Fiala supported the nominations for the highest positions in the EU, Italy and Hungary had reservations

Brussels – The Czech Prime Minister supported the nominations for the highest positions in the EU at the summit in Brussels. He personally knows all three political figures and they have a good relationship with the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala told reporters after the end of the meeting. The summit ended unusually after just one day, originally it was supposed to be two days. The summit nominated Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas as Head of Union Diplomacy, and former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa will become President of the European Council. According to Fiala, the vast majority of leaders supported all three candidates, only Italy and Hungary had objections.

“The European Council proceeded very rationally and ultimately also consensually, we reached a number of key decisions very quickly,” said the Czech Prime Minister. “I think it is a decision that is good for the Czech Republic, I supported this decision, I know all three personalities, they have a good relationship with the Czech Republic and I have good working experiences with them,” he added, referring to Ursula von der Leyen, Kaja Kallas, and António Costa. As he added, he looks forward to future cooperation with them.

Regarding other summit topics, the Czech Prime Minister welcomed that the union leaders managed to reach balanced conclusions concerning the Middle East. For Prague, it was important that the text confirmed Israel’s right to self-defense, but it also emphasized the effort to resolve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. “In cooperation with Germany and Austria, we managed to remove from the conclusions the call for member states to internationally recognize Palestine,” Fiala added.

The union leaders also agreed on the so-called Strategic Agenda, a document about the direction of the EU in the next five years. “In my opinion, it is better, more realistic, than the previous one and it reflects the interests of the Czech Republic much more,” the Czech Prime Minister said about the document. According to him, Prague managed to push two key priorities into the text, security, and prosperity, respectively competitiveness and economic growth. The Czech Republic also cared about addressing migration issues, strengthening cooperation with third countries, and speeding up the return policy in the strategic agenda. All these should be priorities for the next European Commission in the field of migration and asylum policy.

“As for the climate agenda, you will not find any talk about the Green Deal, it is more about some pragmatic fulfillment of climate goals, about supporting the industry,” added Petr Fiala. In the field of energy, the Czech Republic managed to push for a specific text adjustment, talking about “ensuring available energy, including the use of all low-carbon sources.” “Behind this sentence lies the enabling of nuclear energy, which is important for us to be able to push through in every key document,” added the Czech representative.