“We look like poor relatives”: Czech Republic criticizes country’s participation in first meeting of Trump’s “Peace Council”
Czech opposition politicians have said that the government is ambiguously representing the country by sending Foreign Minister Petr Macinka to Washington for the first meeting of Donald Trump’s so-called “Peace Council” as an observer. This is reported by České Noviny.
Former Czech Foreign Minister and pro-Ukrainian politician Jan Lipavsky believes that such a position looks humiliating and demonstrates uncertainty in foreign policy. He noted that the government wants to be involved in the initiative, but at the same time is not ready to fulfill the financial conditions for participation.
“Then we look like poor relatives who do not want to pay the entrance fee, but like to go to the cinema. We should engage in foreign policy with more self-confidence,” he said.
Opposition MP Marek Ženišek expressed a tougher position. He believes that Macinka should not go to the meeting at all, so as not to deepen the Czech Republic’s reputational losses. According to him, this is “an unnecessary trip by the most shameful foreign minister in the history of the Czech Republic.”
Deputy Barbora Urbanová also criticized the Czech Republic’s participation in the event, calling the “Peace Council” a personal project of Trump. She emphasized that the Czech Republic is successful and safe thanks to international law, therefore, in her opinion, the foreign minister should not support such initiatives, but strengthen Prague’s positions in the EU and NATO.
Earlier, Donald Trump stated that during the first meeting of the “Peace Council”, the participating countries should announce their intention to allocate more than five billion dollars for humanitarian programs and the reconstruction of Gaza. It was also reported that members of the Council had sent thousands of people to support the stabilization forces in the enclave.
