Vorsitzender der tschechischen christdemokratischen Partei (KDU-CSL)
The paper presented at the conference
“The Czech Republic before the elections 2002”
Institute for Danube Region and Central Europe
January 13, 2002
Dear Friends,
I have been asked to say a few words on the theme of the Czech Republic’s accession to the European Union. I know that this is no abstract issue for the inhabitants of Austria. It is connected with a series of question marks and I will attempt to answer at least a few of these.
I am addressing you as Chairman of the Christian Democratic Party, an organization with a history going back eighty years and permanence on the Czech political scene. Since its founding it was always a member of the ruling cabinet (except for a minor two-year interlude) and even during the infamous Communist era it was represented in parliament, albeit only formally. After the restoration of democracy in the Czech Republic in 1989 we contributed distinguished members to the ruling cabinet. For the last three and a half years, however, we have been in opposition, primarily as a consequence of the so-called opposition pact between the governing Social Democrats and the Civic Democratic Party, which has declared itself to be a contractual opposition. The opposition pact is an unsavory contribution by the Czech political scene to the history of political models. If there is interest in this issue, we can take it up in the course of the discussion. It is not a theme on which I wish to dwell in particular.
But I do consider it useful to outline the position of KDU-ČSL on the Czech political scene right at the start. KDU-ČSL is a part of the European People’s Party and we consider it extraordinarily important to follow the same direction in principle as our other partner parties. In the Czech Republic we are the sole bearers of Christian-Democratic political ideas.
Not only from the historical point of view, which is very strong in this country, but above all from the point of view of the future, we consider it extraordinarily important to have the best possible relations between our two countries. I consider our mutual relations as a matter of priority also on our way to an integrated Europe. My credo is not the mere maintenance of relations; I wish to improve them. This is something I spoke about with the Chancellor of the Federation and I see mutual interest, and thus favorable prospects.
The Czech Republic submitted its application to join the EU in 1996. This year we intend to close all chapters of the pre-accession negotiations. You are well aware of our ambitious goal—to join the EU in 2004.
There is no real alternative for the Czech Republic to EU accession. KDU-ČSL is a party that has been clear on this issue over the long term. We were part of the ruling cabinet when the application for membership was submitted, we strove for this application to be submitted and we continue to be in favor of the Czech Republic’s accession; we are also in favor of the continuation of the integration processes within the EU.
I believe we represent the majority opinion in our country. For this reason and due to our long-term attitudes in relation to the EU we feel entitled to have our representative in the EU Convent for the Czech Republic.
Most of the Czech Republic’s political representation is in favor of accession at the earliest possible date. As might be expected, problematic attitudes are held by the Communists; unfortunately such views are held by the Civic Democratic Party as well. We are nevertheless convinced that most voters will approve EU accession in a referendum. We will to everything in our power to attain this objective. For the Czech Republic this will be a basic political confrontation. The Christian Democrats have for a long time had a vision of a Europe in the process of integration, which continues much further than just economic cooperation and the free movement of capital, persons, services… We have no reason to conceal from you, our friends, the fact that at home we are engaged in a political confrontation on this issue precisely with the Civic Democratic Party. That party advocates returning the EU to just a free economic zone and customs union. Let me document and illustrate this point by a citation from the basic foreign policy document of the Civic Democratic Party, elaborated by that party‘s shadow minister of foreign affairs, Jan Zahradil. It states:
“Contrary to the idea of the Czech state are therefore those problematic concepts of European unification that originate from other than liberal-democratic principles. These include, besides previous extremist fascist or Marxist visions of European unification by force, also today’s centrally distributive European Social Democrats and Christian-Democratic politically centralizing Catholicism.”
Here is the root of our different positions on our country’s foreign orientation. This is also one of the causes of the internal political discord between KDU-ČSL and the Civic Democratic Party.
There are numerous issues on which we differ in principle: for your information I would like to state that the Civic Democratic Party is for the second time now quite seriously putting forward a proposal for the introduction of a flat-rate income tax in the Czech Republic. That is for us a completely absurd concept, regardless of the fact that we consider it to be quite incompatible with the tax system practiced in the EU member countries.
I consider it important to inform you, the prominent members of the ELS, of these facts. It is perhaps one of the paradoxical features of the Czech political scene that the centrist KDU-ČSL has more serious and more fundamental disputes with a rightist party than with the leftist Social Democracy. While we differ from the latter on principle, in the main practical interest—the accession of the Czech Republic to the EU—we have fewer problems with ČSSD. Also the resolution by the highest authority of KDU-ČSL from the autumn of last year clearly states that “the approach to the EU is and will be decisive for our cooperation prior to the elections and afterwards.”
