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The Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla, who's on a one-day visit to Afghanistan, has told the command of the International Security Assistance Force that a substantial number of Czech military medical personnel stationed in Kabul will leave Afghanistan by the end of the year. Although the work of the Czech military field hospital is highly appreciated by local citizens, Prime Minister Spidla said the Czech Republic could not afford its further operation. Mr Spidla also said that at the beginning of next year a Czech special operations unit would arrive in Afghanistan, if approved by the Czech Parliament.

Twenty-two municipalities in the Melnik region north of Prague are aiming to prolong a state of alert to help in the continuing clean-up of damages caused by August's catastrophic floods. The state of alert should remain in place until the third week of October. Clean-up crews are still trying to remove damaged material from post-flood areas, but new damages were recently discovered on some structures, and some areas remain dangerous for inhabitants and livestock. The issued state of alert grants local officials wider authority, including the right to call up those doing national service for the clean-up effort. Before taking effect, the state of alert must still be confirmed by the Czech government.

At an intergovernmental EU conference in Brussels on Tuesday the Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda presented his country's stand on the five remaining chapters of the EU accession process. According to Mr. Svoboda Prague is still hoping to negotiate a better deal on agriculture where the proposed production quotas are far below the sector's current needs. The Czech government has given the EU negotiating team a clear mandate and fall-back positions that are regarded as a minimum for the Czech agricultural sector to be able to survive competition on EU markets. The 12 EU candidates present at the meeting all expect a positive evaluation of their membership bids in the EU's annual progress report due on October 9th.

Austrian Foreign Minister, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, rejected a pro-Benes decrees report presented to the European Parliament on Monday and said that Austria would continue to hold talks with the Czech Republic over the controversial decrees. The historic Benes decrees, sanctioned the expulsion and confiscation of property of some 2.5 million ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia after the Second World War. Amidst the Czech Republic's preparation for EU membership, the decrees have become a highly politicised issue by right-of centre and far-right parties in both Germany and Austria, calling for them to be repealed before the Czech Republic was allowed to become and EU member. An analysis of the decrees' compatibility with current EU legislation made for the European Parliament by a group of lawyers headed by the German Professor Jochen Frowein, however, said that the decrees could not stand in the way of the Czech Republic's accession to the EU. Mrs Ferrero-Waldner has dismissed the report, saying it focused solely on the legal aspect of the decrees and failed to consider the political and moral aspects.