MEP Zahradil says Czechs can do without the euro

The time has come for the Czech Republic to seek a release from its pledge to adopt the euro, Jan Zahradil, an MEP for the Czech ruling Civic Democratic Party said in an interview for Friday’s edition of the economics daily Hospodarske noviny. Zahradil, who is head of the EP’s European Conservatives and Reformists faction said the present dispute in the Czech centre-right coalition over whether Prague should join the EU’s planned fiscal union stems from deep divisions on the Czech political scene regarding further EU integration. The issue has divided the Czech political scene with the governing TOP 09 and the opposition Social Democrats pushing strongly for integration, while the ruling Civic Democrats, Public Affairs and the Communist Party back a reserved, wait-and-see policy.