THE CZECH Republic has been rudely thrown into two major international conflicts during the opening days of its European Union presidency, underlining how much this role has to do with crisis management rather than running agendas planned in advance. Israel’s attack on Gaza and the cutting off of Russian gas supplies to much of the rest of Europe illustrate very well the need for a stronger EU capacity to intervene in and mediate conflicts in order to protect its own values and vital interests.
Coming after the hyperactive French EU presidency – indeed overlapping with its fallout as manifested in President Nicolas Sarkozy’s current efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza – the Czech presidency has promised a steady hand at the helm. Two presentational gaffes in the last few days have not helped, as one spokesman described the Israeli action as more defensive than offensive and another said the Russia-Ukraine row was bilateral rather than Europe-wide. Both were quickly corrected, but they illustrate well the perils of stray remarks in the middle of fast-moving events. Matters are not helped by political difficulties in the Czech governing coalition and the looming presence of its Eurosceptic president, Vaclav Klaus, who loses no opportunity to denigrate closer EU integration.
Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg is confident this difficult start will not prejudice his country’s presidency. The Russian-Ukraine argument is about to be resolved under widespread political pressure, while a Gaza ceasefire now looks possible. The Czechs should encourage their EU partners to reflect deeply on how best to achieve a more coherent approach to foreign policy issues. This cannot be achieved simply by the assertion of large state interests, as was prominently on display with France over the last six months, since these must be mediated by a collective approach. A smaller state like the Czech Republic, and Sweden which succeed them in July, often expresses that collective interest more even-handedly, assuming the political will is there.
But these two crises certainly do underline the need for a more effective institutional means of creating political continuity in the EU presidency, as is proposed in the Lisbon Treaty. One of the principal Czech tasks will be to negotiate the political guarantees sought by the Government ahead of the second referendum on Lisbon. A key issue is that while each state can have a commissioner by agreement assuming it is passed, if it is rejected the alternatives are far from clear.