PCC will hold many of the Czech EU Presidency events and meetings. As a result, there will be some restrictions for PCC visitors and for those who will find themselves in the PCC vicinity in the course of the first six months of the year.
“The biggest and most demanding events in terms of security will be the informal meeting of the EU interior and justice ministers as well as a meeting of EU finance ministers or the EU foreign affairs ministers with their Latin America counterparts of the Rio group,”said the Deputy Vice Prime Minister for European Foreign Affairs, Jana Hendrichová.
Restrictions
All the police constituents take part in PCC security. Only accredited participants to the meetings or organizational crews can enter the zone that has been established within the PCC grounds. Accreditation for individual events will be awarded by the Government’s Office. “Whenever a meeting that is more likely to cause security problems takes place, e.g. the above mentioned meeting of EU and Latin America foreign affairs ministers, the security measures will not only apply to the PCC grounds, but also to the immediate neighbourhood,” Hendrichová pointed out. Events that are less likely to pose a security threat will see security measures implemented only on the PCC grounds themselves, or more precisely in the so called common part of the Congress Centre in which the meeting will take place. In relation to other meetings that will be held in permanent conference rooms in the Southern Wing of PCC the security measures will be limited so that a safe and from the organizational point of view smooth course of meetings could be ensured as well as regular operation of the centre.
Police
“CR Police will patrol the Congress Centre and its vicinity throughout the Czech EU Presidency and their operation will be reinforced before and during important events,” said the Deputy President of the Police, Ivan Bílek. The Police will also carry out security checks on people applying for participation in individual events. As for the immediate surroundings of the Centre, there will be some traffic restrictions applying mostly to the adjoining car park and roads in Pankrác Square. “It will specifically mean a partial restriction on parking in Pankrác Square. Partial but always only necessary and temporary restrictions will be made on roads leading to the Congress Centre, possibly also on roads leading to the adjoining hotels Holiday Inn PCC and Corinthia Towers,” said Bílek. This mainly includes Nuselský Bridge, as the participants to the PCC meetings will arrive from the city centre as well as from the airport. These measures will, however, only apply to the informal EU ministers meetings and other important events. During work meetings the restrictions will not be put in place. A list of events is enclosed in the attachment. It will allow people to plan their journey in the proximity of PCC without any unnecessary delay. According to the Prague Police President, Martin Červíček, there will be no lack of policemen in the streets of Prague despite the deployment of many police officers in the PCC area. “This task will be mainly carried out by the Police Public Order Unit, which has been trained for such occasions. Criminal Police will be reinforced in the streets of Prague as well and other police units will also participate, such as the River Unit or Police dog handlers,” said Červíček.
Events hosted by PCC
Congress centre will host informal meetings of environment ministers, education ministers or informal meetings of the Ministerial Council for Competitiveness. Other important events include ministerial conference on migration, international conference on the possessions of the Holocaust victims and other ministerial meetings. There will also be a high number of work meetings.
For the whole of the Czech EU Presidency in the first six months of 2009, permanent conference premises will hold numerous meetings . At the moment, there are already 100 booked events, many of them two or more days long. The total number of meetings that will be held in PCC is estimated to be approximately 180.
“When choosing convenient premises, there were many requirements relating to the character, extent and type of meetings. The Congress Centre meets these requirements and has valuable references in this respect from such events as the International Monetary Fund meeting in 2000 or North Atlantic Alliance Summit in 2002,” said PCC director, Michal Kárník. Besides providing a good base for meetings, PCC is also easily accessible from the city centre.