Posts Tagged Czech presidency

Czech chutzpah

Posted by Honor Mahony in EU on March 25, 2009

My, oh my. What an unseemly institutional mess for the European Union. Its presidency has been hijacked by Czech domestic politics, meaning the bloc is now being run by a lame-duck caretaker government.

But not a particularly chastened one.

Despite having lost a confidence vote on Tuesday evening, Czech PM Mirek Topolanek, who still speaks on behalf of the European Union even if no longer for his country, had a undiplomatic bash at President Barack Obama’s plans to spend his way out of the economic crisis. On Wednesday, he called Washington’s $787 billion economic stimulus plan “a road to hell” noting bluntly that “the United States did not take the right path.”.

While many member states might agree with him in principle, not one of them would couch it in those terms. Particularly as the US and EU are to meet to next week to try and agree a common approach to tackling the economic crisis at the G20 meeting in London. The comments gave rise to the unusual situation of the European Commission chastising the EU presidency, saying they were “not helpful.”

Topolanek’s outspokenness is also odd given the obvious pride with which he announced that Prague had secured a visit by Obama for a summit on 5 April. If you invite someone more important than you to your house and you are patently grateful that they have accepted to come, why publicly criticise them beforehand? That takes quite some chutzpah.

But the Czech Social Democrat opposition, organisers of the political coup, don’t come out of this particularly well either. Was it really necessary to stage a no confidence vote now? Prague’s stint at the EU helm ends on 30th June.

Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek’s justifying comments that Topolanek’s government is a “disgrace” for the EU as it has no clear position on the Union and is unable to ratify the Lisbon Treaty ring rather hollow.

The result of Tuesday’s manoeuvrings mean the Czech Republic’s presidency is now an embarrassment to the EU while ratification of the Lisbon treaty could conceivably be postponed until next year.

Of course the EU will not grind to a halt. The Czech Presidency, planned well in advance, can largely be carried forward by Czech diplomats and officials. But in politics, where perception is everything, the EU has once again been damaged.

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On being frank

Posted by Honor Mahony in EU on February 24, 2009

Dancing House in Prague

Dancing House in Prague

Does the Czech Republic have the most difficult EU presidency ever? It certainly looks that way. Just what country would choose to be saddled with the twin pressures of trying to keep the lid on economic nationalism and on French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Even before it took over running the EU on 1 January, Prague’s starting point was enough to bring big member states out in a rash of prejudicial hives. It is small, new, ex-communist and has not ratified the latest EU treaty.

In addition, it virtually had to wrestle the EU presidency from Paris, which clearly thought it should carry on.

But Prague is going about this whole six-month presidency business with something of a sledgehammer.

Usually, small country presidencies suffer for their lack of political weight but make up for it by being discreet and running a tight ship. Large countries swagger more but have the clout to get people around the table.

The Czech EU presidency however has been a marvel of indiscretion. Czech leader Mirek Topolanek can be counted on to offer an opinion – usually controversial – on the burning topic of the moment.

His public spat with French president Nicolas Sarkozy over protectionism was extremely damaging, even if Sarkozy’s comments that French car companies should not set up in countries such as the Czech Republic were provocative.

Topolanek also had harsh words about eurozone countries telling an online chat discussion on the official presidency website that euro members were “deforming” their own rules by allowing increased spending.

He has more than once criticised the EU Lisbon Treaty as being no better than the current Nice Treaty and given his full support to a controversial speech by Czech president Vaclav Klaus criticising the EU’s democratic deficit and comparing the bloc with the Soviet Union.

Most recently, following a meeting of the EU’s six richest member states in Berlin on Sunday, he told reporters that there were big divergences in the views of France, UK, Germany and Italy on how to approach the financial crisis.

And while there is something commendable about being frank, there are good times and bad times to be so blunt. As current EU presidency country and during a time of unprecedented economic crisis for the European Union, a little more discretion is called for.

It would also mean that it would be easier to believe that the Czech Republic will be able to forge a consensus on the problems facing Europe as Topolanek has claimed he wants to do.

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