Press Advisories

20. 3. 200911:42

Topolánek: Trust requires unity

President of the European Council Mirek Topolánek expressed cautious optimism at the conclusion of the EU summit. However, he added that final decisions will be reached Friday.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek also took part in the summit meeting.

“It was also due to the successful efforts of the Czech Presidency that we succeeded to reach common ground”, stated President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso at the concluding press conference.

“The word that is heard everywhere at present, is trust,” stated Mirek Topolánek. The banks will not provide loans without trust and people will not spend their money without it. Today I have heard the word trust 20 to 30 times – we can reach trust, and I say this in the context of the G20 summit preparations, only if we are united.

According to the Czech Presidency the second day of the summit will test European unity. One of the topics should be the finalisation of the agreement on a contribution towards the European Economic Recovery Plan amounting to 5 billion euro for energy projects.