Czech President Petr Pavel, former NATO commander, says EU enlargement is a ‘geostrategic necessity’

Czech President Petr Pavel, former commander of NATO, announced his country’s support for a new round of expansion of the European Union, in the context in which the Czech Republic is preparing to mark 20 years since its own accession to the bloc, dpa reports on Tuesday. quoted by Agerpres.

The expansion is a “geostrategic necessity”, Czech President Petr Pavel declared on Tuesday during a press conference in Prague, together with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

“If we leave the states of the Western Balkans, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia too much on the threshold, we leave them at the mercy of actors like Russia, who do not want the good of Europe and Europeans at all, warned Pavel, who was in the past president of the Committee NATO soldier.

The European Council decided in December 2023 to start accession negotiations with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and granted Georgia the status of a candidate country. Bosnia obtained this status in December 2022, after 4 other countries from the Western Balkans.

“These countries want to belong to the West”, declared the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, in comments made separately from the press conference of the two heads of state. “Let’s give them this chance and make the most of the opportunities offered by the expansion,” he added.

Petr Pavel appealed to the candidate countries to seriously prepare for the future accession. The Czech Republic can help the accession states by sharing its own experience, he said. The Czech president also spoke in favor of carrying out reforms, saying that the Union “certainly” can be improved.

For his part, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier launched a call to defend democracy in the EU before the European elections in June.

German president denounces “irresponsible” populism

“Within the European Union, fundamental democratic values, the European project itself, are being called into question by irresponsible populists,” Steinmeier said at the joint press conference. “Let’s understand what’s at stake, especially now,” he said. He added that once democracy has been achieved, it is not guaranteed for eternity.

“We know that the power of liberal democracy, its tolerance, is its most vulnerable point. And we know that we have to defend ourselves and act defensively when those who despise democracy use this tolerance to attack it,” the German president said.

On May 1, 2004, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovenia joined the EU, in the biggest wave of expansion in the history of the EU bloc. Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Malta and Cyprus.

Today, the Czech Republic and Germany have every reason to celebrate this accession 20 years ago, Steinmeier said.

“We all benefited from this step, not only economically, but primarily as neighboring states. And this success story will continue to be written,” he added.