Section Archive Countdown to Europe
The Czech Republic and the European Union budget
The Czech Republic has received a great deal of money through various EU
programmes ahead of accession. The question many Czechs are now asking is:
will EU funds still be available once they and the other nine new
countries join the Union on May 1? That's something I discussed with Ivo
Slosarcik of the Prague-based think tank Europeum.
More
Is Czech food safe?
In its assessment last November of the Czech Republic's preparedness for EU
membership, the European Commission (EC) stressed that Prague was still
lagging behind with regards to food safety and hygiene norms. Since then,
Czech food processing companies and restaurants have worked hard at
meeting EU requirements.
More
Will the Czech Republic's regions really benefit from EU accession?
In less than three weeks, the Czech Republic will become a member of the
European Union. One of the potential benefits of membership is that the
country will be entitled to money from EU funds allocated for regional
development, as the aim is to eliminate differences between regions and
ensure their smooth development within the European Union. But will the
regions of the Czech Republic really profit from EU membership?
More
EU states can take measures to prevent "benefit shopping" but they must be applied across the board
One of the advantages of upcoming EU membership for the Czech Republic is
that it will allow Czechs to become part of a unified labour market once
all transitional restrictions are lifted. Not only will this ultimately
enable them to work wherever they want within the EU, it will also allow
them to avail of the social-security services that exist in their chosen
country of residence.
More
European accession: will Czechs "lose" their sovereignty?
European Union accession is now coming up fast - after a ten year accession
process just weeks remain before the Czech Republic and nine other
candidate countries become members. That's not to say so-called
euro-sceptics have disappeared - quite the contrary. With the EU draft
constitution far from ratified, and promises like the free movement of
labour put for the most part on hold for now - at least for the Czechs -
euro-sceptics here may feel they have been vindicated - that their
warnings were correct. Jan Velinger spoke recently with economist Petr
Mach, the head of the Czech Centre for Economics & Politics, asking him
about his feelings on accession and what he thought Czechs would
"lose" by having joined the European Union.
More
Students joined the EU "years ago"
As decided in Lisbon the European Union plans to become the most
competitive knowledge-based economy by 2010. To achieve this goal it
strongly supports education and training. After the accession in May, the
education system of the Czech Republic will become part of this ambitious
plan.
More
Countdown to Europe
In the fourteen years since the fall of communism the Czech Republic has
made great efforts to repair the damage caused by decades of environmental
neglect. With the installation of de-sulphurization equipment at all
industrial facilities, the state of the air we breathe has significantly
improved. Strict new laws and regulations have reduced the pollution of
rivers and soil to such an extent that rare species of wild life have
returned to their one-time habitats. A great deal still needs to be done
and Czechs need to become more environment conscious on a day to day
basis, but even now one can say that the country has overcome the biggest
hurdles on the road to becoming an environment friendly member of the
European community. The country is due to join the EU on May 1st and we
asked Jakub Kaspar of the Czech Environment Ministry what remains to be
done in the coming weeks.
More
The movement of labour
When the Czech Republic joins the European Union, its citizens will not
only benefit economically but they will also be able to enjoy the
advantages of travelling, studying and working in the union without
restriction. Or at least that was the argument used by the Czech
government to convince its citizens to vote in favour of EU membership,
and it worked. With an unemployment rate of ten percent, the country's
younger generation hopes to have the opportunity to work freely elsewhere,
while learning a new language and gaining international experience in the
process. After a long period of preparation and accession talks, the Czech
Republic is finally to become a fully-fledged member of the EU on May 1st
this year. In this week's Countdown to Europe, we ask Tomas Vyprachticky
from the Czech Foreign Ministry's EU information centre Euroskop, how free
the movement of labour will really be:
More
Czech legislation (almost) ready for EU accession
For the last four or five years the Czech Republic has, like the other nine
countries joining the European Union on May 1, been very busy adopting
some 80,000 pages of EU legislation, covering everything from waste
disposal to the supervision of abattoirs. But with just two months to go
before accession, has the Czech Republic managed to make all the necessary
preparations, or - at this late stage - is there still more to do? That's
a question we put to Ivo Slosarcik, who works at the Prague-based think
tank Europeum.
More
Back to Europe
After a ten-year pre-accession period, the Czech Republic is becoming an EU
member on May 1, 2004. Countdown to Europe is our new series on various
aspects of Czech membership of the European Union. We will be finding out
how life is going to change for ordinary Czechs - students, entrepreneurs,
farmers, pensioners, members of minorities - as well as what it will mean
for foreigners who visit the Czech Republic or want to work and live here.
More
