The euro crisis and Germany’s role through Czech perspective
Czech policy does not have a uniform line on Germany and its European policy. On one hand, there is relatively broad agreement on Germany’s significance for the Czech Republic: Germany accounts for 31.5% of Czech exports and 25.6% of its imports, and is thus by far the country’s largest trading partner. Additionally, since the Czech EU presidency at the latest, Germany has been seen as the most important and mostly also the most accommodating EU member state. This is why the Foreign Policy Concept of the Czech Republic (2011) lists Germany for the first time as a “strategic partner” (!) and emphasises its key role in European politics, European security and the global economy.
On the other hand, relations with Germany and the declared “strategic partnership” are not anchored in the Czech approach to the European Union because the Czech Republic lacks a coherent policy on Europe. Thus, also its relationship to Germany and the latter’s workings in the EU remains ambivalent.
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Angela Merkel (source: European Council)
About the author: JUDr. Vladimír Handl, CSc., IIR Researcher
Nahoru
Tomáš Profant
Vladislav Strnad