Prague, Oct 16 (CTK) – The EU should change, otherwise it will face disintegration, Jiri Hynek, the Czech Defence and Security Industry Association head and a candidate for Czech president, has told CTK, adding that his priority as the head of state would be security and the promotion of Czech interests.
He said if elected in the mid-January direct presidential race, he would try to be the Czech industry’s envoy abroad and help companies succeed on foreign markets.
Hynek, 56, supports Czech membership of NATO but he is against the Czech adoption of the euro because he can see shortcomings in the euro project and considers its introduction an economic risk.
He said he would like the EU to return to its roots and its original raison d’etre.
“It was a brilliant idea and it would work perfectly if it were not for the European bureaucrats who started turning it into something that is uncontrollable, that disrespects the wishes of individual EU members, and that is heading for a catastrophe, in my opinion,” Hynek said.
According to him, people have the right to express their position on anything, including the country’s EU membership, in a referendum. He would not say how he would vote himself.
He said he supports Czech membership of NATO because no conflict has ever hit any of NATO member states, but still he disagrees with some decisions made by NATO.
Decisions on the acceptance of refugees must be made by the Czech government based on the national interests, Hynek said, adding that he is opposed to migrant relocation quotas.
“If we wanted to invite someone to our country, we would do so,” he said.
The EU should help the people who need help, who pose no security risk and are a contribution to the society, he said, adding that most migrants raise his doubts in this respect.
Hynek is a presidential candidate of The Realists, a new extra-parliamentary party.
He said he has succeeded in gathering 15,000 people’s signatures out of 50,000 required for a candidacy to be officially registered.
Along with further people’s signatures, he is seeking signatures of deputies and senators, of which 20 and 10 are enough for a candidacy’s registration, respectively.
Hynek said he would not assess the performance of the incumbent President Milos Zeman, who will seek re-election in January and seems to be one of the favourite candidates for the time being.
Hynek, if elected president, would try to persuade politicians to take Czech defence seriously not “only verbally.”
He would make his first foreign presidential trip to Slovakia and afterwards to the other neighbours, he said.
