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One in three Czech companies currently have problems finding qualified staff, the news site ihned.cz reported on Tuesday, predicting that in 2017 the crisis on the labour market would deepen. Companies seeking to expand will be forced to offer higher wages and there will be growing pressure on the authorities to simplify the immigration procedure and open the door to more foreign workers.

Visitors to the Czech Republic as well as locals should be warned that stores larger than 200 square metres will close at noon on December 24 and remain closed for two days after that. A new law which has come into effect aims to make the Christmas period less about commerce and more about the holiday spirit, allowing people to slow down and spend time with their families. The flip-side is that there has been a greater rush at large stores in the run-up. This week, there was no shortage of long lines at many major retailers.

Czech Post employees have joined a chain strike in demand for better wages. According to the state company’s spokeswoman, the strike has not affected services at counters, although it may delay delivery of parcels ahead of Christmas.

The Czech state is in the running to buy up the country’s sole hard coal, or coking coal, company, OKD, which is now under insolvency administration. A bid of 1.0 crown was submitted by the state company Diamo on December 16.

The Czech government has decided to sue the European Commission over the new denatured alcohol guidelines that are to come into effect as of August 2017. Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said the government’s decision was a last-ditch effort to prevent their introduction, since the new rules and a single “Euro” formula would create considerable space for fraud and tax-evasion.

More than three decades after the first plans were drawn up, the D8 motorway connecting Prague and Dresden has finally been completed. A ceremony marking the official opening of the last stretch of the motorway took place on Saturday. However, one lane of the motorway still remains closed due to continued concern about the geological stability of the land beneath.

A 16-kilometre missing link of motorway should be opened up on Saturday linking Prague and Germany in the direction of Dresden. But while the champagne corks could pop for the event, the celebrations might be a little flat.

Czech fisheries are gearing up for the annual Christmas carp sales around the country, when sales of home-bred carp go through the roof due to the traditional Czech Christmas dinner of fried carp and potato salad. Although carp makes up for close to 90 percent of the fresh water fish bred in the Czech Republic many Czechs only ever eat it once a year- the rest is sold abroad.

After 17 years of preparation and around 10 billion euros (around 270 billion crowns) of investment, Europe’s satellite navigation system Galileo should be launched on Thursday, and the roll-out will be followed closely in Prague where one of the key agencies involved, Europe’s Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) has been based for the last four years.

A new poll conducted by the Median agency for public broadcaster Czech Television suggests that 58 percent of the population supports the Finance Ministry’s flagship project, the electronic cash register system (EET). The system, which went online in the first of four planned phases on Dec 1, first affecting drinking and eating establishments and hotels and other accommodation, relays information electronically to the tax office as a means of clamping down on tax fraud. The system began working fairly smoothly, after month-long testing. Most venues