With few Czechs getting ordained Czech Catholic Church turns to Polish priests
4.2.2005 - Ian Willoughby

In the Czech Republic, the Roman Catholic Church is suffering from an acute shortage of priests, as the older generation near the end of their careers and few young Czech priests are ordained. But the Church has found a solution - "importing" priests from neighbouring Poland.

The Czech Roman Catholic Church has enjoyed something of a revival since the fall of Communism, but Czech society is one of the least religious in Europe, and few young men are joining the priesthood. Here's Larry Cada, spokesman for the Czech Bishops Conference.

"The number of priestless Catholic parishes is very large. It depends on which part of the country you are in, which dioceses, but as much as half of the churches are parishes which do not have a resident priest."

Father Piotr Krysztofiak is from Poznan, but has been the parish priest at St Giles's Church in Prague's Old Town for the last eight years. He is one of 200 or so Polish priests serving in the Czech Republic. Father Krysztofiak says during the Communist era Polish Catholics had more freedom than their co-religionists in what is now the Czech Republic.

"Religion was repressed and believers were persecuted. That is the reason why here in the Czech Republic there is a great number of very old fathers, very old priests. And there is a lack of a middle generation of priests. In Poland there is an exceptional number of vocations, so it is quite natural that bishops in the Czech Republic asked bishops in Poland if they could send some priests."

But how are the Polish priests received? Larry Cada says while the Czech Catholic Church is extremely glad of their presence, parishioners might prefer home grown clerics.

"They regret the fact that they have to have a Polish priest, because they would rather have a Czech priest. Because there's a cultural difference between Czechs and Poles. And there are all the standard stereotypes that Czechs have of Polish people, which are or are not true in a particular case - but nonetheless they are active."

For his part, Father Krysztofiak says it isn't always easy for the Polish priests either, used as they are to playing a more active part in the life of the community. But, referencing a 10th century Czech Archbishop who became an important figure in the early Polish Church, he also sees things in a more historical context.

"We very often say that St Wojtech came from Czech to bring the faith, and now it is the time to repay that benefit."

Slovakia caught between business and bureaucracy over greenhouse emissions
4.2.2005 - Anca Dragu

The European Commission has told Slovakia it must lower its carbon dioxide emissions by 14 percent. This is required under the Kyoto protocol. But if Slovakia complies it will anger a number of local companies. The subsidiary of the US Steel company has already filed a legal challenge with a European court.

The European Union has the power to allocate emission quotas for each of its members, including Slovakia. Slovakia is allowed to emit 30.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, down 14 percent from the original plan. The decision has upset bigger companies in Slovakia, among them the Kosice based branch of US Steel. I asked its spokesman Jan Baca why this quota reduction is a problem for the company:

"The original national allocation plan requested by Slovakia was well within the limit of the Kyoto protocol. If the EU's reduction is passed on through to the Slovak industry, it would not just harm the companies but also their employees through reduced wages and a loss of jobs."

The international Kyoto Protocol, aiming to force countries to cut down their greenhouse gas emissions, says that under so-called "flexible mechanisms", companies that pollute more than the amount allowed have to buy permits from those who in turn cut emissions more than needed. The EU says that the higher number of permits would become a generous form of state aid to companies that can sell the permits on the market later. Jan Baca:

"All the calculations for the carbon dioxide allowances that were requested [by the Commission] were based on the amount we need for our plant's steel production. We provided scientific accurate data as part of the Slovak National Allocation Plan for carbon dioxide emission based on the plant's planned production level. So, there was no excess built into our own request and even if we received the full amount requested we wouldn't have any excess to sell. We don't expect any trade with quotas after EU allocation."

You have filed a complaint with the European Court of first instance in Luxembourg. What are your expectations from such a complaint?

"The decision of the European Commission is illegal and discriminatory against US Steel and Slovakia. We are prepared to defend our rights no matter how long it will take."

The Minister of Environment, Laszlo Miklos, says that the actual quota has in fact been a hard won compromise:

"The whole of the EU must reduce its emissions by 8 percent. We are lucky because Slovakia has already fulfilled its obligations deriving from the Kyoto Protocol so we can also sell some credits. But everybody should understand that the whole idea of this system is about lowering the emission quotas and not increasing them. The Commission had the bread and the knife. You have to realize that it's made by representatives of bigger and older EU members who have no interest in offering Slovakia any extra permits that it could later sell."

Minister Miklos has informed the upset Slovak companies that the EU decision is final. He says they can fight it in court but warns there is little chance of winning.

Poles fill the gap in the UK's supply of dentists
4.2.2005 - Slawek Szefs

Norfolk and part of Suffolk in the UK, which have been competing for the title of "dental desert" among National Health Service patients have decided to remedy the situation by specialist imports from new EU member countries. Poland is to be the source of 200 such dental specialists in the nearest months thanks to an extra 1.8 million pound budget, spread across the U.K's Primary Care Trusts in greatest need of expanding the services to cut long waits for appointments.

Dr. Katarzyna Zaton has been one of the first Polish dentists to take advantage of the NHS scheme offered by the Great Yarmouth PCT in the Norfolk area. What lay at the roots of her decision to move out to Britain?

"First of all financial reasons. And also unemployment in Poland because my husband couldn't find work in Poland and he was already working in Ireland."

