Archive: European Union | European Union European Union
How to vote in the European Parliament election
In less than two months’ time, between June 4 and June 7, the European
Union will be holding the biggest trans-national election in history.
Citizens of the 27 member states will be voting to choose the 736 members
of the European Parliament. One of the features of the election is that
citizens of one member state who live abroad are entitled to vote in their
country of residence, if that country is also an EU member. That means that
if you are a citizen of any EU country and live legally in the Czech
Republic, you can vote for candidates standing in this country. But if you
do want to vote, you will need to hurry, as you have just a few days left
to register. David Vaughan has more details.
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EU environment ministers tackle climate change in Prague
EU environment ministers came to the end of a two day informal meeting in
Prague on Wednesday. The talks have been dominated by one subject - climate
change – which is a major issue for the Czech EU presidency.
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Czech Republic not to accept Guantanamo detainees, says interior minister
The Czech Republic will not accept any former inmates from the Guantanamo
Bay military prison camp, Interior Minister Ivan Langer said on Monday in
response to a US appeal for EU member states to do so. Mr Langer said that
the Czech Republic was not currently equipped to take in any of the
camp’s former detainees but that, as the current head of the European
Union, it would try to negotiate a common European solution to the problem.
Earlier today, I spoke to Markéta Matlochová from the Czech Interior
Ministry, who said that the matter was under consultation:
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US president and EU leaders meet at informal summit in Prague
EU leaders met with US President Barack Obama at an informal summit of the
European Union and the United States in Prague on Sunday. The meeting,
organized by the Czech EU presidency on the second day of President
Obama’s visit to the Czech capital, followed up on issues discussed
earlier this week at the G20 in London and the NATO summit in Strasbourg. More
Karel Barták on life inside the European Union
For the past two years, Karel Barták has been the chief of the European
Commission’s youth and culture communications unit, making him one of
the
highest-ranking Czechs in Brussels. Prior to that, he spent over a decade
as the Czech News Agency’s European Union correspondent. So how was the
transition from reporting on the EU to becoming an official himself? Karel
Barták told me over a café a la russe on Brussels’ Place Madou: More
"I hope we will be thought of as an honest broker" - Milena Vicenová on the Czech EU presidency
This Tuesday marks the halfway point of the Czech Republic’s EU
presidency. On a recent visit to Brussels, I met one of the people
instrumental in organizing the Czechs’ time at the helm, Milena
Vicenová, the Czech Ambassador to the European Union. In the calm of her
Brussels office, just a few days before Prague made headlines for the fall
of the centre-right government coalition, Ms Vicenová discussed how the
presidency had been going so far. For her personally, it has meant a great
deal of hard work:
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EU foreign ministers at Hluboká: Lisbon treaty a must for future enlargement of the bloc
The Czech EU presidency hosted an informal meeting of the bloc’s 27
foreign ministers over the weekend in Hluboká, south Bohemia. Although
Czech officials went into the meeting with an ambitious agenda it was the
Czech Republic’s own domestic crisis that inevitably drew the most
attention. Just days after the fall of the country’s centre-right
government EU foreign ministers sought reassurances regarding the Czech EU
presidency and the fate of the Lisbon treaty.
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EU foreign ministers meet informally in south Bohemia
Foreign ministers from the European Union’s 27 member states are meeting
informally in the south Bohemian town of Hluboká this Friday. As well as
discussing the EU’s external relations, foreign ministers may also be
drawn into discussing the Czech Republic’s domestic crisis, following the
collapse of Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek’s cabinet. Jan Richter is in
Hluboká and joins me now on the phone.
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Yushchenko in Prague: Eastern Partnership no substitute for EU membership
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko began a two-day official
visit to the Czech Republic. At a joint briefing with his Czech
counterpart, Václav Klaus, at Prague Castle on Tuesday afternoon, Mr
Yushchenko called for increased ties between Kiev and the EU, and insisted
that this January’s gas crisis was not of his own doing.
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Should an EU body be created to deal with Europe’s Communist and Nazi past?
The Czech EU Presidency last week launched a bid to make a mark on history
by creating a Europe-wide platform for the study and recognition of the
crimes committed by former Communist regimes. The move has sparked a debate
within the Czech Republic and abroad over whether such a step aimed at
unlocking the problematic past is desirable.
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