For Business, for Pleasure or for Necessity? The Czech Republic's Choices for Europe

Abstract

Drawing on scholarly accounts from the study of Western Europe which seek to explain national preference formation in European Union member states, this article explores the factors which shape the Czech Republic's policy preferences at the EU level. It argues that whilst ideology, dependency and powerful economic interest groups have explanatory power, the key to explaining national preference formation in the Czech case lies in vulnerabilities and (perceived) weakness.

Notes

The author is grateful to the Economic and Social Research Council (RES-000-22-2786) for funding the research for this article and to the staff of the Institute for International Relations (IIR) in Prague where the author was based in June 2008 whilst undertaking fieldwork. I am particularly appreciative of the time given by all those officials and politicians who agreed to be interviewed on or off the record and to Zuzana Gajdušová for bringing some articles to my attention. In addition, I would like to thank Cornel Ban, Vit Beneš, Julian Cooper, Nat Copsey, Nikola Hynek, Wade Jacoby, Jan Karlas, Anand Menon, Tereza Novotná, Willie Paterson, Helke Rausch, Carina Sprungk, Ali Tekin, Thomas Weber, this journal's two anonymous referees and audiences at IIR, Harvard University's Center for European Studies, Brown University's Watson Institute, and the CREES, BASEES and APSA annual conferences for their comments on various iterations of this article.

I am grateful to Vit Beneš and Anand Menon for highlighting this argument to me.

For a good summary of the different approaches see Lyons (2007).

Author's interview with Cyril Svoboda, Foreign Minister 2002–2006 and Minister without Portfolio 2007–2009, Prague, 30 June 2008; author's interview with Richard Falbr, Chair of Českomoravská konfederace odborových svazů (ČMKOS) 1994–2002 and ČSSD MEP 2004–present, Prague, 23 June 2008.

The three issues were a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 on third country nationals crossing external borders in June 2006, a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 397/20 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of cotton-type bed linen originating in Pakistan in May 2006, and a Council Regulation repealing the anti-dumping duty on imports of synthetic staple fibres of polyesters originating in Australia, India, Indonesia and Thailand in October 2006.

Author's interview with Zdeněk Málek, Deputy Chairman, Českomoravská konfederace odborových svazů (ČMKOS), Prague, 27 June 2008.

Author's interview with Hana Málková, Head of the European Integration Team, ČMKOS, Prague, 27 June 2008; author's interview with Richard Falbr, Chair of ČMKOS 1994–2002 and ČSSD MEP 2004–present, Prague, 23 June 2008. See also Zlámalová (2008).

Eight interviews conducted by the author with officials from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at their respective ministries in Prague on various dates between 9 and 30 June 2008.

See, for example, the document Business Priorities for the French, Czech and Swedish EU-Presidencies: Back on Track: Towards a Competitive Europe without Barriers, produced by Svaz průmyslu a dopravy ČR, Mouvement des Entreprises de France and Svenskt Näingsliv (2008), available at: http://www.cebre.cz/dokums_raw/trojka_brozura.pdf, accessed 1 August 2008.

Eight interviews conducted by the author with officials from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at their respective ministries in Prague on various dates between 9 and 30 June 2008.

Hospodářské noviny, 17 March 2008; author's interviews with two officials from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs at their ministry in Prague, 10 and 11 June 2008.

See the dedicated Evropská agenda section of the company's website, available at: http://www.cez.cz/cs/o-spolecnosti/evropska-agenda.html, accessed 10 October 2008.

The top 20 firms used in the survey were those listed in ‘Nejvýznamnějšíčeské firmy roku 2007’, Hopodářské noviny, 20–22 June 2008.

¹³ Pracovní program českého předsednictví: Evropa bez bariér, presented by Mirek Topolanek and Alexandr Vondra on 6 January 2009, available at: http://www.eu2009.cz/cz/czech-presidency/programme-and-priorities/program-a-priority-478/, accessed 7 January 2009.

¹⁴ Pozice vlády České republiky v rámci jednání o institucionální reformě Evropské unie, approved by the government on 25 April 2007, available at: http://www.vlada.cz/assets/evropske-zalezitosti/dokumenty/Pozice_vlady_CR-_final_25.4.pdf, accessed 15 June 2008.

The lower the figure the less a country is dependent. For a wider international comparison it is worth noting that the USA has a trade to GDP ratio of 26.0 and Singapore 456.7.

In response to the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty Klaus, who was in hospital undergoing an operation, offered to write a new and better document in his hospital bed!

Interview with P. Gandalovič, Hospodářské noviny, 20 June 2008.

Author's interview with Richard Falbr, Chair of ČMKOS 1994–2002 and ČSSD MEP 2004–present, Prague, 23 June 2008.

Author's interview with Hana Málková, Head of the European Integration Team, ČMKOS, Prague, 27 June 2008; author's interview with Zdeněk Málek, Deputy Chairman, ČMKOS, Prague, 27 June 2008; author's interview with Richard Falbr, Chair of ČMKOs 1994–2002 and ČSSD MEP 2004–present, Prague, 23 June 2008.

Author's interview with Cyril Svoboda, Foreign Minister 2002–2006 and Minister without Portfolio 2007–2009, 30 June 2008, Prague.

Klaus announced at the time of the party's congress in December 2008 that he was leaving ODS.

See his website http://zahradil.eu/cze/index.php.

I am grateful to one of this journal's anonymous reviewers for helpful comments which clarified my argument.

Václav Klaus, ‘Václav Klaus a Jan Švejnar u senátorůČSSD’, ČT24, available at: http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/vysilani/10160455654-vaclav-klaus-a-jan-svejnar-u-senatoru-cssd/208411034000 023-29.01.2008-13:00.html, accessed 29 January 2008.

Author's interview with Zdeněk Málek, Deputy Chairman, ČMKOS, Prague, 27 June 2008.

Financial Times, 3 June 2008.

ODS's manifesto for the 2006 elections stated that the rejection of the Constitutional Treaty was not a ‘catastrophe’ (ODS 2006, p. 55).

Author's discussion with Jan Karlas, Prague, June 2008.