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11/13/2002
The Czech Republic has acknowledged that its possible accession to the European Union, together with that of nine other candidate countries, could slip back by several months; the announcement coming in response to a statement made in Brussels on Tuesday, in which Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said that a small delay from the January 1, 2004 date would give parliaments in the 15 current member states more time to study and ratify the accession treaty. Responding to the comment Czech Deputy Foreign Minister and chief EU negotiator Pavel Telicka told reporters on Wednesday that the Czech Republic would continue to seek the earliest date possible, adding that an eventual delay should not create new obstacles. The Czech Republic is one of the 10 mostly ex-Communist countries from central and eastern Europe hoping to finish membership talks by the end of the year, to join the EU as early as January 1, 2004.
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11/13/2002
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.
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11/13/2002
It has been announced that Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla and President Vaclav Havel will meet with US President George W. Bush one day before next week's NATO summit gets underway in Prague. The summit, which begins November 21st will see dozens of government and military leaders discussing plans for a multinational expansion of the western alliance, and will be the first NATO summit ever held in a former communist country. The Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla was appointed prime minister in June; while Vaclav Havel, a former dissident, became president after the fall of communism in 1989.
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11/12/2002
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.
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11/12/2002
The first demonstration in the country against the NATO summit has been scheduled for this Saturday in the Moravian capital of Brno. Although only some 50 activists are expected to take part in the protest, Brno police have said that they are prepared to do what will be necessary to ensure order. The protest demonstration was called by the Organisation of Radical Anarchists with the aim to rally up support and lure protesters to Prague during the days of the summit next week.
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11/12/2002
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.
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11/11/2002
Leading government officials have met with Czech farmers to try to convince them of the long-term benefits of joining the European Union. Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla and Foreign Minster Cyril Svoboda addressed a gathering of over 1,000 farmers in south Bohemia on Monday in an effort to allay concerns about their future once the country joins the European Union. The Czech Republic is still negotiating the terms of the agriculture chapter of the accession agreement and Prime Minister Spidla promised the gathering that Czech farmers would get the best possible deal. Czech farmers say that if they feel that their livelihood would be threatened by EU accession they would try to convince people in their vicinity to vote against EU membership in the referendum next spring.
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11/09/2002
The U.S. President, George W. Bush, is expected to arrive in Prague on November 20th. This will be one day earlier than originally planned as Mr Bush wants to link the trip to Prague for the NATO summit with an official visit to the Czech Republic to meet with his Czech counterpart Vaclav Havel and Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla. Mr Bush will arrive with his wife Laura, and a delegation, which is to include U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defence Minister Donald Rumsfeld. Leading representatives from 19 NATO member states, about 2,000 delegates and some 3,000 journalists are expected to meet in Prague's Congress Centre for the NATO summit that will be held on November 21st to 22nd.
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11/08/2002
The agriculture commissioner for the EU Franz Fischler has urged Czech farmers to see the benefits of the Czech Republic joining the European Union. On Friday he stated that Czech farmers would benefit from EU enlargement in the long run, while defended the EU. Mr Fischler did acknowledge the hard work that Czech farmers have undertaken in restructuring the agriculture industry since the fall of communism, and assured Czech farmers the agriculture sector would earn more money after enlargement. But, farm leaders are saying that unless the EU sets equal subsidy levels for new and current member states, they will ask Czech farmers to vote against EU accession in a referendum next spring.
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11/07/2002
The lower house of the Czech parliament has approved a law allowing US warplanes to help guard the skies over the country during the NATO summit this month. The US government has agreed to deploy its fighters to ensure the security of the summit in Prague, which will be attended by US President George W. Bush and dozens of other heads of states. The bill, which has yet to be approved by the Senate and signed into law by the president, paves the way for up to 15 fighter jets to operate at any given moment in Czech airspace between November 15th and 30th. As many as 250 US soldiers will be allowed onto Czech territory for the deployment. The Prague summit will be NATO's first full meeting since the September 11th attacks on the United States. The US Air Force will join the biggest security operation conducted on Czech soil. Some 12,000 police and army personnel are preparing for the arrival of leaders from more than 40 countries.
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