Vaclav Klaus Congratulated U.S. President Barack Obama, Inviting Him To Prague

Prague - Czech President Vaclav Klaus congratulated new U.S. President Barack Obama on his inauguration and invited him to Prague in a letter, released on the Presidential Office's website.

Klaus stressed in the letter that the United States is for many Czech citizens a symbol of freedom and optimism, democracy and economic success, patriotism and international solidarity.

On this occasion Klaus also recalled the U.S. contribution to the establishment of the first independent Czechoslovak Republic in 1918.

This is why it is natural that both countries started to cooperate intensively after the collapse of the communist regime in 1989, and became allies in NATO ten years ago, Klaus wrote in his letter.

Obama was inaugurated as the 44th U.S. president on Tuesday, replacing George W. Bush after eight years.

Czech diplomats indicated they would like to welcome Obama in Prague in early April ahead of the NATO summit.

The Czech Republic as EU president in the fist half of 2009 would like to organise the first summit of the EU 27 and Obama in Prague.

Klaus in his letter also expressed hopes that he would have a chance to welcome Obama at Prague Castle, the presidential seat, and that Czech-U.S. bilateral relations would keep developing dynamically during Obama's presidency. Author: ČTK

Original Letter

Blahopřejný dopis Baracku Obamovi k inauguraci do funkce prezidenta USA

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21. 1. 2009, Praha

Prezident republiky Václav Klaus zaslal ve středu dne 21. ledna 2009 blahopřejný dopis Baracku Obamovi k jeho inauguraci do funkce 44. prezidenta Spojených států amerických.

Vážený pane prezidente,

dovolte mi, abych Vám jménem občanů České republiky a jménem svým poblahopřál k inauguraci do funkce 44. prezidenta Spojených států amerických. Jsem přesvědčen, že pod Vaším vedením se Spojené státy vyrovnají s úkoly, které před Vaší zemí stojí.

Česká republika si váží tradičních a hlubokých svazků, které ji pojí s Vaší zemí. Pro mnoho našich občanů jsou Spojené státy symbolem svobody a optimismu, demokracie a ekonomického úspěchu, vlastenectví a mezinárodní solidarity. Navíc Spojené státy významně přispěly ke vzniku našeho moderního státu po 1. světové válce. Proto je pro nás přirozené, že po pádu železné opony obě naše země začaly intenzivně spolupracovat a před deseti lety se staly spojenci v rámci Severoatlantické aliance.

Vážený pane prezidente, doufám, že Vás budu moci přivítat osobně jménem celé naší země zde na Pražském hradě, a že během Vašeho prezidentství se budou vztahy mezi našimi zeměmi nadále dynamicky rozvíjet. Dovolte mi, abych Vám při výkonu Vaší náročné funkce popřál mnoho úspěchů a také pevné zdraví a štěstí Vám i celé Vaší rodině.

S úctou

Václav Klaus

EU flags to be at all Czech castles except Prague, Klaus's seat

Prague - Prague Castle, seat of Eurosceptical President Vaclav Klaus, will be the only state-controlled castle and chateau in which the EU flag will not be hoisted during the ongoing Czech EU presidency, spokesman for the National Heritage Institute (NPU) Zdenek Musil told CTK today.

Klaus, a prominent critic of the Lisbon treaty and the current trends in the EU, has always refused to hoist the EU flag at Prague Castle, the biggest heritage site in the Czech Republic.

Klaus is of the view that the EU should never be at Prague Castle as this is a symbol of the Czech state, not of the EU. Nevertheless, Greenpeace activists hoisted the EU flag at Prague Castle for a short time on Wednesday night before being ousted by the police and firemen.

The Castle Compound of Karlstejn Learn More

As shown in the photo above, NPU staff hoisted the first EU flags on Wednesday at the castles and chateaux that are opened all year. It has appeared at the Karlstejn, Hluboka, Becov nad Teplou and Lednice castles. EU foreign ministers will meet at the Hluboka neo-Gothic chateau in March. The NPU, that administers a large part of the Czech national heritage, has started to put up the EU flag, thus joining the shared European historical legacy, Musil said.


The Czech Republic took up the six-month EU presidency on New Year's Day.



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Polish President: "EU Presidency Is A Great Opportunity For Czechs"

Prague - The six-month Czech presidency of the European Union that started on January 1 is a great opportunity for the Czech Republic, Polish President Lech Kaczynski said after a meeting with his Czech counterpart Vaclav Klaus today.

Kaczynski at the same time said he believes that the Czech presidency would be successful. Each EU-presiding country becomes a power and it depends on it how to it will use this opportunity, Kaczynski said.

"We envy the Czech Republic this presidency very much," Kaczynski noted.

Poland will preside over the EU in 2011 only. Kaczynski said the situation would be different then since the Lisbon treaty would probably take effect, changing the functioning of the EU.

The Lisbon treaty is to reform the EU institutions. Besides Ireland, which rejected the treaty in a referendum last June, the Czech Republic is the only EU member state that has not yet ratified it.

Klaus and Kaczynski today primarily focused on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict that led to restricted gas supplies from Russia, but both presidents also discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Kaczynski said the EU represented by the Czech Republic should play an active role in the solution to the conflict. Both presidents mentioned that they touched upon several ideas in this respect during their talks, but they did not elaborate.

"I suppose that diplomacy demands certain discretion in such complex matters," Kaczynski said.

The Israeli military operation against the Gaza Strip started on December 27, 2008 in reaction to the activities of the Hamas radical movement. The conflict has so far claimed several hundred civilians victims in Gaza, according to Palestinian sources.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg headed the EU mission that visited the region last weekend. Klaus said today the Czech Republic would try to use all contacts that might help reach ceasefire in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict soon and set up a long-term rational settlement in this part of the world.

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Kaczyński: Předsednictví EU je velkou příležitostí <-

Author: ČTK