Adding to Mašínová's difficulties is the atmosphere of crisis hanging over the EU after French and Dutch voters rejected the proposed constitution in May and early June.

And complicating her life even further are the regular broadsides against the constitutional treaty from prominent Euroskeptics like President Václav Klaus.

Mašínová, just 33 when she was appointed director of the government's department of information on European affairs in April, acknowledges her job is difficult.

"During my studies I was told that it's almost impossible to explain European affairs to the public because [Brussels is seen as] bureaucratic, boring. ... Nobody is really interested," she says.

"A lot of nations already tried and it didn't really work. But I'm persuaded that this is possible."

Mašínová, who studied in the Czech Republic, France and Belgium, and who is a trained teacher of English and French, believes in the effectiveness of educational campaigns.

Born in Plzeň, west Bohemia, Mašínová joined the Foreign Affairs Ministry in 1996. Two years later she married an economist who worked for the same ministry.

Her career as a diplomat has taken her to Ireland and Malaysia, and then to Brussels, where she worked as a spokeswoman for the Czech mission to the EU.

In May, the Czech government had a plan that would allow it to launch a campaign persuading voters to back the EU constitution if a referendum is called, but changed tack after the crisis triggered by the French rejection of the treaty May 29 and a Dutch "no" three days later.

Mašínová was then assigned to head a neutral, politically safer campaign costing 60 million Kč ($2.4 million) this year that aims solely to give citizens more information about the EU.

Mašínová says the public has proven receptive.

"In three days we gave out 4,000 copies [of the constitution] from one point in Prague. There were queues like we could see in communist times for bananas or other items. People were interested."

However, Mašínová is less than convinced that Czechs will give their approval to the treaty, which must be approved by all 25 EU countries in order to take effect.

A poll by the Median agency published in Mladá fronta Dnes July 14 found that support for the constitution has fallen dramatically. As recently as May, 62 percent of voters were in favor, a figure that plunged to just 21 percent earlier this month.

Competing with the president

Mašínová is confident she can give people the information they need to decide on hot subjects of European debate. But, she adds, "I'm not confident about them listening to this information because there are too many influences that are emotional."

"He is making my work more complicated," admits Mašínová. While the president has a right to say what he thinks, she says, his rhetoric sends a contradictory message from Prague.

"Sometimes in Brussels we had two voices, one voice saying the Czech Republic is a pro-European country, with a very pro-European government, and on the other side critical points of view of the EU."

Before the French and Dutch rejection of the constitution, many observers expected the government to press for a referendum on the treaty to be held in this country at the same time as parliamentary elections in mid-2006.

However, Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek, whose Social Democrat-led government appointed Mašínová to her post, said earlier this month that the Czech Republic should either adopt or reject the constitution by the end of 2007.