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The European Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Franz Fischler, was in Prague on Monday to sign the two agreements aimed at bringing Czech agricultural policies in line with EU requirements. The result will be one of the biggest financial commitments thus far pledged by Brussels to the Czech Republic. has the story.

The Czech government's chief EU negotiator Pavel Telicka has warned that unless the Czech Republic curbs its growing deficit in public finances it could seriously damage its chances of early admission to the European Union.

The Czech Republic is set to receive British assistance as it seeks to harmonise its employment policies with the European Union. On Tuesday, representatives from the employment services of both the Czech Republic and the UK unveiled the latest in a series of "Twinning" initiatives, aimed at preparing candidate countries for EU membership. has the story.

The Minister for Europe at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Keith Vaz, visited Prague on Wednesday to discuss the Czech Republic's preparations for EU membership, as well as Czech-British cooperation in achieving this goal. asked Mr Vaz for his evaluation of the Czech Republic's preparations for accession.

The Austrian School in Prague is currently hosting an exhibition of artwork from various bilingual secondary schools from across Europe, in the hope of achieving greater cross-cultural understanding between EU and EU candidate countries. Housed in the former residence of King Jiri of Podebrady, the first instalment of a three year project will be on show until the end of January. Radio Prague's talked to the organiser of this year's event, Manfred Martin, who explained how the idea had come about.

The man who brokered the agreement between the two Prime Ministers was the European Union's Commissioner for Enlargement, Guenter Verheugen. The Commission, traditionally seen as the defender of the EU's smaller countries, appears to have been rather outmanouvred at the Nice Summit, and will enjoy less, rather than more power when enlargement finally takes place in a few years' time. But Commissioner Verheugen is far from disheartened, as RP's found out when he spoke to his spokesman, Jean-Christophe Filori. Mr Filori says the Treaty of Nice