Government reacts to president’s words making clear it will not consider any referendum on EU membership

Government reacted to words earlier in the day by the country’s head of state Miloš Zeman about not being against a referendum on EU membership, by saying it was not counting on any steps which would cast doubt on the Czech Republic’s membership in either the EU or NATO. The news was revealed by government spokesman Martin Ayrer; it stated that both the EU and NATO had been long-term foreign policy priorities and were guarantees of economic stability and security. Finance Minister Andrej Babiš also reacted to the president’s words, stressing that a departure from the EU would be disastrous for the country. The head of the Social Democrats’ deputies club Roman Sklenák confirmed that while the party was in favour of the referendum bill, holding a plebiscite on EU membership was, in his view, not a good idea. On June 23, Great Britain shocked the world by voting to leave the 28-member bloc, leaving many as yet unanswered questions over Great Britain’s future.

Author: Jan Velinger