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Only 52 percent of Czechs are currently satisfied with the country’s membership in the European Union, according to the results of a survey conducted by the STEM polling agency. STEM says there has been a significant drop in the EU approval rating down from 66 percent in January of 2009. During the country’s EU presidency a full two-thirds of Czechs said joining the EU had been a good decision.

The Czech Republic faces no immediate terror threat, Prime Minister Petr Nečas said after Thursday’s meeting of the government’s intelligence council. Mr Nečas said the preventive measures adopted after a recent warning issued by the US authorities were sufficient. After Washington warned European countries on Sunday of an increased risk of terrorist attacks, the Czech government heightened security checks at Prague’s Ruzyně airport and other international airports in the country. The authorities have also reinforced protection of government buildings, embassies and other sensitive institutions in the capital.

Ahead of Friday’s qualifying game for the European Championship 2012 between the Czech Republic and Scotland, the manager of the Czech national football team Michal Bílek said the Czechs were under more pressure than their opponents. The Scottish team won four points out of its two games while the Czechs only played a single game, which they lost. However, Bílek said than any other result than victory would seriously hinder the Czech campaign for Euro 2012

A group of experts from Canada is set to arrive in the Czech Republic in November to study the country’s treatment of its minorities, Czech Interior Minister Radek John told reporters after Thursday’s meeting of EU interior ministers in Luxembourg. The experts will look into the situation of the Romany minority to see whether it enjoys sufficient protection. Their visit could be the first step in lifting Canadian visas for Czech nationals, Mr John said.

Ottawa re-introduced visas for Czech last July over large numbers of Czech citizens applying for asylum in Canada, many of them Romanies.

The Czech Dental Chamber says that a third of Czech children between the ages of two and six let have a higher rate of tooth decay than the European average due in part to a lack of paediatric dentists. The chamber says that out of 6500 dentists in the Czech Republic only 63 focus on children and that most children therefore visit standard dentists. Dentists, it says, are concerned about losing money because they have more work with children.

Members of the European Parliament for the Social Democratic Party sharply criticised President Vaclav Klaus on Monday, saying his critical views of EU financial supervision and global governance are harmful to the Czech Republic. Speaking ahead of an EU-Asia summit on Monday, Mr Klaus called the stricter financial supervision in the EU the road to perdition and rejected the possibility of global governance. In a press release, the MEPs said that the president could not do a better job of harming the Czech Republic if that was his intention and was merely trying to gain leadership among the Eurosceptics at the summit. The EU-Asia summit was attended by representatives of over 40 European and Asian countries and discussed possibilities for better administrating public affairs.

A war of words has erupted between the two Czechs charged with steering the country’s external relations: the president and foreign minister. The clash stems from concerns that the Czech opt-out from the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty demanded by President Václav Klaus might not be looking so solid.

The Czech opt-out from the EU’s Lisbon treaty, demanded by President Klaus in return for the document’s ratification, is under threat, the daily Lidové noviny reported on Saturday. The opt-out is supposed to be ratified as part of the EU’s accession treaty with Croatia. The paper said however that the EU is now considering excluding it from the accession treaty, and start its ratification process independently. In such case, the Czech opt-out would most likely be rejected by a number of EU member states.

Václav Klaus refused last year to finalize the Lisbon treaty’s ratification process unless an opt-out form the Charter of Fundamental Rights is granted to the Czech Republic. The opt-out should shield the country from possible restitution demands by ethnic Germans who were expelled from Czechoslovakia after the end of the Second World War.

The Czech president, Václav Klaus, has slammed European integration, which he said had weakened democracy and hamstrung member states through excessive financial regulation. Mr Klaus, who is well known for his eurosceptic views, made the comments during a speech at John Hopkins University in Washington on Wednesday. The president is in the US on a five-day visit that will also see him lead a Czech delegation at the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly.

A drunk driver falls asleep in the middle of a cross-road, people in Brno are meeting a tiger being walked on a leash –and there’s a scramble for weddings on October 10th. Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.