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The Czech government is planning to sue the European Commission for nearly CZK 250 million, TV Prima reported. Brussels has deducted that amount from the total that was to be granted to the Czech Republic from EU funds this year; the European Commission says the Czechs embezzled it from its Phare programme aimed at small and medium-sized businesses in the 1990s. A Czech Regional Development Ministry spokesperson told Prima the government was now demanding the money. In 2005 Czech police accused ten people, including a former senior official from the Regional Development Ministry, of attempted embezzlement of the funds. The Czech finance minister, Miroslav Kalousek, has said the European Commission is partly to blame, since its officials were the main controllers of the flow of money.

The Czech Republic will have a programme of events for its six-month presidency of the European Union ready by the end of this year, the deputy prime minister for European affairs, Alexandr Vondra, told the lower house’s European affairs committee on Thursday. The Czech prime minister, Mirek Topolánek, will present the schedule to the European Parliament for approval in the second week of January, Mr Vondra said. The Czech Republic will assume the presidency of the EU for the first time in the country’s history on January 1.

On Thursday the leader of the opposition Social Democrats, Jiří Paroubek, said his party would co-operate with the government on some matters during the EU presidency to ensure that it runs smoothly. Mr Paroubek said the presidency should not be a show of one party, government or individual, but was a matter for the whole of the Czech Republic, including its regions and citizens.

President Václav Klaus makes a three-day state visit to Ireland next week, where he’s to meet his Irish counterpart Mary McAleese and other senior officials. But it’s his plans to attend a private dinner with leading Irish euro-sceptic Declan Ganley that has ruffled feathers, with some Irish politicians complaining that Mr Klaus is meddling in Ireland’s internal affairs. The Czech Republic takes over the revolving presidency of the EU on January 1st, and one of its tasks will be trying to resuscitate the EU’s Lisbon Treaty – rejected by Irish voters

The Czech government and Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek in particular have signaled their intention to invite Barack Obama - the new President-elect of the United States - to the Czech Republic in early 2009. The purpose: to attend an informal EU summit to be held in Prague in the spring. The visit would coincide with the Czech Republic’s term presiding over the EU, which begins on January 1. Dominik Jun spoke to political commentator Erik Best and asked him how important a visit by the newly sworn-in President Barack Obama would be:

The Czech Republic will not, after all, ratify the Lisbon treaty before it takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union in just eight weeks’ time. Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, who only a fortnight ago gave assurances that Prague would ratify the document by January 1, now says Parliament will not vote on it until next year.

Speculation that the French intended to limit Czech powers during the country’s first EU presidency was dispelled on Friday when French President Nicolas Sarkozy played host to Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek. The two statesmen discussed ways of ensuring continued unity and a smooth handover of the presidency in January. Both expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the meeting.

Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg has expressed backing for Balkan countries joining the EU even ahead of adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, the document intended to reform the functioning of the European Union. He made the comment during a lecture on Friday, saying that the Balkans joining the EU was in the interest of all of Europe. France, Germany, and other countries have suggested that further enlargement of the 27-member union should be halted at least until the treaty is ratified. But Mr Schwarzenberg said such a position was wrong, especially in Croatia’s case. Sources have said that Croatia could theoretically conclude its talks with the EU by the end of 2009, paving the way for full membership in 2012.

The Constitutional Court is to announce its verdict on whether the Lisbon treaty is in line with the Czech constitution two weeks later than originally planned, at the request of President Václav Klaus. The court had been due to deliver its ruling on November 10, but will now do so on November 25. Mr Klaus, a fierce critic of the treaty, will be abroad in mid November; he said he wanted to be in the country when the judgment is announced, so he can take part in the public debate on the matter. The Czech prime minister, Mirek Topolánek, said recently he hoped the Czech Parliament would vote on Lisbon by the end of the year.

The Czech Republic, which takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union in January, is one of the few EU states not to have ratified the reform treaty. However, the document’s whole future has been in doubt since it was rejected by voters in Ireland in June.

It was a weekend of accusations and soul-searching for the main governing party, the Civic Democrats, in the wake of a second terrible drubbing at the hands of the left-wing opposition. Party leader Mirek Topolánek is under severe pressure to resign his leadership, and perhaps the prime minister’s post as well. A campaign to unseat him appears to be gaining momentum, with the tacit approval of the Civic Democrats’ honorary chairman, president Václav Klaus. So can he survive, and what does all this political instability mean for a country which

In an interview with French paper Le Monde on Saturday, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said that he did not agree with the way his country had been portrayed in the European press in the last week, saying that Czechs were no more eurosceptic than any other nation in Europe. Mr Schwarzenberg said that President Klaus may be known abroad for his euroscepticism, but it was not the president, it was the government, which decided upon foreign policy. The Czech foreign minister said he was wary of Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans to increase the power of the Eurogroup during the Czech Republic’s EU presidency – saying that any move which split the union up into ‘old Europe’ and ‘New Europe’ could not lead to overall solidarity.