Add to that a roughly 50,000 pound annual income under such contract, compared to a modest 8.5 thousand equivalent in Poland and the picture is complete. Do the working facilities and professional environment in the UK differ much from Dr. Zaton's experience in the public health sector in Poland?

"I think the work here is similar. There are some different procedures in the NHS, but work is similar. Patients are similar, too. We are only making more bridges and crowns here for the NHS, because in Poland there were done only as private work. And this is the main difference."

I asked Mike Stonard, chief executive of the Great Yarmouth PCT about the reasons for targeting Poland in search of fresh personnel.

"Poland is a new EU country, so it's relatively easy to recruit professionals from Poland to come and work in England. Secondly, because there is, as I understand, a surplus of dentists in Poland who are willing to come and work here, who are very well qualified, very experienced and fit in very well here and are very much liked by patients. So, Poland was an obvious place to look to."

And how are the Polish dentists' professional training and performance rated by British employers? Carol Plummer, head of the Bradwell Medical Center?

"It is excellent. They are highly skilled, highly qualified caring people who do a great job. We have six Polish dentists at the moment. The reaction from all patients is most favorable. They are very happy with the professionalism of Polish dentists and their clinical skills."

Doctor Katarzyna Zaton says she is equally happy and satisfied with her English patients and also her employer's active assistance in coping with all kinds of problems posed for newcomers, like finding proper accommodation. However, what's a good prognosis for some is bad news for others. Pity, Poland's public health service authorities are not displaying the same concern about their dental service patients as the British NHS. As one explained with great disappointment...

"When I had a cavity the nurse signed me up in three weeks, so I went to a private dentist. You wait months for regular check-ups at the public health service."

Hungarian ministry official to head new European Centre for Disease Control
4.2.2005 - Sandor Laczko

The outbreak of the deadly respiratory disease known as SARS in Asia in 2003 showed how infectious diseases can spread across borders with alarming speed. In the United States, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention responds to such outbreaks but in Europe there is no continent wide response. Now, partly as a reaction to the SARS scare, the EU is setting up its Centre for Disease Control in Stockholm, Sweden.

The first director of the new institution will be the Hungarian expert, Zsuzsanna Jakab. She's currently a state secretary in the Hungarian Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and has more than a decade's experience with the World Health Organisation.

"The CDC in the United States has its own infrastructure, its own national public health institutions and laboratories, while in Europe, we do not plan to set up separate laboratories but want to work with the already existing infrastructure in the countries. I want to assure more coherence among the national public health institutions and the national laboratories by bringing them together and standardising their working methodology. But we do not want to establish our own separate infrastructure because they are there in the European countries and there is no reason to duplicate. Therefore, this will be a European model of a new centre."

How similar will the activity be to the one in the United States in Atlanta, Georgia?

"The activity will be quite similar with the difference that, during the first two years, the European centre will deal mainly with communicable diseases. There will be an evaluation in May 2007, after which the European Council and the European Parliament will jointly decide whether the mandate of this centre should be expanded towards non-communicable diseases and health determinants as is the case of the CDC in Atlanta.

"When I had my parliamentary hearing, there was a unanimous agreement among the most vocal members of the European Parliament that this centre should indeed not only deal with communicable diseases but also non-communicable disease and should therefore cover the whole complex area of public health."

Slovenia celebrates "Preseren Day"
4.2.2005 - Michael Manske

Not too many countries have a national anthem, which is at once a drinking song - and a call for peace. Slovenia does. On Tuesday, Slovenia celebrates "Preseren Day" in honor of its great national poet, France Preseren.

Slovenia's national anthem sticks out among other European anthems, in that it's based on a drinking song called Zdravljica or "A Toast." It also differs in that it doesn't praise the beauty of the homeland or remember heroic national moments, but instead calls for peace between nations and the unity of humankind.

This hymn to peace was written in 1844 by the Slovenian national poet France Preseren. Many believe that it nicely foreshadows the advent of the European Union, when Europe's violent history gave way to peace and unity.

France Preseren was born on December 3, 1800, in the small town of Vrba, in the province of Upper Carniola in Slovenia. He studied law in Vienna and found work as an assistant in the state financial services. In his free time, he wrote poetry, becoming one of the great romanticists of Europe and a national Slovenian hero.

Preseren's lyrics provided inspiration to Slovenes and gave them a national voice. Even many years later, during the dark days of occupation in World War II, his lyrics were applicable to Slovenes, such as:

"Less terrible is night in black earth's bosom, than days of slavery under the bright sun!"

In 1844, Preseren wrote the poem that would become the Slovenian national anthem. It was officially adopted as Slovenia's anthem in 1991. Here is the anthem, as read by the English actress and five-time Oscar nominee Vanessa Redgrave:

God's blessing on all nations,
Who long and work for that bright day,
When o'er earth's habitations
No war, no strife shall hold its sway;
Who long to see
That all men free
No more shall foes, but neighbours be.

Sadly, Preseren died just five years after completing the poem. The day of his death, February 8, was declared a Slovenian cultural holiday. On this day, people from across the country gather to honor the man who was best able to tap into Slovenia's collective soul.

As part of this year's festivities, awards will be given out to people who contributed to culture in the country. There will also be music performances and, of course, both public and private readings of Preseren's poetry.