Prague, Jan 12 (CTK) – There is no information about any immediate threat faced by the Czech Republic and its citizens, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said after meeting Interior Minister Milan Chovanec and the intelligence services’ heads on Thursday, adding that security is his cabinet’s priority.
Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) told a press conference that the meeting this morning focused on the security situation in the country, security measures and information related to them.
“I want to assure people that the security forces operate with utmost effort to ensure the safety of citizens and the Czech Republic. The ensuring of safety is an absolute priority for the cabinet,” he said.
Chovanec (CSSD) said cooperation between the intelligence services and the police has been perfect. Their cooperation with foreign partners is very good as well. The partners assess the information they receive from the Czech intelligence services positively, Chovanec said.
“From this point of view, I believe that the investment in security is worthwhile, that the money we have invested in the security sphere since the beginning of the government of Bohuslav Sobotka has been rewarding,” Chovanec said.
The coalition government, which is comprised of the CSSD, the ANO movement and the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), has been in power since January 2014.
“I can confirm that there exists no new piece of information from the past several weeks about any worsening of the security situation in the Czech Republic,” Chovanec told journalists.
There is no reason to raise the terror danger warning degree, he said.
Chovanec said “we are strictly keeping to the plan (for January), which includes the protection of soft goals, protection of shopping centres.”
Sobotka, Chovanec and the intelligence services’ heads met in reaction to Wednesday’s public statement by President Milos Zeman that a person coming from north Africa and suspected of cooperation with terrorist Islamic organisations is staying in the Czech Republic.
Earlier on Thursday, Sobotka warned on Facebook that foreign intelligence services may stop sharing sensitive information with their Czech counterparts if they could not rely on the information remaining secret in the Czech Republic.
The politicians with access to information should behave responsibly, Sobotka wrote.
“Speech is silver, silence is golden,” he wrote.
Zeman’s spokesman Jiri Ovcacek criticised this statement. “The Prime Minister should clearly abide by his own slogan,” he tweeted.
