Prague, Nov 26 (CTK) – No meeting of the Czech National Security Council (BRS) is planned after the cabinet´s extraordinary meeting on Saturday, the government´s press department told CTK yesterday, while PM Bohuslav Sobotka, now on a visit to China, told CTK that the BRS will meet on December 8.
On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Pavel Belobradek (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) proposed to Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) that a BRS meeting be convened to deal with a propagandist video clip ranking the Czech Republic among the arch enemies of Islamic State (IS).
The idea was supported by Deputy Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO).
Sobotka said he expects police and intelligence services´ representatives to inform the RBS about the current security situation in the Czech Republic at its meeting due on December 8.
The same issue will also be discussed by the extraordinary meeting the Czech cabinet will hold on Saturday, on the eve of Sunday´s extraordinary summit of the European Council.
“I consider it important for the government to discuss the mandate for the prime minister to promote at the extraordinary [EU] talks,” said Sobotka, who is returning from an official visit to China on Friday.
He said he has asked Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (CSSD) to inform ministers on the current security situation at the cabinet meeting on Saturday, where representatives of the secret services and the police president will also be present.
A debate will be conducted on security not only in the Czech Republic but all over the EU. The ministers should discuss the mandate for Chovanec to promote at a meeting of the EU interior ministers that is to focus on terrorist threats and migrant issues next week, Sobotka said.
On Wednesday, Czech politicians discussed the question of whether the BRS should meet as early as Saturday over the propaganda video clip on which extremists threaten with retaliatory measures against the alliance of 60 countries, including the Czech Republic.
Sobotka said on Wednesday the Czech Republic must not underestimate the IS message.
Roman Vana (CSSD), chairman of the Chamber of Deputies security committee, said yesterday the information about that the Czech Republic is ranked among the IS enemies is not new as it seemed after the video was released. That is why there was no reason to convoke the BRS [immediately over the video], he said.
Vana said the coalition of the countries fighting IS was mentioned by U.S. President Barack Obama in September 2014, which was reported by The Washington Post.
“The video is new, but the news that we are enemies of Islamic State is not new,” Vana said.
“The prime minister knows it, the interior minister knows it, all of us who are dealing with the issue know it. There is no reason for convoking the BRS over it,” he said.
Sobotka said the Czech Republic is a part of the coalition that has been fighting IS for several years now and it openly presents its position. For example, Prague has supplied ammunition to the Kurds, helped train Iraqi air force pilots and supplied L-159 aircraft to the Iraqi military.
As a result, the Czech Republic figuring on the list of IS´s enemies is not surprising, Sobotka said.
“We must not allow ourselves to be navigated by fear but we must do our utmost for IS to be defeated,” Sobotka said, adding that the Czech Republic is and will remain a part of the anti-IS coalition.
The IS´s list itself does not worsen the security situation in the Czech Republic. It could be worsened by the return of IS fighters, but, “since no IS fighters have ever left the Czech Republic, no fighters will return to the Czech Republic either,” Sobotka said.
Nevertheless, they will be returning to other EU countries, which is why Europe has to monitor the movement of risky persons, he added.
The Czech politicians who reacted to the clip on Wednesday were not surprised at that the Czech Republic has been included in the “coalition of devils.”
President Milos Zeman said the Czech Republic has found itself in a good club.
Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek (CSSD) said it would be a mistake to react to the “big-mouth video.”
Chovanec said the video has been the terrorists´ most visible attack on the Czech Republic.
