Radio Prague International - Topic «Politics»

The Czech government plans to redirect existing funding towards NATO's PURL (Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List) initiative, which finances US-made weapons for Ukraine. According to security analyst and former senior military officer František Mičánek, the move strengthens Czech credibility within the Alliance while reflecting a broader shift in Europe's security environment. 

The row over who should represent the Czech Republic at the NATO summit in Ankara is over. Both the prime minister and president are attending the high-profile event. Attention has now turned to what is expected to be the main issue facing the Czech delegation - explaining why the country has failed to meet NATO's defense spending target.

Lieutenant General Miroslav Hlaváč has officially become the new Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces. Defence reporter Kateřina Gruntová of Seznam Zprávy says his appointment promises continuity in military priorities while opening a new chapter in relations between the army and the country's political leadership.

Who should represent Czechia at the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara has become the latest flashpoint in the conflict between President Petr Pavel and the government. Political commentator Martin Čaban of Seznam Zprávy told Vít Pohanka that the quarrel has little to do with defence policy itself.

Czech politics are currently dominated by a Constitutional Court ruling allowing President Pavel to attend a NATO summit next month, despite the Babiš government’s efforts to block him. But what will actually happen in Ankara? I discussed the situation with Otto Eibl, a political scientist at Masaryk University.

The clash between the Czech head of state and the cabinet over who should attend the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara has now reached the highest court in the land. On Tuesday President Pavel  challenged the government’s decision to exclude him from the official delegation, on the grounds that it violated his constitutional rights.

Czech Television and Czech Radio employees held a warning strike on Monday over government plans to replace license fees with state budget funding, over fears that the planned reform would jeopardize their independence. The strike was reflected in broadcasts throughout the day across all channels except children's programming.

On a former Soviet military base in Central Bohemia, drones now replace tanks as Ukrainian veterans help test and develop the next generation of unmanned aircraft. Their battlefield experience has become one of the Czech defence industry's greatest assets, helping shape products now supplied not only to Ukraine but increasingly to NATO countries.

Diplomats' spouses, ambassadors, charity representatives, and government officials gathered at Prague's historic Czernin Palace on 12 June, as the Diplomatic Spouses Association (DSA) awarded more than CZK 1.3 million to 16 Czech charities.

The Czech government on Monday made good on its promise to abolish license fees for public-service media and fund them directly from the state budget. The approved draft law, which will now go to the lower house, has raised a storm of controversy with opposition parties saying they will fight it every step of the way.

A sound designer trained at FAMU in Prague, Victoriia Kralko spent months collecting phone calls and messages from Ukrainians separated by war - soldiers, refugees, families waiting for news. Born in Prague to Ukrainian parents, she turned this material into Hovory (Calls), an audio series that recently won Czech audiobook of the year 2025. This interview was recorded last Friday. A few hours late...

Hundreds of employees of Czech Television and Czech Radio staged protests on Wednesday against proposed changes to the funding of public-service media, warning that the measures could threaten their independence and financial stability.  

After over a decade of preparation, the Prague Council last week approved a new zoning plan for the city. What will it do to fix Prague’s shortage of new apartments? And does it factor in all the amenities that development will demand? I spoke to Deputy Mayor for Spatial Development Petr Hlaváček (Mayors party), who oversaw the conclusion of the entire project.

The Czech Senate celebrated 30 years of existence in a ceremony on Tuesday evening. But what has the upper house of Parliament actually achieved in the last three decades? And could talk of abolishing it ever become reality? I discussed those questions with political scientist Petr Just.

Richard Falbr, a former head of the main Czech trade unions umbrella body and MEP, has died at the age of 85. A very well-known face in public life in the 1990s, Falbr was born in the UK during the war to a Czech airman father and Spanish mother.

At the Fragile Security conference organised by Czech Radio, political, military and intelligence leaders debated Europe’s future security in an increasingly unstable world. Czech President Petr Pavel, Ukrainian envoy Valerii Zaluzhnyi and other prominent international voices warned that Ukraine’s war remains a test of democratic resilience and Western resolve.

The annual GLOBSEC Forum is set to bring over 2,000 guests – including presidents, ministers and business and civil society leaders – to Prague later this week. Run by the think-tank GLOBSEC, the strategic conference will deliver dozens of in-depth discussions focused on geopolitics and transatlantic security.

Fragile Security: The Future of Ukraine and the European Continent is the title of a conference being held by Czech Radio’s Plus station in Prague next Wednesday. President Petr Pavel will be among those speaking, alongside big-name guests from Ukraine, Poland and the US. I discussed the conference with Josef Pazderka, head of Plus.  

On Thursday MPs will again discuss a government motion declaring that the Czech Parliament is opposed to a Sudeten German gathering set for Brno at the end of next week. But why has the first ever congress held by the “Landsmannschaft” in Czechia become such a heated issue? I discussed the matter with political scientist Jiří Pehe.  

A Sudeten German association’s plan to hold its first ever congress in Czechia later this month has become a hot button political issue. Now the prime minister has joined the debate, warning that such a gathering could harm Czech-German relations.

Thousands of people rallied in Prague on Tuesday in support of the country’s public broadcasters, amid growing concern over a government plan to scrap license fees and make them dependent on state funds.

Experts are ringing alarm bells. The number of deaths related to kratom use is on the rise in Czechia as is the number of emergency calls to minors who collapse after using it. The prime minister has ordered the creation of an interministerial working group to address the problem.    

Defense spending is back in the spotlight after NATO confirmed that the Czech Republic would fail to meet the set 2 % defense spending target in 2026. This will place the country among the problem members not pulling their weight in collective defense at a time of growing need.   

The Czech government’s proposed law on public service media, which would change the funding model of Czech Television and Czech Radio, has become one of the most debated issues in the country. The shift from licence fees to state budget financing is being criticised by both the opposition and the heads of the two institutions. At the core of the criticism are concerns over a potential loss of inde...

Fresh controversy has broken out on the Czech political scene after the Babis administration refused to provide Senate Speaker Miloš Vystrčil (Civic Democrats) with a government aircraft for a planned business trip to Taiwan. The decision highlights the government’s determination to pursue a pragmatic rather than values-based foreign policy.