/FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE DAILY IN THE USA/ Prime Minister Petr Fiala, his government and the Czech Republic as a state did not receive a free reception with US President Joe Biden at the White House on Monday. One of the most powerful men on the planet made it clear that the role was mainly played by the help to Ukraine attacked by Russia, in which our country is in some respects at the head of the whole of Europe.
Petr Fiala and Joe Biden during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House | Video: Deník/Luboš Palata
A police dog arrives who is trained to find drugs and explosives. When he finds nothing, two more members of White House security arrive and literally rummage through all the purses, backpacks and bags of TV equipment. American agents are not in a hurry, and for a while it looks like they will dump the entire contents of some women’s handbags on the asphalt. They take their time and really have it. The press entourage of Prime Minister Petr Fiala had to arrive in front of the White House more than an hour early.
While the examination of the contents of the luggage is far from over, the journalists also go through a personal security check, during which they take off their watches and unbuckle their trousers. Instead of entering the garden of the White House, we then return to get our luggage, which has already been lying around with expensive equipment on the sidewalk before the entrance to the garden of the US President’s residence for quite a few minutes. “That’s normal practice here,” notes one diplomat.
Fiala considers it symbolic that his visit is taking place in the year when the Czech Republic commemorated a quarter of a century since joining the North Atlantic Alliance:
US President Biden received Fiala at the White House. The Czech Republic is a great ally, he said
A few crews of the world’s biggest televisions, lucky enough to receive permanent accreditation, are sheltered in a few tents inside grounds of the White House. You kind of hide a beautiful, but not very big garden. Although a storm is approaching, automatic irrigation sprinkles the lush green lawn as if it hasn’t rained in a year.
Arrival in a storm
The Czech will then head to the White House Prime Minister Petr Fiala, as well as all statesmen who arrive to see the US president at his mansion, through the side entrance. The president’s secretary will welcome him on the spot, and it is here that the Czech prime minister will also sign the guest book.
According to the protocol, the beginning of the meeting looks like, but it is still far away. A pair of White House employees directs us to the press center, where one of the regular press conferences is just ending. “What was it about today?” I ask the six-foot-tall, curly-haired African-American man in a beige suit. “About Iran and the Middle East, about the aid package for Ukraine,” he answers a little bored. “And the fact that Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala is coming here in a little while?” “Yes, about that too, but really only a little,” he adds. Among the correspondents from the White House, however, there is one who came specifically for Fiala. “I’m a reporter for Polish Radio,” says the elegant fiftysomething in pure American English.
Waiting for the arrival of Prime Minister Petr Fiala in front of the White House:
Source: Deník/Luboš Palata
Program US President Joe Biden in the meantime, he took a bit of a slide. Before Fiala, the Iraqi prime minister was in the White House, accompanied by a large delegation, and they dragged on for a quarter of an hour. At the same time, the Iraqi made life difficult for Fial the night before, because the luxurious Willard Hotel, where the Czech delegation also lives, turned into an extremely guarded fortress due to his stay.
In the end, Biden’s meeting with Fiala is delayed by half an hour. And since the car with the Czech Prime Minister cannot wait in front of the door to the White House, Fial’s convoy must adapt and arrive at a new date. Drama begins for the TV crews preparing to film Fial’s arrival. It’s cloudy and thundering. About a quarter of an hour before arrival, a storm and heavy rain begins. “The main thing is not to hide under the trees,” says one local reporter. “Two years ago, just a few meters from the White House, two people were killed in a similar storm,” he warns.
Visiting the President of the United States is a great privilege. The Czech Republic is the only country in Central and Eastern Europe that has enjoyed it regularly for more than thirty years:
Czech Prime Minister at the US President: Apart from Poland, we are the only one from Eastern Europe
Meanwhile, torrential rain destroys the painstakingly created hairstyles of TV reporters and soaks water in the journalists’ expensive suits. Those who can take cover at the entrance to the press center and just peek out and listen to see if the prime minister’s motorcade is approaching. Half an hour after the originally announced start of the meeting, the prime minister arrives in a giant armored Chevrolet limousine Peter Fiala. He waves and enters. Unlike drenched journalists, it has a roof over the entrance.
Five minutes in the Oval Office in front of the cameras
Another wait ensues, this time for the real start interviews in the Oval Office, where journalists can also be there for the first few minutes. Although the small and not entirely modern-looking press center of the White House seemed half-empty, when the order comes to prepare to move to the Oval Office, three dozen American cameramen, photographers and journalists emerge from the bowels of the offices and studios.
Then a small blue door opens in the wall to the premises of the White House itself. In the narrow corridor, the journalists are divided into domestic and those from the Czech Republic. Americans have an unsociable preference. When the door to the garden leading to the Oval Office opens, he takes a quick step forward.
The leaders of today’s world are generally getting older. Do you know how old Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin and other world statesmen are?
