The Czechs have finally conquered Europe!! / Cesi konecne dobyli Evropu!!

The magnificent fireworks above Prague were not just a celebration of the New Year, they were also celebrating the fact that the Czech Republic has taken up the European Union rotating presidency and it will “reign” over Europe for the next 6 months. Besides making all of the EU members eat dumplings for dinner and prohibiting the use of deodorants (I don’t think the French will have a problem with that) it will also be facing  big challenges such as the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Hamas movement and the energy crisis in former Russia. Many European countries are doubtful of our capability to fulfill this honorary presidency role mainly because the Czech PM Topolanek’s political position is currently quite weak and the Czech president Vaclav Klaus has a major anti-Lisbon-treaty attitude. The first big meeting of all of the EU countries is scheduled for January 6 where the Czech government introduces its main political agenda (i.e. the new dumpling law and prohibition of deodorants). This is going to be the first of the 3,000 other meetings which are scheduled within the next 6 months. They are going to be held in Brussels, Prague and also in other beautiful regions of the Czech Republic in order to promote Czech tourism.

You can see that Czech Republic is going to be busy these days! Over the next few days about 30,000 diplomats, politicians and officials are going to arive to Prague and reside there until July 1st when the EU presidency will be handed over to Sweden.

CZ: Pestrobarevny ohnostroj nad zimni Prahou neslavil pouze zacatek Noveho roku ale take to, ze ceskou vladu od zacatku tohoto roku ceka pul roku predsednictvi Evropske Unie. Po prevzeti zezla od Francie je na case si ohrnout rukavy a dat se do prace. Krome toho, ze Cesi prikazou vsem 27-mi clenum EU  jist knedliky s makem k veceri a odeberou vsem deodoranty (tam mame podporu take Francouzu), bude take ceska vlada celit tvrdym politickym bojum jako je energeticka krize v byvalem Rusku nebo spor mezi Izraelem a radikalni palestinskou skupionu Hamas. V mnoha zahranicnich mediich se ale objevuji pochyby, jestli Praha na tento narocny predsednicky ukol vubec ma. Pozice premiera Mirka Topolanka je v dnesni dobe velmi slaba a negativni postoj Vaclava Klauze ohledne Lisabonske smlouvy take situaci zrovna nepomaha.

Historicky prvni schuzka se bude konat 7. ledna, kde ceska vlada predstavi svetu sve priority (= knedliky k veceri, zakaz deodorantu..). Ceska vlada ma na rozvrhu 3000 dalsich takovych meetingu, konajicich se  nejen v Bruselu a v Praze, ale dale take i v dalsich malebnych regionech Ceske republiky, a to za ucelem podporit cesky turisticky ruch.

Jak sami vidite, Cechy budou v nastavajicich mesicich velmi zaneprazdnene! Samotna Praha behem nasledujiciho roku privita kolem 30.000 diplomatu, politiku a uredniku, pro ktere se stane novym domovem az do 1. cervence, kdy zezlo preda Svedum.

http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/eu/index_view.php?id=352418