Headlines: - Czech Republic halts requests for money from EU funds - PM Orban makes headlines again as he attacks EURegional markets – both Forex and fixed-income were rather quiet yesterday even though country’s relations with the EU have become rather tense. Recall that the Czech Republic had to halt requests for EU fund repayments – specifically the flow of funds from two EU major programs has been temporarily suspended by the Czech Finance Ministry. The Czech move is a pre-emptive one as Brussels indicated that it would no longer pay Czechs’ demands covering the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund. According to official sources the inflows will be reactivated when the Czech Rep. improves its anti-fraud measures. In this respect it is worth noting that the EU transfers are important source of the credit side of the Czech balance-of-payments as total inflows (from EU funds) could reach up to 18% of GDP during the 2007-2013 period. Meanwhile, Hungary PM Orban hit world-wide media as he told tens of of thousands of his supporters at a rally that he would not compromise with the EU demands. Moreover, he compared European bureaucrats to Soviet apparatchiks. In this respect it is worth to add that Hungary is still looking for a new IMF/EIU financing, while just two days ago EU finance ministers adopted a Commission proposal to suspend Cohesion Fund commitments for Hungary from 2013.