Talking Point | All stories

The Czech Republic is one of ten front-runner candidates for EU membership hoping to take part in the elections to the European Parliament as a fully-fledged member in 2004. However, one of the areas where the candidate countries, including the Czech Republic, need to catch up on most is the environment. This involves including some three hundred EU environmental laws into national legislation as well as implementing and enforcing these laws, putting them into practice and making sure that they are respected.

It was not so long ago that citizens of Czechoslovakia were risking imprisonment and in many cases their lives trying to leave the country for the West. It is impossible to count all those who fled Czechoslovakia during the forty-one years between the communist takeover in February 1948 and the Velvet Revolution in November 1989. The lowest verifiable number is 170,938, but the estimates are much higher - unofficial statistics suggest anything between 250,000 to half a million. Czechs and Slovaks emigrated to the West in two main waves: after the

For many decades Czech women have been used to giving birth in maternity hospitals, in an environment they have often perceived as cold, impersonal and unfriendly. In recent years more and more women have been choosing to travel many kilometres in order to deliver their babies in small hospitals known for their friendly and individual approach to mothers and babies, or to give birth at home with the assistance of a midwife.

There are thousands of homeless people especially in big cities around the Czech Republic. Homelessness and the problems related to it are still a relatively new phenomenon in this country but the cities, charities and NGOs have been learning fast and are trying to help to reduce the risks and harm for both the homeless and the rest of the society. Radio Prague looks at two projects currently underway in Prague which are trying to offer the homeless something more than food and a bed.

Yes, everybody's talking about the presidential election. Or are they not? The press reports on it daily and Czech television stations even go as far as visiting the official presidential candidates in their own homes to introduce them to the public. But has that been enough to get the average Czech interested? It seems not.

Less than a month after the Czech Republic hosted a historic NATO summit - which invited seven former Eastern Bloc nations to join in a landmark expansion, the country took part in another important conference, this time in the Danish capital Copenhagen. The European Union extended invitations to ten mostly ex-communist candidate countries after completing tough negotiations which followed years of preparations on both parts.

I'm standing in front of the magnificent building of the Municipal House in the centre of Prague. It's a Sunday afternoon, it is bitterly cold outside but dozens of people are queuing outside a big tent here in the square. Inside, they can have their lung function tested if they suspect their breathing difficulties might be more than just that - more specifically, if they are worried about asthma.

We all know that Prague is a major international tourist destination, but have you ever wondered where the Czechs go on holiday? While Czech travel agencies advertise tickets and deals for far away places all over the world, the most popular destination for Czechs is a place not so far away. It's somewhere Slavic, and somewhere with a sea. It's Croatia. And every year around a million Czechs holiday there - or one-tenth of the Czech Republic's population.

In this week's Talking Point Jan Velinger looks at the Czech film industry, which has seen the rise of talented new directors over the last few years. Every year an average of fifteen to twenty films get produced, although with a lack of state support, financing is far from easy. Most producers here say the fact that the film industry is successful at all, borders on the miraculous. How do Czech films get made against the odds? Stay tuned and find out: you'll also hear about the Czechs' choice for the Oscars this year - a small but beautiful picture

Depending on where we live in the world, the term "middle class" may have a slightly different meaning but we'd probably agree on that it is something between the top and the bottom of the social ladder. After 40 years of living in a "classless" society, have Czechs succeeded in reviving their middle classes? Sociologist Petr Mateju, who has been studying the topic ever since 1990, looks at the plight of the middle class under communism and its fate later in the years of social and economic transformation.