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Polls opened on Saturday morning in Ireland as its 2.9 million voters decide whether to accept or reject the European Union Treaty of Nice, which enables enlargement of the bloc. This is Ireland's second referendum on the treaty and the outcome of the poll will be watched closely by the 10 countries, including the Czech Republic, hoping to join the EU in 2004, as well as Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, who hope to join at a later stage. Ireland rejected the Nice Treaty in June 2001 by 54 percent in a referendum. Latest opinion polls show 42 per cent of the electorate intend to vote "yes" this time while 29 percent intend to vote "no". Ireland is the only EU member state to hold a referendum on the Treaty of Nice. National parliaments decided in the other 14 member states. The final result of the referendum is expected on Sunday evening.

The Netherlands has prevented the Czech Republic from closing the economic competition chapter which is part of negotiations between the European Union and the Czech Republic. The Dutch representative said the Netherlands' objection was the Czech state assistance to the steel industry. The Czech government's chief EU negotiator Pavel Telicka will not therefore meet his counterparts from EU member countries.

The Czech Republic took a step towards letting its citizens decide on EU membership on Thursday, after the lower house of parliament approved a bill to hold a referendum in the second quarter of next year. The legislation now goes to the Senate, where it is expected to pass easily because the upper house drafted the bill. The bill was approved by a strong majority, with 180 of the 182 deputies present in the 200-seat lower house voting in favour.

A new opinion poll released on Thursday shows a large majority in favour of electing a successor to President Vaclav Havel in a direct vote, as opposed to the current parliamentary system. The survey, carried out by the STEM agency, said 85 percent of respondents were in favour of electing the head of state directly. When asked who should succeed Mr Havel in February, most people said Otakar Motejl, the country's ombudsman. Mr Motejl, one of four candidates nominated by the ruling Social Democrats, was followed by Senate chairman Petr Pithart and Civic Democrat leader Vaclav Klaus. The Civic Democrats recently launched an initiative to change the Constitution to allow a direct vote.