Schwarzenberg reelected as TOP 09 head

Hradec Kralove, East Bohemia, Oct 23 (CTK) - The Czech junior ruling conservative TOP 09's congress re-elected Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg party chairman and Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek first deputy chairman Sunday, as expected.

Schwarzenberg was supported by 162 of 169 delegates who cast their ballots, which is 95.86 percent.

"Thank you cordially for your confidence," Schwarzenberg told the delegates after the vote.

He said no party chairman can achieve anything alone. "Only together with ou, with God's help," he said, adding that he will lead his fellow party members to "a battle that will be quite hard."

Kalousek's candidacy for TOP 09 first deputy chairman was supported by 162 delegates of 170 who participated in the vote, which is 95.29 percent.

He thanked for the confidence the delegates expressed in him, "despite the media efforts for it to be the lowest possible."

On Saturday, Schwarzenberg announced his decision to run in the next presidential election irrespective whether a direct election is introduced or the current system of election of president by parliament is preserved.

In his speech before the election Sunday, Schwarzenberg partly focused on how the Presidential Office should look like after the incumbent President Vaclav Klaus's departure in early 2013.

He recalled the interwar Czechoslovakia and its president Tomas Garrigue Masaryk (1918-35), who liked to meet and discuss with even his strong opponents.

Prague Castle, the president's seat, must not be a place of controversy but a place from which enlightenment spreads and where a moral renewal is worked on following the country's successful material renewal, Schwarzenberg said.

"In future, Prague Castle should be a place that all Europe views as a bright spot in the European landscape, a place where personalities with outstanding intellect meet, invited by the president," Schwarzenberg said.

"Unlike others, I will not promise not to be an 'activistic' president," Schwarzenberg said, adding that the president bears responsibility of his own and his voice must be heard if a number of affairs require it.

In his speech, Schwarzenberg evidently confronted his positions with those of Klaus, who in the past promised not to be an activistic president.

Schwarzenberg, 73 and Klaus, 70, have exchanged sharp lash-outs in the media in the past weeks, also over Prague's approach to the European integration, of which Klaus is sceptical.

In a speech on Saturday, when the TOP 09 congress began, Schwarzenberg rejected the idea of Prague pursuing an "against all" foreign policy.

"You cannot enter society as a decent man and say we will show solidarity only as long as it brings profit to us. If you [the EU] face troubles, we will turn away and spit at you. I think this is no correct policy," Schwarzenberg said.

Now that the EU faces an economic crisis, the Czech Republic has an opportunity to prove that it is a valuable member of the EU, he added.

"No, we aren't unreliable rabble who only enters [the EU] to grab money and who disappears as soon as troubles arise. This is a crucial dispute on the Czech political scene," Schwarzenberg said.

Schwarzenberg Sunday called on TOP 09 members to start hard work on the party's success in the regional polls scheduled for autumn 2012.

"The polls will decide whether TOP 09 is a phenomenon that is ephemeral or if we have taken deep roots in the Czech political landscape," he added.

For TOP 09 to take roots not only in Prague but also in regions, its regional officials should draft their own election manifestos based on a joint idea of responsibility, and they should also explain why TOP 09 is promoting fundamental reforms, Schwarzenberg said.

In the 16-member centre-right cabinet, the conservative TOP 09 controls the ministries of foreign affairs, finance, health, labour and social affairs, and culture.

Kalousek, in his candidacy speech, warned of impending economic troubles that he said will boost the demand for political extremism in its "red" as well as "brown" forms.

In his speech, which TOP 09 deputy head Jaromir Drabek proposed to be included in the party's programme documents, Kalousek emphasised that the Czech Republic must not stand aside the EU's main integration stream. Isolation would harm Czech exports as well as the country's economic situation, Kalousek pointed out.