Ambassador explains Czech view on EU

The Czech Republic will be holding a referendum on the EU constitution next year, the country's ambassador for Malta and Italy, Libor Secka, said yesterday.

Dr Secka said the Czech government will be broadcasting all the information possible on the constitution's implications.

The Czech Republic is one of the 10 EU accession countries. While the majority of the people are happy to form part of the EU, the feeling was that the EU should be an economic rather than a political union, Dr Secka said.

The ambassador said his country had taken very seriously the experience of Sweden which had said "no" to the introduction of the euro. That is why he felt the debate in the Czech Republic about the EU should be as informed as possible and a referendum should be held.

Speaking about the Czech cultural week, which will end on Sunday, Dr Secka said his visit to the island was to prepare the ground for the visit to Malta by Czech foreign minister Cyril Svoboda on November 14.

The ambassador said his country considered Malta to be an important partner in the EU. The two countries agreed on a number of points with regard to EU membership. The Czech government was sympathetic to Malta's claim for six MEPs as against the four the new EU constitution was suggesting.

Like Malta, the Czech Republic wants every EU member state to have its own commissioner with the right to vote.

The Czech Republic feels strongly that the rotating presidency should be maintained and has suggested to the Italian presidency and to the EU Commission that the presidency should be shared between three countries at a time so that the principle of rotation would be availed of by all the member states. In this way, a balance would be maintained among the Council, the European parliament and the Commission, the ambassador said.

Malta's exports to the Czech Republic last year were valued at Lm12 million, mostly made up of semiconductors. Maltese imports, made up mainly of Skoda cars, were worth about Lm6 million.