Meanwhile in Czechia... /25
16.05.2025
New observation tower planned in northern Bohemia
In summer 2026, the Saxon-Czech border region will be enriched by an observation tower. The town of Šluknov (Schluckenau) is planning to build a tower on the 510-metre-high Jitrovník (Jüttelsberg) peak. If everything goes as planned, this would be the first new observation tower to be built in the region known as the Šluknov Peak in over 120 years. The tower on Tanečnice (Tanzplan) was last inaugurated in 1905. This is also the northernmost lookout tower in the Czech Republic to date. From summer next year, it will be the tower on Jitrovník.
It is not the first tower on this mountain. In 1888, Johannes Vogel had a mining chalet built. In the same year, a 24-metre-high observation tower was built next to it, but it was torn down by a storm in 1903 and never rebuilt. However, the Bergbaude continued to welcome guests. After the Second World War and the expulsion of the original German population, the chalet served as a recreation home and vacation camp for various companies. Privatized after 1989, it burned down in 1998 and fell into disrepair.
The city is planning a new tower with a height of 31 meters. Durable and easy-to-maintain materials such as galvanized steel and wood will be used. The tower, which was designed by Prague architect Tomáš Beneš, is being built by the Lemonta company from Sokolov. Martin Chroust, head of the city administration department, promises views as far as the Krkonoše Mountains. "On a clear day, you can see the Schneekoppe and the Keilberg in the Ore Mountains," he says.
The construction of the tower is being financed by the municipality with the help of the EU project "Fugauer Zipfel - gemeinsam vergessen wir nicht" (Fugauer Zipfel - together we won't forget), which is being carried out in collaboration with Sohland in Saxony. The project runs until the end of November 2026 and the funding amounts to 670,756.97 euros. The project is reminiscent of the former village of Fukov (Fugau), which juts out into Upper Lusatia like a Czech peninsula. Šluknov has long maintained close contacts with Sohland. As part of the project, an exhibition on the history of tourism on Jitrovník, the creation of an educational trail along sacred monuments and the music festival "Music connects neighbors" are also planned. On the German side, Sohland is repairing the hiking trail to Fukov as part of the project, creating a new crosswalk to Fukov and upgrading the railroad stop in Taubenheim for tourism.
Poisoned wolf in Bohemian Switzerland
A poisoned dead wolf has been found in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park. According to the national park administration, the discovery took place near Rynartice at the beginning of the year. According to laboratory data, the animal was killed with the neurotoxin carbofuran. "This is the first case in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in which an animal has been poisoned," explained national park spokesman Tomáš Salov. The national park therefore filed a complaint.
In order to gather evidence and track down the culprit, the national park deployed specially trained dogs from the Czech Ornithological Society. The poisoned wolf had a collar, which made it possible to track its movements. Together with national park rangers, the dogs searched an area of around 30 hectares near the villages of Jetřichovice, Doubice and Chřibská. Finds of dead small predators and birds of prey are also being examined. "These cases may also indicate illegal behavior," said Salov.
"We need to know the extent of the problem. We are planning to investigate the peripheral areas of the national park in particular," the national park spokesman continued. It is also not certain that the poison attack was directed against wolves. The poison can also be a threat to free-roaming domestic dogs and other animals.
However, the dead wolf in Bohemian Switzerland is not the only case. Between February and April, four dead wolves were gradually found in the Reichenstein Mountains (Rychlebské hory) in the east of the Czech Republic on the border with Poland. They too had apparently been poisoned. The substance used is not yet known.
The existence of wolves in Bohemian Switzerland has been known since 2012 and since then the wolf population has steadily increased. The wolves now live in a total of six wolf territories, which also extend into Saxony. There has only been a wolf population in the Reichenstein Mountains since 2022.
Edmundsklamm does not open after all
The wait is not over yet. Contrary to the latest reports, which held out the prospect of opening Edmund's Gorge in Bohemian Switzerland as early as the end of May, the municipal council of Hřensko has now decided to wait for the results of several expert opinions. "We are still waiting for reports from the geologist and the safety engineer. Then we will analyze and assess the risks. So we still have work to do," Mayor Kateřina Horáková told Czech broadcaster Český rozhlas. The felling of five high-risk trees is also planned above the Edmundsklamm gorge. This is also to take place before the reopening.
New roadmap for coal phase-out
If the Czech government has its way, the country will phase out lignite mining in 2033. In its coalition agreement from 2021, it agreed to create the conditions for this. In the case of the semi-state-owned energy company ČEZ, it has apparently succeeded in doing so. The company announced that it would cease production at its largest opencast mine, Bílina, near the small town of the same name at the foot of the Ore Mountains two years earlier. The company originally had a mining permit until 2035.
