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Slovenia's president has launched a blistering attack on what he calls "elements of intolerance" in his country. He was speaking after parliament approved a referendum, which seeks to overturn a Constitutional Court decision to restore permanent residency status and other rights to minority groups living in Slovenia. It concerns around 20,000 people, mostly Croats, Bosnians and Serbs who were living in Slovenia before it won independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. They were originally stripped of their permanent residency because they

We've often brought stories on the movement of workers from Eastern Europe to Western Europe but now one that breaks the rule. An increasing number of Germans from the East of the country are moving further East for jobs in neighbouring Poland. Apparently tired of being denied employment at home. It's a reversal of a centuries old pattern, whereby Poles travelled to Germany in search of better lives.

The 11 official languages of the European Union already make for quite a mouthful, but when a fresh batch of member states joins in May - not only the official EU translators but also European citizens will also have to cope with more foreign languages. And Slovakia is particularly concerned that its citizens are not doing too well when foreign languages.

The Czech Republic's public broadcaster Czech Television is showing a program, which tries to teach Czechs good manners. It seems Czechs need to brush up their etiquette? So have the twists and turns of the country's modern history taken their toll on the country's manners? Radio Prague's Ian Willoughby has been finding out.

Ireland now holds the rotating EU Presidency. A major challenge will be to oversee EU enlargement on the 1st of May. When another 10 countries join up. Dublin will also have to set about repairing some of the political damage from Europe's failure to reach agreement on its much-promoted constitution. The constitutional negotiations collapsed in December over the voting rights in the enlarged EU with Poland arguing to keep the power it gained in the Nice Treaty three years ago. For a look at Ireland's EU priorities Kerry Skyring spoke to Irish televisions

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy sacked his finance minister this week. Csaba Laszlo was dismissed after last year's budget deficit turned out to be much higher than forecast. 2003 saw the Hungarian currency - the forint - lurch from crisis to crisis amid growing investor concern over big budget deficits. And rising inflation. The new finance minister, Tibor Draskovics, now has his work cut out to get Hungary's finances in shape in time for joining the Euro Zone - which Hungary says it plans to do in 2008. Sandor Laczko talked to professor

We head with Oxana Ferjencikova to the border between Slovakia and Austria, for a spot of duty free shopping with a difference....

Just over 11 years ago, on December 31 1992, At midnight on December 31 1992, the Czechoslovak federation was formally dissolved and two independent states - the Czech Republic and Slovakia - came into being. Creating Europe's newest border. Since then, the two have moved in different directions. But when they become a part of the European Union and after that the Schengen zone, their citizens will once again travel freely between the two states as they did 11 years ago. What does this mean to Slovaks and Czechs?

The constant shifting of Silesia across Polish and German borders over several centuries has created a unique ethnic mix and a regional self-consciousness. The dominant spoken language is a Germanised dialect of Polish. But whatever their ethnic origins, the Silesians themselves have developed a separate identity that borrows liberally from both Polish and German.

One of the leftover disputes from the collapse of the former Yugoslavia is the precise location of the border between Slovenia and Croatia. Talks on resolving that dispute have been held in a restaurant - which just happens to sit on top of the border. Aperitif in Slovenia - Coffee in Croatia.