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Austrian Foreign Minister, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, rejected a pro-Benes decrees report presented to the European Parliament on Monday and said that Austria would continue to hold talks with the Czech Republic over the controversial decrees. The historic Benes decrees, sanctioned the expulsion and confiscation of property of some 2.5 million ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia after the Second World War. Amidst the Czech Republic's preparation for EU membership, the decrees have become a highly politicised issue by right-of centre and far-right parties in both Germany and Austria, calling for them to be repealed before the Czech Republic was allowed to become and EU member. An analysis of the decrees' compatibility with current EU legislation made for the European Parliament by a group of lawyers headed by the German Professor Jochen Frowein, however, said that the decrees could not stand in the way of the Czech Republic's accession to the EU. Mrs Ferrero-Waldner has dismissed the report, saying it focused solely on the legal aspect of the decrees and failed to consider the political and moral aspects.

The Czech Republic's accession talks with the European Union should be completed in Copenhagen by the end of this year, the EU ambassador to Prague, Ramiro Cibrian, said in Ostrava on Friday. Mr Cibrian said that the annual report on candidate countries' readiness to join the European Union - to be published in two week's time - would show that there was no doubt about the Czech Republic's suitability for membership.

The Czech Republic will most likely close the economic chapter in EU accession talks at a conference in Brussels on Tuesday. According to Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Miroslav Somol, it will most probably be the only chapter that Czech representatives will discuss next week. Negotiation around the economic chapter was long and hard as both sides wanted their own terms regarding the reconstruction of the steel sector. The closing document of the chapter is expected to contain detailed conditions under which the Czech Republic is to go ahead with the restructuring.

The European Parliament's foreign affairs committee will reopen the debate on the historic Benes Decrees, which sanctioned the expulsion of 2.5 million ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia after the Second World War. The committee will return to the question of the decrees' compatibility with current EU legislation in the first week of October, and will appraise the findings of independent analysts who researched the issue over the summer months. In the past the Czech Republic's controversial Benes Decrees have been a highly politicised issue by right-of centre and far-right parties in both Germany and Austria.

In a major step towards European Union harmonisation, Czech Republic telecom operators on Sunday renumbered all of the country's 11.5 million mobile and land-line telephones. A confusing, outmoded numbering system was replaced with a nine-digit number for each of the country's 7.8 million mobile phones and 3.7 million land lines. In addition, the number of area codes was reduced to 14 from 159. The new system brings the country in line with EU standards, allows for more competition among operators, and sets the stage for the introduction of new services.

Coming up on Insight Central Europe this week: the Czech Republic's coalition government experiences its first serious crisis since coming into office - but holds together in the end, in part because of its commitment to keep EU accession on track. Also in the programme: a look at the wealth divide between rich and poor in countries queuing up to join the European Union, a report from Slovakia on a Visegrad theatre for the homeless, and a look at a new scientific academy in Budapest, Hungary. Rounding-out the show: Poland's role in the anti-terrorist coalition, and "Voices of Europe", a non-party platform in Austria that has designed the "Euro menu" a combination of Austrian, European and proto-European cuisines!

On Thursday the Czech Senate approved a constitutional amendment that sets the stage for a voter referendum on European Union membership, to be held early next year. The so called EU referendum bill was approved unanimously, after senators swept off the table a controversial bill on institutionalizing referenda as such, approved by the Lower House in February.

The Czech senate has unanimously approved a bill that should allow Czechs to vote in a referendum next year to decide the Czech Republic's entry to the European Union. Submitted on Thursday by members of the Senate Commission for the Constitution, the draft amendment outlines the rules for Czech EU accession; under the bill, the referendum will be held 3 months following the signature of the Czech Republic's signing of the EU accession treaty, set to take place in the first half of 2003. Czech parliament must now also pass the bill; a failure to do so would leave the decision on EU accession up to parliament alone.

The government has approved a bill on elections to the European Parliament. The bill sets down the rules for election of Czech representatives to the European Parliament, and if approved by the Czech parliament, will take effect on the day the Czech Republic joins the European Union. Czech MEPs will have a five-year mandate, one year longer than the mandate of members of the Czech lower house, the Chamber of Deputies. EU enlargement is expected at the beginning of 2004, and elections to the European Parliament will be held in the same year.

The Czech Republic's economic performance has worsened in the second quarter of 2002, sending the country to the bottom of the table of EU candidate countries. GDP growth in the second quarter slowed to 2.5 percent year-on-year, from 2.8 percent in the first quarter. It is the worst result since the end of 2000. However, economic analyst Petr Zahradnik of the Conseq Finance company says the result is not as bad as it may seem: