Related articles

The first five star hotel in the Czech Republic has been awarded the prestigious EU-Eco Label award for environmental friendliness. The Hotel Chateau Mcely near Nymburk in the central Bohemian countryside may be luxuriously equipped and charge up to 44 000Kc (2,700 US dollars) a night for it's most exclusive suite, but it is certainly not lavish at the expense of the environment. Every care has been taken to ensure that while guests are pampered and indulged, they are treated in a way which is ecologically responsible as well as. This has meant

Just days ago the country’s Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek suggested that Czech recognition of Kosovo was a decision that would have wait. But at the weekend he changed his mind: now he has said he will push for the government to officially recognise the former Serb province ahead of the upcoming NATO summit. The decision won’t be an easy one: coalition members the Christian Democrats have already signalled they are against.

The European Commission has taken an interest in the high noise levels Czechs are subjected to across the country. From noisy roads to squeaky trains, apparently hundreds of thousands of people in the country are suffering. Now, the European Commission has set a deadline for the country to act.

In January 2009, the Czech Republic will for the first time assume the EU presidency. But the current Czech coalition government may have a problem – its policies have often seemed hostile to European consensus politics. With bilateral negotiations between the government and the US on a proposed radar base as well as a visa waiver programme, many have the impression that the current government, like its Polish counterpart, is hostile to the EU.

The Czech Communist Party will propose a referendum on the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. The party’s deputy chair Jiří Dolejš said on Friday that the Communists would submit a proposal to this end to Parliament’ lower house next week because they believed citizens themselves should decide on the Treaty, rather than the Czech Parliament. The communist proposal is not expected to succeed as other parties had already announced they wanted Parliament to ratify the new EU treaty. The ruling Civic Democrats, however, are considering approaching the Constitutional Court to find out whether the Lisbon Treaty does not contradict the Czech constitution.

The Czech Parliament on Wednesday opened debate on the Lisbon Treaty signed in December of 2007 by the EU’s 27 member states. The treaty replaces the controversial EU Constitution, rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005, and is expected to fundamentally alter the way the EU is run. Although Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek officially signed the document in Portugal last year, it is no secret that his Civic Democratic Party is far from happy with it. I asked political analyst Petr Just whether he anticipated problems in the course of its

The Chamber of Deputies is to hold its first discussion of the Treaty of Lisbon next week, the deputy chairman of the lower house’s foreign affairs committee told reporters. Also known as the Reform Treaty, the document amends the existing treaties of the European Union and replaces a failed EU constitution. However after the Czech lower house’s first reading of the treaty, the matter will be put on ice, possibly until after the summer. If all 27 members of the EU ratify the document, it should come into effect at the start of next year, during the Czech Republic’s presidency of the union.

Charles Grant is the director of the Centre for European Reform, one of the UK’s leading pro-EU think tanks. When we met in Prague recently, the conversation ranged from next year’s Czech presidency of the European Union to whether the Czechs should adopt the euro. But my first question for Charles Grant was: what impact have the recent enlargements had on the EU?

The Czech government has announced that it may block a proposed plan by the European Commission to auction Carbon Dioxide permits after 2012. The proposals, which have been broadly welcomed across Europe, extend the EUs Emissions Trading Scheme, which seeks to cut CO2 emissions by 20% on 1990 levels by 2020. The current trading system allows companies free emissions permits, but in future they will have to buy these allowances, significantly increasing costs. Several new EU states have voiced opposition to the plans, saying that the proposals would hurt their more coal-dependant economies.

Expatriates coming to the Czech Republic often find themselves shocked by the charges levied by banks on customers in the country. Postings on the expats.cz message board entitled “Ripoff banks Newcomers Beware” sum it up: “I am completely horrified,” writes one blogger; “Insane” says another, “What do you expect, they are making a fortune!” says a third.