Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Wednesday Prague and Warsaw would defend shared interests in the EU, after talks with Donald Tusk and the conclusion of a bilateral internal security pact.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Czech’s Prime Minister Andrej Babis deliver a press conference after a bilateral meeting in Warsaw, Poland, November 4, 2026. REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Babis said negotiations on the agreement, covering internal security and public order, were finished and he hoped it would be signed soon.
He said the two countries were aligned on the EU’s carbon pricing plans, arguing the bloc should settle the future of its existing ETS1 scheme and delay the planned ETS2.
“The only thing that can help our companies immediately is resolving ETS1 and postponing ETS2. And in this respect we fully agree”, Babis told a joint news conference.
He said ETS2 would “only worsen” citizens’ lives and that the European Commission must recognise that Central Europe has energy-intensive industry and different conditions from countries such as Spain. Poland and Czechia would defend their interests in the European Council, he said.
“We not only have good neighbourly relations, but also common interests when it comes to security, defence and energy”, Babis said.
Trade ties
Babis noted Poland had been Czechia’s third-largest trade partner since 2018 and that about 900 companies with Czech capital operate there. He cited Skoda Group’s supply of 37 metro trains to Warsaw, worth about PLN 1.3 billion (EUR 296 million).
He welcomed that the Visegrad Group was “functioning again” and thanked Tusk for an invitation to a joint government meeting, saying both sides would seek a date this year.
Earlier, at Prague airport, Babis said he also planned to discuss the EU’s next budget, on which member states’ positions were “very far apart”, as well as energy security and road and rail links, including high-speed rail.
Czech news agency CTK noted that Babis’ government is pushing an extraordinary tax on refineries, which would hit Orlen’s Czech unit Orlen Unipetrol hardest. Supporters in parliament have cited a similar measure in Poland as an argument.
(jh)
Source: PAP, Polish Radio
Radio Poland