Press Advisories

14. 5. 201010:08

Prime Minister Jan Fischer Spends Two Days in Paris

First bilateral meeting with top French officials since the end of the Czech EU presidency last June

The prime minister began his trip with an appearance at the prestigious Institute of High Studies of National Defence - École militaire. There he spoke of the situation of the financial problems sweeping Greece. "Greece's problem developed from Greece not being able to present a believable picture of itself," Fischer said in relation to the problem of the falsified statistical figures it admitted last year. "Where the independence of statistics is at stake, democracy is at stake," the prime minister said. In his lecture, he balanced his yearlong service in his position as prime minister. "It was not a simple year. It was a useful year, and no, I regret nothing," he said, referring to the words of the famous French chansonniere Edith Piaf ("Non, je ne regrette rien").

During his second day, the prime minister met with Christine Lagarde, the French minister of economic affairs, industry and employment, as well as his French counterpart, François Fillon.

Minister Lagarde promised that she would personally press for a definitive solution to issues connected with the division of assets of the former Czechoslovakia in France. At the same time, Prime Minister Fischer discussed the preparation of the Action Plan for Strategic Partnership for 2011-2013, which deals with cooperation between both countries in the areas of culture, education, trade and security.

In the afternoon, Fischer met with French Prime Minister François Fillon for bilateral talks. "Our mutual relations are on a good level, and there is still great potential here which we can use. We are not reducing this only to economics; there are also possibilities in science, research, education, culture and sports," the prime minister said. Both politicians also discussed the possibility of cooperation in the area of nuclear energy.

One of the successes of the talks in Paris was France's clearly expressed support for locating the headquarters of the European navigation system, Galileo. "We got clear and pronounced support," the prime minister said. Prague would like the decision on Galileo's location to be decided during the current Spanish EU presidency.