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The Czech Republic may run for elected membership of the UN Security Council in 2008-2009. The foreign ministry is working on a proposal, which is to be submitted to the government and discussed by the cabinet after its summer break. According to Jan Michal from the foreign ministry's UN department, two other unnamed Eastern European countries are planning to apply for UN Security Council membership. The Council has fifteen members - five permanent members and ten elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms. The Czech Republic has only been an elected member once - in 1994 and 1995.

As the capital city of a European Union candidate country, Prague decided to open its own office in Brussels last June to promote itself as a city of culture and business opportunities. However the Prague House, as the representative office is called, has proved to be a serious disappointment.

The Czech government expects to decide when to join the Euro in the autumn of this year, after hearing a Central Bank recommendation on what steps to take in the run-up to membership in the currency zone. The timing of euro entry is important for the Czech Republic's budget and monetary policies and for investors who have bet billions on rising asset prices and falling interest rates ahead of the country's adoption of the single currency. Out of all central European candidate countries for EU membership, the Czech Republic has been most hesitant on setting a definite date. Hungary and Slovakia target 2008, while Poland hopes to adopt the euro by the beginning of 2009 at the latest. Czech Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, has said 2010 was a realistic date, adding that a decision would be based on a joint proposal prepared by the Czech Central Bank and the ministries of Finance and Industry and Trade. The Czech Central Bank (CNB) has recommended the Czech Republic stay out of the EU's exchange rate mechanism for some time after EU entry next May, warning of the risks involved in linking the freely floating crown too closely to the euro.

The interior ministers of five EU candidate countries and Austria meeting at the "Salzburg Forum 2003" agreed on Saturday on concerted strategy in pushing for their interests after EU enlargement. The interior ministers of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia agreed on the need for cooperation in the sphere of security. In a joint statement the ministers agreed on the importance of a harmonised European asylum and migration system, an integrated administration of external borders as well coordinated struggle against terrorism and organised crime.

President Vaclav Klaus and his Austrian counterpart Thomas Klestil, who arrived on a one-day visit to the Czech Republic on Thursday, have discussed Czech-Austrian relations and cooperation within the EU. The two presidents also touched upon controversial questions of Czech-Austrian relations. However, according to President Klaus they did not mention the so-called Benes decrees in their conversation and Mr Klaus himself is not preparing any specific gestures, demanded by some Austrian politicians in connection with the Benes decrees, which sanctioned the deportation of ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia after the Second World War. President Klestil said that Austrian leaders were pleased at the progress in the so-called Melk process, which was designed to assure expert security for the Temelin nuclear power plant. The power station is located close to the Czech-Austrian border and has been the cause of many protests in the nuclear-free Austria.

Czech politcians have been discussing the possibilities of adopting the single European currency between 2006 and 2010. At least two years before that, the country would have to join the ERM-2 exchange rate mechanism and fix the currency in a relatively narrow fluctuation band. The Czech National Bank has urged the government to stay out of the ERM-2 as long as possible so that the economy has enough time to ready for such a step.

No other European politician can rival the German Social Democrat Gunther Verheugen in the huge role he has played in steering the countries of Central Europe towards the European Union. As the EU Commissioner for enlargement since September 1999, he has travelled over vast areas of the region and has become a familiar face to millions of Central Europeans. In his native Germany he has also been tipped as a future foreign minister. With just nine months to go until the biggest enlargement in EU history, Gunther Verheugen is our guest in today's

Recently new EU regulations came into effect requiring average or less than average Czech pubs to clean up their act - in terms of hygiene that is. No longer allowed are simple bathrooms in pubs with only cold-running tap water, and what until now was a sad excuse for a towel to wipe one's hands in, hanging from a rusty nail. And of course the new regulations don't stop there: they also stipulate stricter handling of food and rules for food preparation, which most, I believe, will greet as a welcomed and necessary improvement. I don't know, perhaps

The leader of Britain's opposition Conservatives has unveiled his party's vision of Europe during a visit to Prague. Conservative leader Ian Duncan Smith signed a declaration in the Czech capital on Thursday calling for the strengthening of national democracies to resist the formation of what he called a European superstate. Mr Duncan Smith, speaking to reporters after meeting President Vaclav Klaus, said his party supported European integration, but opposed unification and excessive bureaucracy. The declaration was also signed by the party Mr Klaus led until last year - the opposition Civic Democrats. The Czech Republic will be one of 10 new countries to join the EU next year.

Rob Cameron's guest on this week's One on One is Tomas Sedlacek, a former economic adviser to President Vaclav Havel. Tomas was heavily involved in the recent EU referendum campaign, and is a committed fan of European integration. He says it's high time Czechs started referring to Europeans as "us" rather than "them", and to stop being afraid of a closer, more united Europe.