President of the Republic Petr Pavel welcomed the highest constitutional officials to the Prague Castle to discuss foreign policy. The extraordinary meeting was attended by Senate President Miloš Vystrčil, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Markéta Pekarová Adamová, Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský and Defence Minister Jana Černochová.
At the meeting, Prime Minister Petr Fiala provided other top constitutional officials with detailed information from the leaders' summit held in London on Sunday 2 March and from the extraordinary European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday 6 March on the security situation in Europe and further assistance to Ukraine under attack by Russia. "It is important that the highest constitutional officials of this country speak with one voice on foreign policy issues. We are clear, legible and it strengthens our respect in the international environment," the Prime Minister said after the meeting.
"I would like there to be consensus not only among the highest constitutional officials, but also across the entire political spectrum. We can argue about whether taxes should be higher or lower, how to do which reform, but we should not have a heated political debate about the security of our country because without living in security, other things will not be possible. It will not be possible to maintain a good welfare state, it will not be possible to think about how to improve education, and it will not be possible to create even better conditions for our entrepreneurs," said the Prime Minister.
Statement by the President of the Republic after the meeting
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,
I perceive that there may be an expectation from this meeting that perhaps it should result in some major announcement, the establishment of a war cabinet or something like that. We are not in such a crisis situation, it has to be said at the outset. On the other hand, we are facing unprecedentedly rapid and dynamic developments in both foreign policy and the security situation, not only in Europe but also in the world. We all perceive many contradictory statements that would have seemed impossible and shocking just a few weeks ago, and which are now a reality. And, of course, we must respond to such dynamic developments, to such fundamental changes. For this reason, I have convened this meeting, which is coordinating, informative, of the main constitutional officials, with the participation of the Minister of Defence and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in order to, firstly, take stock of everything that has happened, to discuss how the Czech Republic can react to it, what our real possibilities are to influence the situation, what we should do in the coming period, and, of course, also to unite in our approach.
I also perceive that far from being a matter of coordination between the main constitutional actors, the effort will be to achieve the broadest possible consensus and understanding between the Government and the Opposition as well, because matters of our country's security are not the concern of one political party, but are also the concern of all of us. And the way in which we are going to provide for the defence of this country, the broad outlines of its foreign policy, should of course be agreed by as many people as possible, because it will affect the lives of all of us. And not only how secure an environment we will live in in Europe, but also in what foreign policy settings we will find ourselves in the coming months and years in relation to the security and political architecture in Europe, or in the world. What this implies for us is that, given the situation as it is, given the change in the United States' position on a number of important issues, we need to pay much more attention to our own capabilities, and to the capabilities of both the Czech Republic and the European Union, and hence of Europe as a whole. And that is where our efforts to gradually increase our capabilities are directed.
You have noted, and I am sure the Prime Minister will talk about this, the gradual increase in defence spending to ensure that we have a modern, combat-ready, ready army that will be an effective part of the collective defence system. But it will also be about how we as a society will be prepared to provide for the defence of our country, because, as I have said many times, our country will not only be secure if we have professionally functioning security forces, but if we all see the security and defence of our country as our problem, as our task. Because only with maximum public support can we be a resilient society and can we be a society that is able to defend its way of life and its interests.
Our preference will be to continue to work in close alliance with the United States and to maintain a functioning transatlantic link. On the other hand, we should also be prepared for a scenario where we are left alone as Europe or as part of Europe. In that case, we are prepared to work very hard with countries that think like us or in the same way as us to ensure that we retain all the necessary capabilities to ensure our defence. Related to this is our continued support for Ukraine, because, as has been the case throughout the period since the annexation of Crimea and then since the Russian aggression against Ukraine, it is in our immediate security interest to establish peace, as fair a peace as possible for Ukraine. And for that reason, too, our support for Ukraine will continue, both bilaterally and collectively with the states that still support Ukraine. We will continue to support peace efforts, but peace efforts that do not unequivocally reward the aggressor, but that take into account the fact that Ukraine is an invaded country and that the aggressor cannot be rewarded for its aggression. And we will, of course, continue to work with our allies on that.
We will continue these discussions. We will choose the frequency as necessary, as the situation develops, but in any case, both at the level of the current government coalition and in communication with the opposition, we will seek the broadest possible consensus on these issues. These coordination meetings of ours will culminate before the summer summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, because that will undoubtedly be a turning point in the way we have provided and will provide our security in the future. Thank you.
castle.cz/ government.gov.cz/ gnews.cz - RoZ
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