French President Emmanuel Macron will hold talks with President Petr Pavlo and Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) in Prague on Tuesday. The program also includes a memorial service at the memorial plaque of Jan Palach, according to the invitations published today by Prague Castle and earlier by the government office. The Elysee Palace announced on Wednesday that Macron will discuss nuclear energy, defense and support for Ukraine in Prague. With Fiala, they will sign an action plan for the years 2024 to 2028 on strategic cooperation, energy and transport.
Macron should arrive at Prague Castle shortly before noon, according to the communications department of the presidential office, his private meeting with Pavel is planned for 12:05 p.m. The castle then announces a meeting with the media at 1:30 p.m. and a memorial service on Jan Palach Square at 1:55 p.m. Palach is commemorated by a plaque on the building of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, where a student killed 14 people and injured himself and 25 others last December. The French president could also honor the victims of the shooting.
Subsequently, Macron heads to the nearby Straka Academy, where he is scheduled to meet with Fiala at 2:15 p.m.. According to the government office, the main topics of the meeting will be defense cooperation, energy and the war in Ukraine. The politicians will also sign the strategic partnership action plan of the two countries for the years 2024 to 2028, and a joint statement for the media is also on the agenda.
On Monday, Fiala took part in a meeting in Paris on aid to Ukraine, which has been facing a Russian military invasion for the third year. After him, Macron announced that France would join the Czech initiative to purchase artillery ammunition for Ukraine from countries outside the European Union. 15 countries could join. According to Pavel, the Czech Republic has the opportunity to purchase up to half a million artillery shells of 155 mm caliber and 300 thousand pieces of 122 mm caliber in unnamed countries outside the EU.
Fiala said in the House of Representatives on Thursday that no one in Europe is going to send troops to Ukraine. According to him, it was a “minimum topic” in terms of time at Monday’s Paris summit. According to the Prime Minister, French President Emmanuel Macron came up with the idea on the sidelines of the summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin he said on Thursday that NATO countries would risk a nuclear conflict if they sent their troops to Ukraine.
Another important topic of the visit to Prague will also be nuclear energy. The French state electricity company EDF, which operates the largest network of nuclear power plants in Europe, is one of the bidders for the construction of a new unit in Dukovany, together with the South Korean company KHNP. The Czech government expects offers in April. The contract with the selected supplier should be signed at the turn of 2024 and 2025, and the first reactor should be commissioned in 2036.
