European countries would follow Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala they should not focus so much on what the future US President Donald Trump will do during his second term, but should rather think about what Europe will do to make it stronger and more competitive. He said this on Monday in the broadcast of the ČT24 station, informs the reporter of TASR in Prague.
“Donald Trump enters the presidency with a strong mandate. We already kind of know how his first term went, so we can also assume that he will try to be a strong president even in that international environment,” thinks Fiala. However, according to him, it is more important for Europe to focus “on its own affairs” and the tasks it faces in the current international situation.
“As we know, Europe is not or was not very successful in some things. We didn’t care too much about the defense and when it comes to competitiveness, we started to miss the train a little bit. This needs to be fixed. It is difficult to predict the steps that the new American administration will take, but I have a long-term belief that Europe should be more confident, bolder, more decisive, less regulated and more mind its own business – simply be more responsible.” said the Czech Prime Minister.
He holds the opinion that the Czech Republic must have the closest possible relations with the USA. He considers the cooperation between Europe and the United States to be absolutely crucial for Western democracy and the whole world. “But that does not rule out the fact that we, as Europeans, have to take more responsibility for our environment and our lives. And that would be on the table regardless of who would be the American president.” added Fiala.
According to him, Trump can be expected to, for example, put more pressure on the Europeans to increase defense spending. However, he is convinced that it is also in the interest of the Czech Republic.
