Ivan Jancarek
Ambassador of the Czech Republic in Spain
A. Rubio / L. Ayllón
“The aim of our presidency is to give another boost to Europe”, says the Czech Ambassador to Spain. Ivan Jancarek recalls Vaclav Havel’s speech when he received the Charlemagne Prize in 1996, which serves as the basis for the motto of the Czech Presidency of the European Council, which has just begun: “Europe as a task: rethink, strengthen and rebuild”.
What does this motto mean?
Rethinking means that we have to discuss in our presidency the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of the EU. But some of those recommendations, more than a hundred, can already be implemented simply through legislation, without entering into a new debate on institutional reform because we now have to focus on the war in Ukraine.
Strengthening means that we have to have a stronger EU to come out of the crisis more united.
And in terms of rebuilding, we have two duties. The first is to help Ukraine in the aftermath of Russian aggression. The second is to complete the reconstruction of the European economy with EU funds. That is the basis. And we are going to divide it into five areas: Ukraine, energy security, defence, economy and democratic resilience.
The war has obviously disrupted everything. Will the EU emerge stronger?
I think so. If anything, it will come out different. For the first time in its history the EU has been able to react to this crisis, not in months but in hours. And we have done it united, even though the sanctions have been tough not only on Russia but also on our economies. Now we have to get the rest of the world involved in the sanctions as well. Many countries still only see the opportunity to buy cheap energy.
What can happen if the war drags on into winter?
We need an open, transparent and democratic debate. We cannot tell citizens that the war will have no consequences. We have to ask ourselves whether we are prepared to pay a price and, for example, limit consumption. And we have to ask ourselves whether we are going to let Russian attacks on a state that has done nothing without consequences. Because if we don’t stop the aggressor now, we will have consequences in the long term.
You have your own experience of such situation.
We Czechs have a very vivid history. The first was when the European powers signed the Munich Pact and forced us to concede part of our territory to Germany. Chamberlain went back to England saying that he saved the peace. He didn’t, he only saved his government. And we had a war.
Our second experience was in ’68 when 500,000 Warsaw Pact troops put down the Prague Spring. That’s the only reason why we are in favour of a very open dialogue with the citizens. To say that we know the consequences.
The EU has not yet taken a decision on how to deal with the migration problem on all its borders. Is this the time to move forward?
I think so. The French Presidency has made progress and we will try to continue this work. There are some ideas regarding the distribution of refugees. But if we have Schengen, refugees must be able to move freely. We can’t tell them to go to one country or another. With the Ukrainians no country has asked for quotas. We have an internal debate on how to distribute this. And for that we need to know exactly where they are coming in and where they are going. We need to exchange information in real time. And the goal has to be a regulated flow. We don’t want more death, money laundering, mafias, sexism and chaos.
Has the war in Ukraine broken unanimity in the Visegrad Group? I ask you this because Hungary has been reticent about some of the measures.
No, there are no rifts in Visegrad. Some have seen us as monolithic, but we are not. As Central Europeans we share a common memory but not always the same positions. But, since you raise the case of Hungary, I must tell you that it has always delivered what we approved. It cannot be said that there is disloyalty on Hungary’s part. Some countries are more open to help Ukraine, others less. But they all take in refugees and help. Each country has its own government and has to have the support of its citizens.
Should this crisis be a lesson for Europe?
The most important thing is that we understand that we have to be united. And we will achieve that by talking. Not by impositions. If we impose our decisions, like the problem with quotas in 2015, it will do a lot of damage to the cohesion of the EU. As the presidency, we want to be a mediator who listens to everyone and reaches compromises that are interesting for everyone.
The Balkan countries have viewed the agreement for Moldova’s and Ukraine’s accession to the EU with some reluctance.
I think the Balkans understand that the Ukrainians are paying for their candidacy with their lives and that we cannot tell them that they cannot join the EU. It would be fatal for the Union itself. But we must also admit that there is certainly some frustration in these countries. And that is why we must work to find ways to start negotiations with Macedonia and Albania, to negotiate candidate status for Bosnia and to find a solution for Kosovo, and to make progress in negotiations with Serbia and Montenegro.
You also include food security among your priorities. What is the ultimate goal?
It is to bring down prices for everyone. Food is more than a commodity, it is a vital necessity. Rising prices can provoke another wave of migration. We need to put more pressure on Russia to let the charges out of Ukraine. And we need to think about how we can relieve Ukrainian grain stores before the next harvest. There is no hunger problem in Europe, but other countries in Africa or the Middle East may have it. And if we don’t solve it, we face serious consequences.
What do you expect from the bilateral relationship with Spain?
We are partners, allies and members of the European family. For us, Spain is a very important economic partner. It is our tenth largest importer and the Czech Republic is Spain’s 20th largest trading partner. And this relationship continues to grow very fast.
Moreover, our academic relationship is very intense thanks to the Erasmus Programme. Spain is in the Top 3 for Czech students and the Czech Republic is in the Top 8 for Spanish students. We have seven schools where Spanish is taught, which is the second foreign language after English.
As for tourism, we have many visitors to the islands and Andalusia. Now we have to work to recover the director flights. I believe that in 2023 or 2024 we will recover the flow of tourism between the two countries.
We still need to recover high-level visits. We have fantastic parliamentary diplomacy but we have not recovered the visits. We will take advantage of the visits of Albares and Sánchez during our presidency to try to relaunch them.
Are Czech investments in Spain growing?
They have grown a lot recently. Especially private investments in second homes in the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands or the Costa Blanca, possibly as a result of covid. Many sold in the United States and saw that in Spain they had good conditions and, moreover, within the EU.
Secondly, there has been an increase in productive investment in the financial and service sectors. We have an online shopping company that is going to invest 50 million euros in Madrid and Catalonia to create a logistics base; another that is dedicated to the construction of commercial parks and has projects in Burgos and in the Valencian Community; and Skoda, which is also in Spain. We can say that our economy is stronger than it was and is no longer confined to its immediate area.
Are Spanish investments mainly focused on the automotive sector?
Yes, there are the main component companies that supply countries such as Germany, Austria or Slovakia, because we are the heart of the automotive industry.
And there is also room for investment in tourism. There are two hotel chains already present and the biggest attraction is Prague, but also Brno and Ostrava have room for more and higher quality hotels. Although we are still in a cooling period, when inflation comes down and we overcome the energy supply crisis, the sector will grow again.
