Greece recalls Prague envoy

ATHENS: Greece has recalled its ambassador to the Czech Republic over successive "scornful" remarks by Prague towards the Athens government, officials said on Tuesday.

"Our ambassador has been recalled for consultations," foreign ministry spokesman Constantinos Koutras told AFP.

"There has been a series of scornful remarks by Czech officials, the latest of which was by the president," he said.

Czech President Milos Zeman last week said his country should introduce the euro on the first day after indebted Greece’s departure from the common currency.

He also said he was "very disappointed" that talks in the summer to eject Greece from the euro did not come to fruition.

Czech officials have made disparaging comments about Greece’s handling of the refugee crisis in Europe, Koutras said.

"We recently submitted a demarche, there was no change (in behaviour), this is the next step," Koutras said, referring to a diplomatic complaint against the Czechs.

"The Czech Republic is a member of the European Union also thanks to Greece," he said.

The Czech Republic is one of 10 countries that joined the bloc in 2004, following negotiations finalised under the Greek EU presidency the year before.

The Czech foreign ministry on Tuesday said its head, Minister Lubomir Zaoralek, would take the matter up with his Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias.