In a new series of blog posts we introduce the countries we are comparing regarding the role EU derived rights might have in them. Our overall aim being to develop a new socio-legal theory of European integration based on the practical usage of EU derived rights in the European society, we have selected eight smaller states (or parts thereof) for qualitative research, comprising Member States and neighbouring states from Northern, Western, Southern, Central and (South) Eastern Europe. For the third entry in this series, we will be visiting Czechia (Czech Republic), where EU integration shaped the socio-economic landscape for the last three or so decades.
Czechia could be deemed as one of the most recently formed states, being one of the successors to Czechoslovakia. The Central European state ceased to exist peacefully on the New Year’s Eve, 1992, in an event nicknamed by the western media as “Velvet Divorce”. This was mainly due to political disputes on constitutional arrangements and overall path the state should take after the fall of communism in the Eastern Bloc.
From the very beginning, Czechia defined (re-)integrating into the Western structures, particularly joining the European Communities (then newly called European Union) as the paramount goal of its foreign policy. The association negotiations opened very soon, alongside with Hungary, Poland and back then Czechoslovakia in 1990, and reached their final stage by the end of 1991 resulting in the “European Agreement”. However, the Velvet Divorce put a brief halt to these plans.
The EC did not approve to transfer the Association Agreement onto Czechia as successor, meaning it had to be effectively negotiated twice. Finally, it entered into force on February 1st ,1995, granting certain EU derived rights – for example, facilitation of trade, doing business and importantly easier (not yet free) movement of Czech workers.
Official application for EU membership was submitted on April 17th, 1996. The country finally became a part of the EU on May 1st, 2004, in an event known as “Eastern Enlargement”. The road to membership was, however, not straightforward. From the very beginning, there have been “brakemen” member states among the “old fifteen”, very sceptical about the idea that former communist countries should join the Union quickly, if at all.
The full-EU membership (ratified via referendum with 70 % of the popular vote in favour) is therefore a combination of political bargaining and compromise – for example, there have been “transition periods” set up so that the single labour market would open to Czech citizens gradually. Since 2011 though, they enjoy the possibility to work and live in any EU country they please, a right now taken for granted, but hardly imaginable before the fall of the Iron Curtain. The country joined the Schengen Area in December 2007 – once secured and even fortified border seemingly disappeared overnight, symbolically taking a free movement of all people without any obstruction to yet another level.
With the accession in sight, an important task stood before Czech authorities. They had to bring national legislation up to speed with the Union’s acquis in order to be eligible to join. This resulted in unforeseen development in many legal branches, including data protection and harmonisation of consumer protection. In the field of labour law, this led for example to abolishment on a ban of women’s night work – generally, they would be forbidden from conducting their work at this time of day, but the rule was subject to many exceptions throughout the Labour Code. In line with the CJEU case C-345/89 Stockel and Art. 5 of then in force directive 76/207/EEC, this ban was lifted as discriminatory.
Some of the EU law has been even transposed domestically post-accession. For example, the key EU anti-discrimination directives have been a somewhat controversial issue for politicians at the time, resulting in adopting relevant national legislation (the Anti-Discrimination Act) only in 2009, despite the fact that almost all directives it implements were passed in early 2000s.
More recently, a whole new set of EU derived rights was introduced into the national legal order with the transposition of the Work-life Balance Directive. For the first time in history, Czech fathers could apply for paternity leave in the length of consecutive two weeks. Worker may also request a special carers’ leave for up to 90 days (which is longer than the directive requires), provided that their employer does not have “severe operational reasons” not to grant this (although this condition will be likely dropped soon).
These innovations supplemented already very generous scheme of “caring leaves” in the Labour Code. It is however disputable if the national implementation was done correctly as it did not lead to better equality between men and women. It’s the latter who remain the primary caretakers – for example, they form 98% of parental allowance recipients, which is high above European average.
Paradoxically, Czechia is often viewed (to an extent by itself) as a rather Euro-sceptic country. The level of positive view of the Union is somewhere around 35%, which is the lowest in the EU. Similarly, about the same amount of people takes a negative perception of the organisation, although strict withdrawal approval is very low. Euro-scepticism has been a long present narrative in Czech political discourse. From the economic perspective though, Czechia is very well integrated in the EU.
