Democratic countries must avoid war fatigue and continue to support Ukraine with the same determination that Ukrainians are fighting, said Czech President Petr Pavel at the European Values Summit in Prague on Wednesday.
Pavel also recalled the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius in July. “The political message to Ukraine should address its future membership in NATO and the EU,” the Czech president said, adding that the alternative is to leave Ukraine in a vacuum, which would lead to problems in the future.
“We are now seeing war fatigue, Ukraine fatigue. We must do our utmost to prevent that,” the Czech president said.
According to Pavel, Ukrainian integration into the EU and NATO will contribute to the stability of Eastern Europe. He also emphasised that the unity of democratic countries can help to tackle the influence of China.
“If we do not want China to change the world order without us, we must create a sufficient counterbalance. We can only achieve this by being united, not only within the EU or NATO but with all democratic countries in the world, with countries that share the same values,” Pavel added.
Among those in attendance at the summit was Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. It was the first time that Pavel, as the NATO member state country head, publicly shared a room with the top Taiwanese diplomat. Pavel openly called for the preservation of a democratic government in Taiwan, which is under pressure from China.
(Aneta Zachová | EURACTIV.cz)
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