Czech morning news roundup: Monday, November 15, 2021

The Civic Democrats (ODS) lower house group called on the Czech government in resignation to send police officers to Poland to assist with the migrant crisis at the Belarusian border. The Czech government should support any measures against the Belarusian regime agreed upon by the European Union the ODS said.

Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhánek (Social Democrats, ČSSD) said on Twitter that the government is in contact with the Polish side and has offered support if Poland requests it. Thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Asia have tried to enter EU territory from Belarus in the last few days.

Poland and the EU have accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of transporting people from these countries to Belarus and using them as a weapon in a hybrid war as revenge against the EU for imposing sanctions against Belarus for human rights violations.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) will visit President Miloš Zeman in the Central Military Hospital in Prague on Monday afternoon, the PM said in a video posted on social media Sunday, adding that he had been given permission to do so by the hospital. Zeman, 77, is being treated for the deterioration of a chronic disease.

Last Thursday, doctors transferred him from the intensive care unit to the rehabilitation ward where visits are also banned due to the coronavirus epidemic. On Monday, he will be transferred to a standard bed, which allows for limited visitors. Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová plans to visit Zeman on Tuesday. Next week, Zeman will meet Civic Democrats leader Petr Fiala.

The Czech women’s ice hockey team won its qualification group on Sunday to advance to the Olympic Games to be played in Beijing next February. The national team won all three games in its division, winning a key match against Hungary which had beat out the remaining two teams in the group, Norway and Poland. The Czech Republic will compete in women’s ice hockey at the 2022 Olympic tournament for the first time in history. Women’s ice hockey has been played at the Winter Olympic Games since 1998.

On Friday, the European Commission added the locusta migratoria, the most common locust species, to its list of foods authorized for sale in the European Union. The insects will be considered a “novel food” when sold in frozen, dried, and powdered forms, the EU executive branch announced. The insect will be offered on the market as a snack food or ingredient either in dried or frozen form with wings and legs removed or in powder form. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has stated that adults of this insect species are high in protein. Their consumption is safe but can cause reactions in people allergic to crustaceans, mites, and mollusks. Crickets could soon follow.

The railway line between Prague and Beroun was completely stopped on Sunday for more than an hour after a train collided with a person on the tracks. In what is being called a suicide, a 16-year-old girl jumped under a train between the Řevnice and Zadní Třebaň stations and was killed instantly. According to the Central Bohemian Rescue Service, the operation of the line resumed around 15:00. A police spokesperson confirmed the report of the tragic accident, saying the individual most likely entered the track alone.