Czechs face battle to ratify U.S. missile shield

By Jan Korselt

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech opposition leader ordered his deputies to vote against a plan to build a U.S. missile defense radar in the central European country, raising the possibility that the project could be defeated.

The United States wants to install a radar base in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor rockets in Poland as part of a plan to extend its shield against ballistic missiles that could be fired from hostile countries such as Iran.

The plan would boost U.S. security interests in formerly Soviet-ruled central Europe, and has provoked sharp opposition from Russia, which sees it as a threat.

The leftist opposition Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek ordered party discipline in a parliamentary vote on the radar expected this year, thwarting hopes among government officials that the cabinet could win over some opposition support.

Paroubek said he would not run in the next election due in 2010 alongside any deputy that would break ranks and vote for the radar. The Social Democrats have 71 members of parliament.

"The (military) base simply is not necessary. There is no threat from Iran and if it exists one day, then we modify our political approach," Paroubek told a news conference.

The centre-right cabinet led by Mirek Topolanek has just 100 deputies in the 200-seat lower house. It has survived thanks to votes from two independents, making the cabinet vulnerable to internal discontent.

That has come from a junior government partner, the Greens.

They have six votes in parliament, and some of their senior officials including Education Minister Ondrej Liska have said they would vote against the radar deal as it stands now.

Many rank-and-file Greens are against it, and the party will hold a referendum in the spring on how to proceed.

They demand that the plan is a multilateral project of the NATO security alliance rather than a bilateral agreement with the United States.

The government wants the shield to be included into NATO defenses, and has negotiated with the United States that both countries would strive for it, but the treaty on the radar itself will be bilateral.

NATO is expected to discuss the shield at its summit in Bucharest next month.

Topolanek, who has had a series of victorious knife-edge votes on fiscal reforms and election of the country's president, said he would only worry once he needs to.

"We are negotiating on the terms now... and ratification which could come some time in mid-year, if all goes well, is a problem we will solve when it comes," he told a news conference.