Main focus of Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Prague ready to negotiate over the Treaty of Lisbon

The Czech government is ready to accept President Václav Klaus' demand that exceptions to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union be negotiated with the EU. In return Klaus is to sign the ratification document for the Treaty of Lisbon as soon as possible. With his exemption clause Klaus is demanding guarantees for the Beneš Decrees, on the basis of which the Sudeten Germans were collectively disappropriated after World War II.

Hospodářské noviny - Czech Republic

Věra Řiháčková und Lukáš Pachta from the Institute for European Policy Europeum comment in the business paper Hospodářské Noviny on the demands of Czech President Václav Klaus for new guarantees for the Beneš Decrees before he signs the Treaty of Lisbon. With this move Klaus wants to protect the Czech Republic from possible restitution demands by Sudeten Germans who were expropriated and expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War II: "No one disputes that Czechs living on the border should not have to fear for their 'new' property [confiscated from the Sudeten Germans]. However the Decrees are by no means among the most brilliant chapters of our history. It is shameful that on the basis of them many innocent people were also punished. At the very least it is inauspicious to pull this morally questionable card at a time when the eyes of Europe are upon us over the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon. ... This is the very worst thing the president could have done." (13/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU Constitution, » History, » EU neighbourhood policy, » Germany, » Czech Republic, » Slovakia, » Europe
All available articles from » Věra Řiháčková, » Lukáš Pachta

Expressen - Sweden

After the Irish Yes and the signature of Polish President Lech Kaczyński only Czech President Václav Klaus is blocking the Lisbon Treaty. The Stockholm-based tabloid Expressen says this is bad not just for the EU but also for the Swedish Prime Minister and current EU Council President Fredrik Reinfeldt: "Reinfeldt must be very angry with the saboteur in Prague. In the spring Sweden supported the struggling Czech EU presidency and tried to save what could be saved. And this is all the thanks we get. … It is not just the Lisbon Treaty that could slip out of [Reinfeldt's] hands. There are growing indications that the climate conference in Copenhagen in December could be a failure. That would be a bitter result given how competently Sweden has managed its EU Council presidency so far." (13/10/2009)

» full article (external link, Swedish)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Constitution, » Europe

Világgazdaság - Hungary

According to the business paper Világgazdaság, the tug-of-war over the Czech ratification of the Lisbon Treaty is having a negative impact on European integration: "Does Václav Klaus want to go down in history as the man who 'succeeded in' halting European integration? Many things point to this: in numerous blogs he is already being touted as 'the only European statesman who refuses to give in like the others' and is 'determined to defend his own people '. This behaviour runs the risk of providing a pattern for blind nationalism. … Or does Klaus simply want to lead his people out of the EU? … Particularly worrying is that in theory he could actually accomplish this. The coming weeks promise to be trying for the EU." (13/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Czech Republic, » Europe
All available articles from » György Fóris

Vest - Slovenia

Elena Pečarič complains on the website Vest that so few countries held a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, saying this approach has nothing to do with democracy: "We must not allow the politicians who are there to serve us and are responsible to us to define, change or increase the powers conferred on them without the involvement of the people. The elected representatives of the people are not the owners of the sovereignty of the people. They have no right to change the competences and responsibilities of the institutions without authorisation … . What happened in the long history of the constitutional treaty and its metamorphosis into the Lisbon Treaty is a grave abuse of power on the part of the EU politicians at the expense of their citizens - or in other words of everyone. We should not forget this. The systematic and planned blocking of our right to vote for or against it in referendums in the individual countries as well as the great fraud in Ireland are proof that the EU representatives have seized power for themselves and undermined their own legitimacy." (13/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Constitution, » Europe
All available articles from » Elena Pečarič

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