The Czech Republic

All four Visegrad countries will need nuclear energy, says Hungarian president in Warsaw

v4-warsaw

Hungary will hopefully be in a position to further ease its coronavirus-related restrictions in May if the vaccination of residents “makes good progress”, which could result in “another quite successful summer” for tourism, President János Áder said after a meeting with his Visegrad Group counterparts in Warsaw on Wednesday.

“The sooner and the larger quantities of vaccines are delivered, the sooner we’ll be able to lift restrictions in tourism, too,” the president said answering a question concerning the restart of tourism in central Europe.

Áder said he hoped that vaccination could be sped up “by Easter or in the period after Easter, until end-April, the latest”. “Thus, similarly to last year, we could reopen in May,” he speculated and voiced hope that “this summer will be as successful for most people in tourism as it was last year”.

Participants in the V4 summit also urged efforts to speed up vaccination, Áder said.

“Each day that brings us closer to herd immunity may be crucial in terms of reducing personal sacrifice and the common economic burden,” Áder said.

He said it was “good news” that economic recession in all four Visegrad countries was below the European Union average or that in the largest EU member states. “This gives us reason to hope that recovery will be faster and less painful,” he said. During the pandemic, however, the economy of the whole of the bloc “appeared to be rather vulnerable to the negative impacts of external factors”, Áder said, and called for efforts to reduce that vulnerability in future.

Participants in the summit agreed that the use of coal must be reduced, Áder said.

Power plants are needed, however, and “if we take emissions targets seriously, all four Visegrad countries will need nuclear energy and — at least in the next 20-25 years — gas-operated plants, too,”

Áder said. He added that the group would lobby for European support for gas projects.

The participants also marked the anniversary of the grouping, and concluded that the past 30 years have been successful, Áder said.

The Hungarian president invited his Visegrad counterparts, Andrzej Duda of Poland, Zuzana Caputova of Slovakia, and the Czech Republic’s Milos Zeman, to participate in the Planet Budapest 2021 environmental expo held between Nov. 29 and Dec. 5.

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Read alsoV4 anniversary summit to address post-pandemic recovery as well

Hungarian lawmakers set to approve declaration to mark V4 anniversary

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Hungary’s lawmakers are scheduled to approve a declaration to mark the 30th anniversary of cooperation between the Visegrad Group countries — Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — on Feb. 15, Zsolt Németh, head of the foreign affairs committee, told MTI on Monday.

The committee approved the draft unanimously, indicating that Hungarian lawmakers are capable of finding consensus regarding Hungary’s foreign policy, Nemeth said. This is all the more important as V4 and central European cooperation is a priority for the government, he said.

Németh said the V4’s great advantage was that it operated flexibly, eschewed being institutionally hidebound, and favoured pragmatism on matters of common interest.

The four countries’ presidents, prime ministers and foreign affairs committee members are scheduled to meet, and the other three parliaments are slated to approve a similar declaration in the coming days, he said.

The Visegrad Group, he said, sought to deepen central European and Euro-Atlantic cooperation, and it showed no interest in aggravating conflicts.

Németh noted

Hungary will hold the group’s rotating presidency from July.

Jerzy Snopek, current V4 president Poland’s ambassador to Hungary, said the group had strengthened over the past three decades, with shared interests and values.

Zita Gurmai of the opposition Socialists called V4 cooperation a success story.

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Read alsoV4 anniversary summit to address post-pandemic recovery as well

V4 anniversary summit to address post-pandemic recovery as well

visegrad group four v4

The upcoming summit of the Visegrad Group marking the alliance’s 30th anniversary will address post-pandemic recovery measures and energy security issues, according to the event’s schedule.

The meeting of the presidents of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia will be held behind closed doors due the coronavirus pandemic on February 9-10 at the Polish presidential residency in Jurata on Hel Peninsula on the coast of the Baltic Sea, the Polish president’s office said on its website.

The programme opens on Tuesday with a panel discussion addressing the topics of European and Transatlantic cooperation and the Visegrad Group’s current status in relation to EU policy, the US elections and developments in Russia.

