Czech Defense Ministry renews ties with controversial aviation union

The Czech Defense Ministry under Jaromír Zůna (SPD) is reconsidering its stance toward associations with which the department had ended cooperation over rule violations or scandalous steps. In mid-September, on September 17, ministry representatives signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Czech Aviation Union. As our editorial team found out, the army publicly distanced itself from this very organization three years ago.

Ministry spokesman Petr Pešek called the memorandum “a standard form of partnership with a professional organization that unites individuals and legal entities, including state institutions.” According to him, the current leadership prefers equal treatment of all associations and unions, and the form of participation in the union’s events will be discussed depending on the type of event.

The speech that made the army cut ties

In autumn 2023, under Petr Fiala’s (ODS) government, the union’s chairman, former fighter pilot Václav Vašek, spoke at a commemorative event at the memorial to World War II airmen in Žatec. He said people could only hope that the “current militaristic government” would not, through its “despicable steps,” drag the nation into a “senseless war for completely foreign interests.” The condition of the cooperation, under which an honor guard took part in the event, was complete political neutrality.

A few days later, the then chief of the General Staff, Karel Řehka, terminated the memorandum, distanced himself from the speech and wrote on the social network X that an official commemoration had been misused.

This time, on September 16, the day before the signing, Vašek again spoke at the memorial in Žatec with a similar speech. He criticized the Sudeten German Days in Brno, calling it a “dangerous and insidious provocation” that was “carefully and secretly prepared by the previous Fiala government.” Of President Petr Pavel he said that he “plays at being president” and “has gone so far as to give this whole ugly affair official patronage.”

Reactions from the military and the union itself

Karel Řehka, who left the post of chief of the General Staff in early July and is running for the Senate for STAN, sees this as a consequence of the SPD running the Defense Ministry. “The armed forces must not cooperate with those who use commemorative events for political agitation,” he said. General Staff spokesman Vladimír Holas called Vašek’s latest speech “regrettable.” He explained that soldiers of the 4th Rapid Deployment Brigade also took part in the event at the invitation of Žatec mayor Radim Laibl (ANO), and the speech put them in an awkward position. The Czech Army as such did not sign the memorandum, so soldiers’ participation in next year’s event is not yet known.

According to the text of the document, it is mainly about exchanging information and holding joint lectures and conferences. Resuming cooperation does not automatically mean financial support, but the union, like any other association, may request it. On the day of the signing, Vašek stepped down as chairman and handed the post to Jaroslav Klacek. The latter defended his predecessor: he has the right to freedom of speech. Klacek welcomes the memorandum: the union gives lectures on aviation history to children and young people, helps veterans and searches for historical artifacts at the crash sites of shot-down aircraft.

Not the ministry’s first such step

Back in spring the department renewed a memorandum with the Czech Union of Freedom Fighters. In 2022 the then defense minister Jana Černochová (ODS) severed ties with it over its use of state subsidies and statements by its chairman Jaroslav Vodička. Her decision left the union without funding and premises in ministry facilities; now it may get them back.

Deputy minister Radovan Vích (SPD) explained that the ministry used to cooperate with about twenty organizations, under the previous leadership the number shrank to about six, and the department now wants to return to the former scope. “If their requests are adequate, we see no reason not to provide support,” he said.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz