Rosa Loy & Neo Rauch in Liberec

The painting couple Rosa Loy and Neo Rauch from Leipzig opened their first joint exhibition in the Czech Republic yesterday. And not so far away, in the Lázně Gallery in Liberec. As a former spa, it is worth a visit in itself.

Under the title "Interwoven Spheres", 50 works by each artist are on display in various formats, from large-format paintings to drawings and sketches. These are complemented by several room installations from the mid-1990s to the present day. You can visit the exhibition until January 26, 2025.

It takes about 2 hours by train directly from Dresden to Liberec. On site, streetcar no. 3 (currently with replacement service) will take you from the station to the gallery(see timetable information). We recommend walking to or from the gallery, it's well worth it. Liberec is well worth a visit.

Proceedings on the 2022 forest fire delayed

The district court in Ústí nad Labem has once again postponed the main trial for arson in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park. According to the defense lawyer of the main accused, the requested psychological report on his client was missing at the start of the trial. This had been requested in May during the first attempt to start the proceedings.

The accused faces up to 15 years in prison for general endangerment and damaging other people's property. The man has so far denied being responsible for the major fire in the national park in 2022. The fire destroyed around 1100 hectares of land a good two years ago. Several hundred people had to be evacuated to safety. The fire department battled the flames for three weeks.

(Radio Prague)

High unemployment in the Ústí district

At 6.2% in September, unemployment in the Ústí district was the highest in the Czech Republic and the highest it has been since 2017. Six of the seven districts in the region are among the 11 districts with the highest unemployment rate in the Czech Republic. Only the Litoměčice district is in a better position.

 

 

 

The production of this newsletter is co-financed by tax funds on the basis of the budget adopted by the Saxon Parliament.

(This is an automatic translation by DeepL Translator.)

Highway toll sticker becomes more expensive

The freeway toll in the Czech Republic will increase on January 1, 2025, according to a fixed schedule. Inflation in particular will be taken into account, but also the expansion of the route network.

Specifically, the following prices for cars will apply from January 1:

Validity	Price from 1.1.25	Previous price
1 day	210 Kčč (8,31 EUR)	200 Kčč (7,91 EUR)
10 days	290 Kčč (11,48 EUR)	270 Kčč (10,68 EUR)
1 month	460 Kčč (18,20 EUR)	430 Kčč (17,01 EUR)
1 year	2440 Kčč (96,55 EUR)	2300 Kčč (91,01 EUR)

Further information on the highway toll in the Czech Republic (e.g. where it does not apply) can be found on our website.

More information on the highway toll

Pirates leave, foreign minister stays

The Czech Pirate Party has left the governing coalition in Prague following a survey of its members. The background to this was the dismissal of their party leader Ivan Bartoš as Minister for Regional Development and Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization. Prime Minister Petr Fiala was reacting to the problems with digitalization in the area of building authorities and building permits.

Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský, who was appointed to the government by the Pirates and is recognized abroad, nevertheless retains his office. He received a vote of confidence from his government colleagues. As the 39-year-old no longer agreed with the Pirates' course, both on the current issue of further government participation and in general, he has left the party and is now a non-party minister.

Czech Republic prevents EU resolution on Middle East ceasefire

The Czech Republic has prevented a unified resolution of the 27 member states of the European Union on a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. As reported by the Euronews server with reference to diplomatic circles and later confirmed by the Czech Foreign Ministry, the Czech Republic rejected the resolution as too one-sided. The text of the resolution would have unilaterally restricted Israel's right "to defend itself against Hezbollah terrorists". Hezbollah must withdraw from Israel's borders, it continued. The resolution could not be passed without unanimity. EU foreign affairs representative Josep Borrell was therefore forced to issue his own statement.

The Czech Republic has traditionally been one of Israel's staunchest allies, regardless of who is currently in power in the country.

Škoda presents new electric SUV

It is the premiere of the year for Škoda. The new Elroq was unveiled on Tuesday. The smaller of Škoda's two electric SUVs is set to sell 70,000 units per year worldwide. Europe remains the main sales market.

