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President Václav Klaus said he wanted an opt-out from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights to shield Czech courts from European law, mentioning in particular the prospect of property claims from Sudeten Germans – ethnic Germans who were expelled en masse from what was then Czechoslovakia after the war. But not everyone in the Czech Republic shares Mr Klaus’s concerns, in fact some organisations highlight the country’s German heritage as a positive thing. Rob Cameron visited the former Sudeten city of Ústí nad Labem, and spoke to Ondřej Matějka

The Lisbon treaty is a hair’s breadth away from ratification after EU leaders on Thursday agreed on an opt-out for the Czech Republic to the treaty’s charter of fundamental rights. Czech President Václav Klaus, the document’s most vocal opponent, had made clear he would only sign if such a guarantee was provided.

Nearly 60 years after the Czech politician Milada Horáková was sentenced to death in a communist show trial and executed, the first memorial to honour her legacy was unveiled in Prague on Wednesday. But the new memorial has sparked controversy – some former political prisoners complain that among those who contributed to the monument are members of the party that had her murdered.

On Wednesday, October 28, leading politicians, cultural figures, veterans, and others marked the 91st anniversary of the founding of the independent Czechoslovak state. Ceremonies, as every year, were held throughout the country paying homage to those who fought for Czech statehood, while in the evening the country’s highest honours were awarded by the president.

The troubled national carrier Czech Airlines will remain in state hands, at least for the time being. After weeks of speculation, the Czech government on Monday refused a sole bid it had received in a tender from the Czech-Icelandic consortium of Unimex and Travel Service. It based its decision on a recommendation by the Finance Minister Eduard Janota, who said the offer was simply too inconvenient.

European leaders on Tuesday were focussed on events at a courtroom in the Czech Republic’s second city Brno. The country’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, is meeting there over a complaint that the EU’s reforming Lisbon treaty is in conflict with national law. Chris Johnstone has been following events in the courtroom. We asked him why the complaint is so important.

Looking back at the events of 1989 in Czechoslovakia, most people will probably think of the student demonstration on November 17th which kicked off the Velvet Revolution. The November protest was the last in a series of events that took place that year and were violently suppressed by riot police. One of them was an illegal rally to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia on October 28th, 1989 held on Prague’s Wenceslas Square.

Wednesday marks the 91st anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia. In conjunction with that anniversary, the National Memorial on Prague’s Vítkov hill has just been officially reopened after extensive renovations. It was built in honour of the Czech legionnaires whose bravery in World War I helped pave the way for the creation of the state, and reflects much of modern Czech history.

A film series devoted to Czech cinema opened in New York on Friday at the prestigious Film Society of Lincoln Center. The series, called Ironic Curtain: Czech Cinema since the Velvet Revolution, is running for seven days and showcases a wide range of Czech pictures made over the last two decades.

The 13th International Documentary Film Festival in Jihlava, the biggest event of its kind in Central Europe, gets underway on Tuesday. Over the following six days, it will screen more than 200 documentaries from all over the world including the most recent documentary by Michael Moore, ‘Capitalism: A Love Story’. I asked the festival’s director Marek Hovorka to outline the programme.