Parliamentary chairman Milos Zeman, who also leads the opposition Social Democrats, did not criticize the declaration but demanded a say for deputies. Zeman declined detailed comment until the declaration, obtained by some media on Monday, had been formally presented to parliament. Zeman, although in opposition, has been involved throughout much of the two years taken to negotiate the document. Mainstream Czech parties had largely kept the issue out of domestic politics, hoping to resolve Czech-German mistrust it would not crop up in negotiations for Czech entry to NATO and the European Union. But Zeman, a personal rival of Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus, has all along stressed that parliament must have its say.
Diplomats say that Prague is keen to keep any parliamentary amendment to a brief appendix.
This follows an incident in 1992 in which the German parliament added text to a previous Czech-German treaty saying explicitly that the issue of property confiscated from Sudeten Germans remained unsettled. Zieleniec, who is expected to initial the declaration on December 20 with his German counterpart Klaus Kinkel, said parliament would have its say. Provisionally we expect that the session which is due to start at the beginning of February should discuss the text,'' he said. But he emphasized that the two governments would get to work earlier.