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Former constitutional judge and one of the authors of the Czech constitution, Vojtěch Cepl, has died at the age of 71. The Constitutional Court announced the death on Saturday. Judge Eliška Wagnerová, who made the announcement, praised her colleague’s tireless promotion of the rule of law, which he felt was as important as democracy itself. As court’s most visible member, she said, Judge Cepl had helped ingrain the institution of constitutional justice in Czech society.

Vojtěch Cepl was born in Prague in 1938 and was educated at Charles University, Oxford and the University of Michigan. From 1969 until 1993 he was a professor at Charles University and sat on the Constitutional Court from 1993 until 2003.

The Czech Republic’s chief hygiene officer, Michael Vít, says the country is on the verge of a swine flu epidemic, which he expects at the beginning of December. With more than 2000 infections per 100,000 population, the regions of Karlovy Vary, Moravo-Silesia and Zlín are already considered to have an epidemic underway. The Ministry of Heath has announced that swine flu vaccine has been distributed and vaccinations can be given immediately.

A poll conducted by the agency CVVM suggests that support for the Lisbon treaty increased to 43% in the month before its final ratification by President Václav Klaus in early November. According to the poll, one fourth of Czechs believe the treaty is beneficial to the Czech Republic while some 20% believe the opposite. A third of respondents said that the treaty would have no effect on the country’s position in the European Union. 64% of people complained of a lack of information about the treaty and a similar number said that they had very little or no interest in the issue. The Czech Republic delayed EU-wide ratification of the reform treaty during October as eurosceptic politicians in the country made last-ditch efforts to challenge its constitutionality.

The Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, has welcomed the selection of two politicians to fill new high level posts in the European Union. Belgium’s Herman Van Rompuy will be the first president of the European Council, while Catherine Ashton of the UK becomes the bloc’s foreign policy chief. Mr Fischer said both names suited Prague, adding that they had the skills to do well in the positions. He said he felt close to Mr Van Rompuy, who like him, is an economist by training.