Elections in the Czech Republic

Hungarian PM Viktor Orban attends a video conference with his Greek, Slovenian, Slovak and Latvian counterparts, as well as European Council President Charles Michel from his office in Budapest, Hungary, 21 March 2023. Press Office handout

But the ambitions of the president and the people around him in Prague Castle were about to take an even bigger hit. Minutes after the billionaire premier took his leave, Zeman was rushed to Prague's Central Military Hospital.

The hard-drinking, heavy-smoking and politically scheming 77-year-old president has not been seen in public since. No diagnosis has been released.

Nonetheless, President Milos Zeman, who wields the constitutional authority to appoint governments, invited the populist Babis - with whom he has a longstanding power pact - to meet on Sunday.

At the beginning, the Czech President Milo Zeman addressed the media, saying that Serbia was a traditional friend of the Czech Republic, which had been betrayed throughout history.

Foreign hackers have contacted the computer network of the Czech president's office and have been providing information of unknown nature for several months, Czech state television reported, citing the Office for the Protection of Personal Information.

Czechs head to the ballot box Jan. 26 and 27 in a tight presidential run-off in the EU and NATO state pitting pro-Russian incumbent Milos Zeman against pro-European rival Jiri Drahos in a race that promises to go down to the wire.

The new Czech minority government, led by billionaire Andrei Babis, lost the vote of confidence vote after lawmakers rejected the populist who was accused of fraudulent EU subsidies.

"Parliament refuses to express confidence in the cabinet," said parliament speaker Radek Vondrachek.

An influx of 10 million refugees from Africa threaten the European Union if the community does not strengthen its external borders, Czech President Milos Zeman announced on Thursday evening in an interview with Barrandov, a TV channel in Prague.

Czech President Milos Zeman believes Russia can become a member of the European Union in the long run. This is what he said this in an interview with TASS, commenting on relations between the EU and the Russian Federation.

EU's "double standards on Crimea’s reunification with Russia are a bad practice," Czech President Milos Zeman has said, according to TASS.

As an example of these double standards, Zeman mentioned Kosovo and Crimea.