Coalition parties fight over policy

Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg has found himself embroiled in power struggles with both Prime Minister Petr Nečas and President Václav Klaus in recent weeks, shedding light on continued tensions between the two main parties in the governing coalition, analysts say.

While Schwarzenberg's TOP 09 party and Nečas' Civic Democrats (ODS) remain part of the same government, with local elections slated for later this month, they continue to compete over the same right-leaning voters.

The latest skirmishes between Schwarzenberg and Klaus have stemmed from proposed ambassadorial appointments as well as positions toward the European Union.

In particular, Klaus has sounded off on a compromise he negotiated before signing the Lisbon Treaty, one that exempts the Czech Republic from the Charter of Fundamental Human Rights on the grounds that, according to Klaus, the government could have to pay damages for the Beneš Decrees, the controversial post-World War II laws expelling ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia. The exemption is meant to be included in the next EU treaty, likely to be the accession agreement for Croatia.

"I don't trust our [foreign] minister very much in this respect," Klaus told the daily Lidové noviny, referring to Schwarzenberg guaranteeing the opt-out appears in the treaty. "Throughout his life and his decades-long movement around Europe, he stands on the other side of the barricade to an extent."

Schwarzenberg responded by calling the statement "sad" and said that "agreements must be kept."

While Klaus is officially not part of the ODS, a party he founded, Nečas is widely considered to be closely allied with the president - much more so than his predecessor, Mirek Topolánek, who openly feuded with Klaus.

"In 2002, when Klaus stepped down as head of the ODS, Nečas was his chosen successor, but he lost out to Topolánek," said Jiří Pehe, political analyst and director of New York University in Prague.

Following May's general election, the ODS has found itself on the defensive, and it looks poised to lose control of Prague City Hall to TOP 09.  

"Nečas was forced to make major concession toward TOP 09 during the process of forming a government," said political analyst Bohumil Doležal, a former Klaus aide when Klaus served as prime minister. "In particular, he had to offer important ministries. Now, he would like to gain influence, especially over the Foreign Affairs and Finance ministries and sideline Schwarzenberg."

Nečas himself engaged in a dispute with Schwarzenberg over the appointment of an adviser charged with coordinating EU policy. The foreign affairs minister accused the prime minister of trying to usurp part of his portfolio. In the end, a compromise was struck with Nečas, Schwarzenberg and Klaus each taking responsibility for particular pieces, with a division between relations within Europe and European relations with the rest of the world.

"Klaus' footprint is certainly there," Pehe said. "The ODS realized they lost a certain degree of control over the European agenda, and they are much more Euroskeptical than TOP 09."

Schwarzenberg, chairman of TOP 09, is widely perceived as a figurehead, with much of the day-to-day leadership of the party left to Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek. Still, the foreign affairs minister's popularity with the public makes him capable of drawing votes and wielding influence.

"It will be hard for other politicians to threaten [Schwarzenberg's] popularity," Doležal said. "The only candidate is Klaus, and the ODS does not offer anyone who would dare compete with Klaus."

Schwarzenberg was slated to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Oct. 6 in Washington, D.C. Among the items on the agenda were the NATO mission in Afghanistan, a still-vacant U.S. ambassador's post in Prague and the tender for expanding the Temelín nuclear power plant.

- Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report.

Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at
bcunningham@praguepost.com