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The Czech republic is expected to join the European Union in 2004 in a group of ten Central and East European countries. The issue of EU enlargement is quickly becoming the most pressing for companies doing business in the region. Recently, the Economist Corporate Network which is part of The Economist Group, in cooperation with business advisor Ernst & Young published a report assessing the business implications of EU enlargement.

Representatives of the Czech Republic and other candidates for EU membership are confident that their bids to join the union in 2004 are well on track. During the European Union's summit in Seville over the weekend, the leaders of the 15 member states assured the EU hopefuls that they were determined to conclude membership negotiations in December and have the accession treaties signed in the spring of 2003. But despite the declaration it was clear that disputes within the EU over the costs of enlargement are far from resolved. One such

Germany's conservative candidate for chancellor, Edmund Stoiber, has said the abolition of the so-called Benes decrees is not a condition for Czech admission to the European Union, but the two issues are connected. Mr Stoiber, leader of the opposition Christian Social Union party, said he hoped the Czech Republic would start dealing with history more openly after the elections. Some two and a half million ethnic Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia in 1945, under decrees signed by President Eduard Benes. Politicians in Germany and Austria have called for the decrees to be abolished before the Czech Republic is allowed to join the EU.

The Austrian Chancellor, Wolfgang Schuessel said on Monday that EU entry for the Czech Republic and other candidate countries in 2004 is an ambitious but realistic goal. Speaking at a conference in Vienna, Mr Schuessel was reacting to scepticism in his country and elsewhere towards the Czech Republic and other candidates being ready to be part of the first batch of countries to join the EU by 2004. Although accession talks come to a close by the end of the year, most candidate countries still have reforms ahead of them with the most painful being that in the financial sector as well as unemployment, Mr Schuessel noted.

The European Union's commissioner for enlargement Guenter Verheugen has warned that a second rejection of the EU's Nice Treaty in an Irish referendum later this year would lead to a delay in the bloc's plans to expand to the east. Mr Verheugen told reporters a second "no" vote would cause extremely serious problems for which he had no solutions. He said the EU had no "plan B" should ratification fail. Up to 10 countries - including the Czech Republic - are hoping to join the EU in 2004. The Nice Treaty implements reforms the EU says are needed in order to admit more states. Last June's referendum in Ireland - the only EU member to require a referendum on the issue - rejected the treaty, amid fears of a threat to Ireland's neutrality and concern that smaller states would lose out.

The European Union's commissioner for enlargement Guenter Verheugen has warned that a second rejection of the EU's Nice Treaty in an Irish referendum later this year would lead to a delay in the bloc's plans to expand to the east. Mr Verheugen told reporters a second "no" vote would cause extremely serious problems for which he had no solutions. He said the EU had no "plan B" should ratification fail. Up to 10 countries - including the Czech Republic - are hoping to join the EU in 2004. The Nice Treaty implements reforms the EU says are needed in order to admit more states. Last June's referendum in Ireland - the only EU member to require a referendum on the issue - rejected the treaty, amid fears of a threat to Ireland's neutrality and concern that smaller states would lose out.

The leader of the governing Social Democrats, Vladimir Spidla, has said that he is in favour of a referendum on the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union. Mr Spidla said on Friday that he could not imagine how such an important issue as joining the EU could be decided without a referendum, adding that he still had a "bad taste" in his mouth over the fact that Czechoslovakia was divided in 1993 without a referendum being held.

The Czech Republic is now entering the final stage of its accession talks with the European Union, the chief Czech negotiator with the EU, Pavel Telicka, said on Friday. Mr Telicka said that the main outstanding areas to be discussed were support for agriculture in new member countries and budgetary and financial resolutions. The general elections which take place in the Czech Republic next weekend will not have any bearing on the country's plans to join the EU, said Mr Telicka. The Czech Republic is hoping to join the union in 2004.

The European Union's Commissioner for Enlargement, Guenter Verheugen, has said he is sure the Czech Republic will remain on track to join the EU, even if former prime minister Vaclav Klaus returns to power. Mr Verheugen said no possible government in the Czech Republic would turn the country against European integration. Mr Klaus is accused by some of being Euro-sceptic. He denies the charges, describing himself as a Euro-realist. Public opinion polls have shown his right-of-centre Civic Democrats, whose election campaign has often had nationalist undertones, running neck and neck with the ruling Social Democrats.

As the Czech Republic's membership of the EU draws nearer - with entry expected in 2004 - the country would be expected to be speeding up accession negotiations. But instead the process seems to be slowing down, just as public support for EU membership is also falling. Vladimir Tax has the details.