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The Communist regime collapsed in Europe because of its own internal crisis but also due to the work of the Helsinki movements, so says former Czech President Vaclav Havel. Mr Havel spoke at the start of an international conference in Prague on Sunday, where some 30 experts and eyewitnesses began discussing the contribution of the Helsinki process to the collapse of the Communist bloc. The term "Helsinki process" is used to describe negotiations between the West and the former Eastern bloc, covering commitments in a number of fields, from armament reduction to the protection of human rights.

A new study by Price Waterhouse Coopers has shown that Czech car prices are apparently the lowest in Europe, standing 8 percent below the European average owing to lower interest in new cars. Following last year's accession to the European Union, experts predicted prices would grow as differences between prices in the EU narrowed. But, says Antonin Sipek, director of the Association of Automotive Industries, dealers began a price war as interest in new cars decreased rapidly. Over the past 12 months, the Czech Republic has been the only country in which prices have fallen, posting a 1.2 percent drop.

On the whole Czech car sales have been falling by an annual 9 percent over the past two years. The drop in sales has affected all vehicle categories.

Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek has said he will aim to discuss ratification of the EU constitution with both opposition parties, the Civic Democrats and the Communists. On Sunday he said that both supporters and opponents of the treaty will be invited to take part in the first phase of a planned information campaign. A meeting of Social Democrat and Civic Democrat leaders has been set for Monday. Unlike the right-of-centre Civic Democrats, the Communist Party wants the information campaign to go ahead in the Czech Republic, although party members are undecided as to whether or not the ratification process should be suspended. The prime minister has indicated the campaign would be launched after the mid-June EU summit, set to discuss further steps following the French and Dutch votes.

The government will earmark a total of 200 million crowns (over 8 million US dollars) for the campaign on the EU constitution.

The Czech Republic's demolition of Andorra in World Cup qualifying on Saturday saw a number of new team records set, not least the record for highest number of goals in a single match. A Czech national football side had never before scored 8 goals in a game: the closest it came was twice in the 1920s, both times hitting 7 goals against former Yugoslavia.

Saturday's qualifier saw striker Jan Koller also set a new record for most goals scored by a player for the national team (breaking the 34 mark set by the legendary Antonin Puc), while team captain Tomas Galasek scored his first international goal in 43 starts.

Despite the win, the Czechs remain 2nd in their qualifying group, one point behind the Netherlands, whose team defeated Romania on Saturday by a score of 2:0.