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Activists from the Czech Republic and abroad met at Lety, South Bohemia, on Saturday, the site of a labour and later concentration camp where Roma were interned and died during WWII. They were aiming to keep pressure on the government to finally remove a pig farm at the site which has been an insult to the victims who suffered or died there and their descendants, for decades.

The Czech Foreign Ministry on Friday handed out Gratias Agit awards to fifteen Czech expatriates and foreigners for promoting the good name of the Czech Republic abroad. This year’s recipients included Jiří Bělohlávek, the late conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, or speed skater Martina Sáblíková.

A two-day EU summit in Brussels started on Thursday with a spat between the newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron and countries of the Visegrad group. Expressing his commitment to put the EU project back on track, the French leader accused the V4 of defying Europe’s principles and values by rejecting the EC’s migrant quotas.

The Czech police force has announced a revolution in its communication with the public. Following the example of police forces abroad, the Czech police force is going on social networks, setting up accounts on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube where it will post information regarding security measures, traffic and recruitment videos.

After a long period on the sidelines, euro adoption is again making a comeback as an issue in the Czech Republic. In the latest intervention, the country’s central bank governor has said that all the criteria can be met but that Czechs could perhaps wait until wages and prices are nearer to the euro zone average.

The Czech government has given a new face and name to its policies dealing with the European Union. Aleš Chmelař, formerly the leading economist in the government office, has been appointed to the post which aims to makes sure the Czech government speaks with one voice in Brussels and has its fair share of influence shaping key decisions.

The biggest star at this weekend’s Metronome music festival in Prague will without question be the UK musician Sting, who led The Police before embarking on an enormously successful solo career. Ahead of his appearance in the Czech capital, the UK musician shared his thoughts with Czech Radio on Brexit, the refugee crisis and more.

The Prague Proms international music festival gets underway in Prague on Wednesday with a concert at the city’s Municipal House. The concert will feature the US composer, singer and songwriter Dany Elfman, who is known mainly for his collaboration with director Tim Burton. I spoke to Jan Vítek, one of the festival organizers, and I first asked him to tell me more about the opening event:

The Czech Republic is the target for a massive expansion by one of Germany’s flagship firms, technology and engineering company Siemens. The type of investment is exactly what the Czech Republic is looking for as the country tries to secure skilled jobs with research and development tagged on.

The Social Democratic Party, which effected an unexpected change-of-guard at the top post last week ahead of the autumn general elections, unveiled its election program at a party conference at the weekend. The party is promising voters lower taxes, an average salary of 40,000 crowns a month within five years, more generous welfare benefits for families with children and better health care. But how realistic is the programme and can the effected personal changes turn around the party’s dwindling support. Those are questions I put to political scientist