The CzechRepublic takes over the rotating European Union presidency
from France on Thursday with several big issues to deal with,
including a looming dispute over gas supplies with Russia.
After months of preparatory work, the former communist country that joined the
E.U. in 2004 is ready for its six-month "endurance test," said Deputy
Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra.
In the past weeks, Czech officials have been battling concerns about their
ability to take the E.U. helm from France amid the global economic crisis and after the
successful French tenure dominated by President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The role of Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek as the E.U.'s president in
office will be all the more harder as Czech President Vaclav Klaus keeps
criticizing most things European in his speeches and statements.
Vondra said there was no point in setting too ambitious goals for the
presidency, which the CzechRepublic enters with three priorities - energy security,
external relations, and the economy at the time of crisis.
"We will be glad if we manage to complete two specific things,"
Vondra said, pointing at energy security issues and the E.U.'s eastern
partnership.
Prague is now watching closely Moscow and Kiev's efforts to strike a deal over Ukraine's $2 billion of unpaid gas debts.
Russian energy giant Gazprom OAO (OGZPY) has warned it will cut off supplies to
Ukraine if the debt isn't settled, saying a new contract
needs to be signed by Jan. 1 and no deal can be inked without the money being
paid.
A cut in deliveries could even hit west European consumers, who receive Russian
gas that transits across Ukraine and were affected by a similar dispute in January
2006.
Topolanek said in a recent interview he was concerned about such unexpected
crises in particular. "I am sure some unexpected events will come,"
he warned.
In the case of a crisis, a "small European country" such as the CzechRepublic, which was a member of the Moscow-led bloc during its
communist past, finds it difficult to make the Russian giant listen, Vondra
said.
The Czech position for talks with Russia has also been weakened due to recent tensions over U.S. plans to build part of an antimissile shield,
perceived as a threat by Moscow, on the Czech territory.
But the CzechRepublic is still planning to organize an E.U.-Russia summit
during the first half of 2009.
Energy security will also be an issue at a meeting of E.U. foreign ministers,
scheduled to take place in Prague on Jan. 8, which will be the first meeting held
within Prague's E.U. presidency.
In mid-December, Prague announced it would also like to host an E.U.-Israel
summit side by side with an E.U.-Palestine summit, without giving the date.
These two summits have gained urgency after Israel's begun air strikes on the Gaza Strip, which have so
far claimed the lives of more than 360 Palestinians.
During their tenure, the Czechs are also hoping to host the first E.U. summit
with U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, to start a rapprochement process with
former Soviet countries Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova, and continue the E.U. integration process in
commemoration of the 2004 enlargement they were a part of.