Missile base to obey Czech laws-Foreign Ministry

Prague- Czech and American experts believe that a missile defence base, the construction of which on Czech territory is being considered, would obey Czech laws, the Foreign Ministry said.

In addition, the base would bring hundreds of millions of dollars to the Czech economy, the ministry said after the recent consultations of Deputy Foreign Minister Tomas Pojar and representatives of the Czech Defence Ministry and the Pentagon in the USA.

The USA is considering locating part of its missile defence shield in the Czech Republic or in Poland. The media also speculate about Britain.

According to public opinion polls, most Czechs and Poles are against placing missile defence systems on their territory.

The Polish media said that a base, if it is located in Poland, would not abide by Polish laws. According to some experts, that would shake the foundations of the rule of law.

"The opinion was expressed during the discussion on the legal aspects of the base that the base locality would not be exempted from the Czech Republic's jurisdiction and that the immunity of the personnel of the military facilities would be under the Czech Republic's jurisdiction," the Foreign Ministry said, adding that the conditions of the agreement between the two NATO states on the status of their armed forces would be valid in this case.

According to the Czech Foreign Ministry, the Missile Defence Agency said that the base would not only serve for the defence of Americans.

Agency spokesman Richard Lehner said, according to the Czech Foreign Ministry, that the base would naturally also serve for the missile defence of the territory of the host country, the European allies and the USA.

The American base would be connected with the planned NATO missile defence system that is only in the phase of studies.

"The connection with the American project is absolutely inevitable for the success of the NATO project for financial and technological reasons," the Foreign Ministry said.

The estimated spending on the construction of the missile facility and a radar in Central Europe is about hundred of millions of dollars.

"In the event of the construction of a missile defence facility on Czech territory, Czech companies will participate in the contracts worth several billion crowns," Pojar said.

The Unites States whose experts have studied sites on Czech territory, intends to make a decision on the missile defence base by this autumn. The final report on the assessment of the technical parameters of the localities in the Czech Republic and Poland is to be completed by August.

Washington intends to station radars and ten defence missiles in Europe until 2011. They would defend against intercontinental missiles launched from countries such as North Korea and Iran.

($1=21.759 crowns)

Source:ceskenoviny.cz