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Czech MEP Jan Zahradil has called for the European Union to take a firmer approach to Russia over its military incursion into the Ukrainian province of Crimea. Russia must face international sanctions over its actions, Mr. Zahradil, who heads the European Conservatives and Reformers group at the European Parliament, told the Czech News Agency on Friday. He said he disagreed with his former Civic Democrat party colleague Václav Klaus, who said that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had acted rationally in the current crisis in Ukraine. However, Mr. Zahradil said he shared Mr. Klaus's fears that the EU could "abuse" the situation.

The Czech president, Miloš Zeman, says tough conditions should be attached to any European Union aid to Ukraine. Speaking on a visit to the Moravian town of Přerov on Friday, Mr. Zeman said that at the present time, prior to elections, any such financial assistance would end up in a “black hole” in the pockets of the country’s oligarchs. The president said if Ukraine wanted to feel part of Europe, it would have in the coming decade to be prepared to accept related sacrifices, such as higher gas prices.

The crisis in Ukraine has emphasized the need to improve energy security in Europe, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said after Thursday’s meeting of EU leaders in Brussels. The Czech prime minister said that the EU would be in a better position to respond to the Crimean crisis were it not dependent on Russian oil and gas. The Czech Republic has pushed for a diplomatic solution to the crisis taking a cautious stand on economic sanctions. Mr. Sobotka likewise expressed support for the proposal that the political part of the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine be signed by the Ukrainian interim prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, since this would help Kiev’s efforts to maintain the territorial integrity of the country.

Czech President Miloš Zeman addressed the European Parliament on Wednesday morning in a speech anticipated to be far more pro-EU than that of his predecessor Václav Klaus. In that respect he delivered. At the same time, he was also critical, pulling no punches when it came to criticizing EU red tape, nonsensical directives, and failures to agree on common policy.

Czech President Miloš Zeman addressed a session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday. In his first address to MEPs, Mr Zeman expressed support for the earliest possible adoption of the euro by the Czech Republic. He also criticized what he considers as the EU’s excessive bureaucracy, transfers of MEPs between Brussels and Strasbourg, the architecture of EU buildings and other issues. The Czech president later met with the European Parliament speaker, Martin Schulz, as well as Czech MEPs.

If you want to get a Czech industrialist really inflamed, just mention the word renewables and you should succeed. Manufacturers and the Czech government are now preparing for a fight over European proposals seeking more efforts by countries to curb their carbon footprints and increase their use of renewable energy sources. The outcome looks far from clear.

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka who was in Brussels on a working visit has met with EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso. Mr. Sobotka declared the Czech government’s intention to bring the country back to the European mainstream and take a more constructive stand to European integration. He said the Czech Republic would join the fiscal pact and would no longer insist on an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights which was the former president Vaclav Klaus’ condition for signing the Lisbon Treaty in 2009. The talks also focussed on the situation in Ukraine with the Czech prime minister stressing the need for a united EU stand, possibly the introduction of sanctions if the violence does not cease.

The new prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, signalled ahead of his meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Thursday, that his government would bring the Czech Republic back to the European mainstream. Previously under centre-right governments and under a former euro-sceptic president, the country had shifted undeniably to the periphery.

The Czech Republic has signalled it will take steps to sign up to tough rules on public deficits and overall state debt designed with the main aim of forcing euro zone government to get their public finances in order. For prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka the move is a low cost, symbolic, step which will mainly shackle the next government rather than this one.

The Czech Republic will no longer seek to use the opt out from EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights that was won by former president Václav Klaus in 2009, the government decided on Wednesday. The opt out was no longer relevant and its withdrawal would help improve Prague’s position with regard to other EU international agreements, prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka said. Klaus won the exemption as a condition for his signing the EU reforming Lisbon Treaty.