Prague, Sept 5 (CTK) – The Communists (senior opposition KSCM) will promote a petition on declaring a referendum on the Czech departure from NATO and a ban on a possible sending of Czech troops to the border with Russia, KSCM lower house deputy Marta Semelova said about the party’s election campaign on Monday.
The elections to the regional self-rule bodies and one third of the Senate will be held on October 7-8.
“We consider NATO a pact of warriors that spreads chaos and destabilises regions all over the world,” Semelova, known as a KSCM hardliner, told journalists.
The petition says NATO is responsible for humanitarian disasters and feeds terror and migration waves. It calls on the Czech centre-left government of Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) to prevent the stationing of foreign troops, military bases and weapons on Czech territory.
The petition, titled Who wants a conflict with a nuclear power is a reaction to NATO’s recent decision to deploy four multinational battalions in Poland and the Baltic states as of next year due to the fear of these countries of the aggressive Russian politics.
NATO decided at its Warsaw summit in July that the battalions will be led by American (Poland), British (Estonia), Canadian (Latvia) and German soldiers (Lithuania). The possible participation of Czech troops in the battalions has not been talked about yet.
A possible referendum on NATO membership was discussed in connection with the reinforcement of the defence of NATO’s eastern wing. Sobotka’s government said in July that no such referendum is being planned. President Milos Zeman said then he would support NATO membership if such referendum was organised.
The petition committee includes KSCM MEP Jaromir Kohlicek, popular film maker Zdenek Troska, writer Lenka Prochazkova and No to Bases group spokeswoman Eva Novotna.
Semelova said the Communist campaign before the Senate election in Prague will focus on labour, housing and healthcare for all as well as transport, peace and security.
The KSCM has one senator in the 81-seat upper house of parliament at present.
