south-eastern Europe exceeded 40C for a seventh straight day, the Greek prime minister praised rescue workers for waging “a titanic battle” to bring blazes under control.

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China ‘planned car collision’ during Taiwan vice-president’s visit to Prague

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Czech intelligence revealed Chinese diplomats allegedly planned staged incident during Hsiao Bi-khim’s 2024 visit

Taiwan’s vice-president has said she will not be intimidated after reports by Czech intelligence that Chinese officials planned to stage a car collision when she was in Prague last year.

Hsiao Bi-khim visited the Czech Republic in March 2024, in the first overseas visit by her and Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, after winning the election in January. It was reported at the time that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following her car – under police escort – from the airport.

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‘Vicious cycle’: how far-right parties across Europe are cannibalising the centre right

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Hardline agendas, especially on immigration, are copied by mainstream conservatives in vain effort to win back votes - but it’s not working

Far-right parties could become the largest force on the right in Europe within a decade, experts have said, as mainstream conservative parties look to copy their hardline agendas, especially on immigration, in a vain effort to win back votes.

Germany’s conservatives last week sparked fury when their leader, Friedrich Merz, the country’s likely next chancellor, broke a longstanding pledge by relying on far-right votes to adopt a non-binding motion urging a drastic immigration crackdown. The leader of Alternative für Deutschland, Alice Weidel, hailed “a historic day for Germany” as the Bundestag, for the first time in its history, passed a vote with the backing of her party, which is second in the polls weeks before this month’s elections.

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Up to 100 ‘suspicious incidents’ in Europe can be attributed to Russia, Czech minister says

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Czech foreign minister says Europe ‘needs to send a strong signal to Moscow that this won’t be tolerated’

A senior European diplomat said that up to 100 “suspicious incidents” in Europe this year could be attributed to Russia, as western officials grapple with how to respond to suspected Russian sabotage attempts.

Speaking ahead of a meeting with Nato counterparts in Brussels, the Czech foreign minister, Jan Lipavský, stressed that Europe “needs to send a strong signal to Moscow that this won’t be tolerated”.

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Anti-immigration mood sweeping EU threatens its new asylum strategy

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The bloc’s migration pact, finally agreed after a decade of talks, is already in peril as states outdo each other in efforts to get tough

In 2015, when more than 1.3 million people headed to Europe, mostly fleeing a brutal war in Syria, the response of Germany’s then chancellor, Angela Merkel, was to say “Wir schaffen das” (“We can manage this”), and open the country’s borders.

Less than a decade later, and faced with a flow of irregular arrivals less than 10% of what it was at the peak of the bloc’s migration crisis, EU capitals are increasingly saying, “No, we can’t”. Or, perhaps more accurately, “We won’t”.

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Central Europe braces for further flooding as swollen rivers continue to rise

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Deadly Storm Boris has dumped up to five times average September rainfall in four days

As swollen rivers continued to rise, volunteers and emergency workers in towns and cities across a swathe of central Europe were reinforcing defences against floods that have killed at least 21 people in four countries.

Storm Boris has dumped up to five times the average September rainfall on parts of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia in four days, submerging entire neighbourhoods and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate.

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Death toll reaches 16 as ‘dramatic’ flooding in central Europe continues

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Czech Republic, Poland and Austria fear worst may yet be to come as thousands are evacuated to higher ground

The death toll from torrential rain and flooding in central and eastern Europe has risen to at least 16, with several more people missing, as authorities reported deaths in the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria and warned the worst may be to come.

The number of victims in Poland rose to five after a surgeon returning from work drowned in the south-western town of Nysa, where the hospital was evacuated and patients rescued by raft. Four more people had died in the southern towns of Bielsko-Biała and Lądek-Zdrój, firefighters said.

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Climate scientists troubled by damage from floods ravaging central Europe

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Experts unsurprised at intensity of extreme weather but say damage wreaked shows how unprepared world is

Picturesque towns across central Europe are inundated by dirty flood water after heavy weekend rains turned tranquil streams into raging rivers that wreaked havoc on infrastructure.

The floods have killed at least 15 people and destroyed buildings from Austria to Romania. The destruction comes after devastating floods around the world last week when entire villages were submerged in Myanmar and nearly 300 prisoners escape a collapsed jail in Nigeria, where floods have affected more than 1 million people.

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‘Catastrophe of epic proportions’: seven drown in Europe amid heavy floods

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Storm Boris has caused rivers to burst banks and trapped people in their homes across Austria, Poland and Slovakia

Seven people have drowned in Austria, Poland and Romania and four others are missing in the Czech Republic as Storm Boris continues to lash central and eastern Europe, bringing torrential rain and floods that have forced the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes.

