Fiscal boost the way to hell

Nominal Czech prime minister, Marek Topolanek, has not allowed a little local difficulty to affect the influence he can wield from the current Czech Presidency of the EU Council.

Despite his government narrowly losing a vote of confidence in the Czech parliament yesterday, today he delivered an EU Presidency speech saying Barack Obama and Gordon Brown's plans for global fiscal expansion were the way to hell.

Marek Topolanek is from the same ODS political party as Czech President Vaclav Klaus. Klaus is famously sceptical about the one-size-fits-all authoritarianism of the European Union. His prime minister is equally unhappy with the EU being told to fall in line with the fiscal expansion measures promoted by Obama and Brown.

The Czech Republic, though affected by the global downturn, has been relatively untainted by the banking crisis. Both German and French premiers are also wary of committing domestic budgets to further debts.

With Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King advising the UK government against a further economic expansion programme there seems little chance Brown's G20 gathering next month will agree on coordinating anything purposeful.

Since the final communique is already being put together we might ask: What is the point of hosting the event at a cost of £20 million?

Rotating EU President falls

In a major incident in the Poslanecká Snemovna yesterday, Czech Prime Minister Marek Topolanek was toppled by his political opponents, also bringing his cabinet crashing down.

This embarrassing clash occurred as world premier, Gordon Brown, was winding up down a speech to the EU parliament in Strasbourg.

A spokesman for the (former) Czech premier said: This is really awkward as our Prime Minister is meant to be representing the EU nations at Mr Brown's summit in Canning Town.

However, after close examination, it is thought Mr Topolanek's seat could be patched up, allowing the Czechs to bounce back until their EU presidency ends in June.

President Vaclav Klaus, a well-known critic of the EU, is rumoured to have said: Ha, ha[this comment removed].

From our Fornign Corespondent