Ireland and the Czech Republic have much in common, significant links and a lot to learn from one another, as the President, Mrs McAleese, reminded audiences during her State visit to the country. This is more than the usual platitude brought out on such occasions, but reflects the current fact that Ireland is seen as a model of development to be emulated as the Czechs negotiate accession to the European Union, and the historical one that the two countries' political paths were remarkably similar before they were obscured for people in both countries by Nazism, the second World War, communist rule and the Cold War.
Over the ten years since the Velvet Revolution there has been a growing realisation among people familiar with this history that there could be considerable mutual benefit in developing the relationship. Mrs McAleese's timely visit this week provides an opportunity to do so. Recalling President Vaclav Havel's visit to Ireland in 1996, when he reminded those who see Ireland as the Celtic homeland that his country was the original home of the Celts from where they set forth for Ireland, she said she was glad to be home.
She spoke on the theme of the widening family circle of the European Union as it enlarges to take in the countries of central and eastern Europe, steps towards a genuine continental unity. It is diverse and individual, but the family metaphor also speaks of a capacity to share destinies and strengths, as well as to experience stress and dysfunction. If the objective of breaking down barriers between the foreign and the domestic is indeed to be achieved we will need to know more about all the states aspiring to join the EU. Among them the Czech Republic is a good place to start.
Mrs McAleese referred to the difficulties the Czech Republic is having adjusting to the onerous conditions imposed by membership, much of which has to do with ineffective or incomplete execution of market and political reforms after the collapse of communism. As a result the Czechs have fallen down the league table of aspirants and come in for some sharp criticism from Brussels. That is the nature of the system they are seeking to join. Mrs McAleese referred to the many peaceful transformations in the country over the last ten years and suggested that Ireland's record over recent years may have some lessons for her hosts. She heard the director of the international relations institute refer to Ireland as a model for other smaller states and a synonym for success in the EU.
Such perceptions may be judged more or less accurate from this perspective, but they undoubtedly open up opportunities for deepening political and economic ties and offering whatever expertise has been built up in Ireland that made a comparative success of recent development policies. Solidarity now with the efforts of the Czechs and its fellow accession states will be remembered and repaid in years to come; a failure to realise that or to deliver on it could rebound against Ireland's long term interests in an enlarged Union. There are lessons to be learned from Ireland about economic development, but also about keeping and expressing political and cultural identity and escaping from over-dominance by large neighbours.