Daily news summary

Prague city leaders call for Slav Epic to be housed at Exhibition Grounds

Prague City Hall’s executive committee has called for Alfons Mucha’s Slav Epic series of massive paintings to be housed in part of the Exhibition Grounds buildings where collections of sculptures have been displayed.

A final decision must be taken by the full Prague council.

Renovations at the so-called Lapidary site are to take place at a cost of around 580 million crowns.

Prague has been searching for decades for a final site to exhibit the paintings which were donated to the city by the painter. Mucha completed the works which show the history of the Slav peoples between 1910 and 1928. He regarded the works as his lifetime masterpiece.

Czech head of state meets Social Democrat leader over Cabinet

Czech president Miloš Zeman received Social Democrat leader Jan Hamáček on Tuesday afternoon. The main subject of talks was set to be the creation of minority coalition Cabinet of the ANO and Social Democrat parties.

Social Democrat party members are currently voting whether to back such a minority coalition with the result due by June 14.

Zeman has opposed the Social Democrat’s intention to place its MEP Miroslav Poche as foreign minister in a new Cabinet with Hamáček so far refusing to give way. Zeman says Poche backed immigrants coming to the country and has been critical of Israel.

Hamáček said after the meeting that he had not put forward any alternative names as possible Social Democrat Cabinet ministers.

Czech spending boom speeds up in April

The Czech retail sales boom speeded up in April with a 5.6 percent increase on spending levels compared with a year earlier. March sales rose at the rate of 3.9 percent.

Sales rose fastest in non-food items, food sales were almost unchanged. And the boom in sales via the Internet and via mail order companies continued with a 20.3 percent annual increase according to the Czech Statistical Office.

Czech agriculture ministry calls for investigation over one crown milk

Czech Minister of Agriculture Jiří Milek has called on the Czech competition office to investigate supermarket sales of milk for just one crown a litre. It’s the first time that the ministry has called on the competition office to intervene against suspected price dumping.

Minister Milek announce to the move during a questions session at the lower house of parliament. He said the one crown a litre offer had been made by Kaufland, the country’s biggest supermarket chain, as part of a wider promotional offer.

Milek said he had also asked other authorities to investigate the case saying that it also raised questions about raising value added tax.

Czech software piracy hits historic low

The use of illegal pirated software on Czech computers has reached 32 percent, according to a survey carried out for the Business Software Alliance.

That figure is one percent down from the 2016 result and the lowest figure in Czech history.

BSA said use of pirated software had decreased among Czech companies but increased among households.

CVVM poll suggests Czech Social Democrats on comeback

The Czech Social Democrats appear to be making a comeback according to the latest poll by the agency CVVM in May.

The poll puts support for the Social Democrats at 13 percent, in joint second place with the Civic Democrats (ODS) by still trailing the ANO party of current prime minister Andrej Babiš.

The latest poll is the best result for the Social Democrats since they scored just 7.2 percent support in October’s general elections to the lower house of parliament.

The Pirates slip in the poll to 11 percent. TOP 09 and the party of mayors and independents, STAN, would not pas the 5 percent threshold to get into parliament, the poll suggests.

Norwegian Egil Gjelland appointed biathlon head trainer

In sport, Norwegian Egil Gjelland has been chosen to be the new trainer of the Czech biathlon team. The previous trainer, Ondřej Rybář, is to be the sporting director of the Czech Biathlon Association.

Former Olympic shooting gold medallist Kateřina Emmons has also been taken on as a consultant for the shooting discipline. The changes were confirmed on Tuesday by the association.

Gjellard was an Olympic winner in the relay event at the 2002 Olympics and picked up a silver medal four years later. He also has two world championship golds. Association leaders said they had been thinking of appointing a non-Czech for the top position for a while.

Weather

Wednesday will be cloudy with sunny intervals and rain expected in the south of the country. Top daytime temperatures will range between 24 and 28 degrees Celsius.