Senát

Czech Constitutional Court upholds requirement for supermarket chains to donate to food banks

8.1.2019 10:15  full story

Czech Senate elections won by the right-wing Civic Democrats

17.10.2018 8:42 The victor of this year's elections to the Czech Senate is the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), 10 of whose 11 candidates have won their runoffs. The party will have the strongest club in the upper chamber, tying the STAN (Mayors and Independents) movement, which won six of its runoffs.  full story

Martina Horváthová: Freely casting your ballot is your right - and nobody elses business!

30.9.2018 9:57 I vote regularly in every election. If I ever were to not vote, I would feel pangs of conscience for having neglected my duty as a citizen.  full story

Independent Romani candidate collecting signatures to run for Czech Senate

23.7.2018 7:26 Petr Jano wants to become a senator representing the district of Chomutov. Like all other independent candidates, he needs to collect 1 000 petition signatures by 31 July 2018 to qualify for applying to run on the ballot.  full story

Czech students walk out of school to defend democracy, protest denial of Romani Holocaust

22.3.2018 16:36 Students from roughly 300 colleges and high schools around the Czech Republic joined a half-hour long warning strike to defend Constitutional and social values at noon on 15 March, with thousands of young people assembling before schools and in protest demonstrations in Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň, České Budějovice, Olomouc, Hradec Králové, and other big cities. In speeches, on banners and through online social networks, the students criticized the approach taken by top politicians towards the Constitution or towards the media, especially Czech President Miloš Zeman and outgoing Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO).  full story

Czech Parliament marks International Holocaust Memorial Day with Romani speaker

28.1.2018 7:26 Czech MP Radek Vondráček (ANO), speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, addressed a gathering in the Czech Senate Friday on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 27 January, saying that the current civilized state of society should not be taken for granted. Underestimated sparks of the hateful ideologies that have led in the past to people being annihilated because of their different ethnicities or faiths could yet become an uncontrollable blaze, Vondráček said.  full story

Czech Senator embarrassingly falls for satire claiming EU wants to change the Czech alphabet

20.3.2017 7:20 We have written several times here at Romea.cz about Czech Senator Jaroslav Doubrava. Mostly we have reported his anti-Romani, racist remarks, or his attacks against the European Union (EU).  full story

Czech Senate appearance by Romani celebrity to commemorate Holocaust backed by war veteran

2.2.2017 8:22 On 27 January 2017 the Czech Senate hosted its traditional commemorative gathering on the occasion of International Day of Holocaust Remembrance and Prevention of Crimes against Humanity. Senate chair Milan Štěch (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) said the Holocaust was the worst example of how far intolerance can go.  full story

Czech Police to get new powers to disperse assemblies, spontaneous demonstrations will not have legal protection

14.7.2016 9:23 The option of being able to hold a spontaneous public assembly without first announcing it to the authorities will not be enshrined in law as the Government previously
proposed. The parameters for those entitled to announce such a public gathering to local authorities will also not be expanded, but police officers will be given new powers to disperse an assembly directly.  full story

Czech Senate approves education amendment in full, opponents of inclusion failed to convince them otherwise

25.4.2016 13:44 Last week the Czech Senate adopted an amendment to the law on education in full despite the fact that many reservations to it have been expressed. The vote means that new rules for inclusion in the Czech schools will apply as of September.  full story

Czech Constitutional Court rejects ex-Senator's complaint against fine for racism

Brno, 21.1.2015 16:03, (ROMEA) The Czech Constitutional Court (Ústavní soud - ÚS) has rejected a complaint from former Czech Senator Vladimír Dryml against a fine of CZK 20 000 that he must pay for verbally attacking a doctor from Yemen. The sanction was levied by the Czech Senate's Committee on Immunity, according to which Dryml's remarks were racially motivated.  full story

Czech Senate distances itself from former Senator's lies about "gypsies" in Switzerland

Prague, 19.12.2014 21:24, (ROMEA) "Geneva used to be a friendly, open city, but several hundred Balkan gypsies were drawn there and now the town is completely paralyzed. The Swiss are afraid to let their children walk down the street. Gypsy children are robbing stores where security measures are weak like magpies," former Czech Senator Pavel Lebeda said this past summer in an interview with the Czech tabloid news server ParlamentníListy.cz.  full story

Czech Senator Lebeda caught in lies about Romani people

Prague, 3.10.2014 19:22, (ROMEA) News server Romea.cz has caught Czech Senator Pavel Lebeda in several lies he told during an interview with the tabloid server Parlamentní listy. Lebeda claimed, for example, that Romani families whose children attend high school receive CZK 1 000 a month from the Education Ministry and that the ROMEA organization pays them CZK 21 000 per year.  full story

Czech senator pays fine for racism, appeals to Constitutional Court

Prague, 26.6.2014 18:21, (ROMEA) Czech Senator Vladimír Dryml has paid his fine of CZK 20 000 for verbally assaulting a Yemeni doctor. The sanction was handed down by the Senate's Committee on Immunity, which found that Dryml's remarks had a racial subtext.  full story

Czech senator racially insults Roma with fake 15th-century quote

Prague, 17.4.2014 0:05, (ROMEA) Czech Senator Jozef Regec believes "gypsies" are an "unclean race". On his Facebook profile he has referenced words allegedly written by Czech religious reformer Jan Hus in the 15th century condemning members of that ethnicity.  full story

Czech senator fined for racist verbal attack, will appeal

Prague, 2.4.2014 21:47, (ROMEA) Czech Senator Vladimír Dryml (previously a member of the Czech Social Democrats and the Citizens' Rights Party for Zeman), who is the director of the Vrchlabí Hospital, was fined today by the Senate Committee on Parliamentary Immunity for committing a racist verbal attack on a Yemeni physician. The senator intends to appeal the verdict.  full story

Karel Holomek: Some Czech senators know not what they do

Brno, 27.12.2013 17:56, (ROMEA) Our senators have distinguished themselves once again. About a week ago they adopted a resolution by a large majority in response to recommendations from the Council of the EU on the matter of discrimination against Romani people.  full story

Czech NGOs ask senators to distance themselves from their colleagues' racism

Prague, 6.12.2013 0:20, (ROMEA) At the instigation of the Czech Professional Society for Inclusive Education, (Česká odborná společnost pro inkluzivní vzdělávání -ČOSIV), an open letter has been written to the senators currently serving in the Czech Parliament. In the letter, the signatories refer to a recent plenary session in the Senate that featured racist and xenophobic remarks and ask the senators to publicly distance themselves from such statements in order to preserve the political culture and dignity of the institution they represent.  full story

Commentary: Senator Doubrava the Czech equivalent of Kotleba in Slovakia

Prague, 4.12.2013 16:16, (ROMEA) I am convinced that every social group, including senators, includes a few cunning hucksters. Czech Senator Doubrava (Severočeši.cz) definitely belongs to that category.  full story

Czech Senate rejects EU efforts to improve Romani integration

Prague, 3.12.2013 1:00, (ROMEA) The Czech Senate has rejected a proposal from the European Commission for EU Member States to introduce social measures targeting Romani people, saying that the delivering of aid according to ethnic criteria is unconstitutional. The senators agreed that Romani integration, given the diversity of Romani communities, should be conducted nationally according to local conditions.  full story