Ten days after EU accession Czech Prime Minister celebrates and discusses future of EU in Brussels

Ten days after the Czech Republic became a full member of the European Union, key Czech political figures took a day trip to Brussels to celebrate. Pavla Horakova went with them.

Ten days after EU accession Czech Prime Minister celebrates and discusses future of EU in Brussels

Pavla what was the event and who took part?

Well, the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the European Union is showing Czech documentary films and it is also displaying works by architect Borek Sipek, most notably his Arcadeuropea or Euroarcade, a project of 25 houses representing each EU member state. The whole event, called "The Czech Republic - 10 days in the EU" was opened on Monday by the Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla.

In typical Europhile form, Mr Spidla said the process of European integration should continue. But he also said one other very interesting thing: that when it comes to further integration, we usually think about countries to the east and southeast, but that we should also look further west.

The Prime Minister was accompanied at the event by former President Vaclav Havel - who was one of the strongest advocates of Czech integration into both the EU and NATO...

That's right. And I asked Mr Havel whether now when both tasks have been accomplished he feels his lifelong efforts have been fulfilled...

Vaclav Havel, Borek Sipek and Vladimir Spidla, photo: CTK

"It's true that I have devoted many years of my life and a lot of energy to our accession to the democratic structures of the Western world: NATO and the European Union, and of course, I am happy that it eventually happened. It was not easy at all. There was a great mistrust of the prospective members and it took a long time but eventually, I think it has all ended well."

I also got to speak to another man who put a lot of effort into the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union - Pavel Telicka, the country's former chief negotiator with the EU, then the Czech ambassador to the EU and as of last week, the first ever Czech EU Commissioner. I asked Mr Telicka about his first impressions in his new office alongside Commissioner David Byrne with a health and consumer protection brief.

"Well, first impressions... I think it was quite a normal week, very much business-like from the very first day, with a number of tasks already on the table - this is the way I like it. I'm already active in the college, I'm active on some of the dossiers that we've agreed with David Byrne that I would be taking care of. So the impressions are altogether quite good, quite dynamic, quite demanding, quite professional. Culturally a little bit different from I was used to but I think partly I will adjust, and partly we, the newcomers, will introduce also some of our new elements."

Vaclav Havel and Borek Sipek, photo: CTK

The successor of Pavel Telicka as Czech Republic's ambassador in Brussels is the former deputy Foreign Minister for EU Affairs Jan Kohout. He told me what has changed now after accession, when the Czech Republic's Mission to the EU has become a permanent representation of a member state.

"In general, the agenda remains the same as it was during our observer status. The main difference is that in comparison with what was before May 1, now we are a member of the EU, not just observers, so we have a full responsibility for the decisions which will be taken by the EU."

I guess we should point out that Prime Minister Spidla travelled to Brussels on Monday mainly to discuss the EU's future priorities for regional policy.

Vladimir Spidla, photo: CTK

That's right. He took part in the Third Cohesion Forum taking place in the European Parliament in Brussels. Cohesion policy addresses economic and social inequalities between individual regions, and not just whole states. After the latest enlargement, when ten relatively poor countries joined the EU, the per capita GDP in the European Union has dropped by 12.5 percent. Prime Minister Spidla pointed out in his speech that it is in the interest of the whole bloc that the poorer countries boost their economies and competitiveness, not to become the proverbial weakest links in the chain. He said the Czech Republic would make full use of EU funds.

"The Czech Republic will draw from cohesion funds. There are a lot of projects prepared. We contribute 10 billion euros to EU funds and we can draw 17, so the net balance will be 7 billion euros in 2005."

With the accession of the ten new members, some of the old member countries have suddenly become relatively richer, compared to the EU average. Those countries are for example Greece, Portugal or some regions of Spain. That implies they will no longer be entitled to money they used to draw from EU funds. Prime Minister Spidla suggests a transitional period for those regions.

"A region that for 12 years received money would all of a sudden lose all that. I don't think that is right and I am prepared to negotiate about transitional periods - not very long but reasonably defined periods."

The session of the Third Cohesion Forum which continues on Tuesday is just a preliminary stage of further talks on the future priorities of EU policy to bridge the gulf between the richest and the poorest. And just like with other EU key policies, some tough negotiations are ahead.