Czech Mate

pete quentin, 8 December 2008

The Czech Republic will assume the rotating EU Presidency from France on 1st January 2009. President Klaus, a pronounced EU-sceptic, will be at the member states’ helm as the EU continues to negotiate on the Lisbon Treaty and the climate change package, and significantly also for the EP elections in June 2009. It is certainly going to be an interesting six months for the EU. For example, an enlightening exchange took place at Prague Castle last Friday 5 December 2008 between the Czech President, Václav Klaus, and EU representatives at the Conference of the Presidents of the European Parliament. The exchange resembled a ‘four knights game’ of chess, which is accordingly “fairly popular with beginners”; player were squaring up, devising their strategies and trying to stay one step ahead of the game…

Friday’s meeting began ominously when Daniel Cohn-Bendit MEP, co-president of the European Greens-European Free Alliance group in the EP who rose to fame as a prominent student leader during the 1968 unrest in France, chose to provoke the Czech President. He effectively poked Klaus with the EU flag: “I brought you the flag of the European Union, so I will place it here in front of you.” The tone of the meeting quickly deteriorated.
Continuing his ‘political poking’ of the Czech President, Daniel Cohn-Bendit MEP (a.k.a. “Danny the Red”, because his fiery hair is said to match his politics) began by foretelling that the upcoming Czech leadership of the EU “will be a tough Presidency.” His oratory repeatedly jabbed at the Czech President, swiping him firstly with the EU work directive, before slapping him with the EU climate package, “My view is based on scientific views and majority approval of the EP and I know you disagree with me. You can believe what you want. I know that global warming is a reality.” Then Cohn-Bendit’s final blow went straight for the heart, poking President Klaus with the Lisbon Treaty: “I don’t care about your opinions on it. Will you respect the will of the representatives of the people? You will have to sign it.”
It was certainly a chilling exchange, elected official to elected official… And then things got personal.
Cohn-Bendit: “I want you to explain to me what is the level of your friendship with Mr Ganley from Ireland. How can you meet a person whose funding is unclear?”
President Klaus’ unyielding ‘Pot-calling-the-kettle-black’ response was that he “would not dare to ask how the activities of the Greens are funded”. It was an exemplar ‘prevention of pawn weakness’ chess move and the conversation moved swiftly on. By the end of Cohn-Bendit’s “thank you for having us” introduction, President Vaclav Klaus was understandably enraged: “Nobody has talked to me in such a style and tone for the past 6 years. You are not on the barricades in Paris here.”
But the hostilities continued as EP President Hans-Gert Pottering added his weight behind the jabbing of the EU flag. Despite the flabbergasted President Vaclav Klaus’ exclaiming, “This is incredible. I have never experienced anything like this before”, Pottering jibed “anyone from the members of the EP can ask you whatever he likes. (To Cohn-Bendit:) Please continue.”
MEP Cohn-Bendit’s provocation did continued as he asserted, “Because you have not experienced me.” And in a final surprise move, Daniel Cohn-Bendit proclaimed: “We have always had good talks with President Havel.” Ouch.
However the game plans then shifted as Irish MEP, Brian Crowley, took the floor with a more emotive gameplan, “All his life my father fought against the British domination. Many of my relatives lost their lives. That is why I dare to say that the Irish wish for the Lisbon Treaty.” So now the Irish rejected the Lisbon Treaty because it is an extension of British domination…?! It couldn’t be that the Irish, having suffered past domination, might now have rejected the Lisbon Treaty as a battle against EU domination…?!
Mr Crowley, who said in September 2008 that he would like to run for Irish President in 2011, apparently also fancies himself as the interpreter of all Irish sentiment, “I just want to inform you what the Irish felt.” President Klaus’ response was simply, yet effectively, to use a democratic defence, “If Mr. Crowley speaks of an insult to the Irish people, then I must say that the biggest insult to the Irish people is not to accept the result of the Irish referendum.” Klaus’ noticeably insulted proclamation that “I have not experienced anything like this for the past 19 years” was met with the greatest overreaction so far, when EP President Pottering condemned Klaus as “compare [ing] us with the Soviet Union” to which he retaliated by professing the EU’s democratic credentials: “We are all deeply rooted in our countries and our constituencies. We are concerned about freedom and reconciliation in Europe, we are good willing, not naïve.”
But President Vaclav Klaus’ concluding remarks provided a robust end game “I thought it was a matter of the past that we live in democracy, but it is post-democracy, really, which rules the EU. You mentioned the European values. The most important value is freedom and democracy. But democracy and freedom are losing ground in the EU today. It is necessary to strive for them and fight for them.”
This warm-up game was a classic case of “All rook and pawn endings are drawn”. When Hans-Gert Pöttering concluded “…I want to leave this room in good terms …” a stalemate was declared, but the loser was evident:
The final score: Political posturing – 1, EU democracy – 0.