Interviews - Online

Post your questions for Mirek Topolánek

Mirek TopolánekPrime Minister Mirek Topolánek will answer your questions on Tuesday, 20 January at 16:00 online in the European chat.

You can start posting your questions concerning the Czech Presidency several hours in advance. After the chat has been closed, the most interesting questions and answers from both linguistic versions will be published in the ’News and Documents’ section on our homepage www.eu2009.cz.

The chat will be conducted simultaneously in two linguistic versions –in Czech for the local public and in English for readers abroad. The Czech and English questions appear only in their respective linguistic versions. To read all the questions answered by the Prime Minister, open both chat versions.

Questions and Answers

Nizivijs, 20. 1. 2009, 13:17
Dear Mr. Topolanek, do you think that the gas crisis will repeat next year? How do you now view your involvement in the negotiations? Do you think that your discussions with Putin had some real impact?
responded to, 20. 1. 2009, 16:47
Due to the lack of time, please refer to my answer to another question on the gas crisis. Thank you for your understanding. I am looking forward to your intriguing questions in the next chat.
Brian Kenety, 20. 1. 2009, 13:26
EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso last week warned officials of Russia's Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz he would recommend European gas firms affected by the deadlock file lawsuits if supplies to the EU were not renewed... A Hungarian gas company has already filed suit against Naftogaz, and a complaint against Ukraine... Your Slovak counterpart, Robert Fico, said the gas row cost his country EUR 100 mln per day and also threatened to sue, while asking for EU solidarity... QUESTION: What has been the approximately cost of the "gas war" to the Czech Republic to date, and does the Czech EU Presidency believe coordinated legal action should be taken to recover damages?
responded to, 20. 1. 2009, 16:45
Thanks to its sufficient capacity and storages the Czech Republic has not suffered any economic damage. Companies which have been affected by the failure of the contractual parties to supply gas are free to resort to standard legal actions or start arbitration proceedings. What suffered the most, however, were the relations between the EU and Ukraine and Russia.
Anete Kārkli&#326, 20. 1. 2009, 13:34
Dear Mr. Topolnek How do you think, what kind of problems overtake Chez Republic after acceptance of Lisbon treaty?
responded to, 20. 1. 2009, 16:43
Please, refer to my answer to a similar question in this chat. Thank you.
Douglas Lytle, 20. 1. 2009, 12:51
There were plans for legislation to allow foreigners to hold dual citizenships if they met the tests of Czech law. This legislation was apparently abandoned during Mr. Svenar's failed bid for the presidency last year. Can you tell us whehter there are plans to revive this bill?
responded to, 20. 1. 2009, 16:40
This question is not related to the Czech EU Presidency and therefore, due to the lack of time, we will give priority to other questions on the given subject. Thank you for your understanding.
David Akhvlediani, 23, 20. 1. 2009, 13:19
Mr. Prime minister, the very recent gas crisis re-emphasized the need of diversification of the energy suppliers. what are the Czech presidency plans in this dimension? Thank you.
responded to, 20. 1. 2009, 16:37
One year ago we adopted energy security as the priority Nr. 1 of our Presidency which shows that we attribute utmost importance to this issue. Cold in European households will also bring coldness into the EU-Ukraine and EU-Russia relations. The EU should not be a hostage to future potential disputes between the two countries. The EU should not become a mere instrument of the Russian foreign policy. Our objective is clear - reduce our dependency on imports of energies, diversification of supplies as well as pipeline routes, looking for substitutes, one common energy position adopted by the EU, interconnection of the grids of the individual countries and a serious debate on the future usage of nuclear power.
sergeiev, 20. 1. 2009, 12:56
Hello Mr. Topolanek. Please do you personally like Entropa? Do you think - in retrospect - that it was a good idea to use it to represent your presidency?
responded to, 20. 1. 2009, 16:31
It would have been a truly good idea if the authors of the individual sculptors representing various countries had been artists from those respective countries. It would represent a kind of self-reflection over how we view our own selves. The fact that the author chose to bypass this condition and deceived the employer cast a negative shadow over the whole project. All sculptures are hyperbolic, highly sarcastic and for someone even totally unacceptable. Publicly, my position on them is strongly neutral. Privately, I am laughing as anybody else.
Kirsten Moeller, 20. 1. 2009, 13:11
Mr. Topolanek, what is your personal plan (as leading country of the EU) to do about the confict in Gaza? Do you have any plans, which you think could solve the problems?
responded to, 20. 1. 2009, 16:26
The plan of the Czech Republic even prior to the conflict was to strengthen the role of the EU in resolving this problem. The conflict itself only highlighted these efforts of ours. We can no longer reflect the well-known saying - Europe has been always a good payer but not a player. Our plan is simple: Jointly with large European countries we should start the humanitarian aid, get the smuggling of arms and military material under control, whether it be on sea or land, try to adopt a longer-term economic and development plan in this area and widen the scope of the development activities in the region, re-inforce the role of the Palestinian authority in the process of building the Palestinian state.
Anne, 20. 1. 2009, 13:42
Mr. Topolanek What do you think about Treaty of Lisbon? Is it good for Chez? Do you know what president Vaclav Klauss think about this treaty and when parlament will accept this treaty? Thank you!
responded to, 20. 1. 2009, 16:22
Let´s reverse the question by asking what kind of problems will arise if the Czech Republic fails to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. I insist on the need to preserve the standard and constitutional nature of the ratification process. Preserving the constitutional procedure of the ratification is more important for me than the outcome of the process. Concerns raised by some of the Czech citizens regarding the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty are partially psychological, partial irrational and partially justified because of transfer of further powers to the level of the EU institutions, strengthening of the role of the powerful states and unification at the expense of further enlargement. Even our Presidency shows that in practical politics these concerns may be dissipated.
Jon Borne, 20. 1. 2009, 12:39
Mr Prime Minister, will Barack Obama visit Europe during the Czech EU presidency? Are you taking any steps to arrange his official visit in Prague? Would it be Obama's first trip to Europe? Thank you.
responded to, 20. 1. 2009, 16:11
Barack Obama will probably come to the G-20 meeting in London where the Czech Republic will represent the EU as its Presidency. Later he should also attend the NATO Summit in Strasbourg which will deal with security isssues. We try to convene an informal meeting of the 27 member states where issues such as climate change and energy security could be discussed. Obama´s administration has been postponing issues like this to decide on them following his installment in the office. If we manage to organise an informal summit with the new American President it would not be his official visit to Prague. This visit would have a different format.

Discussion has ended.