The Elroq is intended to help reduce the Czech car manufacturer's carbon footprint. Škoda wants to compensate for the planned further reduction in limits in the coming year by selling more electric cars. However, Škoda is also suffering from the general slump in e-car sales. That is why the company has once again optimized costs and, according to its own information, is only selling the Elroq with a narrow profit margin. This means that for the first time, an electric car from Škoda costs exactly the same as a comparable car with a petrol engine, in this case the Karoq, namely 33,000 euros in the basic version for the European market.

Meagre apple harvest ends

Northern Bohemia is actually the fruit chamber of the Czech Republic. But this year, the apple harvest was shorter than ever before. Due to the severe forest damage in April, the harvest ended a month early. The yield is at the level of 30 percent compared to normal harvests. Some varieties, such as Idared and Jona Gold, are almost non-existent. In addition, there is frost damage to the ripe apples, so that this part cannot be sold as standard.

---

If you would like to receive our weekly review regularly in your email inbox, sign up for our newsletter.

To the newsletter registration

The production of this newsletter is co-financed by tax funds on the basis of the budget approved by the Saxon State Parliament.

(This is an automatic translation by DeepL Translator.)

ANO wins the elections in the Ústí district

Richard Brabec is spoiled for choice. The leading candidate of the ANO party and sovereign winner of last weekend's elections in the Ústí district can choose his coalition partners. ANO is only two seats short of a majority government. The smallest party represented in the district parliament, Lepší Sever, has four seats. That would be enough to elect Richard Brabec as district governor. Both ANO and its district leader Richard Brabec are considered to be so flexible programmatically that they would actually form a coalition with any party. They could even form an alliance with the right-wing national populists from the SPD or the alliance of communists and social democrats Stačilo! (Enough!) with former district governor Oldřich Bubeníček at the helm. A total of six parties made it into parliament. But while ANO narrowly missed out on an absolute majority with 26 seats, the mayoral party STAN and the conservative-liberal Civic Democrats ODS only managed 7 seats each in the following places. The election was disappointing for both parties. For the last four years, the ODS was the second strongest party in the district government. Whether this will work again this time is very doubtful. STAN was almost able to repeat its result, but had expected more with the still young mayor of Česká Kamenice, Jan Papajanovský, at the helm.

However, the Pirate Party and its allies Spojenci (Greens, TOP09, JsmePro) were hit the hardest. The Pirates plummeted from over 10 percent to just 3 percent and are no longer represented in parliament. The Spojenci alliance is also out, achieving just over 4 percent. Four years ago, 5,000 more voters voted for them. In the end, the Spojenci were even part of the coalition.

It was not to be expected that ANO would end up so dominant. After all, the party had to change its lead candidate shortly before the elections. The previous candidate, Marek Hrabáč, Lord Mayor of Chomutov (Komotov) until the beginning of September and also represented on the district council, was arrested by the police on suspicion of corruption and is still in custody today. However, this did not seem to slow down the voters. It was known that ANO has loyal voters in the Ústí district. However, it owes this outstanding result to nationwide politics. The elections became a vote on the government in Prague.

However, because the choice of possible coalition partners is now so large, it is taking longer to find one. The second round of the Senate elections, which will take place next weekend, also plays a role. Observers assume that a decision on the coalition partner will not be made until the beginning of next week. But then things should happen very quickly. There is a lot for the new government to do. Among other things, the district will decide on school policy and public transport in the district. In the coming years, important projects such as the construction of the new railroad line from Prague to Dresden, lithium mining in the Ore Mountains and the classification of the Ore Mountains as a landscape conservation area are on the agenda. The district also has a say in everything.

