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In an interview for the UK paper the Sunday Times, Czech President Václav Klaus said that the Lisbon treaty would make the European Union less democratic, it would make the decision-making process less transparent, and it would give more competences to Brussels at the expense of member states. Mr Klaus also denied having made a comparison between the European Union and the Soviet-era system in his address to the European Parliament last month; the president said the Czech experience with communism was valuable in that Czechs learnt that where there was no opposition and no tolerance to other points of view, there was is no freedom, either.

The band Kryštof was named band of the year at the Czech music industry's annual Anděl awards ceremony on Saturday night, also winning the award for the best song of 2008. Male singer of the year was Dan Barta, while the female singer of the year award went to Lenka Dusilová. The band Katapult, which formed in the 1970s, was inducted into the Czech music hall of fame.

Jiří Paroubek was re-elected the leader of the opposition Social Democrats at the party’s convention in Prague on Saturday. The former prime minister, who faced no other candidate, received 74 percent of votes. The three-day party congress also elected five deputy leaders, including shadow foreign minister Lubomír Zaorálek and Brno mayor Roman Onderka.

One of the main speakers at the convention on Saturday was Slovak PM Robert Fico. He said that social democrats have to focus on defending the concept of social state and reject solutions offered by right wing parties. On Friday, Czech President Václav Klaus appeared at the Social Democrat congress for the first time ever. His speech was closely-watched, as it came days ahead of a key no-confidence vote on the current government. The president declined to comment the upcoming vote, but suggested that during the period of economic crisis political parties needed to display extra responsibility in the interests of the country.

The far-right Workers’ Party founded its youth group at a congress in Brno on Saturday. The aims of the group include the nationalization of the Czech education system, the support of traditional families and a general ban on drugs. The Workers’ Party youth group currently has around 100 members, most of them from Prague.

The small far- right Workers’ Party made headlines last year when its sympathizers attempted to march in a Romany ghetto in northern Bohemia. In January, the Supreme Administrative Court rejected the government’s petition to ban the party.