Related articles
Current AffairsOn-third of EU citizens unware the European Constitution exists; Czechs among the least in favour of adopting it
One out every four Members of the European Parliament — and two-thirds of
the Czech MEPs — last month voted against adopting the European
Constitution, that rather lengthy and complex document designed to govern
relations between the now 25 EU Member States. Most Czech MEPs said they
rejected the European Constitution because of the proposed formulas by
which countries are "weighted" — meaning how much voting power
they will have in future. If you have no idea what we're talking about,
you're in good company —a newly released survey by the Eurobarometer
agency showed that every third EU citizen is unaware that the European
Constitution even exists. More
Current AffairsEuropean Parliament endorses EU Constitution, Civic Democrats still fighting against it.
The European Parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly endorsed the European
Union's first Constitution, which aims to streamline the way the EU works.
Nearly all the mainstream parties in the 732 member Parliament supported
the treaty, with 500 deputies in favour, 137 against and 40 abstaining
from the vote. The European Constitution will only come into force if all
25 member states ratify it, and one of the countries where the
ratification process is seen as potentially problematic is the Czech
Republic. Although the coalition government is strongly in favour, the
leading opposition party the Civic Democrats, along with the communists
who between them hold two thirds of the country's seats in the European
Parliament raised their hands against it. We called Jan Zahradil, of the
Civic Democrats, to ask why he voted against the European Constitution:
More
Current AffairsWhat is the position of the Czech right towards the European Constitution?
The Civic Democrats, the right wing opposition party widely tipped to win
the next parliamentary elections, have officially adopted a policy
rejecting the planned European Constitution outright. This puts the party
in line with the most firmly Euro-sceptic forces in the EU, such as the
British Conservatives. Although the Civic Democrat's honorary chairman,
President Vaclav Klaus, has never hidden his strongly Euro-sceptic views,
this is the first time that the whole party leadership has come down
behind him. But at the same time polls suggest that Civic Democrat voters
are much less Euro-sceptic then the party itself. Martin Mikule phoned Ivo
Slosarcik from the Prague Institute for European Policy, and asked him
whether he saw a paradox in the party's stand. More
