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Czech European Commissioner Věra Jourová has joined European consumer organisations in criticising the levels of consumer protection in Central and Eastern Europe. The Commissioner, who is responsible for consumer protection, said consumer rights were less developed there than in Western Europe. Jourová said one of the problems is that local governments do not give enough priority to consumer protection. And she added that it is likely that business groups successfully lobby to water down or overturn consumer legislation when it is proposed. Consumer groups said the public were often also less willing to come forward and stand up for their rights.

Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec is heading for Friday’s talks in Brussels with a clear-cut mandate: the Czech Republic will actively support measures to tighten controls on Schengen’s outer borders and improve the efficiency of registration hotspots, but remains adamantly against a permanent redistribution mechanism.

Several dozen Czech diplomats, scientists and other notable figures have signed an open letter addressed to renowned British playwright with Czech roots Tom Stoppard appealing to Great Britain to remain within the European Union. In the letter, Czech signatories point to historic and cultural ties between the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. The letter was initiated by the former Czech ambassador to Great Britain, Michael Žantovský. Brits are to vote on the so-called Brexit on June 23.

One of the biggest trade issues to be addressed by the end of this year should be the status of China and whether it should be recognized as a full fledged functioning market economy. The Czech Republic appears to be taking a negative stance on the decision which needs to be taken along with other EU states. Prague’s main worry is the impact on jobs in sensitive industrial sectors.

Jiří Ovčáček, the spokesman for President Miloš Zeman, has said he did not overstep his bounds by welcoming the Czech-born Petr Bystroň, the head of the Bavarian branch of the anti-migrant party Alternative for Germany, at Prague Castle on Monday. The spokesman explained that President Zeman could not meet with Mr Bystroň for time reasons. Opposition politicians criticised the move as highly unorthodox; TOP 09 leader Miroslav Kalousek, for example, suggested that by meeting with a spokesman the politician was willingly making a fool of himself. Mr Ovčáček told journlaists that Mr Bystroň had expressed support for the Czech president’s opposition to the EU’s migrant quotas.

A special session of the lower house of parliament has put the spotlight on the country’s failure to push through new rules for evaluating the environmental impact of major road, railway, and other projects, As a result the government is now scrambling to salvage the possibility of pushing ahead with around a dozen projects while many others face the prospect of delays.

Representatives of the Visegrad Four have sharply rejected a European Commission proposal on the redistribution of migrants across the EU. At their meeting in Prague on Wednesday the foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland said the proposal, which includes penalties for not accepting migrants, was divisive and unacceptable.

A large number of lower house members of parliament surprising backed a motion to debate a Czech referendum on leaving the European Union on Tuesday, the daily Mladá Fronta Dnes reported Wednesday. It said 96 out of 169 members backed putting the issue on the agenda for debate this session. The move was even backed by some lawmakers from the governing Social Democrat and ANO parties, it reported.

Only 26 percent of Czechs believe that the decisions of the European Union are in their country’s interests, suggests an opinion poll conducted by the CVVM agency. The same survey last year indicated that almost a third of Czechs shared that view. CVVM said the change was due to critical perceptions of the EU’s handling of the migrant crisis. Some 60 percent of respondents in the latest poll agreed that the EU defends democratic values and that EU integration is beneficial to the defence of the state and the environment.

Czech confidence in the European Union has fallen to its lowest level since the country voted to join the political and economic grouping in a referendum in 2003, according to a survey. The survey by the CVVM company shows that now around just over a third of Czechs, 38 percent to be precise, say they now have confidence in the EU. A year earlier the confidence percentage was 52 percent. The rapid fall since then is largely due to the EU’s perceived handling of the immigration crisis. The Czech Republic joined the EU in 2004.