Prague - US President Barack Obama's advance team of advisors are in Prague to find a place for what is supposed to be the "European speech of the year", as dubbed by PM Mirek Topolánek earlier this week.
The place is to be preferably in the open air and with the Prague Castle behind his back. But to find such a place proves to be rather impossible.
Obama's predecessor George Bush did have the most popular Czech tourist destination behind his back when visiting Prague in June 2007. But he made his keynote speech indoors and the Prague Castle was only on a wall paper.
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Obama's advisors would like to organize the event in a similar way they did when Obama addressed Berliners last year. About 200,000 Germans gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate at that time to hear Obama's ideas of Transatlantic ties.
"As much as the Brandenburg Gate bears a symbolic meaning for Germans, the Prague Castle is symbolic for the Czech nation," Czech Foreign Ministry's source told Aktuálně.cz.
The US President was invited by Czech President Václav Klaus and the details of his program are yet to be announced.
Besides State Secretary Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Obama is likely to be accompanied by his wife Michelle, which will give headache to the Czech PM's protocol team.
PM Topolánek (Civic Democrats) has been separated from his wife for years now, while seeing a fellow ODS party member Lucie Talmanová who gave birth to his son two years ago.
Last stop in Prague
The US president is set to attend an EU-US summit. In Prague he will wrap up his Europe tour during which he is due to attend a G20 summit in London and celebrations of NATO's 60th anniversary in Strasbourg.
The last time the Czech Republic hosted a US president was in June 2007, when George Bush came to Prague for talks about the US plans to deploy missile defence facilities in the Czech Republic and Poland.
The Obama administration is now considering whether it will continue the project. Washington has suggested that the decision will depend on whether Iran will continue with its uranium programme.
