The politics of differentiated integration: what do governments want? Country report – Czechia

Abstract:

This paper illustrates that the salience of differentiated integration has been quite low in Czech political debate since the country’s accession to the European Union in 2004. Abstract thinking about differentiated integration is virtually absent in governmental documents. They include occasional references to sensitive specific issues, such as the euro and the eurozone, Schengen and the Fiscal Compact. Similarly, parliamentary debates lack in-depth discussion of differentiated integration, although a few isolated speeches touching on two- or multi-speed Europe were delivered.

This paper argues that, in general, Czech politicians do not favour differentiated integration because they do not want the Union to split into a centre and a periphery. They want Czechia to be part of the integration mainstream which is quite remarkable given the Czech reluctance to participate in ambitious integration projects.