GE Aviation’s program director in the Czech Republic, Milan Šlapák, often feels like an electrician – he loves to connect people. He says: “I match contacts until the lights go up somewhere”. This way, Mr. Šlapák has managed to ignite a gigantic aviation industry project – development, testing, production, assembly, and service of the latest turboprop engine, the ATP.

The newly-appointed minority government of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has approved its policy program. The prime minister will now negotiate with all parliamentary parties in view of winning their support or tolerance in a vote of confidence in January, Radio Praha writes.

November’s bank board meeting was a surprisingly calm event (as all board members raised their hands for a 25bp hike) despite hawkish comments from some members before the meeting who suggested they would vote for a 50bp hike. Also, the forecast released in November had an unexpectedly dovish message. As the economy developed almost exactly in line with the forecast, we believe the bank board will stay on hold, in line with the recent staff prognosis. Yet, some of board members might consider monetary conditions too loose due to the weaker koruna. We thus expect the board to be split, and our call for no hike is a close one. 

In 10 EU countries job quality was poorer in 2015 than a decade earlier. The worst decline was seen in Greece, the biggest improvement in Czechia. Read more in the new Working Paper titled: 'Bad jobs’ recovery? European Job Quality Index 2005-2015' published by ETUI, European Trade Union Institute.