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President Vaclav Klaus has accepted the resignation of Constitutional Court judge Jiri Malenovsky. Mr Malenovsky became the Czech representative at the European Court of Justice on May 1, the day the Czech Republic became a member of the European Union. Based in Luxembourg, the European Court of Justice interprets and implements EU law, and is the Union's supreme legal institution.

President Vaclav Klaus has accepted the resignation of Constitutional Court judge Jiri Malenovsky. Mr Malenovsky became the Czech representative at the European Court of Justice on May 1, the day the Czech Republic became a member of the European Union. Based in Luxembourg, the European Court of Justice interprets and implements EU law, and is the Union's supreme legal institution.

Brunching on the border - at a five km long breakfast table, burning totalitarian symbols in place of witches and rolling a beer barrel to Germany. Find out about the whacky EU celebrations that failed to make the news. More in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.

Fifty percent of Czechs admit they have no idea about how European Union bodies function, according to a poll released on Thursday. Only half of those polled said they had even a "vague concept" of the activities of the main European institutions, the survey by the STEM polling agency showed. Six out of 10 people in the Czech Republic said they knew at least "a little" about the functioning of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, while 57 percent said they knew how the European Court works.

Welcome to Economics Report. Coming up later in the programme, we'll examine whether the Czech lion can - or should even try - to roar like a Celtic tiger. But first, here's Daniela Lazarova with the latest economic news.

The French far right politician Jean Marie Le Pen, whose recent visit to Britain caused enormous controversy, is now visiting the Czech Republic. His presence in the country is interpreted as an effort to forge closer ties with ultra-right parties and movements in the new EU member states. However, following the decline of Miroslav Sladek's Republican Party several years ago, there is no ultra right party or grouping on the Czech political scene with any influence on public affairs. So what kind of response can Mr. Le Pen expect in the Czech Republic?

Pavel Telicka was among ten new commissioners named to the European Commission by the European Parliament on Wednesday. The ceremony in Strasbourg followed the recent accession of ten new member states to the European Union. The new commissioners, including Mr Telicka, will now work with original members of the European Commission, Mr Telicka in the health and consumer protection sector, a post headed by David Byrne of Ireland.

On Monday Pavel Telicka had his first day in his new job. He's the Czech Republic's first ever European Commissioner, joining what is in effect the government of the European Union. And on Wednesday he was officially confirmed into office. On a mobile phone somewhere on the motorway between Brussels and Strasbourg, David Vaughan caught up with Mr Telicka on the eve of his officially taking up the post, and asked him whether he felt nervous.

Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla's first press conference since the Czech Republic joined the European Union was decidedly free of the pomp and circumstance that marked the historic expansion of the bloc: It was back to the daily grind on Monday, with the fireworks, champagne and foreign dignitaries of the past weekend a pleasant memory. Brian Kenety reports.

It was a weekend of celebration. Many people spent Saturday night out in the open, drinking champagne in the streets of Prague or savouring the feeling of walking through border check points, with nothing but an identity card. The media reported on the birth of the first Euro babies in the Czech Republic and endlessly quizzed Czechs about how they felt as European citizens. Euro balloons, flags and Euro-car stickers sold like hot cakes. Now, the party's over and it's "business as usual" as the reality of our EU membership slowly sinks in. So in