Czechs to back Polish call for NATO bases: report
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
07.02.2016 10:23
Prague will support Warsaw in its efforts to secure a permanent NATO military presence in Poland, a senior Czech official has said.
Photo: Flickr.com/U.S. Army Europe Images
The Czech minister for European affairs, Tomas Prouza, told the PAP news agency that his country “will absolutely support Poland during the [July NATO] summit in Warsaw."
Prouza spoke to PAP during an international conference held in London recently to raise money to aid Syria.
Warsaw is to host a NATO summit 8-9 July. Beefing up the military alliance’s presence in Central and Eastern Europe is a key goal for Poland, which considers Russia, its giant neighbour to the east, a major potential threat to its security.
Polish President Andrzej Duda will devote the first half of this year to efforts to build a consensus in NATO on increasing the alliance’s presence in the region, a senior presidential aide said last month.
In a key policy speech in the Polish parliament at the end of last month, Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said that cooperation with Visegrad Group countries would be a priority for Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) government, formed after the party won general elections in October.
The Visegrad Group comprises Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia
(pk)
Source: PAP