The snippet last week on Vaclav Klaus's forthcoming Presidency of the European Council (see our newsletter No 9783) was careful to avoid speaking about the Czech Presidency in general. The euro-sceptic views of the Czech Republic's president and his (explicitly acknowledged) dissident attitude towards the EU are of relevance only to himself, and it is right that we should have confidence in the ministers who will chair the Community Council in its various configurations. This confidence on principle does not mean that everything is encouraging. Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwartzenberg, for example, has expressed reservations over a “European economic government” bringing together the euro area countries, since “the Eurogroup does not bring together the whole EU. Giving it a stronger role would amount to weakening the role of those countries which are not members”. Mr Schwartzenberg is, however, certain that the Czech Parliament will approve the Lisbon Treaty (already there is a majority in favour) and he challenges the view that his fellow citizens are euro-sceptic. He says, however, that his country has the right to decide independently on whether to be part of the US missile shield, since it will be a long time before the EU has a similar system. Thus a part of Europe will be protected. His wish is that, at the end of the Czech Presidency, people will say, “Well, it wasn't so bad after all”, since, for the moment, he has “the impression that everyone is expecting the worst from us”. It is a positive thing that, as he begins preparing for the Belgian Presidency in the second half of 2010, Belgian Secretary of State for European Affairs Olivier Chastel has said that “a line will have to be taken with the Czechs to try to change their view of Europe,” and he added: “Maybe the Czech Republic will have to be offered a guiding hand in managing the Presidency”. He did not say what kind of guidance this would be. Our curiosity remains. (F.R/transl.rt.)