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"If the European Constitution fails to get approved, nothing earth shattering will happen. In fact we will have a flourishing European Union. The fewer such documents the better!" - words with which President Vaclav Klaus launched his latest literary work: a "guide" to the European Constitution.

Cabinet approves sale of Cesky Telecom to Telefonica; Communists want to link confidence vote with bill on assets declaration; Czech Airlines (CSA) buys 12 Airbus planes with aim of competing for European flights, Czech MEPs pushing Brussels for change in distribution of EU funds to poor regions; Zentiva, Pfizer row over anti-cholesterol 'generic equivalent'; Skoda Auto management agrees to workers' 7 pct wage hike

Telefonica of Spain bids over $3.5bn for Cesky Telecom; National Property Fund to be wound down this year; Senate rejects Civic Democrats' 'squeeze out' proposal on minority shareholders; Social Democrats agree on 'Strasbourg friendly' draft plan for rent deregulation; Czech central bank cuts key interest rate to 2.0 pct, in line with European Central Bank

A bumper harvest across Central Europe has forced the European Commission to intervene, buying up and moving large amounts of surplus stocks from growers across the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland to prevent a market collapse. The EU has already committed to buying up 13.5 million tons as "intervention stocks," taking these stocks to their highest levels for six years, with about 60 percent of this coming from the new EU member states. The EU has tried to solve the surplus issue by increasing export subsidies on the free market.

Wednesday saw the conclusion of a European Union summit in Brussels focused on the Lisbon Agenda, which is aimed at making Europe's economy more competitive. The main issues on the table were the liberalisation of services and changes to the stability pact.

It's been an eventful week for the Czech Republic in terms of European Union affairs, the Czech health-care system, and small businesses, with changes to the EU's Stability and Growth Pact agreed and two complaints against the Czech state filed in Brussels.

European Union leaders met in Brussels on Tuesday and approved a reform of the Stability and Growth Pact, governing the euro. The agreement that limits the size of a nation's budget deficit had been criticised for not allowing governments to boost economic growth by spending more. The leaders rubber-stamped a deal negotiated by their finance ministers on Sunday which loosens strict deficits rules and allows countries to claim exemption for all sorts of public spending. Radio Prague's Martin Mikule is now in Brussels.

The consultancy Ernst&Young has said that taxes paid by Czech companies are among the highest in Central and Eastern Europe. Malta is the only country among the ten new EU members where companies pay even more. The situation is expected to change in the foreseeable future. Since 2003, corporate taxes in the Czech Republic have fallen by 3 percentage points, and another cut can be expected soon. Czech companies pay some 28 percent of profit in taxes, but the real tax is lower owing to deductibles and tax reliefs. Real taxes stand at some 24 percent.

The Czech cabinet has reached a decision on a strategy for increasing public awareness on the EU constitution prior to a possible referendum. The campaign will be headed by the prime minister's office, though the Ministry for Foreign Affairs had expressed an interest. It is estimated that the campaign, which would begin this year and last into 2006, will cost almost 10 million US dollars. The campaign will be run mostly through the media, but it is unclear whether it will be strictly informative or in open support of the constitution treaty.

The percentage of people living in high rise flats in former Eastern Bloc countries such as the Czech Republic is twice as high as in the 15 "old" European Union states. Indeed a full 40 percent of Czechs live in prefabricated flats, known as panelaks, many of which are in bad repair and in need of major investment. The future of high rise flats was the theme of a Prague meeting of EU housing ministers, hosted by the Czech Republic's regional development minister, Jiri Paroubek. He spoke to me at the close of the conference on Tuesday.