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Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský received Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár at the Czernin Palace in Prague on Tuesday. In addition to discussions about mutual relations, cooperation in the European Union and global issues, the ministers viewed the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and signed a consultation plan.
The Czech government suspended Czech-Slovak intergovernmental consultations last March due to differing views on key foreign policy issues, the reason being the current foreign policy activities of the Slovak government led by Robert Fico, such as his recent talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In early February, Mr. Fico also accused Czechia of interfering in Slovakia's internal affairs. As an example, at a press conference after Tuesday’s talks, Mr. Blanár cited a statement of the Czech Defence Minister Jana Černochová on the law regarding Slovak television.
Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Markéta Pekarová Adamová will not defend her parliamentary position in the 2025 autumn elections. Citing health problems, she announced her decision to the TOP 09 party leadership on Tuesday, and at the same time offered to give up the position of party chair.
The members of the leadership support her stay and have expressed their wish that she would remain in that role up to the November party conference, TOP 09 stated in a press release. She will also remain at the head of the Chamber of Deputies. "My health does not allow me to add an election campaign to my current workload. I have carefully considered my decision and it was preceded by consultations with doctors," said Mrs. Pekarová Adamová.
Milena Králíčková, the Rector of Prague’s Charles University, has apologised for a statement in which she justified high bonuses received by the university management by the university’s handling of the shooting at the Faculty of Arts in 2023. According to the server iDNES.cz, the rector received a bonus of 400,000 crowns in May 2024 in addition to her salary of 175,000 crowns, and also received 576,000 crowns in November. The university's bursar, Martin Maňásek, also received similar amounts. In an interview with Czech Radio Plus, the rector stated that the bonuses are within limits.
Students, employees and graduates of Charles University are criticising the management because of the bonuses that its members received last year, which they see as unfairly high, as expressed in an open letter signed by around forty employees, three hundred students, and one hundred and thirty graduates and supporters of the university. Rector Králíčková has led the university since February 2022, and her four-year term ends next year.
The poet, philosopher, literary critic and publicist Jan Suk, who was the grandson of the famous Czech composer Josef Suk and great-grandson of Czech music great Antonín Dvořák, died in Benešov on Saturday at the age of 73, the news site Novinky.cz reported. Jan Suk was the last surviving member of the Dvořák-Suk family line. His half-brother, violin virtuoso Josef Suk died in 2011. Neither had children.
Jan Suk studied philosophy, history and aesthetics. He worked as a literary critic, essayist and editor in publishing. He reviewed hundreds of book titles in professional periodicals, as well as in daily newspapers, and worked with Czech Radio and Czech Television. During his lifetime, he published forteen books, including essays and collections of poetry.
Andrei Averjanov, a Russian general who is wanted by the Czech police in connection with the 2014 explosions in the Vrbětice ammunition depot, heads a special unit created by the Kremlin in 2023 to carry out attacks against Western countries, the Wall Street Journal reported with reference to Western intelligence services.
The unit was reportedly created to carry out assassinations, sabotage or place explosive devices in countries, which are regarded as strong allies of Ukraine. The unit’s operations are overseen by two men, Colonel General Andrei Averyanov and his deputy, Lieutenant General Ivan Kasyanenko, the Wall Street Journal says. Averjanov is a veteran of the Chechen wars and has been wanted by the Czech police since last May for his role in the Vrbětice depot explosions that killed two people.
The Office for Representing the State in Property Matters failed to sell Prague's Veleslavín Chateau for a third time, as there were no bids at Tuesday’s electronic auction, which had a starting price of 420 million crowns, according to the auction website. This repeated the situation in the previous two attempts to sell the chateau in November and January.
The property office said in a press release that no one had submitted an auction deposit of 15 million crowns, so the auction was automatically cancelled. It intends to announce a new round of the auction. The initial starting price last November was 580 million crowns, later lowering to 493 million crowns and now 420 million crowns.
The unusual prehistoric grave of a man buried in a sitting position has been discovered by archaeologists during research at a construction site in Oslavany in the Brno region, according to Michal Bučo, head of research at the company Archaia Brno. The man lived in the Neolithic period and died between the ages of twenty-five and thirty.
Archaeologists have been working at the site of the new housing development in Oslavany since 2021. They have previously excavated the remains of settlements from the Stone Age, but a person buried in a sitting position is the most interesting discovery so far. Various hypotheses have been proposed to explain the grave, including the practical reasons of a lack of time or difficult winter conditions, as well as a possible ritual explanation.
Wednesday’s weather should be clear, with highest temperatures between -3 and +2 °C.
Half a century ago, it was the pride of Czechoslovakia’s maritime fleet. Now, the cargo ship Třinec, the last surviving Czechoslovak ocean vessel, is set to be scrapped. However, parts of the ship will hopefully be brought back to its homeland.
Many European leaders have been aghast at American moves to unilaterally agree a Ukraine “peace deal” with Russia and their concerns have only been intensified by an explosive speech by the US vice-president that some say signals a sundering of the transatlantic alliance. What does the Trump administration’s approach mean for Czech defence policy? And how likely is conscription to return? I discussed those questions, and more, with Jan Kofroň of the Institute of Political Studies at Charles University’s Faculty of Social Sciences.
After last week’s shock move by the US to sideline Europe from the Ukraine peace negotiations, seven EU leaders met for an emergency summit in Paris on Monday to consider the consequences of the rift and align their positions on key issues. The meeting brought few surprises, but left a lot of ruffled feathers amongst those who failed to get an invite.
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