Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala spoke at length about the country’s preparations for the Czech EU presidency, the current European political landscape and same-sex marriage in a wide ranging interview with Deník N daily.
Fiala revealed that the EU presidency’s budget stands are 1.7 billion korunas (€69.2 million), but insisted that this is not a dizzying amount.
“I would like an EU-US summit to be held in our country, which would have a deeper meaning, for example, it would strengthen the Euro-Atlantic link,” Fiala told the news outlet. “We are working for it to occur. Intense Diplomatic negotiations are being conducted,” he added.
In Europe, the Czech prime minister revealed his reluctance for Czechia to become politically isolated or to approach political extremes in any way.
“Czechia has to change the European policy of bragging when someone comes there and says: no, we don’t agree with anything, but they can’t really say what we want. We have to move to reasonable negotiations and coalitions on certain topics, which will lead to enforcement. I will try to negotiate with the opposition on key foreign policy issues,” he said.
He also commented on the issue of marriage for same-sex couples, which according to him divides Czech society.
“Let’s have a debate about it, it’s going on in a number of countries and it’s so right. The Istanbul Convention also divides politicians in some aspects, but the Czech Republic already has most of those matters covered by the law,” he added.
According to him, Health Minister Vlastimil Válek manages his role well. He also answered a question about the unapproved pandemic law.
“The Senate’s decision has been made, but it is a reality that puts our citizens in a difficult situation that we must resolve. We will therefore look for the best way out within the coalition in the coming days because citizens need legislation of this type,” he said.
He also spoke about possible presidential candidates, although his home Civic Democratic Party has not yet elected the party’s own candidate. The topics of the state budget, high inflation, pension reform, the housing crisis, and rising energy prices were also on the agenda. According to him, the classification of nuclear and gas among clean energy sources within the EU taxonomy is extremely important in this regard.
