Despite the war with Ukraine and central banks printing trillions of euros in dollars in recent years, Czech President Miloš Zeman believes the primary cause of the energy crisis is “green fanaticism.”
“Whether it’s called the Green Deal or whatever, I’m afraid. However, I won’t be here anymore when we find out where the green madness will take us. The abolition of cars with internal combustion engines will lead to the advent of far more demanding electromobility. The biggest consumers of electricity will be electric cars with a short range and a high price,” said Zeman while receiving Czech ambassadors at Prague Castle on Tuesday.
According to Zeman, the solution to the energy crisis is not to succumb to the Green Deal and to pursue a sovereign foreign policy. He considers it crucial that issues affecting the country’s sovereignty continue to be voted on unanimously in the European Union. Zeman considers cooperation in the Visegrad Group beneficial. According to him, it is foolish to question it. The V4 prevented, for example, the mandatory introduction of migration quotas a few years ago.
“I condemn the attacks coming from some in Brussels against Poland and Hungary,” he noted.
“Let’s not play superpower. Let’s not look at the central issues of our foreign policy through the lens of great power. We would be ridiculous. We are a small to medium-sized country with 80 percent of our gross domestic product being exported. I have always expressed that the main task of our ambassadors is to take care of the promotion of our exporters on foreign markets and, on the other hand, to bring effective foreign investments to the Czech Republic,” the president stated.
Zeman criticized the “provocative gestures of unsuccessful Prague municipal politicians,” which allegedly complicate exporters’ access to the market in China.
Zeman also addressed the war in Ukraine, which he said is due to Russian aggression. According to him, it is necessary to ask why this aggression occurred. Attacking Ukraine, Russia gains nothing and loses practically everything.
“The Israeli president offered me a plausible explanation for this aggression. He told me that Putin attacked Ukraine in connection with NATO’s capitulation in Afghanistan,” Zeman noted.
According to the Czech leader, Russia expected that NATO would capitulate again. Fortunately, according to Zeman, this did not happen.
Zeman fully supports the supply of weapons to Ukraine and the reception of Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic; he also believes Czechia will participate in the invaded country’s reconstruction. However, the Ukrainians must expect a rather long and exhausting war.
The meeting of Czech ambassadors started on Monday with a speech by Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who encouraged the Czech ambassadors to look for all, even hitherto overlooked, opportunities in the energy sector. He also talked about helping Ukraine to withstand Russian aggression with as few losses as possible.
