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The vice president of the European Commission Franco Fratinni has been paying a brief visit to Prague. Mr Fratinni came to the Czech capital in his capacity as commissioner for justice and home affairs, and on Thursday held talks with the Czech interior minister, Ivan Langer, and justice minister, Jiri Pospisil. High on the agenda was the enlargement of Schengen later this year, when the Czech Republic and nine other states will be admitted to the border-free zone.

EU member states have failed to agree to normalise ties with Cuba, opting instead to extend a suspension of sanctions on the country, European diplomats said on Thursday. Some of the 27 member states, led by Spain which normalised its relations with Cuba in April, are in favour of definitively dropping the sanctions which were introduced in 2003 but suspended two years later. But objections continue to be voiced, notably from Britain, the Czech Republic and Sweden which believe normalisation should not take place without democratic reforms in Cuba, the diplomats said. A proposal put forward by the German EU presidency on Wednesday to normalise ties was rejected at a meeting of EU diplomats ahead of a foreign ministers' meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.

EU Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel made clear in Luxembourg this week that she is in favour of a School Fruit plan that would reinforce nutrition in schools and help fight childhood obesity while also helping European fruit producers. Under the plan, the European Union would buy fruit from EU farmers which would then end up in the classroom. Children would be given soft fruit - apples or pears - free of charge. The cost of the far-reaching project so far is estimated at 200 million Euros, which would apparently be covered in part from the EU

The Senate has passed a package of legislative changes that are needed for the country's entry to the Schengen system. The bill that simultaneously amends fourteen laws was smoothly passed by the lower house a few weeks ago. It has yet to be signed by President Vaclav Klaus. The Czech Republic is to join the Schengen border free zone on January 1, 2008 when checks will be lifted all along its border.

The Czech Republic has been enjoying record exports and new figures released this week show that the trend is far from over. In the first four months of this year, companies operating in the Czech Republic exported products worth 792 billion crowns (close to 37 billion USD). This is 117 billion crowns, or 17.4 percent, more than at the same time last year. The remarkable growth is mainly thanks to a revival of imports from the eurozone. But economic analysts say that neighbouring Slovakia, whose economy has been booming, is also playing an important

Opposition leader Jiri Paroubek says in an article published in Monday's Lidove Noviny that the radar project would be acceptable if it were part of NATO s joint defense and if Czechs themselves could decide by means of a referendum where it should be located. In related news, President Klaus on Monday slammed the Social Democrat's cautious stand on the US radar, saying it had been the Social Democrat government which started secret talks on the radar with Washington and had not even bothered to inform the head of state about them.

Russia has warned it would once again aim its missiles at targets in Europe if the Czech Republic and Poland should agree to host a US radar base and interceptor missiles on their territory. President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying on Sunday that if the American nuclear capability widens across European territory then Russia would give itself new targets in Europe. Mr. Putin acknowledged that Russia's response risked starting an arms race, but he said Moscow would not be responsible for the consequences because Washington had started it.

In Business News this week: the EC raps the Czech Republic on the knuckles for breaking a promise to bring the public finance gap below 3.3 percent; the Czech central bank increased interest rates by a quarter of a percent; the number of ASDL internet connections doubles in one year; the Czech government takes the first step towards privatising Budejovicky Budvar, while European beer enthusiasts urge it not to; and Czech drinks maker Kofola increases its sales by 20 percent in one year.

The Czech central bank raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point. The benchmark two-week repo rate has increased to 2.75 percent, which is the lowest in the European Union. The Czech National Bank last raised interest rates eight months ago, also by a quarter of a percent, though at that time the hike surprised analysts.

It came as no surprise on Wednesday but that took no edge of the news: the European Commission's issuing of a warning to the Czech Republic for not doing enough to rein in its public deficit. With an increase in expenditures the Czech Republic is set this year to miss the EU's mark of keeping the deficit below 3 percent of the GDP as part of its convergence requirements.