Berlin, Aug 24 (CTK correspondent) – Czech President Milos Zeman’s attitude to migration does not find any understanding in Germany, Czech-German relations expert Kai-Olaf Lang, from the Science and Policy Foundation (SWP), said on Wednesday.
The fact that despite this, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet him during her forthcoming visit to the Czech Republic is a vital signal of preparedness for dialogue even at the moment when they hold quite opposing views of the migrant crisis, Lang said.
Merkel’s government has adopted a very positive approach to refugees. Last year, Germany accepted 1.1 million of them.
Germany now demands that EU countries redistribute a part of the refugees according to quotas.
Zeman is against the Czech Republic accepting any refugees and the quotas are rejected also by the Czech coalition government.
“Germany sees it that in the Czech Republic, there is a political and public opposition to accepting a large number of refugees, but it cannot understand that some people there are so radical,” Lang said, describing the views of German politicians.
Berlin expects EU countries to share responsibility, he added.
The SWP gives advice to the German government and parliament.
Last week, a similar statement was made by German government spokesman Steffen Seibert.
“Obviously, the European conclusions arrived at by all European countries must be observed by all,” Seibert said about the quotas approved last year.
Some commentators are of the view that the differing views of the migration are behind Merkel not having come to Prague sooner.
Lang believes that Berlin is able to differentiate among the views of various Czech politicians.
“I am convinced that Germany has differentiated between the views of Zeman, which were partly very explicit, and the moderate course of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD),” he added.
Even open and critical words are part of the two countries’ relationship that can be characterised as pragmatic cooperation, Lang said.
Even the differing look at migration has not fully blocked Czech-German relations as there are a number of topics in which the two countries understand well one another, such as trade, transport and cross-border cooperation, Lang said.
“When taking a comprehensive look at this, one can see that for all the problems, the atmosphere has remained professional and quite good,” he added.
Lang warns that the Czech Republic is not the only country disagreeing with Germany’s migrant policy.
This is the topic stressed by the Visegrad Group (the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary), about which few, if any people from the German public knew two years ago, he added.
At present, Visegrad is a factor to be reckoned with, Lang said.
Germans see the V4 as a relatively homogeneous group, although in reality, the Czech Republic’s position on migration differs in some respects from those of the rest, he added.
The positions of the Czech Republic and Germany on migration are formed by the countries laying emphasis on different things, Lang said.
In the Czech Republic, there is a dominance of security considerations, in Germany, it is a moral and humanitarian focus and the feeling of the duty to help, which is associated with Germans’ self-reflection after World War Two, Lang said.
In addition, Germany is used to large immigrant communities, which also contributes to the differences, he added.
