Mar 10: Jakub Janda, Meet Pavel- Czechia's new president

Thread published by Jakub Janda (European Values Centre) on January 30, 2023

Jakub Janda, Meet Pavel- Czechia's new president

Petr Pavel, a former Czech army chief and high-level Nato official, took the oath of office to start his five-year term as Czech President on Thursday.

Pavel beat populist former prime minister Andrej Babis in a January election on pledges to firmly anchor the central European country in the European Union and Nato, a turn away from the policy of predecessor Milos Zeman, who had tried to boost relations with Russia and China.

Jakub Janda 楊雅嚳 @_JakubJanda

NEW CZECH PRESIDENT: QUICK INTRO Czechia elected @general_pavel as new President. 5 yr term starts on March 8. In 2018, retired from active duty as 4-star army general after leading Czech army & NATO Military Committee. The most internationally successful Czech soldier ever had

@general_pavel spent his senior career in military diplomacy. As Chairman of NATO Military Committee, he was tasked in 2017 to negotiate with Russian military to de-escalate over NATO-Russia incidents. He know how to deal with Russian terrorists.

(nato.int/cps/en/natohq/…)

Chairman of NATO Military Committee, General Pavel met with Russian Chief of General Staff, General Gerasimov

General Petr Pavel, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee and General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and First Deputy Minister of Defence …

New Czech President spent his career in leading Czech Special Forces and later the whole Czech military, becoming Chief of General Staff in 2012 - 2014.

In his early career, he received highest French state medal for saving over 50 French soldiers in Bosnia in 1993.

On defending from Russian aggression and supporting Ukraine, he is the most hawkish leader you meet in Europe.

We hosted him multiple times at @europeanvalues, he really represents the mindset of a NATO top general.

Here he speaks about our work:

Jak generál Petr Pavel vnímá analýzy think-tanku Evropské hodn... | Armádní generál Petr Pavel v rámci kampaně Nechceme zpátky na Východ vysvětluje základní argumenty, proč by byl pro Česko posun pryč z alliance západních...

What to expect of the new Czech President?

He will be a best ally of Polish President Duda & the Baltic leaders on pushing Russia out of Europe.

His first foreign trip will be to Slovakia to meet President Čaputová, to jointly visit Kyiv.

During the hot presidential campaign, @general_pavel visited Budapest to meet Hungarian civil society leaders to speak about pro-Russian policies of Viktor Orbán.

Petr Pavel decided to run for Czech presidency because he did not want Czechia to become Orban-style regime.

3 days before 1st round, French President Macron wecomes & defacto endorsed fmr Czech PM Babiš, who was later defeated by Petr Pavel.

This hostile foreign electoral interference by Macron was seen as a major WTF by Czech political class, Pavel was visibly disgusted.

On China: Czech President-Elect @general_pavel is a known hawk, calling China "national security threat".

He is the first European President-Elect ever to have a direct publicly acknowledged call with President of Taiwan.

Expect much more from him, this is just a start.