THE FINANCIAL crisis, energy and the EU’s role in the world are the three hot topics on the Czech agenda, outlined the Czech Ambassador to Cyprus Jan Bondy yesterday, after taking over the EU Presidency from France for the next six months.
Speaking from the EU Representation in Nicosia, Bondy listed the priorities of the Czech Presidency.
Apart from its priorities, the Czech presidency will also have the elusive Lisbon Treaty and European Parliamentary elections to deal with.
Bondy noted that the financial crisis and economic slowdown “affect all of us”, adding that the Czech Presidency would “support all the measures and possible ways to reduce the crisis as much as possible” while avoiding over-regulation and rejecting protectionism.
On the energy issue, he said that “almost the whole of Europe is relying and depending on one gas pipeline coming from Russia through Ukraine to the rest of Europe”.
Commenting on Russia’s decision to cut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine, he said that the supply interruption had already affected the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania.
He added that the Czech Presidency had already begun negotiations with both sides, noting that the issue would be discussed next Monday in Brussels, with the aim of resolving the problem.
Regarding the EU’s role in the world, he said the Czechs had a strong interest in supporting Balkan EU membership, as well as Turkish membership, for which it hopes to open two new chapters in accession negotiations (taxation, and social policy and employment).
“We are supporting also better and stronger relations with Ukraine and with the Caucasus states,” said Bondy.
As for the Lisbon Treaty, apart from Ireland which rejected the Treaty, the Czech Republic remains the only EU member state yet to ratify it, creating slight embarrassment for the new Presidency.
The government overcame one obstacle last November when the Czech Constitutional Court ruled that the Treaty was consistent with the country’s constitution. Bondy said he hoped ratification would occur sometime during the spring. Ireland, meanwhile, agreed last month to hold another referendum, pending new guarantees from the EU against certain Treaty provisions.
The Czechs will also be watching new US President Barack Obama closely to see how much he’s willing to rub Russia the wrong way by installing a US radar base in the Czech Republic, along with interceptor missiles in Poland, to make up the US anti-missile shield.
The Czechs have long tried to establish a “special relationship” with the US, historically seeing the country as a beacon of light during its plight under communist rule. This affinity to the US has worried some EU members that the relatively new member state will exacerbate the so-called divide between “new” and “old” Europe as coined by former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
The Czech Presidency is using the motto, “Europe without barriers”, which means the removal of internal barriers like restrictions on Czechs working in Germany and Austria, hinted Bondy. He also referred to the Cyprus problem as “one of those barriers”.
Commenting on the Gaza conflict, he noted that dialogue between the EU, Israel and the Palestinian Authorities was “very important”.
“The killing of the people is something which is not part of the European Union and the normal behaviour,” he added.
Bondy stressed that four major anniversaries fell within the Czech Presidency: five years since the biggest enlargement in EU history; 20 years since the fall of the Iron Curtain, 30 years since the first direct elections to the European Parliament and 60 years since the founding of NATO.
The Czech ambassador also said his country was willing to share its experiences with Cyprus which will host the EU Presidency in the latter half of 2012. The Czech budget for the Presidency came to €73m, covering a three-year period from 2006 to 2009. One hundred new employees were hired in Brussels and 300 in Prague to cover the demands of the Presidency, noted Bondy.
Asked why the EU flag was not raised at Prague Castle where the eurosceptic President Vaclav Klaus resides, Bondy replied that the Czech flag has the words “The truth always wins” written on it.
He added that a Czech writer, Karol Capek, once said of the flag’s motto, “this is true, but it creates much trouble”.
