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As the dust settles in the wake of the European elections individual parties and movements are counting their political and financial gains and losses. The latter has little to do with the given entity’s political success, but depends largely on how much the party or movement spent on campaigning and whether they won enough votes to get a contribution from the state. In line with Czech law every party or movement that wins over 1 percent voter support gets 30 crowns for every vote collected.

Corporate catering businesses are on the rise in the Czech Republic, with more and more fast food chains and food retailers delivering their products directly to companies, the news site e15 reports. In-office catering is mainly intended for business meetings or trainings but it is also used as one of the benefits for employees. According to e15, Czech companies and institutions spend billions of crowns annually on corporate catering.

The possible introduction of a sector tax on banks in the Czech Republic would lead to a knock-on increase in the cost of financial products, according to an analysis conducted by the Centre for Economic and Market Analyses (CETA) published on Tuesday. This would mainly concern higher mortgage rates and more expensive loans for entrepreneurs, the study found.

The energy giant CEZ is undertaking a considerable change in strategy. Instead of striving to become a major player in the region, the semi-state firm is now planning to offload virtually all of its non-Czech companies, CEO Daniel Beneš has revealed in a newspaper interview.

Krkonoše National Park in the north-west of the Czech Republic is trying to clear away fallen trees left in the park after winter in fear of bark beetle infestation. The park’s administration is offering people the chance to come and process the timber on their own for a symbolic price.

High energy expenditures are forcing nearly a quarter of Czechs to cut back on other types of spending, a recent survey conducted by the polling agency STEM revealed. However, other data shows that 68 percent of the population likes to rank up their heating to temperatures by up to 25 degrees, resulting in unnecessary costs.

Lenders operating in the Czech Republic have agreed to contribute to a state development fund designed to cover increased public spending during a global economic slowdown in order to avoid the threat of a bank tax that would present an even bigger drain on their income.

Two years after a law aiming to clamp down on bootleg wine sales and low quality wines came into force it still sparks controversy among wine-growers and wine sellers. While the Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority claims the quality of wines sold on the market has significantly improved, small wine makers say it is putting them out of business.

The Czech government is poised to amend the Food and Consumer Protection acts so as to ban the practice of “dual quality” sales of food and other products. If signed into law, retailers would be banned from selling inferior quality products that appear to be the same as superior ones sold elsewhere in the EU.

The Czech Republic’s system of company tax is one of the most complicated in the EU, claims a study made in collaboration by the consultancy BDO and two German universities. The Czech Republic ranked fourth from bottom among EU states and its tax system was considered below average in the world-wide ranking.