Czech government reaffirms support for EU sanctions

The Czech cabinet on Monday reaffirmed its full support for EU sanctions against Russia. A Foreign Ministry report concluded that the sanctions were having a tangible effect on the Russian economy and should remain in place until Russia changed its stance on Ukraine.

Russian president Vladimir Putin, photo: CTK

The Czech government’s stand on the EU sanctions against Russia came on the eve of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. In addition to giving the Czech foreign minister a clear mandate for the upcoming talks it, aimed to dispel speculation as to where exactly the Czech Republic stands on the matter of sanctions after they were publicly rejected by President Miloš Zeman.

According to the foreign ministry report presented to the cabinet the main impact of the sanctions will come in 2015, but already there are signs that the Russian economy is feeling the bite. The first symptoms of the sanctions include the fall of the ruble, limited access to financial markets and an outflow of foreign capital from Russia. Along with a decline in oil prices, the combination of these factors is having a significant impact on the Russian economy, the report says.

While a change of course on the part of Moscow is expected to take longer, the state secretary for European affairs, Tomáš Prouza points out that there are already tangible signals of a shift.

Tomáš Prouza, photo: Anna Duchková

“It is clear that the sanctions are serving their purpose. If you look at how Moscow commented on the presidential elections in Ukraine –which it criticized and refused to recognize- and how it commented on the parliamentary elections you see a significant shift in attitude. Moscow also refused to recognize the separatist elections in eastern Ukraine and there has been a notable change in rhetoric. It is clear Moscow will now seek to find a reasonable way out of this situation.”

While the economic sanctions leveled against Russia have not significantly hurt the Czech economy, the signals coming out of the Czech Republic have been mixed. While the Czech Foreign Ministry has consistently supported the EU sanctions, President Miloš Zeman has repeatedly condemned them as a loss-loss strategy and Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka is seen as being lukewarm on the issue. In an earlier statement for the Czech daily Mladá fronta Dnes, which was picked up by the Russian media, Mr. Sobotka said the European Union should consider easing the economic sanctions against Russia if it succeeds to negotiate natural gas deliveries with Ukraine, and added that the Czech Republic could be the initiator of EU policy revision toward Russia. However, when challenged by the opposition about the fact that there was allegedly little difference in opinion between Prague Castle and the Office of the Government the Czech prime minister said the Czech Republic had not wavered in its commitment to the joint EU decision.

Miloš Zeman, Bohuslav Sobotka, photo: archive of Czech Government

The state secretary for EU affairs Tomáš Prouza echoed this sentiment on Monday saying there could be no question of softening the EU sanctions until Russia changed its attitude.

“The Czech Republic fully respects the EU decision on sanctions and supports them and the Czech foreign policy line is such that the EU should not consider softening the sanctions unless there is a clear change of course on the part of Russia –whether that takes months or years is in the hands of Russia alone.”