The seventh Czech-Polish intergovernmental consultation was held in Prague

On Friday, 3 June 2022, Prague hosted a joint meeting of representatives of the Czech and Polish governments. At the seventh intergovernmental consultation, the Cabinets, headed by Prime Ministers Petr Fiala and Mateusz Morawiecki, discussed current societal issues. The meeting took place for the first time since August 2019 after a hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Prime Ministers of the Czech and Polish Republics first met at the Kramář’s Villa and then moved to the Liechtenstein Palace, where a joint working lunch was held. Key topics included the impact of Russian aggression in Ukraine, Czech-Polish cooperation in the current difficult international situation, energy security, as well as cross-border cooperation and coordination of European policies.

"I am very pleased to welcome Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to Prague. We have succeeded in renewing the tradition of joint meetings between our governments, as we recently agreed during my visit to Warsaw. We are meeting during very difficult times. We are facing a Russian invasion of Ukraine and our countries face huge challenges. At the same time, however, this is also a situation, in which it appears that the Czech Republic and Poland share the same opinion on many issues and that we are able to achieve very good results together, for example, in the EU negotiations," the Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala recalled that both countries are among the most active in helping Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggressors and in helping refugees who fled the war, and reiterated that Ukraine can rely on both countries as friends and can count on further humanitarian and military aid. "We will do our utmost to ensure that Ukraine prevails over Russia," the Czech Prime Minister promised.

Today's meeting also resulted in the signing of a framework agreement on strengthening defence cooperation between the Ministries of Defence, and the two countries also signed a memorandum on transport cooperation in the development of transport links between Polish ports and the Czech Republic. The aim is to ensure the resilience of our infrastructure and to expand the capabilities of our supply chains.

"We also talked about issues of cross-border cooperation on transport. We need to complete the train and road links between our countries so that we can develop the potential of our countries. We are also working with Poland on energy infrastructure. We have agreed to continue intensive negotiations in this area in order to get rid of our dependence on Russian oil and gas as quickly as possible. It is about the renewal of the Stork II pipeline and the possibility to use the capacity of Polish LNG terminals," the Czech Prime Minister added.

Other cross-border projects were also discussed, such as the building of 5G networks and the development of 5G services in the border region. Last but not least, the Czech Prime Minister informed his Polish counterpart about the preparations for the Czech Presidency of the  Council of the EU, which must respond to a completely new geopolitical context.

The last Czech-Polish intergovernmental consultation took place on 28 August 2019 in Warsaw.