{"id":78,"date":"2022-11-15T21:58:35","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T02:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.nyu.edu\/dispatches\/?p=78"},"modified":"2022-11-15T21:58:35","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T02:58:35","slug":"czechs-face-energy-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/2022\/11\/15\/czechs-face-energy-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Czechs Face Energy Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
Energy Production in the Czech Republic [Credit: \u010cEZ via World Nuclear News<\/a>]<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>By Savannah Prager<\/a><\/span>
\nNovember 15, 2022<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCaution advised: Protest on Vaclavske namesti\u201d read the subject line of NYU Prague\u2019s mass email to students and faculty on September 28th. While the Czech Republic borders on an eight-month-long war, classes continue despite pro-Russia protesters lurking. Tensions are heightened by both the political divide over the war and the resulting energy crisis.<\/p>\n

Czech citizens have seen energy prices rise by an estimated 17%<\/a>, prompting many protests like the one late September in the middle of the busy Wencesla Square. The EU\u2019s reliance on natural gas predominantly, about 90%<\/a>, comes from outside of its countries, with 43.4%<\/a> from Russia.  The Czech Republic has seen the highest increase of any country in the EU, forcing residents to find ways to cut down on costs.<\/p>\n

The energy crisis has made people politically aware of the cost of government\u2019s pro-Ukraine stance, dividing some over the economics of supporting the war. Similar to the United States, Czech politics have become increasingly polarized. Comparing the political climate over the last few years, a 2020 report found that 81%<\/a> of citizens felt a greater political divide. <\/p>\n

The demonstrators in late September included the anti-government group, Czech Republic First. For years these far-right and far-left extremists have advocated pulling out of the EU. Now, they have added another agenda:  demanding the Czech Republic cut its own deal with Russia for gas supplies. Protesters also support anti-immigration laws, specifically against Ukrainian refugees seeking shelter in the Czech Republic during the war.<\/p>\n

With increased energy prices, the protesters’ movements have garnered more support from certain socioeconomic groups. Amongst political uncertainty, the one constant is citizens\u2019 economic hardships. Charles University student Michelle Dvo\u0159\u00e1kov\u00e1 understands that thinking but also worries about the social costs. \u201cSo many low-income families are starting to sympathize with them because they’re advocating for lower costs, for reducing inflation,\u201d she said. \u201cEveryone wants that, but there’s no way to achieve that without the cost of human lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The major energy companies, \u010cEZ and PRE, have announced steep increases including a 50% increase on gas. Even with decreased energy consumption, electricity bills have risen. Dvo\u0159\u00e1kov\u00e1 saw an almost 20 percent increase in rent for her family in the past year. Even before the crisis, she said, \u201cWe are very environmentally conscious.\u201d Yet, their energy bill has risen 25%. \u201cWe could pay it, but you need to take it from somewhere or you just need to kind of give up something,\u201d she said  \u201cSo then like, no vacation or you know, whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Day-to-day lifestyle changes have impacted most of the nation as the energy crisis continues to affect prices in electricity, food, and more. \u201cBy October we would be kind of heating a little bit, but we decided not to,\u201d said Tomas Klvana, a NYU Prague foreign affairs journalist professor.  \u201cYou can always take another sweater.\u201d <\/p>\n

Food inflation has reached its highest rate of 21% as of September 2022; previously it had averaged 2.55% according to Trading Economics.<\/a>  As a result, restaurants have been suffering from a decline in business as they markup food prices to match the inflation. Many low- and middle-income people have stopped going to restaurants. \u201cImagine you earn (CZK) $1,000 per month, right? You just don’t go to restaurants anymore,\u201d says Klvana who still dines out but admits he thinks twice before ordering. \u201cAm I really thirsty? Maybe I don’t need the drink.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the Czech ministry has created an energy subsidy<\/a>, only winter will tell if it will be enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Savannah Prager November 15, 2022 \u201cCaution advised: Protest on Vaclavske namesti\u201d read the subject line of NYU Prague\u2019s mass email to students and faculty on September 28th. While the Czech Republic borders on an eight-month-long war, classes continue despite pro-Russia protesters lurking. Tensions are heightened by both the political divide over the war and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}