Czechs face EU trial by fire over gas, Gaza

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Dual crises over the Gaza conflict and gas supplies to Europe are proving to be a trial by fire for the European Union presidency of the Czech Republic, the first ex-Warsaw Pact country to be put in charge of EU business.

Largely eclipsed by bigger European players in the diplomacy aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza, Prague is fighting to reassert its authority with a push to end a nine-day standoff between Russia and Ukraine that has left hundreds of thousands of Europeans without gas and forced factory shut-downs.

A failure to persuade Russia to resume gas flows would cast more doubt on the EU's goal of being a global actor, and on its arcane internal rules which mean its leadership is rotated every six months -- often to countries that are diplomatic minnows.

"The Czechs have been taken aback by the two crises that have exploded in their hands," said Antonio Missiroli, director of studies at the European Policy Centre think-tank in Brussels.

"There is a learning process underway," he said, noting it was too early for any proper assessment of their performance, nine days into a presidency due to end on June 30.

The Czech Republic assumed the EU presidency on January 1 after France's high-profile stewardship, in which President Nicolas Sarkozy brokered a ceasefire to end the Russia-Georgia war, and won a deal on an EU plan to combat climate change.

Prague's handling of the Gaza conflict in the first few days of its presidency seemed to confirm fears in some EU capitals that it would not be able to live up to the pace set by France.

It had to look on as Sarkozy organized a separate mission to the region which drew attention away from the official EU trip, and then enraged the Arab world by describing Israel's ground offensive as an act of self-defense.

"That's not the sort of mistake you should be making," said Nick Witney of the European Council of Foreign Relations, noting that the statement was later corrected.

"It indicates a certain readiness to look across the Atlantic and see what U.S. positions will be," he said of the risk that Prague would be seen as closer to Washington in its view of Israel than to fellow European capitals.

Others stress the EU has never been a big player in the region and that Prague was right to allow France and Britain -- permanent U.N. Security Council members and part of the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers -- lead efforts.

Yet analysts said the spectacle of two European missions circling the Middle East earlier this week, often crossing each other and meeting the same leaders, gave the impression of disunity and did little to raise the EU's profile there.

CZECH DIVISIONS

With attention now focused on whether Israel and Hamas will respect a U.N. Security Council call for a ceasefire, Prague has been able to turn its full attention to solving Europe's gas dispute and knows it will face criticism if it comes up short.

While it has stuck to its line that it cannot arbitrate in a murky dispute between Russian and Ukrainian business and political interests, the EU has unavoidably got sucked into the row as Europeans face heating cuts during a freezing winter.

In a high-stakes bid to get the gas flowing again, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek announced on Thursday the deployment of EU monitors to Ukraine to ensure the smooth flow of gas.

The deployment was made after Russian assurances that it would resume gas flows once monitors where in place, but before there was agreement on all side on details of how the team, set to include Russian and Ukrainian officials, will operate.

"If we manage today...to start the monitoring then there is a certain chance that the entire problem can be unblocked," Topolanek told an event in Prague on Friday.

Jitters in Brussels about the Czech tenure have been sparked by tensions among the ruling Czech coalition, the Euroscepticism of its President Vaclav Klaus, and Prague's failure so far to ratify the Lisbon Treaty to streamline EU decision-making.

But Missiroli said he understood Topolanek had made a pact with Klaus under which the largely ceremonial president will not put a spoke in the wheel of EU business in return for the chance to host some of the lavish EU events planned in coming months.

He and others said an EU summit in March at which the EU will review action taken so far to tackle a deepening recession in its economies will be a further test of Prague's goal to be an honest broker of sharp differences among some capitals.

Other challenges include reaching a deal on assurances the Irish government wants to allow it stage a risky second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, rejected last year by voters.

The treaty is to give the EU stronger leadership by creating the post of a permanent president of the European Council of governments for a renewable 2-1/2-year term, to strengthen the current system of rotating presidencies.

The charter would also give the bloc a powerful new foreign policy chief at the head of an EU foreign service.

"It is clear that having to hand over the baton like this every six months is an inadequate and unprofessional way of running EU business," said Witney.

(Additional reporting by Marcin Grajewski and Jan Lapotka; Editing by Jon Boyle)