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The fight for the railway contract worth 84 billion crowns is intensifying, as the Swiss company Stadler filed another complaint against Czech Railways regarding the selection of the tender winner, while the Office for the Protection of Competition initiated administrative proceedings due to suspicion of possible violations of public procurement rules. #ČeskéDrahys #ÚOHS #Stadler (translated)

The author Kutil Ondra wrote that the public debate devoted disproportionate attention to the private vacation trip of the president and demands for its transparency, while other topics remained sidelined. He stated that the state-owned ČEPRO was, in his view, trading billions without a public tender with companies connected to the prime minister, that statements from some MPs about children with mental difficulties only outraged part of the public, and that warnings from security services or questions regarding the defense of the state faced trivialization from some government politicians. He also criticized the glorification of allegedly clean coal and arguments against renewable sources, which he labeled as outdated, and reminded of the country's indebtedness as well as unresolved issues regarding the prime minister's conflict of interest. He added that he remembered what the current prime minister said about financing his private vacations, but felt ashamed to write it down; he also felt ashamed, in his own words, of who stands at the head of the government. What he found most disturbing was that people have stopped asking about a number of important matters. #politika #transparentnost #odpovědnost (translated)

The author of the initiative asked President Petr Pavel to disclose the details of the funding for his private trip to Morocco, including the costs of air travel. He stated that the public has the right to transparency from all public officials and that an explanation could close the matter. At the same time, he indicated that the attention of government deputies should be directed towards more pressing issues. He mentioned the purchases of state-owned Čeper from Agrofert for billions of crowns without a public tender, unresolved questions concerning the conflict of interest of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, the state budget situation, and the defense and security of the Czech Republic. He claimed that deputies had been dealing with the funding of the president's trip for already two weeks and called for similar diligence in overseeing the management of the state and their own political representatives. #transparentnost #veřejnépeníze #politika (translated)

"There isn't that much gas in Europe. If several weeks of strong frosts come at the same time in Germany, the Czech Republic, and other countries, Europe will start to compete fiercely for every additional supply. And the main tool of this competition will be price," said Martin Pacovský, the investment director of the Arete Energy fund. #plyn #Evropa #ceny (translated)

Ivan Bartoš stated that the Pirates won a dispute with Čepro, which he claimed had long refused to disclose how many contracts were awarded to Agrofert without a tender. He described the amount as extraordinarily high and asserted that this was precisely why Čepro kept it secret. He mentioned a figure of 19 billion for Andrej Babiš and claimed that the contracts without a tender were covered by the antimonopoly office and were not addressed by the then minister from ODS, Zbyněk Stanjura. Bartoš wrote that Stanjura rejected the request for a tender and that the planned change at the antimonopoly office, as well as the new law he prepared with experts, met with resistance from Martin Kupka, Stanjura, and Pavel Blažek. He also mentioned Petr Mlsna, Petr Nečas, Petr Fiala, Martin Kuba, Petr Bendl, and Tomáš Chalupa and claimed that the head of the antimonopoly office was appointed without a proper tender by Andrej Babiš and Miloš Zeman. In conclusion, he recommended the show "Noty od Mlsny" and jokingly suggested eating a piece of black coal before watching it. https://t.co/0YQzdjtzQu #politika #AntimonopolníÚřad #soutěžení (translated)

Janusz Konieczny stated that the Pirates won a dispute with the state-owned company Čepro over information about contracts awarded without competition to Agrofert. After his dismissal, Čepro reportedly published that their total volume amounted to 19 billion crowns. Konieczny claimed that the goal is to compel the company to compete for contracts like other institutions do. Konieczny stated that Čepro based its approach on the opinion of the former vice-chairwoman of the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS), who, according to him, left after serious information about suspicions of manipulation in favor of representatives of the ANO movement was made public. He said that the company began awarding contracts to Agrofert without competition in 2017, when Andrej Babiš became prime minister. He added that Čepro could have competed for contracts just as it did before that year. Referring to an article by Seznam Zpráv from reporter Lukáš Valášek, Konieczny wrote that the approach during the first Babiš government did not change under the cabinet of Petr Fiala. According to email correspondence cited in the article, the Ministry for Regional Development, led by Ivan Bartoš, wanted to raise the matter, but the Ministry of Finance, headed by Zbyněk Stanjura, rejected the proposal. Konieczny added that he considered the dispute a won battle, not the end of the matter, and that Čepro must start competing for contracts. He also mentioned the work of Datlab and Jiří Skuhrovce and thanked Ivan Bartoš for his involvement. #Piráti #Česko #transparentnost (translated)

