Babiš at Prague Defence Summit: "Nobody talks about peace" — he proposes a "Euro Patriot" system

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš opened the second day of the Prague Defence Summit with a sharp speech in which he criticised participants for failing to discuss peace. According to him, out of more than 300 defence conferences held worldwide each year — around 50 of them in Europe — he has never once heard the word "peace" mentioned.

"Unfortunately, when I take part in meetings like this and listen carefully, I never hear the word 'peace.' It's never said. And for me, peace is the key thing," Babiš told the assembled politicians, diplomats and military experts. Some in the audience exchanged surprised glances, while others nodded in approval.

Criticism of militarisation and "green policy"

In Babiš's view, discussions at such international gatherings focus far too heavily on military strength, while the pursuit of diplomatic solutions has effectively become taboo. He also pointed to the EU's "green" policy and illegal migration as problems. "I won't shy away from saying this out loud: the path the world is currently on doesn't lead to security — it leads straight to the gates of hell," the Czech premier warned.

Babiš put forward two concrete steps. First, he argued, Europe together with the United States should bring Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the negotiating table. "Diplomacy is not weakness — it's the only way forward," Babiš said, while immediately acknowledging that "clearly, Putin is the aggressor and is doing something truly unacceptable."

The idea of a pan-European "Euro Patriot"

The Czech prime minister's second proposal was for Europeans to jointly build "a new Airbus" — in other words, a pan-European missile defence system, which he dubbed "Euro Patriot," in reference to the well-known American Patriot systems. "I listened to Zelensky's speech at the NATO summit in Ankara, where he said the main threat was ballistic missiles and called on Europe to develop its own defence system against ballistic missiles and drones. I think he was right," Babiš added.

He noted that Europe has talked about building a shield similar to Israel's, but no real progress has been made so far. Babiš reiterated that air defence remains a priority for his government, though the defence ministry, led by Jaroslav Zůna (SPD), has yet to present any concrete steps in this direction.

Czechia left out of the joint coalition

In July 2026, at a summit in Paris initiated by French President Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelensky, an Integrated Coalition against ballistic missiles was established. Its founding members include France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Ukraine. Czechia is not part of this initiative, a fact the opposition has previously criticised the government for.

Babiš himself also reproached the defence ministry back in July for failing to inform him in advance about the preparations for the Paris coalition — saying he only learned about it on the day it was officially announced.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz