Von der Leyen said that the Czech Republic participates in creating the future of the EU

Commercial presentation Update: 04/30/2024 21:06
Issued by: 30/04/2024, 21:06

Prague – President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen praised the Czech aid to Ukraine. In a speech before the celebratory concert for the 20th anniversary of the Czech Republic’s entry into the European Union in Prague’s Rudolfinum, she also stated that the Czech Republic is involved in creating the future of the union. Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) said that the EU works better when it finds itself under pressure, in times of crisis. He pointed to the Russian threat and the pressure of global economic competition.

“For decades, the Iron Curtain kept everyone on their side, but the Velvet Revolution brought you back to Europe,” recalled von der Leyenová, who greeted the audience in Czech and also remembered former dissident and president Václav Havel. She pointed out that she did not want to recall what twenty-year membership in the union meant for the Czech Republic. “After all, you see it every day. You attract tourists from all over the world, investors from all over Europe and you export five times more than 20 years ago,” she listed.

According to the President of the EC, Europe strengthened the Czech Republic, and the Czech Republic, on the other hand, strengthened Europe, for which, according to her, the fight for freedom was an inspiration. “I want to thank the Czech nation for your contribution to the formation of our current union,” she said.

“You became one of Ukraine’s most reliable allies not because it was easy, but because it was right. You led the initiative to get ammunition not because it was easy, but because it was right. You took in the most refugees from Ukraine to the population not because it promises any success, but because it is right. And under the Czech presidency, we managed to free ourselves from the yoke of Russian blackmail, again because it was right,” she said.

In the Rudolfinum, the Czech Philharmonic, soloists and the Prague Philharmonic Choir conducted by Semjon Byčkov performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor with the final Ode to Joy by the German poet Friedrich Schiller, which became the anthem of the European Union.

EU CR music diplomacy PHOTO