Czech Republic

Myanmar’s State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi is visiting the Czech Republic and Hungary – her first visit to Europe since the mass expulsion of the Rohingya. This could be a first step to reopen dialogue between Myanmar and the West – but tough questions need to be posed about her handling of the Rohingya question and other human rights concerns.

Thirty years after the Velvet Revolution, the atmosphere in Czech society is poisonous. Many who followed the course of the Czech presidential elections during the past few weeks in detail must feel they are trapped in a nightmare.

Czech society is polarised by attitudes to refugees. This is absurd given that fact that only 1,156 have applied for asylum in a country of ten million people. Xenophobia and hysteria drive the debate.

In many countries, solar energy is enjoying great success – photovoltaic modules are increasingly affordable and available to those interested in producing their own electricity. In the Czech Republic, however, those investing in and building solar power stations must constantly resist efforts by the government to destabilise the business environment, writes Martin Sedlák, Director of the Alliance for Energy Independence.