Weekly review no. 53
25.10.2024
26th Czech-German Culture Days opened
The 26th Czech-German Culture Days opened yesterday with a concert full of ŠVUNK at the Zentralwerk in Dresden. ŠVUNK is the motto of this year's festival, which is intended to convey some confidence and provide energy in these truly difficult times. Until 10 November, almost 100 events will be offered on both sides of the border, where you can familiarize yourself with the culture of the neighbouring country in various facets.
Babiš not a Stasi informer after all?
The Slovakian Ministry of the Interior announced on Monday that Andrej Babiš, leader of the Czech ANO party, did not work for the Czechoslovak State Security (Stasi) in the 1980s after all. The document with his signature could not be found and Slovakia could not afford a legal dispute financially. That is why this settlement was reached.
The Slovakian secret service criticized the decision of the Ministry of the Interior and continues to list Babiš or "Bureš" (his alleged code name) in its list of undercover employees of the StB. The former agent activity is documented in several documents. Babiš denies this and had already filed a lawsuit against Slovakia in 2017 because of the investigations into him.
The settlement is described by many Czech politicians, journalists and historians as an agreement between political friends. Babiš is politically very close to the Slovakian government under Robert Fico and Slovakian President Pellegrini. Meanwhile, the case is already being made fun of on the Internet, for example by including Babiš in pictures of dissidents. It's lucky that our neighbors don't lose their sense of humor over such things.
Source: landesecho.cz
New Czech ambassador in Berlin
The new Czech ambassador Jiří Čistecký was received in Berlin yesterday by Federal President Frank-Walter-Steinmeier for his accreditation. He thus officially took up his duties as the successor to Tomáš Kafka.
Čistecký, born in Tábor in 1971, has extensive international experience from 30 years in the Czech diplomatic service. He was Chargé d'Affaires at the embassy in Moscow until 2023 and previously worked as Consul General in Istanbul and Embassy Counsellor in Vienna. He has also worked in Germany: From 1996 to 2001, he worked as a diplomat at the Czech Embassy, first in Bonn and later in Berlin.
Czech national holiday on Monday
October 28th is National Day in the Czech Republic. It commemorates the founding of independent Czechoslovakia in 1918. This is quite remarkable, as Czechoslovakia has no longer existed since its separation in 1993. In the Czech Republic, however, 1918 is still remembered and even the 30th anniversary of the founding of today's Czech Republic last year was hardly celebrated at all - in contrast to Slovakia.
October 28 is one of the few public holidays on which stores are closed. As it is also a normal weekday in Germany, we can expect a large number of Czech customers in German retail stores (and a corresponding volume of traffic), especially in cities such as Dresden and Chemnitz. Just how important this is for retailers can be seen from the fact that the Kaufpark Nickern on the outskirts of Dresden is reopening just in time for this date.
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