Czech Republic 2002

1
Czech Republic - 2002
2
Czech Republic

• Priorities of the foreign policy of the Czech
  Republic (2003-2006)
• successful integration of the Czech Republic into
  the EU
• active membership in the NATO
• fight against terrorism
• good relations with neighbouring countries and
  enhancement of regional integration
• relations with other countries and international
  organizations on bilateral and multilateral basis
  with special focus on economic dimension of
  foreign policy
• targeted presentation of the Czech Republic
  abroad

• Area 78.866 km2
• Population 10,2 millions
• Inflation (2002) 1,8
• Unemployment (12/2002) 9,8
• GDP per capita (in PPP) 15.797 USD

3

Czech Republic and Constitutional Treaty
The Czech Republic fully supports the efforts of
the Irish presidency to explore, by means of
bilateral consultations, all possibilities of how
to further proceed in the deliberations of the
Intergovernmental Conference, with the objective
to reach a compromise on the text of the
Constitutional Treaty. The Czech Republic
considers the Draft Treaty, as it was adopted by
the Convention and modified by the Naples
ministerial conclave in December 2003, to be the
best basis for further discussions. The Czech
Republic is ready to show a great deal of
flexibility on all open issues and would welcome
a consensus on the final text before the end of
the Irish presidency. Among the issues on the
table, the Czech Republic considers as its
priority the composition of the European
Commission (the Czech Republic believes that each
Member State should be represented by one
Commissioner in the EUs executive), the statute
and role of the EUs minister of foreign affairs,
the method for the calculation and application of
the qualified majority voting, the system of the
rotating presidency of the Council and the
inclusion of a reference to Christian values in
the preamble of the Constitutional Treaty. The
Czech Republic also wishes to defend the
currently required unanimity for all decisions
concerning the multi-annual financial
perspective, financial resources of the EU and
taxation issues.