Právo: Foreign policy to change under new president

Prague, March 11 (CTK) - The promise to sign the European Stabilisation Mechanism (ESM), which former Czech president Vaclav Klaus refused to do, indicates that the foreign policy of the new President Milos Zeman will be different from Klaus's, Alexandr Mitrofanov writes in daily Pravo yesterday.

The Eurosceptic Klaus acted in an openly self-centered and individualistic way, Mitrofanov says, adding that Klaus harmed the functioning of domestic political structures and created tension between himself and the European Union.

Zeman's attitude to the ESM has shown how Zeman may act in European affairs: he signed it, as a Eurofederalist, but with a slight shrug because he believes the ESM is not very important for the Czech Republic now as the country is not part of the euro zone, Mitrofanov writes.

But Zeman recognises the ESM as a symbol of the Czech belonging to the EU, same as the EU flag that he is going to hoist over the Prague Castle along with EC President Jose Manuel Barroso, Mitrofanov says.

Under Klaus the EU flag did not fly over the Prague Castle, which is the seat of Czech presidents.

If Klaus was alone in his opposition to the EU, the problems in Czech-EU relations would disappear after Klaus mandate expired, Mitrofanov writes.

He says Prime Minister Petr Necas's (Civic Democrats, ODS) views of the EU often were similar to those of Klaus, former ODS leader, especially in the country's general positions on European integration.

Necas apparently has been trying to give the EU the least possible but to get from it as much as possible, Mitrofanov writes.

He says pro-European Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg (TOP 09) was a counterweight of Necas in these affairs, but it were Necas's actions that seemed to prevail in practice.

Mitrofanov recalls that Zeman announced that he would visit the Czech soldiers in Afghanistan and pointed out that he would be the first head of the Czech state to do so.

This is a principal difference from the stances of Klaus who was against the expansion of Euro-Atlantic values to other parts of the world, Mitrofanov writes.

For Zeman, however, this is a confirmation of his concept of the importance of the Euro-Atlantic fight against Islamic terrorism, which he considers the crucial conflict of the century, Mitrofanov adds.

He says Zeman has not talked of the Czech relations to the United States and Russia so far.

The effort to have good Czech-U.S. relations is shared by Zeman, Necas and Schwarzenberg, while Russia may be a point of controversy between Zeman and Schwarzenberg who is more opposed to the regime of President Vladimir Putin than it is usual among European foreign ministers, Mitrofanov writes.

He notes that Zeman did not cover Czech foreign policy in his presidential inauguration address on March 8.

In a Sunday television interview Zeman presented a reasonable explanation of this omission: he needs to first discuss foreign policy with the cabinet, Mitrofanov writes.

In the Czech political system, the presidential powers are limited, but foreign policy is a field on which he has a rather strong influence.