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The European Court of Human Rights has rejected a complaint from former Communist prosecutor Ludmila Brožová-Polednová. The court found that the process, which sent the 89-year-old to six years in prison for the 1950 judicial murder of democratic politician Milada Horáková, was fair. The court said that the European Convention on Human Rights provides no protection for the liquidation of political opponents via judicial execution, and disregarded her argument that she was following the instructions of her superiors in the show-trial, noting that she was an experienced and educated lawyer. Brožová-Polednová was pardoned in December of last year by President Klaus on grounds of her advanced age and medical condition.

Prague has withstood the world economic crisis better than almost any other European city, according to a study by the Dutch TNO institute. Only Paris and Lisbon fared better, and only marginally. During the worst part of the credit crunch, in 2009, Prague’s GDP fell by only 2.6% as opposed to roughly 4% elsewhere in Europe. Rome, Stockholm and Milan suffered worst that year, according to the study, with drops in GDP of 6.5% - 5.9%. Prague’s major advantage was apparently the high ratio of active citizens aged 15 to 64, which amounts to nearly 81% and is the fifth highest on the continent.

As of the beginning of July, domestic pets – namely dogs, cats and ferrets – must be marked with an identification chip for travel within Europe. Previously a tattoo was used, and animals tattooed before July 3, 2011, do not have to be given a chip, provided the tattoo is legible. The State Veterinary Administration is encouraging pet owners who intend to travel with their animals to have the chip implanted in any case to avoid problems abroad.

President Václav Klaus met with Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg on Thursday to discuss the minister’s foreign policy plan. The president criticized several points, most of them focusing on EU issues. The two also discussed Mr. Schwarzenberg’s recent visit to Libya, as well as the Czech Republic’s presidency of the Visegrad group.

Mr. Schwarzenberg’s foreign policy plan, which should specify Czech foreign policy and diplomacy issues, was also criticized by Prime Minister Petr Nečas and Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra, who said that several points, among them the current crisis in Greece, were not addressed in the plan. Mr. Klaus has demanded that the Czech Republic be exempted from the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, a point which he says needs to be added to the plan. However, the Social Democrats, who hold a majority in the Senate, oppose this step, which may complicate the approval process of the foreign policy plan.

The Czech Republic will not be contributing to a second bailout package for Greece. Confirmation of the news came after late-night talks at an EU leaders' summit in Brussels, at which it was agreed that the joint rescue effort would not involve any commitment from non-eurozone countries. The Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas joined his British counterpart David Cameron in opposing a broad EU rescue effort via a European Financial Stability Mechanism which would have committed all 27 member states to provide loan guarantees. The Czech Republic has in the past taken on such guarantees for Ireland and Portugal but the authorities consider a similar service to Greece to be a much bigger risk.

British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Prague on Thursday for a brief working visit. Mr Cameron met with the Czech head of government, Petr Nečas, to discuss their countries’ positions on a planned new bailout for Greece, ahead of a key EU summit in Brussels. Both leaders agreed that the planned rescue package should be put together by members of the eurozone, rather than the whole of the EU.

Prime Minister Petr Nečas is sticking to a plan to tie parliamentary approval of Croatia’s accession to the EU to the Czech exemption to the Lisbon treaty. The prime minister on Monday told members of Parliament’s EU affairs committee that he wants to introduce the two bills as a single contractual document and a single vote in both houses. President Václav Klaus demanded the exemption from the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights before signing the treaty in 2009. Opposition Social Democrats, which are opposed to the opt-out, have warned the government risks complicating Croatia’s accession if it connects the votes, as they will vote against it in the Senate. Croatia is expected to sign the agreement with the EU in the second half of this year and become the 28th member state on July 1, 2013.

In a supplement called doing business in the Czech Republic Britain’s Financial Times says the country’s open economy is profiting from neighbouring Germany and has returned to growth after a severe recession in 2009. However it says the Czech Republic’s weak institutions and constant corruption scandals are severely undermining the country’s economic potential. The paper cites Weston Stacey, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic, who says the corruption issue is less critical in the private sector but investors who have to deal with the public sector face a lot of problems.

The Czech government has rejected the country’s foreign policy concept proposed by Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg on the grounds that it was too pro-European, the daily Lidové noviny reported on Friday. At the cabinet’s session on Wednesday, Prime Minister Petr Nečas and Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra criticized the concept for failing to take into account the ongoing crisis of the Eurozone as well as the Czech Republic’s opt-out from the Lisbon Treaty’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. President Václav Klaus also slammed the policy document for similar reasons. Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg told the daily he was ready to complement the concept but under no circumstance would he change his European policy.

In an interview for the newspaper Financial Times, Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas said that now was not a good time for the Czech Republic to adopt the euro. Among the reasons he cited were the uncertain future of the currency and the fact that three of the 17 eurozone countries have had to apply for financial aid from the European Union. However, all twelve countries that became EU members in 2004, the Czech Republic among them, are obligated to eventually adopt the union’s common currency. Among the newer member states, Romania seems the most likely candidate for timely euro adoption by 2015. In Poland, the original euro adoption deadline of 2012 will not be met. It appears likely that the country may not adopt the euro until the end of this decade.