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In Business news this week: Czech public debt is the second smallest in the EU but the gap widens between the country’s GDP and EU average; Škoda Auto seeks factories to produce its new SUV model; government plans to cap salaries of state-owned firms; Czech Post suspends deliveries to Syria; and a new study predicts how many medals Czech athletes will win at London Olympics.

Prague City Hall has toned down its campaign to attract British “Olympic avoiders” to the Czech capital during the London Summer Olympics, the Czech daily Hospodářské noviny reported on Thursday. The campaign presents Prague as a destination where Londoners can take part in the “Prague games” events such as panoramathon, heavy-weight shopping, kafkarate, free-style kissing and others. However, Prague City Hall decided to drop two motifs – synchronized drinking and morning slalom, alluding to drinking and partying – over the UK’s ban of associating alcohol with sports in advertising.

Czech Open 2012 is a cultural season in London that began last month and will last through to August, also during with the summer Olympic Games. Organised by the Czech Centre in London, the season offers a variety of programmes in the borough of Islington, including an exhibition called Coal and Steel and Disorient Express which is set to open, and a street art project being worked on now by two Czech and British artists.

Organisers have unveiled plans for the Czech Olympic House in the area of Islington in London which will serve as a hub for thousands of visitors including, of course, sports fans during the upcoming summer Olympics. But the aim of the venue will not only be to meet Czech and other competitors (for example Usain Bolt) but also to present the Czech Republic in a modern light. The overall design was inspired by a famous abstract work by painter František Kupka, and the space itself will show works by contemporary Czech artists including David Černý,

British actor John Cleese, best-known for his role in the legendary comedy group Monty Python, will be the face of a new campaign by the Czech Olympic Committee to promote the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. The comedian spent five days in Prague last week shooting video clips to be aired by Czech TV in which he will present of some Britain’s icons in a most unusual setting.

The Czech Republic’s under-21 men’s national football team lost 0:1 to Belarus on Saturday in the bronze medal game at the European Championships in Denmark. The Czechs showed a poor performance in the match against their weakest opponent at the tournament, and conceded the decisive goal two minutes before the end of the regular game time. Besides bronze medals, the Czech team also lost an opportunity to qualify for the football tournament of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

The Czech Olympic Committee approved at its session in Prague on Thursday national nomination criteria for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. The committee hopes that between 130 and 180 Czech athletes will compete at the quadrennial sporting event. The deputy chair of the Olympic Committee, František Dvořák, said if the men’s national football team and women’s national basketball team qualify for the games, the number of Czech athletes taking part in the Olympics would be the highest in history. Czech sporting associations will hand in their final nominations in June, 2012, less than two months before the start of the London Olympics.

All eyes were on Singapore on Wednesday for the announcement of who will host the 2012 Olympic Games. The winner - London - was a choice which surprised many, but the decision has also reinvigorated the debate over whether the Czech capital Prague stands a chance of hosting the world's greatest sporting event.