In another panel, the presidents will discuss economic recovery measures and energy security in the post Covid-19 pandemic period.

The Visegrad Group was formed on February 15, 1991, at a high-level meeting in the Hungarian town of Visegrad.

Its six-month rotating presidency will be taken over by Hungary from Poland on June 30.

Read alsoPhoto exhibition in Beijing shows empty V4 capitals due to epidemic

PM Orbán and Czech PM Babis agree on the Chinese vaccine issue

orbán babis

The issue of coronavirus vaccines is not a political one but one of safety, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said after talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Budapest on Friday, adding that it was therefore wrong to politicise a vaccine’s country of origin.

The best vaccine against Covid-19 is one that is safe and available immediately, Babis told a joint press conference, noting however that the Czech Republic does not have at the moment the required contingent of Covid vaccines either.

He said he had received a detailed briefing on Hungary’s virus response measures, including the country’s authorisation of vaccines that have not yet been approved by the European Union.

He added that the Czech Republic would follow the example of Hungary with regard to these jabs.

Babis said that they were also briefed about the Hungarian medical officer authority’s pandemic response measures and the use of various therapies.

He said he should have visited Hungary as early as last November, to learn useful information from Hungarian experts as he had learned today.

The Czech prime minister thanked Hungary for offering to his country 150 ventilators.

Answering a question, he noted that although the EU had collectively ordered 2.3 billion doses of vaccines paying 3 billion dollars in advance, deliveries were still sluggish.

“This is why we must act, we don’t have time to wait,” Babis said.

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Read alsoHungary approved the Chinese vaccine without examination – end of lockdown to be in May?

V4 speakers hold online meeting

Daily News Hungary

The parliamentary speakers of the Visegrad Group held an online conference on Tuesday to discuss V4 parliamentary cooperation and strengthening of the role of national parliaments in the European Union, parliament’s press chief said in a statement.

The meeting called by the parliament of Poland, which holds the V4 rotating presidency, also addressed regional cooperation in light of the economic and social crisis caused by the coronavirus epidemic.

Further, on the agenda were the European Commission’s European Green Deal and the new Pact on Migration and Asylum, as well as current foreign policy challenges.

Hungary’s speaker, László Kövér, said much pride could be taken in the V4’s 30 years of regional cooperation.

“We’re proud that József Antall, Hungary’s first freely elected prime minister, restored a deep historical tradition dating back to the 14th-century Visegrad royal meeting,” he said.

Köver insisted that V4 cooperation transcended the topical and cyclical political issues at hand, and spoke of a historical and future interdependence.

The four speakers agreed that the four countries together could act as a major force in defending their own interests.

At Poland’s initiative, the speakers began drafting a joint declaration to mark the Visegrad Group’s 30th anniversary.

Read alsoHungarian foreign minister slammed the European Union because of migration again

Hungarians do not care about corruption – pro-government businessmen to buy a Czech aircraft factory

Hungary Czech corruption government

Based on a survey of the Eurobarometer, only 37 pc of Hungarians reject corruption, even though 87 pc of people think that it is a crucial problem. Meanwhile, it came to light that a pro-government business circle bought a Czech aeroplane factory near Prague. Details below.

According to hvg, oligarchs close to Fidesz already signed the deal with the Penta Group, including the purchase of the Aero Vodochody, an aeroplane factory near Prague. The seller was Jaroslav Hascák, a Slovak billionaire, who was arrested on December 4. Mr Hascák is one of the wealthiest Slovaks, and now he is charged with money laundering and bribery.

The buyer is András Tombor, a former advisor of PM Viktor Orbán and the founder of the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC),

whose companies won a lot of public money in the last few years.

He received 51 pc of the shares with which he fulfilled an old desire of the PM who has encouraged other Hungarian oligarchs before to expand abroad.

According to Transparency International Hungary, the government persecutes corruption only if their allies are not affected, atv.hu reported. For example, they chase “street corruption” and the corruption of their competitors but leave similar issues unpunished if somebody ‘close to the fire’ is involved.

