Seehofer and Necas to hold talks again

Just under six weeks after the Bavarian Minister-President returned from his historic visit to Prague, the next meeting between Horst Seehofer (CSU) and his Czech counterpart Petr Necas has already been scheduled. The two politicians will meet for further talks on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, the State Chancellery announced in a press release last Thursday.

Seehofer and Necas are due to meet for dinner next Friday. Czech President Necas is also to be invited as guest of honor to the reception hosted by the government for the Munich Security Conference next Saturday.

After decades of frosty relations between the neighboring regions of Bavaria and the Czech Republic—largely due to debate over the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans—the two sides now appear to have overcome this long-simmering political conflict following Seehofer’s visit to Prague in December 2010. Seehofer’s visit at the end of last year was the first official visit by a Bavarian Minister-President since the end of the Second World War. During Seehofer’s talks with his counterpart Necas shortly before Christmas 2010 in Prague , it became clear that the era of harsh words between the two neighbors had probably been consigned to history once and for all. Under his predecessor Edmund Stoiber, a visit to Prague never took place. Stoiber’s statements on the Czech Republic invariably invoked former Czech President Edvard Benes, who issued decrees concerning the expropriation and expulsion of around three million Sudeten Germans.

The current Bavarian Minister-President Seehofer, by contrast, does not mention Benes at all. Although he too addresses the Sudeten issue, he consistently condemns the atrocities committed by the Nazis and expresses regret for the suffering and injustice inflicted on the Czech people by the German Nazis. A neighborly relationship between Bavaria and the Czech Republic founded on partnership and goodwill now seems within reach.