Czechs warn of online youth radicalisation; parliament approves parental benefits boost

The Czech Interior Ministry identified the growing radicalisation of youth on the internet as the main threat in its annual report on extremism, while noting the decline of the influence of more traditional extremist movements. According to the report, which looks at the evolution and occurrences of extremist and radical activities over the past year, Czechia’s traditional anti-system scene has been losing both influence and visibility, while far-right movements did not pose a significant security risk and the extreme-left also remained largely inconspicuous. The main threat, according to authorities, comes from people radicalising outside of mainstream extremist structures, mostly online, and spreading extremist content increasingly with the help of AI tools. The first of its kind published under the new government led by PM Andrej Babis, the Interior Ministry’s annual report sparked controversy for failing to even mention the far-right SPD party – a junior coalition partner – whose leader and now speaker of the House, Tomio Okamura, was indicted last year for hate speech and incitement to racial hatred linked to a controversial billboard campaign.

Following in the footsteps of the Chamber of Deputies’ approval, the opposition-controlled Senate this week also passed a draft bill to increase parental benefits from 350,000 to 400,000 crowns (about 16,500 euros) starting next year. The bill now heads to President Petr Pavel for his signature. Parents of twins, triplets and more will be able to claim double that amount for any child born from January 1, 2027 onwards. Senators also called on the government to prepare another amendment introducing the automatic inflation-based valorisation of parental allowances – a measure the lower house of parliament rejected earlier this year. The rise in parental benefit – which follows another increase approved less than three years ago with little apparent demographic impact – has been described as key to the government’s pledge to increase support for families in a bid to boost the falling birth rate. After plummeting to an all-time record low in 2025 with less than 80,000 live births, Czechia’s birth rate continued to drop in the first quarter of this year, according to preliminary data. Experts estimate that fewer than 73,000 children could be born this year.

The Czech Army is planning on defence spending exceeding 2 per cent of GDP when preparing its 2027 budget, the new Chief of the General Staff Miroslav Hlavac said this week – a statement in line with the government’s pledge to reach, after years of falling short, NATO’s defence spending requirements next year. Czechia has faced criticism from the US and other allies for being one of the few to spend less than 2 per cent on defence last year, with PM Babis recently confirming that the country will again fall short in 2026. “Last year in The Hague, the Czech Republic committed to presenting a credible trajectory of defence spending of up to 3.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent for related spending by 2035. The Czech Republic has still not presented this credible trajectory,” criticised Pavel Fischer, an opposition MP and chairman of the Senate’s foreign affairs, defence and security committee.