Photo: Radio Prague International
The Mayors party, who have a say in the matter under the coalition deal, have announced they will put forward both Danuše Nerudová and Jozef Síkela for next Czech European commissioner – with the government to decide on a candidate by August. I discussed the pair’s chances, and other aspects of the process, with Klára Votavová of the think tank Europeum.
The government will decide soon on their candidate for next European commissioner. Already we’ve seen Prime Minister Fiala saying that Czechia would like an economic portfolio. But can countries, especially smaller ones like Czechia, actually influence this?
“I think it’s fair to say that not being a country that’s in the Eurozone can be somewhat limiting in these ambitions.
“The Czech Republic has pretty much always wanted to get a strong economic portfolio. This is not a new ambition.
“Maybe the closest we have ever got to that was Social Affairs, with Vladimír Špidla, 15 or 20 years ago.
“The Czech Republic has always been very keen on the single market – that’s really one of the key tenets of Czech EU policy – and in that sense it makes sense that the country wants it.
“But at the same time maybe if we shift our focus to other issues, such as security or energy, then I think that we have a better chance than in the single market, for example.”
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