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Finance Minister Eduard Janota has said that the massive financial aid package approved by the EU on Monday would have no direct effect on the Czech Republic. Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Mr Janota said that potential Czech participation in the package would only be indirect, via reserves in the existing EU budget. The meeting of the EU finance ministers calculated that the Czech Republic’s contribution to the package would total 4 billion euros annually. The 500-billion-euro package was approved by the ministers in order to rescue member states nearing bankruptcy – as has recently been the case with Greece – with an injection of up to 440 billion euros, and to calm the currently agitated financial markets.

Town councillors in Stonava, located in the heavily industrialized eastern part of the country, have agreed to use municipal funds to pay for a fortnight’s health holiday for all the towns 122 children. The children are to spend a fortnights holiday at the seaside. The town’s major, Ondřej Fébr, said it was the least the town could do for its youngest inhabitants who were forced to live in one of the most polluted environments of Europe. Statistics show that the inhabitants of this region are more prone to certain health problems, such as asthma and allergies.

European Union finance ministers have agreed a massive package of funding to stop the spread of Greek financial crisis and save the euro zone from collapse. The Czech Republic escaped lightly from the latest financial commitments. But the wave of concern about European governments ability to pay their way and not live on borrowed time and money will focus even more attention on the fiscal steps of the next Czech government in power.

Finance Minister Eduard Janota has not ruled out Czech participation in an EU effort to shore up the troubled eurozone. Speaking in a televised debate on Sunday minister Janota said several aid-mechanisms were on the table of a meeting of the 27 EU finance ministers in Brussels later that day. The Czech finance minister said that either way the Czech economy would feel the impact of this crisis as a result of growing interests on state bonds. The Czech Finance Ministry had been planning a new emission of euro bonds but is now considering whether to issue any new bonds at all.

An open air festival featuring live bands, theatre performances and events for children was held in Prague and Brno on Sunday to celebrate Europe Day.

The event was co-organized by EC representatives, the respective town halls and the ministries of education and culture. The ideas behind what is now the European Union were first put forward in Paris on 9 May 1950, against the background of the instability and the need to rebuild a shattered Europe.

The European Union’s commissioner for enlargement, Štefan Füle, says Croatia has closed only around half of the chapters it needs to qualify for membership. Speaking to the Czech News Agency, the Czech politician said for that reason the European Commission was wary of estimating when the Croats could join the bloc. Mr Füle said it bore in mind Zagreb’s stated intention of completing membership talks by the end of this year, adding that how much would be achieved depended on the applicant.

Member states of the Eurozone are discussing ways of helping Greece and its debt-laden economy, while there are growing concerns about some other countries that use the single European currency. But what will the crisis mean for the Czech Republic, which is itself hoping to adopt the euro in around five years’ time?

Czech President Václav Klaus has said that Germany must be prepared to bear the negative effects of European integration it always championed. Speaking at Humboldt University in Berlin on Thursday, Mr Klaus said that freedom and prosperity in Europe are at risk, and that the Lisbon treaty had failed to bring more democracy to the European Union. According to the Czech president, EU enlargement had caused the bloc to lose its decision-making potential. Mr Klaus also drew a parallel between the European Union and communism saying that both deny nations equality and sovereignty. Despite the existence of the formal posts of EU president and foreign minister, and the EU flag and anthem, it is Germany and France who wield the real power, President Klaus added.

In related news, a majority of Czechs oppose the adoption of the Euro for the time since 2001, according to a survey by the CVVM agency released on Thursday. 55 percent of those polled said they did not want the Czech Republic to adopt the single European currency, while 38 percent would welcome it. In 2001, 52 percent of Czechs supported the adoption of the euro. Among the opponents of the euro are supporters of the Social Democrats and Communists, elderly people and people with low living standards.

Uncertainty reigns in Europe as Greek leaders wait anxiously for Germany to agree on a bailout plan for the country’s debt-laden economy. Analysts fear if Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel continues to dither, the euro could be pulled into the abyss as other debt-ridden countries such as Spain and Portugal follow suit. But one man telling Europe ‘I told you so’ is President Václav Klaus, who says the euro is the cause of Greek woes.