Word: czechs
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Czech President Vaclav Klaus, a fierce critic of all things related to the European Union, is the only thing standing between Europe's élite club and its mighty future. Until he signs the Lisbon Treaty - the Czech Republic is the last holdout among E.U. members - the E.U.'s grand reform plan remains in limbo. While politicians across the continent have spent weeks wringing their hands, trying to figure out how to compel Klaus to sign the document, the majority of Czechs are standing behind their leader. "I actually like him. He is an intelligent man who knows what...
...question - the 21st century version of it, not the one that so vexed Victorian statesmen - has been settled. Ireland's Oct. 2 referendum vote in favor of the Lisbon Treaty and a new constitutional settlement for the European Union was decisive. It seems highly likely that Poland and the Czech Republic, the two holdouts in the process of ratifying the new treaty, will fall into line soon, however much it may pain Czech President Vaclav Klaus, the Saint-Just of Euroskepticism, to sign the document. By the beginning of next year, new institutional arrangements for the E.U. will...
...this case the time was the years just before and after the start of the First World War, in 1914. That was when the multidirectional Czech painter Frantisek Kupka and the austere Russian Kazimir Malevich were in their different ways achieving escape velocity on canvas. And so was Kandinsky, who would become the most tireless apostle of an art that answered to nothing in the merely material world. Born in 1866 to a prosperous Moscow family, Kandinsky spent his 20s studying law and economics, all the while bending toward another calling. He was the sort of young man who could...
...Across the E.U., officials are split on how to handle Klaus. Last week, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso called on Klaus not to raise "artificial obstacles" to the treaty, adding that since he had been elected president by the Czech parliament, he should "respect its views." Some talk darkly of punishing the Czech Republic, for example, by denying the country a seat in the next European Commission. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has warned of "consequences" if Klaus does not sign. But this could make a martyr of Klaus and stiffen his resolve. Others say the Lisbon Treaty...
...ratification linger until British elections," says Sara Pini, who heads the Brussels office of the Robert Schuman Foundation think tank. "No one can compel him to sign, but the E.U. could give him a reason to. This could be a stick, like threatening to deprive the Czech Republic of its commissioner, or a carrot of a prestigious commission post." But even that is no guarantee. Whether showered with threats or treats, Klaus may still prefer to be Europe's pariah...