Czechia vows not to block NATO's €70 billion for Ukraine
Photo: Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (Getty Images)
Czechia has finalized its position regarding aid for Ukraine ahead of the NATO summit, though one major caveat remains, according to České noviny.
Czechia will not block NATO's decisions on Ukraine
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš expressed hope that, in addition to budget commitments, the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara will also address peace efforts in Ukraine.
"At the Ankara summit, leaders should discuss the proposal to provide Ukraine with €70 billion (about CZK 1.69 trillion) this year and at least the same amount next year," the Prime Minister said.
Babiš also announced that Czechia would not block the plan, but said Prague would not contribute funding from its own budget.
"Of course, we will not provide Ukraine with money from the Czech state budget because we need those funds primarily to meet the 2% defense spending target. It is therefore logical that the larger countries will provide the funding, just as they did last year," he said.
Pavel takes a different view
Czech President Petr Pavel, however, argued that it makes no sense for Prague to make it harder for itself to participate in Ukraine’s future reconstruction. After all, the nations that provided Kyiv with the greatest support in the past will take part in this process.
"In our view, it would be unwise to make it harder for ourselves to participate in Ukraine's reconstruction after four and a half years of intensive support by suddenly ending that support," Pavel said.
He also stressed that a sovereign Ukraine with a strong and well-equipped military is one of the best security guarantees for Europe.
"It will be important to discuss at the Czech Republic level how we will address this matter in the long term," he said.
Earlier, Czech officials said they intend to revoke temporary protection status for Ukrainian refugees. The announcement was made by Tomio Okamura, leader of the Czech SPD party and a member of the Czech Chamber of Deputies.
According to Pavel, Ukraine is defending Europe while fundamentally reshaping modern warfare. He described the country as one of the continent's strongest players in the field of defense.
