The Czech government discussed and officially approved the main treaty on the building of a U.S. radar base on Czech soil, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said in Teplice of the country on Wednesday.
The treaty will be submitted to parliament for ratification along with the second treaty (SOFA) concerning the conditions of U.S. troops' stay in the Czech Republic that has not yet been agreed on.
The SOFA treaty will address the last problem concerning taxes, the Czech news agency CTK said.
Politicians and diplomats expect the Czech Republic and the U.S. to conclude the negotiations within a couple of weeks and to sign both the main treaty and the SOFA treaty either in June or in July.
Topolanek's government will face a difficult battle over the radar base in parliament. In the 200-member Chamber of Deputies where the government coalition holds a fragile 102 vote majority, it does not have sufficient support for the ratification of the treaty with the U.S..
Apart from the left-wing opposition and some deputies from the junior government Green Party (SZ), deputy Ludvik Hovorka from the junior government Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) has also adopted the undecided stand.
If both parliamentary houses -- the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate -- approve the document it will be sent to President VaclavKlaus for signature.
The United States plans to build a radar base at the Brdy military district, some 90 kilometers southwest of Czech capital Prague, along with an interceptor missile base in Poland, but Warsaw has yet to agree to the move.
Russia is strongly opposed to the deployment of the system, saying the plan poses threat to its strategic interests. Some 70 percent of Czech citizens also oppose the project.
(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2008)
