A new year, and a new "president" of the European Union: The Czech Republic.
The EU's rotating presidency, largely a symbolic carrot thrown out to the bloc's members to give each a chance to spend six months setting Brussels' agenda, took on a heightened role during the latter half of 2008 with France at the helm during a war in Georgia and the worst financial crisis in Europe in more than 50 years. Add to that the pressing challenges of climate change and the EU's continuing struggle to pass a constitution and it was a busy time.
Now come the Czechs, not widely known throughout Europe as being the most embracing of the EU experiment -- despite most everyday Czechs saying they are in favor of their country's membership in the 27-member bloc.
I write a little bit about Europe's uneasiness with the Czech EU presidency -- and in particular, with the country's appallingly contrarian president, Vaclav Klaus -- in a piece that appears today in the Christian Science Monitor.
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