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The Czech Republic will fail to meet the EU´s demand for cutting its state budget deficit below 3 percent of GDP by 2013, Finance Minister Eduard Janota said in Thursday’s edition of the daily Lidové noviny. He said the government would have to officially disclose the news to Brussels by the end of January, together with its convergence programme and exit strategy.

EU finance ministers warned the Czech Republic in early December that the country would have to cut its budget gap below 3 percent of GDP by 2013 if it is to be able to adopt the euro in the medium-term horizon. The Czech Republic’s 2009 deficit of 195 billion crowns, four times higher than expected, and its projected 2010 deficit of 163 billion, have thwarted the government’s plans.

Parliamentary hearings to assess the suitability of candidates for the new European Commission are underway in Brussels with the spotlight now on Štefan Füle, the Czech commissioner-designate for enlargement and neighbourhood policy. Mr. Füle, an experienced career diplomat, is generally seen as highly suitable for the post, but some members of the European Parliament have questioned his communist past.

The Czech ambassador to the European Union, Milena Vicenová, says she considers it essential to work on correcting the Czech Republic’s Eurosceptic reputation. In an interview for Czech Radio, Ms Vicenová said this widespread view was in many ways undeserved since it does not reflect the opinions of the general public, which are overwhelmingly pro-EU. The Czech ambassador said this negative image was hard to fight and stemmed largely from President Václav Klaus’s anti-EU sentiments, but also from the country’s frequent inability to present its views clearly and at the right time. She said it was time to convince the EU member states that the Czech Republic was trustworthy, willing to pull its weight and was capable of listening to others.

Under a new law that comes into effect on Monday, Czech firms and entrepreneurs will from now on find it far easier to provide all kinds of services in other European Union states. The EU directive behind the legislation does away with a lot of the paperwork that such cross-border work previously entailed.

Although the Czech Republic is regarded as one of the most atheistic countries in Europe, an opinion survey conducted by the STEM polling agency suggests that 39 percent of Czechs will attend Christmas mass. Thirty-two percent of the population identify themselves as “believers”, with forty percent of those being older than 60.

Czech traffic police have announced they are going to begin giving breathalyser tests during all inspections as of January 1, making the Czech Republic the only country in the European Union to do so. At present, police carry out alcohol tests at random, and are obliged to do so only in the case of traffic accidents. Police hope the measure will curb a consistent rise in deaths caused by alcohol-related accidents, of which there were 83 between January and November of this year.

Now, what do champagne, Roquefort cheese and Melton Mowbray pork pies all have in common? Well, you might not want to eat them all at once for one thing, but more importantly they all enjoy “Protected Geographical Status” from the European Union. Meaning that Roquefort cheese must be matured in the natural caves of Roquefort to be sold under the name ‘Roquefort’, and so on. EU countries have fought fierce battles over the coveted ‘protected’ label, and the latest hostilities are brewing between the Czech Republic and Poland…this time over

Czech Deputy European Affairs Minister Marek Mora told the lower house’s EU committee on Thursday that a Spanish proposal to increase the number of MEPs will be a sensitive issue for the Czech Republic at the upcoming EU summit in Brussels. Mr Mora told MPs that bringing up questions of EU primary law just days after the Lisbon treaty entered into force was “very politically sensitive”, but he did not hint what the Czech position would be.

European Affairs Minister Juraj Chmiel told the committee that the Czech Republic would support an agreement on the reduction of greenhouse gasses emissions that was just and binding for all.

It is well known that the Czech Republic’s Roma minority suffer from a wide variety of social problems, including relatively high levels of unemployment and low levels of educational attainment. Many say they are frequently the victims of discrimination – a claim that has now been borne out by a new European Union study. In fact, it found that Czech Roma suffer more discrimination than any other ethnic minority in the whole of the EU.

Czech President Václav Klaus and his Greek counterpart Karolos Papulias agreed on Wednesday that Turkey should be one of the Balkan states to be allowed to join the European Union, provided that it fulfills all conditions imposed by the EU. Mr. Papulias is visiting Prague to discuss Czech-Greek trade relations, EU issues and the upcoming climate summit in Copenhagen. Mr. Klaus made no secret of the fact that he disagrees with the Greek president on climate issues and stated that the best possible outcome of the summit would be no agreement at all. Mr. Papulias, who is traveling with an entourage of Greek entrepreneurs, is to meet Prime Minister Jan Fischer and will stay in the Czech Republic until Friday.