Missile Talks in Prague

While it looked like the missile shield talks had stalled in Warsaw, Poland and the Czech Republic have decided to team up for the forthcoming negotiations with the United States. The prime ministers of the two nations, Donald Tusk and Mirek Topolanek respectively, met in Prague to discuss their strategy for negotiating with Washington and easing tensions with Moscow, which is not happy to see American missiles so close to its borders. They believe that if they join forces, they can bring more bargaining power to the table.

Tusk, Poland's recently-elected centre-right prime minister, has said that Poland will not agree to any deal that does not make his country safer, and is less eager to rush into an agreement with the U.S. than his predecessor. The new Polish government also wants the U.S. to pay for building and maintaining the missile system and to provide Patriot missiles to upgrade Poland's air defences. The Poles also would like to wait until the American elections in November to conclude negotiations, as the terms could easily change with a change of government. Tusk has stressed that the missile negotiations should not be rushed, and both the Czech Republic and Poland are prepared to jointly negotiate as long as it takes.