Prague, Aug 23 (CTK) – The Czech Republic cooperates with Germany mainly in the area of economy, tension over the Sudeten German issue ended with the Bavarian leader’s visit in 2010, cross-border cooperation flourishes and discords persist only over the approach to migration, according to Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Christian Democrats, CDU) will pay a day-long visit to Prague on August 25.
The framework of the present Czech-German relations are regular meetings on all political levels, excellent cooperation in the EU and other international organisations, and joint social and cultural activities.
There are numerous institutions and endowments supporting Czech-German cross-border cooperation.
The media hailed Bavarian Minister-President Horst Seehofer’s visit to Prague in December 2010 as “the end of the ice period” and Sudeten German leaders then spoke about the need to build mutual confidence.
This March, Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) paid an official visit to Bavaria, the first in his capacity as prime minister.
In May, Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) was the first member of the Czech government to address the annual meeting of the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft (SL). Seehofer and SL leader Bernd Posselt called Herman’s participation in the meeting a historic milestone.
Cooperation between German and Czech regions and towns has been functioning smoothly as well, mainly in border areas. Common cycling paths, entertainment, sports and hobby centres, language programmes and cultural events have been mushrooming.
The imports from Germany to the Czech Republic were worth 33.2 billion euros in 2015, while the export of Czech goods to Germany reached 46.2 billion euros.
Trade with Germany makes up almost one third of the Czech Republic’s overall foreign trade. Germany is the main trade partner of the Czech Republic.
For Germany, the Czech Republic is the second most important trade partner out of Central and Eastern European countries, after Poland.
In the 2000s, controversy arose over the access of Czech workforce onto the German labour market in the years following Prague’s EU entry in 2004. The problem was settled in May 2011 when Germany and Austria opened, as the last EU members, their labour markets to the EU newcomers including the Czechs. Before, only Czech university graduates could seek a job in Germany.
A document to help the Czechs and Germans cope with sensitive issues of the common past was the Czech-German Declaration from 1997. Since its signing, matter-of-fact and conciliatory stances have prevailed among the two countries’ highest representatives with a few exceptions. The two states have repeatedly expressed their will to deal with present issues and not to burden mutual relations with issues related to the past.
Czech-German political and economic cooperation has been based on the Treaty on Good Neighbourhood and Friendly Cooperation signed in February 1992.
Merkel has visited Prague three times so far, in January 2007, October 2008 and April 2012.
Sobotka paid an official visit to Berlin in March 2014 and a working visit in May 2015.