Clearing of the Edmundsklamm gorge begins

The chainsaws are expected to start screeching in the Edmund Gorge (Edmundova soutěska) in Bohemian Switzerland as early as next week. Then 80 damaged trees will be removed from the stream bed or the edge of the gorge. This procedure is a bit of a surprise. For two years, the Bohemian Switzerland National Park Authority resisted any intervention in the Edmund Gorge. There are a large number of trees there that are so damaged by the bark beetle and, above all, the forest fire in the summer of 2022 that they could fall into the gorge at any time. For safety reasons, the Edmundsklamm gorge, which is popular with tourists, has therefore been closed until further notice. At the same time, the damaged trees and tree trunks could not be removed because it would be too dangerous for the workers and the work in the difficult-to-access terrain would be too expensive overall. The intervention would also damage the strictly protected gorge to such an extent that it would contradict the protection prescribed by law.

The national park administration therefore decided in March to close the gorge until at least 2027. Then they want to check whether the trees have already fallen on their own so that they can be removed and the gorge reopened. However, this also means that the closure could last even longer than just until 2027 if the damaged trees have not yet fallen in sufficient numbers. Nature could and should help itself. A video from the national park from March shows the situation at the time (available on YouTube).

Six months later, everything is different. Over the next few weeks, not only will the 80 or so damaged trees be removed from the stream bed and the edge of the gorge. The forestry work will also continue on the section above the route, where boats used to sail in the dammed water of the Kamenice stream until summer 2022. Damaged trees are also to be removed above the landing stage.

The background to the surprising change of heart is the flooding. Although the municipality of Hřensko (Herrnskretschen), which owns the land in the gorge, had repeatedly asked the national park to remove the damaged trees, it was not listened to. Due to the heavy rainfall two weeks ago, the municipality now also feared a rise in the level of the Kamenice. Once again, the municipality requested that the tree trunks be removed from the stream bed. They could have dammed up the water or been swept away by the water. In both cases, this could have caused serious damage not only to the gorge, but also to the village.

The municipality turned not only to the national park, but also to the Ohře River Company, which is responsible for the Kamenice River, and to the Ministry of the Environment, which is superior to both the national park and the river company. And suddenly everything happened very quickly. Not fast enough for the current flood, but fortunately it went off without a hitch. The Kamenice did not rise significantly and the village was only threatened by the backwater from the Elbe. However, a company has now been found and the work in the Edmundsklamm gorge can finally begin. It should be completed in the fall. It is not yet clear whether this will mean that the gorge can be opened to tourists earlier, perhaps as early as next year.

On our own behalf: name search

This newsletter has been around for a year now and is fortunately becoming increasingly popular. We are no longer really happy with the original name "Wochenrückblick". It does not adequately describe the issue.

So, in the hope that we'll be able to draw on the intelligence and creativity of the swarm, we'd like to ask you: What would you call our weekly look at the Czech Republic and the border region? The title should describe exactly that, but at the same time be catchy and not too long and also work on social media. What title would make you want to read it?

Can you think of one? Then please send us your ideas to newsletterelbelabe.eu. If we decide on a suggestion, we will thank you with a Historical Atlas of the Elbe/Labe Euroregion and a selection of special Bohemian beers.

 

 

---

 

If you would like to receive our weekly review regularly in your email inbox, sign up for our newsletter.

To the newsletter registration

 

 

The production of this newsletter is co-financed by tax funds on the basis of the budget approved by the Saxon State Parliament.

(This is an automatic translation by DeepL Translator.)

1st Ano, 39.47%ˇ, 26 seats/mandátů

2. STAN+PRO Zdraví, 11.94%, 7 seats/mandátů

3. ODS, 10.94%, 7 seats/mandátů

4th SPD, Trikolora a PRO, 10.44%, 6 seats/mandátů

5. Stačilo! v Ústeckém kraji, 7.94%, 5 seats/mandátů

6. Lepší sever, 6.63%, 4 seats/mandátů

(This is an automatic translation by DeepL Translator.)

The Local Steering Committee is the body that decides on funding applications for the Elbe/Labe Euroregion Small Projects Fund. At its meeting on 13.09.2024 in Litoměřice, it approved seven project applications, one was rejected. The individual projects and the funding amounts can be found in the overview.

To the overview of the projects dealt with

 

The Small Projects Fund is funded by the European Union via the INTERREG Saxony-Czech Republic program.

(This is an automatic translation by DeepL Translator.)