Related articles

The European Union and China have agreed to increase co-operation in the field of environmentally friendly development with a view to decreasing greenhouse gases. At a summit at Prague Castle on Wednesday afternoon, held as part of the Czech Republic’s six-month presidency of the EU, the two sides also signed a science and technology partnership that European officials hope will reduce copyright piracy in China, and a joint statement on an EU-China clean energy centre. The meeting, chaired by Czech President Václav Klaus, was attended by China’s prime minister, Wen Jiabao, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

The last scheduled EU-China meeting was cancelled in December over Beijing’s opposition to a meeting between Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, when France held the rotating EU presidency.

European ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros is in Prague this Wednesday as part of a campaign to raise awareness about what he can do to protect European residents’ rights. Mr Diamandouros receives around 3,500 complaints a year, mainly regarding discrimination or maladministration in EU institutions. But what is his job exactly, and how can he help Czechs? I met Nikiforos Diamandouros to find out:

The Czech branch of Amnesty International has announced it will be holding a “parallel summit” on human rights violations in China on Wednesday to coincide with an EU-China summit hosted by the Czech Republic. The new Czech government has come under pressure from human rights organizations to raise the issues of human rights and the environment in talks with Chinese leaders. On Monday the Green Party presented Prime Minister Jan Fischer with a petition to that end, and members of the Friends of Tibet parliamentary group were rebuffed in their attempt to give the petition to President Václav Klaus, who is chairing the summit. The summit agenda is to cover the global economic crisis, the environment and economic relations between the EU and China, which is the EU’s primary trade partner after the US.

The Czech Green Party has handed a petition to interim Prime Minister Jan Fischer calling for human rights observance to be discussed at the upcoming EU-China summit to be held in Prague. On Monday morning, Green deputy Kateřina Jacques and head of the Czech branch of Amnesty International Daša van der Horstová handed the petition to the new prime minister and Minister for Minorities and Human Rights Michael Kocáb. Jan Fischer, who is set to have bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao before the summit which will be chaired by president Václav Klaus, said that he would read the petition thoroughly before making up his mind whether to raise the issue of human rights violations with the Beijing delegation. Ms Jacques and other members of the Friends of Tibet parliamentary group already tried to hand the petition to Czech President Václav Klaus who refused to receive them on Friday.

Czech President Václav Klaus on Wednesday announced that he had no ambitions to chair a high-profile summit of EU leaders in June, proposing that the task should go to the country’s newly appointed interim Prime Minister Jan Fischer. The statement ended weeks of speculation that the Eurosceptic Czech head of state would use the gathering as a platform for his anti-reformist views.

There was much rejoicing in Europe last week when Czech senators voted in favour of ratifying the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty, which aims to streamline the way the EU is run with 27 members. But many senators from the centre-right Civic Democratic Party voted against the treaty, and on Tuesday several of them met President Václav Klaus, who also opposes the document – and who must sign the treaty into law for ratification to be complete.

The Eastern Partnership is an EU initiative which sets out to strengthen ties with six of the bloc’s Eastern neighbours; amongst them, Ukraine, Georgia and, most controversially, Belarus. The idea, championed by the Czech presidency of the European Union, was launched formally in Prague on Thursday.

The Czech EU presidency says that a normalization of EU-Cuban relations should be conditioned by respect for human rights on the island. Following a meeting with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriques in Brussels, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout said it was important to maintain pressure on Havana to respect human rights. He said that when the EU delegation inquired about the health of political prisoners in Cuba, they had been told there were no political prisoners on the island. Despite this, the block’s development commissioner Luis Michel is pushing for the EU to normalize relations with Cuba as swiftly as possible on the grounds that the US is doing the same.

The new Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer will visit EU headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday in a bid to shore up confidence in his country's EU presidency, following a change-of-guard in Prague. The interim prime minister will meet with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, employment commissioner Vladimir Špidla and Belgian's Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy. Mr. Fischer has repeatedly stressed that his interim government would do its utmost to ensure a smooth transition and fulfill the country’s role as EU leader.

Three-quarters of Czechs are of the opinion that the country’s EU membership offers them better living conditions and work opportunities, but it also leads to increasing red tape, according to the latest poll conducted by the CVVM agency. Enumerating the advantages, respondents praised subsidies from EU funds and said membership had increased the country’s visibility. Among the disadvantages cited was the brain drain to other EU states and the limitations imposed by EU legislation. The Czech Republic joined the EU in May, 2004.