Being a relatively small industrial-based economy, almost 80 % of the export goes towards other EU countries (especially Germany, which makes up to one third of the total export balance). On the other hand, around 60 % of all goods are imported from them. Economic figures also show that single market allowed for unprecedented economic growth, with the national GDP doubling over the course of 20 years of membership.
Unemployment rate has also been one of the lowest in the EU, not exceeding 5%. In fact, at certain periods, there were less job seekers registered with the unemployment office than open positions, although this statistic is not quite accurate, as it is no longer mandatory for employers to report vacancies – and employers would sometimes do it only when they want to hire a non-EU/EEA national to show the position cannot be filled “domestically”, which is a statutory requirement for such acquisition.
Public debate however sometimes resorts to criticism in the structure of the economy, with three aspects being usually identified as possible risks – reliance on automotive industry, overall dependency on one trading partner and manufacturing of low value-added products. The success of this economic model started to be questioned during the COVID-19 pandemics, where supply chains have been majorly interrupted.
Why is Czechia in RIGHTS-TO-UNITE? As a small-to-mid-sized country given its almost 11 million population, it is the only representative of so-called “new member states” in the project. Given its communist history, the country’s society is still very egalitarian, with Gini Index staying very low compared to traditional democracies.
The nation’s “European story” is, for the most part, a tale of great success. On May 1st, 1989, people were marching in Prague to celebrate International Labour Day, an occasion profaned by the ruling communist regime. On the same exact date, only fifteen years later, the country celebrated joining the European Union, making it from communist dictatorship to a democracy worth (re-)joining the Western structures in a very short time span. Such speedy accession has never been heard of before (or since). It’s a pace current candidate countries dream of, yet – in the optimistic ‘90s, everything was possible.
Moreover, being a part of the bloc has opened opportunities for Czech people and companies worldwide and attracted foreign investment as well. The geographical location only supplements this, as Czechia is found in “the heart of Europe” (and likes to refer to itself like this as well), with good traffic connections to its neighbouring countries. Many European companies have founded their branches and acquired or opened factories.
EU membership is evidently profitable for the country – and not only in economic terms. Inhabitants enjoy many EU-derived rights, easy access to services throughout Europe, free travel without obstructions. Since the accession, an entire new generation was already born EU citizens, experiencing as a “usual state of affairs” what was once only a blurry dream. Czechia has transformed quickly from a relatively poor, neglected Soviet satellite state to a quite prosperous country whose citizens enjoy visa-free travel to most states around the world, can live, work and study almost anywhere in Europe while enjoying significant social protection.
Despite this, the country remains in general critical towards the EU, both among the population and in the long-prevalent political climate. This appears to be a part of a broader phenomenon in Central Europe, alike with countries like Poland or Hungary, with these tendencies rising as well in Austria and former East Germany. Although a clear “Czexit” movement is fairly small, Euro-scepticism has been on the rise in a country already holding reserved standpoints towards the integration in general. Some parties argue for at least a Brexit-style referendum on the remaining in the organisation and marginalise potential negative effects of withdrawal.
Czechia also faces many other challenges nowadays. COVID-19 pandemics and related disruptions hit hard on its export-oriented, industrial economy. Only when the recovery was in sight, another crisis arose – Russian war against Ukraine has increased prices of certain commodities significantly, but more importantly, caused a wave of Ukrainians fleeing their country. It is estimated that Czechia, at its peak, hosted around half a million refugees, the highest number in comparison to general population of any nation. Many of these people still remain in Czechia today.
The economic circumstances have set ground for an inflation spiral, attacking almost 15 % and being one of the highest in the EU at that time. The recovery to pre-pandemic levels is slower than expected, with the public debt steadily rising. The economic uncertainty is very likely reflected in plummeting natality – it is estimated that 2024 was the year with the smallest number of live births since the beginning of statistical measurements. This is also complemented by a long-term housing crisis.
The economic performance also differs significantly based on the region – while Prague and its immediate surroundings have long been one of the richest areas in the EU, other parts of the country are lagging behind this pace, especially in the north-west and north-east. All-in-all, Czechia’s connection with the European Union, its process of integration, and the way it has adopted and spread EU rights in various fields like labour and anti-discrimination law make it an interesting and important case for Rights to Unite to examine.