This summer was the fifth warmest at Prague's Klementinum since 1775

This year's summer as measured at Prague's Klementinum was the fifth warmest since 1775 when record-keeping began at the oldest weather station in the Czech Republic. The average temperature from the beginning of June to the end of August reached 22.2 degrees Celsius, according to the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ). Meteorological autumn began today and will last until the end of November. This summer's average temperature in Clementine was 1.5 degrees above the normal used by meteorologists based on data from 1991 to 2020. The deviation from the long-term average from 1775 to 2014 was plus 3.2 degrees Celsius. "This summer ranked fifth in average temperature among the 248 summers since 1775, making it among the top 2 percent of warmest summers for that period," meteorologists said.

The warmest summer since 1775 was in 2019 with an average temperature of 22.9 degrees, followed by 2018, 2003, 2015, and 2022. On the contrary, the coldest summer was in 1844 with an average temperature of 16.4 degrees. This year's June, with an average temperature of 22.3 degrees Celsius, became the fifth warmest in the last 248 years. July was slightly cooler, the monthly temperature was 22 degrees on average, but it was still among the 10 percent of the warmest Julys recorded so far. August 2022 was ranked eighth in the historical table.

As of today, the timetables of the Prague Integrated Transport (PID), which includes buses, trams, and the metro, will return to what they were before the summer holidays. In addition to shortening the interval times, school lines and school connections on suburban lines are being renewed. At the same time, there are permanent changes to some PID bus lines, especially in the Central Bohemia region. In Prague, as far as permanent changes are concerned, only minor modifications are involved, the most significant of which is the extension of night service in the Zbraslav area. Three new school lines have been introduced as well. A detailed overview of the changes is here.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala today started the school year at the Májová Primary School in Ostrov in Karlovy Vary. He wished that first-graders would enjoy learning and getting to know each other. Over 500 pupils attend the school in the city of 16,000, and about 50 children entered the first classes there. First graders and their parents were welcomed by Fiala together with the school management. "It's a big day for you, a big change in your life," Prime Minister Fiala said. He then asked the pupils if they were looking forward to school, most answered in the affirmative. "I hope that you will learn at school how to learn, get to know and find out new information, and that you will enjoy it. School should lead to this," Fiala said.

Former secretary of state at the Foreign Ministry Miloslav Stašek is the Czech ambassador to the United States as of today. He replaces Hynek Kmoníček, who will become the ambassador to Vietnam. Stašek was nominated by the previous government of Andrej Babiš. He was appointed the Foreign Ministry secretary of state in November 2017. Previously, he was the ambassador to Egypt and India. Kmoníček was the ambassador to the U.S. since March 2017. Former ambassador to Zambia Radek Rubeš will become the Czech Foreign Ministry's state secretary.

The Czech government has named former CzechInvest agency head Tomáš Hruda its commissioner for enhancing resilience and economic modernization who will be in charge of drawing on the European funds, PM Petr Fiala said at a press conference. European Affairs Minister Mikuláš Bek said the commissioner's first task would be to enhance the state's opportunity to get a favorable loan from the EU. The loan opportunity is a part of the extraordinary European funds that were established to help the member states' economies affected by the Covid epidemic or by the impacts of the war in Ukraine.

 The second round of the so-called summer of grace for borrowers begins today in the Czech Republic and will last until the end of November. People will be able to get rid of debt enforcement with public institutions more easily. If they pay the original amount owed, or principal, and CZK 1,815 to the executor, interest, penalties and other payments will be waived and the enforcement proceedings will end. The action only applies to foreclosures that began before Oct. 28 last year. Detailed information on the conditions and procedure can be found here.

President Miloš Zeman signed the ratification documents for the entry of Finland and Sweden into the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance on Wednesday, his spokesman Jiří Ovčáček tweeted. The lower and upper houses of the Czech parliament approved the NATO enlargement by the two countries in the past weeks. Both Nordic countries applied to join the alliance at the beginning of July due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

EU countries' foreign ministers agreed on suspending the agreement facilitating visa issuance to Russian tourists at their informal meeting in Prague today. The EU has already suspended the part of the visa facilitation agreement from 2007 applied to government officials and businesspeople. Now, it could also freeze the part applying to tourists.

This would mean that the visa applications submitted by Russian citizens would not have the preferential right to processing. Thus it would be more complicated in administrative terms and more expensive for Russians to gain the Schengen visas, and above all, they would have to wait for them much longer.

The Czech government approved the first package against excessive bureaucracy. Prepared measures will aim to curb the administrative burden of businesspeople, the civil service, and individuals, Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced after the government's meeting today. Businesspeople complain about vague legislation and demand that the government cancels the duty to provide the data which the state does not require.

According to Chamber of Commerce head Vladimír Dlouhy, the current economic crisis is worse than the pandemic. Expensive energy has a fatal impact on companies and, according to him, social unrest cannot be ruled out. The government has so far underestimated the situation of businesses, he said. Dlouhý sees a solution in capping energy prices and prefers a pan-European to a national solution. 

The survey of the Chamber of Commerce showed that 18 percent of companies will lay off workers by the end of the year, mainly due to high energy prices. In the case of large enterprises with more than 500 employees, up to 27 percent of companies will proceed with layoffs. This will mainly concern companies in the construction and manufacturing industries.

During the official farewell to the beloved Czech singer Hana Zagorová, a long line of people had been formed an hour before the ceremony began in the Kalich Theater. Hundreds of people of all generations, many holding flowers, came to say goodbye to the singer, who died on Friday, Aug. 26. While waiting in line, a group of women passed the time by listening to Zagorová's songs from their mobile phones and singing along.