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A poll conducted by the Factum agency suggests that the recent government crisis has caused support for the ruling Social Democrats to drop by more than four percent but did not affect the coalition Christian Democrats. The opposition Civic Democrats top the poll with 35 percent of voter support. The opposition Communist Party, with some 26 percent, would become the second strongest party in parliament, if elections were held tomorrow.

A European Parliament report adopted on Thursday says that Hungary, Lithuania and Poland have done best in adopting European Union legislation but the Czech Republic is bottom of the new class. The report showed all 10 countries which joined the bloc last May have done better than critics forecast in implementing the 1,579 directives related to the EU single market. It says that the Czech Republic has yet to transpose 9.6 percent of EU legislation into national law, improve laws on recognition of professional qualifications, implement EU legislation on equal treatment of men and women at work and improve legislation on the protection of personal data.

An Azerbaijani political refugee who was arrested on a brief visit to his homeland has been allowed to return to the Czech Republic. Professor Sadai Nazarov, who was granted political asylum in Czech Republic in 1997, returned to his homeland in January to visit his ailing father. He was arrested on treason charges and spent over three months in detention. His release was secured after weeks of intense diplomatic negotiations, when the Azerbaijani authorities agreed to halt legal proceedings against Nazarov. The 58 year old dissident arrived at Prague's Ruzyne airport in relatively good health and was met by family and friends.

The government has rejected the Civic Democratic Party's proposal of a one-off referendum bill on the EU Constitution. The three governing parties have produced their own referendum bill which is far broader and would enable a referendum to be held on any vital issues relating to the country's future. Both proposals will be debated in Parliament. The approval of either of those bills would open the door for Czechs to vote on the European Constitution. Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek has said that the ratification of the EU Constitution is a top priority. The new Cabinet is expected to launch an information campaign on the EU Constitution within a matter of weeks. President Vaclav Klaus has already come out strongly against its ratification, publishing a brochure in which he enumerates all the possible pitfalls.