Klaus warns of worsening mistrust

Prague, Jan 1 (CTK) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus said yesterday a social atmosphere that is not good and mutual mistrust, to which various pressure groups also contribute, are deepening in the country.

The pressure groups, that Klaus did not specify, do not want to comprehend that it is not possible to gain advantages at others' cost, Klaus said in his New Year's Day speech.

Klaus also said the country is unable to find political leaders.

"For prestigious political reasons we are mutually blocking even such things of which all know that must be done. We are unable to find political leaders. We impede anyone who does not square with others rather than support him/her," Klaus said.

He said diligent, industrious and talented people who are not known to their broader vicinity because media do not write about them are a guarantee of the future.

People should give these individuals a chance and they should try to be like them, Klaus said.

"This is the only possibility for the year 2012 to be a good and successful year for each of us and for the whole Czech Republic in spite of all risks and possible difficulties," Klaus said.

He said people should not allow this year's regional and Senate elections to arouse another competition in light-minded and irresponsible promises.

Klaus said the "unrealistic expectations connected with the entry into the European Union [in 2004] and the promised contribution that this entry - in itself - was to have for us," Klaus said.

The gap between the reality and these irresponsibly created expectations has probably reached "the biggest size in the whole post-November developments that have continued for 22 years already," Klaus said.

The communist regime was toppled in late 1989.

Klaus also said the wish he formulated in his previous New Year's Day speech that the year 2011 be calmer and more promising than the previous years has not been fulfilled.

Klaus started his speech with a commemoration of former Czechoslovak and Czech president Vaclav Havel who died on December 18 aged 75.

Klaus said Havel "has made an important contribution to our freedom and democracy with his whole life and the 13 years he spent in the presidential post."