Some European Union presidencies fade quickly from the memory. It is safe to say that the Czech Republic's presidency, ending on June 30, will not be forgotten for quite some time.
One thinks of the art display erected in January at the EU's headquarters when the Czechs began their six months in charge: Bulgaria was portrayed as a lavatory, France as a country permanently on strike, Germany as a swastika-shaped autobahn network and Romania as a Dracula theme park.
One thinks of the February speech to the European parliament of Vaclav Klaus, Czech head of state. Ever the bad kid on the EU block, he said the assembly's insistence on the inevitability of European political integration reminded him of the suppression of free thought under central and eastern Europe's pre-1989 communist leaders.
One thinks of Mr Klaus's refusal to sign the EU's Lisbon reform treaty, in defiance of the wishes of all other EU governments and in spite of the Czech parliament's approval of the treaty in May. One thinks of the extraordinary attack by Mirek Topolanek, the former Czech prime minister, on the Obama administration's measures to pull the US economy out of recession,seen as a potential "road to hell".
Finally, one thinks - or perhaps prefers not to think - of Mr Topolanek's alfresco antics at the Sardinian villa of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's premier.
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