Czech president-elect, retired general Petr Pavel believes that Ukraine needs to supply all the aid it needs.
"I am arrogant that the Czech Republic has been supporting Ukraine from the very beginning and that it was 1 of the first countries to decide to supply its weapons, besides heavy. And that she accepted almost half a million Ukrainian refugees. As a result, our country present knows what values it identifies with, and this war wants to bring a successful end not only for any material benefit, but for trivial reasons." "The conflict in Ukraine is affecting all of us today, and this is rather severe, due to the fact that it has not only importantly damaged safety across Europe, but besides the economical and energy situation on a global scale. It is so in our interest to see the war against Ukraine as a priority. I so believe it is crucial to express our absolutely unequivocal desire to proceed supporting Ukraine, including after-war reconstruction, as well as its membership of NATO and the EU."
The elected president of Czech Pavel does not hide his scepticism towards the Visegrad Group – V4. In his assessment, there are fundamental differences in the principles in the current format. This makes it hard to find common positions. The main problem, in his opinion, is the position of Hungary. The President-elect does not like Orban's attitude to Ukraine, but besides to Russia.
"The declaration initiating Visegrad cooperation includes a beautiful, universal and hard to challenge even today, which speaks of cooperation and the search for common positions. But all group, all organization should besides have something around which it can unite. And that should be first of all the consensus on essential issues," says Pavel.
The key partner for Czech Petr Pavel looks in Germany. It considers them “one of our absolutely key partners, due to the fact that our economy, energy and trade are powerfully linked to them. It is not only in our interest that these relations be good, but that they are not burdened with the past. In this respect, we have long been on track, due to the fact that relations between our countries are built on fresh foundations. I will be pleased if I can contribute to this trend," says the president-elect.
Fortunately for us and for our region, the President's real power in the strategy of our confederate neighbours is even smaller than ours. So at least any of the ex-general's statements can be treated as a list of his non-dious wishes. However, this does not change the fact that his election is another tiny step towards pushing our region towards an acute confrontation with the geopolitical Chinese bloc. And this should be at least disturbing for us Poles.
Przemysław Piasta
