CZECH REPUBLIC: Europe Better Listen

By Zoltán Dujisin Reprint | | Print |

Zoltán Dujisin

BUDAPEST, Feb 22 2007 (IPS) - The rise to power of the right-wing Civic Democrats has returned the Czech Republic to a eurosceptic and Atlanticist path, even at the expense of public feelings. The opposition says the country risks political isolation in Europe.

The Czech Republic is governed by the neo-liberal Civic Democrats (ODS) in alliance with two smaller but more pro-European parties, the Greens and the Christian Democrats.

The Czech government has halted the process of ratifying the European constitution, following the example of the Netherlands and France, which did so in a popular referendum.

The European Constitution is an international treaty created to replace the complicated set of treaties that have so far governed the European Union (EU), and is subject to ratification by all countries concerned.

After long demands for clarification, the Czech cabinet declared that its stance on the constitution was that its approval is not urgent, and the EU should present a simpler text, based on the presently discussed constitution. The cabinet announced that a more comprehensive position will be articulated soon.

Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek has hinted in the past that Prague would not return to the process of ratifying the treaty. This was in contrast with his Green governing allies, who support the ratification process.

Moreover Topolanek nominated Jan Zahradil, a member of the European Parliament and a leading eurosceptic as government commissioner for the European Constitution against the will of some of its coalition partners.

Even though 18 EU states have already ratified the document, Topolanek has considered “undemocratic” any attempts to revive it due to its rejection by two countries in referenda.

Topolanek and President Vaclav Klaus, also an opponent of the constitution, met late January with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to hold talks on revival of the European Constitution, one of the priorities set by the ongoing German presidency of the European Union (EU).

During the meeting the Czech side insisted on a simpler document with a clear division of powers between the EU and member states and without discrimination towards new members. At a later press conference, Topolanek referred to the constitution as a “failure”.

“Merkel was struck by Prague’s cold reaction,” Jan Drahokoupil, analyst at the Czech Economy and Society Trust told IPS. “The government will likely oppose reviving the constitution. It prefers to push only for economic, not political integration.”

The Czech Republic has a long tradition of euroscepticism, and the neo-liberal elites that became dominant in the political scene since the 1990s openly express admiration for the British model of European integration, and particularly for its former prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s pro-market policies.

But this time around their determination seems stronger. “There was much more enthusiasm for Europe in the 1990s than now,” says Drahokoupil.

The political scientist thinks there is a particularly suspicious “understanding from the elite in the right that the EU is a socialist project, and that it will introduce social protection and regulation through the backyard.”

Drahokoupil argues this “misunderstanding” is mostly a “matter of elites, as right-wing voters tend to be more pro-EU than the left.”

The latest Eurobarometer poll showed 51 percent of Czechs in support of the constitution’s ratification against 30 percent who do not wish it, which led the biggest opposition party, the Social Democrats, to accuse the government of “Europhobia” and of going against popular will.

But the government’s attitude seems to be part of a larger trend of elite-driven policy which seeks Washington’s approval, with mostly right-wing politicians believing a closer alliance with the United States gives the country international position and prestige.

Czech stances on the Iraq war, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Cuba and climate change have often resembled those voiced in Washington.

President Klaus, who is also honorary chairman of the ODS and supports its pro-U.S. policies, constantly prides himself on his opposition to “political correctness”, and has called climate change “a false myth.”

In the face of opposition from the majority of the population, the ODS also supports setting up of parts of a U.S. missile defence system on Czech territory, allegedly to protect the Western world against possible Iranian and North Korean missile attacks.

“The idea of the base won’t be met with much enthusiasm in countries such as France and Germany, and could cause tension within the EU,” Drahokoupil told IPS.

Likewise, the move is causing tensions in Russia, leading Lubomir Zaoralek, the Social Democrat’s shadow foreign minister, to state there are “anti-Russian” tendencies in the way in which the governing ODS promotes cooperation with the United States.

Zaoralek said climate change poses a greater and more realistic threat than any missiles from Iran or North Korea, the latter having already promised to initiate nuclear disarmament.

Social Democrat opposition leader Jiri Paroubek, whose party governed the Czech Republic between 1998 and 2006 and brought it into the EU, has expressed fears ODS’s actions will “isolate us and move us to the periphery of European happenings.”

The Czech Republic will hold the EU’s rotating presidency in 2009, and is expected to focus on reforming the EU’s agricultural policy and bureaucracy, while prioritising free movement of labour and free trade.