Although environmental organizations such as Greenpeace had called for an end to extraction as early as 2030, they welcomed the decision. ČEZ plans to replace energy from coal, which still accounts for around 40 percent of the Czech energy mix today, with alternatives with low emissions, primarily renewable energy sources, temporarily also with gas-fired power plants, but in the long term with the construction of new nuclear reactors. The company is planning to build two new power plant units at its nuclear power plant in Dukovany in southern Moravia.
The Bílina opencast mine will be ČEZ's last opencast mine where coal is still being mined. The second opencast mine, Nástup Tušimice between Chomutov and Kadaň, will cease production as early as 2029.
The two other coal companies have also indicated that they may not operate their opencast mines until the already approved production period. The owner of Sev.en Energy, Pavel Tykač, which operates the ČSA opencast mine near Litvínov and Vršany west of Most, already hinted last year at an earlier end for Vršany, whose reserves would last until after 2050. The ČSA opencast mine has already been preparing for the end of production for a year.
A few years ago, the company Sokolovská uhelná, which operates an open-cast mine in the Sokolov region near Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), assumed that mining would continue until 2040. It is currently predicting that mining will end between 2030 and 2035.
All of the Czech Republic's opencast lignite mines are located in northern Bohemia on the border with Saxony. Phasing out coal would not only be good for the climate, but would also help air quality and the quality of life in general in the Czech-Saxon border region. The coal region is to be renaturalized or developed into tourist areas in the future.
Dispute with France over expansion of Dukovany nuclear power plant
The above-mentioned expansion of the Dukovany nuclear power plant is currently leading to a dispute between the Czech government, the EU Commission and France, reports Radio Prague, among others. The South Korean company KHNP has been awarded the contract for the expansion project. The semi-state-owned French company EDF, which had also submitted a bid, lodged an objection to this decision, which was rejected by the Czech antitrust office. The contract with KHNP was therefore due to be signed the week before last. However, the regional court in Brno prohibited this shortly beforehand at the request of EDF .
In addition, the EU Commission has now intervened in the person of Stéphane Séjourné, the EU Commissioner for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy, who also called for the signing of the contract to be postponed in a letter to the Czech government. As Séjourné is French, voices are being raised in the Czech Republic which suspect that the French government is exerting influence in favor of EDF. The company itself refers to the support of the French government in a press release. Prime Minister Fiala yesterday accused EDF of violating the Czech Republic's security interests. The tone is therefore becoming increasingly harsh.
EDF's main accusation is that KHNP was only able to offer such a favorable price and thus win the case thanks to state subsidies from South Korea. This is also the background to the by the EU Commission, as EDF had already requested an investigation into this matter at the end of 2024. However, Czech Industry Minister Lukáš Vlček says that he is not aware of any official investigation by the EU Commission. It is also suspected that France's goal of strengthening the European nuclear industry could play a role
Czech Republic to vote in early October
President Petr Pavel has set October 3 and 4 as the election dates for the parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic. This means that the elections will take place on the regular date after four years. In 2021, elections were held on October 8 and 9.
The election days traditionally fall on a Friday and a Saturday. While voting will take place from 2 pm to 10 pm on Friday, polling stations will be open from 8 am to 2 pm on Saturday. For the first time this year, voters abroad will be able to vote by post if they have registered on the electoral roll of the relevant mission abroad (embassy or consulate general) by August 24. They must also apply for postal voting by August 29.
The 2021 elections resulted in the current center-right governing coalition of the Spolu party alliance (ODS, KDU-ČSL, TOP09) and the STAN mayoral party. Originally, the coalition also included the Pirates. Four years ago, the strongest force was Spolu (28%) under the leadership of current Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS). Spolu narrowly won over ANO (27%), which was led by then Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. Four years ago, voter turnout was 65.43 percent.
Polls have shown an unchanged picture for months: ANO is ahead of Spolu (20 percent) with 35 percent. It is followed by STAN (12%) and the right-wing populist party SPD (10%). The Pirates and the Motorists are slightly above the 5 percent threshold. The left-wing populist alliance Stačilo! (Enough!) came in at 4.5 percent in the latest polls. All three parties are therefore not yet certain to enter parliament.
The only recent change was the merger of the SPD with smaller parties from the right-wing spectrum (Svobodní, Trikolora, Pro). After that, preferences in opinion polls rose by two percentage points. Another Czech specialty is the Motorist Party, which opposes the European Green Deal and the phase-out of combustion engines. The party achieved a respectable result in last year's European elections, but is still in danger of losing its seat.
If the current polls prove correct, a governing coalition between the ANO and SPD would be likely after the elections. However, many respondents still say they do not know who they are voting for.
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