Die Zeit: Czech Republic has good preconditions for EU presidency

Berlin, Nov 28 (CTK) - The Czechs can start their first EU presidency in
January without the burden of uncertainty around the Lisbon treaty after
the Constitutional Court's decision that the document is not at variance
with the Czech constitution, the German weekly Die Zeit writes in its
latest issue.

Moreover, it adds, the Czech Republic has other positive preconditions for
the presidency - an above 5 percent economic growth in the time when other
countries face economic recession, and low unemployment that drops almost
to zero in the capital of Prague, Die Zeit writes.

The fact that the Czech Republic can now ratify the Lisbon treaty
facilitates its upcoming EU presidency in the first half of 2009 even
though President Vaclav Klaus opposes the treaty as the document to reform
the EU institutions is supported in both houses of parliament across the
political spectrum, Die Zeit says.

However, "a drop of bitterness" remains since Czech deputies will probably
not manage to ratify the Lisbon treaty by January 1 when the country takes
up the presidency.

On the other hand, the Czechs need not much worry about it since the future
of the EU treaty now does not depend on their approval any longer, but on a
new Irish referendum after the first one rejected the document in June, Die
Zeit writes.

According to information from Dublin, the new referendum can hardly be held
in Ireland earlier than next summer. Moreover, its result is unpredictable,
the weekly says.

Consequently, the Czechs can assume their first presidency without a
burden, but they will have to proceed on the basis of the old treaties like
France, current EU president, did.

The agenda of the Czech presidency will primarily focus on relations to the
EU's eastern neighbours, the situation in the west Balkans and energy
security. However, after the experience from the French presidency, the
Czechs should also reckon with "a certain X-factor" that cannot be
predicted, Die Zeit notes, recalling that the Russian-Georgian war and the
world's financial crisis dwarfed all the planned topics of the French
presidency.

Ahead of the EU presidency, the Czech Republic's position is quite strong
in the situation where most member states are weakened by the crisis. In
addition, Czechs can have a "good feeling" that most steps in the country
have been done correctly since the EU entry in May 2004, which should
please both the country's ten million inhabitants and other partners in the
EU in these hard times, Die Zeit points out.