Sharjah24 - AFP : Former NATO general and recently elected president of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, is expected to strengthen ties with the EU and provide unwavering support for Ukraine, according to commentators.
The 61-year-old war hero beat billionaire populist Andrej Babis to win Saturday's presidential election.
A former chief of NATO's military committee, he will replace outspoken, divisive incumbent Milos Zeman who had fostered closer ties with Moscow and Beijing before making a U-turn when Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
Analysts told AFP that Pavel's experience in military diplomacy would be a clear asset as he held a very different presidency than his predecessor.
"We know that his contacts at NATO, as well as with peers from NATO member states... are very strong, and foreign policy will be his domain," said Pavel Havlicek, a scientist at the Association for International Affairs in Prague.
"I think he will be a proficient president if we realise the war in Ukraine is one of the key problems Europe is facing," Havlicek said .
Pavel was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in the 1980s and began a rapid rise through army ranks until communism fell in 1989.
After Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, Pavel became an advocate of EU and NATO membership.
During campaigning he argued there was still "no better alternative".
He also called for more aid to Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February last year.
"He is very much in favour of Ukraine, he has repeatedly voiced his support, and he's very critical towards Russia," said Jiri Pehe, a political analyst at New York University Prague.
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