Brussels - Every year the European Parliament awards a number of prizes. Among the most prestigious is the Sakharov prize for Freedom of Thought that has just been granted this week to a Chinese dissident.
There is also an award for journalism and for literature and now, the EU came up with a new award - European citizen's prize. It is expected to be awarded in the spring 2009.
The existence of the prize has not been properly announced yet and the Czech Republic has its first candidate.
MEP Jana Bobošíková has nominated Václav Klaus. Never mind that Václav Klaus is notorious euro-skeptic, being often called euro-dissident. With his efforts to muck up the Czechs EU presidency, for many in the EP he embodies everything but European integration.
European spirit and integration
The decoration is to be awarded to individual persons or groupings for their "extraordinary engagement in favor of values such as solidarity and tolerance and support of European spirit and integration."
Jana Bobošíková is adamant that Václav Klaus fullfils all this and perhaps a bit more. Her nomination form, sent to the European parliament as well as to the President's Office, says that Václav Klaus should be decorated the EU citizen's prize for "his fight for democracy in Europe, an outstanding commitment to defend the result of a free and fair democratic consultation."
Jana Bobošíková said for Aktuálně.cz that "Mr. President is fighting for preservation of the current integration of Europe that is based on four basic freedoms, but not on deals."
Another MEP, Vladimír Železný backed Bobošíková's nomination, having gathered support from some of the members of euro-skeptical club Indepedents/Democracy.
But it will be the euro-parliament boss Hans-Gert Poetering that will decide about the winners of the prize. In other words, a man whom Bobošíková scolded for letting the recent diplomatic row between President Klaus and MEPs go too far.
During the row president Klaus was angered by questions posed by EP Greens Daniel Cohn-Bendit, famous for being a left-leaning "nonconformist" and an active student leader in the 1968 riots in France. Poettering refused Klaus's request to moderate the debate and let the Green MEP pose provocative questions.
The Communist Party chose European parliament deputy Jana Bobošíková as their candidate for the second round ballot in the presidential election in February this year.
