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The new Czech prime minister, Jiri Paroubek, has laid out the policy programme of his coalition government. At a news conference in Prague on Tuesday, the prime minister said its main objective would be to ratify the European Union Constitution. He said he hoped the issue would be put to a public referendum at the same time as general elections next summer. The prime minister also said he would support exports and small and medium-sized businesses.

Mr Paroubek's new government faces its first test on Friday, when it will undergo a vote of confidence. The prime minister says he is positive it will receive the backing of all 101 government deputies.

The Olga Havlova Award has been presented to a group called Zrcadlo (Mirror), which shares its experiences of mental health problems with other sufferers. The committee of the Olga Havlova Goodwill Committee also paid tribute to Kuman Vishwanathan, an Indian man who set up a "Coexistence Village" to encourage white Czechs and Romanies to live together in north Moravia. Olga Havlova, the highly respected wife of former president Vaclav Havel, died of cancer in 1996.

During his visit to Moscow, President Vaclav Klaus expressed criticism at the fact that the former Polish President Wojciech Jaruzelski was among those who received medals from the Russian President Vladimir Putin on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Before leaving Moscow, President Klaus told President Putin that despite Mr Jaruzelski's role in the defeat of Nazism, for Czech citizens he remained a symbol of the 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops. Wojciech Jaruzelski was Poland's Defence Minister when Polish units, along with Soviet, Hungarian, Bulgarian and East German troops invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968, putting an end to the reforms of the Prague Spring.

The Vice-President of the European Commission, Margot Wallstrom, who's on a visit to the Czech Republic, has presented her ten arguments in favour of the adoption of the EU Constitution. The CTK news agency wrote that although she never mentioned the Czech President Vaclav Klaus, Ms Wallstrom's ten arguments came across as a response to Mr Klaus's ten objections to the EU Constitution that he recently published. While Mr Klaus warns that European countries will lose their right to create their own laws and the Czech Republic's decision-making power will be reduced, Ms Wallstrom argues that the constitutional treaty will bring fairer and more efficient decision-making in the EU and will simplify its legal system.