Czech news in brief for July 14: Tuesday's top afternoon headlines

Good afternoon, and a happy Bastille Day to all the Frenchies out there - whether you win or lose against Spain tonight, today's a day to celebrate and come together. Joyeux 14 juillet!

Filip Turek's car collision with an ambulance yesterday at I.P. Pavlova continues to be the talk of the town. Police are investigating, traffic experts are all giving their opinion as to who's to blame, and opposition lawmakers are calling on the aptly-named Motorist to resign. Considering all the scandals Turek has already been involved in - from Nazi memorabilia to accusations of sexual violence - "simply" overturning an ambulance in the center of Prague probably won't change anything either.

Now, to the main news.

According to early figures released by the Czech statistical office, the number of births is continuing to plummet this year after reaching an all-time low in 2025. Last year, less than 80,000 children were born in Czechia, the lowest number since statistics began to be kept in 1785. Now, births have continued to decrease by 6 percent in the first quarter of this year.

Maternity hospitals at risk. With fewer births, the Czech government is already talking about closing some maternity clinics across the country - possibly those with less than 600 births a year, Health Minister Adam Vojtěch has suggested.

Czech authorities have moved to extend the lifetime of the Temelín nuclear power plant by 20 more years compared to what was originally planned, Trade and Industry Minister Karel Havlíček announced - allowing the two reactors to remain in operation until 2080 and 2082 respectively.

Same thing for Dukovany. With nuclear energy seen as the main pillar of the Czech Republic's energy security, a similar extension was announced last April for Czechia's older and larger nuclear power plant in Dukovany - an 80-year lifetime that will keep it in operation until the mid 2060s.

A team of 22 firefighters left the Czech Republic today on their way to Greece to be on standby and assist local authorities around the city of Patras, on the Peloponnese Peninsula, in case wildfires start to spread. The deployment takes place as part of the EU's so-called Prepositioning program, allowing European member states to send firefighters to countries most at risk of droughts and wildfires.

European solidarity. Czechia has already sent two helicopters to fight fires in southern France this summer, and last year deployed firefighters to Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and France.

One of Czechia's most iconic and popular music festivals Colors of Ostrava is starting on Wednesday in the city's famed Dolní Vítkovice area. 130 concerts headlined by the likes of Moby, Lorde, Twenty One Pilots or LP, dozens of debates and discussions, tens of thousands of visitors and as many as 5,000 people involved in running the show behind the scenes. "It's a big anthill, a city that never sleeps," said the festival's artistic director Filip Košťálek.

Opposition parties have called on Filip Turek, the honorary president of the Motorist party and the government's plenipotentiary on climate change, to resign after the lawmaker was involved in an accident with an ambulance in the center of Prague on Monday. "This is beyond the pale. MPs are supposed to serve people, not threaten their lives," said the head of the Pirate Party Zdeněk Hřib.

The battle of experts. Since the crash, Czech media outlets have all called on traffic and road accident experts to unpack what happened and determine whether Turek is responsible. Talking to iRozhlas.cz, for instance, expert Roman Budský said both the ambulance driver and Turek are to blame for the collision, which is still being investigated by the police.