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The Zambian government has described as unfortunate the efforts of the Czech government to involve the EU in trying to secure the release of three Czech nationals who face trial in Lusaka over spying charges. Minister of Foreign Affairs Chishimba Kambwili said Czech efforts to persuade the European Union to impose sanctions against Zambia if the country does not release the suspects was not conducive to good relations and that his country would not be threatened. Mr. Kambwili said the matter was in the courts and the Zambian government would not interfere with the ongoing legal proceedings. However it said it remained open to dialogue with Prague.

The Czech Foreign Ministry is sending a special envoy to Zambia in connection with the case and MEP Jan Březina recently asked the European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to use all available means to help release the Czech citizens. Meanwhile Luděk Zahradníček, Czech ambassador to Zimbabwe who represents the Czech Republic in Zambia, has denied allegations that his country had threatened Zambia with sanctions and expressed hope that the case would soon be resolved.

The prime ministers of the Czech Republic and Estonia say their countries’ business relations are good and could be even deeper. The Czech prime minister, Petr Nečas, said after a meeting between the two that Estonia is an interesting country for Czech exporters particularly in the areas of energy, environmental protection and transport engineering. Estonian PM Andrus Ansip said he appreciated the work of the Czech jet pilots who protected Baltic airspace during 2009 and should do so again next year, though Mr Nečas reminded that there should be a certain degree of cost sharing on that NATO mission.

President Václav Klaus has said that Europe including the Czech Republic is likely to experience “a lost decade” as a result of its deep financial and economic crisis. In an article for the weekly Týden, Mr Klaus blamed the situation on the “organization of the European Union” where “the dictate of politics prevails over economy”. Unless Europe undergoes a deep transformation, Mr Klaus says, it will experience economic marginalization. Mr Klaus likened the “lost decade” he envisages to the 1990s in Japan – a “decade without economic growth, with permanent cuts, austerity measures and social unrest”. Mr Klaus’s views are often labelled as Eurosceptic but he himself prefers the term Eurorealist.

Environment ministers from the Visegrad Group countries, Bulgaria and Romania have agreed that cutting down on carbon dioxide emissions should not harm local economies and that the United States, China and other states must also take part in the reductions. The EU produces 12 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions but according to Czech Environment Minister Tomáš Chalupa it keeps cutting emissions despite having one of the lowest economic growths. Speaking at meeting outside Prague on Tuesday, Minister Chalupa said that if the largest polluters do not participate in reducing CO2 emissions, further cuts in Europe would harm its competitiveness. The six central and east European countries – about one-fifth of the EU in terms of both population and territory – coordinated their stances ahead of an U.N. international conference on climate change opening in Durban, South Africa, in late November.

A record minimum of Czechs support the country’s membership in the European Union, a new poll suggests. The survey conducted by the STEM agency says that 59% percent of respoendents responded positively to membership, while 30% were clearly negative. The highest period of confidence in the union was during the Czech EU presidency in 2009, when 80% were in favour. Te poll also suggests that satisfaction with NATO membership is higher, with 70% approving after 12 years of membership in the alliance.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said on Thursday the Czech Republic should not distance itself from the eurozone’s debt crisis but pull its weight in helping to resolve the problem. Speaking at a conference of Czech foreign policy, Mr. Schwarzenberg said that this was a time for solidarity from all EU members, because all were in the same boat and a crisis in the eurozone would sooner or later affect everyone. The Czech Republic has taken a cautious stand to developments in the monetary alliance, and the ruling Civic Democrats have even thrown their weight behind the idea of holding a national referendum on euro adoption.

President Václav Klaus addressed a meeting of high military commanders on Wednesday, and called upon them to defend the Czech Republic from European unification and globalisation. Mr Klaus told the assembly that they could only defend the need for an army if they stood with others to defend the integrity of the state from globalisation on the world scale, and “unification tendencies” in Europe. The president also noted that the institution’s prestige had been damaged by dubious purchases and poor economic management. Regarding the worsening economic situation, he said that soldiers would be expected to tighten their belts like other citizens without grumbling and threatening to quit.

The media coverage surrounding the problems in the eurozone has - rightly – focused on the seventeen countries that use it, as they attempt to shore up efforts to stop the sovereign debt crisis from spreading. But what of the ten that don’t, and especially those new members like the Czech Republic, which must – at some point - adopt the euro under the terms of their EU membership?

Prime Minister Petr Nečas and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg have ended a drawn-out dispute over EU competences, according to the internet website aktualne.cz. The dispute over who holds the EU agenda arose after Prime Minister Petr Nečas appointed a state secretary for EU affairs in the Office of the Government. The foreign minister promptly made an identical appointment at the foreign ministry. On Thursday the two officials signed an agreement on procedural matters in covering the EU agenda including who should represent the Czech Republic at various talks in Brussels.

The prime minister wants a referendum if the euro is to be adopted; a new natural gas line opens to the north; passenger car production up; the government shells out 11.7 billion on operation of renewable energy sources; and Czech Television stops advertising.