Maneuvers in Prague. The summit will also be overseen by the army, columns of state transport restrictions
On Thursday and Friday, Prague Castle will host a meeting of the leaders not only of the member states of the European Union, but also of other states of the continent. The European Political Community will meet for the first time on Thursday, to which 44 countries have been invited. On Friday, the meeting of the heads of state and prime ministers of the EU countries will begin. The security and escort of the participants of the EU summit will be ensured by several policemen from Prague and throughout the country, and the army will probably also participate. Traffic closures are not planned, the entire Castle area is closed from Tuesday to Saturday.
The guests of the summits will be protected by approximately 500 members of the police, protective services, units for the protection of the president and probably also the army. Police officers will also be at Václav Havel Airport. When the presidential or prime minister’s specials arrive, snipers will aim at the roofs of the buildings, and the entire area will also be under the supervision of pyrotechnicians and their dogs, reported ČT.
The security service will be in charge of thorough checks of reception salons before the arrival of the delegation. “Subsequently, none of the civilians have access to the site and the site is guarded until the protected person arrives,” Martin Kaiser from the Protection Service told TV. Prepared and secured cars, not only against wiretapping, will be waiting for the protected persons on the spot at the exact time. The check also applies to accompanying cars.
There are more than 1,200 accredited journalists from all over the world. Together with the organizational team, up to 2,500 people can move around the premises of Prague Castle.
The police do not plan any closures, but it is necessary to expect minor traffic complications, especially during the passage of delegations. Restrictions will be in the vicinity of the Castle. According to the government office, approximately 250 vehicles are intended to transport the leaders and their delegates to the Prague Castle area from 15 different hotels where they will be staying and from Václav Havel Airport, where they will arrive.
The deputy head of the section for European affairs at the government office of Štěpán Černý on Tuesday in České advised the residents of Prague to limit movement on Europa Street on Thursday morning and possibly on Wednesday evening, as convoys of statesmen accompanied by the police will be moving along it.
At the same time, the Summit may delay part of the flights at the Ruzyne airport due to specific measures for handling individual state flights. According to Prague Airport spokesperson Klára Divíšková, they will primarily be checked in at the fourth terminal. She therefore advised passengers to leave for the airport early. According to the authorities’ information so far, about 49 state delegations should arrive at the Prague airport.
According to the operators of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU, it has no major influence on the occupancy of Prague hotels. Even so, some chains are about 90 percent full for October.
According to Deputy Černý, only Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will not attend the meeting of the European Political Community on Thursday due to internal political reasons. 44 countries were invited. In addition to the 27 EU members, there are also Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the United Kingdom and Turkey.
Heads of state and prime ministers will then discuss on Friday the war in Ukraine and the military and financial reasons for countries attacked by Russia, the energy and economic situation in Europe.