News

Czech president Vaclav Klaus, on an official visit to Spain, has rejected the notion of a single European identity, for Spanish journal El Pais. Speaking with the paper Mr Klaus said differences over Iraq were proof that Europe was "not united". During the discussion Mr Klaus rejected the "eurosceptic" label, telling El Pais he preferred to be seen as a "euro realist" for whom a freer, more democratic Europe with higher productivity was important.

The Czech army has confirmed that this year it will begin building a high-tech electronic surveillance and passive monitoring centre. The new military centre, which will initially have its headquarters in Opava, north Moravia, will be tasked with detecting and monitor enemy targets. As many as 500 specialists would eventually man the monitoring station. The Czech-made "Vera" radar system, which is capable of detecting the U.S. Stealth fighters, will be an integral part of the centre. The Czech Republic, which within NATO has concentrated on providing elite anti-biological and chemical units, intends to offer the specialised surveillance unit to the military alliance in the coming years.

About a dozen Czech rock bands took to the stage on Sunday afternoon to play a benefit concert for the "We don't talk to Communists" group, which wants to prevent politicians from working with the unreformed party. Among the bands playing are the rap-metal group Cocotte Minute, the Romani band Gluo Car and the pop-rock combo Chinaski. Several avant-garde theatre groups including Divadlo Continuo and Teatr Novogo Fronta were also staging productions at the event, which took place in an abandoned factory in Prague's Karlin district. The first "We don't talk to communists" concert was first performed last year, on November 17, the anniversary of the intervention by communist police in 1989 against a peaceful students' demonstration in Prague, which led to the so-called Velvet Revolution.

After talks with state ombudsman Otakar Motejl, Health Minister Milada Emmerova has agreed to establish a special commission to investigate fresh allegations that Romani women were sterilised without their consent in the past decade. The birth rate among the Roma is significantly higher than the general population and documented evidence shows that from 1959 to 1990 the former Czechoslovakia encouraged Romani women to undergo sterilisation by giving them cash payments, and in some cases doctors performed the operation without the women's consent. The practice was condemned by international human rights groups as racist and halted as official policy. Charges that sterilizations continued in recent years have been brought forth by the Budapest-based European Roma Rights Centre, along with two Czech civil society groups which are representing the legal interests of about 10 Romani women.