Hutcheon Jimmy

Relations in between Czech Republic and European Union

Entrance of the Czech Republic in the European Union

The Czech Republic is a young member of EU. On October 4, 1993, the Czech Republic and the EU signed an Association Agreement which comes into force on 1 February 1996. And after negotiations began in 1998, the Czech Republic joins the European Union by referendum dated 14 June 2003, 77.3% of Czech voters (with a stake of 55.21%) approved the accession on May 1, 2004.
Finally they joined the Schengen area on December. 21, 2007.

From 1 January 2009, and until June 30, 2009, the Czech Republic for the first time access to the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The president Vaclav Klaus, eurosceptic, not working towards an active presidency, opens a major political crisis in the Czech government in this presidency.
Czech Chamber of Deputies gave its approval for ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon February 18, 2009 and the Senate May 6, 2009.
But Vaclav Klaus multiplies maneuvers to delay the signature in the hope that the upcoming election in the United Kingdom of a conservative personality will abandon the treaty. In autumn 2009, some eurosceptics senators asked Constitutional Court to examine the compatibility of the Lisbon Treaty with the Czech laws. Finally, the Constitutional Court dismissed the action November 3, 2009. The same day, President Vaclav Klaus signed the European text.

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|Results |
| |2004 |2009 |
| |% |seat | |% |seat | |
|KSČM |20,3 |6 | |14,2 |4 | |
|ČSSD |08,8 |2 | |22,4 |7 | |
|KDU-ČSL |09,6 |2 | |07,6 |2 | |
|SNK-ED |11,0 |3 | |01,7 |0 | |
|ODS |30,0 |9 | |31,5 |9 | |

But we must recall to