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Austrian opponents of the Czech Republic's Temelin nuclear power station held a brief blockade of the Czech-Austrian border near the town Gmund on Sunday morning. The blockade was the latest protest by Austrian anti-nuclear activists against the Czech plant, which they claim is unsafe.

Human rights groups have criticised a court verdict in Karlovy Vary after three police officers received suspended sentences for an attack on a Roma man. The court found the three guilty of beating up Karel Billy in woods near the city in May 2001 and sentenced them to ten months in prison, suspended for two years. Two other officers involved in the incident were set free. The court ruled the attack was not racially motivated. All three defendants and the state prosecutor appealed against the verdict, which was criticised by the government's human rights commissioner Jan Jarab.

The Czech government on Monday gave final approval to a public finance reform package designed to cut high budget gaps and stop the growth in Czech government debt. Cabinet approval was expected after the leaders of all three ruling coalition parties agreed late on Sunday on a final framework for the fiscal reform. The medium-term reform plan targets cutting the public finance deficit to four percent of GDP in 2006 from a record high of 6.2 percent this year. The public finance reform is also the main precondition for eventual adoption of the euro later in this decade.

The prime minister, Vladimir Spidla, has described the draft European Union constitution prepared by the European Convention as a good basis for intergovernmental talks on the future of the union. Mr Spidla was speaking at the Greek resort of Porto Carras at a conference attended by the leaders of the 15 existing EU countries and 10 countries which are set to join next May. The Czech prime minister also said on Friday that he had welcomed the opportunity to speak Czech during the negotiations; under a new rule delegates from candidate countries can now speak in their own languages at EU conferences. The Czech people voted to join the EU in the country's first ever referendum last weekend.