Election 2023 | Babiš’s statement about NATO: The reaction of Prague town halls – flags were raised
Although the presidential candidate and former prime minister took his word for it that the Czech Republic would not help its allies in a war conflict, he managed to impress people even beyond the borders of the Czech Republic. When asked whether, as president, he would fulfill NATO obligations in the event of a hypothetical conflict in the vicinity of the Czech Republic and provide military aid to allies, he surprised the domestic and international media in Sunday’s presidential debate on Czech television.
“No, certainly not,” was the answer to a clearly posed question. “I think we need to talk about peace. I say it’s purely a theory. I want peace, I don’t want war. There is no way I would send our children and our women’s children to war.” The words with which Babiš de facto declared that The Czech Republic would not help the allies if he were elected president. For this statement, great criticism came down on his head, ministers started apologizing on social media, and some of the city halls of the Prague metropolis were not left behind.
»Let the flags fly«
She was the first to respond to Babiš’s statement Žižkovska. Above its entrance, next to the flags of the Czech Republic, the European Union and the flag of the city district, on Monday also NATO flag. The posting was initiated with the support of the current mayor of Prague 3, Michal Vronský (TOP 09), the current councilor and, in previous years, also the mayor of Žižkov Jiří Ptáček (TOP 09).
“In your surroundings i in mediaand not only Czech, but especially foreign ones, including those in Ukraine and Russiait was written that it would our potential president to meet allied commitments. That he would refuse to help friendly countries in the event of a conflict. From my point of view it is a crude and unostentatious unwillingness to abide by alliance conventions“, Ptáček explained to Blesk.
For that reason, he started the hoisting of the flag as a gesture of solidarity with allies, including foreigners who live in Prague and watch the events surrounding the election of the president directly with their own eyes. “We want to make it clear to them that the views of one presidential candidate are not the same, which the Czech Republic stands for. It also applies to us that if, God forbid, a critical event occurred, we would like our allies to support us and not the other way around,” added Ptáček, who considers Babiš’s statement to be “diplomatic jam.”
Prague 3 originally started, and other town halls decided to follow suit. Next to the Ukrainian one he has Prague 2 a NATO flag was also found inside the town hall displayed in solidarity with the attacked country. AND above the entrance of the Vysočan town hall, Prague 9 was similarly arranged.
“By joining NATO, the Czech Republic became a solid part of the world’s strongest military organization. This is a key guarantee of our country’s security. That is why we hung the flag of the North Atlantic Alliance in the Prague 2 district. The Czech Republic should also continue to remain a trusted and reliable ally for its partners,” commented local mayor Alexandra Udženija (ODS) for Blesk. “We put up the flag for the reason that we see the NATO alliance as key to ensuring security and our alliance commitments cannot be questioned in any way,” the mayor of Prague 9, Tomáš Portlík (ODS), said briefly, referring to the doubts that Andrej Babiš could have caused.
Her colleagues also decided to imitate Michal Biskup (STAN – Association for Vinoř) from Vinoř in northern Prague. “It’s about symbolic gesture, I didn’t decide on that myself, but the entire district council,” he replied.
“We have never hoisted the NATO flag at our office in history, that’s why I did it hastily searched through the night. given that, thanks to joining the North Atlantic Alliance in 1999, we became definitively pro-Western and not pro-Eastern, I feel the need to react in this way to repeating the words of one of the presidential candidateswho he clearly holds different values than we do. Even a heated election campaign cannot justify such nihilism and damage to international trust in our country,” he added, adding that the flag at the town hall will fly exceptionally until Wednesday night.
A heated campaign
Ondřej Prokop, the chairman of Prague’s ANO and representative of the capital city and Prague 11, spoke out against the practices of some Prague town halls. “The only flag that should be flying in our country is the Czech one. And that has its rules. In general, I do not agree with flying flags during an election campaignespecially in the case of the Tibetan flag, which is misused by many just for their media exposure,” he stated as the example he stuck to.
“I have nothing against Tibet at all, but there are many other oppressed countries in the world. Why support just one? So why not support everyone? It’s not fair to ignore others. That’s why now I see no reason why the NATO flag should be hoisted because of a hysterically heated election campaignBlesk addressed, among other things, the town halls of Prague 18 and Prague 22, where there are ANO mayors, namely Zdeněk Kučera and Tomáš Kaněra. The answers did not come at the time of publication of the article.
“International disgrace, but not the flag”
On the contrary, Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates) commented on the whole situation, who expressed Babiš’s statement as international studies. According to him, the NATO flag will not be displayed at the municipality. “By posting her, we would unnecessarily drew foreign partners’ attention to Babiš’s shameful statement even more in the debate of the candidates for the president of the republic. I don’t want to add to this international embarrassment or increase the security riskwhich Babiš caused to the Czech Republic with his statement,” he replied.
The mayor of Dolní Chabry, Kateřina Šilhová Šafránková (184 00.cz – For a better Chabry), holds a similarly pragmatic opinion. “I think before the second round, the main thing is to unite and motivate people to come to the polls. Not to tease with a symbol that now divides,” he means.
And even the mayor does not agree with the words of the chairman of the national ANO and presidential candidate Prague 7 Jan Čižinský (Prague 7 sebe), neither will he “decorate” “his” town hall with an unusual flag. “When we commemorated the anniversary of the Czech Republic joining NATO in 2019, we ensure that NATO flags are placed on all Prague trams. But we will not hang the NATO flag at the town hall nowbecause any president, the entry of the Prague town halls into the campaign could be rather Contra productive,” means