EU commissioner Verheugen: Czech presidency an advantage

The vice-president of the European Commission for enterprise and industry, Gunther Verheugen, has praised the Czech EU presidency. In a statement issued in Brussels on Monday, Mr Verheugen said it was an advantage for the European Union to be presided by one of the bloc’s new members. The vice-president of the European Commission said that the Czech EU presidency would guarantee that populists in the old member states could not blame their problems on EU enlargement. Mr Verheugen also noted that less than two months into the Czech EU presidency it was already “crystal clear” that this presidency was going to be one of the most challenging in decades.

The Czech Republic took over the European presidency from France in January of this year. Its start saw two international crises – the Israeli offensive in Gaza, and the disruption of Russian natural gas deliveries to Europe. The Czech presidency has been criticized by some of the old EU member states, especially France, for being “too passive”.