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The Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, discussed the future of the European Union and the planned EU constitution during talks with his Polish counterpart Aleksander Kwasniewski in the Czech spa town of Jesenik on Friday. Mr Klaus said afterwards that they had been in almost complete agreement on the need to maintain an inter-governmental system and to resist federalism.

Topics today: Government project for foreign workers. EU warning on safety standards. Electricity bills. Bangladesh DX club listeners' competition. Listeners quoted: Mustafa Hamoui, Eva Herzog, David Eldridge. Muhammad Shamims.

The European Union has urged the Czech Republic to improve food safety standards, warning that hundreds of food companies could be forced out of business when the country joins the EU next year. The warning came from a delegation headed by EU health Commissioner David Byrne who found that many Czech food companies were still lagging behind the strict EU requirements. The EU delegation also urged the Czech government to enact legislation that would bring food regulations up to EU levels in areas of veterinary care, meat and dairy processing plants.

Among the stories making the front pages in the Czech dailies today are the funeral of the much-respected Pavel Tigrid, the unveiling of the new Skoda car, the Roomster, and the football fever which has gripped the country ahead of Wednesday night's big game against the Netherlands.

The German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder arrived in Prague for a one-day official visit on Friday morning to hold talks with senior Czech politicians. Topics of discussion throughout the day, during Mr Schroeder's meetings with President Vaclav Klaus, Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla and the leaders of both houses of parliament, were mainly expected to focus on the European Union and trade relations. Mr Schroeder was expected to visit the country eighteen months ago but cancelled the trip after former Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman called Sudeten

Is a new dividing line being drawn across Europe? Well, that's how one U.S. newspaper saw Monday's meeting in Prague of 15 members and potential members of the European Union. The informal club of "like-minded" nations - from Portugal on the Atlantic to Estonia on the Baltic - were invited to Prague by the Czech Foreign Ministry, part of what's believed to be a joint Czech-Austrian initiative to change the proposed EU constitution.

EU experts say the Czech agricultural sphere is lagging behind in preparations for EU membership. Unnamed sources at the European Commission have said that an EU progress report, to be published in the autumn, will emphasize the need to speed up structural changes in the last months leading up to EU membership. The commission's experts warn that if the Czech Republic fails to make up for the lost time in this field it could have a serious effect both on the country's farmers and on consumers. The field of veterinary legislation in particular has been found seriously lacking.

The German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer paid a brief to the Czech Republic on Tuesday, for talks dominated by European integration. In the morning Mr Fischer attended a gathering of Czech ambassadors at the Foreign Ministry, the first ever German Foreign Minister to attend such an event.

In this week's Economics Report, the failing Fischer travel empire looks for salvation, the government is to try again to persuade the EU to allow a bailout for Trinecke Zelezarny, and the Labour Minister wants to retain the so-called "13th and 14th salaries" despite plans to cut the public spending deficit.

The Czech Republic is to appeal once again to the European Union for permission to support an indebted steel products exporter, the Industry Ministry said on Tuesday. The ministry said it would advise the cabinet to continue in its efforts to inject two billion crowns into Trinecke Zelezarny, which is privately owned. The EU has expressed opposition to the plan, which was not mentioned in the Czech Republic's accession talks with the union.