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Meanwhile, the president of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell, has defended two leading MEPs who recently criticised the Czech president for his opposition to the European Constitution. Mr Klaus called for an apology after Alejo Vidal-Quadras and Jo Leinen said he was misleading Czech voters on the issue, and could lead the Czech Republic into isolation. On Friday the Czech president refused to react to Mr Borrell's statement, saying it was an insufficient response to a letter of complaint he had sent to the president of the European Parliament.

The European Parliament has passed a resolution calling for the removal of a pig farm from the site of a Nazi concentration camp near the south Bohemian village of Lety. Over 1,200 Czech Romanies were interned there in 1942 before being sent to Auschwitz. Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek said on Friday he would be in favour of removing the pig farm, while President Vaclav Klaus said it was a matter for the Czech Republic, not the EU. Mr Klaus said most MEPs did not have enough information about the issue.

Czech National Bank (CNB) makes surprise cut in key interest rate; CNB governor says lower inflation forecast reason for cut, predicts higher growth; Finance Ministry also revised downwards its inflation forecast, sees higher growth; Vaclav Fischer and Karel Komarek file rival bankruptcy claims over Fischer's assets; Czechs to join EU to push for measures against Chinese textiles; Senate strikes down proposal relating to management of listed companies; Civic Democrats to push for 15 percent 'flat tax';

A European Parliament report adopted on Thursday says that Hungary, Lithuania and Poland have done best in adopting European Union legislation but the Czech Republic is bottom of the new class. The report showed all 10 countries which joined the bloc last May have done better than critics forecast in implementing the 1,579 directives related to the EU single market. It says that the Czech Republic has yet to transpose 9.6 percent of EU legislation into national law, improve laws on recognition of professional qualifications, implement EU legislation on equal treatment of men and women at work and improve legislation on the protection of personal data.

It has been now one year since the Czech Republic joined the European Union. Radio Prague's Fahima Khail talks to Vaclav Havel and other politicians to assess where the Czech Republic stands in the EU today.

The Czech President Vaclav Klaus has found himself embroiled in a huge row with leading members of the European Parliament. Earlier this week two Euro-MPs, including the parliament's deputy president, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, accused Mr Klaus of using unfair means and lies to deceive the Czech public into rejecting the planned European constitution. They warned that he was leading the country into isolation, and they argue that he is the only anti-constitution head of state in the whole union. The Czech President himself has reacted with fury. David

The right-of-centre Civic Democrats in the European Parliament have demanded an apology from the vice-president of the European Parliament, Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca, as well as another EP member for comments made on Wednesday. The EP vice-president, along with the chairman of the constitutional committee, Jo Leinen, criticised Mr Klaus for his EU stance, saying statements the Czech president had recently made about the European Union were 'prejudiced' and 'untrue'. Mr Klaus reacted on Thursday by saying he found both men's offensive. He has sent a letter to the chairman of the European Parliament, Joseph Borell, asking him to take a stance.

The opposition Civic Democrat MPs in the European Parliament have also reacted by calling the criticism "scandalous".

Exports from the Czech Republic grew at a rate above analysts' expectations in 2004. In fact, a new study carried out for the OECD shows the growth in Czech exports was the third fastest in the world last year, behind only China and South Korea. Other new European Union states also showed strong export growth rates, but none matched the success of the Czech Republic in this area. I spoke to Petr Sklenar, an analyst with Atlantik Financial Markets, and began by asking him what was behind this positive trend.

Meanwhile, Mr Klaus's party the Civic Democrats have denied reports that their opposition to the European Constitution has led to a drop in support for the party. Tuesday's edition of Lidove noviny reported that a study commissioned by the Civic Democrats found that three to five percent of potential supporters had been put off by their policy on the constitution. Senior party figures said, however, that no such study existed.

The European Union is set to go through with its second wave of expansion in less than two years after the European Parliament on Wednesday voted to pave the way for Bulgaria and Romania to join the EU as early as January 1, 2007.