45,000 inhabitants of Czechia have dual or multiple citizenship

Updated data from the 2021 Census on citizenship has now been added for all residents, including persons with dual or multiple citizenship. There were approximately 45,000 such persons living in the territory of the Czech Republic at the time of the census. The vast majority of them had citizenship from the Czech Republic and one foreign country.

In total, foreigners made up 4.7% of the population in the Czech Republic during the census. Among them, the highest share of people with citizenship from Ukraine (1.4%), Slovakia (0.9%), and Vietnam (0.5%) were represented in the population. Residents with foreign citizenship from EU countries made up 1.6% of the population and from non-EU countries 3.2% of the population.

A newly announced package of financial assistance from the United States to several European countries, including the Czech Republic, will encourage further investment in defense, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, said. The support in total will amount to CZK 2 billion. Austin met with Czech Defense Minister Jana Černochová, and at a joint press conference, she thanked Austin for the U.S. willingness to defend Europe. Earlier today Austin paid his respects to Czechoslovak wartime paratroopers who killed high-ranking Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich. 

A liquefied natural gas terminal was inaugurated in the Dutch port of Eemshaven in the Netherlands. The Czech Republic has leased a third of the terminal's annual capacity. Energy company ČEZ will use the gas this winter to ensure household heating. ČEZ CEO Daniel Beneš said the first ship with gas for the Czechia will arrive in the Netherlands on Sept. 19. The gas will come from the U.S. The terminal will help Czechia reduce its reliance on Russia for energy.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin started his visit to the Czech Republic by paying homage to the Czechoslovak wartime paratroopers who killed high-ranking Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich at their memorial in Prague center this morning. Later today, Austin will have talks with Defence Minister Jana Černochova, PM Petr Fiala, and President MiloŠ Zeman. Cernochova welcomed Austin to the Orthodox church of Saints Cyril and Methodius the crypt where the seven Czechoslovak paratroopers, including Jan Kubis and Jozef Gabcik, who killed Heydrich, died after a long fight with the Nazis in June 80 years ago.

The Czech Chamber of Deputies honored the memory of Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday at the age of 96, by observing a moment of silence this morning. The longest reigning monarch in British history was also honored by many Czech leaders on social networks following the news of her death.

Fifty-five percent of Czechs do not trust the government of Petr Fiala says a new poll by the Median agency for Czech Radio. More than two-thirds of people are not satisfied with the way the cabinet is fighting rising energy prices the poll, for which 1,000 people were surveyed, revealed. A third of those polled said that they "definitely" do not trust Fiala's government, and 22 percent "rather" do not trust it. The government is trusted by 36 percent of citizens. 

Tennis players Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková will play in the US Open final for the first time. They defeated the American-Australian duo Melicharová-Martinezová and Perezová in the semi-finals 6–3, 6–7 and 6–3. 

Jana Mračková Vildumetzová (ANO) said at a press conference that she is resigning from her position of deputy speaker of the Chamber of Deputies as of Sept. 30. She was the target of criticism due to businessman Zakaría Nemrah, accused in the Dosimeter corruption case, being a witness at her wedding and the godfather of her child, which was reported on Wednesday by news servers Neovlivní and Seznam Správy.

Unemployment in the Czech Republic rose to 3.4 percent in August from 3.3 percent in July. According to data from the Labor Office of the Czech Republic, 251,753 people were looking for work. Employers offered more than 312,000 vacancies. Experts say a slight increase in unemployment is common during this period. Last August, unemployment was 3.6 percent, and almost 268,000 people were out of work. The rise in unemployment is linked to a cooling economy and signals an impending recession, analysts said.

The Czech govt. has called an extraordinary meeting for next Friday, during which it will push for a ceiling on energy prices and a tax on extraordinary profits, Czech Television reported today. The cabinet of Prime Minister Petr Fiala wants to enforce measures against high energy prices in a state of legislative emergency. Electricity prices could be capped at around CZK 5,000 per megawatt hour, economists have said in recent days. This step would reduce the electricity costs for households.

Apple significantly increased the price of iPhones in the Czech Republic. Prices start at a dizzying 26,500 CZK. Last year, Apple set more favorable prices for the then-new iPhone 13. After a year with the new series of iPhone 14, on the contrary, a significant price increase has been announced. A portfolio change is partly to blame, but the main reason will be the strengthening dollar, as prices in the U.S. have not changed intergenerationally.

Russian feminist art collective and punk group Pussy Riot will play Prague's MeetFactory tonight. The Pussy Riot movement, founded in 2011 gained fame for its series of guerilla performances in the public space, the most infamous of which was their Punk Prayer for Putin in August 2012 at the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior, for which three members of the band received a two-year prison sentence which ended in 2013 due to intervention by Amnesty International.

The band made Czech headlines when President Miloš Zeman called the group "pornographic" and referred to them using a vulgar Czech term for female anatomy. Proceeds from tonight's concert go to help the children's hospital in Kyiv.

The Czech government has decided to withdraw its lawsuit against the European Commission, filed by the previous cabinet of Andrej Babiš, over the blocked CZK 800,000 subsidy for Babiš's Agrofert holding Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariana Wernerova confirmed to Czech news server iROZHLAS.cz. The EC refused to pay the subsidy for the modernization of a chicken farm in Bilovec, north Moravia, due to the conflict of interest of then PM Babiš. His government then sued the EC with the EU Court of Justice.

