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Czech exports to the European Union got off to a surprisingly strong start at the beginning of the year, rising in January by almost eight percent year-on-year to 74 billion crowns. Economists, however, are warning against early optimism, saying the numbers on Czech exports do not reflect negative economic trends in neighbouring Germany. Another factor somewhat distorting the current figures: a 3 percent drop in Czech exports last year. Some Czech economists expect positive growth in exports in 2003 to rise by more than ten percent by the end of the year, stimulating overall economic growth. Seventy percent of Czech exports go to the EU, with around half of that going to Germany. Dominant exports to EU countries include automobiles, electrical appliances, office tools, and computers.

Last week saw much anger and disappointment among the eastern European candidate countries for EU membership after French President Jacques Chirac harshly criticised their support of the United States' tough stance on Iraq. With EU expansion nearing amid deep divisions among NATO and EU members over the Iraqi crisis, Czech and Polish politicians met at the end of last week for talks. Here's Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz:

In this week's Insight Central Europe: Austria is blocking the movement of US troops through the country from Germany to Italy, and the country's defence minister says without a UN mandate for military action there can be no overflights or troop movements through Austria; tourism officials of the four Visegrad countries (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) have signed an agreement aimed at closer co-operation in the tourism industry; meanwhile, Austria is seeing a marked increase in tourists from Central and Eastern Europe; and why doesn't the best-known Czech author Milan Kundera allow his latest novels to be published in Czech?

Less than a month ago, news broke that the Czech Republic's unemployment rate would surpass the ten percent mark. With such pessimistic numbers, why not try for a job in the EU? The Czech Republic and nine other countries expected to be fully-fledged members in 2004, and the European Union has to prepare for the changes. Practically overnight, its population will increase by twenty percent, it will have two thirds more member states and many more official languages. The EU is therefore offering Czechs five hundred job opportunities at its institutions

The Czech Army chief-of-staff has said an army field hospital which returned from Afghanistan in January could be deployed to Macedonia. Chief-of-staff Pavel Stefka said the field hospital could be sent to the country in March, when the European Union takes over peace-keeping duties in Macedonia from NATO.

It couldn't have been better timed. Just when all eyes are on France and Germany, the Czech Foreign Ministry on Wednesday hosted a discussion on the two countries' role in the new Europe. The current Czech government comes close to the Franco-German pro-federalist view of European integration, but over Iraq Prague has sided itself with the United States and Britain. During the discussion the Social Democrat MP Libor Roucek, who is also vice-chair of the Czech parliament's European Integration Committee, firmly criticized France and Germany's recent

Angry reactions to French President Jacques Chirac's verbal attack on the EU candidates on Monday are splashed across all of today's front pages. "Chirac's words evoke outrage", "the Czech Republic rejects Chirac's verbal beating" and "why did Chirac attack Washington's allies?" those are some of the headlines in the Czech papers, along with snapshots of Mr. Chirac as Prime Minister in cordial conversation with Saddam Hussein dating back to the 70s when French-Iraqi ties flourished. Predicting this reaction, the Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda

French President Jacques Chirac's furious and very undiplomatic outburst at the EU candidate countries of Central Europe has elicited an equally furious reaction from the countries themselves. Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic have all hit back at Mr Chirac, saying that France has no right to dictate the foreign policy of other countries. But Czech officials, while clearly rattled at Mr Chirac's fit of pique, have also expressed dismay at the divisions in Europe over the Iraq crisis. Rob Cameron has more.

European Union leaders on Tuesday met for foreign policy consultations with 13 future members in an effort to diffuse tension sparked by French President Jacques Chirac's verbal attack on the EU candidates on Monday. Mr. Chirac evoked outrage across eastern Europe, when he slammed candidate countries for their stand on the Iraqi crisis, calling them "childish and irresponsible" and telling them they would have done better to "shut up". The hastily convened foreign policy consultations in Brussels produced a common statement calling for a peaceful resolution of the Iraqi crisis but warning Bagdad to disarm or face war as a last resort. In the document current and future EU members promise to "avoid new dividing lines" and vow "joint endeavours" to meet their common goals. The Czech Prime Minister told reporters he welcomed the gesture and stressed the need for present and future EU members to hold foreign policy consultations on important issues.

Czech farming has seen huge changes since the days of communism, when the majority of farmers were forced to work on collective farms. Now all that has changed, and more and more farmers are choosing to follow the international trend towards organic farming, partly in response to worries over food safety. Martin Hrobsky reports.