Miklós Ligeti, the organisation’s legal director, added that even though 87 pc of Hungarians view corruption as a severe problem, only 38 pc of them believe that it is unacceptable. Two weeks ago,

Sándor Pintér, the minister of interior, said that no corruption cases remain unexplored in Hungary,

and his ministry struggled hard against it in 2020 just like in the previous years.

Meanwhile, LMP, the Hungarian green party, says that corruption has a tradition in Fidesz for which the PM will have to answer at some point. György Szilágyi (Jobbik) said the same and added that such investigations must remain within the framework of the rule of law. However, the party would take back all goods from those who the courts found guilty.

The Prime Minister’s Office said about the statements of Transparency International that the organisation is one of the biggest members of the Soros-network, and George Soros attacks Hungary only because the government rejects allowing the mass influx of illegal migrants.

Gay sex party in Brussels: This is how the international press reacted to the Szájer scandal

After the orgy scandal in Brussels, the former Hungarian MEP, József Szájer, got into the crossfire of the international press. This is how they write about the case all around the world.

As it has been confirmed, last Friday, the former Hungarian MEP took part in a sex party in Brussels in violation of epidemiological restrictions, from which he tried to escape from the police through the gutter – unsuccessfully, as the Belgian police arrested him and found drugs in his bag. Since then, several international news outlets reacted to the hot news, reported azonnali.hu.

The Belgian HLN writes about the details of the sex party

On Wednesday morning, one day after the outbreak of the Szájer scandal, Belgian news portal HLN published an interview with the 29-year-old doctoral student who organised the orgy referred to as a “house party” by the resigned Hungarian MEP. David Manzheley said that the police in Brussels acted rudely, insulting the participants after they slammed the door on them at half past ten. In his words, they just had a drink “like in a cafe while the guests had sex with each other”.

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Read alsoThe organiser of the Brussels orgy: the Hungarian MEP attended the sex party without being invited!
British papers highlighted that Szájer was a politician in an anti-LGBTQ party

The BBC also reported on the case, highlighting that the Szájer scandal described in the media as a “gay orgy” is particularly embarrassing for the Fidesz party, who campaigned for traditional family values and recently submitted a bill banning adoption for gays. Vice, which rarely reports on Hungary, also wrote about the case, emphasising in the title that Szájer was a politician of an anti-LGBTQ party. The Daily Mail, The Times, The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Washington Post wrote about the case in a similar tone. 

The German press was quiet

No opinion articles have been published about the case in Germany. The right-wing Bild, which had previously published exclusive interviews with Viktor Orbán, brought the detailed news entitled “Orbán’s partner was detained during a gay sex party“, mentioning that Szájer is in the same EP group as the German CDU and the Bavarian CSU. “A Hungarian nationalist is casting his EP mandate”, the left-liberal Süddeutsche Zeitung in Munich writes in the title of the article, based on the material of the German dpa news agency.

The German Tagesschau.de reports that 10 years of illiberalism was not enough to learn that Viktor is written in Hungarian with “k” and not with “c”, and they highlighted Szájer’s constitution in addition to the description of the story. 

According to the Austrian Die Presse, Szájer is hypocritical and cynical

Oliver Grimm, a publicist for the conservative Die Presse in Vienna, commented on the news, calling the resigned MEP hypocritical in the title. According to Grimm, it is cynical that one of the founders of Fidesz denies in such a spectacular way the anti-liberalism, open anti-socialism, and anti-enlightenment propagated by the party.

Romanians write about gay orgy and the reaction of the Hungarian pro-government press

The Romanian newspapers point out that the MEP is a member of the Hungarian government party that has recently submitted a number of anti-LGBTQ bills. The right-wing Adevărul published a short portrait of Szájer, and the liberal G4media reviewed the Hungarian government press articles on Wednesday morning. According to them, the Szájer scandal has just been blown up because the EU wants to punish Hungary for EU money and the rule of law mechanism.

