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The International Monetary Fund said late Wednesday it had signed an agreement with the Czech Republic to borrow up to 1.03 billion euros (1.4 billion dollars) to boost its lending capacity. The Group of 20 developed and developing countries committed in April 2009 to triple the IMF's resources so the Washington-based institution would be better positioned to help struggling member nations amid the global economic crisis. To date, 17 IMF members, including 11 EU countries, have signed agreements with the Fund to increase its financing capacity, either through direct loans or bond purchases.

The Czech and Slovak prime ministers discussed a number of topics in the Czech town of Sezimovo Ústí on Tuesday. Among the main items on the agenda of talks between Jan Fischer and Robert Fico was energy security, in particular the planned completion of a nuclear power station at Jaslovské Bohunice in Slovakia. The two leaders also spoke about road and motorway construction, and their states working together in the European Union and NATO. Mr Fico said relations between Slovaks and Czechs were better than they had been when the two nations were part of one country.

The mass production of meta-amphetamine in illegal laboratories remains the biggest single problem faced by the Czech police when it comes to drug crime. The head of the police’s anti-drug force, Jakub Frydrych, told reporters on Tuesday the situation was partly caused by the availability of over-the-counter medicines containing pseudo-ephedrine, which is used to make meta-amphetamine. Mr Frydrych said the Czech Republic continued to be Europe’s biggest producer of the drug; he added that the difficulty of securing convictions was a bigger issue than the actual number of illegal labs. Last year 314 labs were uncovered by the police; in 2008 the figure was 434.

Czech President Václav Klaus met NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe, Admiral James Stavridis, at Prague Castle on Tuesday. Their talks were dominated by the issue of the Czech Republic’s military presence in Afghanistan, with Admiral Stavridis reiterating NATO’s request for more soldiers to be sent. The Czech Parliament is set to vote on a proposal to increase the number of Czech soldiers there by around 10 percent. However, the planned troop increase could be blocked by the left-wing parties in the lower house. There are currently 535 Czech troops in Afghanistan; the government wants to send 55 more.

The foreign minister, Jan Kohout, has told the Czech weekly Respekt that the Czech ambassador to the EU, Milena Vicenová, will be recalled from her post. The weekly published the information on its website on Friday. In the interview, Mr Kohout confirmed the move was part of a number of changes in Czech ambassadorial posts abroad. Earlier, it was speculated that Mrs Vicenová could be succeeded by the Czech ambassador to Greece. Foreign Minister Kohout, meanwhile, is due to meet with Mrs Vicenová on Monday to discuss possible moves; he said that he was expecting her to stay on in Czech diplomacy if she wants to do so.

The Czech minister for European affairs, Juraj Chmiel, has outlined country’s priorities for the upcoming EU summit that should deal with the bloc’s economic strategy entitled Europe 2020. Speaking at the Senate on Thursday, Mr Chmiel said these priorities included employment, qualitative economic growth and competitiveness. Minister Chmiel also criticized the European Commission for the lack of emphasis on structural reform, and for not taking into account the national specifics of individual EU member states.

The European Union is set to debate the Europe 2020 strategy document at a summit in Brussels next week. It proposes a number of goals the EU should meet in ten years’ time. Some Czech senators, including the former deputy prime minister for European affairs Alexandr Vondra, criticized the proposal on Thursday for being too vague and for not providing concrete ways of meeting its targets.

The European Commission has criticized the Czech Republic for insufficient safety checks on aircraft. The commission said on Thursday that the Czech Republic and Greece were the only EU countries that have failed to incorporate EU laws concerning safety checks on airplanes into their legislation. The EU directive, covering aircraft inspections, possible measures for unsafe aircraft and standards for the training and qualification of inspectors, should have entered Czech law by October 2008. However, the Czech Republic only implemented parts of the EU directive. The Czech Republic now has two months to comply with the request; the commission warned that if Prague fails to do so, it will file a complaint with the European Court of Justice.

The Czech Republic has come under fire in a report by human rights watchdog Amnesty International for exporting torture equipment to countries where they are likely to be used. Amnesty says the export of items like shackles that give electric shocks raise real concerns that clear EU rules banning trade in torture equipment are being breached.

Detectives from the organised crime department of the Czech Police have uncovered what is likely one of the most prolific forgery gangs in Europe. A 61-year-old Czech woman and an Albanian have already been charged; another two foreigners from Britain and Romania will be charged in the coming days. The group, which may consist of more members, has allegedly been responsible for the forgery of at least several hundred documents. At least one of the members was bringing passports to Germany for Iranians who wanted to travel to Canada. Other documents forged by the group have been found in the UK and in Spain. Police began working on the case in May of last year and have involved other detectives from across Europe to find the suspects. If convicted they face up to ten years in prison.

Labour costs in the Czech Republic grew in the fourth quarter of 2009 by more than almost any other EU country. Eurostat reported on Wednesday that hourly labour costs in the country had gone up by up 5.4% compared to the same period in 2008. Only Bulgaria, Austria and Poland showed higher growth, with 11.3, 6.5 and 5.7%, respectively. Growth of labour costs was negative in the other countries for which there is information available, primarily in Lithuania, where it fell by nearly 11%. Eurostat showed the average growth in the EU at 2.4% and in the Euro-zone at 2.2% year on year.