TOP 09, a junior member of the Czech coalition government, is demanding the country join the European Union fiscal pact, an idea strongly opposed by Prime Minister Petr Nečas. “Czech debate on joining the EU fiscal pact is meaningless until after the ‘financial constitution’ is passed by the Czech parliament,” Nečas told ČTK.
TOP 09 wants the Czech accession to the fiscal pact in 2013 to be included in a new coalition agreement currently being discussed by the three governing parties (ODS, TOP 09 and LIDEM). The UK and the Czech Republic are the only EU countries that did not sign the fiscal pact, which stiffen budget rules in an effort to stabilize the euro.
The Czech government has also refused to announce a target date for adopting the euro and rejects closer financial integration within the bloc. Among its arguments are a desire to prevent the outflow of deposits abroad, and a belief that the current arrangement is preferable to closer integration, since no Czech banks had to be bailed out during the crisis.
