Prague - Czech arms producers are drafting an international lawsuit against Germany.
The charge will be following: Germany, as an important transitory country, blocks Czech companies in exporting arms and other military equipment, which results in great losses for the Czech companies.
It is because German legislature sets a rule that all transfers of military material across its territory needs to be officially approved by German authorities. And Czech firms often wait endlessly, if not uselessly for this approval.
"We want to file a charge," president of the Defense Industry Association of the Czech Republic Jiří Hynek said to Aktuálně.cz. The association collected all the cases when they were not allowed to transport their products to Hamburg, one of the most important European ports.
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Helicopter to Nigeria denied
The latest case is only a few days old. German authorities did not allow a transport of a Mi-35 helicopter Nigeria had repaired in a factory in Prague.
German officials explained that Nigeria is among the countries Germany is allowed to export only a limited amount of military products. And Germany is not interested in any way in transporting helicopters there and thus threanten the region' s stability.
Jiří Hynek said that he sees this approach as unacceptable. "What they actually do is they issue a new export license which a Czech company has already received from the Czech authorities." Hynek added he would understand if Germany was setting conditions about security of the transfers.
Not long ago, transporting Czech military products to Malaysia through Germany was not allowed either.
Alternative transport routes expensive
Czech companies suffer great financial losses, alleges Hynek. Czech companies have to search for alternative transport routes which are more complicated and more expensive and take longer.
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"Air transport is ten times more expensive than road transport," Hynek informed, adding that Czech producers may lose important trade partners if products arrive behind schedule.
Germany is not the only EU member state that issues transit licenses, but for the Czech Republic, this country is the most important transit point, so the charge is going to be aimed primarily against Germany.
"Cold war relic"
Hynek said that while Austria for example does not issue transit licenses at all, Poland or Belgium do. "We see this as a Cold War relic," Hynek commented, speculating that the licenses may be used as a measure to protect local industries.
The association has already discussed the issue with Deputy Foreign Minister Tomáš Pojar. Hynek suggest that the Czech Republic should point out this problem during its forthcoming EU presidency.
Tomáš Pojar is to meet Vice-Chairman of the Foreign Committee of the German Bundestag Hans-Ulrich Klose.
