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New numbers released by the Czech Social Security Administration have revealed that at the end of last year the Czech Republic had roughly 477,000 pensioners who had taken early retirement. That includes a marked pension cut of 1,160 crowns less per month. The number of early retirees has also tripled since the year 2000.

An OECD report unveiled on Tuesday gives a stark message that many aspects of the Czech economy are performing poorly and that economic growth could be significantly higher if problems of poor administration, regulation and competition were addressed.

March 17,1939 brought a revolution on Czech roads: the commander of the German occupation forces ordered a change-over to a right-hand traffic system with almost immediate effect. Although the change had been in the pipeline for years its immediate enforcement was not easy. Moreover, Prague was given a 9-day reprieve, creating a schizophrenic situation where drivers in the capital still drove on the left, but elsewhere around the country traffic was already moving on the right.

Some 40 families of Czech expatriots from western Ukraine have asked the Czech government to help them repatriate to the old country, citing concerns about the future of Ukraine. The Czech government said it was looking at the petition while the Foreign Ministry says fast-track residency permits are available to expats from around the globe.

Czech Catholic priest and academic Tomáš Halík has received the Templeton Prize in recognition of his efforts to bridge gaps between atheists and believers and his underground work under communism. The honour, which comes with a large monetary award, has in the past gone to Mother Theresa, the Dalai Lama, and other internationally renowned spiritual leaders.

The Czech government is planning a major overhaul of the country’s preschool education system. The final year of preschool should be compulsory, while children at the age of two would be entitled to a place in nursery school. But the country currently lack some 60,000 places in preschool facilities, and officials are not very clear on how to secure funding for these ambitious plans.

A new statue is to be unveiled in Prague in honour of over two thousand Czechs and Slovaks who fought in Britain’s Royal Air Force during World War II. The idea is to provide a lasting memorial to express the gratitude of the British people to the airmen who risked their lives. Casualty figures were high and a quarter of the airmen never came home. The statue, designed by Colin Spofforth will be cast here in the Czech Republic, and aptly enough, it will be unveiled in June by Winston Churchill’s grandson, British Member of Parliament Nicholas Soames.

Fifteen years ago on March 12, the Czech Republic joined NATO, a moment which remains a milestone in the country’s history. Czechs had spent some 40 years under Moscow domination and it was the scrapping of the Warsaw Pact in 1991 – and the joining of NATO in 1999 – that cemented the country’s place in the West.

Among the 100-plus films being screened at Prague’s One World festival of human rights documentaries is The Lost Signal of Democracy. It explores what happened last June when, a couple of years after the country’s financial meltdown, the Greek government shut down public broadcaster ERT overnight. A move unprecedented in Europe, the closure shocked many Greeks and led to a nationwide national strike. I spoke to the film’s maker, Yorgos Avgeropolous, and asked him why Greece’s leaders had taken such a radical step.

An opinion poll conducted by the STEM agency in February of this year shows that trust in EU institutions has dropped to an all-time low. The gradual slide from the initial 60 percent support rating to the present 34 percent is being attributed to a number of factors – including euro-sceptic governments, the euro debt crisis and negative reports in the media.