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The opposition Communist Party has recommended its supporters to vote against the Czech Republic's EU entry in an upcoming referendum. Party leader Miroslav Grebenicek said on Saturday that the Central Committee of the Communist Party are not entirely against EU membership in the long run but are deeply dissatisfied with the accession conditions negotiated by the Czech government. They also believe the Czech Republic is not ready for the step as yet. The Communists enjoy a stable support of around 20 percent of the vote and came as the third strongest party in general elections last year. Czechs will vote on their country's EU accession in a referendum in mid-June. In a recent survey, about 80 percent of those asked were in favour of the Czech EU membership.

In this week's - we gauge the reaction on the streets of Warsaw and Prague as the U.S. goes to war in Iraq. The conflict overshadows the EU Summit in Brussels, will the Central European states take their revenge on Jacques Chirac? And we speak to Hungarian philosopher Gaspar Miklos Tamas about the philosophy of war. Also this week, Slovakia's crumbling monuments: how the country could do more to look after its heritage and tourist sites.

The affects of the war in Iraq on the Czech Republic could be widespread across both the political and economic spectrums. By trying to appease both those who support the war and those who are strictly against it the Czech Republic is hoping to minimise the damage to its image on the international stage.

...this is the opening jingle of a weekly programme on Czech Television which discusses a variety of issues in connection with the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union. The public TV station currently broadcasts a number of programmes dedicated to the same topic. TV spots and discussion programmes are only a part of a much broader campaign, financed by the Foreign Ministry. Jana Adamcova is the head of the ministry's Department for Communication Strategy.

As it does newspapers all over the world, one issue dominates the front pages of all the Czech dailies: the prospect of a war with Iraq. The headlines of all of the Czech newspapers declare that the diplomacy has ended and the war will be decided on today, as the United Nations Security Council votes on a resolution on Iraq.

Saturday was International Women's Day, an event celebrated around the world every year. The Association for Equal Opportunities chose the eve of International Women's Day to launch a nationwide campaign which will try and inform Czech women about the pros and cons of European Union membership. After the fall of communism, International Women's Day fell into disregard in this country, so I asked Michaela Marksova-Tominova, the deputy chairwoman of the Association for Equal Opportunities, whether the choice of the date was deliberate.

The results of an opinion poll released by the Stem agency in Prague have shown a startling jump in Czech support for EU accession - almost 80 percent in favour - an incredible difference with the mere 49 percent touted by some agencies less than half a year ago. Have Czechs really had a sudden change of heart? Radio Prague spoke to the Stem agency's Jitka Uhrova to find out:

The European Convention - the body set up to discuss the future of the European Union - has just celebrated its first birthday. The Convention was given the challenging task of finding ways to put the EU in touch with its citizens and rid the Union of its bureaucratic image. So how far has it gone in achieving those aims? A question my colleague David Vaughan put recently to Daniel Tarschys, professor of Political Science at Stockholm University and the former Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

It's just days before Vaclav Klaus is inaugurated as the country's 10th president, and a question many people are asking is - will the former Civic Democrat leader soften his often critical stance to European integration? People call him a Euro-sceptic, he calls himself a Euro-realist, but with just over three months to go before June's EU referendum, not everyone is convinced Mr Klaus is the right man to represent the country at this crucial time. Among them is Lukas Macek, advisor to Josef Zieleniec, the Senate's representative on the EU

Results of a recent study made by the Centre for Public Opinion Research less than four months before the country's referendum on EU membership is scheduled to take place, suggest that 56 percent of Czechs feel they have not been given enough information on what EU membership would entail. Despite these statistics, the number of Czechs in support of the country's accession to the EU has increased by 14 percent since October to reach 69 percent.