Czech Republic temporarily halts US base ratification process

The Czech government has decided to postpone asking its parliament to vote on allowing a U.S missile shield base on its territory. It appears the leadership was concerned the proposal would be voted down.

However, the country's Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek says the government is not giving up on the ratification process. A new vote could take place after the NATO summit in April, Topolanek said.

The U.S. radar base on Czech soil would be part of a shield Washington claims is aimed at preventing attacks from Iran.

Jan Tamas, from Prague, a member of the 'Nonviolence' movementsays it looks like “the government has betrayed us once again”.

“It counted the votes at its disposal, came to the conclusion that they would not have enough votes to pass the ratification. And so, instead of facing reality and accepting the fact that they are respecting a minority opinion in this country and in this parliament, they withdrew the ratification proposal from the parliament….and therefore tried to avoid the vote.”

“We consider this an outrage,” he added.