Insight Central Europe News

Hungarian and British Prime Minister discuss EU treaty in London

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said the key elements of new EU treaty rules should be agreed at a summit in June, otherwise debate would drag on and divert the union from more important issues. Mr Blair was speaking after talks in London with his Hungarian counterpart Ferenc Gyurcsany. Mr Gyurcsany said Mr Blair and Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende had sent an important signal that they were looking for an early compromise solution.

Proposal to strip Slovenian president's power to nominate judges for international courts dropped

Slovenia's Justice Ministry has withdrawn draft amendments to a law which involved stripping the president of the power to nominate Slovenian judges for international courts. The proposal was dropped after it was met with fierce criticism and earned the government the accusation that it was trying to co-opt the president's powers.

Poll: Robert Fico most trustworthy politician in Slovakia

Slovak Prime Minister and Smer Party leader, Robert Fico, is still viewed as the most trustworthy politician in Slovakia, an opinion poll suggests. In the poll conducted by the Statistics Office's UVVM agency, 39.9 percent of respondents voted in favour of Mr Fico. The controversial Slovak National Party chairman Jan Slota was second with 15.6 percent of support, occupying a place usually held by President Ivan Gasparovic, who came in third with 13.9 percent.

Poland and Ukraine to host Euro 2012

Poland and Ukraine will host the 2012 European football championship. UEFA's choice of the countries on Wednesday raised questions over whether highways, hotels and stadiums neglected during 40 years of communism and not whipped into shape since would be ready to host the influx of hundreds of thousands of overseas fans. But the announcement that Poland and Ukraine beat out favourite Italy and a joint bid from Croatia and Hungary activated plans to spend 2 billion euros ($2.72 billion) already earmarked in each country for sporting infrastructure such as stadiums. In Poland, plans are already under way to expand the country's 570-km (356 mile) network of highways six-fold by 2013. The country is counting on some 110 billion euros in funds from the European Union for roads and other infrastructure.