国际英语新闻：Czech no confidence vote casts shadow on EU integration, U.S. radar plan

BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua) -- The Czech center-right government collapsed after losing a no-confidence vote in the lower house of Parliament on Tuesday.

    Analysts said that the no confidence vote will change the country's political scenario and also will affect Czech's standing in EU affairs and a planned U.S. anti-missile radar base.

　　ONE-VOTE VICTORY

    The lower house of Parliament voted 101-96 Tuesday to declare no confidence in the minority three-party coalition government of Civic Democrats (ODS), Christian Democrats and Greens led by Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek.

    Among the 101 deputies, the minimum number required in the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies, there were 97 deputies from the opposition Social Democrats (CSSD) and four rebels from the ruling coalition. Three legislators were absent from the vote.

    It was the first time that a government has been ousted by parliament since the country came into existence after the 1993 split of Czechoslovakia.

    The opposition Social Democrats said Tuesday that Topolanek's government could stay on until Prague hands over the EU's six-month's rotating presidency to Sweden in June.

    However, Topolanek said he could resign after a planned trip to Brussels on Wednesday.

    "I take the vote into account and will act according to the Constitution," he said.

    The toppling of Topolanek's government was another significant success of the CSSD after its sweeping victory in the Senate and regional polls last autumn. It was the CSSD's fifth attempt to unseat the center-right government.

    There will be a delicate situation in Czech's power distribution due to the confidence vote, analysts said.

    According to Czech law, if Topolanek's cabinet resigned, it is up to President Vaclav Klaus, the former ODS president, who recently indicated his intention to join the opposition effort, to appoint the new prime minister.

　　MORE UNCERTAINTIES ON EU INTEGRATION

    The no confidence vote happened midway through the Czech Republic's six-month European Union presidency. The European Commission said on Tuesday that it had "full trust" in the Czech Republic's ability to continue representing the European Union presidency despite the no confidence vote.

    "The Commission has full trust that the national constitutional law allows for the Czech Republic to continue conducting the Council Presidency as effectively as it has done until now," the EU executive said in a statement issued shortly after the vote.

    Nevertheless, some EU analysts said that the functioning of the Czech presidency will be weakened politically by the vote.

    The no confidence vote for the government of Topolanek was a heavy blow for the Czech EU presidency, the Czech News Agency (CTK) quoted Piotr Kaczynski, an analyst with the Brussels Center for European Policy Studies, as saying.

    The presidency will continue to function but it will be considerably weaker politically, Kaczynski said.

    Topolanek admitted that the new situation can complicate the Czech government's negotiating strength.

    The left-wing opposition CSSD consistently supports the Lisbon Treaty and EU reform. However, Klaus, a key figure on the Czech political scene, is a sharp opponent of the EU reform treaty.

    The opposition's positive position and Klaus' negative stand on EU integration brings more uncertainties to the issue.

    Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra said on Wednesday that ratification of the EU Lisbon reform treaty by the Czech Republic will be harder now that the government has lost the no-confidence vote.

    "The ratification process is on track ... but it will be a lot more difficult now to convince people to vote in favor," Vondra told a news conference at the European Parliament.

    NEGATIVE INFLUENCE OF U.S. RADAR

    The Czech Parliament heavily splits on whether to allow components of a U.S. missile defense shield on Czech territory.

    Topolanek's government promoted the radar project and signed two relevant treaties with the United States last year.

    However, the treaties have yet to be discussed by the Czech parliament, where the CSSD and the Communists oppose the plan.

    The Czech government recently temporarily withdrew the radar treaties from parliament over opposition threats to vote against them.

    Dmitri Rogozin, the Russian ambassador to NATO, said the end of Topolanek's government created an "insurmountable problem" for the building of the U.S. missile defense system in Europe, the CTK reported.

    The political parties that can theoretically form a government coalition in the Czech republic have more positive stances on Russia than Topolanek's cabinet, he said.

    "The forces that have removed Topolanek's government categorically stand up against the stationing of a radar on Czech soil. However, without the radar, the U.S. missiles in Poland would be blind," CTK quoted Rogozin as saying.

    The vote also came at an inconvenient time for the current cabinet, days before a planned visit by U.S. President Barack Obama.

    The government collapse is expected to cast a shadow on the upcoming EU-U.S. summit in Prague in early April.