Pavel stressed the need to align public statements on foreign policy

President Petr Pavel emphasised the need to align official foreign-policy statements so that they correspond to Czechia's  foreign policy priorities and commitments, the Presidential Office reported after a New Year’s lunch between the president and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO). Pavel's statement comes in connection with the anti-Ukrainian New Year’s address by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Tomio Okamura (SPD) and the government’s stance on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

According to the Presidential Office, the president and the prime minister agreed to establish mechanisms for coordinating and sharing information on foreign and security policy, as well as to coordinate foreign trips.

However, Okamura again defended his New Year’s address before journalists, calling it excellent.