“We all saw the images from the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine: Ukrainian citizens obstructing unarmed Russian soldiers. They talked to them, sometimes shouted at them, they openly denounced the absurdity of this war. These images remind us of another invasion and another phase of European resistance to oppression: Prague 1968”. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, spoke in the plenary session of the European Parliament together with the Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala about the rotating EU Council Presidency. “That’s why I can hardly imagine a country that would be better suited for the presidency of the European Union than the Czech Republic. The people of the Czech Republic went through the phase of oppression alone. Above all, they know the power of resistance, the power of hope and the joy of being resurrected as a free and democratic country. And today, more than ever, we need that quest for freedom to move our Union forward,” he added.
