RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE 9 July 1999

HUNGARIAN ARMY'S CHIEF OF STAFF RESIGNS. Chief of Staff
General Ferenc Vegh submitted his resignation on 9 July.
Jeno Poda, a senior advisor to the prime minister,
announced on national television one day earlier that
Vegh would resign. The move ends weeks of conflict
between Vegh and the Defense Ministry over a government
plan to bring the military under civilian control. Poda
said earlier that Vegh must either accept the plan or
resign. Vegh told "Magyar Hirlap" of 8 July that he will
remain in his post until 1 August, when he will move on
to become Hungary's ambassador to Turkey. Vegh told the
paper that his conflict with the government resulted
from his desire to preserve "the army's autonomy" on
defense matters. MSZ/MS

'SVEJKISM' AND THE CZECH ACCESSION TO THE EU

By Michael Shafir

	Some love him, others despise him, but there is no
way one can overlook him. Jaroslav Hasek's hero, that
famous warrior of the Austro-Hungarian empire whose
favorite pastime was saying "yes" and acting "no," is
apparently destined to survive every turn in his
country's fortunes. And there is a good reason for that.
After all, it was not the empire, but the good soldier
Svejk who came out on top. He survived the Nazis without
fighting them and he survived communism and the Soviet
invasion (without fighting them either). So why
shouldn't he survive "globalization" and that facet of
it known as "European integration?" For wanting to
access the European Union is one thing, but doing so on
the terms imposed by the union may be another thing
altogether. Maybe it is time to say "yes" and act "no"
once more. Otto von Habsburg told a conference of RFE/RL
staff in Munich some years ago that the EU is a revived
version of the empire his ancestors had ruled over. And
he should know what he is talking about.
	In its summer 1998 evaluation report on the
progress of union membership candidates towards
accession, the EU criticized the Czech Republic's
slowness in bringing its legislation into line with that
of the union's member states. Some observers believe
that the next report, expected in September 1999, could
be even more critical. There is widespread speculation
that the 2003 target, which the Czechs set for
themselves for joining the union, will be missed, and
that Prague will fall further and further behind the
other four "fast-track" countries (Cyprus, Estonia,
Hungary, and Poland). By late June of this year, the
Czechs were able to conclude preliminary talks on only
eight out of the 15 legislative chapters proposed by the
union.
	 Some of the divergent views seem hard to
reconcile. For example, Prime Minister Milos Zeman has
already rejected Austria's demand that Prague ratify the
EU Convention on Evaluation of the Influence of the
Environment, which would threaten the completion of the
controversial Temelin nuclear plant. Some politicians in
Vienna have threatened to veto Czech accession as a
result. The minority Czech Social Democratic Party
(CSSD) on 28 June decided to ask the EU for so-called
"opt-outs" or "transitional periods" on seven areas
related to environmental legislation. Foreign Minister
Jan Kavan indicated on 22 June that his government is
likely to ask for similar "opt-outs" with regard to
legislation on the purchase of real estate by
foreigners. Hungary has also said it wants a 10-year
"transitional period" for the purchase of land by
foreigners, and Poland is likely to follow suit. The EU
may, in turn, ask for an "opt-out" on letting in the
cheap labor force of the new members. All of this
suggests that the so-called "fast-track" accession of
the new members will, in actual fact, be rather slow.
	The Czech government has an alibi for its failure
to quickly implement the legislation required by the EU.
The cabinet headed by Zeman is ruling with the grace of
Vaclav Klaus's opposition Civic Democratic Party (ODS).
And Klaus, true to his self-promoted image as a
"Thatcherite," has been anything but enthusiastic about
some aspects of EU membership. The ODS is against
signing the EU's Social Charter, for example and on 8
July, when the parliament ratified the charter, its
deputies opposed ratification. Klaus is also opposed to
the euro single currency and has repeatedly insisted
(most recently in an interview with "Lidove noviny"
published on 3 June) that Europe should be based on the
"national state." This is why the ODS on 8 June voted
against an amendment to the constitution that would have
enabled the government to issue decrees with the force
of law. The amendment was aimed at speeding up the
implementation of EU legislation by avoiding prolonged
debate in parliament. The ODS thus effectively "killed"
the government's attempt at making the "fast-track"
faster, because the government needed the support of the
ODS to secure a majority large enough to pass such a
constitutional amendment. This occurred to the expressed
desperation of President Vaclav Havel, who is an ardent
partisan of quick accession.
	Yet there is reason to believe that the CSSD shed
only crocodile tears over this failure. Like its
predecessors, the cabinet headed by Zeman is caught in a
dilemma when it comes to EU accession. Following
Czechoslovakia's split in 1993, Prague and Bratislava
established a customs union, which has proved highly
beneficial to both countries. Indeed, few people realize
that despite the fact that Slovakia had until recently
pursued a different path in its political reforms, the
economic integration of the two countries has remained
very strong. This is precisely why the former Klaus
administration had insisted on obtaining an exemption
from the EU's customs legislation so that Prague could
maintain the existing arrangement with Bratislava. To no
avail, however, for the EU would certainly not grant the
Czech Republic what it denied to the U.K., when London
wanted to introduce Commonwealth imports into the union
through the back door.
	The latest talks on adherence, which ended on 22
June, produced little progress regarding this aspect.
Kavan said after their conclusion that Prague may ask
for a "transition period" on the customs union with
Slovakia or look for a "compromise solution," adding
that he may submit some suggestions to Brussels this
autumn. Meanwhile, German State Minister Gunther
Verheugen, who chaired the session, suggested the
problem could be resolved by having both countries join
the union at the same time--a scenario that became
possible after the political change that swept Vladimir
Meciar out of power in Bratislava in September 1998.
Observers interpreted Verheugen's remark as a slap in
the face for Prague, as it confirmed the EU's
dissatisfaction with the tardiness of the Czechs while
at the same time acknowledging the improved chances of
the Slovaks. But one may well wonder whether the Czechs
were really all that impressed by the remark. In his
corner in the famous Prague tavern "U fleku," the good
soldier Svejk must have raised a toast, for he never
took deadlines too seriously, as long as he had it his
way. Unwittingly playing the role of a perfect
Lieutenant Lukacs--Svejk's superior in Hasek's novel--
Verheugen was probably unaware that the good soldier had
eagerly been waiting to be "disciplined."

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