Czech bickering could hinder EU crisis efforts

Bloomberg

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As the Czech Republic prepares to assume European Union leadership for the first time, the nation’s two top officials are clashing over the EU’s merits -- and in the process threatening to hamper its efforts to battle the economic crisis. The bickering between President Vaclav Klaus, who calls himself an "EU dissident," and Premier Mirek Topolanek means the Czechs’ six-month turn in the rotating EU presidency, starting in January, is unlikely to match that of the current occupant, French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"It’s pretty uncomfortable to hold the EU presidency when you’ve got a euro-skeptic leader," Shada Islam, an analyst at the European Policy Center in Brussels, said in an interview. "The hyperactive, proactive French EU presidency under Sarkozy is going to be a very tough act to follow."

The French president forged a joint approach to bank bailouts, a climate-change package and the bloc’s revised governing accord, known as the Lisbon Treaty. Klaus, whose Czech office is largely ceremonial, refuses to fly the EU flag at his Prague Castle office.

Klaus, who helped build the Czechs’ post-Soviet democracy, has likened bank bailouts to "old socialism," slammed the Lisbon Treaty as "contradicting Czech sovereignty" and called environmental issues a "luxury."

’Larger than life’ figure
"Klaus could really become a problem for the Czech EU presidency," said Jan Techau, an EU analyst at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin. "He doesn’t have much concrete power, but he’s a larger-than-life figure in the Czech Republic."

Klaus hasn’t hesitated to criticize the euro, the common currency to be introduced in neighboring Slovakia next week. He wrote in a June 11 Financial Times article that the currency, currently used by 15 of the EU’s 27 members, has been "far from beneficial."

Meanwhile, Topolanek, 52, is moving the process of euro adoption forward while saying he wants to "wait and see" Slovakia’s experience.

Klaus took over as Czech head of state in 2003 from Vaclav Havel, the playwright who was jailed in Czechoslovakia. Havel turned the country from a Soviet satellite into a member of the NATOand paved the way for EU membership in 2004.

In recent months, Klaus has belittled the EU presidency by calling it prestigious only for a small group of politicians. After the Czech Constitutional Court ruled last month that the Lisbon Treaty doesn’t violate the country’s constitution, Klaus accused judges of failing to read the document.

After EU leaders broke a deadlock over climate-change legislation at a Dec. 11-12 summit with concessions that eased costs on energy and manufacturing companies, Klaus termed it "comical" to work for such a deal amid the financial crisis. Topolanek welcomed the compromise.

Klaus said "excessive state intervention" and "irresponsible increases of state expenditures" are behind the global financial crisis, according to an October commentary he wrote for Mlada Fronta Dnes newspaper. The president’s clash with Topolanek escalated when Klaus on Dec. 6 quit their Civic Democratic Party, which he founded in 1991. Klaus said the party under Topolanek’s leadership no longer reflects his views.

Money plays role
Topolanek insists that the EU is vital for the Czech Republic, given its Soviet-era past. "It’s by far better" to "kiss the German chancellor than to hug the Russian bear," he wrote in a Mlada Fronta Dnes commentary on Nov. 20.

Money also plays a role. The Czech Republic is entitled to as much as 26.7 billion euros ($37.3 billion) in aid from Brussels in the period of 2007 to 2013. That’s almost a quarter of its annual economic output. Split from Topolanek may prompt some lawmakers to abandon the party, making it harder for the premier to push his agenda in parliament.

"The Czechs have an even bigger problem than Klaus: Their government is so weak that the real question is whether it will last through the six-month EU presidency," Techau said.