Comment & Debate
No Base Initiative Statement (Czech Republic website against stationing European missile defense bases in their territory) – The current attempt to place a base here, this time from the other direction, would serve to reawaken the Cold War in Europe and could reignite a new arms race. It is unthinkable that a democratic country should make a decision of such long-range impact, as the acceptance of a foreign military base on its soil, without an open debate. Neither the government nor Parliament has the mandate to make such a decision alone. This is a question which requires the input of the broad public because the population will have to live with the effects of such a base long after the current Parliament finishes its term and all the current polititians are retired. The only responsible way to make such serious decision is by referendum.
Ivona Novomestská, spokesperson of the No Bases initiative. – “We would like to remind that nearly a two-thirds of Czech citizens wish referendum in which they could decide on their own whether we allow another country to build a strategic military installation on our soil.”[1]