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No part in the Euro-Pact for the Czech Republic; interest rates stay at their all-time low, for now; costly coal means good news for gas; Seznam.cz buys up Stream.cz; and a new blacklist for public tenders is accepting new members.

The Czech Republic will not join the planned Pact for the Euro, Prime Minister Petr Nečas told Czech MPs on Wednesday. Mr Nečas said the pact, which will be discussed at an EU summit in Brussels later this week, would open the door for tax harmonization which would not be good for the bloc. The Czech prime minister also said the Czech government was not consulted when the pact was discussed among the countries of the eurozone. However, Mr Nečas said the Czech Republic might join the pact at some point in the future.

The Pact for the Euro, drawn up under pressure from Germany and France, should enhance the eurozone’s competitiveness and ensure the sustainability of public finances in the member states.

Czech industry and trade deputy minister Tomáš Hüner has attacked the possibility of early closure dates for nuclear plants as part Europe-wide evaluations. Speaking at a meeting in Brussels on Monday, Mr. Hüner said reactor age limits of 15-20 years would be a problem for the Czech Republic but 30-40 years would not. He said some EU countries were pushing for age limits to form part of a new wave of safety tests in the wake of the scare at a Japanese plant following an earthquake and tsunami wave. National regulators are due to submit criteria for tests by the middle of the year. The Czech Republic’s oldest reactor at Dukovany dates from 1985.

Both chambers of the Czech Parliament on Wednesday granted the government a mandate for negotiations on the planned European Stability Mechanism that will take place at an EU summit next week. The creation of the mechanism, that should guarantee the stability of the eurozone, will require changes to the bloc’s Lisbon treaty. Under the mandate approved by Parliament, the government will however not be able to agree with transferring more national jurisdiction to the EU’s central bodies.

The Czech government has outlined the country’s stance ahead of an upcoming extraordinary EU summit that will deal with the situation in Libya and other North African countries. President Václav Klaus, who will head the Czech delegation, will tell his counterparts from other EU countries in Brussels on Friday that Prague will only support measures approved by the UN Security Council. But critics say that the Czech Republic, and the West, is again doing too little, too late.

The ratification of the Czech opt-out from the EU’s Lisbon treaty should not complicate Croatia’ accession to the bloc, Czech President Václav Klaus said after meeting the Croatian head of state, Ivo Josipovic, in Prague on Tuesday. In 2009, President Klaus ratified the Lisbon treaty on condition the Czech Republic is granted an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights; the exemption is set to be ratified as part of Croatia’s EU accession treaty. However, several EU member states have suggested the exemption is ratified separately which would greatly diminish chances of the opt-out’s approval.

A new report by Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner, Thomas Hammarberg, sees “deeply-rooted anti-Gypsyism” as one of the main obstacles to Roma’s inclusion in the Czech society. The report, which was released in Brussels on Thursday, also highlights continued segregation that the country’s Roma community faces in education and housing. Mr Hammarberg, who visited the Czech Republic in November 2010, noted frequent racist and anti-Roma discourse among leading politicians and the media, and said the country should strengthen its efforts and implement inclusive policies.

A new poll by the Médea Research agency suggests that 77 percent of Czechs opposed the adoption of the euro while 15 percent of those polled agree with the introduction of the single European currency. The survey, which was carried out in January, shows 8 percent of those who took part have no opinion on the matter.

The Czech Republic is required by its EU accession treaty to eventually adopt the euro; however, no deadline has been set by the government. Prime Minister Petr Nečas said in January the country would adopt the currency once it fulfils the criteria, the eurozone is stable and the euro’s advantages prevail over those of the crown.

The Czech Senate postponed on Thursday a vote on the planned European Stability Mechanism which should safeguard financial stability in the eurozone. The news agency ČTK reported that some senators wanted to coordinate their stance on the issue with that of the lower house which is scheduled to vote on it in two weeks’ time. The Czech government needs an approval by both chambers of Parliament to be able to negotiate changes to the EU’s Lisbon treaty required for the mechanism to be adopted. European leaders will debate the mechanism at an EU summit in Brussels later this month.

The US media group Time Warner has acquired 3.1 million shares in Central European Media Enterprises, or CME, increasing its stake in the company to nearly 31 percent, Reuters reported on Thursday. Time Warner spent more than 60 million US dollars on the transaction that drove CME shares on the Prague exchange up by 8.4 percent. CME is the owner of the Czech Republic’s most-watched television station, TV Nova, and other commercial broadcasters in Central and Eastern Europe. The Czech news website ihned.cz reported that Time Warner bought the shares from the firm Testora Limited, CME’s third largest stakeholder controlled by the financial group PPF.