By Michael Winfrey
PRAGUE, Jan 1 (Reuters) - The Czech Republic took the helm
of the European Union on Thursday for a six-month stint in which
it must help the bloc tackle its worst economic crisis in
generations and deal with renewed conflict in the Middle East.
Following the initiative-filled tenure of France -- whose
President Nicolas Sarkozy jousted with issues from financial
turmoil to climate change -- the Czechs have raised concern
among some EU states over their ability to lead.
The ex-communist state of 10 million people has suffered
only a glancing blow from the economic crisis that has wreaked
havoc across the rest of the bloc's 495 million population in
the form of plummeting markets, bank bailouts, and job losses.
Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's minority centre-right
government has dragged its heels on the Lisbon reform treaty, a
charter designed to streamline EU decision making, making the
Czechs one of just three EU members who have yet to ratify it.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus is a staunch eurosceptic who
has campaigned against deeper integration with other EU members,
even if his post is largely ceremonial.
Topolanek, who will chair the Czech presidency, will have to
tackle those issues along with the already long list of
challenges he faces in the new year.
"On the one hand he will have to continue to coordinate the
European efforts to overcome the economic crisis," European
Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering said this week.
"On the other, he will have to lead the European involvement
to rapidly bringing an end to the outbreak of violence in the
Middle East and work with the new American administration to
promote a comprehensive peace strategy for the region."
MIDDLE EAST
That second task begins immediately, with Foreign Minister
Karel Schwarzenberg expected to travel to the Middle East on
Sunday to work towards a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where
Israel has killed nearly 400 people and wounded 1,600 in an
offensive it says is to halt rocket attacks from Hamas.
"As soon as he takes over (for) the presidency, he feels it
is his duty to fly there and start handling it," said
Schwarzenberg's spokeswoman, Zuzana Opletalova.
Schwarzenberg, a staunch U.S. ally, defended Israel's
strikes on Tuesday. He initially put the onus of the conflict on
Hamas and said Israel had a right to defend itself.
That was a different message from France's condemnation of
aggression from both sides' and call for an immediate ceasefire.
On the economy, the Czechs' expect slight growth next year
and see unemployment rising to around 6 percent. They have
derided other EU governments for ramping up state spending with
big stimulus packages to counter falling private sector growth.
That could put them at odds with big euro zone countries
that are already fighting recession, or Spain, where some
economists say unemployment could hit 20 percent.
But pundits said the Czechs' success as EU presidents will
depend on whether they use the EU as a platform, and that either
the EU's executive Commission or the "big three" -- Germany,
France and England -- would take control if Prague does not.
"The EU presidency actually has very little formal power,"
said Charles Grant, director of the London-based Centre for
European Reform. "With the Commission and the big three, in a
way, if some awful crisis emerges, having a more inexperienced
country in the EU presidency need not cause too many problems."
(Reporting by Michael Winfrey; Editing by Giles Elgood)