Swathes of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia have been battered by high winds and unusually fierce rains since Thursday.

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Weather tracker: Francine looking likely to be next Atlantic hurricane

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An area of low pressure in the Gulf of Mexico is moving landward, and is expected to bring intense rainfall

Francine could soon be the next to be ticked off the list of Atlantic hurricane storm names this week. On Friday, a broad area of low pressure emerged in the Gulf of Mexico, designated as Invest 91L. An “invest” – a shorthand for “investigative area” – refers to a region of atmospheric disturbance, characterised by low pressure and thunderstorms, and is closely monitored for its potential to evolve into a tropical cyclone.

Invest 91L is anticipated to encounter more favourable environmental conditions as it progresses northward over the coming days, meandering along the eastern coasts of Mexico and Texas. The National Hurricane Center has now labelled this as a potential tropical cyclone, and it is expected to reach hurricane status before reaching the Gulf coast of the US. It advises that hurricane and storm surge watches will probably be issued on Monday for coastal parts of Texas and Louisiana, with the impacts expected to be felt from Tuesday night.

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Czech Republic says shells for Ukraine plan will fall short without more money

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Prague’s foreign minister urges donor countries to pay extra to avoid 800k target being missed by over a third

A Czech initiative to supply Ukraine with 800,000 shells by the end of the year will fall short by more than a third unless donor countries come forward with more money, the Czech foreign minister has said.

“We have secured funding for half a million pieces of large-calibre ammunition, which we will deliver by the end of this year,” Jan Lipavský told reporters in Brussels on Monday.

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Orbán’s ‘peace mission’ helps only Putin, says Czech prime minister

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Petr Fiala says Hungarian PM’s trip to Moscow recalls appeasement of Hitler and is not in Europe’s interests

Viktor Orbán’s efforts to style himself as a high-level peacemaker by meeting world leaders including Vladimir Putin are “wrong” and “not in the interest of Europe”, the Czech prime minister, Petr Fiala, has said, recalling lessons from attempts to appease Adolf Hitler before the second world war.

The Hungarian prime minister has stoked controversy in recent weeks for embarking on what he has termed a “peace mission” while his country holds the Council of the EU’s rotating presidency. The international trips have involved meetings with Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and Donald Trump.

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Wild horses return to Kazakhstan steppes after absence of two centuries

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Seven Przewalski’s horses, the only truly wild species of the animal in the world, flown to central Asian country from zoos in Europe

A group of the world’s last wild horses have returned to their native Kazakhstan after an absence of about 200 years. The seven horses, four mares from Berlin and a stallion and two other mares from Prague, were flown to the central Asian country on a Czech air force transport plane.

The wild horses, known as Przewalski’s horses, once roamed the vast steppe grasslands of central Asia, where horses are believed to have been first domesticated about 5,500 years ago.

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Badenoch urged to scrutinise business links of Royal Mail bidder Křetínský

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Business secretary is due to meet Czech tycoon to discuss a takeover the Guardian has raised questions about

The business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, is being pressed to question the Royal Mail bidder Daniel Křetínský on his business links, after the Guardian raised questions about a series of controversial global property deals connected to the Czech billionaire’s longtime business partners.

Badenoch is scheduled to meet the tycoon next week to discuss his £3.57bn bid for the 500-year-old institution, which will be subjected to a review under the National Security and Investment Act.

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Owner of UK national lottery operator to sever ties with Gazprom

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Allwyn parent company says deal to buy 3% stake in Czech gas facility will cut final link with Kremlin-controlled energy firm

The billionaire owner of Allwyn, the company that runs the national lottery, will sever his last remaining ties with Russia’s state-owned energy company Gazprom by the end of June, more than two years after winning the UK’s largest public sector contract.

The Czech tycoon Karel Komárek, who owns Allwyn via his Switzerland-based holding company KKCG, has faced scrutiny over his links to Russia since wresting control of the 10-year licence to operate the lottery from Camelot in 2022.

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Slovakia’s brain drain picks up pace under populist leader Robert Fico

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Tens of thousands of young Slovaks who see little future in an increasingly intolerant society are leaving for Prague

Although Marek Mikič spent a few years studying and working abroad, he never expected to leave his native Slovakia permanently. He had a group of close friends and a music festival to run in the eastern town of Košice.

But he changed his mind last September after the re-election of Robert Fico, a populist who promised he would stop military aid to Ukraine, promote conservative family values, and muzzle the courts that have been investigating high-level corruption cases tied to his allies.

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