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The opposition Social Democrats have slammed the fact that EU subsidies to the Czech Republic were suspended, labeling it “an embarrassment” for the country and a serious problem for the state budget as well as municipal budgets. Party leader Bohuslav Sobotka and deputy leader Lubomír Zaorálek said at a news conference on Thursday that due to the suspension of EU subsidies, the government was forced to take greater austerity measures than had been planned. The government needed to make the process of applying for EU funds more transparent and take more responsibility, they added.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus has signed the European Social Charter´s additional protocol on the system of collective complaints. In 2003, both houses of Parliament approved the document, which allows collective complaints over social rights violations to be lodged with the Council of Europe. Mr Klaus however refused to ratify the protocol and the Social Democratic Party said it would bring the issue to the Constitutional Court. That the president is obliged to ratify international agreements approved by Parliament is agreed on by most constitutional experts, with the notable exception of Zdeněk Koudelka. The president asked the Senate to nominate Mr Koudelka to the Constitutional Court a day after ratifying the protocol.

Likewise speaking at the Žofín forum the governor of the Czech National Bank Miroslav Singer said that in his view the Czech Republic would not be ready to adopt the euro before 2017. He said that a serious debate on euro adoption could start in 2014 or 2015 once the country had got its own finances in order and expected negotiations to last for approximately two years. Although the Czech Republic has not set a target date for euro adoption Prime Minister Necas said euro adoption was still on the agenda.

There is no threat of the European Commission suspending subsidies from EU structural funds, regardless of mistakes in relevant Czech audits, according to deputy regional development minister Daniel Braun. After meeting with EC representatives on Friday Mr Braun said that he and his EU counterparts had agreed on the steps the Czech Republic should take in order for the EC not to suspend Czech operational programmes. While he confirmed the EC could stop the subsidies in the event of major problems with the programmes, he said this was not imminent. The EC´s criticism regards the Czech system of auditing, inspections and human resources stability, particularly in the Education Ministry, where the EC suspended the payment of 1.2 billion crowns.

Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg has told the Austrian daily Der Standard he still believes the Czech Republic will eventually sign the European Union’s new fiscal treaty. In the interview, published on Friday, the minister, who is also chairman of the TOP 09 party and a presidential hopeful, reiterated his conviction the country belonged in the EU core and also expressed support for energy reforms meant to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness. Regarding the Czech Republic, he rejected the idea of a referendum on the adoption of the single European currency, saying a promise had been made when joining the EU. He added, however, that his opinion differed from the prime minister’s. Prime Minister Petr Nečas and the foreign minister have clashed on a number of occasions over the fiscal compact; Mr Nečas was the only EU statesman besides British Prime Minister David Cameron not to sign the document. There have been some suggestions the Czech signature could be added later.

The Germany daily Die Welt has accused Czech president Václav Klaus of seeking to break up the European Union. The conservative daily cited Klaus’ support of Turkish EU entry in its argument; Germany is presently opposed to Turkish entry. Specifically, the paper noted recent comments by close Klaus aid Jiří Payne, who said: “I think that he wants to break up the European Union,” adding that “There are groups of European sceptics in each country. They are expanding into a stream in the current crisis. Klaus will travel round Europe and see to it that this stream is strengthening even more,” according to comments reported by ČTK. The paper argues that Klaus’ pro-Turkish stance has nothing to do with advocating for Turkey, but is rather another cynical move designed to weaken and possibly break-up the European Union by exacerbating the EU’s current problems via the addition of a new member with a population of roughly 60 million people. In a recent interview with the daily Právo, Payne also noted that the sooner the “failed integration project” of the EU is ended, the better it will be for the economies of its members.

German Foreign Minister Quido Westerwelle is in Prague to mark the 20th anniversary of a Czech-German cooperation treaty. Speaking after a meeting with his Czech counterpart, Karel Schwarzenberg, Mr Westerwelle said that relations between the Czech Republic and Germany were at their highest ever point and noted that all historic problems had been overcome through friendly cooperation. Regarding the Czech reticence to join the EU fiscal responsibility treaty, Westerwelle said the door remains open to the members who have not signed it. Mr Schwarzenberg said he could not predict whether the Czech Republic would eventually join the treaty, but said he thought things would turn out well in the end.

The retail price of eggs in the Czech Republic has doubled since the start of the year due to the implementation of an EU directive that introduces stricter rules for laying hen farms. As a result, the supply of eggs has dropped across Europe, which is leading to increased prices. According to the website of the daily Právo, eggs are frequently sold out even at big super markets and retail for a record price of 64.9 crowns for ten eggs. Experts from the Czech Statistical Office expect prices of eggs and other food stuffs to grow over the next few months.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg has said the Czech Republic is heading for a peripheral position in the EU. In a debate on Czech public television the foreign minister expressed deep discontent with the fact that the Czech prime minister had refused to sign the EU’s fiscal compact. Mr. Schwarzenberg said that the country was heading towards isolation and hinted that his own days in office were numbered. The foreign minister, who has previously stated that he would not want to remain in the post should the country remain outside of the EU mainstream, said he would continue to push for a reversal of this decision for some time longer.

Speaking at his party’s ideological conference, Prime Minister Petr Nečas defended his decision for the Czech Republic to stay out of the EU’s fiscal treaty and slammed the opposition Social Democrats for misleading the public with regard to what it would bring. Mr. Nečas said the Social Democrats were capitalizing on their positive stand to the treaty without telling Czechs that its ratification would effectively prevent them from fulfilling their policy programme. The ideological conference of the Civic Democratic Party is focussing mainly on planned austerity measures in the coming years and the need to communicate them to the public.