Brussels, 31/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - The refusal by Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas to join the treaty on stability, coordination and governance within the economic and monetary union has created quite a to-do in his home country, putting the governing coalition in danger. “I clearly said no. This pact does not bring us anything and there is no reason to join it at the moment”, Necas insisted in the columns of the Czech daily Lidove Noviny on Tuesday 31 January.
The decision also brought Necas, who leads the right-wing ODS party, a stern rebuke from Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, who is the leader of TOP 09, another right-wing party. Necas had done what he did “for domestic political reasons, which is the worst thing to do” and his decision “is damaging to the Czech Republic”, Schwarzenberg said on Tuesday. In mid-January, the foreign minister made it clear that he “could not be a member of a government that takes the Czech Republic outside the mainstream of European integration”.
To explain his decision to reject the compact, Necas cited three basic reasons. “Firstly, involvement in eurozone summits is limited. Secondly, the proposal does not take sufficient account of the debt criterion. And thirdly, the ratification procedure is complicated and not very clear in the Czech Republic”¸ he said. He stated that he hopes to put the fiscal compact to a national referendum. This idea has not found unanimous favour within the coalition in power and Eurosceptic President Vaclav Klaus has opposed it. (LC/transl.rt)