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A group of right-wing senators have announced they will file a new constitutional complaint against the Lisbon treaty on September 29th. Senator Jiri Oberfalzer of the Civic Democrats said the group was petitioning the Constitutional Court to assess the treaty’s compliance with the Czech constitutional order. The complaint is likely to further delay the treaty’s ratification. Parts of the treaty came under the court’s scrutiny last year following a similar complaint by senators, but the court then ruled that the respective passages were in line with the Czech Constitution.

The Czech government called on a group of Civic Democrat senators on Wednesday not to delay their constitutional complaint concerning the Lisbon treaty. The cabinet said that postponing the completion of the treaty’s ratification process would negatively affect the Czech Republic’s standing within the EU.

Both chambers of the Czech parliament approved the EU’s reform document earlier this year. However, President Václav Klaus refused to put his signature to it and finalize the ratification process. He said he would wait for a group of Euro-sceptic Civic Democrat senators to file a petition to the Constitutional Court to see whether the Lisbon treaty is in line with Czech law. The senators expect the petition will be ready by early October. Meanwhile, the cabinet said on Wednesday there was no reason to delay the complaint.

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance criticized what it called ‘a disturbing intensification’ in right-wing activity in the Czech Republic on Tuesday, including the ‘setting up of a uniformed paramilitary group by one political party’. The commission said that right-wing hate groups in the Czech Republic were predominantly targeting Roma, and that crimes against this minority included a murder in 2007. The report issued by the commission said that repeated demonstrations by extreme right-wing groups were ‘escalating tensions’ and ‘leading to violent acts’. The commission blamed high-ranking politicians and sections of the media in the Czech Republic for fanning discrimination with anti-Roma statements.

The move by the Social Democrats to renege on an earlier decision and say it was now not backing the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, caught most observers by surprise on Tuesday. The question is what will be the impact on the country?

Some Czech politicians have warned that due to the postponement of general elections, the Czech Republic might lose its seat on the European Commission. If a candidate is picked by the current caretaker government, they would have a weak mandate, according to the main Czech parties. But Sweden, which now heads the EU, says the current Commission should stay in place – until the future of the Lisbon treaty is clear.

German MEP Jo Leinen, who chairs the parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs, warned the Czech Republic of isolation on Thursday over a constitutional complaint regarding the Lisbon Treaty filed by a group of Czech senators. Mr Leinen said that the Czech Republic risked isolation and a weakened position in the European Union, and that the EU should not allow a single head of a member state to obstruct the passage of the reform treaty. The complaint, made largely by members of the Civic Democratic Party, is seen by critics even in the Czech Republic as stalling tactic allowing President Klaus to defer his signing of the treaty and thereby its ratification.

The Czech Republic’s best known opponent of daylight saving time, Stanislav Pecka, has died. For nearly three decades Mr Pecka campaigned against the practice of getting more light out of the day by advancing clocks by one hour in summer, even taking a complaint against the system to the European Court of Human Rights. He began fighting the concept in 1981, two years after daylight saving time was introduced in Czechoslovakia. Mr Pecka believed the system was injurious to health.

Two years after a breakthrough verdict by the European Court for Human Rights which denounced racial segregation in Czech schools, Romany children still face widespread discrimination. That’s the conclusion of a group of Czech NGOs that say the Czech Education Ministry has shown good will but has introduced few practical measures to improve the situation.

Former presidential candidate Jan Švejnar has definitively rejected a nomination by the Christian Democrats to become the new Czech EU commissioner, party leader Cyril Svoboda told reporters on Monday. Although Mr Švejnar originally accepted the nomination, he later changed his mind realizing the controversy that is likely to break out over the post, which must be approved by all parties.

The new Czech EU commissioner, who will replace Vladimír Špidla, will most likely be appointed after the elections. According to some diplomats, this will narrow the negotiation options about the commissioner’s portfolio.

The Ministry of Regional Development has released data on the use of EU funds in the Czech budget. In the 2004-2006 budget years the Czech Republic received 1.64 billion euros, which constitutes 98% of the amount available for that period. Projects financed from the funds included the creation of nearly 22,000 jobs and new water services for almost 60,000 households. The current 2007-2013 budget period allows financing of up to 26.7 billion euros, of which the Regional Development Ministry has so far requested roughly one fifth, spread out over some 12,000 approved projects.