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EU membership and regional problems topped the agenda of the two day meeting. Addressing the gathering President Klaus appealed for a solution to the Kosovo problem that could be accepted at a local level. Mr. Klaus said that while the Czech Republic supported the negotiations carried out by the UN on the future status of Kosovo, it knew from experience that a viable solution would have to be one accepted by the local population. "Political stability and economic prosperity do not come from outside." Mr. Klaus said.

The UN Security Council has to make a final decision on the status of Kosovo which is technically still a Serbian province although the territory has been under UN administration following the 1998-1999 war. The 90-percent ethnic Albanian population wants full independence from Serbia. Belgrade, backed up by Russia, opposes independence as well as a proposal by UN mediator Martti Ahtisaari for Kosovo to be given independence under international supervision.

On a different topic the Czech president said that it would be unwise to accept Moldavia in the EU before its problems with Transnistria were fully resolved. Transnistria broke away from Moldavia in 1990, but no country has recognized it. The Czech president compared Moldavia's situation to Cyprus.

Thirteen year old Anna, for whom the police launched a nationwide search two weeks ago, most likely never existed. DNA tests have shown that the Mauer family had an impostor both in court and later at the children's home. The court was not shown Anna, as the judge was told, but the twelve year old daughter of a well-known Brno actor, who is said to be in the same religious sect as the Mauer family. In the orphanage Anna's "role" was played by a 32 year old woman of small height with childlike features. Apparently the sect members were trying to create "a new deity" by giving the 32 year old woman a new identity. The strange case, which also involves the abuse of a seven-year-old boy, has perplexed the nation.

A group of Czech architects, designers and film directors have signed a petition in support of London-based architect Jan Kaplicky's design for the new National Library building on Prague's Letna Plain. The green blob-like building has sparked plenty of controversy, and its critics say that it would clash with the surrounding architecture and stand out like a sore thumb on Prague's skyline. President Vaclav Klaus is one of the buildings leading opponents, going so far as to say, that he would fight to prevent the construction of the building with his own body, in a similar fashion to Austrian opponents of the Czech Temelin nuclear power station. The architects who signed the petition in support of Kaplicky say it is time to end the hysteria around the project and let experts -rather than politicians - do the talking.

Czech-born but US passport-carrying tennis legend Martina Navratilova told Saturday's Lidove Noviny that she expected to receive Czech citizenship by the end of the year. "I do not have it yet, because I am not sufficiently organized" the 50-year-old told the paper. In the interview she harshly criticised the current state of the United States under President George Bush. Navratilova said she used to be ashamed of the former communist Czechoslovakia, which she left in 1975 for the US, receiving American citizenship six years later. "Now, I can be ashamed of what is happening in America," she explained. "The thing is that we elected Bush. That is worse! Against that, nobody chose a communist government in Czechoslovakia."