Czech Business Today
New Czech Government Changes Its Course Towards EU Affairs
The new Czech government, established in January, seems to be more EU orientated than the previous one. According to new Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and new Minister of Foreign Affairs Lubomír Zaorálek, the Government is ready to adopt the EU fiscal pact very shortly.
This is a significant change of orientation as the previous Government was strictly against and was, together with the UK, the only EU Member State that hadn ́t adopted it. It is not clear yet when the fiscal compact will be signed, but it is sure there is a sufficient political support to it. The topic was also raised by Czech President Miloš Zeman during his speech at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg at the end of February. He confirmed that he supports both signing of fiscal compact and adoption of euro by the Czech Republic as soon as possible.
However, according to the President, the Czech government should not apply Article III of the pact which says that the governmental budget should be balanced. Nevertheless, the proposal has to be adopted by both Chambers of Czech Parliament first. The adoption of euro, however, is another story. Even though both Zaorálek and Zeman expressed their support to the adoption, new Minister of Finance Andrej Babiš sees it as a long-term process that, according to him, will not be accomplished in the next five years.
