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Municipalities situated near existing NATO radars in Chlumec nad Cidlinou and Slavkov, south Moravia, will ask the government for financial compensation as well as information about the radars' possible impact on the public's health. The mayor of Chlumec nad Cidlinou announced the initiative on Friday but said that 14 municipalities in the vicinity of Chlumec and ten municipalities in the area of Slavkov had not yet agreed on specific financial demands. The construction of the NATO radar near Chlumec began in 2004, with the radar going into operation in 2007. The radar at Slavkov was completed at the end of 2007.

Ceremonies have been held at most of the military bases in the Czech Republic to mark the ninth anniversary of the country joining NATO. The Czech Army has undergone significant reform since the country became a member of NATO in March 1999, with the biggest single change the ending of compulsory military service and the creation of a fully professional army.

The Czech prime minister expects that the Czech Republic will sign an agreement with the United States on the building of a US radar base in central Bohemia around the time of a NATO summit in Bucharest at the beginning of April. Mr Topolánek made the comments on his way to Washington. He said discussions in the US capital would take in how the US anti-missile system would be linked to NATO structures and Russia’s opposition to the plan. The Czech side is also demanding that its scientists are given a role in anti-missile research and development. Prime Minister Topolánek is set to hold talks with President George Bush on Wednesday.

The government on Monday earmarked some 21 million euros as the country’s contribution towards the construction of NATO’s new headquarters in Brussels. The sum will be paid over the next six years. The total cost is expected to come up to 1.15 billion euros.

The Czech – US treaty on the siting of a radar base, part of the American anti-missile shield, in the Czech Republic, will provide for the system’s cooperation with NATO, Czech Deputy Foreign Minister Tomáš Pojar said on Thursday, after talks with US officials in Prague. The Czech Republic has been negotiating with the United States on the positioning of the radar station on Czech territory for more than a year; Mr Pojar said he expected the talks to conclude ‘within weeks, rather than months’.

An agreement between the Czech Republic and the United States on the deployment of a tracking radar on Czech territory, part of an American anti-missile defence system, could soon be concluded. A Pentagon spokesperson said on Tuesday that a final deal could be struck within weeks. Czech officials have been more careful to set a date: the Foreign Ministry expects negotiations with the US to be finalized before a NATO summit in Bucharest in early April.

Slovak PM Robert Fico has criticized US plans to site part of its missile defence system in the Czech Republic and Poland. Addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on Monday, Mr Fico said that he considers the project to be pointless. He expressed the view that any decisions on defence-related issues should be subject to negotiations between NATO and the EU. The Slovak Prime Minister also rejected the notion that bilateral talks between the United States and individual European allies do not concern third countries, especially those neighbouring on the Czech Republic and Poland.

Talks between Prague and Washington on the possible stationing of a US radar base on Czech territory acquired a new dimension on Wednesday. The director of the US Missile Defense Agency Henry Obering arrived in Prague flanked by a group of American defense industry business leaders to discuss the possible commercial and scientific benefits for Czech firms if the country agreed to participate in the US missile defense project.

Poland’s new prime minister Donald Tusk arrived in Prague on Thursday for talks with his Czech counterpart Mirek Topolanek, and top of the agenda was the planned U.S. missile defence shield. Washington wants to build a launching pad for ten interceptor missiles in Poland, to work in tandem with an early warning radar system across the border in the Czech Republic. But Mr Tusk is not as fervently pro-American as his predecessor Jaroslaw Kacynski, and Prague and Warsaw are beginning to look slightly out of step on missile defence.

A NATO centre specializing in weapons of mass destruction opened in the Czech town of Vyskov on Thursday. The joint chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense centre will employ 50 international military experts to provide consultancy services, work on security doctrines, train soldiers and organize simulation exercises. There are 16 similar NATO centers in different parts of the world, each with a different specialisation. Like the others this centre will be under direct NATO command.