The Czech parliament's upper house on Thursday gave its support to a deal that calls for the nation to host a U.S. missile radar station as part of a planned European missile shield, Reuters reported (see GSN, Nov. 26).
The agreement must still win approval from the lower house of parliament, where resistance is strong and lawmakers from the ruling party remain in the minority, according to Reuters.
"If I did not believe in the chances (that it gets approved in the lower house), I would not fight for it so much," Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said after the radar deal passed in the upper house.
One expert said that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's stance on the missile shield could alter its prospects in Prague. Obama has expressed support for the overall missile defense effort while stressing that projects should be "pragmatic and cost effective" and that unproven technologies should not overshadow other needs.
"At this point it is unlikely (to get approved in the lower house) but it would be more likely if ... Obama made some decision saying: we are going ahead with this. ... Then a lot of these (opposition) left of center deputies could be swayed," said Jiri Pehe, a New York University political analyst based in Prague.
Officials in the Czech Republic and Poland, where Washington has proposed to deploy 10 missile interceptors, said they expect the Obama administration to support the missile shield. However, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Obama's choice for secretary of state, has railed against President George W. Bush's pursuit of "expensive and unproven missile defense technology."
The Czech parliament's lower house is set to vote on the deal in 2009, as are Polish lawmakers (Martin Dokoupil, Reuters.