The Czech Republic assumes the European Union's presidency for the first time next month, amid fears that eurosceptic President Vaclav Klaus will put the brakes on the EU's new-found drive.

After a frenetic six months under France and President Nicolas Sarkozy, doubts remain whether the relative EU newcomer with the anti-European president can match the authority, energy and success of its predecessor.

Despite the concern, Milena Vicenova, the Czech ambassador to the EU, remains upbeat.

"We are proud to be EU members, We are dedicated to our task and I am sure that after six months of our presidency, you will no longer be thinking that the Czechs are eurosceptics," she said recently.

Experts are not as optimistic.

"There is a doubt spreading through all the capitals after France showed that only a strong and active presidency can maintain unity in the face of difficulties," said Jean-Dominique Giuliani, head of the Robert Schuman Foundation, named after one of the European project's founding fathers.

The six-month French EU presidency, which ends on December 31, gained plaudits for its handling of key issues like the short Georgia-Russia war, adoption of an ambitious EU climate change package and key agreement on tools to tackle the financial and economic crisis.

"Any small member state would be in a bad situation and would not be treated with the same respect as Nicolas Sarkozy was," argued Piotr Kaczynski, an analyst at the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies.

The Czech Republic and its 10 million inhabitants are EU newcomers, having joined in 2004 at the time of the "big bang" expansion that reached into the former Soviet bloc.

The lack of clout is exacerbated, according to Kaczynski, by the fact that "this is a very, very weak government internally and that may have a damaging impact."

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek also faces a risky parliamentary vote on February 3 on the EU's reforming Lisbon Treaty.

Klaus has railed incessantly against the package, which every EU nation has ratified through parliament except the Czech Republic and Ireland.

He also plays down the importance of global warming and has criticised "populist gestures" to bail out the European economy.

"What is sure is that there will be at least a little choir of voices coming from Prague that will not be singing the same song," Kaczynski predicted.

"It will probably not impact the way the Czechs will manage the work of the (EU) presidency. It will however have some negative impact on the political leverage of the Czech presidency," he added.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra has sought to ease the concern over his country's stint at the EU helm, stressing that the government, not the president, runs European policy.

"I don't expect any destabilisation. I would expect a relative ceasefire," he told reporters when asked about anti-EU feeling in the central European state.

His comments came a day after European Union leaders, led by Sarkozy, criticised the notoriously eurosceptic Klaus.

Vondra said his country would probably not be "number one" in its handling of the EU presidency, "but I expect solid, professional work by us."

He outlined the Czech EU presidency priorities as; the economic crisis, energy security, the Balkans and deepening ties with the United States and its next president Barack Obama.

"There is no reason to think that Prague would be any less capable of managing the affairs of Europe than Slovenia," the first eastern European state to assume the presidency in the first half of 2008, opined the European Policy Centre.

In any case, should the Czechs come up short, the omnipresent Sarkozy has assured that he will not be content to sit in the corner after handing over the EU reins.

"No one could think that it would be a positive thing for Europe for France to leave its chair empty now just because it has finished its six-month presidency. No! On the contrary, I will be taking action," he vowed.