Yorkshire CND - Czech PM to negotiate U.S. radar base with Bush in February

6 January 2008
Czech PM to negotiate U.S. radar base with Bush in February
Author: ČTK
CeskeNoviny.cz

http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/index_view.php?id=289243

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Prague - Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek will meet U.S. President George Bush in the USA on February 27 to discuss the possible building of a U.S. missile defence radar base on Czech soil, the Internet server iHNed.cz has written.

It says Topolanek will speak about his planned negotiations in the USA in an interview the daily Hospodarske noviny (NH) will publish on Friday.

A month before Topolanek, negotiations about the missile defence system will be held in the USA by Donald Tusk, the new Polish prime minister, iHNed.cz writes.

It says the Czechs want to coordinate their further steps with Poland, where the USA wants to locate another part of its Central European anti-missile shield - a base with interceptor missiles.

Asked by HN whether the Czech government will push through the radar base's construction on Czech soil, Topolanek reportedly said that he will discuss this at the meeting with Bush.

Government spokeswoman Jana Bartosova confirmed for iHNed.cz that Topolanek (Civic Democrats, ODS) will meet Bush during his U.S. visit on February 27.

Unlike Topolanek, Bartosova dismissed the opinion that the radar base is the reason for the Bush-Topolanek meeting.

"This is not true that we are going to negotiate about the radar. This is an official visit to the USA," Bartosova said.

She said Topolanek's trip is scheduled for February 27 to March 1 and that the schedule can still be changed.

According to iHNed.cz, however, Topolanek said in the above mentioned interview that the radar base will be the main topic to be discussed during his visit to the USA.

"We will coordinate our further steps with Poland. At the moment there is no danger for the radar issues to be transferred to the [future] new U.S. administration. We want to complete it [the negotiations] in this election term. Donald Tusk is going to America in January, I'm heading there around February 27," Topolanek told HN.

IHNed.cz says Topolanek wants to discuss the radar issue still ahead of the NATO summit in Bucharest, due on April 2-4, where missile defence is to be among the main topics on the agenda.

Czech parliament is to discuss the radar project after the summit, the server says.

The USA has been negotiating with Prague about the radar project, aimed against possible missile attacks from countries such as Iran, since the spring of 2007, though the opposition and a large part of the public are against the plan.