The allocation of EU grants in Northern Bohemia was not carried out in line with requirements, according to an audit by the consultancy Deloitte ordered by the Czech FinMin and EU executive. Problems were found in 34 of the 35 projects examined — and calculations of the evaluation criteria were riddled with systemic mathematical errors. What’s more, sources say the winning firms are secretly owned by regional ‘godfather’ Patrick Oulický.

The Chinese plan to invest $10 billion in Central and Eastern Europe over the coming years in the region’s infrastructure, technology and ecology sectors. While the buying spree has already begun, the Czech Republic doesn’t figure in any plans Chinese investors have made public thus far. But ZTE and Huawei both operate on the Czech, and the planned auction of mobile services frequencies could attract China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile operator.

Denmark uses energy more efficiently than any other EU member state – 60 percent of the energy per unit of GDP of the EU average. Thus it was no surprise when in January the new Danish presidency of the EU’s Council of Ministers identified a draft “energy efficiency directive” as one of its priorities. But Copenhagen’s efforts look unlikely to lead to agreement before the Danish presidency ends. EU member states like Germany and France are trying to weaken key aspects of the draft directive.