A rocky start to a barrier-free European future

It hasn’t been such an auspicious start for the Czech Republic’s EU Presidency. After taking over the reins from the French on January for a six-month as the country holding the rotating leadership of the EU, the Czech Republic set out an ambitious agenda, even as it came into office and found itself in the middle of a firestorm of domestic and international events, ranging from the gas crisis in Europe the conflict in Gaza. So far, it’s done little to affect either.

Czech officials outlined their aims and they were discussed at the European Parliament. “The Czech Presidency must aim at creating a social economy, an economy based on social and environmental factors,” said a Czech Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Miloslav Ransdorf during a discussion by MEPs in a plenary session in Strasbourg, France earlier this month. The Czechs came into the presidency with reputations as Eurosceptics, especially their President, Vaclav Klaus, who said he doesn’t want the Lisbon Treaty, which sets up a kind of EU Constitution, to be adopted. He is at odds with the more EU-friendly Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who has tried to distance himself politically from his own president.

“President Vaclav Klaus claimed that we could reduce the impact of the financial crisis by weakening our security and economic standards; however I believe that exactly the opposite approach is necessary,” Ransdorf said though. “I am however in agreement with the Prime Minister Topolánek when he stresses the importance of innovation. Innovation is necessary to cope with all forms of deadlock. Courage to change is required of all, in order to set ourselves free fromprejudice and dogmas. We have to overcome the divisions between eastern and western Europe and rid ourselves of any sense of inferiority in relation to the United States or other powers” Ransdorf concluded.

Also taking part in the debate, Jiri Mastalka, also a Czech, referred to the Czech Presidency motto - Europe Without Barriers. He said this is a challenge that must involve improving the European social model in a way that that EU can be proud of, a “Europe which guarantees equal treatment for all citizens and workers,” a Europe which takes account of the minorities in Europe and that abolishes the discriminatory measures which encourage double standards in policy-making.

Adamos Adamou of Cyprus) began by saying that he was astonished by the Czech Presidency’s clearly stated intention to pursue a closer cooperation and reinforce joint actions with NATO. He also criticised the measures announced by the Presidency in order to restore financial markets in Europe. ‘‘Are these the lessons that the effects of the recent economic crisis have taught us? Is this the response we have to give to the most disadvantaged?’’ he also wondered. “The massive demonstrations that took place all over Europe are a call for a policy of peace and not for accomplice neutrality” he said about demonstrations about Gaza. The popular protest is a call to control soaring prices, without being tied to the criteria of the Stability Pact, he said, adding that “Citizens quite simply want to be heard.”

Despite being the holders of the EU Presidency, the Czechs found themselves upstaged when French President Nicolas Sarkozy kept acting like he was still the president, as he went to Egypt to try to broker a ceasefire in Gaza before the Czechs could send anymore, providing some embarrassment to the Czechs and the EU, but in keeping with his style as a globe-trotting EU representative and power broker.

A month after Israel went into Gaza to get at Hamas terrorists firing rockets into its country, the Czechs were still floundering to find some way to be involved as players. On January 17, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, who is perhaps the bestknown Czech diplomat outside the country and carried credentials as a serious negotiator, went to Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials over possible a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. He said the EU fully backed efforts for an immediate ceasefire, all of which – from the United States to the United Nations to the EU – have been ignored by Israel and Hamas so far.

Following his meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minster Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Schwarzenberg said discussions tackled “post ceasefire plans which includes rebuilding Gaza.” Aboul Gheit said an Egyptian-EU meeting will take place by the end of this month in Brussels “to discuss the post-ceasefire plans with the 27 EU foreign minsters,” even though no ceasefire was in place. That came as the Israeli security cabinet was expected to vote on a ceasefire proposal, as the military campaign has entered its fourth week and airstrikes and artillery fire continued overnight and in the morning across the Gaza Strip.

Schwarzenberg interrupted a trip as part of an EU meeting in South Africa to fly to Cairo, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said. An EU delegation led by Schwarzenberg traveled to the Middle East at the beginning of January in an attempt to stop the fighting in the Gaza Strip but left empty-handed.

LOTS OF TALK, BUT NO GAS

The Czechs also got nowhere in convincing Russia and Ukraine to settle their differences over what to pay for gas, for transit fees and whether Ukraine was stealing gas sent through the country but headed for Europe. That left many residents in many countries freezing in the dark while the diplomats talked. The Czechs found themselves the point players in the gas crisis and got involved in the January 17 talks in Moscow, which the EU warned was the “last and best chance” to resolve the standoff, telling the Russians they would lose their reputation as a reliable supplier otherwise. If no agreement was reached, the EU said will assess whether it should “continue doing business as usual” with Russia and Ukraine, said European Commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger.

Despite the gravity of the crisis, the Czechs found themselves almost as window dressing in talks involving the first meeting of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin since a commercial dispute between the two countries’ state-owned energy companies erupted, at the end of 2008. It was Putin – not Russian President Dimitri Medvedev - who was leading the talks. That left the Czechs to issue a statement that the EU had agreed that they – the EU’s Presidency holder – would be allowed to have a representative, Czech Trade and Industry Minister Martin Riman, at the meeting, but it was EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs who was in charge.

Still, the Czechs issued a statement that said, “The current situation is damaging the credibility of Russia and Ukraine as reliable supply and transit countries. This situation will have significant financial, economic and political consequences for both countries,” the presidency statement said. The row has disrupted supplies of Russian gas reaching Europe via Ukrainian pipelines, forcing many EU countries to tap into their reserves or limit consumption and was seen as a major test of the Czech’s EU Presidency and whether it would be a player or a benchwarmer.

FEUDING AT HOME

Meanwhile, an ally of Klaus launched a political party that aims to campaign against the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty and run in June’s European Parliament polls, in direct contradiction to what the EU Presidency said it would stand for. The party’s leading founder Petr Mach, 33, a former aide to the president, chairs the Centre for Economics and Politics, a free- market thinktank founded by Klaus. Mach said his Free Citizen’s Party is not a branch of the pan- European Libertas movement, established by controversial Irish businessman Declan Ganley, but is ready to cooperate with it. “So far I do not have information that Mr Ganley or Libertas would be determined to independently register (in the Czech Republic) and run for the European Parliament,” Mach said, adding that the new party had no financing deal with Ganley. In line with the views of the president and Ganley, the party founders reject the Lisbon Treaty, stalled since Irish voters rejected it in last June’s referendum.

They see the pact, aimed at streamlining the decision-making in the 27-member union, as a bad deal for small EU members and a threat to members’ sovereignty. The founders called on Czech lawmakers to strike down the pact, which the parliament is planned to debate again in February. The Czech Republic is the last EU country yet to vote on the charter.

While Mach said that Klaus did not vow to support the new party, he pointed out that it counts the president’s adult sons among its backers. Another of the party’s founders, Czech-British author Benjamin Kuras is considering running for the European parliament. He said that Klaus’ backing would be welcome. “I don’t think it would hurt. He has a large following in the country.” The new party aims to fill a gap on the political right vacated by Topolanek’s senior ruling Civic Democrats, the founders said.

Five of the six founding committee members are former Civic Democrats unhappy with what they see as Topolanek’s shift to the centre. Klaus, who backed the Libertas grouping during a state visit to Ireland, recently cut his ties with the Civic Democrats, which he founded and led for 12 years. The move led to speculations that he would back a new Eurosceptic party prior to the European polls. Next to Eurosceptic views, the new party has a conservative, libertarian streak. It aims to develop nuclear energy and reduce taxes and public spending, the founders said.