Approving the approved?

Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and the rest of his government must be really proud of their colleague, Civic Democrat (ODS) Member of the European Parliament Hynek Fajmon. On Monday, Fajmon gave the opposition Social Democrats (ČSSD), and not only them, a new argument for the debate about the US radar. He also made a bit of a fool of himself.

Fajmon proposed a referendum on euro adoption, saying it is such an important decision that it should be made by the voters themselves. „This concerns all of us, we should be making the decision,“ said Fajmon.

Although this idea is not at all supported by the ODS as a whole, nor by the government's coordinator for euro adoption, Oldřich Dědek, the ČSSD jumped on the statement: Our citizens are not qualified enough and will never have enough information to decide about the radar, but they can vote on the transition to European currency? „Let's then connect the referendum on the euro with a popular vote on the radar,“ Social Democrat Jiří Havel proposed, half-seriously.

We can only add: Let's not do either. Both the radar and the euro are complicated issues attractive for populists, and as such should not be decided in referendums. As for the euro, there is obviously a weightier argument: The Czechs have already decided. We pledged (along with the other nine member states that joined the EU in 2004) to adopt the euro in an accession treaty, which the voters approved in a referendum on EU accession four…