Ivan Bartoš stated that more than two years ago, as a minister, he proposed a comprehensive reform of the Office for the Protection of Competition. According to him, the office should serve as a tool for powerful individuals to influence public contracts and the flow of billions into their pockets rather than having a control function. He cited its head, Mlsna, whom he described as a favorite of Miloš Zeman and a friend of Zbyněk Stanjura and Blažek. Bartoš wrote that the ODS (Civic Democratic Party) stopped the reform and he subsequently left the government. According to him, the reform was prepared by experts and was meant to bring the Czech Republic closer to Western democracies. Bartoš referred to an index of oligarchs' influence on politics, which he said the magazine The Economist ranked the Czech Republic second only to Russia. He added that in the previous government only the Pirates wanted to address the issue, but Stanjura blocked their efforts. Bartoš also stated that the Pirates have now won the dispute with the company ČEPRO, which had to provide information about contracts for Agrofert. According to him, the company awarded contracts worth over 10 billion directly to Agrofert without competition, and another 9 billion without competition during the government of Petr Fiala. Bartoš added that it is necessary to fight against corruption in the state and that he will continue to do so. #korupce #politik #reforma (translated)

Lukáš Valášek wrote that the state-owned company Čepro has paid Agrofert over 19 billion crowns for contracts without a public tender since 2017. According to him, Čepro began to claim that it did not have to hold public tenders after the law prohibiting companies owned by politicians from obtaining public contracts came into effect. Valášek stated that the company has relied on the opinion of the then vice-chairwoman of the Office for Protection of Competition (ÚOHS), who left the office due to suspicions of manipulating decisions in favor of representatives of the ANO party, Jaroslav Faltýnek and Jiří Švachula. According to him, she signed the opinion before her departure. In preparing it, she was supposed to have used documents from the ministries led by Alena Schillerová and Karel Havlíček, which, according to Valášek, downplayed Čepro's exceptional position, even though it is captured in state strategies. According to Valášek, the government of Petr Fiala did not address the matter, and the ministries, now again under the control of Havlíček and Schillerová, do not want to reopen it based on their statements. Čepro also refused to inform him how many contracts it has already awarded to Agrofert under the new government of Andrej Babiš, despite the ÚOHS ruling that the company is subject to the information law at the request of the Pirate Party's analytical team. Valášek added that even the ÚOHS led by Petr Mlsna, whom Babiš appointed, did not see a reason for a review. According to Valášek, the Prime Minister decided whether the government would extend Mlsna's mandate for additional years. https://t.co/O1ekCFdPwn #Česko #politika #korupce (translated)

Zdeněk Šarapatka thanked his supporters and stated that their support helped him get back on his feet after the results of the Senate elections. According to him, the campaign in Prague 5 and 13 was not a fair competition about topics, but a contest over billboards. He claimed that one of the candidates was running a concurrent campaign for the Senate and the Prague City Hall, transferring funds between them, including money from a company building houses. According to Šarapatka, the state supervision office did not respond to the violations of the rules. The candidate, he claimed, received 14,606 votes out of a total of 45,782. Šarapatka also criticized the ODS, which, according to him, despite an agreement with his TOP 09, fielded its own candidate, thereby reducing the chances of defeating Václav Láska. He stated that their candidate hardly presented political positions during public appearances and instead relied on a romanticized story about the students' relationship with the school principal. He added that the students of the candidate's school, according to Šarapatka, got involved in the campaign, even though the principal was balancing on the edge of the education law. The candidate received 12,162 votes out of 45,782. As an earlier example of the split with ODS, Šarapatka mentioned its member Benda, who, according to him, appointed Matocha and Xaver Veselý to the Czech Television Council. He claimed that part of ODS contributed to his failure in the election despite the party agreements at that time. He also recalled that six years ago, at ODS's request, he supported its candidate in the second round of the Senate elections in Mělník, whom he claimed he had not seen publicly appear in the Senate since then. Šarapatka stated that he would not make the same mistake again. According to him, the result meant that there would be no amendment to the lustration law nor security clearances for government members and their deputies, and that there would be no qualified fight for a free Czech Radio and Czech Television. At the same time, he urged his supporters to keep going. #politika #volby #Senát (translated)

Petr Holec stated that the Bolka Polívka Theater received 6 million crowns a year from the city without competition until 2029 and that last June the ODS approved an additional 24 million for the next four years. He criticized that values for public money are then discussed, and referred to Polívka with an insulting allusion to alcohol; he wrote that his word is among the most expensive in the Czech Republic. #Divadlo #Hodnoty #PodporaKultury (translated)

The Office for the Protection of Competition has approved a plan for shutdowns on railway lines, including important corridors between Brno and Havlíčkův Brod and at Prague's Masaryk Station, which will temporarily restrict operations but ensure long-term safety and reliability of transport. #železnice #výluky #doprava (translated)

Ondřej Tesárek wrote that the attempt to present demands for the verification of the identity of people who insult others as a confident and mature stance will not succeed with either Tomáš Zdechovský or the recipient. He labeled a generation that grew up on a free internet and now demands absolute control for future generations as a disgrace. He claimed that people like the recipient remain liberal only on issues of sexuality and drugs, while in other areas they are, in his view, “hard normalizing communists.” He added that the system of free political competition, freedom of speech, and human rights cannot be threatened by anonymous critics, and he recommended that the recipient watch Lijavec. #svoboda #sloboda #politika (translated)