The foreign policy agenda is continuously being updated according to the current international-political situation. Topics currently being addressed with the use of Czech diplomacy are listed in this article. Further information can be found on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.
World War II and its consequences
After formation of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918, many conflicts among Czech and German citizens and the government began to surface. The German request of self-determination was not compatible with the concept of Czech nationhood. The disputes ended in the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany. These events influenced Czech-German relations in a negative way.
In 1997, the two states concluded a Czech-German Declaration, which proclaimed understanding and harmony as the basis for building mutual relations. They declared that their relations will not be affected by political and legal issues of the past.
The declaration was accepted by the European Commission as an important document while evaluating the legal order of the Czech Republic before allowing it to join the European Union.
Humanitarian activities
Humanitarian activities represent an integral part of Czech foreign policy and are provided according to the urgency of a concrete situation and the needs of the current state, possibilities of the Czech economy and disposable financial means of the Czech national budget. The provision of this assistance is much influenced by fundamentals and resolutions of the international community, as well as and the Czech Republic's own priorities and interests.
In 2007, the Czech Republic provided humanitarian help of a total sum of around CZK 66,5 million. The highest amount of money (more than CZK 10 million) went to Afghanistan where the Czech Republic financed projects aimed at ensuring drinking water sources, on the construction of schools and on the "healthy eyes" project. The Czech Republic also provided aid to Sudan, Moldova, Sri Lanka, Belize, Bolivia, Bangladesh, Palestine or Zambia. In 2007, the Czech government provided humanitarian aid to 33 countries of Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Cuba and human rights
The International Committee for Democracy in Cuba was founded in September 2003 by important personalities of the international political and cultural scene and headed by Vaclav Havel. The ICDC was founded in response to the recent crackdown of the Cuban regime against democratic opposition in March 2003. During the crackdown, 75 representatives of the opposition and independent journalists were detained and imprisoned.
The ICDC aims for wide political solidarity with democratic activists in Cuba. It looks for possibilities for logistic and financial support for democratic opposition in Cuba. Support for every initiative in Cuba aiming for the respect of human rights and endeavors to join the approach of European and Latin American states against the regime of Castro is also an objective of the ICDC.
Radio Free Europe
Free Europe, Inc., was established in 1949 as nonprofit, private corporation to broadcast news and current affairs programs to Eastern European countries behind the Iron Curtain. The Radio Liberty Committee, Inc., was created two years later along the same lines to broadcast to nations inside the Soviet Union. The two corporations were merged into a single RFE/RL, Inc. in 1975.
The building that Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty uses is located in the very heart of Prague.
The decision about building a new headquarters for RFE/RL was made by a U.S. organization that controls establishments abroad. Its report recommends that RFE/RL stay in Prague, but to move away from the city center into a rented new house. No building in Prague (Budapest/Riga) met the functional and security requirements, was big enough or did not require large-scale reconstruction.
The Romany ethnic group
The government of the Czech Republic introduced a so-called Concept of Roma integration that includes concrete steps to be taken in order to integrate this large national group into wider Czech society. The target is to ensure that all citizens of the Czech Republic, i.e. including the Roma, have the opportunity of exercising, fully and without discrimination, all the individual rights they are guaranteed under the Constitution, the Charter of Basic Rights and Freedoms, and international human rights conventions of which the Czech Republic is a signatory. The national and sociocultural perspectives maintain their importance.
Development cooperation
As a member of the European Union and the international community of countries advanced on the democratic and economic level, the Czech Republic acknowledges the principle of solidarity among people and states and accepts its part of liability for solving global problems.
The fundamental targets of Czech development policy include the elimination of poverty, social development, economic-industrial expansion, gradual integration of partner countries into the world economy, development of agriculture, building-up and establishment of democracy, human rights and good public administration, establishing legal principles, control of migration, sustainable development combined with an emphasis on the environment and post-conflict reconstruction.
Czech development assistance aims is extended for long-term periods to the following priority countries: Angola, Zambia, Vietnam, Mongolia, Yemen, Moldavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro.
Common foreign and security policy of the European Union
The Czech Republic expressed great interest in establishing a common foreign and security policy of the EU. It actively parcitipates in all competent conferences of the Council of the European Union. It pushes forward so that the close connection between European security and defensive policy and its identity with NATO is established. It supported the proposal of establishing common military forces of the EU and incorporated the Czech rapid deployment brigade, helicopter and chemical units and field hospitals with a total number of 1,000 men.
Temelin - the nuclear power plant
The nuclear power station of Temelin is located in South Bohemia approximately 24 kilometers from Ceske Budejovice and 5 kilometers from Tyn nad Vltavou. The relative proximity of the power plant to Austria has distempered local inhabitants, who have repeatedly requested its closure. Negotiations came to an end in the Melk Protocol of 2000, in which both sides agreed on in-depth inspections of the plant's nuclear security and an examination of its environmental impact.
The Melk process ended after a meeting of the Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman with the Chancelor of Austria (under the aegis of the European Commissioner Günter Verheugenon) November 29, 2001, in Brussels. The Czech-Austrian discussion about Temelin was politically closed and commited to experts.