The presidency of the Czech Republic in the first half of 2009 as an example of an effective management of the European Union

Abstract

The paper hereby presented discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union (January – June 2009). The Czech Presi­dency was one of the most interesting presidencies in the recent years. The Czech Republic was only the second (after Slovenia) to hold the presidency form among the group of countries which joined the European Union during the “great enlargement” in 2004. The Czech presidency began in a very difficult time for the Union (i.e. a profound economic crisis in most Member States of the EU, the gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the war in Georgia, the presidential elections in the U.S, the lack of ratification of the Lisbon Treaty). Moreover, there was a very complicated internal political situation in the Czech Republic including the dismissal of the Czech government in the Middle of the Czech EU Presidency and president Klaus’s eurosceptical pronouncements. However, the Czech Presidency deserves a positive assessment. From the administrative point of view, the Presidency was very well prepared, although at the moment of overturning the govern­ment during the presidency, the Czech political class did fail. The Czech Republic proved to be an European Union Member State which recognizes new challenges facing the EU and understands its philosophies and mechanisms. Czechs adopted a EU perspective and demonstrated a much greater understanding for the common ideals than the Member States of much longer membership and more significant political position.