News

Thirty-two people have been deported from the Czech Republic and five have had their residence status terminated after a security dragnet launched by police on Tuesday revealed they were in the country illegally, either with expired visas or without visas at all. Overall police screened two hundred and fifty-five foreigners in Prague and central Bohemia. The controls come in connection with next week's NATO summit in Prague; besides tighter security within the country, police have tightened controls on the border. Police spokeswoman Klara Krejci said on Monday that the police have already denied entry to several people on the Slovak and German border, but said detailed information including the precise number of those turned away, or their citizenship, would not be released.

The European Commission has called for 728 million euros in aid to help repair flood damage in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, and France. Officials said agreement on the package by EU governments and the European Parliament could come as early as next week, with the funds being made available by the end of the year. The newly-created one billion euro European Union Solidarity Fund will provide 444 million euros in EU help for Germany, 134 million euros for Austria, 129 million euros for the Czech Republic and 21 million euros for France. The packages will be used to restore vital equipment and infrastructure destroyed by floods that devastated many parts of Europe in August this year.

An overwhelming majority of Prague citizens fear the protest demonstrations that are expected to take place during the NATO summit on November 21st and 22nd. Results of a public opinion poll released by the Prague School of International and Public Relations on Tuesday showed that some 80 percent of Prague citizens fear street rioting and 53 percent fear a possible terrorist attack. On the other hand, 58 percent also agreed to the summit being held in Prague. Opinion polls conducted over recent months have shown that fears of demonstrations and terrorist attacks in the Czech capital are on the rise as the NATO summit draws near.

The frontrunner candidates for EU membership, including the Czech Republic, will most probably join the European Union a few months later than expected. Instead of on January 1st 2004, the countries will most likely become EU members in the spring of 2004. Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen said that the exact date will depend on the time it will take to ratify the accession treaty. Since the treaty is expected to be several thousand pages long, current member states will not be pressured into speeding up their ratification. Mr Verheugen stressed, however, that the expansion process will have to be complete before the elections to the European Parliament in July 2004.