Czech Republic Pushes Missile Defense Deal Schedule

The Czech Republic hopes to seal a deal to host a U.S. missile defense radar base in the next few months, the International Herald Tribune reported Sunday (see GSN, Jan. 30).

“We will be ready to end the negotiations by spring,” said Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg.  “Talks are going well.  It seems we could get support from our Parliament.  I am confident the talks can be wrapped up very soon.”

Czech leaders want an agreement in place before the next U.S. president is elected in November.  They worry that the new administration might be slow to pursue negotiations on the radar base or could simply eliminate plans for a European missile shield.

The government also hopes to head off increases in public opposition to the site, which would house several radars roughly 50 miles from Prague.

The Bush administration also wants to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland.  After initially appearing cool to the plan, the new administration under Prime Minister Donald Tusk seems to be moving toward agreement with Washington (see GSN, Jan. 23).  Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said the United States appears ready to meet Warsaw’s demands for air-defense upgrades and security assurances as a prerequisite for housing the interceptors.

Doubts remain among some NATO nations regarding the need for the U.S. system and for a related NATO missile shield that could cost billions of dollars, the Herald Tribune reported.  However, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said resistance is declining.

“While the U.S. project goes on, NATO should also set its missile defense programs on track so that interoperability and complementarity of the systems can be achieved,” Sikorski said.  “We could not like either of them two to become hostage to the other.  Similar levels of security for all allies can be guaranteed only if the two are properly integrated.”

De Hoop Scheffer said he could not “intellectually understand” Russia’s opposition to a limited number of missile interceptors, given the size of its arsenal (see GSN, Feb. 11).

However, “more needs to be done to reassure Russia that the missile-defense project does not threaten her,” Sikorski said (Judy Dempsey, International Herald Tribune, Feb. 11).

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