New Czech president visits Poland hailing “best ever relations”

New Czech President Petr Pavel has visited his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, in Warsaw, with the pair hailing their country’s close relations and shared support for Ukraine. Following their meeting, Duda pledged that Poland would provide Kyiv with MiG-29 fighter jets “in the coming days”.

For Pavel, who was sworn in a week ago following his election in January, it was his second trip abroad as president, following a visit to Slovakia.

“I very much appreciate that cooperation between the Czech Republic and Poland is at such a high level,” he said, speaking alongside Duda. “Throughout history, I don’t think our relations have been on such a level as they are now.”

“We talked about…what we would like to achieve, especially in the context of strengthening NATO’s eastern flank,” added Duda. “The Czech Republic and Poland are countries that are in the absolute avant-garde when it comes to support for Ukraine.”

The Polish president said that his country would be “handing over four [MiG-29] aircraft in full working order” to Ukraine “in the coming days”. That would be followed by further MiGs that are currently being serviced.

Duda”s announcement appears to be an accelerated timeline from the one previously suggested by the Polish government. Two days ago, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that the MiGs would be handed over “in the next four to six weeks”.

Following today’s meeting, Duda also reiterated Warsaw and Prague’s support for Ukraine’s future membership of the EU. “President [Pavel] and I have no doubt that this is in our common interest,” said Duda. “It would be a very important strengthening of our part of the EU if Ukraine were to join the EU.”

“We will certainly strive to act on this here in these coming years,” he added. “Poland and the Czech Republic are positioning themselves as advocates for Ukraine by supporting these accession and development aspirations.”

Both presidents also expressed enthusiasm about joint Polish-Czech projects such as an expressway and a gas interconnector linking the two countries. They also discussed the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius.

Pavel’s visit to Poland also includes meetings with Morawiecki, with the speakers of both houses of parliament, Elżbieta Witek and Tomasz Grodzki, and with Czech emigrants living in Warsaw.

Main photo credit: Grzegorz Jakubowski/KPRP 

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.