Illustrative photo – Prime Minister Petr Fiala at a press conference in Prague after the government meeting, February 1, 2023.
Prague – Statistics according to which gas prices in the Czech Republic in the second half of last year, they increased the most in the entire European Union, which Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) described as “confounding the public”. In the coming weeks, he intends to invite representatives of the organizations that make up the numbers. The Prime Minister said this at today's press conference after the government meeting.
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The European statistical office Eurostat reported on the rapid year-on-year increase in gas prices. According to him, the increase in gas prices in the second half of 2022 was 231 percent in the Czech Republic, almost 70 percentage points more than in the second half of Romania. According to Eurostat, only two countries avoided an increase of more than 20 percent, namely Croatia (14 percent) and Slovakia (18 percent). some domestic electricity suppliers. According to ČEZ and E.ON, the vast majority of their customers paid significantly less than the European Authority states in its report. The Czech Prime Minister objected to the gas figures today.
“Whoever makes a mistake must be exposed. I will invite representatives of energofirom, but also the authorities involved in the statistical numbers, and we will discuss why the numbers do not correspond to reality,” said Fiala.
Na the opposition has already reacted to the numbers published today. The first vice-chairman of the ANO movement, Karel Havlíček, called the statistics an “energy debacle”.
The government approved the draft state final account for 2022
Today, the government approved the draft state final account for 2022. The Ministry of Finance, which submitted the draft, announced this on Twitter. Last year, the state ran a deficit of 360.4 billion crowns. According to the proposal of the Ministry of Finance, the deficit will be covered by an increase in the state debt by 345 billion crowns and a decrease in the balance of state financial assets accounts by 15.4 billion crowns.
The result of the state budget last year was 14.6 billion better than the law on the state budget predicted. The fulfillment of income was at the level of 96.3 percent of the plan, as well as the absorption of expenses. Compared to 2021, the deficit decreased by 59.3 billion crowns. Nevertheless, the economic result was the third worst since the creation of the Czech Republic after the budgets for 2021 and 2020.
The government approves the state final account every year and then submits it to the House of Representatives for approval. The document summarizes the economy of the state in the previous year, it also contains an overview of the economic development of the Czech Republic, including the development of the summary of public budgets and government debt, summary data on the results of budget management of other components of public budgets, an overview of state financial assets and liabilities and of state guarantees and an overview of states funds of state organizational units.
Today, in addition to the final account for last year, the government also discussed the state's economic results for the first quarter. After three months, the budget ended in a deficit of 166.2 billion crowns, which was the worst balance since the creation of the Czech Republic. In the first quarter of last year, the deficit amounted to 59.1 billion crowns, but the result at that time was affected by the provisional budget, which limited state spending. For the whole of this year, the government plans to manage a deficit of 295 billion crowns.
The Czech Republic will give 22 million CZK to train Ukrainian transport pilots in the Czech Republic
This year, the Czech Republic will give 22 million crowns for the training of 20 to 25 Ukrainian transport pilots in the Czech Republic. Specifically, they are students of the National Aviation University in Kyiv. The proposal was approved by the government today, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský (Pirates) said at a press conference. The money will go from the program for humanitarian, stabilization, reconstruction and economic aid to Ukraine, which was approved by the cabinet last year. In it, the Czech Republic should give half a billion crowns every year between 2023 and 2025.
“The project will help to ensure the continuity of the education of Ukrainian transport pilots, who in the current situation cannot complete flight training in their own country. Graduates of training in the Czech Republic will be ready for immediate inclusion (in the position of co-pilot) in civil air transport. The project will thus contribute to a faster recovery of air transport services and thus also to the overall reconstruction of the country,” the Foreign Ministry stated in the material available to ČTK. In addition to this department, the ministries of education and industry and trade participate in the project.
The training in the Czech Republic will take place in cooperation with a domestic entity that provides certified flight training. The National Aviation University in Kyiv will also cooperate with the Czech Technical University (ČVUT) in Prague, which will provide assistance in bringing training closer to European Union standards. “Specifically, it will be an audit of theoretical and practical teaching, training documentation and study materials and their updating and bringing them closer to the rules of the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA),” said Czech diplomacy. It is expected that the project will be repeated in 2024 and 2025.
