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The European Commission have renewed payments to the Czech Republic for the Environment and Transportation programs, having paid out 43 billion crowns to the Finance Ministry for past projects this week. The commission suspended payments for the Environment program in June and for the Transportation program in August 2011. Financing for a number of other programs was also suspended, because of the Commission’s misgivings about the way the Czech ministries administered the funds. Although financing for some programs was renewed in the summer, funds for these particular programs were paid out only now.

In his annual address marking the anniversary of independent Czechoslovakia, President Václav Klaus warned that the Czech state has grown weaker yet has, at the same time, swelled or become bloated. The state and its laws, institutions and representatives were no longer respected, the president suggested, particularly by the younger generation. In his last such address as the head-of-state, Mr Klaus called for a reform of public finances but warned of unrealistic expectations from the EU. In his speech, he repeatedly criticized the media for – in his view – forwarding the interests of lobby groups and NGOs, as well as for ridiculing the state.

Prime Minister Petr Nečas said that the Czech Republic may still veto the proposal to form a single European banking system. The prime minister made the announced in Brussels after a summit, where representatives of EU member states decided to create the banking supervisory system by the first of January. The Czech leader said that it is still not clear how the supervisory system will actual work, and whether it can potentially lead to the destabilization of the Czech banking system, which is why he may still try to block the proposal.

European leaders meeting in Brussels have agreed a timetable for the creation of a single banking supervisor for the eurozone. All 6,000 banks in the eurozone would be regulated by the European Central Bank; a mechanism that would essentially create a European banking union. But several countries are extremely sceptical, and they include the Czech Republic.

The European Union’s Court of Justice on Thursday banned Czech producers from using a name for a diary product that has been on the market for over thirty years. The court ruled that the popular butter spread or pomazánkové máslo may not have the word butter in its name, since its milk-fat content is lower than the 80% butter must have according to European law.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas has said that the government is ready to block the establishment of the single EU banking supervising agency unless the disputed proposals that could threaten the Czech financial system are resolved. Mr Nečas made the announcement at a press conference on Wednesday, saying that given the fact that 95 percent of the Czech banking market is controlled by foreign banking groups, the government has to be careful with regard to EU-wide regulations. The banking supervising system is deemed to be one of the building blocks of the new banking union that EU legislators in Brussels are currently working on. According to the Czech prime minister, the current proposals of the supervising agency and the banking union are not satisfactory, and the Czech Republic would veto them if they were put to a vote today.

The EU may withhold hundreds of millions of crowns in subsidies for the Czech operational programme Education for Competitiveness, the Czech Supreme Auditing Office said on Monday. The auditing authority revealed problems with project- evaluation, selection and supervision, a spokeswoman for the office said. The Education for Competitiveness operational programme has faced problems for years; Education Minister Petr Fiala warned earlier this year the Czech Republic may be unable to receive between four and five billion crowns from the programme due to poorly prepared projects and delays.

Czech President Václav Klaus considers the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize for the European Union "a tragic error". Mr Klaus, who first did not take the news of the Norwegian Nobel Committee's decision serisouly, told reporters later on Friday the Nobel Peace Prize had a meaning when awarded to an individual for their unique actions; however, it turned into an "empty award" when handed to a bureaucratic insititution, the Czech president added.

For his part, the Czech foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, welcomed the Nobel Peace Prize for the EU as the right decision. However, Mr Schwarzenberg also said that he would have personally preferred to see the prize go to an individual.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said the European Union deserved the award for its role in advancing peace in Europe. According the committee, the EU helped to transform Europe "from a continent of war to a continent of peace".

Profits in Czech agriculture more than doubled from 7.6 billion crowns in 2010 to 17.1 in 2011, according to revised data from the Czech Statistical Office; the revised numbers are around 700 million crowns higher than the preliminary result made public at end of February. The earlier result was already a record high. The Czech agriculture sector has generated profits since 2004 when the Czech Republic joined the European Union, mainly thanks to EU subsidies. The value of production in agriculture expressed in current basic prices increased by almost 16 percent compared with 2010 to 118.9 billion crowns. Crop cultivation grew by more than 23 percent, while livestock production dropped by 6.2 percent.

The Czech Republic is planning to more than double its quota in the IMF, a move that should strengthen its position in the organization. Currently the country’s quota amounts to 1,002 billion Special Drawing Rights. The Finance Ministry’s proposal, approved by the government on Wednesday, envisages an increase to 2,180 billion Special Drawing Rights. A member country's quota determines its maximum financial commitment to the IMF, its voting power, and has a bearing on its access to IMF finances.