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This special edition of Czech Books comes from the Hotel Josef in one of the winding medieval streets of Prague's Old Town; this is where writers from different corners of the globe - from Saint Petersburg to Johannesburg - have gathered for the 14th Prague Writers' Festival. Prague is right in the heart of Europe: if you go some fifteen hundred kilometres to the north-west, you get to Britain, if you go the same distance in the opposite direction, you reach Greece. So with just days to go till the expansion of the European Union, I'm joined by

Health ministers from fifteen current and future European Union member states have agreed to join forces to discourage patients from one country from seeking health care in another after the EU expands in May. The ministers agreed to regularly exchange information on patients who seek cross-border medical care at the end of a two-day conference in Senohraby, 30 kilometers south of Prague. Studies have indicated that patients from Western European countries could be tempted by cheaper health care costs in the ten nations joining the EU. The "Prague Declaration", a document calling for measures to be taken if the health care system of any one country was threatened, was signed by the health ministers of the ten new EU nations (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) as well as the five current members (Austria, Greece, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands).

The Social Democratic Party was the only party brave enough to lead the Czech Republic into the European Union, Social Democrat Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla said on Saturday. Speaking at a meeting of party liners on the Central Bohemian Rip Hill - the place where the first Czechs are believed to have settled - Mr Spidla said all other parties were too weak and lacked the courage to prepare the country for the EU. He added that the results of the next parliamentary elections will only be in his party's interest if its members believed in themselves and their political manifesto, a programme which allows the average Czech to make an honest living.

With EU accession just weeks away, the EC's headquarters in Brussels gets a taste of things Czech - beer, fruit dumplings and films - as well as a crash course in Czech for free! Birds of a feather flock together -and they are all flocking to the Jihlava Zoo for the annual human-bird jamboree! And, the garbage truck that smells of Chanel. Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.

The Czech Republic is launching its first large international television advertising campaign aimed at attracting more tourists to the country. Regional Development Minister Pavel Nemec said on Friday that the advertisements would be seen by around 150 million viewers around Europe. The ads emphasise that the country is 'pleasant and calm', characteristics which research showed tourists associated with the Czech Republic.

The Senate has approved the nomination of seven of the twenty-four provisional deputies, who will be representing the Czech Republic in the European Parliament in the period between the country's accession to the EU on May 1 and July 20 when regular deputies are scheduled to assume their posts. The twenty-four Czech MEPs will be elected in the June 11-12 elections, in which the Czech Republic will take part for the first time as a full-fledged EU member. The remaining seventeen provisional deputies are expected to be nominated by the Lower House next Tuesday.

Hundreds of people went on one last shopping spree in the Czech Republic's duty free shops on Wednesday before they definitely closed down at midnight. By closing time the shelves with cigarettes and alcohol were bare.

This week students all over the country have been holding a week of protests to highlight the dramatic lack of funding in the Czech Republic's higher education sector. This campaign, called "A Week of Unrest", includes public lectures as well as concerts and "happenings" as a way of attracting public attention to the problem. Organizers say it is the biggest student protest since the fall of communism.

The Czech Republic's foreign debt grew by 81 billion in 2003 to 894 billion. Anti-monopoly office fines three largest Czech bakeries for cartel. The Czech government offers US company Boeing 1 crown for its stake in troubled Czech aircraft maker Aero Vodochody. Czech civil servants threaten to go on strike after the government decided to significantly reduce their special end-year bonuses. The Industry and Trade Ministry decides to review a project in support of Iraq because of the involvement of a former communist secret police agent. The Czech Republic

European Union accession is now coming up fast - after a ten year accession process just weeks remain before the Czech Republic and nine other candidate countries become members. That's not to say so-called euro-sceptics have disappeared - quite the contrary. With the EU draft constitution far from ratified, and promises like the free movement of labour put for the most part on hold for now - at least for the Czechs - euro-sceptics here may feel they have been vindicated - that their warnings were correct. Jan Velinger spoke recently with economist