Current Affairs Czechs sceptical about Brussels’ plan to review national budgets
In the wake of the Greek financial crisis, the European Commission has proposed that the budgets of countries using the euro should be reviewed in Brussels before they are approved by national parliaments. The plan has provoked mixed reactions across Europe, and is likely to meet resistance here in the Czech Republic.
Jose Manuel Barroso, Olli Rehn (right), photo: CTK
Commissioner Oli Rehn told reporters on Wednesday that the latest proposal
of national budgets being revised in Brussels primarily concerned countries
already in the eurozone. But the Czech Republic is planning to adopt the
euro in about five years’ time, and the prospect of having its budgets
reviewed in Brussels has provoked little enthusiasm. Ondřej Jakob is a
spokesman for the Czech Finance Ministry.
“For us, it is as a subject for debate as we haven’t received the detailed proposal yet. But the Finance Ministry generally supports the strengthening of budget rules and the observance of the existing ones, which is not always the case. But let me stress that the state budget is in full competence of sovereign governments and national parliaments, so any review by the European Commission would have to be limited to a recommendation.”
Jan Mládek
Polls suggest the Social Democrats will come first in Czech elections in
two weeks, and land the key posts in the new government. I asked the
party’s economic expert Jan Mládek for his opinion on the new proposal.
“I think the proposal is very rational – under the assumption that Brussels will control the [budgets of the] Eurozone members. But it would be somewhat unfortunate to extend it to all member states because the European Commission was not able to help Latvia at all, so I don’t see any reason why they should regulate the budget if the International Monetary Fund is regulating it. In fact, the same is true about Hungary.”
Another possibility is that the next Czech government will be led by the right-of centre Civic Democrats. The party’s Michal Doktor, an MP and member of the lower house’s budget committee, also dismisses the plan.
“There is only one possible answer to this: national parliaments would have to give up their sovereign rights to decide about their fiscal policies and budgets. I’m afraid there is no will to do that. I think that European politicians are living in the dream of the welfare state, and are unable to make any other decisions.”
But Czech politicians may not have to deal with the issue any time soon.
In an evaluation of the country’s euro convergence programme, the
European Commission on Wednesday criticized a lack of concrete measures
aimed at reducing its budget deficit. It said the Czech Republic will first
have to adopt more austere budgets in the coming years, in order to be able
to join the eurozone.