The Czech press highlights the escape through the gutter, the Slovak newspapers highlight drugs

The Slovak and Czech newspapers only report on the scandal of József Szájer and its circumstances. While the focus of Slovak newspapers is on the drug found at the party, the Czech newspapers highlight Szájer’s escape through the gutter.

The Czech news portal Mladá fronta dnes introduces its summary in tone: “Orbán’s MEP was in a hot orgy. He escaped from the police through the window.” The Czech business newspaper Hospodářské noviny reports: “The Hungarian MEP was arrested in an illegal gay orgy. He tried to escape from the police through the window.” 

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Read alsoSex party in Brussels: MEP Szájer apologies only for breaching lockdown rules?

Photo exhibition in Beijing shows empty V4 capitals due to epidemic

An exhibition opened at the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Beijing on Wednesday presenting photographs of the empty capitals of the Visegrad Group countries in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic.

The ambassadors of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia attended the opening of the month-long exhibition.

Hungary’s ambassador, Máté Pesti, noted in his address that the epidemic had dealt a severe blow to the tourism, small businesses and the societies of the V4 countries, but art could provide “comfort in the midst of hardship and grief”.

The show relates the story of 2020 by showing the emptied streets and squares as well as details such as people wearing masks or waiting for virus tests.

The ambassador said he felt lucky to be in China, where life had returned to normal after the epidemic was suppressed and precautionary measures were eased.

Andrea Szonja Buslig, the embassy’s cultural attache and director of the cultural institute, told MTI another V4 exhibition is in the pipeline for December as part of the Council of Europe’s Cultural Routes series. The institute hosted the first part of the exhibition in September and due to great interest, a second part will be held in December together with Hungary’s V4 partners.

As we wrote before, museums, libraries, cinemas, zoos and skating rinks must suspend their services in Hungary, details HERE.

Czech Republic to introduce night curfew from Wednesday

the Czech Republic has witnessed rapid increase of new COVID-19 cases in recent weeks

A night curfew from 21:00 p.m. to 04:59 a.m. will be introduced in the Czech Republic from Wednesday as a measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, the Health Ministry announced Monday night after a government meeting.

Exceptions will apply to journeys to work, urgent journeys to protect life, health and property, and dogs walking within 500 meters of the place of residence.

In addition, retail sales will be prohibited on Sundays all day and on other days from 20:00 p.m. to 05:00 a.m.. This does not apply to gas stations or pharmacies.

Health Minister Roman Prymula said the new restriction should further minimize the number of contacts among people.

He said the government plans to deploy police officers to check why people are outside.

The curfew will be effective until the end of the state of emergency that is to expire on Nov. 3, but the government will probably ask the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday to extend it.

The country has witnessed rapid increase of new COVID-19 cases in recent weeks.

So far, there have been 263,572 infection cases, including 5,613 people now in hospital.

Ursula von der Leyen EC President
Read alsoEC President von der Leyen said thank you in Hungarian for sending 150 ventilators to the Czech Republic

EC President von der Leyen said thank you in Hungarian for sending 150 ventilators to the Czech Republic

Ursula von der Leyen EC President

The President of the European Commission responded to and also shared the thankful message of the Czech Republic’s Prime Minister on Twitter.

As Hvg pointed out, Ursula von der Leyen not only shared but also commented in Hungarian on Twitter on the news that Hungary sent 150 ventilators to the Czech Republic to aid them in combatting the pandemic. The President of the European Commission, thanking the Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, said that she welcomes such solidarity between the member states during these trying times.

“We need each other even more during the current pandemic,” she wrote.

Andrej Babiš thanked Viktor Orbán in his original post, adding that he was very grateful for the quick and significant help. The ventilators will be received by Czech firefighters and stored in the warehouse of the state reserve. From there, they will be transported to the appropriate hospitals if necessary.

Infection is spreading rapidly in the Czech Republic, with 15,252 new confirmed coronavirus cases detected on Friday, October 23. The number of patients in hospitals also rose to 5,044, of whom 751 are in serious condition. The number of deaths from Covid-19 and its complications increased to 1,971.

