French-Czech row and EU disunity - FT.com/UK »
Posted By gamahuche 10 months ago in NewsThe bad feeling between France and the Czech Republic is finally out there for everyone to see. For anyone who likes their European Union united, it is not a pretty sight..
Since last week, things have gone from bad to worse. Sarkozy infuriated Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek by suggesting in a television interview that French car companies should move their production back to France from eastern Europe in return for receiving French government tax breaks.
Topolanek responded by telling the Czech newspaper Hospodarske Noviny, in an interview published on Monday, that Sarkozy's remarks were "unbelievable" and capable of wrecking the Czech government's efforts to secure parliamentary approval of the EU's Lisbon treaty.
Later on Monday, France officially announced a €6bn aid plan for the French car industry. But the details had already been widely leaked. Topolanek got in first by announcing in Prague that he intended to summon EU leaders to Brussels in late February for an emergency summit on how to respond to the financial crisis and recession. He specifically cited what he called Sarkozy's "protectionist steps and statements" as the reason why a summit was necessary.
The abyss of EU disunity was reached later still on Monday when the Elysée palace published a letter on its website from Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel. This letter proposed a summit of exactly the kind that Topolanek had just announced. Tellingly, it was addressed to Topolanek (and European Commission president José Manuel Barroso) but made no mention of the Czech leader's initiative!
The truth is that the French are not alone in thinking that the Czech EU presidency isn't going well. There is a widespread view in western European capitals that the Czechs are not giving a decisive lead on the financial crisis. Many think the Czechs are too prone to express their own opinions, rather than act as the impartial co-ordinator of 27 governments' views.
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gamahuche
"I would rather be a square peg than fit in a pigeon hole" -
an essay which won me the "Lamb Essay Prize" at the Religious ...
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gamahuche10 months ago
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As I have mentioned in past stories on propeller - e.g. the one listed in the "Related Articles" listed above:
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Czech Bickering May Hamper EU Anti-Recession Efforts
Vaclav Klaus, as a confirmed Euro-sceptic AND a global-warming denier he was already well out-of-synch with the values which the European Community was espousing. He was never going to have a comfortable EU Presidency - and he seems to have been going out of his way to demonstrate that he is much more interested in following his own personal agenda - "being his own man"- rather than representing the beliefs and wishes of his nation.
Right at the start of his 6-month EU Presidency he refused to fly the EU flag over Prague Castle, claiming that it was HIS home.
Then his climate change obsession - he is even the author of a book on the subject, which has also been translated into English - led him soon afterwards to a controversial and, in terms of protocol, highly improper "private" meeting with another very euro-sceptic Irish politician, which I also wrote about in another story referenced above:
Irish angered by Czech president: Financial Times FT.com -
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gamahuche10 months ago
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The Times [UK] covered the latter incident in an article entitled "The Provocateur from Prague":
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"Last month Klaus described the EU presidency as “insignificant”. He likens Europe today with the continent which carved up Czechoslovakia under the 1938 Munich Agreement. At other times he has warned that the EU is as big a danger as the former Soviet Union.
His dinner with Declan Ganley, the anti-Lisbon Treaty campaigner, at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin on Tuesday, was entirely in character, as were his remarks afterwards. “I would say that the Czechs share the views of the citizens of Ireland,” he said, referring to the verdict of the referendum in June."
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I have to admit to having loathed Klaus for nearly 20 years - for afr more reasons than are relevant here and some based on private knowledge which also cannot be revealed. Other aspects of his personal life are generally known but are usually only hinted at, though I daresay someone, somewhere has revealed some of it.
Once I met him as I was crossing a bridge in Prague and would have had the perfect opportunity to tip him in the river.
Regrets, regrets.. -
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gamahuche10 months ago
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So far the ONLY thing that I agree with him about is his relative lack of criticism of the controversial sculpture by David Cerny which is "gracing" the EU building in Brussels.
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I love it; I'm sure he hates it BUT he probably likes it as a criticism the "Real" European Union, not as a funny and edgy artwork ands a commentary on stereotypes and foibles.
As far as the current controversy is concerned the Czech Republic has so far weathered the economic crisis relatively well, though the current employment rate is relatively high - perhaps 8% and resident foreigners who are unemployed are being offered an airline ticket home - plus 500 euros..
But there has certainly been no financial melt-down on the US or English scale though of course we don't have any immunity. If the French do move their car production out of the Czech lands that will definitely affect us and even the town where I live quite considerably. A significant number of our residents commute the 20 kms to the factory.-
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CRYMTYPHON10 months ago
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Gamahuche passes Klaus on the bridge;
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there is a struggle, a shout, and a 'splash'!
A policeman runs up. "What was that sound?" he asks suspiciously.
Gamahuche replies (choose 1):
1) Nothing, officer. I was canceling a Czech.
2) Ignore it, officer. It was just a sub-klaus.
3) Officer, the prime minister called me a dirty name in French!
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