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The Central Bank has called on the Czech government to adopt reforms in public finances that would make it possible for the Czech Republic to adopt the currency of the European Union, the euro, as early as 2007. In a statement released on the bank's internet site Friday, the Central Bank said that analysis had shown that overall the situation was favourable for the Czech Republic to join the Eurozone relatively quickly. But, the bank stressed the need for some changes in economic policy to ensure the opportunity would not be missed. At the same time the bank has conceded that the outlook for current fiscal policy is not entirely consistent with the quick adoption of the euro. Criteria which must be met in order for the country to adopt the European currency requires, for example that the public finance deficit not exceed 3 percent of the Gross National Product. Current budget policy indicates, however, that by 2006, the public finance deficit could exceed 6 percent of the GNP.

The most popular choice to succeed Vaclav Havel as president is ombudsman Otakar Motejl, according to a survey carried out at the beginning of this month by the CVVM polling agency. Some 45 percent of Czechs would like to see Mr Motejl become president, the poll suggests. Of the official candidates for the post, the most popular is Petr Pithart of the Christian Democrats, with 37 percent support. The former leader of the Civic Democrats, Vaclav Klaus, came third in the poll, with 31 percent. Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has said that if a bicameral vote in January to elect a president fails, the constitution could be changed to allow for a direct election. President Vaclav Havel's term concludes at the end of next month.

Austrian opponents of the Temelin nuclear power station in south Bohemia are planning to stage a "hunger strike" in the new year. The group Stop Temelin announced on Friday that their "protest fast" would begin in the Austrian border town of Freistadt on January 2 and last for several days. Critics of Temelin, which went into operation in October 2000, say it is unsafe.

The right-of-centre Civic Democratic Party, the ODS, has criticised the terms for the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union, negotiated at the EU summit in Copenhagen last week. The summit saw the Czech Republic, along with nine other candidate countries invited to join the European Union in May 2004. On Wednesday ODS deputy chairman Jan Zahradil proposed the Lower House pass a resolution calling the results of the negotiations "unsatisfactory". He called the EU's terms worse than in previous expansion, and added the EU was poorly prepared for expansion in general. During the debate on the issue, the Freedom Union's Pavel Svoboda, the head of the Chamber of Deputies' European integration committee, countered Mr Zahradil by saying it was "a petty debate", adding that the Czech Republic would have missed an historic chance if it hadn't come to an agreement now. Mr Svoboda called on the Lower House to pass a resolution saying EU accession talks had been a success. In the end the Civic Democrats' proposal was voted down, while the government's assessment passed.