Current Affairs | All stories

In just over two weeks time Czechs will go to the polls to vote in their first ever elections to the European Parliament. Thirty one parties and political groupings are registered and fighting for voter support. From the big league players to virtual unknowns, all are telling Czechs that they alone can best serve their interests in the European Parliament.

Prague's busy Wenceslas Square is now host to the international festival "Sculpture Grande 2004", which opened this week under the very loose theme of European integration. Brian Kenety went along to the vernissage at the Gallery Art Factory and has this report.

Now that the latest EU enlargement has finally been ratified, there are some who are already thinking about the further expansion of the Union. One region that will surely be considered in regard to any future enlargement is the Balkans, which is slowly beginning to stabilise after a decade of ethnic conflict. Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has already publicly backed the idea of pushing the EU's borders eastwards to include the Balkan countries.

On Wednesday night millions of football fans around Europe will watch the final of the Champions League, the biggest, most glamorous club competition in the history of the game. Few of them will know the story of Europe's first ever international club competition, and the forerunner of the Champions League, the Mitropa Cup.

"Voices of Heroes", a unique oral history project, seeks to honour the aging men and women who left occupied Czechoslovakia to serve in foreign armies during teh Second World War. Brian Kenety reports.

Since the Czechs joined the European Union on May 1st questions over Roma identity, tradition, and roles in civil society have become more apt than ever in the Czech Republic and abroad, questions experts and Roma representatives aim to tackle in a series of week-long discussions in Prague. The discussions will be part of the 6th annual Khamoro Festival now underway, a festival that has become the byword for the celebration of Roma culture and music.

European Union foreign ministers - including the 10 newcomers - are meeting in Brussels to break the long deadlock over the proposed European Constitution. Insiders predict that 95 per cent of the draft Constitution that emerged from the Inter-Governmental Conference in December will be adopted at the June 17 - 18 meeting of the European Council. But consensus on the other 5 per cent — especially voting rights — appears elusive at best.

When the Czech Republic joined the European Union on 1st May, free movement of labour was cited as one of the major and most tangible advantages of European integration. Even though people from most of the new member countries can not yet fully enjoy this right, a lot of them are ready to take advantage of the benefits that the EU enlargement has already provided. Martin Mikule has been looking at the level of interest among Czechs in working abroad.

Another name has appeared on the list of unconventional candidates for the June European Parliament elections. Beside such people as the former porn star Dolly Buster and the highly controversial businessman Viktor Kozeny, also known as the Pirate of Prague, Czechs can give their votes to a real heir to the throne.

Public Private Partnership - or PPP for short - meaning cooperation with the private sector in realising public projects - has recently become quite a catch-phrase here in the Czech Republic. In Prague this week, a conference was held where representatives of the public and private sectors came together to find ways of optimising co-operation. Filip Drapak, is advisor to the chairman of the Czech National Property Fund: