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Leaders of the European Union reached a historic agreement in the Danish capital Copenhagen on Friday, setting out the financial terms for expanding the EU to take in ten new countries, the Czech Republic among them. Those expecting the summit to run into difficulty were proved wrong - the EU 15 and the ten leading candidates for membership managed to reach a compromise, and there is now little to prevent them joining in 2004. Rob Cameron was in Copenhagen, and brings back a special report.

European Union leaders met representatives of the ten candidate countries in the Danish capital Copenhagen on Thursday for a historic two-day summit that is to decide about the Union's enlargement in 2004. The Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, whose country currently holds the presidency of the union, said the European leaders' task was to finally re-unite the continent that was divided for nearly 45 years. One of the key issues on the summit's agenda is however more prosaic - how much money the ten new members would get after joining

As the tenth anniversary of the creation of separate Czech and Slovak republics approaches, Radio Prague will be taking a look at just how the state of Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. Today we will take a look at the history of Czechoslovakia and the national aspirations of the Czech and Slovak nations within it.

History is being made in the Danish capital Copenhagen this week, as the Czech Republic and nine other countries are finally being invited to join the European Union. The biggest enlargement in the EU's history is the conclusion of years of long and sometimes thorny negotiations on conditions for membership. It would be no exaggeration to say that joining the EU - subject to a referendum next year of course - will be the most significant step taken by the Czech Republic since the country came into existence in 1993. Radio Prague's Rob Cameron is

It's been absolutely freezing here in the Czech Republic for the last week or so, and the weather forecasters say we can expect the sub zero temperatures to last for another month. While just waiting for the tram for ten minutes makes most of us shiver, spare a thought for the poor souls who have to work outside all day in such weather. On Wednesday morning I braved the elements to see what life is like these days for stall-holders on Prague's Charles Bridge.

With the EU's Copenhagen summit approaching, accession talks with the candidate countries are drawing to a close. However, many Czech official representatives are reserved about the outcome of recent negotiations between the Czech delegation and the European Commission, and are hoping the Czech Republic will be able to negotiate better deals at the Copenhagen summit. One area Czechs hope to get a better deal in is agriculture.

For close to ten years, the Charter 77 foundation has been raising funds under a project called "Barriers" to help the disabled in the Czech Republic. One of their main regular fund-raising events is an auction of works of some of the country's most renowned artists. In the past five auctions, over 15 million Czech crowns were collected. The foundation hopes to make another fortune this Sunday, when several hundred works worth over 6.5 million Czech crowns from artists such as Jiri Kolar, Stanislav Libensky, and Jiri Anderle will be auctioned in

The situation on Czech roads leaves much to be desired, in fact it's downright ugly: in spite of a general overhaul in traffic legislation two years ago that was supposed to make Czech roads safer, the first ten months of 2002 saw the number of accidents involving motorists rise by almost 4 percent, with 48 more fatalities than in 2001. The problem, critics charge, are changes in legislation that revoked the right of the police to remand drivers' licenses in even the most serious situations, a change that largely influenced drivers to be lax in

As the Czech Republic awaits European Union membership in 2004 the country is well on its way to fostering economic links with the western part of the continent. Last week the Czech Republic and Wales announced that the two countries would do more to foster trade links and economic co-operation.

The number of jobless people in the Czech Republic has been growing steadily despite various pro-employment policies implemented by the government. On Monday, the Czech Labour ministry released the latest data. Vladimir Tax reports on the latest developments.