Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech, the Czech unit of Hyundai, saw a sharp rise in sales and revenues from cars produced at its Nošovice plant during the first quarter of the year. The company launched production of the new i30 hatchback in January, which now accounts for around a third of total output from the plant.

Czech PM Petr Nečas has spoken out against Switzerland’s decision to reintroduce an authorization requirement for workers from the eight East European countries that joined the EU in 2004. “While we understand that opening the labor market for foreign workers in Switzerland is a sensitive issue, economic analyses proved that the benefits of free market and free movement of workforce are undisputable,” he told news server EurActiv.cz.

Higher value added tax (VAT), consumer and income taxes, and higher health insurance contributions approved by the government will result in Czechs on average salaries losing a minimum of Kč 11,230 a year as of 2013, Martin Fassmann, the economic expert for the Confederation of Czech-Moravian Trade Unions (ČMKOS), said at a press conference on Thursday.

Eurozone policy-makers often complain that they are not given enough credit for all the changes they have pushed through since the Greek sovereign debt crisis broke out. It is an understandable reaction, but their claim that the changes represent a major step towards greater fiscal union is doubtful, writes Philip Whyte, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform (CER).