The international order is undergoing its biggest changes since the fall of communism, and that reality must be respected, said Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) yesterday in a speech from Kramar Villa in Prague yesterday focused on foreign policy. However, he stressed that does not mean that the United States must cease to be an ally.
The speed, force and rhetoric of the new U.S. President Donald Trump was certainly surprising, Fiala added, but the U.S. shift away from a focus on Europe should not be.
Instead, he argued that the changes should be taken as an opportunity; we should try to make the most of them, he said, because if we were paralysed, our economy and security would be severely harmed.
The situation is not at all simple, he said, but also no reason to be dejected. Membership in NATO, the EU, European defence cooperation and spending on common defence are effective tools to keep the Czech Republic safe in the long term, the Prime Minister said, in a speech to mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the new U.S. administration.
“Our primary goal must now be a strong Europe that can deter Russia from further military attacks on sovereign European states,” Fiala said. In order for this to succeed, he added, concrete steps must be taken now.
Defence spending needs to be increased to at least 3% of gross national product over the next few years, Fiala argued: “We need to be able to secure this money and we need to make sure it is spent wisely and efficiently.”
At the European level, the Czech PM proposes to use the unused 93 billion euros from the Recovery Fund to support joint procurement for militaries or to support the reinforcement of critical infrastructure. Money from frozen Russian assets from all over Europe should be used for further military support to Ukraine, he said.
“It will be an extra expense. But these expenses also represent a great opportunity, especially for us, for the Czech Republic. We are a traditional engineering country with a historically strong defence industry. Our arms factories are high quality and economically strong, even to the extent that in recent years they have been expanding to other countries, including the United States,” PM Fiala said.
According to him, the advantages should be used to the maximum. Increased investment in the defence industry could be a major boost to the Czech economy, its international competitiveness, the development of innovation and long-term employment.
“It would be a mistake to think that the Czech Republic will prosper if the European Union does not prosper at the same time. This alliance of ours is becoming even more important with the new border conditions than it has been in the last twenty years,” he said.
He again expressed his view that the EU needs to launch a program of deregulation as soon as possible, as well as junking decarbonisation targets, climate policies, and the so-called European Green Deal. “If we do not do this, we will become an uncompetitive open-air museum in the new international scene. And that would be an unforgivable mistake,” he said.
