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Croatia’s quick entry to the EU will be one of the Czech Republic’s priorities during its EU presidency, said Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek during an official visit of Croatia. He made the statement after a meeting with his Croatian counterpart Ivo Sanader on Monday, adding that the Czech Republic also supports Croatia’s admission to NATO. Prime Minister Topolánek, who is accompanied by Industry and Trade Minister Martin Říman, has also discussed economic cooperation and trade between the two countries.

In July, the paper Mladá fronta Dnes exposed neglect and abuse in a care home for the elderly in Prague. This Tuesday, the minister for human rights Džamila Stehlíková met some of the Czech Republic’s leading gerontologists to discuss the problem and unveil a template for seniors’ rights. Iva Holmerová is the head of the Czech Society of Gerontology, and one of Minister Stehlíková’s leading advisors on the issue. When I met Doctor Holmerová earlier today, she said that the care scandal was only part of a wider picture:

Maintaining Georgia’s territorial integrity and helping the reconstruction of the country following the recent armed conflict with Russia: those are priorities outlined on Wednesday by the Czech government ahead of next week’s EU summit.

Advertising the Czech Republic’s EU presidency will cost the government 26 million crowns (1.6 million USD), Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Monday. The paper says that devising a logo for the country’s EU presidency has cost the Czech state 50,000 crowns (just over 3,000 USD), while gifts, and pamphlets about the presidency, have already cost nearly 18 million crowns (1.1 million crowns). The rest of the sum has been put towards decorating government buildings and working out an overall visual scheme for the presidency. Prague will take over from Paris at the head of the European Union in January 2009. The Czech Republic is the second post-communist country to take over the EU presidency, after Slovenia.

In this week's Business News: the Czech government has decided to end state subsidies for school milk programmes; why Czech banks are cutting mortgage rates and why the country is being flooded by ever cheaper imported Chinese shoes; new data from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions suggests that Czech worker pay has fallen by 1.3 percent in the last year and a a key member of the Czech National Bank’s board has said that he does not recommend that the Czech Republic adopt the Euro in the near future

"This is not 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia, where Russia can threaten its neighbours, occupy a capital, overthrow a government, and get away with it. Things have changed," US secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said ahead of her trip to Georgia. She is not the only politician to have drawn that comparison. In an exclusive interview for Czech Radio on Thursday President Klaus publicly rejected it, saying that both sides were equally to blame in the conflict over South Ossetia.

The Czech Republic has the fourth lowest level of part-time work in the Europe Union, according to a study by Eurostat. Only 5 percent of Czech workers have part-time jobs, compared to 46.8 percent in the Netherlands, the EU state with the highest percentage in part-time employment. A new bill to be put forward by the Czech Labour Minister Petr Nečas later this year is intended to make it easier to allow the parents of young children to work part time.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his Czech counterpart Václav Klaus have said Ireland has a key role to play in the future of the Lisbon Treaty, following Irish voters’ rejection of the document. The two heads of state said that resolving the issue would require time and patience. After talks at the Czech presidential residence at Lány near Prague on Thursday, Mr Kaczynski said without Ireland’s ratification Lisbon did not exist. But he said Poland would not impede ratification of the treaty, which is intended to reform the running of the European Union. For his part, Mr Klaus, who is a euro-sceptic, is firmly opposed to further EU integration; he welcomed the Irish “No” vote last month.

The Czech Parliament is due to vote on the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon towards the end of this year, after the Czech Constitutional Court rules on whether it is in line with the Czech constitution.

The future of the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty was the main issue on the agenda when Czech President Václav Klaus played host to his Polish counterpart Lech Kaczynski on Thursday. The media speculation was that the Polish president was on a mission to persuade the euro-sceptic Mr Klaus to tone down his marked opposition to Lisbon. If that was the case, it was mission unaccomplished.

Croatia could be admitted to the European Union on the basis of the Nice treaty, Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek has said on Monday, rejecting the view of the current EU presidency that the union could only be enlarged after the ratification of the Lisbon treaty. Mr Topolánek said that the document approved in Nice in 2000 counted on inclusion of Bulgaria and Romania, adding that a formal extension of the treaty would also allow for the admission for Croatia.