Don't Mock the Czech's EU Leadership

Conventional wisdom in Brussels these days has it that the sooner the Czech Republic vacates the European Union presidency, the better.

Better for big-government statists in Brussels, sure. But for the E.U. - or rather, for the 490 million citizens that comprise it - the much-maligned Czechs' imminent exit from center stage will be a sore loss.

On Friday, toppled Czech Premier Mirek Topolanek will yield to a caretaker government that will lead the Czech Republic through the end of its E.U. presidency, expiring on June 30, and into early elections in October.

It is not yet known what role, if any, Czech President Vaclav Klaus will play in E.U. affairs for the remainder of the Czech term, though Eurocrats fervently hope he will remain in Prague and Friday's handover will effectively mean a premature end to the Czechs' maverick presidency.

Or, as a recent Economist piece put it, the Czechs' presidency leads "euro-types in Brussels" to "one blindingly obvious conclusion: as soon as possible, all 27 E.U. members must ratify the Lisbon Treaty, which creates the new job of a full-time E.U. president, so that small, incompetent countries like the Czech Republic no longer take turns to speak for Europe."

Incompetent? Hardly.

The real gripe against Prague is simple -- that it has used its turn at the rotating six-month presidency to champion a very different idea of what the bloc should be: rather than an unelected and increasingly powerful superstate, it instead should be a simple league of democracies, engaged in robust free trade and working to expand individual liberties within its own borders and beyond.

This idea is not some contrarian fantasy dreamed up by Mr. Klaus to send Jose Manuel Barroso to the tanning booth in high dudgeon. Rather, to many Europeans east and west, inside and out of E.U. borders, this freedom-purveyor's role would be the highest aim to which the E.U. could and should aspire. Yet it is precisely in this role that, prior to the heroic example the Czechs have set since January, the E.U. has failed miserably.

A brief word on this rotating E.U. presidency business: practically speaking, the six month term means nothing. Whichever country, large or small, holds the nominal post can not affect the decisions of the unelected European Commission, the bloc's executive and legislative branch, or even set the agenda at gatherings of the 27 national ministers, whose dockets are invariably dictated by France, Germany and the commission.

Thus, the "presidency" has traditionally been nothing more than a national grandstanding opportunity for whichever government holds it, a chance to vamp in the spotlight while the bloc's bureaucratic wheels of power roll on heedless of the desires of elected national leaders and their constituents.

Enter Prague.

The Czechs, rather than using the chance to preen or to make a sycophantic show of allegiance to the Brussels cabal, have instead broken new ground by wielding the presidency as a megaphone to champion the ideals of economic freedom and self-determination they so value, and to push for the expansion of these ideals within the E.U. and abroad.

Consider just some of the ways Prague has used its temporary soapbox in the past four months:

-Consistently demanded the E.U. make good on its promise to resist Russia's campaign to retake power over the fledgling democracies along its border.

- Launched a name-and-shame campaign against those E.U. countries -- limited today to Germany and Austria, thanks to the Czechs' indecorous prodding - still refusing to open their labor markets to eastern European workers who have been contributing taxes to the E.U. and have been subjected to Brussels' decrees since 2004.

-Fought against other forms of economic protectionism in the bloc, for example by rallying opposition to French measures to shield its car industry from foreign competition.

- Doggedly resisted Brussels', and now Washington's, line that the unproven theory of anthropomorphic global warming is reason enough to cripple industry, erode consumer choice and dismantle the engines of economic growth.

- Pushed the E.U. to envelop more central and eastern European countries as a way to reward and cement free-market reforms in the region. As most western European countries use the recession as an excuse to reject new E.U. hopefuls, the Czechs have improbably succeeded in keeping Croatia's accession rolling, and last week accepted Albania's application for membership.

- Stood up for human rights far beyond the continent, beginning with outraging E.U. poobahs just as its presidency kicked off by supporting Israel's right to self-defense when it launched military operations against Hamas in Gaza. Since then, the Czechs have not missed a single opportunity to condemn human rights abuses in, among others, Iran, Burma and North Korea, and Mr. Topolanek even stumped for the rights of American taxpayers when he bluntly denounced President Barack Obama's economic policies.

To say Prague has violated continental etiquette and punched above its weight in international matters is an understatement. For this courage and immodesty, Europe and the world should be doubly grateful.

If the goal of the E.U. Presidency is to help propel the E.U. 27 into a binding, undemocratic federation that will leave the competing interests of the many at the mercy of a select, like-minded few, then yes, the critics are correct: the Czech Republic's reign has been a disaster and an aberration.

But if the aim is to nurture and grow a union of independent democracies, benefitting from commerce with one another and working to advance freedoms abroad, the Czechs' stewardship of the E.U. has been an unprecedented success.

As Mr. Klaus told the European Parliament in February, to boos and walkouts no less, "One or another institutional arrangement of the European Union is not an objective in itself; but a tool for achieving the real objectives. These are nothing but human freedom and such an economic system that would bring prosperity. That system is a market economy."

Would that every world leader shared his objectives.

To dismiss the Czechs' presidency as an embarrassing mess is not only unfair, it

dangerously misses the point of what should be the E.U.'s true purpose. Perhaps, after the chorus of jeersand condescension aimed at Prague die down, leaders in the bloc will look to the Czechs' nonconformist reign as an example to be followed, not mocked.

If so, Europeans should count themselves lucky.