More police patrols and more intensive checks will be at the Czech-Slovak border due to the strong migration pressure, Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan told journalists after talks with his Slovak counterpart Roman Mikulec in Brno yesterday. Czechs and Slovaks will coordinate stronger protection of their borders with Hungary, Austria, and Germany. Europe has been facing strong migration pressure, particularly from Syrian refugees over the past few months. Rakušan said both Slovakia and Czechia are transit countries for the migrants who head mainly to Austria and Germany where they try to unite their families.

Prague - Investment group PPF and its company Home Credit have completed the sale of their remaining 49.5 percent stake in the Russian Home Credit & Finance Bank (HCFB), including some subsidiaries. It means the departure of PPF and the Home Credit Group from the Russian banking market. A group of individual investors took over full ownership control of HCFB.

This year, the laboratory of the State Health Institute (SZÚ) confirmed four cases of diphtheria, which has not occurred in the Czech Republic since the 1990s. The first case was recorded in May in a patient from Vysočina. In recent months, two young siblings and an elderly patient have fallen ill. Vaccination against diphtheria is mandatory in the Czech Republic.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala received the Polish award Man of the Year for 2022 at the opening of the 31st Economic Forum in Karpacz last night. "This is a great honor to me. I am aware of who received this award before - Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, and John Paul II. Those are excellent personalities whom I respect immensely," Fiala said on this occasion saying he accepted the prize as an expression of support for Czech-Polish relations, but that he felt somewhat embarrassed.

The public can attend the trial of ex-PM Andrej Babiš and his former aide Jana Nagyova in the Stork's Nest subsidy fraud case. Entrance tickets will be issued outside the Prague Municipal Court every day, a spokesperson told ČTK. The courtroom has a capacity of 80 seats but if interest arises balcony seating can accommodate 36 more spectators for the Sept. 12 proceedings. The former PM and his aide are charged with subsidy fraud and harming EU financial interests. If convicted, they face up to ten years in prison. Both suspects denied the charges previously.

The Czech military will be able to deploy soldiers at NATO’s eastern border to strengthen defense under a new plan passed today in the Chamber of Deputies. In total, up to 1,362 soldiers could serve in foreign missions in 2023 and 2024. The new plan was strongly influenced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Defence Minister Jana Cernochova told MPs. Up to 1,200 soldiers will serve to enforce NATO's eastern border in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.

The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ) has issued a strong thunderstorm warning for torrential rain with totals of around 30 mm, hail, and wind gusts of up to around 70 km/h. The warning is valid from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday for the Prague, Středočeský, Plzeňský, Karlovy Vary, Ústí and Liberec regions. "Locally, torrential rain is expected with occasional overflowing of small streams, flooding of underpasses, underpasses or basements," meteorologists said.

On Thursday, the storms will first affect the whole of Bohemia, for which the warning is valid from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., later moving to Moravia and Silesia, where the warning is issued from 3:00 p.m. In addition to hail and wind, there is likely to be heavier rain than on Wednesday, with a volume of precipitation of up to 40 millimeters.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala said the Czech Republic will have a national solution to high energy prices ready to complement or replace the European solution. It will depend on what agreement is reached at the European level. He made his comments in the Hradec Králové region, where he was campaigning for the municipal elections. On Friday, an extraordinary European Council for Energy is being held. It was convened in Brussels by the Czech Republic as the country holding the EU presidency.

Rescuers found a man's body on the surface of the Vltava near Císařská louka in Prague on Tuesday morning at around 7 a.m. The police are investigating his identity, and an autopsy will be ordered, police spokesman Jan Rybanský said. The body is now being examined by the coroner. Witnesses said gave a potential identification for the person, but police are still trying to verify it.

General Petr Pavel, former Czech chief-of-staff and NATO Military Committee head, officially confirmed his presidential bid and introduced his election slogan “Let's Return Order and Calm to the Czech Republic.” He said his priorities were an active foreign policy, an innovative economy with a higher VAT, an independent energy sector, education, and a sound environment. In the months to come, Pavel wants to visit all Czech regions by the end of autumn. Pavel said he has roughly half the 50,000 signatures required to run.

Consumers should return Nurofen syrup for children in strawberry flavor to pharmacies. The manufacturer is withdrawing the drug due to a defect in batch #013463 with an expiration date of May 2023. The State Institute for Drug Control (SÚKL) said the medicine can be returned or exchanged at any pharmacy. The recall is due to the discovery of foreign material in one of the packages. The medicine can be returned by the end of October. Nurofen strawberry syrup is one of the recommended options for parents needing to replace Nurofen suppositories for children, which are currently in short supply in Czech pharmacies.

Conferences on adapting to climate change, wild nature protection, EU climate commissioners, and ambassadorial meetings will be held as part of the #Czechia4Climate campaign launched by Environment Minister Anna Hubáčková and Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský today as part of the Czech EU presidency. A big Prague conference on adapting to climate change will be held on Sept. 13 and 14. The Czech Environment Ministry will attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York on behalf of the EU.