The main treaty, the talks on which were closed some time ago, will enable the radar installation. The SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) deals with U.S.
soldiers' status on Czech territory. The taxation of the U.S. staff at the radar, part of the planned U.S. missile defence shield, is the only issue in the SOFA that remains open and prevents the relevant negotiations from being closed. "The SOFA has not been closed yet. The issue of taxes is the last and only point that is still being settled," Radomir Jahoda, a Czech Defence Ministry official who is among the Czech negotiating team, has told CTK. "I Czech soldier dies in Afghanistan ...
Czech security council discussing SOFA agreement on radar base ... don't dare estimate the time horizon [of the signature]. The talks are underway, we're exchanging proposals and counter-proposals, a solution is sought that would be acceptable to all," Jahoda said. According to CTK's information, the U.S. negotiators are trying hard to extend as much as possible the category of the staff who the Czech tax legislation would not apply to. The two parties have failed to reach agreement on this point for several weeks now. Next week the Czech and American negotiators will discuss the last controversial point of another bilateral document, a framework agreement on scientific and technical cooperation, which is to enable Czech firms and scientific institutions to join the development of the missile defence system. However, like the SOFA, this agreement is unlikely to be signed by the two countries' foreign ministers next Tuesday. The treaties linked to the U.S. radar base on Czech soil require approval from the Czech parliament and have to be signed by the president. The left-wing opposition, like a majority of the Czech public, are against the radar. As not even all representatives of the government coalition are united on the issue, the government will probably have to rely on support of a few "defectors" from among the opposition MPs in the lower house vote.
(Ceske Noviny)
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