Bém: Czechs should push for shorter text to replace Lisbon treaty

Prague, Nov 20 (CTK) - The Czech Republic, as EU presiding country in the first half of 2009, should propose a discussion on a shorter document to replace the Lisbon treaty, senior ruling Civic Democrat (ODS) first deputy head Pavel Bem told CTK Thursday.

Prague Mayor Bem, who runs for ODS chairman against Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek at the ODS congress in December, said the Czech Republic should push for "a completely different format and contents of the European treaty."

He thereby reacted to Topolanek's article in Thursday's issue of Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) in which Topolanek wrote that the Czech Republic can either ratify the Lisbon treaty to reform the European Union or become Moscow's vassal again.

Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said Bem's proposal was a symptom of his lack of political experience.

"It is apparent that the mayor [Bem] has no deeper experience with European politics," Schwarzenberg told CTK.

Bem said he would imagine a new "15-page simple document that everybody can understand."

He called Topolanek's opinion "incredible and false demagogy."

Bem is considered to stand close to President Vaclav Klaus, ODS honorary chairman and former long-term head, who called the Lisbon treaty "a dead document" after the Irish rejected it in a referendum in June.

Critics blame Klaus for his too accommodating approach to Russia.

Topolanek, on his part, says the Czech ratification of the Lisbon treaty is the price the Czech Republic must pay for the participation in the Euroatlantic area.

The EU has set rules with which one may disagree, but they give the area a firm order and certainty after centuries of instability, Topolanek said.

He added that the EU, similarly like NATO, might be a barrier against Moscow's power ambitions.

"The European Union is based on four fundamental freedoms: the free movement of goods, services, people and capital. Not even the constituent EU member sates have been able to fully observe them so far," Bem noted.

He criticised Topolanek for connecting a possible rejection of the Lisbon treaty with a departure from the EU.

"The fundamental freedom is to have the right to say no, and let us not be deprived of it," Bem concluded.