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Opposing force

ČSSD leader Jiří Paroubek's anti-radar agenda continues to clash with ruling party policies

By Ondřej Bouda
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
April 2nd, 2008 issue

ISIFA
Former Prime Minister Paroubek discussed energy security, Kosovo and U.S. missile defense while in Moscow.
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As radar negotiations intensified and the NATO summit in Bucharest approached, high-level national officials set off on numerous trips abroad in the first part of the year. Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek headed to Washington, D.C. in February to discuss the missile-defense agreement, then to Israel in March, where he sought to strengthen political and economic relations. President Václav Klaus attended a March climate conference in New York City, and Defense Minister Vlasta Parkanová returned April 1 from Israel, where she’d opened an exhibition on Czechoslovak assistance in the region.

But the official whose travels have earned possibly the most attention over the past week is opposition leader and Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) head Jiří Paroubek, whose March 26–29 trip to Moscow highlighted a foreign policy departure.

Among efforts to build ties with his Russian counterparts during the three-day visit, Paroubek assured officials there that the planned U.S. radar base would not be built in the Czech Republic. The assertion — so starkly at odds with the prime minister’s pro-radar agenda — sparked an immediate reaction from Topolánek, who released a statement, calling the ČSSD’s “alternative foreign policy deadly for the Czech Republic. The trips they are making have no parallel in the post-communist history of this country.”
Paroubek retorted in a statement March 26, saying, “I consider the prime minister’s comments very subjective, hysterical and damaging to the interests of the Czech Republic abroad.”
While in Moscow, Paroubek attended talks in Parliament, discussing issues such as energy security, the recognition of an independent Kosovo and the radar base. He also first learned of the planned treaty between the United States and Russia regarding the missile-defense shield.
But what was Paroubek actually able to accomplish?
“One trip by an opposition leader who wants to add names to his address book cannot bring down a national foreign policy that is at best hazy about its goals anyway,” said Zdeněk Zbořil, a political scientist at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, adding that such actions seem like pre-election maneuvering.
Indeed, as Paroubek’s office carries no mandate to negotiate on behalf of the Czech Republic, he lacks the power to make any promises or agreements. And, considering the number of defectors from his party during this past electoral term, it is doubtful that he could insure the outcome of a vote on the proposed radar base.
Some speculate that Paroubek’s only tangible achievement resulting from his Moscow visit was a deepening of the divide between himself and Topolánek.
A look back
The rift over foreign policy is nothing new. When Paroubek went to Syria in February to strengthen economic ties, Topolánek criticized him for meeting with Ba’ath officials despite the fact that an almost identical trip was planned for Finance Minister Miloslav Kalousek in May. Paroubek responded in his March 26 statement, saying, “at least I brought up the question of human rights. When [Topolánek] went to Vietnam, he never bothered about prisoners of conscience or the abuse of human rights.”
Paroubek went on to say that he consults with the Foreign Affairs Ministry on every trip he takes abroad, which he says is more than Topolánek did during his own time as opposition leader, when he damaged Czech interests in the European Union by meeting with British Euroskeptics.
Paroubek also promised to share details of his Moscow trip with Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, who backed the visit by saying on Czech TV March 30, “The trip was useful because Paroubek could hear in Moscow how far the [U.S.-Russian radar] negotiations have progressed. It is the right of the opposition leader to take a critical stand on government policies, including foreign policy.”
During a press conference at party headquarters upon his return, Paroubek pointed out that he does not have to ask Topolánek for permission when he wishes to leave the country. But it seems he may have forgotten some of the comments he himself made as prime minister.
In May 2005, Paroubek was at odds with Klaus over foreign policy. Klaus had traveled Europe and criticized the planned European constitution, which was a cornerstone of Paroubek’s agenda. An angered Paroubek told the Financial Times that month, “Unless Klaus complies with government directives, we simply won’t allow him to travel.” The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) criticized the comment, with Vice Chairman Přemysl Sobotka saying on Czech TV, “This is clearly a totalitarian attitude. You can’t try to silence someone just because they have a different opinion.”
In terms of the current policy clash between government and opposition, Zbořil is quick to place it in a larger context. 
“We are a small country, and Topolánek in his simplicity does not realize this. His decision to turn away from a coordinated European foreign policy has led to our sidelining and waiting for the big boys to decide,” he said. In order to avoid isolation on the international field, he added, the Czech Republic needs to be part of a strong camp.
“Unless we join the European Union in efforts to unify foreign policy, we’ll spend our lives sitting by the phone and waiting for instructions from Moscow and Washington. The Czech Republic has to decide whether it wants its voice heard in the future or not, and to behave accordingly.”

Ondřej Bouda can be reached at news@praguepost.com


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