Brussels reporter for the Financial Times, Tony Barber, summed it up neatly: “But if the Czech senate, or upper house, rejected the treaty, it would do still more damage to the nation’s reputation and throw the bloc’s future into even more uncertainty.”
The question is whether, one month after the disgraceful fall of the government of the country presiding over the EU, there still remains anything to damage. Many Czech diplomats, when assured of anonymity, admit that even those Europeans who used to back the Czech Republic before now remain silent.
“They are open about it, they do not want to lose their own credit on behalf of the Czech Republic,” Hospodářské noviny reported one of the top Czech diplomats saying.
Local myopia
David Rennie, the Economist’s Charlemagne columnist, Czech sympathiser and one of the influential voices in Brussels, wrote shortly after the fall of Topolánek’s cabinet: “Sadly, the time for defending the Czech presidency is gone. The parochial myopia of Czech politicians has seen to that.”
Both analysts and politicians were watching Prague closely due to yesterday’s ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, even though they have all already given up, quietly and loudly, on the Czech Republic as an EU president.
“You can improve your image a little by endorsing the treaty, but in general the Czech EU presidency will enter history as one of the worst, one that is ending in chaos, particularly in the last 2-3 weeks,” David Rennie said yesterday. Nevertheless, Rennie appreciates the hard work of people like Alexandr Vondra and Karel Schwarzenberg.
Who has got mandate?
Before, the Czech presidency used to be evaluated fairly well due to the good management of the gas crisis in January and thanks to good legislative ideas. Brussels veterans, however, do not understand how the Czech politicians could choose their personal interests over the interests of their country and damage it for years to come.
According to Rennie and other observers, the biggest problem of further Czech EU leadership lies in the political mandate – Prime Minister Jan Fischer’s new cabinet will not have one. The main issues are dealt with on the political level and, allegedly, few in Brussels will take an administrative PM or minister seriously.
Expert working groups continue. “Many legislative proposals are being approved on the working level and we are being praised for that still,” said Radek Honzák, one of the presidency spokesman in Brussels.
The Czech presidency is currently reaching its peak in the form of a number of summits, the most visible one being today’s meeting of eastern partnership. If the Czech senate approves of the Lisbon Treaty, the only question hovering above the Czech EU presidency will be the one concerning the regular June EU summit in Brussels.
“There was a chance of improving our image through our presidency. However, as soon as the Lisbon Treaty ratification process is over, we will again become one of the central European countries, which few understand,” said one of Czech European Commission employees.
He adds, though, that at least among the public servants, Prague collected points thanks to the installation of Entropa by David Černý. “Positive opinion prevails among those who have been working here for a long time. They have never seen anything like that before.”
