Social Democrat leader to meet with Bush

Jiri Paroubek, the head of the country's largest opposition party the Social Democrats, will also be among politicians meeting with George W. Bush during the US president's stay. Mr Paroubek and his party oppose the stationing of a US radar base on Czech territory, but members have indicated a willingness to back the project if it were implemented within a larger NATO framework. The Social Democrats also want a referendum on the issue. In an online discussion on Friday one of the party's deputy chairmen, Bohuslav Sobotka, expressed the need for NATO and the EU to look at the issue of missile defense head-on. He indicated that if the EU and NATO were not able to defend their citizens, he could imagine sole cooperation with the US.