Czechs vote decisively to join EU
People in the Czech Republic voted decisively to join the European Union, their referendum result confirmed today.
Fireworks illuminated the skies over Prague Castle last night after the central European country of 10 million voted to take part in the largest expansion of the EU next year.
“This is a victory for the Czech people,” Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla said. “For me this is the end of World War Two, with all its consequences.”
Final results from the two-day referendum that ended Saturday showed 77.33% of voters approved the measure, while 22.67% voted no, according to the state Statistical Office. Turnout was 55.21%.
At a post-referendum celebration held by a pro-EU organisation – Yes for Europe – one of the group’s co-founders, Slavomil Hubalek, said Czechs had decided conclusively to “become part of Western, Christian culture” and not part of the east.
“The 1989 anti-communist revolution has really ended only now,” said Hubalek, a 56-year-old psychologist.
Party-goers chanted “Long live Havel!” in tribute to Vaclav Havel, the former president and anti-communist dissident who had spoken out energetically in favour of EU membership.
In Brussels, Belgium, the EU Commission praised the outcome of the vote.
“This is a good day for Europe, another proof that our peoples belong together,” Romano Prodi, the commission’s president, said in a statement.
The victory came after a lacklustre campaign that nonetheless persuaded Czechs of the economic benefits of joining the EU.
Detractors had argued that the country – which was under Soviet control until 1989 and split from Slovakia in 1993 – was not ready to hand over its sovereignty.
Opponents have also warned that EU membership will not magically solve the problems of Czech society, including slow economic growth and a huge public deficit.
“Welcome on board the Titanic,” an anti-EU political analyst, Jefim Fistejn, said today when asked how he now viewed the country’s future.
Fistejn predicted social unrest and frequent strikes will result from government attempts to push through painful reforms needed to meet EU requirements and to reduce the soaring public debt.
“The time is coming soon for sobering up and hangovers,” he said. “And the people will not blame themselves, but the politicians who led them to this vote.”
An editorial in Sunday’s Blesk daily, the country’s most widely read paper, also predicted that the road to prosperity within the EU would be “long and filled with thorns.”
The binding referendum was the first held in the Czech Republic and had no turnout requirement.
With more than half of the country’s eligible voters taking part, Spidla’s government could claim a public mandate for the reforms needed for membership.
So far Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia have backed joining the EU in referendums. Latvia and Estonia will hold referendums in September. Of the 10 candidate states, only Cyprus has decided not to hold a vote on membership.