The Czech government is introducing new measures to control the infections; from Thursday, a whole range of retail and services are going to be restricted, and there is a curfew in force. Wearing face masks is obligatory everywhere. Schools have been closed and switched to distance learning, cultural and sporting events are currently on hold.

One of the main goals of the Czech government is to prevent healthcare from collapsing.

According to the Czech press, apart from Prague, there will be a camp hospital in Brno as well. The camp hospital in Prague has 500 beds, while the one in Brno will have 300.

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Read alsoCoronavirus – Hungary third country in EU with most fatal incidents

Read alsoDutch newspaper drew the middle finger on the Hungarian and Polish flags

Czech Republic closes shops, curbs movement as COVID-19 cases spike

Czech Republic closes shops, curbs movement as COVID-19 cases spike

The Czech government on Wednesday decided to close most shops and services in the country and strictly restrict the movement of residents as of Thursday to curb one of the world’s fastest growing COVID-19 infection rates.

As part of the new measures, which will remain in force until Nov. 3, assemblies of more than two people who are not in the same household or work together will be banned.

“The measures, while quite robust and burdensome for the population, are absolutely necessary,” Health Minister Roman Prymula told a news conference.

He justified the move by saying that the country’s health system could be overwhelmed without immediate action.

The measures — which resemble those in force during the first lockdown this spring — allow people to visit shops to buy essential items, make necessary family visits and travel to parks and the countryside.

On Tuesday, the Czech Health Ministry reported 11,984 new COVID-19 cases, the highest daily number since the pandemic outbreak.

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Read alsoCzech gov’t to avoid second lockdown despite surge in COVID-19 cases

COVID-19 death toll tops 1,000 in Czech Republic

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A further 58 people had succumbed to COVID-19 in a 24-hour span in the Czech Republic, taking the country’s death toll from the disease to 1,045 since the beginning of the outbreak, official data showed on Monday.

According to the Health Ministry, the number of people who died of COVID-19 during the first two weeks of October reached 375, much higher than that in the whole September which was 243.

As of 18:00 local time on Monday, the country registered 1,896 new infections, bringing the cumulative number of cases to 119,007, including 61,522 active cases, according to the ministry.

The daily record of new COVID-19 cases was broken four times last week.

On Oct. 9, the country registered the biggest daily jump of 8,616 cases (official data previously put it at 8,618) in a 24-hour span.

On Monday night, the Czech government announced more restriction measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

According to new rules, starting from Wednesday, all types of schools except for kindergartens will be closed in the country until Nov. 1. Restaurants, bars and clubs will stay closed until the end of the state of emergency scheduled for Nov. 3, and the drinking of alcohol in public places will also be banned.

The state of emergency was declared in the Czech Republic last week and the government has introduced restrictions affecting especially culture, sport and leisure-time activities.

Starting on Monday, heritage sights, theaters, cinemas, zoos as well as museums and galleries are closed for two weeks at least. The ban also applies to concerts and all other cultural events. Visits to hospitals and public offices are restricted, too.

As the world is struggling to control the pandemic, countries across the globe — among them European Union member states, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States — are racing to find a vaccine.

According to the website of the World Health Organization, as of Oct. 2, there were 193 COVID-19 candidate vaccines being developed worldwide, 42 of them in clinical trials.

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Read alsoCroatia makes indoor mask-wearing mandatory amid COVID-19 surge

Hungarian foreign minister slammed the European Union because of migration again

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Thursday attended a working lunch with his counterparts from the Visegrad Group and France, where he said the three main risks regarding migration in Europe “are all due to the European Union’s approach”.

At the lunch attended by Foreign Ministers Tomas Petricek of the Czech Republic, Jean-Yves Le Drian of France and Ivan Korcok of Slovakia, and by Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski, Szijjártó said

a migration wave would be a “much greater danger for Europe now than it was in 2015,

as it would also constitute a serious public health risk besides risks to security and culture”. “Uncontrolled crowds would spread the novel coronavirus extremely quickly,” he added.

Regarding the migration route across the Western Balkan countries, Szijjártó noted that the EU had agreed to pay Turkey six billion euros in support, to be paid until 2018. So far, it has only paid 4 billion, Szijjártó said.

