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Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek wants the country to contribute a sum of 1.5 billion euros (38 billion crowns) towards aiding the eurozone, the website Novinky.cz reports. He intends to make the proposal for a loan to the IMF to the government on Wednesday. The money would come from the foreign exchange reserves of the Czech National Bank, which would receive a guarantee from the government. In the proposal Mr Kalousek states that the Czech Republic has netted 175 billion crowns from the monetary fund since 2004, and he would consider it indecent and immoral to refuse to participate in the loan. EU leaders have agreed to bolster the euro with a 200 billion euro loan to the IMF; eurozone countries have only committed to 150 billion thus far.

President Vaclav Klaus has slammed the government for failing to accept political responsibility for a decision on whether the country should join the EU’s fiscal union. In an interview for Friday’s daily Lidové noviny Mr. Klaus said the government should make a clear decision one way or another and not hide behind a referendum. He was alluding to Wednesday’s government vote which provisionally endorsed a national referendum on the issue. However not all coalition parties voted in favour of leaving the decision in the hands of the electorate. TOP 09 said the matter was “too complex” to be decided by the public, arguing in favour of its ratification in Parliament. The President also addressed the question of whether the government would need his authorization to sign up to the international treaty. Mr. Klaus said that the prime minister was empowered to sign treaties of this type, but that his signature was not tantamount to a ratification by the head of state, which he was determined to withhold.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg says that a referendum on adopting the euro will call the country’s EU pledges into question. The statement was made in response to Wednesday´s decision by the Czech cabinet that any accession to the EU´s planned fiscal discipline pact should be decided on through a national referendum on entering the euro zone. Mr Schwarzenberg said he was categorically opposed to a referendum, which would challenge what the country promised in its accession treaty and make the Czech Republic look like it is not a serious partner. He previously said regarding the fiscal discipline pact that he would not participate in a government that would lead the country out of the main stream of European integration.

The question whether or not the country should join the emerging EU fiscal union has divided Czech politicians and appears to be fraught with problems. While one governing party is in favour of an emphatic “yes”, and the country’s eurosceptic president has already voiced an emphatic “no”, everything points to the fact that Czechs will continue to sit on the fence for as long as possible.

The Czech government has agreed that a referendum should be held on the Czech Republic’s possible participation in a new European Union treaty aimed at tightening budgetary controls in the Eurozone. The Civic Democrats, who lead the government, on Wednesday pushed the policy through in conjunction with Public Affairs, the smallest party in the coalition. TOP 09 deputies were opposed to the idea. Prime Minister Petr Nečas said a referendum on signing up to the pact could be linked to a second referendum on adopting the common European currency. He also said the cabinet would need the authorization of the president before it could negotiate or sign the treaty. President Václav Klaus has been critical of the pact and has said he will refuse to put his signature to it. Mr. Nečas said the government would only adopt a definitive position on the matter once a final version of the EU document has been produced.

Prime Minister Petr Nečas said on Wednesday that the Czech central bank would most likely not channel 3.5 million euro (about 90 billion Czech crowns) through the International Monetary Fund as part of a European Union scheme aimed at fighting the debt crisis in the Eurozone. EU leaders had requested that Prague commit that amount at a summit last month. The Czech contribution –which is in effect a loan – will be “very significantly lower” since the majority of the government are opposed to contributing the sum requested, the prime minister told reporters. The actual amount the Czech Republic is willing to contribute will be announced by the Czech finance minister, Miroslav Kalousek, in a week from now.

At a last-ditch summit in Brussels in December, EU leaders drafted a plan under which European central banks would channel a total of 150 billion euros through the IMF in exchange for fresh pledges of fiscal probity from European governments.

Czech President Václav Klaus on Saturday dismissed a proposal by the senior coalition Civic Democrats to hold a popular vote on joining the EU’s planned fiscal union. Speaking after talks in Vienna with Austrian President Heinz Fischer, Mr Klaus, who opposes the plan, said politicians should assume responsibility and take a decision. The Czech president rejected the planned fiscal union as “radical liquidation” of member states’ sovereignty.

The Czech coalition government remains divided on the issue; PM, and Civic Democrat leader Petr Nečas hinted he was opposed to the plan, while Foreign Minister and chair of the coalition TOP 09 party Karel Schwarzenberg threatened to quit the cabinet if the Czech Republic does not join.

The Czech Foreign Minister, and head of the coalition TOP 09 party, has threatened that ministers for his party will leave the government if it does not join the EU’s planned fiscal union. Mr Schwarzenberg told the daily Lidové noviny on Thursday he would not be part of a cabinet that leads the Czech Republic outside the main stream of European integration. The country cannot afford to be isolated, Mr Schwarzenberg added. For his part, President Václav Klaus wrote a letter to PM Petr Nečas making it clear he would not under any condition sign such a fiscal treaty into law.

On Thursday, President Václav Klaus has harshly criticized Mr. Schwarzenberg’s ultimatum, stating that it is unacceptable for TOP 09 to voice such threats, and that the party had brought the government coalition under pressure twice within just a few days. The president said this was no way to do politics and added that he considered it necessary to let Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg know his opinion. After the junior coalition partner Public Affairs resisted the approval of a church property restitution deal earlier this week, TOP 09 backed the Civic Democrats’ Prime Minister Petr Nečas, who said that Public Affairs would be asked to leave the government coalition unless it supported the deal.

In related news, the Foreign Ministry on Thursday distanced itself from the report printed in the daily Lidové noviny. In a statement, the ministry writes that Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg is not in favor of an unconditional Czech entry into the planned EU fiscal pact. According to the ministry, Mr. Schwarzenberg does not support a fiscal union that would strip the Czech Republic of a sovereign state budget policy. However, the draft currently being debated in Brussels is much more advantageous for the Czech Republic than a previous one. Whether the Czechs will join the union depends on the final draft, he said.