Czech morning news in brief: top headlines for June 23, 2021

Up to 61,000 households, in which up to 165,000 people including 51,000 children live, face "housing poverty," which means they have makeshift accommodation or inconvenient flats or are homeless, according to a report on housing problems in the Czech Republic presented in the Senate Tuesday. Cities, such as Prague, Brno, and Ostrava, face the worst conditions as well as poorer regions of north Bohemia and north Moravia. Seniors also have problems with housing, and they make up one-fifth of inhabitants staying in cheap hostels, said analysts from the Four Housing group, citing the report. In total, at least 5,500 women and men over 65 years are in housing poverty, while widows make up a major part of this figure. The number of people who cannot afford suitable housing has been rising in the past few years. In 2018, 54,000 households in which some 83,000 people, including 20,500 children, suffered from housing poverty in the 10.7-million population Czech Republic. ČTK

Finance ministers of Poland, Czechia, Hungary, and Slovakia, which form the Visegrad Group (V4), discussed economic recovery plans after the coronavirus pandemic and investments at a joint meeting in Warsaw Tuesday, the Czech Finance Ministry said in a press release. Polish minister Tadeusz Koscinski, Czech minister Alena Schillerová, Hungarian minister Mihaly Varga, and Slovak deputy minister Marcel Klimek welcomed the global minimum tax proposed by the G7 but prefer an international solution in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The 140 OECD countries will discuss the issue online next week. The V4 finance ministers also discussed the environmental contribution or damage of individual energy sources. Their countries promote the inclusion of nuclear power among sustainable energy sources and the introduction of real conditions for the use of gas. ČTK

A clothing collection for Czech athletes at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo will be inspired by indigo print tissues and traditional folk costumes created by Czech designer Zuzana Osako who used to live in Japan, the Czech Olympic Committee told ČTK Tuesday. "It is a great honor for me. When I got the offer I spent half a day crying," Osako said. The indigo print was listed among the UNESCO intangible world heritage in 2018 and was chosen to bridge the gap between the two cultures. "It is common in both countries and allegedly came to the Czech Republic from Japan," the artist noted. In the line of folk costumes, the clothing for men and women is clearly distinguished. Dresses and trousers are white, hinting at the clothes of the Czechoslovak team competing in Tokyo in 1964 that made gymnast Věra Čáslavská famous. ČTK

The European Parliament has agreed with the Member States on new rules on liability in the European Union. The new rules introduce compulsory liability for fast or heavy types of electric scooters and Segways. The victims of accidents caused by these vehicles will then be guaranteed financial compensation, said EP Vice-President Marcel Kolaja from the Pirate Party. EP Vice-President Dita Charanzová (ANO) pointed out that e-bikes or small garden tractors proposed by the European Commission had been exempted from liability. The debate over the safety of electric scooters was sparked last week by the death of a young Italian woman who was hit in Paris by two women riding an electric scooter. The Italian hit her head after falling and suffered cardiac arrest. ČTK