Foreign Minister: First round of Czech-US talks on radar base in May

Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg has said that the first round of negotiations with the United States on the stationing of a radar base in the military area of Brdy southwest of Prague will take place in Prague on May 11. Speaking in the lower house of parliament, Minister Schwarzenberg added the facility will boost the Czech Republic's security. The deputy chairman of the lower house, Lubomir Zaoralek, said the talks on the radar base were hasty and the government was, on the contrary, compromising the country's security by its policy. Mr Zaoralek also said it would not be correct if the Czech Republic signed a bilateral agreement on the base with the USA. Mr Schwarzenberg maintains that it is one of the government's demands that the US radar base be part of NATO's defence system in the future.