New Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš stressed today, after the first meeting of the newly appointed government, that he is in favor of the European Union (EU), but that it does not solve some problems, including the expansion of the Schengen area to the Western Balkan countries.
"I don't understand why the EU didn't decide long ago to expand Schengen to the Western Balkan countries so that we can defend our Europe at sea against smugglers who abuse these people and promise them a better life, but only take their money," Babiš said.
Babiš announced that pressing European issues will be on the agenda at the first working session of the new Czech government on Tuesday.
"We will reject the new ETS2 gas emission permits because it is a new green tax, we will reject the migration pact, that exemption for us that we are hearing about is only for one year," said Babiš, adding that at the upcoming EU summit he will also participate in a meeting of countries that reject new European migration solutions, organized by Denmark, while on Wednesday he will meet with the leaders of the Western Balkan countries.
The new Czech Prime Minister stressed that he and his ANO party have always fought for the interests of Europe, but that the EU is now losing competitiveness and is not solving problems such as energy, tax evasion, or customs fraud.
When it comes to the European approach to the war in Ukraine, Babiš said that the Czech Republic will certainly continue humanitarian aid to Ukraine and support all aid coming to Ukraine from the multi-year EU budget, but he did not state whether he would accept or reject the proposal to use frozen Russian funds to help Ukraine.
"Christmas is coming. It would be nice if European leaders, both Zelensky and Putin, agreed on a ceasefire and set themselves the goal of ending the war on the sad fourth anniversary of Putin's aggression against Ukraine, I think on February 24th... and ensuring that all sides receive security guarantees," Babiš said.
The new Czech Prime Minister added that it is bad that thousands of soldiers are dying in Ukraine every week.
"Every war is bad and we should remember World War II, which claimed a huge number of victims. Europe and all participating countries should perhaps start talking about peace and not war because we all do not want war," Babiš said.
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