Czechia – Tuesday in Prague, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala hold discussions about migration and energy trnsition.
During their joint press conference, von der Leyen stated that the European Union was willing to provide additional funds of 2.2 billions euros to Czechia as part of the economic recovery package of the Union.
An extra 736 millions euros are included to support the energy sector of Czechia affected by the war in Ukraine.
Prime Minister Fiala underlined the importance of nuclear energy as one of Czechia’s favourite green energy, as it helps the country to achieve its carbon footprint reduction goals.
It is to be noted that both PM Fiala and President of the EU Commission von der Leyen took part ahead of their meeting in the Green Deal Summit – a Czech conference on energy sustainability.
Czechia is one of the European countries that help the most Ukrainians refugees. Ursula von der Leyen recognized this effort and talked about the proposal to increase the amount of the aid pack meant to support countries facing the afflux of millions of Ukrainian refugees by 15 billion euros. This transfer is to be made possible by a revision of the EU’s multiannual financial framework.
The member states need though to approve on this support. The head of the European Commission expressed her hopes to count on Czechia’s participation in the discussions.
“Migration needs a European response,” said von der Leyen. Prime Minister Petr Fiala said Czechia wants to contribute to better protection of the EU’s external borders.
“Our goal must be, first of all, to prevent people from entering Europe, to prevent the activity of people smugglers. This involves an accelerated deportation process and other things,” Fiala said. He noted that the Czech Republic continues to reject mandatory relocation of illegal migrants, describing it as “inhumane and non-functional.”