Lex Schwarzenberg

Karel Schwarzenberg said that when he took office as foreign minister, he asked for a review of Sudeten German claims against the Czech state and found that the Lisbon treaty didn't present any threat to the existing legal framework. For this reason, he said, there was no reason to ask for an opt-out to the EU bill of rights of the kind that Václav Klaus is now demanding. Klaus's team is doing a good job of suggesting that Schwarzenberg (and Martin Bursík) were intentionally opening the door to future German claims by failing to seek an opt-out. Schwarzenberg, after all, does have an adoptive sister seeking the return of assets. Remember, too, that it was Klaus who first objected to having a foreign minister with a foreign passport. Klaus's point-the-finger-at-the-foreigner tactic won't help him with his EU audience, but on the domestic level it's sure to keep him riding high in popularity.