President Pavel: Europe must unite to avoid becoming irrelevant

The United States and Russia do not take Europe seriously because they see how divided it is and how slowly it makes decisions. Europe must therefore change to avoid becoming irrelevant, President Petr Pavel told Germany’s Bild.

Pavel, who is on a two-day visit to Germany, said Europe needed to establish its own negotiating position and appoint a person or group of people to represent it at talks on ending the war in Ukraine. He said that, in his view, Russian President Vladimir Putin could be persuaded to negotiate by the prospect of restoring economic relations and trade in the future. The condition would be a ceasefire in Ukraine, the Czech president added.

According to Mr. Pavel, one of Russia’s current aims is to trigger a new wave of refugees fleeing Ukraine for Europe.