This may prompt Turkey to open its borders with Europe for the four million refugees

it is currently housing, flooding the Western Balkans with hundreds of thousands of migrants, Szijjártó said.

Another source of danger is the EU’s tardiness in boosting border protection near the coasts of Libya to thwart illegal entry attempts accross the Mediterranean, Szijjártó said. The Visegrád Group paid 35 million euros to the European Commission to that end, but the EC has since failed to buy even a single ship, he said.

“The third risk factor is the new migration pact of the European Commission … basically a renewed encouragement for those about to break out for Europe,” Szijjártó said. The pact “clearly aims to push through mandatory quotas and settlement,” he added.

The Visegrad Group is in agreement regarding migration, Szijjártó said.

Ahead of the lunch, Szijjártó  met Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, to discuss issues around migration.

Orbán: V4 slated to be ‘influential’ in European politics if they grow as a bloc

visegrád four discussion

The Visegrád Four countries must try to grow together as a bloc and if they succeed in that they are slated to become “a player” in global economy and politics, as they will also become influential in European politics, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said, opening a Budapest office of a Polish PR firm on Thursday.

Economic and trade relations between Germany and the Visegrad countries of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are expanding at a faster pace than between Germany and China, he said at the R4S public relations and public affairs firm’s event.

This means that “here is the dynamics and the future, and here is the prospect of growth” and “this is the moment the V4 must seize”, Orbán said.

He praised Hungarian-Polish cooperation in politics and culture, adding that bilateral economic relations were not sufficient mainly due to a language barrier.

“Hungarians don’t learn Polish, whereas learning Hungarian is a quite hopeless attempt, we don’t want to speak Russian, they [the Poles] don’t want to speak in German, so the only option is using English,” Orbán said.

The prime minister hailed the opening of R4S’s office in Budapest, expressing hope that it would help promote business cooperation.

He highlighted the importance of personal business relations between Hungarians and Poles, saying that “there is a lot at stake right now”.

Orbán argued that either central Europeans would organise the region “between the Russian and German world” or “someone else will and there are always takers for it”.

Concerning key differences between western and central Europe, Orbán said that when asked how they wanted to make a living “western Europeans always say loans while central Europeans say work”.

“If the V4 make this their standard reply then come whatever economic crisis in Europe, the grouping will be successful,” he said.

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Read alsoVisegrád Group students’ alliance to be formed

Czech Republic reports record daily increase in COVID-19 cases

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The Czech Republic on Tuesday confirmed 4,457 new cases of COVID-19, a fresh daily high, according to Health Ministry data published on Wednesday.

The hike brings the total number of cases recorded since the virus was first detected in the country in March to 90,022.

The previous record of single-day jump, at 3,796, was set on Friday.

Hospitalizations and deaths have also swelled since September when a new wave of coronavirus began in the country.

Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said that hospitals could be at full capacity by the end of October, but he ruled out a complete lockdown at this stage.

“Despite all the measures that have been put in place, the curve (number of infected) is still growing. It will put pressure on medical capacity over time,” he said.

According to Hamacek, new measures will be announced on Friday, focusing on leisure activities rather than the ones that may damage the economy.

The government has already imposed a state of emergency and accompanying restrictive measures, such as stricter face mask mandates, limits on bar opening hours and restaurant capacities, tighter crowd limits for indoor and outdoor events, closures of schools in high-risk areas and a ban on musical performances.

Under the state of emergency, the government now regularly assesses the situation every 14 days.

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Read alsoCoronavirus in Hungary: Travel restrictions amended for V4 countries – UPDATE

Czech gov’t to avoid second lockdown despite surge in COVID-19 cases

babis coronavirus czech

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis appealed to citizens on Monday to respect coronavirus-related restrictions and mask mandates, adding that his government would avoid locking the economy down again.

“We do not want to close down the economy and threaten employment. We want to manage with measures that affect our lives as little as possible,” Babis said on Monday evening during a televised speech.

