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Czech MEP Jan Zahradíl has said that his party, the centre-right Civic Democrats, will not be talked out of leaving the European People’s Party, a grouping of centre-right parties from across the continent at the European Parliament in Brussels. Nor would leader of the British Conservatives, David Cameron, be swayed to chance his mind, Mr Zahradíl told the Czech press. On Tuesday, British paper The Guardian suggested that Mr Cameron was under pressure to reverse his decision to leave the grouping after June’s European elections, both from those within his own party, and centre-right politicians in Europe such as Angela Merkel. The British daily also suggested that the Czech Civic Democrats harboured doubts about leaving the EPP – which is the single strongest parliamentary group in the European Parliament. On Wednesday, Mr Zahradíl said that his party’s departure from the EPP ‘could not be stopped’, and that Mr Cameron would be ‘disgraced’ should he change his mind.

In business, Czech electricity maker ČEZ said on Wednesday that first-quarter profits were up by 23 percent, beating analysts’ estimates, on the back of higher wholesale prices and one-off gains. The company said net profit rose to almost 19.1 billion crowns (around 969 million USD), up from 15.5 billion crowns one year ago. First-quarter profits were helped by a rise of around 1.1 billion crowns in earnings from emissions allowances, as well as a revaluation of its shares in Hungarian oil and gas group MOL, a ČEZ spokesperson said. The results defied the predictions of analysts, who had expected the energy giant to have been hit by the current Czech economic downturn.

The new Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer is visiting the EU headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday in a bid to shore up confidence in his country's EU presidency following a change-of-guard in Prague. The interim prime minister expressed the hope after a meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso that the Czechs should complete ratification of the EU’s reforming Lisbon treaty soon. Only President Václav Klaus is holding up the process of by refusing to sign the treaty into law. Mr Fischer added later that President Klaus should not chair the EU’s June summit. He was later scheduled to meet employment commissioner Vladimír Špidla and Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy. Prime Minister Fischer has repeatedly stressed that his interim government would do its utmost to ensure a smooth transition and fulfil the country’s role as EU leader.

In related news, one of the Civic Democrat senators leading moves to launch a new challenge at the Czech Constitutional Court to the EU’s Lisbon treaty has said it should be prepared within two months. Senator Jiří Oberfalzer made the comments after a meeting with Czech President and eurosceptic Václav Klaus. He added that he already had the 17 signatures needed to launch the challenge. The Senate vote last week in favour of the Lisbon treaty has opened up a war of words with President Klaus who has attacked what he described as a betrayal. Senate chairman Přemysl Sobotka has hit back, reminding the Czech president that the upper chamber is a sovereign body to which Mr. Klaus owed his re-election as head of state.