Czechs reject EU fiscal pact

The Czech Republic was planning to reject a new fiscal pact to be signed by EU leaders on 1 Mar., joining the U.K. as the only other opposing member.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas of the centre-right Civic Democrat Party stated three reasons for the withdrawal. According to Czech daily Lidove Noviny: the country’s limited say at EU summits, Nečas "serious reservations" about a fiscal union, and the complex Czech ratification process, which would lead to an almost certain veto by President Vaclav Klaus, an EU sceptic.

300 public figures signed a petition backing the treaty. Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, leader of the centrist TOP 09 party, blamed "national socialist" elements for the government’s refusal, according to the Financial Times.

"It’s hardly acceptable that countries like the Czech Republic sign such a document," Nečas was quoted in Lidove Noviny. They would be "potentially contributing to the loans for the International Monetary Fund and the euro area."