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President Vaclav Klaus has asked the Czech Constitutional Court to evaluate whether the European Constitution complies with the Czech constitution. Mr Klaus on Wednesday wrote a letter to the Chairman of the Court, Pavel Rychetsky, asking whether the ratification of the EU constitution ought to be preceded by amendments to the Czech constitution.

President Klaus has been keen to warn Czech citizens of the implications of ratifying the European Constitution, saying it would limit the sovereignty of individual EU member states, especially smaller countries like the Czech Republic. The constitution has also been criticised by the centre-right opposition Civic Democrat and Communist parties.

The opposition right-of-centre Civic Democrats have asked Prime Minister Stanislav Gross to explain to Parliament where he got the money to buy his Prague flat. The call comes after Czech media reports that called into question Mr Gross' ability to have paid for the flat on his official salary. The prime minister recently disclosed a net income of the past few years that he said proved he could afford the flat, but was criticised for including various allowances which parliamentarians are allotted to cover expenses such as transport and meals.

The Prague City Hall plans to double the number of controls it conducts to ensure that taxi drivers aren't violating regulations and ripping off clients. Prague Mayor Pavel Bem said on Wednesday that the number of controls should increase substantially to reach some 140 this month. Last month, Mr Bem, disguised as a tourist, was charged six times above the normal rate by a Prague taxi driver.

Transparency International has called on the Czech Prime Minister Stanislav Gross to explain how he paid for his luxury flat in Prague. Recently the Czech daily Mlada Fronta Dnes pointed out that Mr. Gross could not have purchased his luxury home from his own or his wife's income and urged the Prime Minister to say where he'd got the money. Despite considerable pressure from the media the Prime Minister has refused to disclose the source of his finances. Transparency said the open questions and speculation surrounding the case were damaging the whole Cabinet and adding to the perception of the Czech Republic as a country with a high rate of corruption.