| Author (Person) | Davies, Eric | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Publisher | ProQuest Information and Learning | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Title | In Focus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Details | 16.6.03 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publication Date | 16/06/2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content Type | News, Overview, Topic Guide | In Focus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Voting in the latest referendum on EU membership, held on Friday and Saturday, 14 and 15 June 2003, the people of the Czech Republic overwhelmingly supported accession. 77.33% of participants voted in favour of joining the European Union in May 2004, with 22.67% voting against. There was no legal minimum turnout required, but the 55.21% was higher than the recent plebiscites in Hungary (45.62%) and Slovakia (52.15%), though lower than Poland (58.85%), Slovenia (60.29%), Lithuania (63.37%) and Malta (91%). Radio Prague, which said that support for EU membership 'came from all strata of society and from all political parties.' The Eurosceptic Czech President, Vaclav Klaus, was the only head of an Acceding State not to campaign for a 'yes' vote. Although he urged people to participate in the election, he reportedly took a negative stance, raising the potential negative consequences of membership rather than the advantages of joining the EU. His attitude put him at odds with the pro-Europe government and the dispute was given as one reason for the low turnout - although the Czech Republic has been one of the least enthusiastic Candidate Countries. It was apparently in recognition of that lack of enthusiasm that the government scheduled the referendum relatively late in the process, with the aim of building on earlier 'yes' votes in more enthusiastic countries - an approach which appears to have paid off. EU membership has been the Czech Republic's main foreign policy goal since 1989, when the Communist regime collapsed. Commenting on the referendum result, the European Commission's representative in Prague said 'The Czech Republic takes the place it was always entitled to.' Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla, quoted in the Financial Times, said the vote 'puts an end to the results of the Second World War. We have come back to where we are strong and have great opportunities.' The people might have said 'yes' in the referendum, but the economic realities of preparing for life in the EU have already caused problems for the government. As the Financial Times pointed out, the 'embattled Czech government ... is already bracing itself for a wave of opposition to its budget cuts.' That view was echoed by Radio Prague, which reported Mr Spidla's warning following the success of the referendum, in which he 'quickly reminded Czechs that much needed to be done for the Czech Republic to join the EU as an equal partner next May. He said that the positive outcome of the vote gave the government, which has a narrow one-vote majority in the Lower House, a strengthened mandate to enact key reforms needed for the eventual adoption of the euro.' Six Acceding States have already approved EU membership: Malta, Slovenia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Slovak Republic and Poland. The next membership referenda will take place in September, when the people of Estonia and Latvia are given the opportunity to say whether they also want to join the European Union. There is no referendum currently scheduled for Cyprus. Links:
Eric Davies Background and reporting on the week's main stories in the European Union and the wider Europe. |
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| Countries / Regions | Czechia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