On the issue of European integration we are in full agreement with our partner in the Four-party Coalition, Freedom Union. That is one of the reasons for the existence of the Four-party coalition.
I have defined the beginning and the vision of our coalition at one of my lectures in April of 1998. I am a supporter of the coalition, which will represent two currents side by side, a Christian-Democratic current, represented by our party, and a liberal current, represented by the Freedom Union.
The second, and in my view the most important reason, is the program compatibility, even though not identity—and this I emphasize—between KDU-ČSL and Freedom Union.
We have a long-term ambitious plan: to become the dominant force on the non-leftist part of the political spectrum, thus becoming the counterweight to the dominant leftist force, ČSSD, instead of today’s Civic Democratic Party. The intent is succeeding—in 2000 the four-party coalition won the elections to the Senate, we gained 5 governors of the regional assemblies out of 13. All five governors are members of KDU-ČSL. This illustrates that KDU-ČSL is the driving force of the Four-party Coalition. The Chairman of the Senate is Dr. Pithart, also from KDU-ČSL. In public opinion surveys we have been in the leading position for the last two years.
But back to European integration. In my view this process must continue. There is actually no other way in today’s world, which is becoming ever more closely interconnected. Europe must not lose the place it has occupied in world affairs for a millennium in the world due to the inability of politicians to agree. And that is precisely the issue. Europe must become the motor of ideas, of technical progress as well as an example of respect for the individual, of solidarity and of subsidiarity. It must develop its Christian foundations of its value system. Without this it will not succeed in the competition of other cultures. There are not so many Europeans that they could afford being as factionalized as they are today.
Despite this, or perhaps for this very reason, it is essential to attend to maintaining national diversity, culture—national identity, if you wish. It is my view that it is precisely the diversity, variability and mutual interplay of the individual cultures of Europe that was the motive force of all of its historical pre-eminence.
The opposite views espoused by the Civic Democratic Party—views damaging our national future, views that are incompatible with the preservation of the influence of Europe in the world, are a fact. In this way the Civic Democratic Party is excluding itself from our post-election coalition plans.
Our relations with the EU will be one of the most important themes of our election campaign and will be the decisive moment for the make-up of the next governing coalition.
The Czech Republic’s accession to the EU will be benefit both our country and the Union’s current members, starting with our immediate neighbors. The market and the combined economic strength of Europe will increase—despite the fact that our standard of living is lower than yours and our economy is not so productive. There will be an increase in the qualified work force, the factual frontiers of Europe will shift eastward. This will increase European security. The concerns of our neighbors due to competition by cheaper labor from the Czech Republic are not substantiated. Typically, Czech people prefer to work close to where they live. Their proverbial unwillingness to move in search of work causes difficulties even in our own country.
The economic situation in the Czech Republic has, of course, been marked by 50 years of servitude. Our standard of living and efficiency is about two thirds of the level of the EU.
However the process of transformation to a standard economy, which has now lasted for ten years, has brought tangible results—and this despite a number of mistakes that accompanied it. It can be realistically anticipated that the Czech Republic will no longer mean an economic burden for the EU, but rather an asset. It is starting to work effectively and that is good news for all Europeans. That, of course, does not mean that over the next several years we will catch up with the standard of living prevalent in the EU. However in a growing number of localities the standard of living will quickly approximate that of the EU. Already today, for example, the capital of the Czech Republic is about 15% above the average EU standard of living.
As Christian Democrats we realize that the development of the national economy and the effort to achieve real economic growth must be built on a preservation of society’s social cohesion and improvements in the environment. That is also EU policy.
With respect to improving the environment, the Czech Republic has achieved a major improvement over the last 10 years, be it with respect to the quality of water, the air or the soil. That is surely of interest also to our neighbors. We regret the fact that these clear positive aspects, which are surely of importance for Austria, tend sometimes to be drowned out by the less than objective rhetoric on Temelín. I hope there will be a positive turnaround in this regard.
It is my view that good relations between the Czech Republic and Austria will also contribute to the well being of the European Union. For this reason let us continue in developing everything that is positive between our countries, let us look for further opportunities. Let us not be content with the current situation. If we will be part of the ruling cabinet after the elections in June of this year—and from the available information it is a fair guess that we will be—then on our part we shall do all that is in our power to energize our mutual relations to the benefit of the citizens of our two countries as well as of the entire family of European nations. I believe that the Austrian government perceives the matter in the same way. Our shared history gives us a solid base on which to build on.