Czechs warm to foreigners

In a 30-minute interview on the BBC last week, EU Ambassador Ramiro Cibrián said in very good Czech that he used to link his progress in the language to the CR's progress towards EU accession. But he hasn't had much time lately to study, he said, and now the CR is doing better than he is. Cibrián and other Czech- speaking foreigners are increasingly appearing on the air in the CR, esp. on Czech Radio and Czech TV. Jacques Rupnik, one of the few non-resident Czechs to get much air time here, said the CR doesn't need foreigners. He was speaking specifically about the presidency, but he said the CR in general has enough wise and experienced people of its own. It's not a Czech tradition, he added, to welcome foreigners. Efforts by Czech Radio and Czech TV are a hopeful sign that the CR is opening up more to the outside as it moves toward the EU.