President Nicusor Dan welcomed by Czech Republic President Petr Pavel at Prague Castle

President Nicusor Dan, accompanied by his partner, Mirabela Gradinaru, was received on Wednesday by the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, at Prague Castle. The Head of State is on an official visit to Prague at the invitation of his Czech counterpart. President Nicusor Dan stated on Wednesday in Prague, when referring to the hybrid warfare, that the cyber part and the disinformation aspects affect us the most, showing, among others, the need for regulation and the importance of public communication.'Since you asked about hybrid warfare, I believe that the cyber and disinformation aspects are the ones that affect our societies the most, and our efforts in this area are ongoing. We have made progress to a certain extent, but we still have work to do,' said the Head of State during a joint press conference with the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel. Nicusor Dan spoke about the two components of disinformation. ‘As regards the cyber sphere, here again it is the same issue of technology, where the ability to invest in research and development is important, so once again collaboration is needed. As regards disinformation, (...) there are two components. One is public communication and the level of trust society has in politicians. In my view, politicians must also take responsibility for their failures or partial achievements, because otherwise we find ourselves in a parallel dialogue between what politicians communicate and what people feel is their everyday reality. And again, there is a very important technological aspect, because it is a question of scale. If we allow ten thousand fake accounts to amplify a message, the voice of the citizen – who, in a democracy, has an opinion and wishes to express it – is no longer heard. Similarly, a few dozen accounts logging on and commenting on a citizen’s or a political figure’s website can discourage others from coming forward and aligning themselves with them. So, in my view, this is an extremely important issue for our democracy, and here we must have the courage to regulate. Not to ban freedom of expression, but to ensure that freedom of expression is exercised proportionately amongst the citizens of a society,’ he explained. As regards drones, the president pointed out that there are both short-term and medium-term concerns. ‘In the medium term, we have a consistent loan in SAFE and the money in SAFE will be used on equipment which was programmed a long time before and we have the opportunity to buy them quicker. (…).We have had drones above our territory for about one year and a half, we have support from our allies. We have improved first the detection capacity, radars, and now we are better as regards the kinetic energy necessary to knock them down. As you know, we knocked down in three successive days drones over our territory and one time in Estonia – our pilots who were in mission there’ said Nicusor Dan.He also highlighted the progress made regarding maritime infrastructure. ‘As regards the maritime aspect, we have made progress here too. On the one hand – and this is a long-standing concern we share with Bulgaria and Turkey – we are clearing commercial shipping lanes in the Black Sea, and now, at the Ankara Summit, we have signed an agreement with Bulgaria and Turkey to continue this work, including in relation to maritime infrastructure,’ said the Head of State.   For his part, the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, pointed out that effective defence against any kind of threat begins with accurately informing the public and securing their support, emphasising that this integrated defence against air attacks is in place within NATO. President Nicusor Dan also said on Wednesday in Prague that Europe has a shortcoming when it comes to creating a single energy market, with Romania interested in developing, including with the help of the European Union, the necessary interconnections to establish a single European energy market."We need to diversify our energy sources. (...) If we are talking strictly about Romania, one shortcoming we still have is storage. I believe we will make significant progress in this area within a year to a year and a half from now. Obviously, the gas from the Black Sea is helping us. If we speak more generally about Europe, we have a shortcoming here in creating a single energy market and that is why you see energy prices varying greatly across European countries and, of course, this does not help the single market in general. Therefore, we are interested in developing, including with the help of the European Union, the necessary interconnections so that we can actually establish a single European energy market," the Romanian head of state told a joint press conference with President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel.He said that the Czech Republic and Romania share common positions regarding the balance between "environmental ambitions" and the need for energy security."And if we are talking about Europe, the Czech Republic and Romania share common positions regarding the balance between environmental ambitions and the need for energy security, including the use of nuclear power, an area in which Romania has experience," Nicusor Dan stressed.The head of state is paying an official visit to Prague at the invitation of his Czech counterpart. (Photo:https://www.presidency.ro/)