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The Ministry of Agriculture has earmarked more funding for the advertising of Czech-produced foods this year. However, it plans major changes in how its Klasa national quality mark is promoted, Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Thursday.

The Czech Republic’s biggest car maker Škoda Auto is having one of its most successful periods and last year sold a record one million-plus vehicles. However, Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Wednesday, it is planning to hive off some workers into outside companies – a move that could spark strike action.

A multi-billion crown tender to supply Czech power company ČEZ with nuclear fuel for its two Temelin reactors looks like it is on the horizon. ČEZ’s general manager and board chairman Daniel Beneš raised the prospect that the current contract of Russian fuel supplier TVEL might not be automatically renewed in an interview this week with the Czech weekly Respekt.

The Czech Republic can expect to get its small share of the benefits from the European Central Bank (ECB) move last week to pump a significant amount of money into the economy to boost growth and fuel inflation. The move will also help ease pressure on the crown against the euro, though not against the dollar.

While Czechs are increasingly enjoying the advantages of shopping over the internet, online shopping for groceries has been slower to take off. Last year Czechs spent 152 billion crowns on food products of which only 3 billion was purchased over the internet. However there are now signs that the business is revving up and more firms are poised to enter the market.

For a while the commercial television market in the Czech Republic looked like it might be in store for a major overhaul with the country’s second biggest group, Prima, threatening to leave e traditional market leader Nova in its wake.

Of all the members of the European Union, the Czech Republic is the most dependent on industry, with the sector accounting for over a third of the entire output of the economy, Hospodářské noviny writes on Wednesday.

The Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade, after consultation with the Finance Ministry, has recommended that state-controlled power company ČEZ take the lead in building new nuclear plants in the country. The ministry outlined three options for future nuclear development in its proposed action plan which was finalized on January 16.

Ski resorts in the Orlické hory mountain range have small reason to cheer. In addition to the lack of snow they are now facing fresh competition from the Polish side of the border where entrepreneurs are investing millions of zloty into state of the art facilities intended to attract an international clientele.

The Czech government is preparing to put in place its version of the so-called debt brake, a mechanism for raising the alarm when public debt as a proportion of national wealth starts reaching dangerous levels and calling for emergency remedial action.