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Slovakia's citizens voted last Friday and Saturday for entry into the European Union in a dramatic referendum. On Saturday there were fears that the fifty per cent turnout required for the referendum to be valid would not be met. But in the end, fifty two per cent of Slovaks did vote - and ninety two per cent of them were in favour of EU membership.

Citizens of the Czech Republic's eastern neighbour Slovakia have voted in favour of joining the European Union. Just over 52 percent of eligible voters took part in the plebiscite on Friday and Saturday, 2 percent more than the minimum turn-out required to validate the results. On Sunday the referendum commission said it recognised the outcome as valid. Of those who took part in voting an overwhelming majority, 92.46 percent voted in favour of joining the EU, with 6.2 voting against. After the results were announced the head of Slovak parliament Pavol Hrusovsky stated that the "future" of his country had "acquired a new dimension". On Sunday Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla was among those to offer congratulations. The Czech Republic faces its own referendum on EU accession in just under a month.

The Czech Republic has received another 81 million Euros (2.4 billion Czech crowns) from the EU's Phare and ISPA programmes. The money is to help the country prepare for its accession to the European Union. The financial memorandum to the programme was signed in Prague by the head of the EC delegation in the Czech Republic Ramiro Cibrian and Czech Deputy Finance Minister Zdenek Hruby on Friday. According to Mr Cibrian, much of the money from the Phare programme is to be used in problem areas named in the EU's last evaluation report, while the funds from the ISPA programme are to help improve the country's sewage system. The programme, made up of 26 different projects, will also create better education and unemployment opportunities for the Roma community, improve the Czech justice system, and fight against money laundering.

On Thursday a Forum 2000 Foundation event was held in Prague's historic Municipal House on the topic "Quo vadis Europa?" - Latin for "Where are you going, Europe?" As you can gather from the title, the participants - who included former Czech president Vaclav Havel and intellectuals from all over the Continent - were there to discuss the future of Europe.

Racism, discrimination in schools, unemployment, decrepit living conditions - Roma have enough problems in the Czech Republic. Now, less than a month before Czech citizens voice their opinions in a referendum concerning their country's membership in the European Union, once again the Romany minority feels left out. That's the way well-known Roma activist Ondrej Gina sees it, as he spoke out about the absence of a special campaign targeted to help the Czech Romany population understand what the referendum is all about.

The suicide bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in which over thirty people died, and the anonymous blackmailer threatening to poison hospital food make the front-page headlines in all of the main papers today. A mix of photographs are also featured ranging from US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Riyadh to a man in a medieval costume at a demonstration against pension reform in Paris.

The Czech government recently launched its official campaign ahead of next month's EU referendum. TV viewers have been treated to a series of 30-second ads, featuring EU citizens (played by actors) explaining how membership has helped their country. At the same time billboards have gone up across the country, featuring more EU citizens extolling the virtues of membership. The ad campaign is slick and professional, but will it work? The person in charge of it is the Czech Foreign Ministry's Jana Adamcova. Rob Cameron went to see Jana recently at

The government's trip to Brno features heavily on the front pages today - Pravo shows Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla and cabinet colleague Zdenek Skromach helping themselves to traditional Moravian cakes and glasses of wine in the town square, while Mlada Fronta Dnes features a rather intimate photo of Interior Minister Stanislav Gross kissing a member of a Moravian folk group. The government needs all the positive publicity it can get: the widespread public finance reforms unveiled in Brno have been criticised by both unions and right-wing economists.

Economists have criticised plans unveiled by the government on Monday to reduce the budget deficit to prepare for adoption of the euro. Some economists said the measures would mean the country would not be able to meet the eurozone criterion of a budget deficit below three percent of GDP until after 2006, pushing back the earliest euro adoption date to 2009-2010. They said the basic outline of the plan was not far-reaching enough. The plan involves cuts in social benefits and tax changes to cut the fiscal gap from over six percent of GDP this year to four percent in 2006.

A jubilant Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla, the EU ambassador to Prague Ramiro Cibrian, as well as diplomatic representatives from the 15 current EU members and 10 candidate countries: all met on a podium at the bottom of Prague's Wenceslas Square last week to mark Europe Day, May 9th, a day that traditionally commemorates first steps towards a united Europe, put forward in 1950. Joining the prime minister and delegates in Prague: hundreds of curious Czechs, eager to explore representative stands from current - as well as future - EU countries.