Czech lawmakers reject foreign troop deployments for 2009 (Roundup)

Dec 19, 2008, 18:48 GMT

Prague - The Czech parliament's lower house Friday rejected a government proposal outlining troop deployments abroad in 2009, in a move threatening troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Kosovo by March.

Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's government failed to muster the needed 101 votes in the 200-seat house, which rejected the deployments in a 99-75 vote. Eighteen lawmakers abstained.

'I recall the times when I was ashamed for being Czech...Today I am ashamed for voting in this chamber,' Topolanek said.

Topolanek has 60 days for another attempt. Forces currently deployed in Afghanistan, Kosovo and elsewhere are allowed to remain abroad for 60 days under a cabinet mandate. If the government does not muster the needed support by then, the troops must return home.

Czech Army's Chief of the General Staff Vlastimil Picek told Czech Television the situation was 'serious.'

Less than 400 Czech soldiers currently serve in Afghanistan and some 400 in Kosovo, the defence ministry said.

Most soldiers in Afghanistan are deployed under NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in the eastern Logar province where the Czech Republic runs reconstruction efforts.

The house spiked the proposal despite Topolanek's promise to meet opposition demand that no more than 480 troops would serve in Afghanistan at once.

The premier also vowed to pull out 100 special forces from a US-led Enduring Freedom mission in Afghanistan by 2010.

The government originally wanted lawmakers to boost forces in Afghanistan. Its proposal asked for up to 645 troops in NATO's ISAF mission next year, up from a limit of 415 in 2008.

The cabinet also planned to keep at most 100 special-forces troops in the Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan mission and up to 550 soldiers in NATO's KFOR mission in Kosovo.

The rejected proposal additionally asked the house for a mandate to deploy up to 1,800 troops under European Union's Battle Group next year.

Prague also wanted to newly deploy 75 soldiers and four Jas-39 Gripen fighter jets in the Baltics, as part of NATO's rotating air space guard duty in the region.

Topolanek's three-party center-right ruling coalition, which is to take over at EU's helm for half year on January 1, has been significantly weakened in recent weeks.

The government can count on 96 votes in the 200-seat lower house, while leftist opposition on 97.

To pass any legislation, the premier needs to win over some of the remaining seven independents - lawmakers who defected either the coalition or opposition camp.