Prague - General command over the radar base that is to be placed in the Brdy region will belong to the USA.

This sentence is included in a bilateral agreement between Washington and Prague that Aktuálně.cz was allowed to examine, and the same sentence can lead to the agreement not being approved by Czech parliament.

Some Green Party lawmakers object to the agreement, namely Education Minister Ondřej Liška is calling for the radar being integrated into NATO structures.

Mere "cooperation"

However, the agreement mentions only "close cooperation" with NATO, as the following three extracts from the third article of the agreement prove.

"Both sides [the Czech Republic and the USA] will support a close cooperation between NATO and the USA in developing their anti-missile defense systems."

"The USA plans to have the US anti-missile system interoperable with developing NATO anti-missile systems, and to make it an inseparable part of NATO systems."

"In addition to continuing participation of the Czech Republic and the USA in NATO programs, both sides plan to develop and deepen bilateral security cooperation."

The bilateral agreement between the Czech Republic and the USA has thirty pages and includes a map with a marked location where the radar base is planned to be installed. It is divided into 18 articles that deal with the issues of the base's command, defense and ownership. 

The agreement will be signed by Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and Defense Minister Vlasta Parkanová.

Integration in NATO wanted

Immediately after the NATO summit in Bucharest at the beginning of April, Minister Schwarzenberg assured that the radar will be integral part of any future NATO anti-missile defense system.

While Schwarzenberg and the Green Party leader Martin Bursík saw it as a success for their party, Education Minister Liška was rather disappointed, since he wanted the agreement to assure that the base will become part of NATO structures from the very beginning.

But for the USA it is unimaginable that the radar in Brdy would fall under NATO command, as John C. Rood, head negotiator authorized by US State Secretary Condoleeza Rice, said to Aktuálně.cz.

Protection against terrorism

In the agreement, the USA undertake to protect the Czech Republic against possible terrorist attacks provoked by the radar's installation.

"The USA is determined to guarantee the Czech Republic's security and to protect it from possible ballistic attacks with its anti-rocket system. Both sides will cooperate in order to avert possible threats to the Czech Republic that are linked with the radar base presence in the Czech Republic if such threats were to appear," Article II of the agreement says.

In addition, the agreement clearly describes the reasons for the radar's installation. "The goal of the anti-ballistic missile system is to protect the territory of the USA as well as the territory of their allies and friends from ballistic rocket attacks."