How old are Biden, Putin and other politicians? We are ruled by peasants and they don’t have enough
While press conferences are orderly to the point of class, in the Oval Office it’s a tough fight for a seat at the front. Mainly among videographers and photographers, but even those who do not shoot with a camera, at least shoot with a mobile phone these days. In the office, Petr Fiala and Joe Biden are already sitting next to each other in chairs, waiting for the group of journalists to somehow compare themselves. Journalists have the American president’s desk behind them.
The host, the American, will speak first the president. He doesn’t exactly speak loudly. He has a notepad on his lap, and even though his arguments are famous, this time everything has a head and a heel. What’s more, his words sound very pleasant not only to Prime Minister Fiala, but also to Czech journalists.
“You are a great ally, we are getting closer, we are stronger, we have deepened defense cooperation, we are also working together on clean energy. I appreciate how you are helping Ukraine,” says Biden, who remembers how he was at the Czech Republic’s entry into NATO twenty-five years ago. And they praise us for the initiative to secure ammunition for Ukraine, within the framework of which, as they claim, Kiev could receive up to a million pieces of ammunition thanks to Prague. The American president will also declare that the behavior of the Czech Republic should be an example for the US Congress, which has been postponing the vote on $60 billion in military aid to Ukraine for months. “Congress needs to approve this funding for Ukraine, and they need to do it now. The Czech Republic knows too well that Russia will not stop in Ukraine,” says Biden. “Russian President Vladimir Putin will not stop and he will threaten Europe, the United States and the whole world if we do not stop him in Ukraine,” states the American president.
Journalists who were unable to win a seat in the front sometimes have trouble understanding the American president’s words due to his bland speech. Only after the fact, from the best records, can he guess what Biden actually said to Fial at the beginning of the meeting.
Petr Fiala and Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House:
Source: Deník/Luboš Palata
There is no danger of that with the Czech prime minister. To the most powerful man in the USA he tells how in 1968 he saw the tanks of the Soviet occupiers coming. Biden was clearly intrigued by his words. He also smiles at Fialo’s memory of Madeleine Albright, the American foreign minister of Czech origin, who made a significant contribution to the expansion of NATO in 1998. The Czech Prime Minister then does not forget to mention that Czech companies invest many millions of dollars in the USA today and employ thousands of Americans. And it also recalls the purchase of American fighters by the Czech army. “We are partners in NATO and the most important thing is that we share the same democratic values,” says Fiala.
Five minutes have passed and the public part of the meeting is ending. The commands of the White House employees to leave the room are mixed with the shouts of American reporters who are trying to ask Biden a question and hope that the president will answer briefly. In vain.
The Czech Republic and the USA will connect the core
We head back to the press center and another wait begins. Petr Fiala’s meeting with Joe Biden ends after an hour and a half instead of the scheduled hour. Now only Fiala alone will appear before the journalists. This is given by the protocol, as a joint press conference would only be possible when Fiala’s place would be held by a function corresponding to Biden’s President Petr Pavel.
Petr Fiala also spoke about his trip to the USA in the Deník debate:
VIDEO: Prime Minister Fiala spoke about the migration pact, the trip to the USA and the pension reform
The Czech Prime Minister, who has just completed probably the most important interview in his political career, arrives in a good mood. In addition, nice, almost summer-like sunny weather has returned over the White House. “The negotiations were very friendly, in a great atmosphere, the level of relations between the Czech Republic and the United States, which is now the best in history, was appreciated several times,” he declares. Among the general description of the talks, where Ukraine dominated and situation in the Middle East, finally one important concrete thing appears. “We will speed up preparations for an agreement on cooperation in nuclear energy,” says Fiala, saying that it concerns American modular reactors or the cooperation of Czech companies with the US on the renewal of Ukrainian nuclear power plants. He also adds that he drew President Biden’s attention to the importance of supplying American natural gas to Europe and the Czech Republic.
After three questions from the Czech journalists, the aforementioned Polish journalist breaks into the floor and asks one more question about the package US aid to Ukraine. The prime minister patiently repeats in English what he said two minutes earlier in Czech, i.e. how important this aid and its rapid approval by Congress are from the Czech point of view.
Departure of Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s motorcade from the White House:
Source: Deník/Luboš Palata
That concludes the entire visit to the White House. The prime minister’s entourage gets into one big black car, while Prime Minister Fiala gets into the other with the American and Czech flags on the front. The vehicles will slowly drive towards the exit from the White House grounds and then the sirens of the police escort will sound.
A few minutes later, he is already mentally kicking Czech journalists out of the White House. We hand over temporary accreditations, thank you for accompanying us, take the last photos. It’s five and a few minutes American time, six hours later at home. The prime minister is heading to the embassy for his compatriots and then to the hockey of the local team, which is ruled by the Russian “Putinist” Alexander Ovechkin. The Washington Capitals are waiting for a match with the Boston Bruins, for which three star Czechs play, led by David Pastrňák. In the garden of the White House, they watch it all without excitement two american squirrelswhich do not allow themselves to be disturbed in the search for something to eat.
