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Czech prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka said that the Czech Republic along with Germany and France pushed successfully for a big step forward in moves to develop defence and security policy at the European level during the Brussels summit on Thursday. Part of the progress focused on future joint military exercises and cooperation where the organisation and financing should be simpler. Government leaders also agreed to focus more of joint defence projects and research. Separately, heads of government discussed migration, including the need to boost help to African countries; mapped out the way for an EU-Ukraine association agreement; and discussed their negotiating position over Brexit.

Czech prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka takes part Thursday in the European Council meeting in Brussels. The last meeting of the year of EU government heads should focus on the thorny issues of immigration, defense, and the development of the internal market. A side meeting will also cover preparations for the 27 countries negotiating position with Britain on its quitting of the European Union. The situation in Syria and way forward for an EU-Ukraine association agreement will also be discussed. Going into the meeting, Sobotka said that the Czech Republic remains opposed to the mandatory share out of immigrants across the EU. Slovakia is seeking to table a compromise proposal bridging the gap between the stance of Central European and West European countries on the issue.

The Czech Republic will gradually increase its annual contributions to the European Cosmic Agency ESA, the ctk news agency reported Monday. The government on Monday voted to increase next year’s contribution to 830 million crowns, up from 527 last year, and wants to sustain the trend in the future. According to Transport Minister Dan Tok the country’s higher contributions towards research, particularly in the field of satellite technologies, should help the Czech Republic discard the reputation of being a mere “assembly plant” in Europe.

The European Commission has approved a support scheme for installations producing renewable energy built in the Czech Republic between 2006 and 2012. The Commission concluded the measure would further EU energy and climate goals without unduly distorting competition. The scheme will have a total budget of 836.5 billion crowns over its lifetime (around €30.95 billion).

Czech foreign minister Lubomír Zaorálek has said he sees no perspective in the near term of Austria joining the Visegrad Four grouping, which comprised the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary. In an interview with the Austrian paper Die Presse, he said it was already difficult sometimes to get agreement between the four. He added that the splitting of the EU is a great danger and that it would be difficult to imagine cooperation between France and Germany if Marine Le Pen won the French presidential elections.

The pairing of fraud and EU funds is not being heard so frequently in the Czech Republic these days with suggestions that the country has learnt some of the lessons from the fraught programme period ending in 2013 where abuse appeared to rife, supervision slack, and the European Commission resorting to the toughest punitive measures out of the tool box to try and remedy the problems.

The Czech Republic would like to have a balanced trade and investment partnership with China, the Czech prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, said at the ceremonial opening of the Czech-China Investment Forum at Prague Castle on Tuesday. At present, China exports over 10 times as much to the Czech Republic as it imports from the country. Mr. Sobotka said relations between the two states were developing dynamically, particularly in the engineering sector but also in transport, science and research and healthcare. He also told the Chinese delegates that the Czech Republic was interested in a dialogue with Beijing on human rights.

Czech foreign minister Lubomír Zaorálek has said that the EU should set limits and red lines for its relationship with Turkey, including, for example, the mooted return of the death penalty. The minister was speaking ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers aiming to take stock of relations and developments since the failed army coup in the summer. The Czech minister added though that it was in the interests of both the EU and Turkey to have stable relations and that the immigration deal with the country had stemmed the flow of immigrants through Greece. Monday’s meeting was also due to discuss increased defence cooperation and the so-called Eastern Partnership.

The Czech Republic has not covered itself in glory in the past for its use and supervision of European funds. Programmes worth hundreds of millions of crowns were stopped in their tracks by Brussels following fraud fears and flawed supervision. Now though there are signs that the worst problems have been addressed.

Czech Radio has produced a photograph of the US ambassador to Prague, Andrew Shapiro, attending this year’s Czechoslovak Independence Day celebrations at Prague Castle, following President Zeman’s claim that he was one of the few diplomats who stayed away from the event. Mr. Shapiro’s presence at the ceremony in Prague Castle’s Vladislav Hall was also confirmed by the German Ambassador to Prague Arndt Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven who sat next to him at the event. Relations between the president and US ambassador have been strained since the spring of 2015 when Ambassador Shapiro criticized the Czech head of state for attending V-Day celebrations in Moscow while other EU leaders boycotted the event in protest over Russia’s interference in Ukraine.