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President Miloš Zeman will continue using Czech-made Skoda cars in office, the Office of the President reported.

On the occasion of the president’s 75th birthday on Saturday, Skoda Auto representatives presented the head of state with a new, third-generation Skoda Superb. He will also have a new SUV, a Kodiaq, at his disposal.

As Zeman posed for photographers in front of the new Skoda, he reiterated the view that a Czech president should ride in a car made in the Czech Republic.

The Labour and Social Affairs Ministry will ask the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for an analysis of the Czech Republic’s pension system and a set of ensuing recommendations on reform which would make it sustainable long-term.

The study should be the basis of a government reform which could be concluded in 2021, the ministry said. Reforming the country’s pension system was one of the government’s stated policy priorities, but no plan for reform has so far been unveiled.

Several hundred people gathered on Brno‘s main square on Saturday to protest against Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. Ondřej Zeman, from Steps Towards Democracy, which organized the event said that although the investigation of suspected EU subsidy fraud on the part of the prime minister had been halted, he still clearly had a conflict of interest.

Former constitutional court judge Eliska Wagnerova said that while Babiš may not have committed a crime under the laws of the time, his conduct was not ethically above-board and it was up to the public to decide whether such a man should lead the government.

A plaque was unveiled at Liben railway station in Prague on Saturday in memory of the East German exodus via the Czech capital in the early autumn of 1989.

Around 13,000 East Germans who camped out on West German embassy grounds for days, boarded special trains from Liben railway station to West Germany after being granted free passage by the authorities.

The plaque’s unveiling, by the former federal minister for special affairs Rudolf Seiters, who helped negotiate their free passage, was one of a series of events in Prague marking the anniversary of the exodus.

The German Embassy in Prague organized a festival titled The Way to Freedom on the embassy grounds that included panel debates and meetings with former politicians and witnesses of the events.

Sunday should be partly cloudy to overcast with scattered showers and day temperatures between 18 and 22 degrees Celsius.

Václav Klaus Jr. was elected head of the new conservative Tricolour party he founded at its election conference in Brno on Saturday. Klaus Jr., son of the former Czech president, ran for the top post unchallenged, and was elected by 185 votes out of 188.

Klaus Jr. established the new party after getting expelled from the centre-right Civic Democratic Party for allegedly failing to respect its political agenda and values. His new party wants to lower taxes, scrap the minimal wage and secure an exemption from Eurozone membership for the Czech Republic.

Several thousand people gathered in the town of Stará Boleslav on Thursday for the annual pilgrimage of St. Wenceslas dedicated to the patron saint of the Czech nation. An open air mass held outside the church where the prince was murdered by dissenters, was celebrated by Papal Nuncius Charles Daniel Balvo.

Events in the town include theatre performances, concerts and a traditional St. Wenceslas fair. Believers also marked the 10th anniversary of a visit to Stará Boleslav by Pope Benedict XVI. A bust of the pope was unveiled on the town’s main square on the occasion.

September 28, the day on which the prince was murdered, is observed as the Day of Czech Statehood and is a public holiday.

The Czech branch of the travel agency Neckermann, which is part of the bankrupt British group Thomas Cook, has cancelled the trips of another 500 clients, as uncertainty regarding it future grows.The company still has 800 Czech clients abroad.

So far the Czech branch of Neckermann has not filed for bankruptcy. According to the deputy chair of the Association of Czech Travel Agencies Jan Papez the company will either be sold, file for bankruptcy or its employees may decide to establish a brand new travel agency.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš wound up his five day working visit to the United States at the 9/11 memorial in New York where he and his wife Monika paid tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre 18 years ago.

Laying down a white rose in memory of the 2,750 people killed, Mr. Babiš stressed the importance of remembering this terrible memento because terrorism was a threat to all nations.

The countries of the world should remember this day and unite in the fight against international terrorism, Mr. Babiš said.

The Czech prime minister represented the Czech Republic at this week’s session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The Speaker of the Senate Jaroslav Kubera presented twelve outstanding personalities with the Senate’s silver commemorative medal at a special gala ceremony on the eve of the Day of Czech Statehood, or St. Wenceslas‘ Day on September 28.

Among those honoured were RAF pilot General Emil Boček, the renowned traveller Miroslav Zikmund, and musician Michael Kocáb.

General Boček, gave a moving thank you speech on behalf of those recognized, thanking the Senate for remembering its war veterans and saying the silver medal was a tribute to all his friends in the RAF who are no longer with us.