Photo: AP Photo/julia Nikhenson
PRAGUE - Former US President Bill Clinton arrived in Prague this evening to attend the Our Security Is Not a Given conference at Prague Castle on Tuesday, which will mark 25 years since the Czech Republic joined NATO. On the network X this was reported by the news and information portal about the North Atlantic Alliance and security issues natoaktual.cz.
Clinton was President of the United States between 1993 and 2001. He came to Prague at the invitation of Czech President Petr Pavel. The conference is organised by the Jagello 2000 association, and in addition to Clinton, the highest Czech constitutional officials and former NATO Secretary General George Robertson will speak at the Spanish Hall. The conference organisers pointed out that at the beginning of his first term in office, Clinton outlined for the first time in history a vision of a Europe without conflict, undivided and democratic.
Clinton visited Prague several times. He first came to the Czech capital in 1970 as a twenty-four-year-old student. In January 1994, as the 42nd President of the United States, he announced during a meeting with then Czech President Václav Havel that NATO enlargement was not a question of if, but when. In October 2001, he attended the Forum 2000 international conference in Prague, in November 2005 the Club of Madrid meeting, and in December 2011 he attended the state funeral of Václav Havel.
According to the organisers, this year's eleventh edition of the Our Security Is Not a Given conference will not only evaluate the quarter of a century of the Czech Republic's membership in NATO, but will also focus on the future of the alliance in the context of the dynamic development of the security environment and threats. On 4 April, NATO will mark 75 years since its founding.
President Petr Pavel, Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS), Defence Minister Jana Černochová (ODS) and Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský (Pirates) will also speak at Prague Castle. The traditional political discussion will also be attended by representatives of the opposition ANO movement, Karel Havlíček, and the SPD, Radim Fiala.
The Czech Republic joined NATO together with Poland and Hungary on 12 March 1999. According to a poll by the Centre for Public Opinion Research of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CVVM) published last September, two-thirds of Czechs are satisfied with the Czech Republic's NATO membership. Twenty-six percent of respondents expressed dissatisfaction.
CTK/gnews.cz-JaV-07
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