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"The Czech Republic - Europe awaits you" reads the top headline in MLADA FRONTA DNES this Thursday and that's more or less the story in all the Czech media, a day after the European Commission released a key progress report rating EU candidate countries; in the report the Czech Republic fared better almost than ever before. Now, the first wave of an historic ten-country expansion has gained full momentum, and the future of the Czech Republic within the EU seems assured if the country's citizens say yes in a referendum on integration early next year.

All of Wednesday's papers lead with stories connected to the Czech Republic's plans to join the European Union. LIDOVE NOVINY says Brussels' recommendation that the Czechs be accepted as members is a historic step, while PRAVO and MLADA FRONTA DNES report on next spring's planned referendum on membership.

Preparations for the November NATO summit in Prague dominate most of today's front pages. "The upcoming summit will turn Prague into a fortress" says Mlada Fronta Dnes. The anti-terrorist squad is choosing appropriate rooftops, the army is deploying missiles and the organizers are seeking ways to encourage as many Prague inhabitants as possible to leave the city for a few days.

The upcoming presidential elections and names of new candidates continue to make the headlines in Czech daily newspapers. A new name on the list, writes PRAVO, is the Communist Partys candidate - attorney Miroslav Krizenecky who worked as a state prosecutor during the communist era.

Both MLADA FRONTA DNES and PRAVO lead with a story about Czech police vice-president Miroslav Antl. Mr Antl was involved in a traffic accident in the town of Pardubice on Thursday morning, when he entered a crossroads in his car and crashed into another vehicle. No one was injured in the accident but police officers wishing to remain anonymous suggest Mr Antl had been drinking before the crash.

The top headlines of most of the major Czech dailies today deal with the diplomatic scandal caused by a Polish parliamentarian who took it into his own hands to arrest a Polish murder suspect on Czech soil last Sunday. The Czech Foreign Ministry filed an immediate protest with the Polish Ambassador in Prague, but PRAVO writes that so far Warsaw has not expressed an official stance over the incident.

The face of the Czech Formula 1 driver Tomas Enge - a new teenage idol in the Czech Republic - looks out from most of today's front pages. "Enge stripped of title because of marihuana" read the headlines. In an interview for Lidove Noviny Enge maintains that he has no idea how traces of marihuana got into his system and says the verdict which allows him to carry on racing is a huge relief.

Under almost identical headlines, both MLADA FRONTA DNES and LIDOVE NOVINY lead with a story about the potential presidential candidates of the ruling Social Democrats, ex-Prime Minister Milos Zeman, ombudsman Otakar Motejl and former Justice Minster Jaroslav Bures.

A new case of BSE - the country's third - makes the front pages today - "Mad Cow Disease Returns" thunders MLADA FRONTA DNES. Right next to that story is a photo of Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, head of the Czech Catholic Church, holding up the skull of the Czech patron saint St Wenceslas. Thousands of Catholics attended a mass in Prague's St Vitus Cathedral on Saturday to celebrate St Wenceslas Day - or Day of Czech Statehood as the new holiday is officially known.

One of the prevailing themes in today's newspapers is that of increases, either in wages or in monthly pensions: PRAVO's lead story covers Education Minister Petra Buzkova's decision to raise Czech teacher's wages by 9 percent next year, 2 percent higher than other civil servants.