The prime minister admitted that relaxing measures over the summer led to the spike in cases, but urged citizens to adhere to the measures.

“We defeated the coronavirus once, we will defeat it a second time. I believe that we will be able to do it again,” the prime minister said.

Babis was making the appeal as the country has seen a surge in infections in recent weeks. As of Monday evening,

the country has recorded 50,071 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 521 deaths.

Czech president appoints new health minister

Czech epidemiologist Roman Prymula was appointed on Monday as the country’s new minister of health, according to the office of President Milos Zeman.

Prymula, government healthcare research commissioner and a former deputy health minister, is to replace Health Minister Adam Vojtech, who resigned Monday morning to “create space for a solution” to the country’s spiraling COVID-19 caseload.

Vojtech had faced pressure from the opposition to resign over his management of the epidemiological situation in the country.

Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who nominated Prymula, expects crisis management to be the core of his program as health minister, including ensuring the proper capacity of hospitals. Prymula will take up his new post on Tuesday.

The government also wants to improve communication over virus-related restrictions, which was a major source of criticism for his predecessor.

Last Wednesday alone saw 2,137 new confirmed cases in the Czech Republic, the highest daily count and the first time the single-day figure had exceeded 2,000, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

Hungary bus driver Croatia Czech Republic
Read alsoHungarian border guards wrestled the driver of a Czech bus at the Croatian border

Hungarian border guards wrestled the driver of a Czech bus at the Croatian border

Hungary bus driver Croatia Czech Republic

The incident happened at the Hungarian-Croatian border crossing on Saturday night. Border guards wrestled one of the bus’s Czech drivers and handcuffed him. Details below.

According to korkep.sk, the Czech bus was returning from a trip with Czech tourists on board, and they wanted to cross the Croatian-Hungarian border. The destination of the journey was Liberec, and there were 50 people on the bus.

A tour guide of the T Split Tour, a Czech travel agency, said that the Croatian border guard asked the adults to leave the bus. However, then came her Hungarian colleague who stated that nobody could remain on the bus, so

even children had to leave it for an unexplained reason.

Afterwards, the driver opened the luggage compartment, but then a Croatian woman border guard came who wanted to see the luggage as well.

Kateřina Macourková added that the driver spoke with her and wanted to take a photo of the border guards’ identification number. He did so, but the moment he wanted to check his photo, a Hungarian female border guard grabbed his hand. He suddenly pulled his hand away

but, as a result, the woman fell.

That is when all the border guards threw themselves on him and handcuffed him. You can watch the video about the incident in the article of korkep.sk. The driver had to remain there, but the bus could continue its trip the next day at 3 pm. He is now in Budapest at the public prosecutor’s office.

According to the ambassador of the Czech Republic to Hungary, the Hungarian police is now investigating the issue. Juraj Varga added that they interrogated the witnesses, after which they wrote a protocol, but he could not reveal anything more last Sunday when korkep.sk asked him.

 

 

Czech Republic tightens COVID-19 restrictive measures as cases surge

andrej babis

As of Friday, restaurants and bars across the Czech Republic will have to remain closed between midnight and 6 a.m. and the wearing of face masks will be mandatory for students in classrooms, except for those in grades 1-5 in elementary schools, according to the new COVID-19 restrictive measures announced here on Thursday.

Previously, students have been required to wear face masks only in common spaces in the school, such as corridors and toilets.

“The epidemiological situation is not good, the epidemic is gaining momentum,” Health Minister Adam Vojtech said in a statement.

“If we do not take further preventive measures, the situation will worsen. We are not planning a lockdown at this time, but we need to take some action to target the riskiest places.”

The Czech Republic recorded 2,137 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest daily count and the first time the daily figure has exceeded 2,000, according to the Ministry of Health data.

Most patients report no or mild symptoms, but the surge in cases this month has also led to a spike in hospitalizations that is nearing the peaks seen in April.

As of Thursday afternoon, the Czech Republic had reported a total of 42,739 cases and 488 deaths.

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Read alsoIt is easier for a Czech tourist to come to Hungary than for a Hungarian working abroad – opinion